Brighton to ban plastic bags

Via Guardian

A city is bidding to become the first in Britain to ban plastic bags in an effort to reduce their impact on the environment. Councillors in Brighton and Hove have voted overwhelmingly in favour of turning the city into a plastic bag-free zone by asking retailers not to hand them out. The Conservative-led council has no legal powers to enforce a ban but has passed a motion to encourage shopkeepers to stop issuing bags.

Out of twenty cities (including Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford, Liverpool, Brighton and Hove, London, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Coventry, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Glasgow, Sheffield, Hull, Sunderland, Leeds and Wolverhampton) in a Forum For The Future (PDF) report named Brighton as the most Sustainable city, top for Quality of Life and top for Future Proofing. Brighton came 15th for Environmental Impact (Bradford topped that along with Bristol and Plymouth). So at least they are attempting to change.