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Many people, of all ages and from all backgrounds, are adversely affected when a local library is closed: • As well as a place from which to borrow books, the local library provides information and free ICT. It’s a place to meet friends and join social activities such as, reading groups, bounce & rhyme sessions, storytelling sessions etc. • Children need libraries to support their literacy and reading development. The library also provides them with a place to study, with staff that can help them with their homework.The Summer Reading Challenge ensures that children continue to develop their reading skills during the long summer break. • There are many people, especially the elderly, and those living alone, who value the opportunity offered by the library and its staff, for conversation and companionship. • The local library is a place where vulnerable members of the community feel safe and receive support. • There are very few indoor, public spaces which are warm and welcoming, where one can linger without spending money. • People visit the local library if they need help; for example with form filling, letter writing, using ICT, or when they need information that they are unable to find elsewhere. There are still large numbers of people who do not have access to IT, other than in their local library. • Job seekers, make use of the library’s ICT to look for and apply for jobs; they also borrow books on job seeking techniques, writing CVs, interview skills etc., and books to help them improve their work based skills. An economic downturn is the worst time to close libraries. • When Universal Credit is introduced applications will have to be made online, those without computers at home will need to make use of ICT in their local library. • Many visitors to the county use the libraries for tourist information; they also value the ICT for communicating with friends and family back home and for printing airline, coach and train tickets for their return journeys. • The provision of ‘Books on Prescription’ supports the work of the health service. • Researchers in, for example, Family History and Local History rely on the library to provide them with the relevant source materials.

The Ministry of Justice’s current consultation on legal aid – available at https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-legal-aid – will damage our justice system beyond repair. We only have until Tuesday 4 June to respond in full to the consultation paper. Imagine that you or someone you care about was arrested and risked being charged with a criminal offence. You would have access to high quality, publicly-funded legal representation, provided by a lawyer you have confidence in, and receive an individual service, often at a time of great stress. We have a justice system for which we are respected and admired all over the world, in which we treat people as innocent until they are proven guilty before a court, in a fair and transparent trial. As Chairman of the Bar Council and as a criminal practitioner, I know first-hand how important effective access to justice is. If the Government’s proposals go through, all that will change. Vast contracts will be issued to a small number of whichever organisations can offer block legal services at the lowest price. It is more than likely that new organisations will enter into the market; organisations which have no track record in law; only in business. Quality and an individual service will disappear. There will be no choice and the only driver will be price. Instead of having equal access to justice, however much money you have, we will have a two-tier system for those who can afford quality representation and those who can’t. Worse still, the introduction of a system which will hit female and Black, Minority and Ethnic (BME) practitioners the hardest, and lead to a less diverse legal profession, is against the public interest. Please sign this petition to join us in fighting for a justice system we can be proud of not just the cheapest the Government thinks it can get away with. Justice is worth more than that.

Only a full public inquiry can now get to the bottom of this story. We need to know how local and central government dealt with the Trump Organisation, what was offered by whom and when, and we need to establish why planning guidelines and environmental regulations were simply unable to protect our community and the unique environment we live in. Finally, we need to know what changes can be made so the planning system again works like it is supposed to.