Between August 2012 and December 2016 Amey the Council contractor felled over 4200 trees across Sheffield. Now they are planning to chop down 27 of our local street trees. Some of these trees are near the end of their life and should be replaced, many others are mature healthy trees that help to keep the air clean (1), protect our homes from flooding (2) and provide a habitat for local wildlife (3), as well as making our streets nicer and healthier places to live (4). Mature trees are particularly good at filtering out pollution (5), cooling the air in summer (6) and maintaining nature's delicate balance (7). Four of the trees are said to be damaging the pavement and are therefore discriminatory to disabled people and those using pushchairs. We believe the damage is minor and does not impair accessibility for disabled people, or the users of prams and pushchairs. Alternative highway engineering specifications (8), such as use of flexi-pave and/or pavement restructuring near trees, with kerb stones sculpted to accommodate roots, would represent a sustainable solution to the perceived problems. The other trees are said to be diseased or dangerous. Our experts say with sensible management and in some cases some pruning, the following 11 trees will thrive for many years and should be saved. Seabrook Rd/Stafford Road healthy mature sycamore (“damaging”) Tylney Rd healthy mature sycamore at no.7 (“damaging”) 52 Park Spring Drive - mature healthy cherry tree (“disease”) 76 Park Spring Way - mature healthy sycamore (“dangerous”) Opposite Norfolk Community School, Guildford Avenue – 2 mature whitebeam trees. (“dangerous/disease”) Norfolk Park Road 3 Horse Chestnuts grouped together near Sheffield College (“dangerous/disease”) Holdings Road (outside nos.7 and 31) Cherry Trees (“damaging”) The Council carried out a survey of households to see if people wanted to save the trees. This was deeply flawed as many houses and in some cases whole streets were missed out. References (1) Karl, T., Harley, P., Emmons, L., Thornton, B., Guenther, A., Basu, C., & Jardine, K. (2010). Efficient atmospheric cleansing of oxidized organic trace gases by vegetation. Science, 330(6005), 816-819.http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6005/816.short Escobedo, F., Kroeger, T. & Wagner, J. (2011). Urban forests and pollution mitigation: analyzing ecosystem services and disservices. Environmental Pollution, Volume 159, pp. 2078-2087.http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=14928633190131047233&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 (2) Trees and Design Action Group (2012). Trees in the Townscape: A Guide for Decision Makers, s.l.: Trees and Design Action Group.http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-the-townscape.html Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2013. CIRIA Research Project RP993: Demonstrating the multiple benefits of SuDS – A business case (Phase 2). Draft Literature Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.susdrain.org [Accessed 25 May 2015].http://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/ciria_guidance/ciria_rp993_literature_review_october_2013_.pdf (3) Ewers, R. M., & Didham, R. K. (2006). Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation. Biological Reviews, 81(01), p. 117-142. http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=1003233194462145743&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 Gilbert‐Norton, L., Wilson, R., Stevens, J. R., & Beard, K. H. (2010). A Meta‐Analytic Review of Corridor Effectiveness. Conservation Biology, 24(3), p. 660-668. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01450.x/full (4)Sarajevs, V. (2011). Health Benefits of Street Trees, Farnham: Forest Research. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-8JCEJH Williams, K., O'Brien, L. & Stewart, A.. (2013). Urban health and urban forestry: how can forest management agencies help?. Arboricultural Journal: The International Journal of Urban Forestry, Volume 35, pp. 119-133.http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071375.2013.852358 (5) Shackell, A. & Walter, R. (2012). Greenspace Design For Health And Well-being, Edinburgh: Forestry Commission.http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/FCPG019.pdf/$FILE/FCPG019.pdf Velarde, M., Fry, G. & Tveit, M. (2007). Health effects of viewing landscapes – Landscape types in environmental psychology. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 6, p. 199-212.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866707000416 (6) Forestry Commission (2011). The UK Forestry Standard: The governments’ approach to sustainable forest management. 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Forestry Commission. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ukfs (7) Gonzalez, A., Rayfield, B., & Lindo, Z. (2011). The disentangled bank: how loss of habitat fragments and disassembles ecological networks. American Journal of Botany, 98(3), p. 503-516.http://www.amjbot.org/content/98/3/503.full (8) Trees and Design Action Group. (2014) Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery. TDAG http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-hard-landscapes.html

Claire says, "This is important because the people using these facilities are the friends and family of people from our community. With the amount of housing being built this problem can only get worse and it is our parents and grandparents who will be the ones to suffer. "The most vulnerable in our society deserve the best care and facilities that we are able to provide. The care provided by Eskgreen and The Hollies is second to none but they provide that care in spite of the chronic under investment made by our council and government."

