Sheffield Councillor recognised in national nature awards
Minesh Parekh, Labour and Co-operative Councillor in Sheffield, has been shortlisted in the 2025 Political Purpose Awards.
The Political Purpose Awards were the first environmental awards established to recognise the work of politicians. They are organised by the Nature 2030, a campaign group oriented to tackling environmental crises including biodiversity loss, air pollution, climate change, and plastic pollution. Now in their third year, the Political Purpose Awards look to highlight the politicians that have championed climate and ecological causes.
Councillor Parekh, who represents the Crookes and Crosspool ward on Sheffield City Council, said:
“We are in the middle of an ecological crisis. Action to increase biodiversity and tackle industrial polluters has never been more urgent.
“We must crackdown on the arsonists burning our precious peatlands, the water companies mismanaging our most important natural resource, remove private profit from the equation and restore our natural environment back to public hands.”
Winners for the 2025 Political Purpose Awards will be announced at a ceremony at the House of Commons, to be held on Tuesday 9 September at 6pm. Others shortlisted include Ed Miliband MP, Sarah Jones MP, Gillian Martin MSP, and Oxford Councillor Anna Railton. 2024 winners included Ruth Jones MP, Lord Deben, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, Ed Miliband MP, Sadiq Khan, and Alex Sobel MP.
Parekh has recently led calls for a community right-to-buy for nature, writing for the Co-operative Party that that policy could ‘tip the balance of power away from aristocrats and large landowners – helping local communities to buy land upstream and restore the peatbogs, slow water flows and prevent floods.’ He has also called for water company bosses to be jailed and the industry renationalised over sewage dumping in our rivers and seas, stating that water must not be ‘exploited to the point of ruin in the pursuit of shareholder profit.’
Parekh was previously recognised in the ENDS Power List 2024 of its top 50 UK politicians who had had driven changes to green policy and legislation, promoted environmental causes, and promoted green action in their communities. He formerly worked as a researcher for Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake while she served as Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero, supporting with policy development.