On the 6th April 2017 a petition with over 5000 signatures was presented to Brighton and Hove Council. Over 3000 signatures were signed on the streets of Brighton and 2200 online. The petition was against the implementation of PSPO’s. PSPO’s give Council workers and the Police the power to give Homeless people and Travellers an on the spot £100 fine for occupying a tent, vehicle or caravan in 12 locations across the city. Failure to pay the fine can lead to prosecution and a further £1000 fine. People breaching the order must provide a name address and date of birth. Failure to positively identify someone can lead to arrest. So effectively you can be fined, arrested and prosecuted for being homeless and having no money to pay for the ‘crime’ of being homeless. Brighton and Hove council voted for the petition to be noted but not to be forwarded to the Policy and Resources committee for further debate. Usually any petition with over 1250 signatures is debated at committee. Despite opposition to this legislation from Liberty, Equality and Human Rights Commission, local charities, specialist lawyers and the local community, Councillors blocked due democratic process by voting against the legislation being debated by the Committee that decided to implement it. It appears that Brighton and Hove Council want to sweep away homeless people and Travellers from our city through criminalisation and attempting to block any debate or opposition to the legislation. This will not work, it cannot work and we are standing against it. PSPO’s should only be used to target specific behaviours and not specific groups. This statement has been echoed by Sussex Police as well as human rights lawyers. This legislation is a direct assault on the homeless community and Gypsies and Travellers. PSPO’s have been misused in this context as living in a tent, caravan or vehicle are not anti-social activities in themselves. Article 8, of the Human rights act the right to a private and family life, is being infringed by this use of PSPO’s. Under the European convention on Human Rights, all public bodies owe a duty to facilitate the Gypsy way of life. This legislation is an attack on the Gypsy way of life and therefore in breach of Equality Duty and The European Framework Convention for the protection of Minorities. This policy is unlawful and need to be brought back to committee to be looked at again as it stands Brighton and Hove Council have blocked any further debate.

We call upon the transport secretary to: 1) Pledge his immediate backing for the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme including a new state-of-the-art 30-minute rail link between Manchester and Leeds – a ‘Crossrail North’; 2) Make an immediate commitment to at least £59 billion ‘catch-up cash’ over the coming decade to support the transport priorities being developed by Transport for the North; 3) Give Transport for the North the same powers as those enjoyed by Transport for London so that it can also raise private finance towards its own transport priorities. The government has announced its backing for the £31bn Crossrail 2 rail scheme in London just days after it has cancelled plans to electrify key rail routes, and rowed back on its long-standing commitment to electrify the trans-pennine link between Manchester and Leeds. Crossrail 2 was NOT in the Conservative Party Manifesto - whereas Northern Powerhouse Rail was! New analysis by IPPR North shows that over the past decade public spending on transport in London has been more than double that in the North – the North would have received £59bn more in investment over the last decade if it had received the same per person for transport as London. This is set to get worse, with planned public and public/private expenditure set at nearly £2000 per head, compared with £400 per head in the North BEFORE Crossrail 2 is taken into account. This is not just a matter of fairness. This is not special pleading. Transport investment needn’t be either/or. But lack of government spending on Northern transport is holding the whole economy back. Northern prosperity is national prosperity.

The Department for Work and Pensions has brought forward the proposed closure of Farnworth Jobcentre without any meaningful consultation with the local community. The Government claims that it is closing this Jobcentre as part of its "continued drive to deliver public services in more innovative and cost effective ways” without seeming to consider the impact on the local community. Farnworth is a deprived area, and residents rely on the support provided by their local Jobcentre, not only for help in finding employment, but also for benefit advice, access to computers and telephones. Farnworth Jobcentre is extremely busy and is valued by local residents, and to remove yet another service from Farnworth town centre means that unemployed and disabled residents will be further disadvantaged and could be pushed even further into poverty. Farnworth Councillors and I have been contacted by numerous constituents who are very concerned at the impact that this will have on them: Many unemployed or disabled residents of Farnworth, Kearsley and Little Lever simply cannot afford to travel into Bolton town centre. Even if some residents can afford the up-front cost of travel, the cost of reimbursement would be prohibitive as there is a high number of people who sign weekly, and some who sign daily. The closure of Farnworth Jobcentre would not result in savings to the public purse. In addition to the travel cost, it will also take residents considerably longer to travel into Bolton, increasing the likelihood of late attendance or missed appointments, which could lead to benefit sanctions. It would also cause greater inconvenience, including less time to spend searching for employment. People who have caring responsibilities are concerned that they will not be able to get to work on time, because of the extra travel time to get to Bolton Jobcentre. Residents with mobility problems will find it more difficult to attend Bolton Jobcentre, particularly those who are not able to use public transport and do not have access to private transport. The Government is currently consulting on health and disability issues, yet is at the same time making access to services more difficult. Bolton has two Jobcentres only a few hundred yards apart, yet Farnworth will be left with none. This simply makes no sense. Surely it would be better to close one of the Bolton Jobcentres and keep the one in Farnworth open? The Government requires claimants to attend more frequent face-to-face interviews than ever before, so it is vital that this service is retained in Farnworth We call upon the Department for Work and Pensions not to close Farnworth Jobcentre and ensure that its services are retained in Farnworth town centre.

