**4 July 2022** Exciting moment: Southwark Council will reveal its new repair design that saves the oaks at online meeting on 14th July. Scroll down to the Updates section for more details. These two, hundred-year old oak trees stand on each side of the west end of Cox's Walk Footbridge, Sydenham Hill Woods. They are like sentinels, welcoming and guarding the bridge, and their magnificent canopy dapples the bridge in green shade. But these trees are due to be felled this autumn, just to make life easy for Southwark Council when they carry out repairs to the footbridge. That would be a loss of hundreds of years of life for these beautiful, healthy oaks and the life they support. • Southwark Council is trying to blame these trees for damage to the bridge but the engineer’s assessment states it is lateral pressure from the soil on both sides of the bridge that is the problem. • There has been some damage to the brickwork by roots, but ivy roots not oak roots. • The abutment walls that need repair were rebuilt in the 1980s (exact date unknown) without needing to remove the trees, so we know it can be done. • No assessment appears to have been done of the impact on the stability of the slope and the water table removal of these trees will have. • Oak trees have a rich biodiversity, supporting hundreds of insect species, birds, fungi, mosses and lichens.

Manchester City Council is planning to turn the old Central Retail Park on Great Ancoats Street into a 440 space car park. This planning permission was controversially granted on 17th October. We have kept this petition open as we are now appealing that decision. If the car park is built, there will be around 1000 cars moving in and out onto already busy Great Ancoats Street. This will increase pollution in a city with appalling childhood asthma rates and one which consistently ranks amongst cities with the worst air quality in Europe. The site is also right next to a primary school. Manchester City Council has declared a climate emergency, and has committed to reducing carbon emissions. Building a huge car park that will increase pollution is in direct contradiction to this. Please keep signing the petition, show the council its decisions are against what the local people want. Let us all call on Manchester City Council to turn this area into a much needed green community space for families, residents and visitors.

Rubbish bins has flys and mosquitos and this effect everyones health. If doesn't get collected there will rats and mice infestation.

Monmouthshire County Council is dealing with an application to create a waste incinerator/power station to operate in a rural location near the River Usk (at Trostrey Court, near Llancayo). The incinerator would take waste wood, and refuse-derived fuel, including plastic. The plans involve three chimneys, 17 metres high (more than 55 feet). Despite there being a climate change emergency, and the fact that official assessments have indicated that there are enough incinerators in this area to deal with our own waste, the plan is to develop an industrial scale power station on green fields in the Usk valley. Many issues still remain unclear - visual impact, noise, pollution, health, air flows – but many are all too clear: truck-loads of waste will be brought down country lanes to feed a polluting, C02-emitting power plant. The current application, part of a scheme expanded since 2007 in dribs and drabs, could be presented to a future planning meeting at any time, with objectors getting just 21 days’ notice. The planning matter is being handled by the case officer, Kate Bingham ([email protected]) The application is ref: DM/2018/01641 Sign our petition to STOP this scheme now before it is too late.

We know 80% of people are concerned about plastic pollution [1] and want to do more to reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use. But retailers don’t always make it easy to find plastic-free products. We know that many retailers are starting to take action to prevent plastic pollution in certain areas of their business. But they need to know that promoting plastic travel minis without offering plastic-free alternatives is no longer acceptable. By acting on your feedback they can inspire the market & help us all escape from plastic pollution. Why is this important: Holidaymakers cause a 40% surge in marine litter entering the Mediterranean [2]. Research [3] estimates that 980 tonnes of mini-plastic shampoo bottles are being dumped by British holidaymakers abroad each year - that’s equivalent to two-and-a-half Boeing 747s. In one year alone 15.5 million people bought travel miniatures (amounting to a whopping 103 million products) but just under half of them dumped the packaging afterwards! A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said [4] the issue of single-use plastic matters to 90% of its customers, according to a survey of more than 3,000 people. “Significantly for the travel industry, the amount of plastic litter going into the Mediterranean increases by 40% during the summer months, demonstrating a direct link between our industry and plastic pollution.” On the back of its research, Thomas Cook has said it could save 70 million pieces of single-use plastic in the next year alone. Together we can make a difference Retailers listen to what their customers say and by signing our petition you’ll be making your voice heard and telling them we want a choice and plastic-free alternatives can and should be available. Find out what else you can do by getting involved with our Plastic Free Travel campaign. [1] https://pebblemag.com/news/zero-waste-week-single-use-plastic [2] https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/tourists-cause-almost-40-spike-plastic-entering-mediterranean-sea-each-summer [3] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6887323/holidaymakers-travel-size-toiletries-plastic-waste/ [4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/beach-holidays/thomas-cook-pledge-to-remove-single-use-plastics-from-resorts/ [5] https://www.citytosea.org.uk/campaigns/

