• A bypass tunnel - the only viable solution to the Rest and Be Thankful problems.
    To allow daily movement for the individual, business, visitors, all people who wish to access Argyll and Bute via the A83
    2,299 of 3,000 Signatures
    Created by Jane Ireland
  • Stop the war on cash: Intervene to stop cash machines closing at a record rate
    The news that cash machines are closing at a record rate is alarming. Over two million Britons rely on cash for their day-to-day shopping, including many of society’s most vulnerable, such as older people and those on low incomes. And cash is essential for many small businesses. Removing dozens of isolated machines will leave many communities entirely without access to their money. The banks claim this is just a reflection of changed consumer behaviour - with lots of people not using cash anymore. But a majority of people choose to use cash regularly, and the public’s demand for cash is greater than ever before - 77 percent of people consider access to a free-to-use cash machine as essential to their lives. This is about banks putting the cash machine network under pressure to cut costs, combined with card companies’ efforts to make cash machines unprofitable. The regulator needs to step in to make sure our voices as consumers are being represented.
    2,855 of 3,000 Signatures
    Created by Rachel Oliver Picture
  • Help Fair Trade
    Some Fair trade organisations are struggling to balance their books. I do not want to lose Fair trade organisations. They provide help in overseas countries in a way which matters. These organisations give assistance to producers so that they may work and provide for their families and community. This means that they can work their way out of poverty, and with dignity and pride. I am a fair trader in a church in S E London. The goods we sell are of a nice quality, and we are helping in a small way. I, for one, want to see the UK Fairtrade organisations continue with their vital work - bringing help to where it really matters. Help to the producers themselves. We need to bring this to the attention of the UK Government. The aim of the petition is for the Government to help Fairtrade providers to continue. Yes this will include financial help by grant or loan initially. More importantly, the government needs to work with Fairtrade organisations to craft long term trading deals and good practice. The organisations' wealth of experience and trading partnerships should be a model for the government to use in overseas aid.
    157 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Richard M Brown
  • Remove all plastic gloves from petrol station forecourts
    These gloves are pervasive. They are single use throw away products. Plastic is polluting and poisoning the planet. The gloves get dumped into a general waste bin and do not get recycled, they will find their way into the oceans eventually. At best they will go to landfill and add further methane to the atmosphere. These companies need to find a better solution.
    124 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Bronach Johnston
  • Removing the rules on flasks at the Amex
    With the upcoming ban on flasks, we find this unacceptable for many people. Some people bring soup to a game (something that is not sold at the stadium), some people bring tea or coffee as they cannot afford to buy Hot Drinks at the stadium. (This may be a family or someone on a reduced income). A flask at football is a right of passage and is for refreshment purposes not as a weapon. How many times has a football player been hit with a rogue flask? Is this really for safety or a way of increasing revenue from drink sales?
    145 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Richy Smith
  • Remove The Anti-Poor Notice At Brighton Station
    Many of you would have seen the story in today's Argus about the notice at Brighton Station asking commuters not to help beggars. Here's the Argus article: http://www.theargus.co.uk/…/16412688.commuters-are-asked-n…/ I must confess I never saw that sign, mainly because I seldom use the trains. I mostly cycle. But reading about it in the Argus this morning got my blood boiling. It deeply offended me that in austerity-ravaged Britain, where more and more families are forced to resort to food-banks, and where people are increasingly going into debt just to provide their kids with the basics, that anybody or company could be so heartless as to advice against Brightonians helping each other. I've lived here for one year, and I have never lived in a more welcoming, generous and kind city. The people here look out for each other and are happy to help people worse off than themselves. This notice is a blot on our city. It reflects badly on us. When people visiting us from all over Britain and the world arrive at the station, that is one of the first things they see. IT MUST BE REMOVED by GOVIA, the company that runs the station. I am trying to put together an effort to force them to remove it and replace it with a notice that reflects our city for the kind and generous city it is. PLEASE sign this petition.
    557 of 600 Signatures
    Created by Johnbosco Nwogbo
  • Don't cut funding for children's school buses
    In September Thetford Academy are cutting funding to Lewis Coaches so that they no longer run the bus service for our children to get to school. I have no other way of getting my 12 year old to and from school. And many other parents are in the same position. Please don't compromise the safety or education of our children.
