Shrewsbury Student helps save Village

A student has achieved success in a bid to stop building works going ahead in her village with the support of knowledge gained in her course module.

Rebecca Whitfield has just completed her final year of the BSc health studies and has used the knowledge gained from the Environmental Management and Sustainable Health Module, to implement strategies to prevent the plans from going ahead.

The village where Rebecca lives in Shropshire was under threat from four potential new housing developments as well as 87 new houses being built on green space.

Planned building works would have meant a loss of large spaces of greenery in the village.

Rebecca compiled a report based on one that was studied in the course which was then uploaded to the community website citing evidence for why the plans should not go ahead. 

The report detailed the environmental, climate change and sustainability issues which might be faced by the building proposals.

Student of BSc Health Studies, Rebecca Whitfield said: “I decided to write a report on the potential sustainability implications should the application go ahead and after months of deliberation the building application was turned down.

“The reason for refusal was because people had realised the sustainability of such a project would not be reliable.

“Without the Environmental Management Module and the support of my lectures, I would not have had the understanding of the subject or the skills required to make a contribution to the housing plans.

“It is such a relief that the report and bid was successful in preventing these completely unsustainable developments from going ahead and it was satisfying to put what I'd learnt in lecture time into a real life setting,

“I’m very thankful for the module and how it has been used in a real life scenario.”

Lecturer in Public Health and Wellbeing and Module Leader Michelle Crosbie said: “Climate change is a 21^st century public health threat and in order for us to live healthy lives, living sustainably is essential.

“This drove me to create and embed a final year module across four health awards to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to tackle future challenges.

“I am immensely proud that Rebecca has harnessed the knowledge and made a real difference by safeguarding the community’s green space and challenged unsustainable development.

“This is an excellent example of how education empowers people and communities!”

Rebecca has just received a conditional offer to continue on the MPH (Masters of Public Health) at the University and will start in September.

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