Portavoe holds a special place in our hearts, and it would be devastating to lose such a haven of beauty and tranquility. The decommissioning of our open reservoirs and placing them onto the open market has quite rightly caused outcry from us, the public, who have enjoyed them for so many years. A local property developer has won a recent High Court battle with Northern Ireland Water in his wider bid to buy lands, and if successful could completely ban the public from them. NI Waters fought the case at the High Court as hard as they could, but the judgement could be subject to appeal. Ards/North Down Councils had also expressed interest in purchasing the land for the benefit of all residents. Please sign the petition to show your support for keeping Portavoe accessible to all! For more information please follow "Friends of Portavoe" page on Facebook.

In the UK we use a staggering 38.5 million single-use plastic bottles and a further 58 million cans every day! Only half of these are recycled, so it’s no surprise that many of these end up on our beaches and in our oceans. Plastic bottles take 450 years to break down, killing marine life, harming the coastal ecosystem and ruining our beaches. Placing a small deposit on plastic bottles and cans would dramatically increase recycling and reduce marine plastic pollution. This petition has been set up by Surfers Against Sewage, a marine conservation charity. Find out more about Surfers Against Sewage here: www.sas.org.uk For more information on deposit return systems please visit Surfers Against Sewage’s Message In A Bottle campaign site. https://www.sas.org.uk/messageinabottle/ A delegation from Surfers Against Sewage will deliver the petition signatures to the Governments in Westminster (London), Holyrood (Edinburgh), Senedd (Cardiff) and Stormont (Belfast).

Between August 2012 and January 2016 Amey the Council contractor felled over 3500 trees across Sheffield. Now they are planning to chop down many of our local street trees. While some of these trees are near the end of their life and should be replaced, many others are mature healthy trees that help to keep the air clean (1), protect our homes from flooding (2) and provide a habitat for local wildlife (3), as well as making our streets nicer and healthier places to live (4). Mature trees are particularly good at filtering out pollution (5), cooling the air in summer (6) and maintaining nature's delicate balance (7). Four of the trees are said to be damaging the pavement and are therefore discriminatory to disabled people and those using pushchairs. We believe the damage is minor and does not significantly impair accessibility for disabled people, or the use of prams and pushchairs. Sensitive engineering solutions (8), such as use of flexi-pave and/or pavement restructuring and localized remediation near trees, with kerb stones sculpted to accommodate root morphology, would represent a sustainable solution to perceived problems. The other trees are said to be diseased or dangerous. Our independent ecologist says with sensible management the above 11 trees will thrive for many years and should definitely be saved. The Council carried out a survey of households to see if people wanted to save the trees. This was deeply flawed as many houses and in some cases whole streets were missed out. References (1) Karl, T., Harley, P., Emmons, L., Thornton, B., Guenther, A., Basu, C., & Jardine, K. (2010). Efficient atmospheric cleansing of oxidized organic trace gases by vegetation. Science, 330(6005), 816-819.http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6005/816.short Escobedo, F., Kroeger, T. & Wagner, J. (2011). Urban forests and pollution mitigation: analyzing ecosystem services and disservices. Environmental Pollution, Volume 159, pp. 2078-2087.http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=14928633190131047233&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 (2) Trees and Design Action Group (2012). Trees in the Townscape: A Guide for Decision Makers, s.l.: Trees and Design Action Group.http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-the-townscape.html Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2013. CIRIA Research Project RP993: Demonstrating the multiple benefits of SuDS – A business case (Phase 2). Draft Literature Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.susdrain.org [Accessed 25 May 2015].http://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/ciria_guidance/ciria_rp993_literature_review_october_2013_.pdf (3) Ewers, R. M., & Didham, R. K. (2006). Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation. Biological Reviews, 81(01), p. 117-142. http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=1003233194462145743&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 Gilbert‐Norton, L., Wilson, R., Stevens, J. R., & Beard, K. H. (2010). A Meta‐Analytic Review of Corridor Effectiveness. Conservation Biology, 24(3), p. 660-668. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01450.x/full (4)Sarajevs, V. (2011). Health Benefits of Street Trees, Farnham: Forest Research. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-8JCEJH Williams, K., O'Brien, L. & Stewart, A.. (2013). Urban health and urban forestry: how can forest management agencies help?. Arboricultural Journal: The International Journal of Urban Forestry, Volume 35, pp. 119-133.http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071375.2013.852358 (4) Shackell, A. & Walter, R. (2012). Greenspace Design For Health And Well-being, Edinburgh: Forestry Commission.http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/FCPG019.pdf/$FILE/FCPG019.pdf Velarde, M., Fry, G. & Tveit, M. (2007). Health effects of viewing landscapes – Landscape types in environmental psychology. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 6, p. 199-212.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866707000416 (6) Forestry Commission (2011). The UK Forestry Standard: The governments’ approach to sustainable forest management. 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Forestry Commission. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ukfs (7) Gonzalez, A., Rayfield, B., & Lindo, Z. (2011). The disentangled bank: how loss of habitat fragments and disassembles ecological networks. American Journal of Botany, 98(3), p. 503-516.http://www.amjbot.org/content/98/3/503.full (8) Trees and Design Action Group. (2014) Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery. TDAG http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-hard-landscapes.html To find out more visit Save Norfolk Park Trees on Facebook.

