South Tyneside Environmental Protection - STEP

Bureaucrats admit the plans may destroy 'nationally recognised sites, landscapes and historic environments' as well as damaging 'biodiversity and water resources'. Officials also confess his schemes may increase 'air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, noise and vibrations, light pollution, dust and soils.' They also say these negative effects could 'occur repeatedly' and 'have impacts over the short, medium to long term', as well as during construction” dailymail.com/news/article-1…

Predictably,latest King’s Speech devoid of any nature content! But Zero Hour’s new initiative for a Nature and National Security Bill could help put that right. Do please get behind this!

I think this is your 5th 'reset'? Each time you think you know what voters want but you don't. In particular when it comes to nature and the environment. Voters do not want devlopers to be allowed to pay cash-to-trash habitats and create 'new nature' miles away. Voters do not want countryside in the Green Belt relabelled as misleading 'grey belt'. And voters do not want the sky high targets you're imposing on rural areas.

You were elected to protect the environment and green belt but instead you gave us yimbyism and ‘build baby build’ that no one asked for. If you want to save the Labour Party start with saving our green spaces.

Oh dear....

Brilliant, brilliant exposé by Alex Thomson @alextomo on @Channel4News last night, blowing the lid of the corrupt, and it is corruption of the @EnvAgency allowing water companies to walk away from criminal charges, jail time, unlimited fines and all for nothing more than a slap on the wrist and some blood money paid to local charities. It's time to put an end to this nonsense, it's time to hold people to account, it's time to send the fat cats to jail. channel4.com/news/the-dirty…

"Protesters criticise beach's water pollution." Well done the good people of South Shields. Bravo. 👏 But have you signed the petition yet? 250,000 here we come. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7626… bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

There’s been a conspiracy of silence on the cost of biodiversity loss. Ecosystem breakdown is one of the gravest threats to our security. If we don’t invest in nature recovery now, we’ll pay many times over in food price spikes, flooding, and instability at home and abroad.

They keep saying migrants are the reason you cannot get a home. Sit with the numbers for a second. There are 242,000 people in England facing the worst forms of homelessness. Around 32,000 asylum seekers are in hotels. That is the figure they want you to picture. That is the image they repeat. Now look at what they leave out. There are 998,000 empty homes in England. Over 265,000 have been sitting empty long term. Entire streets. Entire blocks. Locked up while people are told there is no space. Then there is land. Not green fields. Not the last bits of nature left around towns. Brownfield land. Former industrial sites. Places already built on and abandoned. Reports show almost 1.5 million homes could be built there. So the truth is uncomfortable for them. This is not a shortage created by migrants. It is a system that leaves homes empty while people sleep in temporary accommodation. It is a choice to ignore brownfield land while threatening green space. It is a failure of policy not an invasion of people. The numbers do not support the story they are selling. Every person in temporary housing and every asylum seeker in a hotel could be housed without touching a single piece of greenbelt. The capacity already exists. The land already exists. The homes already exist. Blaming migrants is easier. It is louder. It gets headlines. Fixing the system would require actually doing the work.

To be clear, this headline ought to read: Labour Government OVERTURNS Reform council to pave over County Durham countryside with steel and glass despite objections from both the public and their local authority

It’s World Curlew Day! 🪶 Great to welcome Cathy the Giant Curlew to Parliament. A bustling afternoon getting MPs and Peers to back the UK Curlew Action Plan. The decline of curlews is urgent. It’s time for the Government to act and back the plan. @CurlewAction @DavidGray

Lots of protests today against Labour's anti-nature policies. Most people don't want to see massive house building at the expense of nature and wildlife. express.co.uk/news/politics/…

The Cul-de-Sac That Used to Be Her Home. A female badger stands at the edge of a fresh tarmac driveway in the April twilight, her paws caked in the clay of a leveled hillside. "I have raised six generations in the dark earth beneath this spot," she grunts, her scent-marking glands working fruitlessly against a concrete kerb. "I know the exact root where the bluebells first break and the slope where the oak mast falls. Now, there is only a fence where my front door used to be. I am not lost—the world is." We often assume that wildlife can simply "move next door" when we build new housing estates, viewing animals as flexible commuters. In reality, badgers are deeply site-faithful. A social group may use the same sett for over a century. Right now in mid-April, sows are weaning cubs and require immense caloric intake. When a development goes up in months, it destroys 15 years of topographical memory. Displacement leads to "road-kill" spikes as confused animals attempt to navigate old paths that are now motorways. Practical Actions: Support Wildlife Corridors: Advocate for "badger gates" in new housing fences to allow ancestral passage. Report Sett Damage: If you see active digging near construction, ensure a license is in place. She isn't a "nuisance" in your garden; she is a refugee standing in her own living room.

We're supporting a petition asking the government to hold a referendum on public ownership of the water industry, created by the incredible @WindrushWasp The difference between this petition and our own is that this one is an official parliamentary petition and, if we can get it past 100k signatures, it will be considered for a debate, a potentially seismic moment. We have 47k already, an amazing start, but we want to go much further. Please take 1 minute today to sign and share this as widely as you can ⤵️ petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7626…

"Five UK water companies spent more than £32mn on appeal to raise bills." The Competition & Markets Authority ruled that 4 of those companies would be allowed to increase water bills by a further £463 million. You gamble £32m and you make a £431m return.... good days work I'd say... ft.com/content/0094ee…

How do we bring water into public ownership? @Feargal_Sharkey explains on Channel 4 News tonight 👇🤩🤩🤩 He is backing the new petition from @windrushwasp.bsky.social calling for a referendum so the public can decide 82% of us support PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

Yes another petition but super important..please sign ✍️..it’s asking a pause on house building targets imposed on councils so they can identify what housing is needed and identify where it’s appropriate to build, not what and where developers want to. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7622…

Are @UKLabour panicking because they’ve alienated so much of the electorate after deciding to listen to corporate developers and not #nature and environmental groups? Too late @EmmaforWycombe, its despicable to unnecessarily concrete our #greenbelts and countryside. independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Back public ownership of water here: actionnetwork.org/forms/water-be…

😍Feargal Sharkey's absolutely right. Public ownership of water is a no-brainer, And 82% of the public agrees. vist.ly/4ww54