    180 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Amanda Walton
  • Save Strongroom
    Founded by Richard Boote in 1984, Strongroom stands as one of Shoreditch’s longest running establishments, enriching a then-sparse area of London and aiding its evolution into the arts & technological center we know it as today. Built as a single studio out of a disused zip factory, the Strongroom grew organically to become 12 world-class music studios, 6 edit suites, 8 offices and an award-winning Bar & Kitchen, serving the community as a shared gathering point with an open courtyard dense with foliage planted by Richard himself. In recognition of his contributions to the regeneration of Shoreditch, Richard was awarded the Mayor of Hackney’s Businessman of The Year award in 2006, and Strongroom has been nominated for and awarded countless studio accolades in its 30+ years as a commercial facility to the likes of Spice Girls, The Prodigy, Nick Cave, Radiohead, Björk, Depeche Mode and many more. On Strongroom, music producer Ben Baptie says: “Strongroom Studios is where I work from all of my creative output. From the moment I first started working here I realised that this was a special place, and not just for me, but for recording artists too. The cultural relevance of Strongroom is one that cannot be ignored when looking at the musical output in the UK. From the original Jamie Reid artwork to the huge outside area to the characteristics of each studio within the building. This is a place where art is made. It is a creative space. It is not something that can be planned or purposefully created, as, like all great art, it is inspired, refined and a one off. Making records is not an easy or quick thing but Strongroom is a place where you feel comfortable doing that, and that is not to be ignored. It takes so much hard work from so many talented people over a long period of time to make that happen, and with each record made here it's importance only grows.” The application to redevelop a small warehouse space into a six-storey office block estimates a continuous construction period of 18+ months. Dust and debris from any construction operation near a recording studio would be deleterious, but for something on this large a scale along the adjoining wall to the premises the noise and vibration alone could put the studios completely out of business. It would also disastrously impact the communal courtyard, and the final construction cast the amenity into complete shadow. The planning application as submitted can be found here: https://bit.ly/2MFQkHB This development may well lead to the closure of Strongroom Studios, and significantly affect trade for the Strongroom Bar and Kitchen, as well as potentially displacing the 18 other businesses based on site, therefore planning permission should not be granted for the following reasons: 1. As a recording studio, and therefore a noise-sensitive environment, any long period of construction in the vicinity would be detrimental but the proposed 18-months of work along the joining wall would ensure constant loud-level and low-frequency leakage into studios that would be picked up by acoustic instruments and microphones. This would render recording services unusable. 2. The constant loud-level and low-frequency leakage would make critical listening impossible, therefore rendering any mixing services also unsuable. 3. This would not only result in loss of earnings for Strongroom studios but would affect, and almost certainly displace, the many other music companies based onsite in studios and offices. 4. The risk to extremely rare and fragile equipment, such as vintage microphones and recording consoles, is a serious concern. As recording equipment, particularly those in studios sharing a party wall, will be incredibly vulnerable to the structural vibration through the ground and walls of the building. 5. Any continued construction work to a building along the party wall would create huge amounts of sustained noise, constant low frequency vibration, dust and debris into the courtyard and other open areas. Both unattractive and unsafe for dining customers of the Strongroom Bar & Kitchen in the courtyard amenity, this threatens a fundamental attraction of its business. 6. The 6 storey building would throw the sunny, leafy, vibrant courtyard amenity almost completely into shade, leaving a major attraction of the complex to onsite offices, studio residents and Strongroom Bar & Kitchen customers by the wayside. 7. Rising rents and redevelopments of this kind are pushing creative industries out of Shoreditch. Strongroom has fought hard to push back against this trend of gentrification and strive to keep our studio and amenity spaces inviting and affordable for creative companies. 8. It is imperative and part of the stated policy of Hackney that creative industries are an important asset to the development and continuation of cultural growth in the area. Developments such as this will kill culture. 6. As yet there has been no consultation with the applicants on any issues facing Strongroom and no compliance with the Party Wall Act. They are already over 250 letters of objection with Hackney and letters of support will follow from industry organisations as well as further objectors. The purpose of this petition is to widen out the issues and let people have their say. There is a point of philosophy here to be explored which is, to what extent should a development be allowed if it will seriously and deleteriously impact the livelihood and success of a business such as a recording studio which brings not only revenues and employment but also kudos to an area. We feel that the planning application and the process being followed is unjust and we would invite you to record your agreement by signing the petition. Please keep signing and sharing the petition! We will keep you informed of progress throughout. Many thanks The Strongroom Team
