Aberdeen City Council is trying to make us go through a costly and time consuming planning application to keep a small building that provides our only electricity supply, with no guarantee the application would be accepted. For eight years we fought several utility companies over their refusal to send accurate bills and attempts to trick us into paying money we didn’t owe. Eventually we were left with only one option to avoid being cheated - go off-grid. We decided on solar PV as this is the most reliable and cost effective means of generating off-grid electricity. But we didn’t have a South facing roof, so we built a small wooden building to house the solar panels. We spent several weeks building it with our own hands. Now the council want us to go through a lengthy and costly planning application just to keep this building. I live with my disabled mother. Living without power would deny her vital medical treatment (which she already has to pay for herself) as this has to be stored in a refrigerator. Her treatment has already been affected by having to build the building and off-grid system over the summer, and having to go through a lengthy bureaucratic process would undoubtedly affect it further. I earn a low income with a self employed electrical business that provides our only income. I could not do this without a power supply to charge my tools and run a laptop for my paperwork. I’ve also released a computer program that I hope to develop into a business. This would of course also be impossible without a power supply. I’m busy trying to earn a living for us and will struggle if I have to spend time dealing with a planning application. Living without power would be a nightmare in today’s world - hand washing clothes, no lights, no fridge, etc. We are socially isolated and depend on the internet as our only connection to the rest of humanity. Without a power supply this too would be lost. We don’t know who, if anyone made a complaint about our building, but we don’t believe it’s causing anyone a nuisance. It doesn’t block the light to, or view from, anyone’s windows. It replaced an old garden shed, on the same site, that was rotting away. In very adverse circumstances we are doing something positive for the planet - solar PV is zero emissions and totally sustainable. Don’t let Aberdeen City Council take that away. Please sign the petition. If you live outside the UK you can sign by emailing your name, any message you wish to be included with your signature, and stating that you are signing the petition "Aberdeen City Council - Don’t make us fight to keep our only power supply", to [email protected] . Thanks.

House prices are already falling behind other areas of the country and the already crumbling roads cant cope with the extra traffic. The environment will be destroyed and the money will not remain in the Fylde and maybe not in the UK. A study shows that the increase in employment is dwarfed by the loss of agriculture jobs not to mention the reduction in the tourism industry.

This will benefit the environment by reducing the energy requirements of recycling. Reduce the burden on local authorities to collect and sort this type of recycling. Donation and collection of bottles could help local fund raising activities. Other Countries including the USA have such a system, in fact it was common in the UK up the end of the 1960's.

Invasive species cause the loss of biodiversity, as well as the extinction of native plants, animals and fungi. Invasive species are introduced into an ecosystem by humans who release the non-native species into the wild. The invasive species wreck native ecosystems and will eventually cause the extinction of hundreds of native species. THE PROBLEM In England a major barrier to the effective control of invasive species lies in the INABILITY OF RELEVANT AUTHORITIES TO ACCESS LAND where problem species have become established. Neither can they force the landowners to notify them of the presence of named species nor can they take action to address invasions where it is reasonable to do so. THE SOLUTION In Scotland this problem has been rectified within Scottish legislation with the creation of ‘SPECIES CONTROL ORDER’ under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011. Ths act empowers authorities, LAND CAN NOW BE ACCESSED IN SCOTLAND, and COSTS CAN, if necessary, be recovered from landowners who do not take action. FINANCIAL COST In Britain approximately £1.7billion is spent every single year on trying to tackle the problem of invasive non-native species. The Woodland Trust spends approximately 4-5% of their total site management budget tackling Invasive Non Native Species (INNS), predominantly Rhododendron Ponticums

As wheat starts to turn farmers spray it to kill it off in doing so it takes in large amounts of chemical as a last effort to swell the grain. It seems that very many people are now developing a wheat intolerance and a growing rise in Irritable bowl syndrome and Krohns and stomach complaints. This wheat goes into our bread and is consumed by most of the population on a daily basis. It can not be good under any circumstances. You can't give animals medication just before their meat enters the food chain surely this must be the same.

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to sign or start the campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The current system of creating money through the sale of ever increasing layers of debt, and now, the BofE operating an unaccountable balance sheet which defies principle or prudence, is plumbing the depths of fantasy economics, is unsustainable in nature. It is starting to resemble a listing pirate ship liable to sink at any moment. Only Sound money can deliver a reduction of inequality, a sustainable future for the environment and the next generation and re-establish trust in government, creating a new united kingdom that everyone can believe in.

The bringing into hospital, germs etc, without due care and attention to the risk of Clinicians carrying the germs and infection to patients

If the government did this we would need one less nuclear power station. The cost of doing so is miniscule compared to the the cost of Hinkley Point and would only need to be done once and would last forever. Think of the small businesses and jobs that would be created and we would have lower energy bills.

Only a tiny percent of the billions of plastic cups thrown away are currently recycled. The waste is phenomenal and the destructive impact on the environment is appalling. What point have we got to in society where plastic is created, formed into a spoon, wrapped in more plastic and shipped, only to be used for a few seconds before being thrown away, never to be reused and to exist on the planet for the foreseeable future? Plastic cups and cutlery clog up our oceans injuring and killing all that live in there. In response to this France has just passed another ground breaking law. The law, which will come into effect in 2020, will ensure that all disposable plates, cups, knives and forks will have to be made of biologically-sourced materials and can be composted. And this is just the latest part of France’s transition into a greener country. Earlier this year, supermarkets and stores in France were told they could no longer hand out plastic bags. We in the UK should be following suit. The large packaging companies and their industry groups will be lobbying against any such suggestion. But our government needs to override such protectionism for the greater good of us all. Recyclable is not good enough - we have all seen how difficult it is to actually find places in the real world to recycle these types of apparently "recyclable" plastics. The law must be to ensure these single use products are compostable. Ensuring all disposable cutlery and crockery is fully compostable will cut both the energy used in plastic production and the waste and pollution caused by its disposal. We ask the Secretary of State to follow France's lead and ensure that by 2020 all disposable plates, cups, knives, forks and spoons are made of biologically sourced materials and can be composted.

Small electric cars like the Peugeot Ion, Mitsubishi iMiev and Citroën Zero, do not have large enough batteries to use a full 30 minute charge. The maximum range of these cars at motorway speeds is 50-60 miles. Fast chargers only charge the battery to 80%, so that is 40-48 miles. Allow 10 miles probably already in the battery at the start of the charge, and that's 30-38 miles for £6. Compare with an ordinary diesel car, doing about 60 mpg, where each gallon costs about £5.50, and you will see it costs about twice as much to run a small car charged at an Ecotricity charging point as it does to run a diesel car filled at a pump. On the other hand, if you charge the electric car at home, it costs about half as much to run as the diesel (even with full price green electricity).

There is more and more evidence to show that being educated and playing in nature has huge short and long term benefits. Enhancing mental and physical wellbeing, empowering children to be creative in all areas of their young lives and unifying them as one with nature and each other regardless of gender, race, colour, disabilities or beliefs. Countries who have better academic results than here in the U.K. are embracing these methods of schooling and attribute them to their success. It's time the education system stopped making short term changes and investing into a long term plan which will bring the change everyone here and globally desperately want to see for future generations. The children of today are the leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors and creative beings of tomorrow. They will be the inspiration for the generations to come and bring the change we ourselves so long to see. Only with the government working alongside nature schools, groups and individuals can we make that a reality by creating the stage on which they can perform. For reference to these facts I recommend a visit to the Children & Nature Network website: http://www.childrenandnature.org/