Community Councils are a cornerstone of any community and legally are not allowed to be politically motivated. By allowing three activists take up key position in the Lochgelly Community Council for the benefit of local Labour councillors then community representation is lacking and the process of local representation and local democracy is subverted to benefit political agendas to the detriment of the wider community.

I propose a reformation of the education system, whereby the onus of learning of students is not on the teacher but is back on the students, this is unfair and creates a system where teachers have to do incredible amounts of work, rather than the students. There should be less paperwork involved in teaching and the teacher should be judged on the quality of teaching and lessons as well as the number of consistent or improved grades rather than classes as a whole. Allowing qualified people to teach would be a step forward allowing for greater creativity and well rounded learning rather than gaining a teaching qualification after a number of years after a graduate has already spent many years of study for their first degree. On the job training towards a qualification should also be employed as well as shorter qualification times. A certain amount of discipline should be a key part of the classroom so students can respect their teachers as a whole and the classroom also as a whole can benefit. British education should be comparable to that of an international education, perhaps a return to the older O-Level system would be a welcome return with emphasis on Mathematics, Science and English. We also would welcome breadth and depth in History not just on the World Wars, World History should be taught as well as the British Empire. I have been a private tutor for many years and I have never been as busy as I am at the present. Although good for myself, I want all students to have the great education and understanding that they deserve across the country. Due to pressure from Ofsted reports teachers sometimes have to shift focus on how to teach rather than what they are teaching and many schools are suffering from staff shortages. It is also difficult for me to enter the system despite many years experience since I do not have a PGCE. This could also be said for many well qualified people that have retired from such jobs that would be well suited to teaching, or those that have spent long enough in Education. We want to make the British Education the best in the World again by making it accessible, enjoyable and well rounded and to give our teachers the creativity to teach and let their passions shine through rather than fade over time.

Babington Hospital in Belper could be closed and services moved if plans are given the green light. Babington Hospital was completed in 1840 and has provided cherished care for thousands of Derbyshire people ever since, from newly born babies to older people who need care and support. This includes numerous clinics and rehabilitation services for patients, before they return home, in a caring and safe environment. The CQC inspection of May 2014 said Babington is Safe, Caring, Effective, Well-led and Responsive to patients needs. Belper and the surrounding areas NEED Babington Hospital to remain as it is; an NHS service for local people. If these services could be replicated or improved upon, in an equally accessible local place, consideration to such a plan may be possible.

As part of the multimillion pound redevelopment project of the Eastboure Arndale Shopping Centre the decision has been made to remove the only family toilet facility in the centre. This means that any parent/guardian/carer out shopping alone with a baby or small child/children are unable to use a toilet that will accommodate a buggy or pushchair. As a new mum, on discovery of this development I have made enquiries with the Arndale whose response has been that the current family toilet will be replaced with a further specialist disabled toilet facility and will require a special RADAR key to access. There are no current plans to replace this lost facility but they are "currently exploring ways in which we can extend our current toilet provision in the future. With the development we are unable to comment on detailed plans but there will be toilets provided by the cinema and restaurants in the extension. We plan to make one of the cubicles in the ladies toilets more accessible to larger pushchairs and are exploring these options at the moment." There are a few issues with this statement: parents shouldn't have to use the facilities of a shop/restaurant etc when they are in the centre (which charges to park), there is no mention of plans to make a family sized cubicle in the men's toilet (do men not shop with their children without a female?), can single parents not shop in the Arndale until 2018 when the development works are due to complete?

GP practice is in decline in Hastings. Appointments are already limited and waiting times long, and why is this? There simply aren't enough doctors. Deficit in training doctors, the unfair terms of junior doctor contracts and the unattractive proposition of a general practitioners workload in comparison to their salaries has meant that there is a shortage in GPs. The lack of doctors and the state of health and healthcare services in a town as affected by poverty as Hastings, should be a priority. Today, checking local job listings, I found 12 positions for GPs in Hastings in just the first search page. Multiple practices in the area are short of doctors and are advertising to no avail, and a few of the remaining practices are currently offering "inadequate" services, not through incompetence but that there is not enough doctors to cover the workload. 5 Practices have been taken over by IMH, a private healthcare provider, these practices are also struggling to recruit doctors and provide care to standard for their approximately 20,000 patients. We need to act now, as the worst end result of this is not privatization but that while conditions are worsening and there is a paucity of care thousands of patients with serious morbidities could deteriorate, unable to be seen. A&Es are not the answer for these people as they are already overloaded and waiting times in Hastings are particularly high. We need to make a stand and we need to do it now, we need to tell the Government that we do not accept these standards of care.

The Friary site was gifted in 1920 by Richard Cooper MP for the ‘permanent use and benefit of the citizens of Lichfield’. It’s an important and historic public resource for the people of Lichfield and surrounding areas. It is not just a library building, but a fantastic community hub. The proposals to relocate to St Mary’s in the Market Square would see a drastic reduction in floor size, so the space for books, computers and various community groups will be greatly diminished. Library services are evolving and public funding is being slashed, but the County Council has a duty to ensure an open and democratic public consultation about the future of the site, before any decisions are made on the future of the building. The County has shown a lack of transparency on it's strategy for disposal and some details of the deal have only recently been disclosed. To achieve the disposal of the whole site requires the Library and Record Office to move out. The County Council is obviously motivated by the financial pressures they are under rather than the local community benefit the services and site provide. Once the site is sold, it will be lost to the people of Lichfield forever.

