The magnificent Brighton Hippodrome needs your help to save it from being wrecked. It is a unique theatre building, listed Grade II* by English Heritage because of its historical and architectural significance. It was converted into a variety theatre in 1901/02 by Frank Matcham, the leading theatre architect of the time. It is one of only three theatres of its type in the country. It is of national importance. After closing as a variety theatre in 1965, it was a bingo hall until 2007. The stunning interior, however, is still in remarkable condition, with very little deterioration. Nonetheless, the Hippodrome is top of the Theatres Trust list of Theatre Buildings at Risk. Suddenly, in mid 2013, a proposal to convert the building into an eight-screen cinema emerged. The plans involve demolishing the stage, the fly-tower, all the back-stage facilities, the stalls and the orchestra pit. Without these it ceases to be a theatre. Please sign the petition to help to keep it intact. English Heritage has a statutory responsibility to protect listed buildings. It says any changes should be reversible. The proposed changes will make this impossible. No one so far has tried to produce a scheme for restoration for its real purpose: live performance. It would be a national scandal if the opportunity to save the Hippodrome were squandered because of misinformation and short-term gain. Please sign this petition to allow the Our Brighton Hippodrome campaign to produce that missing theatre proposal, for presentation to the Council, to English Heritage and the developers. We have the knowledge, we have the experience and we have the contacts. All we need is time. Read about the campaign, see the full details of our objection and see pictures of the Hippodrome Website: www.ourhippodrome.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/ourbrightonhippodromepage Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourhippodrome The developer’s plan for conversion (not restoration!) to a multi-screen cinema: www.brightonhippodrome.co.uk/

Green Fields and Wild Life habitats will be lost forever. Local people want to preserve the countryside for future generations, their wishes should be respected, the Localism Act should be honoured. Impacts on local communities are being ignored by Planners who have complete dis-regard for others, value of land is at a premium, greedy people are making money at the expense of the environment and the people that live there.

Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve, an SSSI and a Grade 1 Listed landscape. The weekend closure would not only enhance the experience for cyclists and other users but would also promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the natural and physical environment of the Park, and its peace and natural beauty for the benefit the public and future generations. The park is a great asset for SW London, it should be a safe place for families to explore and for people to ride bicycles around without having the roads jammed up with cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tky42vHUHlI Just 6 months after granting a Tree Preservation Order on this London Plane Tree, Mendip has received an application to fell. Unfortunately the TPO will not save the tree from Pangmore Development's application if approved by Mendip District Council. This is one of the last trees in the town centre and certainly the last tree of note in the Kingsway precinct. It is a specimen town centre tree and plays a major contribution in the character of the Conservation Area, and its felling would be a major loss to the aesthetic quality of the town.

The recent flooding in Southern England and Wales has highlighted the need for a more holistic approach to flood management, rather than blocking with sandbags and concrete. Reintroducing managed ditches to control standing water that work alongside hedgerows will also prevent soil erosion. Not only will it create valuable habitats for the dwindling song bird population, it would help increase biodiversity as a whole, and create a more permanent source of sustainable employment through the reintroduction of traditional rural crafts.

In March 2013 in the face of a great deal of opposition from local residents the London Borough of Enfield agreed to allow L&Q Property developers to build 231 dwellings on a heritage site in Cockfosters, North London. This site is 10 acres of Ancient Woodland containing Ancient Oaks and other trees hundreds of years old. It is also home to two European protected species, 6 species of bats and great crested newts. Other animals including badgers and foxes also make their home here. There are stag beetles, hedgehogs, water fowl, butterflies (one of which is on the endangered list), there is protected flora. There are two ponds, both of which are mentioned in the Domesday Book, and a Roman well. The planning consultation was flawed but we did not have the money to take on such large corporations in the High Court. Now, despite conditions being placed on the developer, they are already felling trees and planning demolition of the existing buildings next week. Natural England placed a condition on them when they granted the licenses for the bats and newts that NO work could be undertaken until a rigorous search of the site was undertaken between March and May. The developer and Enfield Council are clearly circumnavigating this condition and doing as they please. Enfield Council and Natural England MUST enforce these conditions.

Peter Lilley has been accused of lying and making deliberately misleading statements regarding fracking and its safety on national television (Channel 4 news 26/1/14). He was unable to adequately defend his statements. It is vitally important that any minister involved in such a sensitive area be trustworthy. He also has a conflict of interest as he is employed by Cayman Islands-based oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum and so has a vested interest in promoting fossil fuels and not investing in their alternatives.