I planted this wood at the edge of Brampton Ash, near Market Harborough 6 years ago and it is thriving with wildlife. Some trees are now 30 foot high and there are field mice, hares, rabbits, badgers, hawks and Muntjac. It may be a small wood, but it is a living, precious eco system that should be protected at a time when every tree counts. Please save Tempest Wood. Thank you.

Reducing the speed limit will make the Village a safer place for all users Increasingly it is accepted that 20mph speed limits save lives, and they are being implemented on roads across many London boroughs. Where cyclists and horse riders must share space with motor traffic, reducing the speed differential is important: both for reducing the risk of death and injury, and for creating more pleasant cycling, horse riding and walking environments.

In the village of Cornforth is a deserted public house in an extremely unsafe condition and is also being used as a point for fly tipping. Concern for the health of our children and the environment of our village has led us to forming this petition. Will Cornforth residents please sign and share this link.

At almost two hundred years old, Northfields Allotments is London's oldest allotment site. It dates back to 1832, when the Bishop of London enclosed the site for use as allotments by the local community. The original allotments were more than twice their current size, however over half of the site was compulsorily purchased and built on several decades ago. We now fear that we could be facing the loss of the remainder of the site. Northfields Allotments is an important heritage site and we believe it should be given the same protection as Ealing’s many parks and public open spaces. The importance of allotments in London is recognised at the highest levels. The Mayor of London’s London Plan clearly states that “Boroughs should protect existing allotments” (section 7.22). The benefits provided by allotments are widely acknowledged. A large and growing body of academic research makes clear the social, mental and physical well-being benefits provided by community green spaces. What’s more, the Public Health Agency has identified numerous benefits of allotments to the community, including the promotion of good mental health, physical activity and nutrition, as well as the encouragement of social interaction. At Northfields Allotments, we have 141 plots with 72 people on the waiting list so demand is high. 29 plotholders live in flats meaning their allotment is their only garden. We have many families on site, with the result that the allotments provide approximately 50 children with a safe place to play and learn about nature. We have more than 25 retired plotholders who love the exercise, fresh air, and social aspect of being part of an allotment community. The allotments are an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including hedgehogs, nesting birds and insects – and in particular stag beetles, which are endangered and protected. Bats are regularly sighted, not only feeding over the allotments, but also using the ancient hedgerows for navigation. These hedgerows are recognised by Ealing Council as a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC), which is supposed to provide protected under planning legislation. We recognise that housing is important, but so are green open spaces. It shouldn’t need to be a choice and there are alternative options that would allow Pathways to house its residents while leaving this historic site untouched by development. Ealing is already extremely built up. Once green space has been built on, it is lost to the community forever. This is why we implore Ealing Council’s planning department and planning committee to protect the allotments from development, whether that be now or at any point in the future.

