Havant FOE Newsletter - November 2024

Southern Water has a new consultation out

This time it covers their plans for the next five years and it includes going ahead with effluent recycling at Budd’s farm (which was not agreed in 2019) and also with new schemes at Sandown on the Isle of Wight and at Littlehampton in West Sussex. So, this consultation a major opportunity to object to their plans.

We believe that they have not given serious consideration to alternative cheaper and more environmentally friendly options such as better water storage, extracting water from rivers at the tidal limit or investing in ways to prevent leaks and to encourage people to save water.

Instead of these they are proposing moving water from Norway in huge tankers if there is a severe drought before their effluent recycling schemes is completed in 2035.

Hopefully you will have responded to the previous consultation and seen our long list of objections to effluent recycling in Havant and storing the recycled effluent in Havant Thicket Reservoir before pumping it to Otterbourne. There seem to be no changes from the original plans in this new consultation.

If you object to effluent recycling plans, it’s really important that you send a response to DEFRA. You don’t need to fill in their questionnaire, as it’s probably better to send a letter with your objections, although if you do, please add comments.

All the advice you need on how to respond to the consultation is on the Havant Matters website.

You’ll need to respond by 4th December.

Also please add your name to our petition: Stop Plans for Drinking Southern Water’s Recycled Sewage

COP 29 Climate Talks

From 11th – 22nd November, world leaders will be gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan for the 29th UN climate summit, COP 29. We believe that pressure from ordinary people is crucial in getting them to take the action needed to prevent runaway climate change. There will be plenty of people from the oil industry there so we want our voices to be heard,.

So do please let the government know that you want real action to end fossil fuels.

The Climate Justice Coalition has come up with this petition

International Day of Action – 16th November

This is to call for effective policies at COP29 and we’d like to play our part in SE Hants. So, we will be gathering at various points around Portsmouth with the Portsmouth Climate Choir.

Our plan is to gather in Guildhall Square at 11 am, hear some songs and a couple of short talks, then move on to Commercial Road for about 11.30 to join with the Palestine Solidarity protestors outside Barclays Bank, then we’ll move on to Cascades about 12.15 pm and sing there.

Find out more here

March for Clean Water

3rd November

Turn up in blue and demand

• Reforming Regulation – conduct an immediate root-and-branch review of Ofwat & the Environment Agency to put a complete stop to any industry knowingly and wantonly polluting our waters for profit and greed.
• Enforcing the law – the laws and regulations are already in place that can end water pollution. The new Government must uphold and enforce them.
• Stopping ‘pollution for profit‘ – make sure ALL polluting industries invest here and now for the long term; upgrading infrastructure, reducing water wastage and leaks, helping farmers restore habitats, increasing efficient water use everywhere.

Book your seat on the Portsmouth coach on the Eventbrite website

The Climate & Nature Bill

Zero Hour’s campaign to get the Climate and Nature Bill into Parliament has had a massive boost when Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds Roz Savage agreed to champion it as a Private Members’ Bill.

The next step comes on 24th January, when the Bill will have its Second Reading. It needs 102 MPs to be present for the debate, otherwise it gets dropped. So please contact your MP and ask them if they’ll be there.

The bill makes it law to cut emissions very rapidly and reverse nature depletion by 2030. Written by scientists, this landmark legislation is in parliament and ready to go.

It just needs the support of MPs. Encouraging them to support this bill is a really concrete step we can take to press for meaningful, concerted action at national level to tackle the climate emergency.

This blog by Thalia Griffiths will tell you more about the bill, and what you can do to support it.

World on track for 3.1C warming, UN reports

Read comments by Mike Childs, FOE’s head of Policy

High Court rejects legal challenge over National Adaptation Plan

Friends of the Earth argued in the High Court in July that the current National Adaptation Programme (NAP) falls far short of what is legally required, with marginalised groups – such as older and disabled people – and those living in areas most exposed to rising global temperatures, disproportionately affected by the impacts of extreme weather and a deficient national adaptation programme.

Disappointingly, the High Court rejected our appeal and ruled that the government’s climate adaptation plan is lawful. They are now considering an appeal and asking the Government to amend it along the lines of recommendations from the Climate Change Committee.

Read more about the case

FOE upcoming events are listed at the bottom of this mailing

Learn about the planning process

Hope for the Future are holding a two-part online course demystifying planning, to help you engage both with the process itself and with your elected representatives.

The information is designed to allow you to campaign more effectively for the green light on local renewable projects, for palpable community benefits to projects, and for climate and nature to be properly integrated into developments such as housing and industrial buildings.

Course Dates: Part One: 12th and 14th November – Part Two: 26th and 28th November

More details can be found here

Havant Climate Alliance Meeting
(via Zoom)

Monday 4th November – 9.30am

Contact havclimate@gmail.com for the link if you’d like to join us on zoom, or if you wish to unsubscribe.