Bristol is in the middle of a housing crisis affecting thousands across the city and made worse by the unaffordable rents and insecurity of renting privately. Shortage of Council Housing and Housing Association properties leaves the Private Rental Sector at breaking point. Lack of supply drives down standards as we tenants are forced into paying eye-watering rents for damp and mould-ridden houses with only a couple of months security. In these circumstances, privately-owned empty buildings are a dangerous and unacceptable limit on the pool of available housing. Where properties have stood empty for 2 years or more the Council can turn them into much-needed homes. Empty Dwelling Management Orders provide Local Authorities with powers of ‘Compulsory Leasing’. They can take possession, renovate and rent properties to recover costs. After that the building is returned to the owner with a paying tenant. These powers are currently a last resort. It should be made clear that the use of EDMOs will be taken up if all other reasonable efforts come to nothing. Please click the following link to sign up to our direct mailing list and stay updated on all our campaigns. http://www.acorncommunities.org.uk/

The existing trams finally came into service several years later than planned, eight stops short and 50% over its budget, at a cost of £776 million.The project has left Edinburgh the second most indebted council in Scotland, with total borrowing of more than £1.4 billion – nearly £3,000 for every resident. The new extension is estimated to cost over £162 million. The project would be part-financed by securing a £25 million “extraordinary dividend” from publicly-owned Lothian Buses, which means reduced investment in buses, job cuts, fare rises and a possible sell-off - another rip-off for the local people. Edinburgh has one of the best and most affordable bus services in the UK, so there is no need of trams extension. The City of Edinburgh Council should not come to a decision to extend the lines before the Tram Public Enquiry is completed. The money that will be spent on the needless trams extension could be used on community services, so The Council doesn't need to cut any services.

Tameside Council are wishing to rename Ashton Bus Station to Tameside Interchange. Stalybridge and Hyde will in future be known as Interchange #2 and #3. This is very wrong. Not only will it confuse everyone the risk of school children, old folk, people with learning disabilities and people with illnesses such as dementia getting lost, confused and upset is high. We must fight to keep the identity, history and the heritage of our town centres. We do not want them to dissapear.

The Land Registry records the ownership of all land and property in England and Wales. If private companies get their hands on the Land Registry they’ll have one thing on their minds - profits. This could mean a hike in price for all of us, or a fall in standards because of cost-cutting measures. The Land Registry is a public service that is self funding and is not a drain on public finance. There's no need to sell it off to the highest bidder.

It's important because lothian buses belongs to the people of Edinburgh and the council is plundering their profits for its own agenda with no regard for the consequence, there will be job cuts and service cuts and ultimately it's the people of Edinburgh who will suffer.

A STUDENT RAILCARD COSTS £30, BUT DOES NOT COVER TRAVEL AT PEAK TIMES. THIS MEANS THAT, WHEN LECTURES START AT 9AM, THE CARD CANNOT BE USED, AS IT ISN'T VALID BEFORE 10AM.

Numbers have been depleated to unsafe levels

On 12th November HMRC announced plans to close 160 offices across the UK and move to 13 regional centres which will put thousands of members jobs at risk. As part of that decision HMRC announced that Barbara Ritchie House in Livingston & Bathgate Contact Centre are to be closed by 2020 with staff wishing to remain in employment expected to travel to the Edinburgh regional centre. The Closure of Barbara Ritchie House and Bathgate Contact Centre by 2020 will result in approximately 1200 jobs being withdrawn from West Lothian which will have an impact on both the local economies and employment in the area. We believe HMRC's plans to close Barbara Ritchie House & Bathgate Contact Centre are completely unnecessary and based on a political agenda without giving consideration to staff or local communities.

We now know that all of the offices in Bootle and Netherton – The Triad, Litherland House, St John’s House and Comben House – are set to close by or before 2020. This means that around 3,000 staff face a move to Liverpool. This will result in job losses, as they are among around 6,000 staff facing the move to Liverpool in the North West while the new Regional Centre will only hold between 2,800 and 3,100 staff. It will also devastate the local economy, putting many businesses particularly along Stanley Road who rely on HMRC staff custom to survive at risk of closure. We believe the plans in their entirety represent the simplistic vision of a senior civil service who like the way things look on paper, and don’t care in the slightest how their organisational pipe dream impacts on people. The reality is these plans hurt, both members and the Bootle community as a whole.

We need to keep 999 safe from G4S; a private company with a public reputation for incompetent working practices. Especially since 999 is an emergency number which calls for someone who has sound judgement, integrity, professionalism and most importantly cares about their work. If the Leicestershire Police Force Control Centre (FCC) which handles 999 and 101 calls as well as police radio transmissions is relocated from Leicestershire into another County, with it will disappear all of the local knowledge, experience and expertise that currently benefits both Police Officers and members of the public here in Leicestershire. This essential part of front line policing should not be moved to a location or put into the hands of the notorious G4S or any other private company who will run it as a business rather than for the benefit of the people of Leicestershire. The staff of the FCC are rightly proud of the professional service they continue to provide, and it is to their great credit that they put their concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the vulnerable and distressed members of the public who will be affected by these changes before their own worries about job security and terms and conditions of service.

Despite the overwhelming support to maintain an effective Library Service across the whole of Barnet in the previous consultation, Barnet Council is continuing with its plans to limit the universal access to libraries for all people at all times. Our concerns include but are not limited to: • The 70% reduction in professionally staffed opening hours, which risks the safety of users and restricts the access of people under 16. • The reliance of volunteers, who might not be available in sufficient numbers to keep libraries open and whose of lack of expertise will rule out the provision of many services. • The massive reduction in space (more than 50% on average), which will reduce the resources and services the libraries can offer. • The rapidly increasing cost of killing off the library service, which far outstrips the proposed savings. Spending over £6m to save £2.2 million is a waste of taxpayer’s money. We call upon Conservative-run Barnet Council to halt these proposals and to work with residents and concerned organizations to develop a really viable and acceptable plan for the library service. These proposals are not only detrimental to the communities across Barnet but they are financially unsound with the cost of implementation far exceeding the proposed savings; we encourage the Council to see sense and scrap these proposals.

G4S have a known record of failure including the Olympic games, is it now right to trust these people with response centres.