School attendance has already dropped off a cliff since the pandemic, hitting the most disadvantaged students hardest. Slashing school bus routes will make things worse. Many of the routes deemed "Suitable to Walk" lack pavement, have very poor pavement, and are on roads with the national speed limit. And for some, this will mean around two hours' walk to school and back each day which, whilst whilst a nice thought on a bright, sunny day with no time pressures, is a huge blow to many families. This is just another example of small short-term savings by Cornwall Council that will lead to huge long-term costs, for both families and taxpayers. Full list of proposed closures is as follows: - Hatt to Landulph School - Minorca Lane to Bugle School - Penwithick to Poltair School - Joan Moffat Close to Liskeard Hillfort School - Porthtowan to Mount Hawke Academy - Tregadillet to Launceston College - South Petherwin to Launceston College - Prince Phillip Estate to Launceston College - St Cleer to Liskeard School and Community College - Lamellion to Liskeard School and Community College - Dobwalls to Liskeard School and Community College - Foxhole to Brannel School (St Stephen) - Burlawn to Wadebridge School - Cury to Mullion School - Truthwall to Cape Cornwall School (St Just) - Delabole to Sir James Smith’s School (Camelford) Please sign and tell us how the route closures would affect students in your community.

Kirklees Council is planning to dispose of many assets to help overcome its £47 million black hole. Part of this plan would involve closing the Grade II listed Batley Carnegie Library, and operating a “modern library” service from the Town Hall. This would enable the council to sell the original library building. The money to build Batley Library was donated to the people of Batley by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, and the plot of land for the library was donated by the William Akroyd Foundation, also to the people of Batley. This enabled the building of the iconic library which opened in 1907 and which still dominates the Market Place today, an area which is widely acknowledged as a gem of late Victorian/early Edwardian architecture and a superb legacy for future generations. With its towering illuminated clockfaces, the Batley Carnegie Library building acts as a beacon of inspiration, comfort and familiarity to the residents of Batley, and as a proud reminder of their heritage and hope for the future. Batley Library’s inviting atmosphere has established a place where people have created memories, nurtured long-lasting friendships, and helped build Batley’s strong community spirit. Moving the library, even for such a short distance, would damage this precious legacy. Thanks to the building’s superb design, it is still fit for purpose and perfectly suited to the twenty-first century, accommodating the traditional lending and reference library services and a great deal more besides. The modern library is so much more than a book depository, it now hosts many activities, local groups, performances, displays, and community services, both regular and ad-hoc, for adults and for children. Many of these activities can take place simultaneously. It is a Library of Sanctuary, a Safe Place, and a Warm Space, where anybody can find safety, comfort, and reassurance (and a cup of soup or a hot drink and a snack) whatever their circumstances, and it holds a special place in the hearts of the community. The layout of the building provides the ideal location for all these facilities, providing social space as well as quiet areas of privacy. The Town Hall is not a huge building, and this new proposal could result in a reduction in the number and quality of services provided. Years ago, when the library was refurbished, the service – which had far fewer activities than nowadays – was temporarily relocated to the Town Hall annexe, and it was agreed by users and staff that it was not possible to carry out all the normal functions anywhere other than in the original building. Due to its location, if the building were to be left empty for any length of time it would suffer undetected vandalism from the rear of the building, and would eventually become derelict through lack of maintenance. This would be a tragic loss to the heritage of Kirklees as a whole. Therefore we strongly urge the Council to reconsider this proposal, which would have a severe impact on the quality of life and the wellbeing of local residents.

The council plan to make 50% cuts to an already bare bones library service. Further cuts would mean a great loss to people of all ages from the youngest to the oldest who rely on library services for learning and development, keeping in touch, using IT equipment, reading, researching and coming in from the cold. The council should be proud of their library service and should be investing in the service, not making further cuts. They propose to cut opening hours at libraries across the county of Denbighshire. This has a potentially detrimental effect to other services that use the library. Take Bookstart Cymru for example. Denbighshire Bookstart gives every baby the opportunity to develop an early love of sharing books and reading, and to become members of their local library by: - giving each baby and toddler a free gift of a bilingual Bookstart bag - offering advice to parents and carers on the benefits of giving books to babies - encouraging library membership - running Rhymetimes in libraries - working in partnership with other early years agencies - Libraries love babies and toddlers, and young children will be given a great welcome. Children under 5 don’t have to pay fines if books are returned late or charges for damaged books. We also know that children can be noisy at times - that's no problem! A vital service for babies and toddlers that helps them learn and develop. Cuts will directly affect children’s learning and development and the proposals will see libraries closed on the days that Bookstart run their sessions. As we know, babies and toddlers do not have a voice so please sign this petition asking the council to re think their plans to cut these vital services Children and young people do not really have a voice and cuts to library services directly affect the smallest and most vulnerable in our society. Children are having their opportunities eroded by a Government that don’t care. The council need to listen and continue to provide a library service to those in our communities that need it the most, they need to invest in Library services, not make cuts

It looks like the Government could take from pensioner’s incomes to fund tax cuts while we’re all facing a cost of living crisis. Even if your income doesn’t come from a pension right now, this could be the beginning of slashing people’s protections to make the rich richer. The Government’s refusal to say they’ll protect people from pension poverty is all over the news, but right now this is just an idea they’re floating to see if they could get away with it. They could change their minds if they realise this could cost them the next election. We need to act now. If thousands of us sign the petition, it will show the Government that if they want to stay in power, they can’t take from us all to give to the rich.

We need to keep our children safe from harm or even a fatal accident

Young People need somewhere to go, that is warm and a safe space where they can feel listened to, supported and have social interactions with their peers. At Got2B we liken this to the following situation for the adults in society and ask how would adults feel if suddenly authorities axed all pubs, clubs, social centres, coffee shops and left you with only parks and recreation areas, with equipment that is out of date, not age appropriate and open to the elements? We believe there would be uproar, but Young People don’t have a voice and are unable to be heard by the people who have power to create change. That’s why we are bringing this to your attention. We want to present this to local Government and ask them to listen to their community and its Young People. We want them to reinstate/ provide free dedicated Youth spaces in our major towns. These spaces should be accessible to organisations supporting Young People, and offer professional Youth Clubs, guidance and support.

The cost of living crisis is punishing hard working people. It does not have to be this way! The Conservative government is choosing to shield and protect the wealthy, at the cost of hard working people!

Since the start of government imposed austerity 12 years ago, the council has lost £110m of central government funding while demand for services has soared. Over ten years of pay freezes our workers have lost an average of £4-8000 a year in pay, while house prices and rents have soared. We need to keep our key workers and young families in the city for it to thrive, but we can’t do that if we can’t pay them properly. Across the country councils are struggling to retain workers - from social workers to care workers, teaching assistants and planners - thousands are leaving public service for better paid jobs in the private sector. This is a potential disaster for our councils and our services. Government needs to act now to avert a crisis, yet the autumn budget statement had nothing to offer local councils other than more stagnation and a greater council tax burden on already struggling residents. As millions in the country are bracing themselves to have to choose between heating and eating and mass poverty is becoming normalised, councils across the country are going to have to choose between jobs or services. As our residents face one of the toughest winters in living memory, they must not again be expected to pay for mistakes they did not make. They need to know their local councils are getting the support they need from government, not watch them be slowly starved of cash and resources while the government pursues policies that make the rich richer. It’s often the case that trade unions and employers disagree. It is also often the case that different political parties disagree. But these are extraordinary times, times where no-one in our city is free from the anxiety and pressures of the cost-of-living crisis. Times where it is essential that we focus on what unites us, and to work together to protect our vital public services and those that rely on them. Brighton and Hove UNISON, the Green Administration and Labour Councillors at Brighton & Hove City Council are coming together in solidarity with other local trade unions, organisations, charities and businesses, to demand that central government properly fund local public services and public service workers. We are united in the need for well-funded public services and united in the need for a workforce that is decently paid. Corinna Edwards-Colledge, Joint Branch Secretary, Brighton and Hove UNISON; Cllr Phelim Mac Cafferty, Leader, Brighton and Hove City Council and Green Group; Cllr John Allcock and Cllr Carmen Appich, Joint Leaders, Labour Group. Also supported by GMB Sussex Branch and Brighton & Hove NEU.