The closure of Clay Cross Jobcentre will cause extra hardship to those who currently use it. Local people are already struggling under the burden of many cuts and loss of support. If Clay Cross Jobcentre was to close then claimants would have to attend either Markham Jobcentre in Chesterfield or Alfreton Jobcentre for their normal appointment once a fortnight. It will cost claimants £4.20 to travel to Chesterfield and back by bus or £6 to and from Alfreton. Single JSA/UC claimants are receiving £73.10 a week and this extra cost is equivalent to a 4% cut in benefits not to mention the extra time it takes. Single Mums and Dads and new families will incur extra inconvenience when children have to travel as well. While travel will be funded for claimants needing to sign on more than once a fortnight, the travel time for claimants signing each day (as is common at the start of a claim) will be more than 5 hours a week which is time that could be spent looking for work, or doing an activity that would help them increase their employability. A local mum said “My children will suffer if I had to spend more time traveling and I can’t see how we can make ends meet if we had to pay out another £6 a fortnight.” On the closure of Jobcentres the DWP states in its own proposal that: “…it is a reasonable expectation that claimants travel to an office within 3 miles or 20 minutes by public transport of their existing jobcentre.” According to the DWP own information the shortest distance is 5 miles and a minimum of 35 minutes travel by public transport to the two stated Jobcentre offices. All claimants who are job searching need somewhere to get online and our local library has only a few public terminals with limited opening hours. Several claimants we spoke to would be unable to meet their Claimant Commitment Agreement if the jobcentre was to close. These claimants are being set up to fail and the resulting sanctions will only make a bad situation worse. Clay Cross Jobcentre is a vital link to those claiming benefit locally and the closure of this office would only create more suffering in an already deprived community.

Many people rely on buses for a variety of reasons. We would like to see an expansion of bus services, in consultation with the public as to where these are most needed, and a campaign for greater use, rather than admitting defeat and contributing to the decline by cutting vital services which people need. This would have benefits in terms of cutting congestion and reducing climate change as well as reducing the social isolation which will only get worse if your new timetable is enacted.

The cut will leave young people in situations of abuse, or being thrown out of their family home, more vulnerable to sleeping rough. Government cuts to social care, youth services, children’s services and advice centres mean that those who become homeless are less likely to get support to help them out of their situation. The estimated number of rough sleepers in England has doubled since 2010. This is a national issue being spearheaded from Bradford which is the youngest city in the country and will be the youngest in Europe by 2020.

Reasons for Keeping Ward 15, RAH Open • Our children and the future children are the reason we have formed a campaign group. We have the support of many in our community and will continue to raise awareness and get more people involved. A move to The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is more than a simple inconvenience, it will have a huge impact on many family's lives. Ward 15 is a safety net and a centre of excellence. It should be cultivated and encouraged to offer more services. The answer to good quality care is not centralised huge hospitals, but second to none local services. Why close such a centre of excellence, surely the service it provides to the local community should be invested in further, to increase its role and continued existence. If Ward 15 closes, in an emergency situation, a child could have an additional 30 minutes, life threatening travelling time by ambulance, car or taxi to the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. The cost and logistics of getting to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital from Paisley and further afield is prohibitive to a lot of people. This can have a huge impact on a child’s recovery as friends and family may not be able to visit, impacting on the children’s mental health. It is ludicrous to remove paediatric services from areas where they are most needed. More children with very complex health needs are enjoying a family life enjoyed by their peers. Many of them rely on the high quality service provided by Ward 15 to remain at home with support close at hand when they need it. The care families provide saves the NHS billions of pounds per year. “I have 5 children and my oldest is 10 and has cerebral palsy and asthma, I also have an 8-year-old who has been in the ward and a 7-year-old who has ADHD and autism. I also have 3-year-old twins one has lymphedema in her right arm and she has heart problems and has a brain haemorrhage, so you can imagine I have been in the ward loads of times, and I am in the Panda Centre every other week with appointments, SO I NEED THIS WARD TO STAY” Desperate Mum “Ward 15 saved my son when he was 11 days old, my GP referred him to the short stay with what we thought was a very bad cold. A doctor took one look at him and said he has meningitis. He is now 7 years old and has been left with complex life limiting conditions which means he is in ward 15 as an inpatient, for varying lengths of time, on a weekly basis. In the time it would take me to rush him to the QEUH my son could die! I also have an 9 year old with additional support need who also attends the ward and the Panda Centre. If the health board close ward 15 they will be signing my 7 year olds death certificate.” Karen M (founding member of Kids Need our Ward)

