River campaigners take the fight to the capital
Plus legal challenge to carbon capture plan, massive re-wilding move and more...
Good morning! I’m Sarah Hartley and this is The Northern Eco weekly update. As you’ve received this newsletter then either you subscribed, or someone forwarded it to you. If the latter, then you can click on this handy little button below.
Among the many thousands of people who took to the streets of London at the March for Clean Water at the weekend were campaigners from Save Our Swale (SOS) and other local groups.
An estimated 15,000 people joined a range of environmental groups, including River Action, Greenpeace, the Wildlife Trusts and British Rowing, to demand tougher action on keeping the UK’s waterways clean.
An SOS spokeswoman said: “It was very heartening to be among so many committed water campaigners,” and she had this message for the new government.
“We hope those now in power watching the coverage of the march recognise the strength of feeling up and down the country. People want this mess sorted. It's the Government's job to sort it. No dithering, no tinkering. Just sort it or massively haemorrhage good will and and trust that you can change anything.”
The crowd included celebrities and well-known environmentalists such as broadcaster Chris Packham. He was one of those who criticised the Government for not mentioning climate or nature in its Budget.
Yesterday, March organisers, River Action called on supporters to keep the pressure up by inviting MPs to a briefing session at 11.30am today:
“We made our voice heard outside Parliament yesterday and, tomorrow, River Action and Surfers Against Sewage will be taking the march into the corridors of power.
We are hosting a drop in session and we need YOUR HELP to get as many MPs to come and hear the demands of the march first-hand. Please email your MP and ask them to attend the session.”
Campaigners are calling on the government to overhaul the water sector by reforming the regulatory system, to address illegal sewage dumping and end all other forms of water pollution.
To date, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has pointed to its new Water Bill as the way to address concerns with new powers to ban bonuses and bring criminal charges against law breakers. A spokesperson said: “We share the public’s anger on this issue and have taken immediate steps to reverse the tide on the unacceptable destruction of our waterways.”
In other news
🌳 More big news from last week when the Wildlife Trusts announced that they will buy part of the Duke of Northumberland’s son’s estate - the largest land sale in England for 30 years.
Craig Bennett, the chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, told the Guardian: “Our vision is to create an absolutely astonishing national flagship for nature recovery. It will be around two-and-a-half times the size of the [rewilded] Knepp estate and we are very excited to get ecosystems working again. If we get the whole site we will be looking at 9,500 acres.”
🐏 There’s still a lot of fallout from last week’s Budget. In this video, Rebecca Wilson, a fifth-generation farmer at GT Barton & Son between York and Harrogate takes on the Chancellor’s approach to inheritance tax with this explainer.
🌏 An important story reported in the newly relaunched Teesside Lead here on the same Substack platform where we publish. Leigh Jones writes that the Net Zero Teesside (NZT) project is currently subject to a legal challenge led by Dr Andrew Boswell, who claims the previous government’s approval of the scheme was based on "a large double-counting error" of the calculations of greenhouse gases the station may emit.
“Talking to The Teesside Lead about the news of Sleipner’s miscalculation, he said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should review the plans for carbon capture in the UK and pull the plug on the £22bn of funding announced for CCS schemes earlier this month.”
I’d recommend diving into the full story here and don’t forget you can download the Substack app to get updates like this as they happen.
⚡️ Talking of Teesworks….. North East Bylines’ Ray Cassey got a ‘golden ticket’:
“At 9.00am on 1 November, Teesworks organised the first of a series of free tours of their site. I was lucky to get a golden ticket for the first tour. Ben Houchen, Teesside’s answer to Willy Wonka, wasn’t available to conduct the tour, so his deputy Neil Young, manager of the Teesworks Skills Academy in Grangetown, filled in on this occasion.”
Read how he got on during the tour here.
🏭 Drax will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research, writes Gillian Ambrose in The Guardian.The new study found that the intensive forest management needed to source 7m tonnes of wood pellets from forests in the US to burn as fuel every year would erode the carbon stored in the ecosystems of these pine forests for at least 25 years.
⚡️A project to reduce environmental impact while boosting business opportunities is underway in Ryedale. Karen Darley reports at The York Press how North Yorkshire Council is currently installing solar PV panels and battery storage units at a total of 21 business units.
💦 A new project to clean up the sewers below York city centre has reduced pollution into the River Ouse, according to Yorkshire Water. Dylan Connell at The York Press has more.
“If, as Christians, we believe that God is the creator, then we have a clear responsibility to protect what he’s created and look after the planet.”
🔔 Peter Barron interviews the environmental lead for the Durham Diocese at The Northern Echo about the large network of church buildings looking to create a greener, more sustainable future.
🦋 Kate Bradbury at One Garden Against the World provides advice for anybody who wants to do more to help butterflies next year in this series about Stepping up for pollinators.
🌿 A new group that shares concerns for green matters and climate change is starting up in Amble, reports The Ambler.
📝 If you’re in business, you’ll already know how important and challenging it can be to keep up with environmental regulations. So I’m delighted to introduce this guest post from Tamma Carel at Newcastle based iCOR Systems to help.
🐄 North Yorkshire Council is asking for local knowledge and expertise in managing land and food production to shape a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for North Yorkshire and York, writes Karen Darley at The York Press.
⚰️ Members of pressure group Extinction Rebellion staged a funeral procession in Harrogate holding banners reading ‘insure our survival’ and ‘stop flooding our homes’, before reaching Howden Insurance. Flora Grafton reports from the protest at The Stray Ferret.
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