After signing this petition please formally object via http://didcot.space (will redirect you to the Garden Town plan page) or send an email to [email protected] Comments can be as short or long as you like - just make it clear you object to building on Ladygrove Park. Consultation on these proposals has been extended to 28th February, so please do it now. Thank you! There are plans for 15,000 new houses to be built in Didcot as part of the "Didcot Garden Town" project. This is more than those planned for Bicester Garden Town, recently described as a "dog's breakfast" with ecologically important flower rich meadows being lost to housing. Proposals for Didcot have been announced that are WORSE than first feared. They include building technical office space and accommodation over roughly half of the Ladygrove recreation ground and play park. The remnants would be developed such that there would be no substantial level open green space for casual sports or recreation. A new road cutting across the play park and flats on the play park, opposite the Willowbrook and behind the football club with no additional parking serve to top of this awful proposal. The current morning congestion around the primary school would be intolerable. Our facilities, green spaces and paths integral to our local parkrun are threatened. You can see the briefings here : https://didcotgardentown.commonplace.is/news/2017/01/20/stakeholder-representative-group-presentation-19-january-2017 Campaigners in Bicester have been to court twice to try to protect their environment. If we are to protect our green spaces and amenities the time to act is now, by obtaining a simple undertaking from the project team before their plans are fully formed. If you want to save them please sign this petition and share it with your friends. Thank you! (You can see the Ladygrove areas initially marked out for development on the final pages of these two official downloads published by the Didcot Garden Town planners http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/node/18434 and this http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/node/18447 )

The simple crisp needs a better home to help keep our home, Earth, clean. By using a material that cannot at least be recycled for items such as crisps increases the global pollution crisis. Around 6 billion bags of crisps are eaten across the UK alone in one year which means 6 billion crisp bags are not recycled. If a sneaky crisp packet gets into the rest of your recycling the whole of the recycling can be rejected meaning less in the end is actually recycled. Packaging that can be recycled reduces the need for new material to be manufactured and actually helps us save energy! For example by recycling an aluminum can, we save 95% of the energy that it would take to create a new can! But for plastic - One ton of recycled plastic saves 5,774 Kwh of energy, 16.3 barrels of oil, 98 million Btu's of energy, and 30 cubic yards of landfill space.(Sandford University) Crisp packaging needs to be updated for the 21st century and needs to be part of the solution in the ongoing pollution problem and not part of the problem.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority is planning for an extra 227,200 homes over the next 25 years. This is based on an unrealistic economic growth of 2.5% year on year and a flawed population growth forecast. If this plan is approved, Bury will bear the brunt of these proposals with 12,500 new dwellings on Green Belt land and a new industrial and warehousing site larger than Trafford Park at the M66 and M60/ M62 motorways junction. More homes are needed and new jobs are welcome, but we can work out ways to meet our housing needs and facilitate the creation of decent, well paid jobs in Bury without encroaching on the existing Green Belt land.

We love the Lower Lea Valley marshes (Leyton marshes, Walthamstow marshes and Hackney marshes). We love having such an amazing, unique, open green space on our doorstep, a place to reconnect with nature and let our imaginations run wild right in the heart of one of the most densely populated cities in the world. And we want to make sure the marshes are there for future generations to enjoy. This is why we are devastated to learn that the London Borough of Waltham Forest has launched a consultation on their vision for the Lea Valley Eastside (http://walthamforest-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/leabridge/leyton), which involves rezoning the large swathe of green open space around The WaterWorks Centre - part of Leyton marshes - for housing. This land is Metropolitan Open Land, which means it should be protected from all inappropriate development, just like Green Belt land. If these plans are approved, then the spectre of our marshes disappearing under high-rise tower blocks comes one step closer. We have until the end of January to tell the Council - loud and clear - that we will not tolerate building on our marshes. If we can stop these plans in their tracks, then we have a chance to save our marshes for the future.

We are calling on the Mayor of London to tackle air pollution and save lives by creating an Ultra Low Emission Zone (‘ULEZ’) to cover the whole of Greater London. An ULEZ is an area in which vehicles must meet exhaust emission standards or pay a daily travel charge. The highest charges will be paid by the most polluting vehicles. The Mayor is proposing to create an ULEZ for all vehicles in central London in 2019. He is consulting on whether to extend it to cover the area inside the North and Circular Road and also to create an ULEZ for the whole of London but only for heavy vehicles. We are asking him to go further. Air pollution is now a major health risk. We need powerful measures to tackle it. An ULEZ which applies only to heavy vehicles will not be enough to protect people from pollution in outer London, especially where people live and work next to the North or South Circular. Creating an ULEZ for all vehicles to cover the whole of London would significantly reduce pollution in outer London and would better improve the air quality in central London than an ULEZ that covers central London alone. For these reasons we ask you to add your name to this petition: