Southern Water seek to gain Michael Gove’s approval to increase river abstraction to levels NEVER SEEN BEFORE. Climate change is exacerbating the situation. We desperately need alternative & timely options to supply public water. The internationally rare English chalk stream riverine habitats & their wildlife are now under severe threat from over abstraction, especially in times of drought. This could prove catastrophic for species such as the genetically unique chalk stream salmon, sea trout, or Hampshire’s last population of the rare native crayfish, let alone the rivers themselves & the livelihoods that depend upon them. We must stop Southern Water using a Public Inquiry to gain Michael Gove’s approval to increase river abstraction to potentially catastrophic and reprievable levels. They intend to sidestep the correct procedure and ride roughshod over our public bodies, which are there to safeguard our environment. Challenging Natural England’s advice & the EA's sustainable licensing to increase abstraction to ruinous levels on our precious chalk streams, in order to meet their corporate goals – profit. We desperately need alternative, sustainable and timely options to supply public water. Action NOW is essential to ensure our rivers are properly protected in the future. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Hampshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Hampshire, Salmon & Trout Conservation, Wild Trout Trust, Test and Itchen Association, Angling Trust and Fish Legal, and the Wessex Chalk streams and Rivers Trust, all oppose Southern Water’s position. HOW? Beginning 13th March, Southern Water through public inquiry are asking Michael Gove (Secretary of State) to approve their increased abstraction plans directly. If upheld, this will by-pass the normal procedures for obtaining an abstraction licence, and will not involve full public consultation including direct and fair engagement with river owners and users - an absolutely CRUCIAL involvement as there is so much at stake in these very complex decisions. SW are using ‘strong arm’ tactics in the Inquiry to make the EA use their legal powers to force river owners and users to co-operate. Some of these proposed actions are highly emotive and again deny the public the fair right to comment. WHAT OTHER DAMAGE COULD THIS CAUSE? Increasing populations and housing in Hampshire are greater than our natural water resources can now sustain. Demand has already exceeded the capacity our rivers and aquifers can supply. So at a time of water scarcity, on already over abstracted rivers, the threat is that SWS customers will be literally sucking the life out of the rivers Candover, Itchen and Test. This will deplete the river flows to levels that will devastate the natural aquatic environment. People will be watering their gardens as the flow of these rivers falls to dangerously unprecedented levels. Is this what people would want if they knew about it? THE SOLUTION - As we speak, Southern Water are preparing to publish a 'draft Water resources management plan' (and Drought Plan) for public consultation. They claim their plans will have a bold vision, with ambitious and innovative ways to secure the necessary alternative sources of supply to enable the Environment Agency’s licence changes to be made. These alternatives will be costly and include trading with Portsmouth Water, Havant Thicket Reservoir and a desalination plant in the Solent. That is what it will take to protect our Chalk streams from over abstraction. HOWEVER, SOUTHERN WATER WILL ONLY IMPLEMENT THESE AMBITIOUS NEW PLANS IF IT LOSES THE INQUIRY! If it wins then it may well in likelihood implement a shadow version... This Inquiry is Southern Water’s last-ditch attempt to cling onto its 40-year-old business model of over exploiting our chalk streams – one that generates a healthy profit margin at huge expense to the environment. TO CONCLUDE - No more stalling by this corporate Leviathan, which is investing large amounts of bill payers’ money on scientific models not fit for purpose to prove their 'case'. Instead they should be working together with and not against NGO’s, stakeholders, their clients and you the people to find alternative water supplies that will safeguard our rivers for generations to come. Please help support the EA's and NE's efforts to protect our rivers by signing our petition to ensure that Southern Water Services take note of their customers’ concerns for the sustainability and protection of these British gems. Many Thanks, Jim & Howard. "The proposed increase in water abstraction from the Test, Itchen & Candover will have a serious, if not disastrous, effect on the delicate balance of this unique ecosystem. We obviously need to meet the water needs of our ever-expanding population but there are less harmful ways to do this. The true chalk streams are only found in Britain (apart from a small presence in Normandy); we are custodians of these precious jewels & we owe it to our children and grandchildren not to undermine them" PAUL WHITEHOUSE - Comedian & fisherman. SW's turnover last year was approx £800 million, with a profit of more than £250 million. Their divis to corporate shareholders were somewhere over £100 million. Thankfully their operations and behaviour are now being scrutinised. See BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43139857 Documents for the public enquiry - http://www.hwa.uk.com/projects/itchen-candover-and-testwood-water-abstraction-inquiry/ Photo by Charles Rangeley Wilson

