Fair Future actions RSS feed

End political donor secrecy

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:26:18 +0100

If we don't know who is giving politicians money we don't know if they are making decisions in the public interest or for the interests of their donors.

Political parties must not only be transparent but be seen to be transparent.

Democracy should not have strings attached.

We demand an end to donor secrecy.

Make planning transparent, fair, and democratic

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:05:37 +0100

In a survey conducted by Queen's University Belfast last year, nearly 80% of citizens thought that the system served them "poorly" or "very poorly."

The purpose of planning must be to make Northern Ireland more resilient, and value the real wealth of our nation:

a clean and thriving natural environment
local food and renewable energy
urban space that nurtures functioning, not dysfunctional, communities, and physical and emotional well-being
hubs of economic activity that result in a net increase of jobs and prosperity for all of our citizens.

Planning powers are due to be transferred to Local Councils. Friends of the Earth belives this could improve the planning system. People need to be confident in the system before powers can be transferred though.

Before people can feel the system will work for them:

the anonymity of donors to political parties should end
a binding code of conduct for Councillors should be implementation.

The transfer of powers is the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment.

Write to the Minister and ask him to postpone the transfer of powers to Local Councils until the anomynity of party donors has ended, and a code of conduct for Councillors has been implemented.

We can make the planning system work for people, the economy and the environment.

Get serious about green energy

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:28:02 +0100

Planning for climate change

Thanks to campaigning by Friends of the Earth, the Government has committed to writing a new Planning Policy Statement.

This means new planning rules for councils to use when making planning decisions about their area.

These will make tackling climate change a priority.

This is a fantastic step forward from Government, we would like to recognise their positive work here.

Local planning in action

We're now campaigning to ensure the new policy is strong enough to deliver climate change targets.

We also want communities to be at the heart of the planning system.

We're asking for the new policy to:

Set green energy targets
for council areas

Prioritise climate change
in councils' considerations

Create local benefit
by involving communities

Did you know?

Four turbines being built in Gartree will be owned by the community, providing enough clean energy to power around 4,500 homes
Energy4All

This would mean:

More buildings with green technologies
Like solar panels

Cities and towns heated efficiently
by using waste heat from power generation

Act now

Ask John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities, to ensure that new planning policy delivers our climate change targets.

Find out how else you can support the Get Serious About CO2 campaign.