Please sign the petition demanding a public consultation on the use of the Central Library building as both an adult education facility and a much reduced public library service. We have campaigned, along with other organisations, for 2 years, to save Stockport's 109 years old Central Library with all of its services. We were overjoyed when a meeting of the full Council, in January 2022, voted to object to the resolution of the Cabinet to go ahead with ending the public library services at the Carnegie endowment library despite petitions totalling over 8,000 signatures; opposition to closure in the Council's own pubic consultation; and opposition from 3 of the Council's scrutiny committees. Despite the Council resolution, the Cabinet pressed ahead regardless, However, at the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2022, the old Cabinet was ousted. Shortly afterwards, the new Council Leader, Cllr. Hunter announced that the policy on Central Library would be reviewed. We wrote to him calling for the review to be "an ambitious, not a defensive one", asking that consideration be given to redeveloping the Borough’s heritage Central Library, as other Councils have done, instead of moving library services to the Council owned Merseyway shopping centre, as the predecessor Cabinet had intended. We also called for the proposals emanating from the review to be put to public consultation. Cllr. Hunter replied, outlining the new plan and rejecting the call for consultation. He reiterated the Cabinet’s rejection of the call for public consultation in reply to a public question which we put to the full Council meeting on 6th October 2022. The question and reply can be viewed on the official webcast (see https://tinyurl.com/ytyxr2me or https://fb.watch/gc4W2ATenP/) The plan has now been approved by the Cabinet, without public consultation. It will, if implemented, move the greater part of Central Library services, including the Local Archives and Heritage Library, to the Merseyway shopping centre. The remaining book stock at the Carnegie would comprise only "the most popular adult fiction titles"; "a selection of non-fiction that will complement the adult education services" and "a selection of junior and children’s fiction". The reference to adult education services relates to the new plan’s proposal to move the Stockport Continuing Education service into the Carnegie building from another grade II listed heritage building, the former Hollywood Park school. This announcement tells us nothing about the intended fate of the vacated school. Floor plans submitted to the Cabinet show that only 18% of the floor area of the Carnegie building would comprise the reduced library service. The new plan would see almost a third of opening hours at the Carnegie library being unstaffed. This system, called by the Council ‘Open+’, has been introduced already in a number of branch libraries, in order to make budgetary cuts in staffing costs. Moreover, a Manchester Evening News article, dated 7th October 2022 reports a ratcheting up of this process, “Libraries service review - £180,000 Under this proposal there would be an increase in self-service (Open Plus) hours at libraries across the borough - meaning longer periods during which facilities are unstaffed. This would see a roll-out of self-service technology as well as a review of the amount of money spent on new books”. Finally, the ‘elephant in the room’ for the Council leadership is surely the question : ‘How will the future of the Archives Service, the Heritage Library, and the overwhelming bulk of the book stock and services of Central Library, be safeguarded by moving these facilities to a shopping centre which, having been valued at £86 million upon its acquisition in 2016, is now valued at £15.6 million and which requires £5.5 million expenditure on prevention of structural deterioration and rainwater ingress from its roof top car park?’ {Sources : Council Statements of Accounts, 2017/18, pages 64/66 and 2021/22, page 79; https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/stockport-to-sign-off-5-5m-merseyway-works/ } . On 6th October, we wrote to all Councillors calling for their support for public consultation (see the letter here https://tinyurl.com/vd3wemp6 ). This would be entirely consistent with the stand that the Council took in January and is appropriate in view of the far reaching nature of the new plan. We will petition and campaign for support for this demand. Please share the petition widely with friends and colleagues. Stockport United Against Austerity

Our new report shows that from the £240,000 that we receive via HCC Community Grants, we are able to save the public purse at least £312,418 every year – at least £72,000 per year more than we receive in total from the grants. Not only this, but the savings to older people’s lives are even greater. Following a survey of the older people who access our services and activities in Hampshire we found: • 57% felt that activities and services that they engaged with help to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness. • 86% who took part in exercise classes (such as strength and balance groups, cheerleading and tai chi) felt that the services improved their physical fitness. • 16% of service users (325 of 2,300) said that accessing services and activities provided by the Community Grants delayed them needing to access social care services in 2021 • 1 in ten (244 of 2,300) service users told us that these services reduced their need to access health services as a result of ill health. We need your support to stop these life-saving grants from being cut so we can keep enabling older people in Hampshire to live later life well, please add your voice to the campaign and sign the petition below. You can help to share this petition on social media using the hashtag #SaveHampshireServices If you would like to add your views to Hampshire County Council’s consultation directly please visit the HCC website at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/AHC-consultation Read our full report here: https://mha.org.uk/savehampshireservices

Coeliac disease/gluten sensitivity is for life. It's hard enough having the condition without been deprived of much loved and missed products. Coeliac disease is on the rise. We need more education on it. Unless there is a cure in the future, there is no alternative currently but to stick to a gluten free diet for life. More products need to be made available and M&S has gone right downhill. We need to change others attitudes towards coeliac disease. Listen to what your customers want and want to buy - BRING BACK YOUR FULL GLUTEN FREE RANGE.

These charges are forcing people into debt and considerable hardship. It simply does not make sense to take legal action against people with Council Tax arrears, who cannot afford to pay, and then direct them to food banks to feed their children.