Interesting Stuff - Petitions
This page provides WCA members with a selection of petitions that they might like to put their name to. We continue to develop this part of the website welcome suggestions from members of the WCA - please send us any petitions you would like to see included by clicking on the button below.
Sign the petition for green buildings! Come to the webinar on March 16th!
Make solar panels and low carbon heating systems mandatory in new buildings
The Government is failing to ensure that new buildings are fitted with solar panels or heated by low carbon systems. Every year large quantities of buildings with massive potential for solar PV or thermal are built without them and the buildings continue to be fitted with gas boilers to provide heating. The Government has said that new buildings must emit around 30 per cent less emissions compared to existing buildings. But, under their regulations poorly resourced local authorities may be hoodwinked by developers so that little emission reduction is actually achieved .
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Sign the petition by clicking here.
Government to do more to tackle climate change than just electric ports in new builds
Climate change is no longer 'just a problem of the future'; it’s already here & the effects are already happening, as so many people at COP this year attested. If its effects are not stopped/significantly slowed then MILLIONS of people around the world will die, either because of raised sea levels/extreme weather leading to flooding or droughts causing starvation.
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SIGN PETITION BY CLICKING HERE
CALL FOR WILTSHIRE COUNCIL TO DEVELOP AN URGENT POLLINATOR ACTION PLAN
Our native pollinators (bees and other pollinating insects) are in danger of going extinct due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. It is time for urgent action.
Under Sections 40 and 41 of the NERC Act 2006, local authorities are obliged to conserve biodiversity. Although there is a National Pollinator Strategy, it needs to be translated into local actions taken by local authorities. A number of councils (like Cornwall, Devon and Dorset) have already developed their own pollinator action plans. We want Wiltshire Council to urgently join this effort before it is too late.
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SIGN PETITION BY CLICKING HERE
Stop plans for a new coal mine in the UK
Right now there are plans to build the UK’s first deep coal mine in 30 years – a project that would undermine the UK’s chances of meeting its climate targets.
After intense public pressure and climate backlash the government has finally intervened and said it will review – after conducting a planning inquiry. But at the end of the day, the final call about the climate-wrecking mine will rest with the government.
When that time comes, we need to ensure the government makes the only sensible decision: stop plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria now - and commit to ending the era of coal in the UK.
Help Greenpeace keep up the pressure by adding your name. SIGN THE PETITION
Stop plans for 1,200 houses on Salisbury Road, Amesbury
A property developer has submitted proposals to Wiltshire Council to build 1,200 new houses on the beautiful green fields next to Salisbury Road.
Join the campaign to fight these proposals and tell Wiltshire Council that this development is unnecessary and unwanted by local residents.
More houses on Sailsbury Road will cause:
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More traffic on roads that were not designed to carry the capacity of thousands more cars every day
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Further strain on our schools and GP surgeries which already struggle to cater for existing residents
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Ecological damage to species living in and around the River Avon
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An irreversible blot on the protected landscapes and world-famous heritage sites surrounding Amesbury
Protect the Drews Pond Wood area
This petition of residents of Devizes asks that ten areas of open space connected with the old Roundway Hospital site are designated as Local Green Space through the current Neighbourhood Plan review due to their importance for wildlife, amenity value as well as historical significance.
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For more information and to sign the petition click here.
Don't build on this Wiltshire Floodplain!
This plan conflicts with the UK Government’s policy for climate change adaptation as set out in its National Adaptation Communication to the UN ahead of the 2021 climate change summit in Glasgow, which says: “Current planning policy is very effective at limiting inappropriate development in floodplains. For example, in 2018/2019, 99.4% of new homes included in planning applications were determined in line with Environment Agency (EA) advice on flood risk.”
To approve this plan in a year that the UK hosts a vital international conference on climate change would be a damaging blemish on the UK’s otherwise strong record in building climate-resilient infrastructure.
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For more information and to sign the petition click here.
