XR South East Climate justice, action and updates from the South East

XR South East

Climate justice, action and updates from the South East

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Hot Desks, Cold Comfort: The South East’s Overheating Schools Need More Than a Fan
Campaign Roundup

Hot Desks, Cold Comfort: The South East’s Overheating Schools Need More Than a Fan

South East classrooms are overheating, flooding and waiting for retrofit while councils keep the worst of the data behind the gate. Here’s how parents, carers and rebels can turn the school run into a climate campaign in 2026.

Sorted, Shipped, Vanished: Where the South East's Recycling Actually Goes
Campaign Roundup

Sorted, Shipped, Vanished: Where the South East's Recycling Actually Goes

Your blue bin gets collected, waved off, and then the paper trail goes quiet. This is what happens to South East recycling once it leaves the kerb — and why "we recycle 50%" is not the climate flex your council thinks it is.

Plugged Out: Who's Jumping the South East's Grid Queue — and How Rebels Can Push Back
Opinion

Plugged Out: Who's Jumping the South East's Grid Queue — and How Rebels Can Push Back

Everyone's arguing about the solar farm in the field. Almost nobody is arguing about the fenced compound down the lane that decides whether it ever gets switched on. Here's how the grid connection queue really works in the South East — and who's quietly skipping it.

Rooftops First: The South East's Solar Boom Is Looking in the Wrong Direction
Opinion

Rooftops First: The South East's Solar Boom Is Looking in the Wrong Direction

Another solar farm application, another parish meeting, another fight framed as fields versus climate. But the South East's real solar argument isn't farmland against panels — it's about who owns the sun when it finally lands on a roof, a car park or a warehouse in your town.

The A27 Bypass Is a Carbon Decision Wearing a Traffic Cone
Campaign Roundup

The A27 Bypass Is a Carbon Decision Wearing a Traffic Cone

The A27 Arundel Bypass is being sold as a congestion fix. But once you unpack induced demand and the scheme's carbon ledger, it looks a lot like a decision to lock in more driving for decades. Here is how South East rebels can pull the thread.

The Shed Belt: Who Actually Signed Off the South East's Warehouse Boom?
Opinion

The Shed Belt: Who Actually Signed Off the South East's Warehouse Boom?

Crest a rise on the A2 or the M20 and the new skyline is corrugated. Mega-sheds are swallowing green-belt farmland across the South East faster than any housing scheme, and the approvals keep coming with a smile and a jobs figure. Here's who is saying yes — and how to make them say it out loud, in public, with you in the room.

The Survey Has Closed. The Decision Was Already Made.
Opinion

The Survey Has Closed. The Decision Was Already Made.

Across the South East, councils are wrapping climate decisions in engagement exercises with no obvious exit. Here’s how to spot the delay, test whether your feedback actually changed anything, and turn consultation paperwork into accountability pressure.

Waiting for Dirt: The South East's Allotment Queues Are a Land Justice Problem
Campaign Roundup

Waiting for Dirt: The South East's Allotment Queues Are a Land Justice Problem

Across the South East, people are sitting on allotment waiting lists for years — sometimes long enough to watch a child start school and finish primary. That queue isn't an accident of popularity. It's what happens when land is treated as an asset instead of infrastructure, and rebels and community growers are starting to say so out loud.

The Quote That Never Comes: Inside the South East’s Insurance Retreat
Opinion

The Quote That Never Comes: Inside the South East’s Insurance Retreat

Insurers are not just hiking premiums across Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire — some are quietly walking away. This is what uninsurability looks like, who it hits first, and how climate-justice campaigners can force the industry into the light.

Eight Miles to a Bus Stop: The South East's Transport Deserts Are a Climate Justice Problem
Campaign Roundup

Eight Miles to a Bus Stop: The South East's Transport Deserts Are a Climate Justice Problem

Across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and the edges of the Thames Valley, bus routes are disappearing quietly — a timetable notice taped to a shelter, a consultation nobody heard about. It isn't just inconvenient. It pushes people into cars, hikes emissions and lands hardest on those who can least afford it. Here's the 2026 picture, and what rebels can do about it.

