We the undersigned residents of Brent demand our streets be made safe for our children. We are writing to you to demand you immediately address the radical increase in muggings and assaults on children in our local area. Lawlessness is rampant and impunity is now rife in our neighbourhood. Our streets feel like the Wild West - anything goes, and no one can do a thing about it. Muggings and assaults on children are now occurring daily, often between 2pm and 7pm on the peripheries of schools, in parks and around the Chamberlayne Rd area. These crimes are committed by youth, at times in balaclavas, often using knives, sometimes using steel bars as a threat, other times using direct violent assault - and all this in broad daylight. In the cases where adults have tried to intervene, they too have been violently assaulted. One parent was recently punched in the head in Roundwood Park numerous times in front of his son, and another parent had a plank of wood smashed into his face, loosing several teeth in the Queens Park area - also in front of his children. Sadly, many cases go unreported as the victims are fearful if they tell, they could be putting themselves in more danger. Moreover, parents at times fear nothing will be done as the police rarely turn up, or if they do it's 30 minutes late, when the perpetrators are long gone. At an age when our children should be cherishing a newfound independence, they now have to fear for their safety. They must ask themselves: Will I be attacked on the way home from school today? Is it safe to take my phone? Do I have to walk in a big group to be safe? What should I do if I get assaulted? Will they knife me? No child should have to ask him or herself these questions. We want our children to: - be able to walk to school and home from it - go the the park/skatepark - walk to a friend's house - go to the corner shop - catch a bus/ the tube etc... without having to worry that they will be assaulted or mugged. The effect of daily fear in these young minds, if not addressed, is likely to lead to a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression and isolation in our local community. May we remind you, in 1991 the UK signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the nine core UN human rights treaties. The CRC protects the rights of children in all areas of their life, including their rights to "freedom from violence, abuse and neglect". It is tragic that almost three decades later, in this supposedly civilised society, our children are not protected from violence or abuse in their very own neighbourhood. It is tragic, that due to austerity, our society is now one in which crime is rampant, impunity rife and our children - our future - are the ones having to suffer the devastating consequences. It is tragic that they must now live in fear in their own community. We demand you make our streets safe for our children. We demand action and we demand it now. Yours sincerely, AC Collet on behalf of Safer Kids

Just warning people of the danger is clearly not working, most people don't know it is illegal. Wildlife and the beautiful countryside is at risk all over the country.. Last year people had to be evacuated! This needs to stop now!

People who have fallen into debt with council tax payments are usually the poorest and most vulnerable in our population. Sometimes these debts are accrued because of the highly confusing benefits system that links housing tax benefit to other benefit payments. These people are not criminals in any 'normal' use of the term. Prison is a costly form of punishment that is out of all proportion to the offence, and England is the only UK country that still uses such custodial sentences. Time it was ended!

To ensure this senseless action can never happen again to vulnerable people, adding to the current national problem of homelessness in the UK. Were Cheshire East Council really acting in the public interest, spending so much taxpayers’ money relentlessly pursuing an elderly couple to whom they granted a Certificate of Lawfulness to build and then issued it with Completion Certificate as a warehouse? We estimate this must be well into six figures, as Ken and Barbara have, although our disclosure request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was blocked!? But here’s the biggest question of all… Was it really worth it when the Certificate of Lawfulness runs with the land, so once demolished, construction can start immediately to lawfully rebuild the warehouse to exactly the same size/footprint/dimensions, as confirmed by Cheshire East’s Principal Planning Officer.

Merseyside Police have been ravaged by Government austerity. However, Newton-le-Willows deserves it’s fair share of the remaining resource. However, the Borough of St. Helens now has the fewest opening hours for enquiry desks across Merseyside. Southport Police Station: 93 hours Bootle Police Station: 84 hours a week. (Despite being so close to Liverpool City Centre) Sefton therefore has a total of 177 open hours. Bootle still has a magistrates court. Wallasey Police Station: 20 hours Birkenhead Police Station: 93 hours The Wirral total: 113 hours per week open. The Wirral still has a magistrates court. St Anne St: 93 hours Admiral Street: 84 hours Walton Lane: 84 hours Liverpool Total: 261 hours per week open. Liverpool still has a magistrates and crown court. Huyton Police Station: 93 hours Kirkby Police Station: 16 hours Speke Police Station: 16 hours Knowsley therefore has a total 125 hours a week in total. St Helens Police Station: 93 hours per week Newton-le-Willows Police Station: 7 hours per week Our borough therefore has 100 hours per week in total. Therefore, our borough has the fewest open hours out of all of Merseyside. We have 77 fewer open hours than Sefton. And 13 less than Knowsley, which has a smaller population than our borough over 3 Police Stations. St Helens North has been unfairly treated.