The Samaritans have a long standing partnership with the railways, working together on suicide prevention techniques, and are entirely run on donations. Any suicide has a devastating effect on the families of the person involved, and also on the train crew and emergency services who deal with everything after the event. I feel that having the Samaritans as an extra option on the refund form would maybe make people think a little, and help the Samaritans prevent future incidents. I know of several people who donate their refunds to the Samaritans (bravo!) however at present they have to claim, wait till they receive it, then make a donation a week or three down the line.. Some people whilst good intentioned may forget to donate or just not think about why they got the refund at that point... I believe that donating directly from the refund form would hugely increase the donations to the Samaritans and could help reduce the number of suicides in the future. This would be of comfort to the families of those with troubles, and also benefit the railway, of which the Samaritans have a long standing partnership with.

Repeated excessive pay rises have proved that people in local and national government positions are incapable of doing this fairly. Their pay must be in line with the sorts of pay rises (or lack of rises) that their constituents endure.

I had to pay car park £11 for one afternoon to visit my Father in hospital. A nurse told me she came in for a half day training and had to pay £17 to park her car. A friend had his baby son in hospital for open heart surgery and besides the distress that caused, he was having to pay enormous amounts for car parking and getting fined if didn't make it back to car in time. The private car parking companies cannot be allowed to charge these unacceptable prices at hospitals.

Southways Nursery School plays a vital role within the local community.The nursery offers an excellent level of care and attention for children aged 2yrs to 5yrs of age. Without this nursery children will have to face the upheaval of being moved to a new nursery and these nurseries adding more pressure to both the nurseries and the parents as they have to travel further to get their child to nursery each morning. This is an excellent nursery with lots of history and ample space to support children during their early years. A closure of this nursery would have a devestating effect on the community around it and the children and parents that use it. Please sign the petition and lets stop this closure and save our chidren, parents and other nurseries undue anxiety and stress.

Environmental hazard, pest control, smell and diseases.

The Council are planning to demolishing this Historic community building. [1] Right now, the building is being used by various youth groups including Scouts and providing a vibrant local community hub. This historic building has been a school, a community centre, and seen generations of children use it and learn in it. CADW, the Welsh government body that conserve the heritage of Wales, are considering making the 122-year old Bodlondeb school a listed building. Over the years, numerous architects have been cautious to preserve the building as much as possible. An archeological report warns: “The impact of development would result in the loss of a heritage asset of at least local significance.” [2] We believe it would be a shame if the Council were to just demolish it. We, the undersigned, want to see future generations be given the same opportunities to use Bodlondeb school for community activities for all ages, from spinning classes to knitting. NOTES: [1] £2.5m Conwy cultural centre could be 'huge draw' for tourists: Daily Post: http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/25m-conwy-cultural-centre-could-12560789 [2] Archaeological survey by Wardell Armstrong: http://edm.conwy.gov.uk/Planning/StreamDocPage/obj.pdf?DocNo=2651700&PDF=true&content=obj.pdf

This is Important as it is an issue we have found within the area through talking to citizens and through investigating the services available that there is currently nothing available to aid them through their problems

It is an iconic building donated to local authority in middle 1840's for the use of local community uses despite of this restriction the Ealing Council is leasing it out for 250 years. The building came to prominence in 1979 when the community rose up and confronted the National Front from holding the meeting at this building. In process over 800 people were arrested and 344 were charged; and Blair Peach died by the hands of Special Petrol Group. This was inspiration for anti-racist struggle in whole country and indeed internationally. Proposal had been sent to Ealing Council to maintain the building at no cost to them and Infact offering rent of £30,000 - but the Council had not stopped the sale.

This is important because: • Mountain Ash and neighbouring communities who use the Jobcentre Plus at Mountain Ash have a high level of digital exclusion. The Jobcentre Plus provides vital support for the local population to regularly access job opportunities • The distance between Aberdare and Mountain Ash does not take into account the distance some claimants already have to travel to attend the Mountain Ash office. • The extra cost of travel must be taken into account and assurance given that no claimant will be out of pocket if this closure goes ahead • Mountain Ash and its neighbouring communities are recognised as amongst the most deprived communities in Wales. This closure will be another blow to an already impoverished community. • Many claimants suffer from ill-health, often including mental ill-health, and require support as locally as possible. • This Tory Government decision to centralise facilities and take staff from local (and deprived) communities, flies in the face of the Welsh Government Strategy ‘Better Jobs, Closer to Home’. This petition is organised by Welsh Labour Grassroots RCT & People’s Assembly RCT and supported by: Mountain Ash Branch Labour Party; Cllr. Andrew Morgan; Cllr. Wendy Treeby; Cynon Valley Constituency Labour Party; Ann Clwyd, Member of Parliament; Vikki Howells, Assembly Member; PCS Union Wales, DWP Bridgend / RCT Branch; Accessible News, Aberdare and Disabled People Against the Cuts.