At the Labour Party conference, John McDonnell pledged that a future Labour government’s new breed of public-owned energy supply will be based on renewable power sources. In his keynote speech at the Labour Party annual conference today, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer said that the recent storms and flooding over recent months had been […]

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Gagging Charities and NGOs The theme of controlling information is one this Government has continued – see Chris Smith explaining how the Environmental Agencies were gagged. This decision continues that trend. The Guardian ‘Charities have condemned ministers for rejecting changes to the Lobbying Act which were made by a government-commissioned review body. Campaign groups say they […]

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MCZs Mary Creagh, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), said: “The Government has not adequately responded to our concerns around Marine Protected Areas. Specifically, it has failed to outline a plan which addresses the delays in completing the Marine Conservation Zone network, continued to exclude reference areas from these Marine Conservation Zones, and taken […]

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MCCIP news: ‘The MCCIP website has recently been updated with new marine climate change news and events. Below is a brief summary of the new items that have been added. For more details on all of the items listed below, simply go to www.mccip.org.uk and go to the relevant links in the ‘news and events’ […]

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Thanks to Phil Williamson The new HoC Science & Technology Committee met and they agreed to publish a Defra response (of 18 July) to issues raised re the OA inquiry: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/science-technology/Correspondence/170718-Coffey-to-Lamb-Ocean-acidification.pdf.  That was in response to the Committee’s letter to Defra of 26 April: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/science-technology/Correspondence/Letter-toTh%c3%a9r%c3%a8se-Coffey-MP-ocean-acidification-26-04-17.pdf.   It is up to the new Committee to decided whether the Defra/government […]

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Towns and cities along Britain’s coastline set to benefit from thousands of new jobs and millions of pounds more in visitor spending. Towns and cities along Britain’s coastline are set to benefit from thousands of new jobs and millions of pounds more in visitor spending after the government announced the next round of the Coastal Communities Fund today […]

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The following marine-related JNCC Reports have been published: Report 598 Monitoring guidance for marine benthic habitats Report 515 Physical Damage (Reversible Change) – Penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion Report 601 Physical damage (Reversible Change) – Habitat structure changes – removal of substratum (extraction) Report 602 Review […]

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