The Cloud Isn’t Weightless: Inside the South East’s Data Centre Land Grab
Opinion

The Cloud Isn’t Weightless: Inside the South East’s Data Centre Land Grab

Every new data centre in the South East arrives with a glossy promise of green power and local jobs. But behind the planning application sits a very physical bargain: water, land, grid capacity and decades of energy demand. It’s time residents and councils read the small print.

A Toast to Whom? The Land, Water and Labour Behind the South East’s Wine Boom
Opinion

A Toast to Whom? The Land, Water and Labour Behind the South East’s Wine Boom

Kent, Sussex and Surrey are being sold as England’s new wine country, with warming temperatures dressed up as a business opportunity. But behind the tasting-room gloss sits a harder question: who gets the land, the water and the profits — and who carries the risk?

Smoke and Mirrors: The South East's Incinerator Boom Won't Be Burnt Away Quietly
Campaign Roundup

Smoke and Mirrors: The South East's Incinerator Boom Won't Be Burnt Away Quietly

A new wave of waste incinerators is being sold to the South East as 'energy recovery' — but the carbon accounting hides a dirty habit. Here's how local campaigns are fighting back, and how you can track the next planning application or pollution permit before the first lorry rolls in.

Read the Vote, Not the Press Release: A South East Guide to Your MP's Climate Record
Opinion

Read the Vote, Not the Press Release: A South East Guide to Your MP's Climate Record

MPs are very good at sounding green in a newsletter and very bad at voting like it. This is a practical, slightly cynical guide to reading your South East MP's actual climate record — and turning what you find into action at the next surgery.

Billions in the Balance: Who Really Decides Where South East Pension Money Goes
Campaign Roundup

Billions in the Balance: Who Really Decides Where South East Pension Money Goes

Your council pension fund is one of the biggest pots of money in the region — and some of it is still tied to fossil fuel expansion. Here's where the decisions get made, what the funds actually hold, and how to get in the room this winter.

The Runway Con: South East Airports Are Selling Growth, We're Paying in Carbon
Opinion

The Runway Con: South East Airports Are Selling Growth, We're Paying in Carbon

Gatwick wants a second runway, Farnborough wants more private jets, and a string of smaller aerodromes are quietly expanding freight and charter flights. The word doing all the work is growth. Here's the maths behind the brochure — and the live fights you can still get into.

Cold Front: Why the South East's Real Climate Fight Happens Indoors
Opinion

Cold Front: Why the South East's Real Climate Fight Happens Indoors

We can shut a road in twenty minutes flat. Can we put insulation in a Victorian terrace? Fuel poverty across Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire is a climate-justice issue dressed up as a housing technicality — and the retrofit agenda has stalled long enough.

Before the Banner: A South East Protest Law Primer for 2026
Campaign Roundup

Before the Banner: A South East Protest Law Primer for 2026

Conditions, stop-and-search, lock-on offences and what happens in custody — a plain-English run through the legal terrain facing climate activists in Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire this year. Not legal advice, but the groundwork you want in your head long before you need it.

When the Sea Comes for the South East: A Rebel’s Field Guide to Rising Tides
Campaign Roundup

When the Sea Comes for the South East: A Rebel’s Field Guide to Rising Tides

Sea-level rise is not a distant scenario for Kent, Sussex, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. This field guide maps the coastal flashpoints, the gaps in 2026 adaptation plans, and how South East rebels can back local campaigns without barging in.

Every Body In: A South East Checklist for Inclusive Rebellion
Opinion

Every Body In: A South East Checklist for Inclusive Rebellion

If our actions only work for people who can walk five miles, stand for hours and cope with noise, then we are not building a movement for everyone. Here is a practical South East checklist for making rebellion genuinely accessible.