A Tight Spot The big news this week on the BBC news channel, is that Meghan Markle has started wearing tights to prepare for joining the royal family, who don’t go bare legged, for unexplained reasons of protocol. This reminds me of having to wear tights as part of my school uniform. Never mind the gender pay gap I was a child and had no income, yet I was obliged to buy a product that had built in obsolesces. My tights didn’t last long before they laddered, especially on splintery school chairs and under desks where gum had been secreted. Nail varnish only halted a ladder for so long. I was lucky if I could wear a pair of tights more than five times before throwing them out. That’s a total of a week’s wear per pair. In today’s prices Marks and Spencer sell three pairs of thick black tights for £5. There are about 40 weeks of term time in the school year, and no one wears socks in summer, or those sheer tights that tear when you are taking them out of the packet, so I spent £66 on tights each year. Or rather my parents spent £66 on tights per daughter per school year, and I have two sisters, so my parents were spending £200 per year on tights. They might have done this buy giving their daughters pocket money and hoping we learnt budgeting skills, but there was no way of saving or scheming that avoided the need for their daughters to buy 40 pairs of tights each. According to government statistics, in Britain today there are 1,564,819 girls of secondary school age in state schools, and many will attend schools where trousers are not part of the uniform for girls. So at the end of each school year British school girls have spent about £104,321,267 on 62,592,760 pairs of tights all of which are slowly decomposing on landfill sites. And I mean slowly, tights have the wondrous ability to ladder like greased lightening and decompose at a snails pace. It strikes me that this is not a great use of the earth’s resources and is good neither for the environment or the wealth of Britain’s school girls and their parents. I never liked wearing tights. I didn’t like that they failed to keep me warm in winter, and were sweaty all year round, and sweaty means fungal infections. So I say that protocol needs to move in the other direction. Wearing tights does not equate with decency. I am proud not to be royal and bare legs are fine by me. I just wish the people who design school uniform weren’t influenced by the royal family as much as they seem to be. There are better thing that Britain’s school, girls could buy with £104,321,267. Heck if all girls could wear trousers to school up-skirting and environmental disaster would both suffer a body blow. Others have campaigned on the cost of tampons for school girls, I say there’s more work for feminists to do. Ask Damian Hinds to make wearing trousers and option for all Britain’s school girls.

Glasgow residents and visitors have been delighted to see the beautiful 1842 arch revealed in all its glory after the recent demolition of the 1970s Station facade. We'd like to see the arch preserved in the proposed design.

It is important because this fence is destroying a beautiful place that is a haven for tourists, locals and wildlife. On May 16th work started building a fence. Nobody was consulted and noone had been informed about it. Immediately the local councillors, residents, the former mayor all objected. Their requests for a site visit were all ignored. The workers refused to give their names, their bosses contacts, where they worked from, which department. They refused any information. Dozens of residents contacted Network Rail via their helpline along with the councillors - still no site visit and the request for the work to be stopped was ignored. No less than thirty letters later and still no phone call nor site visit. Rather than speak to the local parish councillors to talk about a fence that would be more in keeping, and trackside where the original fence is, Network Rail sent more men with bigger machines to, as one of their workers said, 'put it up quick'. One week later and Den Lane as it was was destroyed. And still no call from Mr Carnes office. Network Rail had already caused a lot of damage to the area, chopping down ancient trees in the middle of the nesting season. Here on Den Lane we have bats, owls, deer, foxes, jays and lots of other wildlife. Trees had been felled directly next to the roosting site of bats. What Network Rail have done is shocking. They are doing this all over the country and it has to stop. And it stops right here. And we hope others will join us in challenging Network Rail's 'slash and burn' approach. NOTE IMPORTANT Network Rail have cited cases of people and children trespassing onto the track to justify their actions. We have checked with the Police and no cases have been reported to the local Police in the last 11 years. Also Network Rail cite vandalism [their actions are an act of vandalism in fact] as another reason for the fence. However zero cases of vandalism to the track area have ever been reported. The only 'vandalism' that has occurred was the dismantling by locals of the Pointless Fence last week. That however was not vandalism, but an act of direct protest by people who felt they were being ignored. Vandalism is the defacing of property. Dismantling a fence in protest is not vandalism. Also the fence is entirely pointless - reason? You can access the line easily on the other side of the track from the bridleway. That is in fact where the fence needs to be built. Mark Carne CEO Network Rail has wasted £30,000 of public money on... The Pointless Fence. And unfortunately for the residents of Uppermill, they have also wrecked Den Lane in the process.

