Watch the video about the campaign here: https://youtu.be/3EE38TySdSE My name is Leyla Preston. I have three children and I own a parenting magazine called Motherhood Diaries (www.motherhooddiaries.com). In the summer of 2019, I joined a campaign with The Association of Play Industries (API Play) called #PlayMustStay which encourages parents to visit their local parks and playgrounds with their children and keep them off the screens. Cast your mind back to when you were a child. I remember always being outdoors and spending most of my time playing with my friends. I only ever came home when it was time for dinner or sleep. It was such a fun time, and I really enjoyed being outside socialising and burning my energy. As a result, I have such fond memories of playing at my local park/playground, which was just minutes away from me on foot. Nowadays, children have a very different life, most of which is now spent indoors, because of diminishing parks and playgrounds and the constant lure of screens. In 2016, API Play researched into the state of England’s parks and playgrounds and found that local authorities had already closed 347 playgrounds to date. Next year, they plan to further decrease their spend on play facilities by almost £25 million per year, which means more parks/playgrounds will close. And once they’re gone, they’re gone forever! This means a lot of communities cannot get to their local park or playground, and the vicious circle of keeping our children indoors will continue–and how do you occupy your children when you have millions of things to do yourself? Screens! As with everything, a balance is key but this new world is seeing an epidemic of excessive screen time, which has led to childhood obesity, mental health issues and sleep problems because kids are not getting enough exercise and mental stimulation from unstructured outdoor play, which is deemed more beneficial than structured play. Don’t forget that play also encourages social interaction, physical and mental development and, of course, learning through play. We need to take back control and together with our local communities encourage our local government to increase their spend on parks and playgrounds and make them understand that this cut, which they think will save money will cost more in the long run through medical expenses alone. I am not alone in thinking this. Mumsnet surveyed 1,111 parents with children aged two to twelve years old and found that 72% of parents with children who suffer health issues like obesity agree that lack of outdoor play has played a role in their child's health problems. We need more access to parks and playgrounds, but we can’t do this on our own. The government must understand how vitally important our beautiful pockets of nature are to our kids by urging them to stop closing our parks and playgrounds and increase their spend so more parents can get to their local park. Not all parents have access to a car or public transport, so let’s build more parks and playgrounds and have them on our doorstep, so we are not pulled in by the lure of screens. We will be paid back in dividends for the rest of ours and our children’s lives. Please sign the petition so we can bring this issue of not enough parks and playgrounds to the government for review. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Check out my full article and video on the Winter's Tale campaign here: http://bit.ly/PlayMustStayWinterTale https://youtu.be/3EE38TySdSE Learn more about the campaign here - https://www.api-play.org/news-events/play-must-stay-campaign/ Follow our story on Instagram here - https://www.instagram.com/motherhooddiaries https://www.api-play.org/playmuststay-a-winters-tale/

Victoria Park is a hub of the community with families and children using the play park, walkers milling through, with recreational sports and events taking place on the green. The play park is used by locals, and visitors the area, it is a wonderful addition to the town. Our aim is to apply for funding as part of Aberfeldy Road Safety Sub Group to achieve a safer entrance/area to the park for all ages, which I am sure you agree is much needed vital change. Success in the competition for funds, will depend in part on demonstrating widespread community support and a Partnership approach, which this petition allows us to achieve.

It is important to Mick as he enjoys his job & the interaction that it gives him with the local community. It is important more now than ever as he has just lost his wife & this helps him to move on a little bit & keep himself busy. But it is important to the community especially the parents & their children who cross with him to get to school. He ensures their safety on which is a dangerous junction otherwise. People are being put at risk while he is not there & the children miss seeing him as it is part of their daily routine

As a 2 full time working parents household with two children needed childcare for us to go to work, we cannot get help with our childcare cost and it’s leaving us next to nothing to live off, why should we work 37 hours a week 5 days a week for nothing?? Things need to change 15 hours funding for 2 year olds go to low income families or for non working families! Is this right??? 30 hours is amazing but it doesn’t help me till my child is 3, my childcare is twice my mortgage, help is needed for us working parents, universal credits is a joke with a income cut off point which is so low this needs lifting as minimum wage goes up but so does the cost of living,

Because in one week alone I’ve had two near accidents with my little girl on a less than a minute walk to school. I am not the only one but I won’t stand by and wait for an accident to happen before Chang’e is made. I want to protect my child and every other child in the community. Promote safety and change ! Our community was rushed and it’s known as home to so many of us and we want it completed with the paramount safely of our children in mind .

As a Widowed parent I know first hand how devastating it is to find yourself in this life. Not every person has life insurance, a decent pension, savings or has an estate to leave their loved ones. To struggle every month while dealing with grief and the grief of your child. Always worrying if all the bills will be covered, constantly having to go without, missing meals to make sure your children eat, always having to say no when your child asks for treats. Having to ask for food vouchers so you can go to a food bank to keep the cupboards stocked or having to ask family for help even though your still working as much as you can. We are purposely left to struggle in the worst possible moments of life because we were not married to our partners at the time of their death. The government do not even recognise us as widows or our children as bereaved due to being unmarried. It has been acknowledged that this is wrong and has to change and there are charities already campaigning but still nothing has been done and families like mine are suffering because of it. This is wrong and it has to be changed now.