    6,156 of 7,000 Signatures
    Created by Jake Murray
  • Wetherspoons Royal Pavilion fails on disabled toilet facilities
    Ramsgate's new super-sized Wetherspoons, Britains biggest, can hold up to 1,400 people. They have spent a whopping £4.5M on refurbishing the building and is located over three floors. The most stunning of which is a 6,500 sq ft sun terrace, on the top. On Friday 22nd June, my husband and I, plus another lady in a wheelchair, had a lovely meal on the top floor sun terrace. When we went to use the toilets, we were astounded how small and ill equipped, the disabled toilet was on this floor. How did it ever pass at planing, when a person in a wheelchair cannot fit inside? The main toilet area is so spacious, 40 people could stand inside it without any difficulty. It also has a dedicated bar stool area for women to touch their makeup up. It is a state of the art toilet, yet it does not have a fully functional wheelchair accessible toilet. My husband helped my friend and I with the doors, external and internal and someone actually reported him for being inside the ladies toilet, even though two wheelchairs were present. He felt so embarrassed and was only trying to help two ladies reach the toilet. Wetherspoons clearly have more than enough room to build an outside, independently accessed, disabled persons toilet. As it stands, there is only one accessible toilet on the lower ground floor, bearing in mind there is a capacity of 1,400 people at any one time. Just the one?, really. It is shameful that a large company like Wetherspoons has not considered the size and location of these toilets more adequately. Realistically, one is needed on every floor. Disabled people cannot always wait in a queue for the lift. Wetherspoons need to urgently remodel the one on the top floor, amalgamate it with the cubicle next door and make them both deeper, to allow a wheelchair to turn around inside and for the person to be able to lock the door. The external door also needs an electronic button to open the door automatically. After all, it might help them from finding someone else's husband inside, needing to keep a guard on their wife's toilet door. When I approached Head Office, I received the following reply. "It appears the toilet you visited was one of the general toilets but has one cubicle with a hand rail in". Which in basic language means this is not a disabled persons toilet. How can they say a toilet where the door is wider than the others and has a distinct handle plus a large visible symbol of a wheelchair in the outside of it, is not a disabled toilet but a general one? Even the single grab rail is far too low to be of any help to anyone. Maybe Wetherspoons were trying to get away with making people think they had two accessible toilets, when in fact they only have the one, located on the bottom floor. Having it down there prevents all disabled people from enjoying the sunny terrace on top. I believe every disabled person should have equality and the opportunity to enjoy this amazing sun terrace. In a building of this size there should be more than one accessible toilet and they should not have to use a lift to get there. Come on Wetherspoons, make some changes now please.
    268 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Tracey Seal
  • Prevent the closure of Marks and Spencer in Clacton On Sea Town Centre.
    Marks and Spencer has served the people of Clacton since the 1930's, it is a stalwart of our town. The store is used by a vast age group of people due to the fact that it is easily accessible by bus, car and on foot. Closure in line with the opening of the new foodhall in Walton should not be an option. Marks and Spencer will lose a great number of customers as many will not travel to the Walton store or place orders online, as there will be no collection or return point locally. Please sign this petition and get the decision of the closure reversed. SAVE OUR MARKS AND SPENCER!
    598 of 600 Signatures
    Created by Leeza Crampton
  • Save Lincoln House of Fraser (Binns)
    This is a profitable, long-standing, socially important resource for the local community. It provides a good range of products and services, owns it's own lease, and is a much-loved part of a vibrant city with great staff who always make people welcome. There seems to be no economic or social case for its closure.
    439 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Paul Jackman
  • Highland Council Pension Fund: Stop Funding War Crimes
    Highland Council Pension Fund currently holds £5.4 million of shares in US arms company, General Dynamics, manufacturer and supplier of the MK-82 1000-lb and MK-84 2000-lb bombs that were used with such devastating effect by Israel against the people of Gaza during ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in 2014. Because of their ‘wide area effect’, the use of these weapons was condemned by the UN Human Rights Council as violating ‘the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks’; more thn 2,000 people, including at least 500 children, were killed as a consequence of the bombing of one of the world’s most densely populated areas. Highland Council Pensions Fund acquisitions are subject to explicit 'social, environmental and ethical considerations'. It is the duty of public institutions to uphold international law and human rights norms, and it is completely unacceptable that, through its pension fund, Highland Council should finance their ongoing violation! It’s time for Highland Council to examine its conscience, put its principles into practice and follow its own guidelines on ethical investment by divesting itself of its shares in General Dynamics.
    299 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Highland Palestine