The River Thames is in an area of ‘High Sensitivity’, according to the County Council’s Oxfordshire 'County Sensitivity Report'. This means that it requires particularly sensitive treatment during any development works. There are 4 species of Red Listed birds (in greatest danger of extinction) - Sparrow, Starling, Song Thrush, Kingfisher - nesting along the towpath. Sparrows, alone have declined by 60% in the last few years. Disturbance during the nesting season and removal of their foraging and singing sites will impact on their numbers, as is recognised by the County Council itself. Opinions may vary on how humans and wildlife should share this beautiful route. However, the County Council must adhere to national guidelines and its own policies of best practice and not try to scrape through with the bare legal minimum, as it has so far. As regular Oxford cyclists we welcome the cycle path. In Oxford, we are entirely used to cycle paths narrowing (or even disappearing during the most dangerous points). There is no reason why this one couldn't be shaped to include the nature and wildlife that makes the route such a pleasure for all of us now and for the future.

Wester Ceddens Road links local residents to 4 primary schools, 1 secondary school, 2 nurseries, local shops and 2 churches. During term time the council provides 4 school crossing patrol personnel however, outside of school drop off, lunch and pick up times residents risk their lives attempting to cross Wester Cleddens Road. Furthermore, numerous housing developments have been built on and around Wester Cleddens Road which has increased traffic and the population.

There are very few of these animials in the wild and have only recently been discovered in certain areas. These areas are now being destroyed.

An estimated 5 million pots are wasted each year. They are expensive to recycle and inevitably end up outside of conventional routes of waste management, therefore adding to plastic residues in water courses and oceans. It's a problem that shouldn't exist. Biodegradable alternatives are already easily available and at low costs, made from materials such as bamboo, rice husks, cardboard, coconut and straw. Plastic pots are designed as single use packaging so even if they are re-used they have a very short lifespan and are ultimately un-recyclable.

Palm oil plantations are responsible for the destruction of rain forests and is threatening the orangutang with extinction. This is also causing negative climate change in a big way.

Camden's plans for houses on these sites are a really bad idea for several reasons. These will NOT be Social Housing and it is very unlikely that they'll be able to sell these plots at any profit. Camden's previous attempts at developments nearby have resulted in empty apartments. Local Residents' concerns about what will be built on the sites are being ignored so that Camden have a chance of selling them off to a private developer. Please sign our petition to object to development of these 3 sites. It is now time for Camden to listen to the local community. Your voice counts!

Having had an increase in traffic due to house building elsewhere in the Bolsover District and the increase in Pedestrian accicdents it’s imperative that Pedestrian access throughout the village is increased so that our children can walk to both Junior and secondary schools

At present the beach is inaccessable to a good portion of the general public who are not prepared to risk broken bones or worse i.e.permanent or life threatening injury. The beach is only approachable at present by attempting to struggle over lots of variable size rocks and stones for approximately 30/40 feet in a downhill gradient its worse trying to get back up! Fairbourne is a seaside destination for lots of tourists and being unable to access the beach will put off visitors and tourists thereby having a detrimental effect on all local business. Worse case scenario is if there is an accident or a sea rescue had to take place then emergency services would have great trouble and use up a lot of valuable time trying to attempt a rescue. This shows a complete lack of "Duty of Care" by Gwynedd Council towards Locals and visitors and reinforces the stigma already attached to Fairbourne by Gwynedd Council when it was "leaked" and highlighted in the BBC TV programme that sea defences would only be msintained in the short term thereby causing a dramatic fall in house prices. This was how the villagers first heard of this via National News!