Southampton is the number one cruise terminal in Northern Europe welcoming two million passengers every year on 500 vessels. 85% of the UK cruise market is based in Southampton, which is the only port capable of receiving such large vessels. In June 2019, sustainable transport group Transport & Environment revealed that in 2017, Carnival Corporation & PLC, the world’s largest cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide around European coasts than all 260+ million European cars. Southampton is in the top four of Europe’s most polluted ports. Cruise ship emissions include sulphur oxide, which forms sulphate aerosols and fine particles that harm human health, cause acid rain, and acidify the seas. Additionally, cruise ships are emitting poisonous nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide. Carnival’s cruise ships are being powered 97% by fossil fuel. The cruise company has committed to building nine Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered ships by 2025 to add to the two already in its fleet. But powering ships with the, albeit cleaner, natural gas has its own environmental risks. Spills at shipyards during refuelling or on board release methane, an explosive greenhouse gas, 30 times worse for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Additionally, LNG is often obtained through fracking. The World Health Organisation has named Southampton as one of the most polluted cities in the UK. Southampton City Council estimates that 23% of the air pollution in the city comes from the port. Public Health England’s Strategic Plan (2016 to 2020) identifies reducing the health impacts of local air pollution as a priority. In depth research analysis by Transport and Environment shows a direct link between docked cruise ship pollution and illnesses such as childhood asthma, cardio vascular disease, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary conditions. The Association of British Ports Southampton hopes, by 2020, to be the first UK ‘smart port’, which will enable all shipside activity to reach zero emissions. Carnival is apparently not willing to make the shift voluntarily, so we need the government to step in and mandate zero emission standards. According to Carnival’s Sustainability Report (2016), the company currently purchases 0.1% of electricity globally for dockside power. The company refuses to adapt to shore-side electricity, instead opting to keep engines running continuously whilst in port. Please sign this petition to demand that Carnival Corporation retrofit all current and future vessels for shore-side electricity, thereby cutting Southampton Port emissions to zero and contributing to a sustainable, low carbon economy and a healthier city.

The first line of the executive summary of the 2018 report of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says “Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” In order to make those societal changes now, we need our elected representatives to declare a climate and environmental emergency. If that action is not taken now, and consequently global warming exceeds 1.5°C, then the climate will change irriversibly (it already is) and within our lifetimes, we will experience unprecendented disruption to our social systems and ability to provide basic needs like food. These impacts are already being felt in the UK.

It is important to make these routes accessible and safe, that are marked routes in Blue (The Thin Blue Line), the route at present only goes to Rycroft Cemetery. We want users of the route to be able to get from Pelsall Station Rd via a cycle crossing at Station Rd, Rushall then via to Cartbridge Lane South, on to a shared cycle/pathway along Lichfield Rd to the Walsall Arboretum or via Butts Street along Upper Foster Street to Walsall Town Centre or onto the existing shared cycling/pathway to Walsall College

Without urgent action, we fear the situation will deteriorate, as the 2018 Lancet ‘Countdown on health and climate change’ noted: A lack of progress in reducing emissions and building adaptive capacity threatens both human lives and the viability of the national health systems they depend on, with the potential to disrupt core public health infrastructure and overwhelm health services. Hence we are calling for Barnet Council to join the 60+ councils across the UK who have already declared a climate emergency, as a step towards creating a carbon neutral borough by 2030. This action is an important step towards mitigating the adverse effects such as heat stress on the elderly, air pollution on children, and other health issues which we are increasingly encountering. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2818%2932594-7/fulltext

The Hadlow SpeedWatch team together with our Parish Council have begun a campaign to reduce the speed limit through Hadlow village centre to 20mph. Also to reduce the 40mph to 30mph along the A26 entering and exiting Hadlow village. These reduced speed limits will make Hadlow a safer place for young and old alike. We NEED YOUR SUPPORT, so please complete our online petition and help us get the support of the Council to make Hadlow a safer place for all. Many thanks for your help

Glyphosate-based herbicides such as RoundUp and Touchdown pose a real risk to the public, our environment and horticultural workers. Glyphosate has been banned in Holland, Denmark, Sweden and France and some Councils around the UK such as Trafford, Brighton, Bristol and Croydon. Last year Sheffield City Council used 1750 litres of Glyphosate on our pavements, verges and parks. (see https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/use_of_herbicides_fungicides_gro) Roundup kills beneficial insects. It has been proven to cause mortality of species including bees, predatory mites, lacewings, ladybirds and predatory beetles. Argentinian studies suggest that glyphosate use leads to a decline in honeybee activity. The demise of the monarch butterfly population in New York has been blamed on glyphosate. Glyphosate in soil takes 140 days to break down to half its toxicity and will continue to be taken up by plants from the soil for 2 years and longer. It’s toxic to earthworms and inhibits mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi are essential for tree health, collecting nutrients and water to feed their host plant and protecting tree roots from harmful fungi and root rot diseases. Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that it was “probably carcinogenic”. Recently a breakthrough court case against Monsanto was won by a man who developed cancer after using Roundup. He was awarded $289 million in damages. Other councils now use eco-friendly alternatives such as non-toxic Foamstream. Methods such as Mesh-Tech are now available to combat Japanese Knotweed. This petition is supported by Extinction Rebellion Sheffield, Sheffield Green Parents, Sheffield Greenpeace and Sheffield Green Party.

We have less than 11 years to take urgent action to limit global warming to 1.5°C or we risk catastrophic and irreversible runaway climate change; this was the stark warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report “Global Warming of 1.5°C”. Humans have already caused approximately 1.0°C of warming, the devastating impacts of which have been seen around the world in the form of reduction of sea-ice in the Arctic, loss of coral reefs and extreme weather events. Many scientists agree that warming greater than 1.5°C will result in grave consequences for our global environment. It will impact us locally too. The price of food will rise significantly, there will be more weather extremes, and water shortages. It’s not too late to limit the problems. But it will require ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector and local communities.