Oakham Fire Station is 1 of 20 Fire Stations in Leicestershire Fire and Rescue (LFRS). The geographical area it protects is the second largest in LFRS. The area includes many risks such as part of the A1 motorway, HMP Stocken and a number of industrial units. The station attends a number of Road Traffic Collisions (RTC’s) on the many treacherous roads surrounding the area. Oakham Fire Station is the only Station in LFRS where calls to incidents have not declined over the last 5 years. Because of the risks in the area, Oakham Fire Station contains 3 Fire Service appliances. 1 of which is a fire engine that is available 24/7 and crewed by a minimum of 5 full time firefighters. The other 2 appliances are crewed by part-time retained firefighters who live and work in the Oakham area. The part-time retained firefighters at Oakham crew a second fire engine with a minimum of 4 firefighters. They also crew the Heavy Rescue Unit (HRU) appliance that attends specialist rescues such as RTC’s involving Heavy Goods Vehicles. LFRS have proposed to remove all of Oakham’s part-time retained firefighters and the fire engine they crew by April 2016. There has been no mention of what will happen to the HRU, but without the retained firefighters who crew the vehicle. It is unlikely to remain at Oakham Fire Station. Therefore, Oakham will be left with only 1 fire engine usually riding 5 firefighters, rather than 3 fire appliances with 11 firefighters it currently has ready to respond to any emergency incidents when they are needed. We believe these changes would increase the risk of death and injury to the members of the public in Oakham and Rutland. The estimated cost for LFRS to keep Oakham’s second fire engine and all the retained firefighters who crew it is £97,000 a year. RCC has kindly offered the Combined Fire Authority (CFA) £150,000 in order to maintain Oakham’s second fire engine and its retained firefighters for the next 2 years. On the 8th April 2015 the CFA decided that Oakham’s second fire engine and all its retained firefighters would be removed by April 2016. At the same time the CFA stated they would continue discussions with RCC regarding accepting the offer of £150,000 and using it instead to fund a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) which is to be placed somewhere in Rutland. We believe the RRV will provide a significantly reduced service to the people of Oakham and Rutland compared to that given by the second fire engine at Oakham. The RRV will be crewed by 2 or 3 firefighters rather than a fire engine which can be crewed by a maximum of 6 firefighters. The RRV will contain significantly less firefighting and rescue equipment compared to a fire engine. Furthermore the RRV may not even be placed in Oakham. To highlight the reduced service the RRV will provide; at present when a fire engine attends a house fire, the crew can only go inside that house if it has a minimum of 4 firefighters. This is to ensure all the safety critical roles and procedures are being met. Since the RRV will only be crewed by 2 or 3 firefighters, in the same situation the crew of the RRV would not be allowed to enter the house to rescue the people inside or extinguish the fire and would instead have to wait outside until further resources arrived. This is unacceptable and could lead to members of the public risking their own lives to try and save their family, friends and neighbours. Whilst the firefighters riding the RRV have to stand outside awaiting further resources. Therefore, it is crucial we oppose the £150,000 offered by RCC to be used for anything other than helping to maintain Oakham’s second fire engine and the retained firefighters who crew it.

NYCC has already made subsidy cuts to bus services of a whopping £2 million in 2013/2014 - the highest in the UK - and now it wants to cut an extra £500,000 in 2016. Buses are a lifeline for so many, for both practical and social reasons. If a person cannot drive, or doesn't have access to transport, why should they be disadvantaged further? If somebody relies on the bus to get to work, why should they worry - again - that they may not be able to get there? You never know when you may need a bus so please don't take them for granted. They are a necessity and not a luxury. Here's my story: I've been using the 31x between Easingwold and Helmsley on an almost daily basis for several years to get to work. It's clean, reliable and a safe way to get to a lovely rural part of the world that is very popular with tourists. NYCC is thinking of cutting my two regular journeys to term-time only, with unacceptable cuts to the rest of the service which will effectively reduce it to three days a week and two journeys a day - one from and one to Helmsley - and nothing at all at the weekend. You can find full proposal information here: www.northyorks.gov.uk/bussubsidy DON'T LET NYCC CUT OR FRAGMENT ANY MORE SERVICES.

The proposed changes to services across our town's children's centres will have a devastating impact on our communities and will leave thousands of children and families without adequate early years services.

The human cost of welfare cuts is huge, with levels of stress, depression, physical ill health and family breakdown likely to increase as the cuts hit. Welfare cuts are about so much more than simply reducing the deficit for so many people. It's not possible for our politicians to experience fully what it is to be on a low income long-term, but we call on them to make this effort to engage with the human cost of their policies.

