The final media release from UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities

Posted: 31st January 2026

From the ashes, arises a Phoenix: Scottish NFLAs resolve to chart a new path.

The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities will tomorrow pass into history as the Manchester-based Secretariat will cease to function and the post of NFLA Secretary will be disestablished.

But now at least there is the expectation that from out of the ashes a new phoenix will arise; for today our Scottish affiliated authorities took the decision ‘in principle’ to reform a Scottish Nuclear Free Local Authorities network with a Glasgow-based Secretariat.

NFLA Policy Advisor Pete Roche, known to many of you for his invaluable daily and weekly information bulletins published through No 2 Nuclear Power www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk, will continue to support the new body. 

Over the next two months, the leadership of the Scottish NFLAs will take legal and financial advice to best place the new SNFLAs on a secure footing for the future. And, with Scotland facing increasing nuclear threats from Ministers at Whitehall and a looming Scottish Parliament election, the decision could not be timelier. 

The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have a long history, being first founded as a network at a conference hosted by Manchester City Council in the autumn of 1981. Its formation came in the wake of a series of declarations by UK local authorities joining Manchester in proclaiming themselves ‘nuclear free’. Manchester became the home of the Secretariat. Membership grew significantly, with a subsequent expansion into the Republic of Ireland ensuring representation in every nation of the British Isles. 

Sadly, in recent years, we have seen a steady reversal in membership, with austerity, the abolition and merger of authorities, the loss of elected member champions, and changes in political control or direction having significantly reduced the number of affiliated authorities. Unlike other organisations representing local authorities on nuclear issues which have accepted funding from the nuclear industry, the NFLAs have always been solely reliant on subscription income. Consequently, we reached a point where a UK/Ireland body with a near-full-time Secretary was no longer financially viable. 

Accordingly, at the December 2025 Steering Committee, the sober and difficult decision was taken to conclude the work of the UK/Ireland NFLAs, after 44 years of solid and defiant activism as the soul municipal barrier raised against the prevailing nuclear tide. 

For his part, Richard will continue to work with Welsh activists to relaunch WANA, the Welsh Anti-Nuclear Alliance, with a nuclear-free ‘Manifesto’ for the nation to be published on St David’s Day. In addition to supporting the SNFLAs, Pete is working to relaunch a new Scottish anti-nuclear campaign in the coming weeks. 

Both initiatives have been launched to defy the renewed threats of new nuclear developments in the two devolved nations. Pete and Richard have received an the overwhelmingly favourable response from activists; indicating they have clearly tapped into the Zeitgeist. 

Pete Roche said: “The NFLA has, over the years, been a great source of information for anti-nuclear campaigners across the UK. Richard and I will be finding new ways, in the age of social media, to keep that flow of information going”.

Outgoing NFLA Secretary, Richard Outram, provides some reflections on his time in office:

‘I have been honoured that my final formal career role has been that of NFLA Secretary / Mayors for Peace Chapter Secretary. I was fortunate to secure the position immediately following my graduation with First Class Honours from the Peace Studies Department at Bradford University. I am grateful to those who appointed me and to those who have supported me – Councillors, office colleagues, academics and activists – over my four + years in post.  

‘It has been an increasingly busy four years. Since November 2021, I have written and posted 443 press releases, 118 bulletins, and 43 monthly newsletters for the Nuclear Free Local Authorities. I have also responded to innumerable requests to speak in meetings and at conferences and to requests for quotes and interviews by the press and radio; even making a fleeting appearance on the Six O’clock News on national TV. In addition, the NFLAs have also formally responded to 42 consultations by government ministers, regulators and industry. 

‘It has certainly never been a dull job with a regular rich variety of opportunities and challenges. Personal highlights have included time spent in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on placement with the Mayors for Peace Secretariat in January 2023 and accompanying the Lord Mayor of Manchester at the 80th anniversary commemorative events in August 2025; joining delegates at the first conference of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the UN in Vienna in the summer of 2022; visiting the nuclear submarine decommissioning base at Rosyth; boarding a nuclear waste train in Crewe; coming face-to-face with a robot dog involved in nuclear decommissioning; touring the Sellafield facility (twice); being the keynote speaker on an online space conference about peace; and unveiling a poignant memorial that bears my name at a wartime RAF base that may become an underground nuclear waste dump.

‘Ironically, our work is ending when the need for an NFLAs has never been greater; for humankind faces an increasing threat from climate change and the possible use of nuclear weapons. Investment in nuclear power is an unwelcome distraction from delivering green power now from renewables, whilst further investment in nuclear weapons will simply exacerbate already febrile international tensions and invite the prospect of Armageddon. This seems simply crazy. A local government body countering this insanity remains desperately needed, and I wish the new Scottish Nuclear Free Local Authorities every success in keeping that nation on the right path to a renewable energy future and peace.

‘For my part, though technically retired, I shall continue to support the development of the Welsh Anti-Nuclear Alliance and the work of the UK/Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter on a voluntary basis in an advisory role’.

Richard’s predecessor, former NFLA Secretary, Sean Morris, also kindly supplied some personal reflections:

‘I was involved with the NFLA in a formal way from 1999 – 2021 and loved every minute of it. 

‘It began when both councillors and officers had a strong moral and ethical concern of the real possibility of an accident as much as a deliberate nuclear weapon / transport incident, and the risks of nuclear leaks or incidents from the nuclear power fleet. 

‘NFLA, with limited resources, has always punched above it weight as a consistent voice raising concern over nuclear development in the UK and globally. 

‘For years many talented councillors and officers advocated a different alternative, and we saw the renewable revolution years before any other part of local government did. We also had effective English, Scottish, Welsh and All Ireland Forums.  

‘Our close connection with Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Mayors for Peace led to many great meetings, conferences and events. 

‘I was delighted and proud to have been first the English and then the UK & Ireland NFLA Secretary. For 45 years it has done a great job, and we are all the better for it’.

Ends://.. 

Contacts

After today, Richard Outram can be contacted by email at [email protected]

And Pete Roche by email to [email protected]