Please sign if you would like to have been at the Silent Protest 15.03.17 #guiltyofcaring Care not Cost in Somerset Learning Disability Service at County Hall Taunton, but could not because of work commitments and caring for the people of Somerset.

Pensioner poverty is still a major issue for many older people across the UK and was one of the main reasons the Triple Lock system was first introduced. As it stands, 1 in 7 pensioners (equating to 1.6 million or 14% of all pensioners living in the UK) are still living in poverty with a further 1.2 million pensioners (just over 10% of UK pensioners) living just above the poverty line. The SPF feel it is necessary for policy makers to bear in mind the long struggle to establish a caring, supportive state pension in the first instance and to ensure a single tier pension for all pensioners. As changes to the conditions for receipt of a full state pension continue as well as the state pension age continuing to rise, it is time that the pensioners' voices are heard and that that the government take notice of the contribution older people made, and still make, to the economy and society as a whole.

Libraries Unlimited Management need to protect jobs, show good practice, protect the terms and conditions of employees.they need to stick to what they promised a year ago.

The source of funding for Ealing Shopmobility came from a special regeneration project which has now ended. From July the scheme in Ealing will have to close. The office there is manned by one full time member of staff and 4 volunteers, of whom I am one. We lend mobility scooters and wheelchairs for the day without charge, and charge minimally for overnight or longer periods. Last September we did a survey and asked our users how much they had spent in the shopping Centre. The total was not exact because we could not ask everyone, but it came to £3,800. So annually that is £45,600. The area will be losing that much business if we have to close. We have managed to raise £7,500 through the combined efforts of all of us, but especially through our manager, a remarkable young woman full of enthusiasm and energy. People who have problems with mobility are, we all know, challenged to live a normal life. One solution is to get a wheelchair or a scooter, but if you live in a flat, or in a property with steps leading to your accommodation that is not possible. You can't leave the equipment out in the street, and it needs protection from the weather, as well as needing to be charged up and kept in good running order. I am there three times a week, and I hear firsthand how much people value the scheme and how much it helps them. We have 482 members, and our service gives them the ability to do their shopping, go to the Doctor, meet up with friends, visit the library etc etc. One of our customers said to me it was like having her legs back. I am disabled myself, and can very much empathise with that viewpoint. I am a keen cook, and without my borrowed scooter could not choose my vegetables and meat as I want to. Getting Christmas presents or birthday presents is much more difficult- the internet helps, but there is not a substitute for finding just the right thing for the right person. Please support this petition. We are a small scheme, and have only been open for 6 years, and during that time have been moved twice, so new users cannot find us easily. Despite that we are increasing usage year on year. If Ealing cannot fund us the Shopping Centre will lose business, but more importantly the community will lose a facility that enriches the lives of many people.

On the 1st of July 2017, Angus Council plan to commence the implementation of proposals which will see social care provision changed, services cut and privatised. ‎The number of staff responding to Community Alarm calls will be cut during the day, working hours will be cut, some staff will be forced to provide a car to undertake their duties and there will be approximately 170 job losses. All of this will impact on the most vulnerable members of our community. We believe that the evidence does not exist to support these plans or to implement them safely. We believe that private sector interest to provide social care in rural Angus just isn't there. Care for profit is wrong. We call on Angus Council and the Integrated Joint Board to halt these plans and to reassess this strategy. Cuts to vital care services will impact on the most vulnerable members of our community.

We need to raise awareness of the unfair way women in their fifties have been treated over the raising of their State Pension age with little or no notice. This has severely impacted on women born in the fifties ho have been robbed of their pensions . We are disappointed there is no media coverage