Successful Campaigns

UPDATE: Bristol Council have responded to our concerns and are trialling using non-toxic pesticides for a year instead of Glyphosate!

26/04/25 Back in 2022, you kindly signed our petition calling on Islington Council to simplify planning rules to allow more energy efficiency upgrades in listed and conservation area homes, for both owners and renters. For three years, thanks to your more than 2000 signatures, our campaign group has lobbied hard for the Council to modernise its approach and strike a better balance between conservation and energy efficiency. In the autumn, the Council will finally publish a brand new set of rules. Although progress has been slower than promised and the first draft document has been flawed, we are pleased that many of our recommendations for a more user-friendly and cost-effective approach to planning will be adopted. https://www.letstalk.islington.gov.uk/draft-climate-action-supplementary-planning-document It took a huge collective effort by residents and experts to get us this far. We are particularly grateful to Chris Procter, author of a seminal climate emergency conservation area toolkit, for his meticulous critiques of the council’s work and getting the council to rectify important gaps like accepting slimline vacuum glass for windows. Having got this far, it is now time to end our campaign. However, Chris Procter will continue to lead the way with both the Council and residents on all things retrofit. So if you wish to explore retrofit opportunities for your home please feel free to get in touch with him at [email protected] https://www.procter-rihl.com/ In other news, our co-founder Leyla Boulton was recently elected councillor for the City of London's Bassishaw ward, where she will continue to campaign for better and more sustainable use of buildings. In the meantime she’s thrilled to have installed solar panels on her roof in Islington. Thank you again for your support and happy retrofitting! Leyla Boulton and Anne-Marie Huby Co-founders The Green Conservation Campaign

We won! British Gas reversed their decision to increase the minimum top-up amount for customers on pay-as-you-go tariffs. They’ve slashed the amount from £5 back to £1. This means people will no longer be forced to decide between spending their last £5 before payday on heating their home, or putting food on the table. And it’s thanks to the 91,000 of us who signed a huge petition, and thousands of us who spoke up and shared our experiences directly with British Gas. The 38 Degrees staff team met the British Gas CEO, and took these stories straight to him. Preet Kaur Gill, the MP who started this campaign on the 38 Degrees website, said: “This is a vital win for the thousands of people affected by British Gas’s decision to raise the minimum pre-pay top-up. I am so thankful to 38 Degrees and the 91,000 people who signed our petition. It would not have been possible without them.”

On 4 November we handed in our petition to NSDC's Castle House, along with an envelope of the Sycamore trees' seeds and a letter from the trees asking for their legacy to continue. We had a huge crowd chanting 'FREE THE TREES' as local children handed in our total 6,081 signatures. It was a real magical community moment. Just twenty minutes after handing in the petition, NSDC formally voted to preserve the trees and Library Garden for good at an Extraordinary Council Meeting. Newark residents and visitors are in huge relief from the outcome. It's been such an emotional rollercoaster for our community, but team spirit, love and passion prevailed.

UPDATE - 03/07/14 We did it, the camp is saved. The Management Committee of the Salford Children’s Holiday Camp has rescinded its decision to close the camp. We would like to thank Salford schools, the local business community and charitable organisations for their support in helping us reach this decision.

We won! On Friday the 11th of October after more than 80,000 of us piled in we managed to get these cleaners the real Living Wage!

Great news! 03/11/22 The news we have all been waiting for has at last arrived! The Port of Dover recently announced that it has abandoned its plans to dredge the Goodwin Sands for landfill for their port development. As you can imagine, after six and a half years of campaigning this news is extremely welcome as it clearly shows that development does not need to come at the expense of the environment. We would like to thank you all for your encouragement, donations and support, without which we would not have achieved this positive outcome. This campaign has definitely been a huge joint effort. We would like to recognise the support provided by our MP Natalie Elphicke who understood both the need for the port development and our concerns for the marine environment. We have no doubt that she was instrumental in encouraging the Port of Dover to source the necessary landfill elsewhere. Despite this result being a vindication of all we have fought for, we know this is just a battle won, not the whole war and we will not be resting on our laurels. We are acutely aware that assurances need to be sought from all the major stakeholders including The Crown Estate, the Environment Agency and the Marine Management Organisation that they will never allow the Goodwins to be exploited ever again. Thank you again for staying with us over the past six years and we look forward to keeping you updated on our continued work to Save Our Sands. Best wishes, Joanna and Fiona

The £2 fare cap has been extended and a further £80m has been made available to support critical bus services in England! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64678990

After over two years of campaigning and thousands of people signing this petition, the Chancellor has closed the holiday let tax loophole! Since 2019, nearly 36,000 homes around England have been lost to the tourist industry, and many more in Wales and Scotland. This announcement should help make more homes available for local people, which will make rents more affordable. Thanks to everyone to who got involved and helped us bring attention to this issue by signing the petition: you made this victory possible.

UPDATE - 06/04/17 I’ve just received some fantastic news: the Curzon Mayfair is no longer under threat of closure. The developers and cinema have come to an agreement, and so the venue will continue to operate as normal. I therefore want to say a huge thank you for getting behind the campaign to save the cinema. Without your support and the 27,000 others who signed the petition, we almost certainly wouldn’t be making this announcement today. It shows that by pulling together, we can help protect the West End’s cultural heritage.