The child maintenance service is failing children in the UK. Loopholes are allowing parents to avoid paying child maintenance, even when they can afford it. The way that child maintenance rates are calculated is leaving children in poverty. Families are being left waiting for months without any support while they wait for applications to be processed. I use the child maintenance service, and I’ve started this petition because I want the government to fix the system to make sure that all children can get the support they need. I’m calling on the government to: - Put provisions in place to make sure that no matter the circumstance, children receive the support they need. - Reduce the waiting times so that parents are not left for weeks on end without enough money to support their children. - Close loopholes that allow parents who can afford child maintenance to avoid paying.

The importance of Stoke Lodge to the local community is strongly-felt, widespread and enduring: ● Two applications for Town or Village Green status show the strength of feeling about this space. The Inspector at the first TVG concluded that all tests for TVG status were met apart from one (‘as of right’ access) which is not relevant to the test for LGS. ● Our community has raised substantial funds and committed significant time over a sustained period to maintain access as of right. ● Over 4,100 Bristolians signed a petition calling on the Council to protect open access. ● Stoke Lodge has not one but two supporters’ groups, with over 1,800 members in aggregate who devote significant amounts of time not just to campaigning but also to gardening and other voluntary projects to protect and improve this amazing space. Please revise your assessment of Stoke Lodge. It is the epicentre of a community and is unique and irreplaceable – it fulfils all the criteria for Local Green Space and we strongly believe it should be given the higher level of protection.

It's tough being a parent trying to help your children make the right choices. You want your kids to have treats but you also want them to eat healthily. It's a tricky balancing act. As a parent I want my child to be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of watching something without being bombarded with ads for junk food. Kids can be impulsive. It's not right that companies are making a quick buck exploiting our kids like this. It needs to stop. Parents need to know they can send their kids off to school without advertisers flooding their phones and screens with ads for sugary drinks and snacks. Our kids are unhealthier than ever. One in three are leaving primary school obese, and with a higher chance of developing diabetes, asthma and other health conditions later in life. For the first time ever kids aren’t expected to live as long as their parents. And this is making our kids unhappy too, as it’s leading to depression and low self-esteem in our young people. There’s a simple solution - ban junk food advertising before 9pm. Will you sign my petition telling the government to do it?

Station Road is a Main road through March Town but there is no crossing at all except for one right in the middle of the town. The catchment areas for 2 primary schools mean that many parents and children (including myself with a 2 year old and a 6 year old) have to cross this road daily. If they were to use the only crossing they would incur a detour which would make the journey to school roughly another mile long or more. Added to this is the fact that a nursery and several childminders are on the school side of the road so a lot of children have to cross a busy road at a busy time of day and it can often take 10-15 minutes extra just to cross this road safely. There is no route to any other school from my area which would mean children would have to cross a busy road without a dedicated crossing however parents can't get their children into these schools as they are 'not in catchment'. Because of this parents are routinely forced to run the gauntlet of this road with their children or to use their cars to get their children safely to school (which isn't particularly friendly to the pocket, the environment or our children's health).

The current design of Universal Credit is one of the evils of our age. The design of Universal Credit was supposed to make it easier for people on benefits to move into employment. A key feature is that it is paid monthly and wraps all benefits into one payment including rent. There is a huge problem with paying benefits monthly. Because of the often chaotic nature of the finances of people on benefits, most poor people run out of money long before the month end. The result is that children go hungry for days, even weeks at a time and food banks proliferate. Moreover paying claimants the money needed for their rent, which they are supposed to pass on is folly. 73% of Universal Credit claimants are now in arrears on their rent, this is causing real strain on housing associations. Basically housing associations and landlords have become the lender of last resort to those on Universal Credit. But there is a sensible quick fix that will make Universal Credit work. It is repackaging an old idea. Pass a law that anyone in employment paid under £20,000 pa has the right to be paid weekly. Admittedly that will cause a short term cash flow issue for many employers. But that could easily be overcome if the Government lent every employer the right amount of money to move people to weekly pay. They already know all this information due to the HMRC real time submissions that employers are obliged to make to HMRC any time any payment is made to any employee. It would be dead simple to work out exactly the cash flow shortfall an employer would face, this could be advanced as a Tax and NI Credit and it could be repaid over an agreed period again by an adjustment to the amount of Tax and NI an employer has to make. Then simply, pay Universal Credit weekly and pay any rent element direct to the housing association or landlord. Then insist that ATMs and point of sale equipment in the supermarkets use fingerprint recognition technology and give access to benefit accounts using the ID God has given us all. At a stoke of legislation this would reduce the problem of running out of money for too long. Basically claimants are likely to be able to budget better on a weekly basis and if they make a mistake like drinking too much it only impacts their family for a week and not a whole month. So join me in asking Parliament to pass legislation to achieve this. It is so simple and sensible that it is quite remarkable that it has never been suggested. Adrian Hill

The future of Citizens Advice in Suffolk is under threat because Suffolk County Council is proposing to halve and then completely withdraw its funding to the charities. The Citizens Advice network helped 22,000 people in Suffolk with more than 75,000 issues last year. The volunteer advisers provide quality assured advice on a wide range of issues such as debt, disability benefits, housing, employment and relationships. Cuts would lead to a significantly reduced service for people in Suffolk. The number of staff and volunteers available to give advice would have to be drastically reduced. If you have a story to tell about how we have helped you or your family then please share it in the reason for signing.