This is the follow on from the Southern Link Road, which was always a stealth precursor to the bypass plans. We will be updating this with more info in the coming days, meanwhile tell all your friends and relatives to get on board with this new campaign specially if your property is affected. Highways England have said "under current guidance the building of new road infrastructure could only be justified in policy terms when other avenues such as travel planning and sustainable travel modes had been developed and shown not to address the transport needs and issues identified" (2014). Following public consultation in 2017, Herefordshire Council acknowledged that "improving pedestrian and cycling routes were a priority" for respondents, and that "more reliable and quicker bus journeys were among the top five improvements that should be made a priority in Hereford". One may legitimately ask why they are not acting on this feedback. They obviously have a different agenda that doesn't fit with the electorate's views. We have been aware of the presence of way too many traffic light controls which rather than facilitating smooth transit around the city, are badly timed to seemingly snarl the city traffic on a daily basis ... 18 sets of lights on one junction being the perfect illustration of our point, and if you're a pedestrian you need to be amazingly nimble ... not a city for the weak and slow. We also doubt there is anyone out there who believes this next item was a right way to behave ... Apologies don't cut it when people's homes and lives are at stake. PEOPLE living on the proposed routes of Hereford’s new bypass were not given notice that their houses could be demolished. Many of the residents living on Kings Acre Road only discovered their homes were in the firing line of the western bypass when they saw reports in the Hereford Times or were told by neighbours. http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/15998820.Hereford_residents_left_in_the_dark_about_proposed_bypass_through_their_street/

A bolt of lightning has destroyed part of Castle Moil on the Isle of Skye. The ruin was seriously damaged during a storm on Wednesday. First of all, preservation and restoration plays a cultural role. Old buildings teach us about the history that happened before we were born and promotes the respect for those who lived in different times and different societies. Architectural monuments cultivates pride of our past and heritage . Secondly, economy is an important merit of keeping the old. Architectural monuments are great at attracting tourists. Everyone likes to experience the “spirit” of the place, which most often is represented through architecture. Tourists can provide locals with jobs and extra income. Restoring locally important historical structures generates workplaces for both local people and international experts This Castle ruin dates back to the tenth century .it is of great historical importance to the people of The Isle of Skye. Skye was enhanced by gifts of territory from a grateful Robert I after his victory at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314). They rebuilt the castle sometime between 1490-1513 and it is these ruins that are visible today.

This will help reduce the ever growing amount of plastic clogging up our planet. Think; there is over a 1000 students in my school. If we all use a plastic fork every day for a week that is 5000 plastic forks, then 20,000 a month, and in a school year that is an unimaginable amount of plastic .Think. Then imagine this all over the country. This is an unnecessary amount of plastic doomed to be lunch for an innocent sea creature. We have to stop this now and #STOPthePlasticTide because the health of the planet starts with us - the human race.