The health centre, which has been in place for over thirty years, is no longer fit for purpose. Structurally the building requires significant investments for the level of repairs required and the level of capacity it is no longer able to accommodate the increasing demands placed upon it. In an area which has higher than both the Fife and Scottish levels of multiple health problems we need a Health Centre which is able to support the increasing population and provide support for the varying degrees of mental and physical support that the people of Lochgelly deserve.

MCCH Aspirations helps at least 10 citizens of Shepway per day who are recovering from mental health issues, back into work and training. For many this is a life line, providing support in their darkest hour to gain hope to be a contributing member of society once again. They get results too.

Chancellor George Osborne is committed to cutting a further 100,000 Civil Service jobs by 2020 and shrinking the entire Government Estate by 75% before 2023. Government services that the public rely on are being decimated as a result of job cuts. Examples from the Passport Office, HMCTS, Land Registry, HMRC, DWP and elsewhere show that cuts in the Civil Service are having a negative impact on service users. Communities are being cut-off from local services. The Civil Service is near to breaking point, the digital technology replacing local services untested and unstable making the planned cuts unsustainable. In Stoke-on-Trent the HMRC have announced that Blackburn House tax office will close by or before 2020 with the loss of between 250-300 jobs to the local economy. Locally DWP has lost around a third of its workforce in the area since 2010 to the detriment of service delivery and the welfare of its remaining workforce. The impact of the loss of this significant number of jobs to the local economy and labour market cannot be underestimated. There is no clear evidence that growth in private sector jobs within the area will replace these jobs. We call on the Government to halt the cuts to Civil Service jobs in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire and invest in Central Government services within the region.

At yesterday's Penge Forum meeting which was very well attended, standing room only, residents, trustees and councillor’s agreed to set up an action group led by Cllr Kevin Brooks, to work with and support the Trustees to devise a plan to make the services provided at Melvin Hall financially sustainable. Trustees had given notice of closure to LBB but the portfolio holder for care appeared to have listened to the residents demand to save this vital service in Penge, and he suggested there was a possibility of further rent relief payments and an opportunity of hiring out the halls when not required by Age Concern. This is just a very brief update on our last blog on the possible closure of Melvin Hall. This facility has not yet been saved, there is still a long way to go so work needs to start now to engage with the Trustees and LBB and take this fight forward. Ever since opening at the end of the second world war the Melvin Hall Day Centre’s main aim has been to increase the happiness of the older people of Penge.

In 2007 consultation on mental health facilities in north Essex gave rise to lively public meetings which resulted in the ward being saved, but in 2016 there was NO consultation because apparently moving a ward to another hospital in another town so long as it bears the same name is NOT a closure!!! At the very least, N.E.P.T. (North Essex Partnership Trust predecessors along with S.E.P.T. South Essex Partnership Trust, to E.P.U.T. Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust) should have held a new consultation process, but our feeling is still, along with the views and sentiments expressed by many eleven years ago, that nothing has changed, except that the facilities in Clacton needed revising including to allow for NHS single sex privacy and dignity accommodation, for which there was ample space available by using the adjacent and connected former Freeland Court. While people are often sent many miles away to find an available bed, we contended that mental health services could ill afford to lose beds in Clacton, though we would have welcomed extra beds in Colchester, but in addition, not instead of! As we were protesting the Colchester move we learnt from a whistleblower that the trust intended to downgrade the ward to an assessment centre, making a mockery of their assertion that the ward would be exactly the same in it's new location and if true, this would be a very definite change of service demanding thorough consultation! This was vehemently denied at the time but now we learn, not even 18 months later that service changes are being considered and this time, unlike the move, they do intend to consult! If after a wide consultation among all stakeholders including professionals, staff and public it can be demonstrated that the consulted changes would be in the best interest of patients, we shall be content, though we do not believe it will. If, as we are led to believe, the plans are indeed to downgrade Peter Bruff from an acute ward to an assessment centre this will amount to a de facto loss of 17 beds at a time of continuing high occupancy and the likelihood exists that patients needing continuing acute care may not find a bed within Colchester hospital and maybe forced to travel many miles away to find one. Two years ago we raised concerns over the difficulties many living in Clacton would face accessing Colchester. "With Colchester being about 15 miles away from Clacton concern was raised for patients who when discharged would face an expensive taxi bill or the prospect of at least two buses, train, long walk or combination! This distance would also likely make it difficult for many reasons, perhaps financial, for friends and families of patients to visit. Day visits and weekend visits home, for those recovering all made that more difficult when recovery itself is difficult enough!" 15 miles may soon seem like wishful thinking! And all this mainly on the pretext of saving the money spent on rent at Clacton!. Here's what we found out about that! " N.E.P.T. did not own the Clacton Peter Bruff Ward, but RENTED it from NHS Properties!! This was one of their excuses for wishing to CLOSE, I mean, MOVE the ward so as to save money on rent, but a freedom of information request revealed that N.E.P.T. were in fact only paying a "PEPPERCORN RENT!" https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/346733/response/855134/attach/2/FOI%20190716%2001%20reply%2018.8.16.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1 Safeguarding the service as it is may well be within our gift. It is doubtless thanks to everyone's efforts that E.P.U.T. are contemplating any consultation whatsoever because our first notification from a whistleblower indicated a fait d'compli. Well done everyone! I still dream that the day will come when we can "Keep Peter Bruff Ward Open In CLACTON!

Margate has The Turner Centre and Dreamland to attract visitors. We have our beautiful Royal Harbour, Tunnels and wonderful cafe culture but we need more reasons for families to visit. Thanet as a whole would benefit from the added tourism as we would be able to offer a better package, more reasons to visit. The wheel would not incur huge capital investment, ongoing leasing fees would be paid for out of revenue, therefore no risk to the council.