This petition has been amended to correct an error, to incorporate new information and to add this new development: On the 8th May 2018, the government announced a consultation on 'litter officers' and is asking for your views. Please sign this petition and then see the government DEFRA consultation page to make yourselves heard. The 1990 Environmental Protection Act is being misused for profit by Kirklees Council and its controversial private outsourcing firm Kingdom Security. The following cases are a small sample of what is happening across the UK in each of the 30+ areas where councils have initiated a ‘litter policing’ scheme by outsourcing to Kingdom. These cases highlight some of the ways in which our rights are being abused by local councils in the pursuit of shared revenue. They also highlight some of the dangers of local authorities outsourcing to private companies, abandoning oversight and disregarding responsibility; and illustrate why Kirklees should immediately cancel its contract with Kingdom. Imagine your elderly mother is leaving a shop and is suddenly cornered by two strange men demanding she give them £75 and her personal details because they say her receipt fell out of her bag as she left the shop. They are not policemen and they do not look or act like professionals, so she tries to ignore them but they stand in her way. They threaten her with the Police and the Courts if she does not 'comply' with them. They say they work for the Council. They do not tell her she has the right to remain silent but they do tell her she has no right to question them or to protest. How would she feel? Imagine you're in the park, peacefully feeding the ducks, and two of these 'officers', equipped with little more than a basic security check and a lanyard, loom over you to demand the same because they say feeding the ducks is littering. They intend to issue you with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for an environmental 'offence'. You protest at such a ludicrous interpretation of the Act and try to leave. They follow you, demanding you comply. People are stopping to stare and listen. How would you feel? You come home to find your wife distraught after she and your two young children were followed in a car for ten minutes by a stranger demanding she pay £75 because she had stopped for a moment to shake something from her shoe. She was so scared and upset she had to seek shelter in a friend's house, when the Kingdom officer finally left her alone. How would you feel? That case was witnessed by a Welsh undercover reporter who expressed the discomfort he had felt while spying on the victim and following her. In the same report, an ex-employee described Kingdom’s pressure to achieve four FPNs a day. The staff issuing these fines are not trained police officers and they have no professional rigour or standards. They have little understanding of the law and they use no discretion in its application. They are frequently caught on camera denying people's own right to film them. They wear bodycams but record no evidence of alleged offences. They only start recording evidence once they cherry-pick a target, giving no protection against false accusations. One ex-employee said he made almost £1000 in financial incentives in one month. The system is ripe for exploitation and that is exactly what is happening. The dubious practices of Kingdom Security have also been the subject of countless other newspaper reports and a BBC Panorama documentary in May 2017, after which Kent Council suspended all their Kingdom staff. In addition, YouTube has hundreds of videos by shocked victims and witnesses which evidence the aggression, as well as the distress and the public disorder being caused. In one of these, a Kingdom 'officer' in Liverpool is chased off by a small crowd of shopkeepers, disgusted by his manhandling of a visibly frail, elderly man with learning difficulties.  This is what happens when police powers are given to members of the public. This is what happens when councils like Kirklees put profits before people. This is what happens when services are outsourced to private firms. Kirklees has already seen many complaints from its own residents, demanding to know why they are being intimidated, harassed, publicly humiliated and falsely accused on the council's behalf. A sham appeals process does not allow for the concept of innocence, since no evidence is apparently required; meaning victims are simply stonewalled with threats of court action. I have been falsely accused myself by Kingdom in a distressing, humiliating experience which felt like an assault. All protests were overridden with threats of the police and demands for personal information. I will be giving my testimony in court. Kirklees will not bully me. Pensioners, students, the unemployed, the homeless, people with learning difficulties and mental health issues: no distinction is made as Kirklees demands money with menaces from its already austerity-hit residents. In 2017, one of Kirklees' own councillors publicly cautioned them against Kingdom after personally witnessing a worrying incident in Huddersfield. In March 2018, following public protests by several campaign groups over the dubious tactics employed by Kingdom, Gwynedd Council in Wales halted a 12-month trial after just two days. Anglesey Council also suspended their contract in March. In May, Llandudno’s tourism chief stated that Kingdom are doing more harm than good to the town; underlined by another official’s description of the environment being created by Kingdom as ‘purely negative’. It is time for Kirklees to adopt some respect for the public it serves; to follow the lead of these councils and to end its contract with this unethical company. Kirklees needs to clean our streets of the Kingdom 'litter police'.