This is not a scare story: Beverley's beloved common, Westwood, is under threat. There is a proposal to allow temporary access across a portion of the Westwood to permit the developers easy access to the old Westwood Hospital Site. If this were to happen this would set a precedent that could then be used by other developers to access other potential development sites adjacent to the Westwood, such as the Grammar School, Minster School, Archery Field, East Riding College, Longcroft Lower School, Longcroft Higher School and potentially Grosvenor Place. If any such access is granted, it is unlikely that it will ever be removed completely and damage will be done to the integrity of the Westwood as well as its fauna and flora: trees will be cut down, hedges broken through and grasslands compacted and altered forever. This, over time, will result in the loss, piece by piece, of the Westwood we know: a Westwood we have a duty to pass on to our children in the condition we inherited it. Beverlonians have protected our commons for centuries, are we really going to throw this away for the sake of six or so lorry movements per day over 18 months? If we do, we would be betraying those who fought for these commons in the past. There is a vociferous, ill-informed campaign promoting the idea of access across the Westwood, however, the emotive campaign they are running is full of omissions. The facts of the case are set out below. Town Route: Problems Congestion in the narrow streets; Increased traffic movements on these streets; Increased noise for the residents. Westwood Route: Problems The route of this access road will cross and damage ancient common land; The route will damage the existing grassland; The route will involve the removal of a section of species-rich hedgerow; The route will involve the removal of a small tree; There will be increased traffic movements on the Westwood; The temporary road will set a precedent. Town Route: Mitigation Measures The developers have said they will limit lorry movements to 12 per day during demolition ( c. 2 months); The developers have said they will limit lorry movements to 6 per day during the construction phase, 16 months; The developers will use a small lorry; There will be no lorry movements during the rush hours nor at school pick-up and drop-off times. Westwood Route: Mitigation Measures The developers say they will re-instate the grassland; They will replant the hedge; They will replant the tree. It would appear that the problems associated with the town route can be easily mitigated against and the very small number of lorry movements per day is more than reasonable, especially when you take into consideration the number of movements there used to be when the Westwood Hospital was open and when the new housing estate is built. These movements included ambulances, delivery vehicles, skip lorries, gritting lorries and patients being picked-up and dropped-off. Concern has also been raised regarding the danger to schoolchildren at Minster School. The developers appear to have taken this into account in their plans and will schedule no lorry movements during the rush hour or at school pick-up and drop-off times. In truth the biggest risk to school children is local residents speeding along The Leases or rat-running up Central Avenue and Thurston Road to get to Cartwright Lane. In terms of the access across the Westwood, there appears to very little that the developers can do to mitigate against the damage they will cause. Whilst they have said they will reinstate everything they damage, in ecological terms this is easier said than done and, in most cases, is impossible. Their route will destroy a species-rich hedge which cannot be replaced in our lifetimes. The problem of precedent cannot easily be undone, once the access route has been constructed. This will encourage other developers to do likewise in order to develop other sites, more difficult to access than the old Westwood Hospital site, by insisting on temporary access across the Westwood. This would open-up areas, such as Grosvenor Place and Minster School to development pressure.

Hillside Animal Sanctuary has offered to re-home feral goats from the eastern shore of Loch Lomond to prevent them being culled. Hillside urged RSPB Scotland to halt the cull, which is being carried out to protect Pollochro Woods. The area is viewed as a site of special scientific importance. RSPB Scotland have previously said they would consider alternative solutions in March, but that the cull will continue until then. They are now saying that they will continue with the cull in September. Wendy Valentine of Hillside Animal Sanctuary said it had offered to give the goats a home for the rest of their lives rather than have them shot. Ms Valentine, whose sanctuary in Norfolk is home to more than 2,000 rescued animals, added: "It is a shame that an organisation that is set up to look after the welfare of animals should take a stance that goats should be culled. "We have rounded up herds of Highland cattle that have gone wild and Highland ponies, so goats would not be any different. We have 70-80 of them already. Hillside's offer to re-home the goats follows an approach from the Scotland For Animals charity, which has also enlisted the help of Humane Wildlife Solutions, a Borders-based company specialising in pest control without killing. John Patrick, from Scotland For Animals said: "We have presented a do-able option that is not going to cost them (RSPB Scotland) any money. "I would have thought they would have jumped at the offer if they really are pro-conversation, pro-nature and pro-wildlife."

Our Ancient Woodlands have evolved over hundreds of years and cannot simply be replaced by new plantings of trees, no matter how many trees are planted for every one destroyed in an ancient woodland. These Ancient Woodlands have very complex relationships, for instance between some of our rarest Orchids and Fungi. But there are many such relationships which cannot be replicated in a new planting. These complex relationships between trees, flowering plants, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, worms, nematodes, bacteria and fungi would be destroyed if the destruction of these Ancient Woodlands were to be allowed.

We know that even exploratory drilling will constitute a high risk to our water, our environment, our health, our wildlife as well as involving a heavy lorry traffic and noise pollution and the processing of toxic water pumped out of the coal seams. Drilling will also threaten our buildings with partial subsidence, if these applications are successful they will pave the way to the industrialisation of our countryside.

Fracking is quite possibly one of the most dangerous forms of creating energy ever invented. Whilst drilling chemicals are released into the ground with the water that get released into the environment. The chemicals are supposed to stay in the concrete pipes but they rarely do... The pipes crack and the chemicals leak into the environment and into our drinking water. Also the chemicals are released into the atmosphere leaving people and animals to breath this toxic mixture of chemicals into their body. The result is illness, disability, cancers, unable to drink tap water, our animals dying and our plants dying. The result is a whole toxic mess... And then there's the earth tremors and earthquakes.