No new opencast coal mines have started in England since 2013. Since then the Government has said that it will phase-out coal by 2025. It's vital that we prevent a new mine starting which would cause local and international environmental destruction and which the local community have clearly rejected. Bradley is a greenfield site in County Durham between the villages of Dipton and Leadgate. The site supports a wealth of plants and animals, including Great Crested Newts, badgers, red kites. Banks Group plan to mine 550,000 tonnes of coal from the site, starting work this spring. The Bradley opencast mine is a case where the original decision to grant planning was grossly wrong and the development is likely to damage the wider public interest. Since the planning permission was granted in June 2015 there have been significant changes in national and international policy with regards to coal and climate change. 1) Coal use in the UK has dropped to 7% of the UK’s energy mix compared with 30% in 2014. 2) The government has said it will phase-out coal by 2025. 3) The UK and Canadian governments want to be world leaders with their Powering Past Coal Alliance. 4) The Paris Agreement requires that action is taken to prevent global temperatures from raising by 2 degrees and pursue efforts to keep them from a 1.5 degree raise. Thomas Davison, 28-year-old a resident living 300 metres away from the proposed opencast site said; “Banks' desire to extract 550,000 tonnes of coal is driven by nothing more than profit and not at all by a genuine need for energy. We have moved onto other forms of cleaner energy for the good of our global climate. So why is it worth harming the local wildlife and the local economy for one last money grab?”

The Council intend to change the green belt to brown belt in a small quaint rural village at Broomhill in Barnsley. We want to stop the application to build on our green belt. The effect this will have on our village and the abundance of wild life will be catastrophic. Both residents and visitors alike enjoy the countryside that surrounds us from dog walkers, bird watchers to ramblers. Our wild life play a big part in making our village an attraction to all. The influx of traffic and housing would be devastating. We have an abundance of squirrels, rabbits, foxes, owls and bats to name a few not to mention an extremely large variety of birds. The surrounding wetlands attracts, swans, geese, ducks, coots and a variety of other wild life. To build on our green belt would be devastating to the wild life not to mention the residents who have enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of living in the countryside.

Big businesses need to take responsibility, and stop harming our climate. Throughout the world more and more wildfires, heatwaves, and floods show that we must take urgent action to achieve a safe and healthy climate. HSBC Unlike some other banks, HSBC invests much less in solar or wind energy, which are now good value. You can switch to a less harmful bank. RWE (Npower) Energy generator and supplier Npower is mostly owned by the huge multination RWE, which uses an awful lot of coal. You can switch to another company which uses clean energy. Danone Danone’s brands – including Evian and Volvic – sell bottles made of unrecycled plastic. Once they shape up and commit to making these changes, we'll target other irresponsible companies – and you can suggest some. By signing and sharing this petition you’re telling businesses they must stop harming our climate NOW. Find out more about CLIMATE SERIOUS and how you can get involved: www.climateserious.org #climateserious

We need answers from all parties involved. The school is a big part of our community.

As everyone knows if flood plains are built on the water has to divert somewhere else usually with catastrophic results !!! We have seen this over the years where villages have been washed away, animals drowned and homes have been destroyed with flooding !! The Government have told all councils they must provide more homes and totally disregard the dangers and destruction of building on or near flood Plains! This is happening now in Hale Village and Halebank . The Government and Environmental Agency are NOT acknowledging flood plains in our area even though they actually flood!!! We must all fight this immediately before it happens in other areas !!! Please sign the petition telling the Government they can't do this !!!

Many jobs and much of Scotland's iconic wildlife depend on the health of our coastal environment. But Fergus Ewing, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy & Connectivity (REC) is determined to expand Scotland’s production of farmed salmon by 2030. This would be an act of sheer recklessness given the grave concerns surrounding the industry as it is practised today. The REC committee will hold an inquiry into salmon farming in Scotland later this year. It is vital that we make our voices heard and let our MSPs know that there can be no expansion of salmon farming without radical reform. Here are the issues at stake: • Scotland's seas are home to incredible wildlife, including wild salmon, sea trout, porpoises, dolphins, whales and seals and are home to a wealth of life on the seabed which is vital to our valuable crab, prawn and lobster fisheries. They are under acute threat because of the harmful impacts of open net salmon farming. • A truly sustainable coastal economy can regenerate around many uses of restored seas and fisheries. Jobs are precious in rural areas. By allowing one industry to pollute the sea, we threaten jobs that use the sea sustainably, such as well-managed fisheries and wildlife tourism. By protecting them, the coastal economy can thrive long term. • Parasitic sea lice, thriving in overcrowded open net salmon pens, are driving wild salmon and sea trout numbers to dangerously low levels. • Toxic chemicals to treat sea lice now exceed safe levels in at least 45 Scottish sea lochs, and studies implicate them in harm to crustaceans and other forms of marine life far from the farm cages. • Some 130 salmon farms on Scotland's west coast use Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) to scare away seals with loud underwater noises. If the ADDs don’t work, fish farmers are permitted to simply shoot them.These ADDs also affect porpoises, dolphins and whales, even though it is illegal to disturb them. • Now the industry, with the government's support, wants to double its annual production to around 300,000 tonnes of salmon by 2030. The environmental impacts are already dangerous, so if you care about the health of our marine environment, please act now! Tell the Scottish Government that salmon farmers must clean up their act before they are allowed to expand. The Salmon Aquaculture Reform Network Scotland (SARNS) is a growing coalition of community, coastal and environmental groups and concerned individuals from all over the west coast and islands of Scotland. We are campaigning for immediate reform of the salmon farming industry. Find out more here: https://salmonaquaculturescotland.wordpress.com/clean-up-scotlands-unsustainable-fish-farming-industry/ Thank you!

Bakkavor Alresford Salads have applied to the Environment Agency for a renewal licence to continue to put into the river their daily factory wash down described as TRADE EFFLUENT containing a cocktail of powerful chemicals to replace and supposedly improve on the chlorine based biocide they have been using for years. Their impenetrable application can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/so24-9dz-bakkavor-foods-limited-environmental-permit-application-advertisement This application is important to the river and the environment and raises many questions, some of which are listed below; Is the quality of the river Itchen important? YES. It is protected by being in a Site Special Scientific Interest and has the highest European rating as a Special Area of Conservation. Has the Environment Agency, charged with protection of this pristine and iconic river, been successful over the last twenty years? NO. Alresford Pond is now full of man made chemicals and the Upper Itchen fails water quality objectives under the Water Framework Directive and falls short of conservation objectives under the EU Habitats Directive. How does the Upper Itchen compare with other rivers? VERY BADLY. Directly comparable sampling has shown that the Upper Itchen carries about 5% of the shrimp population in the upper river Meon which has no washing plant. This is indicative of what is happening to all fly and bug life in the Itchen. Is the water quality in the Itchen improving? There is NO EVIDENCE that it is and much evidence of a thirty year uninterrupted decline. Does polluting the river matter? YES. It matters to all aquatic life from sticklebacks to trout and much bird life from king fishers to swifts. Does chlorine discharged from the factory dissipate? YES after years if discontinued. If this licence renewal is refused is there an alternative? YES. The factory should connect to the sewer for all contaminated water. Has the Environment Agency required any other company to do this? YES. The salad washing plant at St Mary Bourne was obliged to make this connection years ago despite the Bourne not having the environmental protection of the Itchen.. Can the company afford the cost of making the connection? YES. The owners Bakkovor, a multinational company, has an income of £1.7billion a year. If the contaminated factory discharge went to the sewer would it resolve the river’s pollution problem? Probably not but it would be a first step. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS LICENCE SHOULD NOT BE ISSUED BY THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY YOU SHOULD WRITE TO: ENVIRONMENT AGENCY, Permitting and Support Centre, WQ Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, SHEFFIELD , S9 4WF Although not directly relevant to this licence you might also ask yourself whether you think that the pesticides, insecticides, fertilizer, soil or whatever, should not be washed off these salad vegetables in the various countries of their origin rather than trucked or flown and trucked to Alresford to be washed into the pure spring water of the River Itchen.

It is now well recognised that single use plastic has become a major threat to global ecosystems especially in the sea. Many of us have been shocked to see films and photographs showing the impact on marine life but also frustrated and helpless when we go shopping to find it impossible to avoid plastic packaging. We are pleased to see that the government is finally talking about reducing plastic but we need action now! Supermarkets are the single biggest source of plastic litter in this country and could move quickly to eliminate huge amounts of it. We therefore call on all supermarket chains to take steps to eliminate this environmental scourge.