Mineworkers Pension Scheme Trustees:- should ballot the Members of the Scheme to terminate the arrangement with the Guarantor ( Government ) where the benefit to the Members cannot be shown in continuing with the arrangement, and with £12 Billion to be distributed to it's aging Member prior to the closure of the Scheme. The scheme should solely operate for the benefit of its members who contributed to the fund and worked in some of the most dangerous conditions to the detriment of their health and note that successive governments have taken significant dividends in excess of £5 billion from the fund which would have otherwise improved the pensions and quality of life for former mineworkers. It is important that the Members and relatives of the Scheme should benefit from the money the Mineworkers' put into the Scheme to improve their quality of life as they grow older. The Scheme has assets of £12 Billion 1 with a return from investments on average approx. 11% 1 per year giving £1.32 Billion income and the cost to meet the Pension Benefits of approx. on average £0.751 Billion. Showing that the Scheme with always produce a Surplus from which the Government will take 50% for being the Schemes Guarantor without the need for a Guarantee. 1. MPS Report & Accounts Links to help show the injustice :- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-44746537 https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2018/07/12/mp-blasts-government-for-stealing-miner-s-pensions/ Link to MPS Pension Campaign:- https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/mineworker-pension-fight?fbclid=IwAR2XWRpKWkPW_De9Zo1rkIE3Op9iNVXoLYdxZf5fS18bKsJIbJ5QlgSrWe8

The green cycle boxes, and Advance Stopping Lines at junctions are supposed to create a safe haven for cyclists, but they are routinely ignored by many drivers. At best this makes the cycle boxes useless, at worst it makes them incredibly dangerous for cyclists to use. The Police say "If the traffic lights are on red, drivers (including motorcyclists and scooter riders) must not cross the first stop line - if they do they could liable to a £100 fixed penalty and three penalty points on their driving license." Every day on my commute into work I see drivers completely flaunting the law, driving into these boxes to try to get ahead of cyclists and putting people at risk. It's time the police actually started enforcing the highway code and stopped these dangerous drivers.

The current litter policy used by LCC is not fit for purpose the only thing it is doing is assisting a private company in making lots of cash and fast. The very small amount of funds that are kept by Leeds Council is only 24% at its highest and this money does not go back to helping the community and even if it did it amounts to nothing. We want Leeds to be a clean City but we DO NOT want Leeds to be a City people DO NOT want to visit because of the way Authority's treat people.

Open letter to the people of Birmingham Mohammed JJ Khan is well-known to all in the Stirchley community as the proud owner of the distinctive £7,500 statue of a begging gorilla that sits above JJ’s Flooring Services. We, the families of Emperor Court, also live above JJ’s Flooring Services. We want the people of Birmingham to know that as the owner of the building that we live in, JJ is the one with his hand out, happy to collect rent money, and turning his back on us by refusing to discuss urgent health and safety issues. The building has let in the rain for years, and as a result our flats are damp and mouldy. Like Scrooge, unwilling to spend, JJ has resisted all efforts so far to get him to properly fix this problem. Some of our neighbours have had to move out as their children have been made ill. Unable to bear these shameful conditions any longer, we have joined the renters’ union ACORN, who now represent all families in Emperor Court. JJ has brought in a block management company to look after the building, Bright Willis. Both he and the block management company refuse to speak with ACORN, saying they will only talk to our individual landlords. Our asks are absolutely reasonable. As the people having to live in these wet conditions, speaking with one voice, we demand that JJ and Bright Willis recognise our union ACORN and meet with us regularly to ensure that our homes are maintained according to his legal obligation as freeholder. If you agree with us, then please sign our online letter of support, or why not tell JJ directly what you think? Thank you!

"Over 30,000 people are locked up in prison-like conditions every year, with no time limit on how long they can be held. This is not for having committed a crime. It is purely because they do not (yet) have the correct immigration papers. The majority of people detained are eventually released, but many never really recover from the trauma. It’s a terrible waste of money (£125 million a year), and a waste of lives. Immigration detention is a wholly unnecessary, unjustifiable practice, one of the most harmful aspects of the UK’s “hostile environment” for migrants and a shameful civil rights abuse that cannot be ignored." Quoted from the 'These Walls Must Fall' Campaign Website (http://detention.org.uk/)

Scotland is blessed with a diverse range of beautiful and unique wildlife. Often, a lack of natural predators means that grazing animals such as deer and wild goats are subject to culls, which are unfortunate but necessary, and conducted by professionals to limit the suffering of animals. What is unnecessary is the "hunt tourism" industry that encourages "tourists" from around the world, particularly Americans, to visit Scotland for the sole purpose of stalking, torturing and killing our beautiful and unique Scottish wildlife for pleasure. This is not the kind of tourism that we want in our country.

The University, as one of Birmingham’s largest employers, must use its political influence to prioritise the safety of its students and keep this at the top of the agendas of local councillors and MPs. Whilst the police have continually offered wonderful support in times of crisis, due to local and national funding cuts to the police it is clear they are overworked and not able to offer the support that is so badly needed in the area. Every year there is a call to action but nothing is ever resolved. It’s time for the University and local government to follow through on its promises and ensure that student safety is continually at the forefront of their priorities – and not just something discussed ‘after the event’. These stakeholders need to take individual and collective responsibility for ensuring the safety of students in Selly Oak.