'Education Other Than At Schools' (EOTAS) provides a service which is in very high demand. In addition, there are so many more children still on the waiting list, due to the limited amount of teachers that they have at the moment. The Council is intent on cutting the tuition team further (from 12.6 to 4 full time equivalent teachers ). That’s not enough! It’s going to mean a great deal of children like me are not going to get the education they need and deserve. Under the new proposals, children with mental health issues will no longer be eligible for home tuition and the Key Stage Four Pupil Referral Unit, a provision for pupils for whom school is not suitable, will be shut down. For two and a half years I received home tuition. I was so ill that I couldn't even get out of bed and there wasn't really a question about whether or not I could get into school. I had two wonderful home tutors who not only were my teachers but became great friends. They made my lessons not only manageable but also fun and made me eager to learn. They got me through my GCSE's, helping me achieve an A, two B's and two C's, where most people including myself thought I might not pass any of my exams. I know so many kids personally that are really very ill/disabled and are in receipt of home tuition or have received it in the past. Over and over I have heard of the invaluable support, teaching and guidance that these teachers have given. I'm now far better, my condition has stabilised and I have just had my 17th birthday. I am my studying my A-levels in college, looking at universities and considering a career in politics and art. None of this would be possible without my fantastic home tutors. Without Home Tuition, I would just have been another NEET statistic (Not in education or in employment training). Most of time the kinds of children that are in need of home tuition are the ones who will need to rely on their education most in future. The team are highly skilled, highly qualified and experienced teachers. This is not just about keeping their jobs. It’s about looking out for all the vulnerable children that need an education! Once this service is gone, it's gone. There’s no getting this service or these teachers back. What if your child in the future is unable to attend school? What if for some reason you or your child develop symptoms that make going to school difficult if not impossible? Save our services! You never know when you ‘re going to need help! Thanks

Our community libraries are under threat! The council want to stop funding the running of Bromley's community libraries, and have asked for volunteer groups to run and fund the libraries, threatening the loss of jobs for qualified library staff and the closure of the libraries. The council has millions of pounds in reserves, some of which should be used to maintain an efficient and comprehensive library service as required by law. It is a vital community hub used by the most vulnerable members of society- children and the elderly and it cannot be lost.

This is important as in modern day society socialism and plain human instinct is to help and support one another. With the proposed budget being shown next month, we are likely to see the poorest get hit with waves of austerity and the rich getting richer as usual. Please sign to prevent such happening!

More people are going to suffer if these cuts are made and we need to do something to stop it now.

Life for a person who is disabled whether it be a physical or a mental disability is hard enough already. People never chose to be disabled and it can happen to anyone at anytime. There are many many more humane ways to save money and a society who does not care for the less fortunate of it's people is doomed, history teaches us that time and time again. The disabled and sick should have never been demonized in the press, even the disabled peoples doctors are being ignored or seen as in collusion with their patients to"sponge" off of the state, in most cases this is categorically untrue. Most of us know directly or indirectly someone who suffers from a mental or a physical disability can we as a civilized society stand by and watch the most vulnerable in our society being targeted yet again as an easy attempt to claw back money while the bankers and large corporations get away with it again. Do we as civilized people condone this behavior as right or just?

They docked the benefits so that's hitting them once and with what they have left they have to pay the bedroom tax so they been hit twice. So they won't have much to live on. People should have enough money to live. Prices go UP and money gets cut from everywhere.

In the forthcoming license fee review, the Government will endeavour to impose severe cuts upon the BBC in order to benefit the commercial broadcasters. The Government is too close to commercial broadcasting lobbyists, and is acting in their interests, not in the public interest. In particular, abolishing the BBC Trust would serve to greatly undermine the independence of the BBC from political interference. The BBC is one of the greatest and most valuable assets to the United Kingdom, and forcing cuts for purely political, ideological purposes would represent a terrible act of cultural vandalism. The British people need to show a collective will to resist such damaging changes, and demonstrate to the Government that any actions towards privatizing the BBC would cause severe electoral consequences for the Conservative party in the future.

Access to Work has provided a lot of disabled people with the independence to work. Without access to work, disabled people will not be able to do their jobs fully or not at all. Since this petition was started the day after the general election we have over 8,000 signatures. This shows how many of you take this petition to heart. I thank you for all your support and we still need more signatures. Once we have reached over 10,000 this petition will be taken to Lindsay Hoyle MP. Many thanks for your support. We also need to educate the public about Access to Work - what is it? The general public are mostly unaware and if we make them aware we will get more support. I will be updating this petition soon with more info on A2W and what it is to help a better understanding for everyone. Please keep circling this petition without your support we would have not got this far. We need more signatures. Share. We also need to hear from you. How has it effected you? If you have not joined the FB group yet. Please do so and share your story. We need to educate people why we need support in our employment. How do we feel without support? Inferior? More here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/hours-after-the-election-the-dwp-says-it-is-looking-to-cut-a-disabled-access-to-work-scheme-10237191.html