Protect the right to protest for a green, fair and peaceful world
From blocking destructive oil drilling to disrupting the HQs of climate-wrecking corporations and protecting sealife from harmful fishing vessels, Greenpeace uses non-violent direct action to bring about change. We protest because politicians and companies do not always act in the public interest. Non-violent actions help us to push important issues up the agenda and to win campaigns that protect our planet.
Right now the government are trying to put a stop to all of that. They’re rushing through a new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in Parliament. The bill threatens the basic right to protest and gives more power to the police at a time when serious questions are being asked about them abusing the powers they already have.
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For more information visit the Greenpeace website on the LINK
Save Warminster's biodiversity for future generation enjoy
Sustainable Warminster is calling on locals to help stop the houses being built on land off Damask Way.
Sustainable Warminster and Warminster Town Council have both objected to the plans by developers Backhouse Ltd to build 28 new homes on land east of Damask Way, east of Upper Marsh Road and north of Smallbrook Lane.
Sarah Walters, of Sustainable Warminster, said: "Warminster is soon to lose another important area of green space if Wiltshire Council give the go-ahead to the building of 28 houses at the proposed Damask Way site.
For more information and see the petition follow this LINK
Wiltshire Council plan to build 7,500 new houses (with 10,000 plus additional vehicles) and a large distributer road on unspoilt, ecologically significant parts of North Wiltshire.
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Given the declared Global Climate Emergency, it is astonishing that the Council would even consider building on land that is so vital to our future and that would undermine the battle against climate change. In fact, we believe that in the midst of a global Climate Emergency, unsustainable development of this kind should not be permitted.
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To all European Union leaders: Don't let the Amazon burn!
Often with the blessing of far-right President Bolsonaro, gangs of illegal farmers are burning down swathes of the Amazon rainforest. Many indigenous people standing in their way have been murdered.
We have to stop this insanity. And we can.
President Bolsonaro is desperate to close a multimillion-dollar trade deal with the European Union, but with the forest ablaze, EU leaders are considering last-minute changes to build Amazon protections into the deal.
This would force Brazil to clean up its act to trade with some of the world’s biggest economies. Let’s not leave the Amazon to burn -- add your name to call for Europe to act, and when this is huge, we’ll launch opinion polls and deliver our voices to key decision makers and the media.
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View the petition on this LINK
Ask the Church of England to grow more trees on their land
Doubling tree cover is vital to tackling the climate and ecological crisis. But England’s biggest landowners don’t have anywhere near enough trees on their land.
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Right at the bottom of the list is the Church of England and the Prince of Wales.
The Church’s investment arm – the Church Commissioners – has just 3% woodland cover on its vast estates. The Prince’s Duchy of Cornwall estate does a little better at 6%. But both are well below England’s national average of 10%, which is tiny compared to the EU average of 38%.
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Sign the petition HERE.
Midsomer Norton Against Gas-Fuelled Power Station
Residents of Midsomer Norton, Somerset are deeply concerned about the prospect of Conrad Energy's gas-fuelled power station being built on the Midsomer Enterprise Park 175 metres from the local primary school. The power station will emit 3.6 tonnes of CO2 per hour, the equivalent of 400 cars driven at 30mph for an hour. If used at full capacity, it will increase the total current emissions in Midsomer Norton by 70%, or the same as the annual emissions from 6,700 cars.
We accept it has already got planning but we are asking Conrad Energy to replace the planned gas-fuelled power station with energy storage units, as has been adopted in Bristol and two other UK locations.
Residents have prepared a petition to be presented to Conrad Energy. Co-signed by local residents, businesses, schools, environmental groups and Extinction Rebellion local groups, we now have over 1000 signatories on the petition acquired in just one week - a significant achievement! Link to petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/a-big-no-to-use-of-fossil-fuels?bucket=&source=whatsapp-share-button&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=whatsapp&share=8ed12b0d-fdd0-4f50-9332-fbe101bfb707
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Please would you lend us your support and agree to be a signatory to the letter we are sending Conrad Energy to accompany the petition? The letter is attached as a pdf.