There is clear evidence that pesticides (such as the herbicide glyphosate) used for pest and weed control across Lewes District are causing declines in biodiversity and are harmful to human health, especially children. Our children need to be able to play safely in the parks of Lewes face down on the ground without fear of exposure to glyphosate and other potentially harmful chemicals. But it is not just children. Everybody who lives, works, plays, visits, or walks their dog anywhere in this beautiful district should have the right to enjoy the area without the fear of coming into contact with unnecessary, toxic chemicals. Glyphosate alone is linked to cancers, infertility, birth defects, and neurological disease. The World Health Organisation has publicly stated that glyphosate ‘probably’ causes cancer. However there are 40 different types of pesticide that can be and are used in and around towns and cities in the UK. Progressive cities such as Paris, Toronto - and recently Brighton - have already voted to end the use of toxic chemicals in all public spaces. If they can do it, so can Lewes District! Effective alternatives for weed control already exist which are not harmful to people, pets, or the environment. Furthermore, the use of non-toxic alternatives will encourage greater local biodiversity - and give us all the pleasure of seeing more bees buzzing, butterflies fluttering, and birds singing! The increase in pesticide use since the 1970s has seen farmland bird populations decline by over 50% and catastrophic declines for insects such as several butterfly and bumblebee species (of up to 70% for some species). The loss of bumblebees and other pollinators has knock-on effects for growing food, as 75% of crops are pollinated by wild insects. So why risk the health of our children, ourselves, and the environment when there is another way? Let us employ non harmful ways of dealing with – or living with- those things that toxic chemicals are used to kill. These products are already available. We can start this process in our local district, and in Lewes. PS - Get informed! Read up on this issue by visiting the Pesticide-Free Towns campaign page on the Pesticide Action Network website.

Hemel Hempstead hospital has been downgraded for many years and patients are forced to travel to Watford. Conservative controlled Herts County Council had the chance to object to the decision to downgrade the hospital and refer the decision to the Secretary of State, but they chose not to. Mike Penning MP has made the hospital an electoral issue in every election since 2005 but nothing has changed. He didn't openly campaign for Leave but said that leaving the EU would be better for Britain. Serving Conservative Ministers said that billions could be spent on the NHS if we voted to Leave. These claims were painted on the side of their bus. We want Mike Penning to put his money where his mouth is and stand up for the people of Dacorum and resign if Leave campaign promises on NHS funding are not honoured and we don't get a new hospital for our community.

Because it saves many lives and makes the difficult task of dealing with having cancer a little easier to manage.

Now that we are no longer in the EU we as a nation need to secure more jobs, more revenue and most of all keep our health services up to date with the latest research and advanced technologies available. All over the world studies are proving that cannabis is a very effective form of treatment for hundreds if not thousands of illnesses from back pain to cancer. We recently had a petition that got a response based on out dated information and biased opinions, we are calling our government to base their response on their own personal views based on up to date research and information. The legalisation of cannabis has provided millions of dollars to states in the US. Money which is being used to better their health services, educational systems and much more, why are we not joining in the movement? Legalising Cannabis will help us thrive as a nation through production of hemp products, sales of the herb and mainly help the ill and pained people of the UK. Give us our freedom, end the war on cannabis today!

A lot of people work in all those hospitals and many would lose their jobs and the patients could be transferred to those community hospitals that aren't near their homes and families.

We have voted to leave the European Union. Right or wrong, there it is. With the news this morning that Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, will make £250 BILLION POUNDS available for the banks to keep the financial markets of the UK stable, we are all complaining that the promise to divert much needed funds into the NHS was just rhetoric. Our Nation Health Service is falling apart. If this money is available to aid stability we should use a small amount of it wisely. The NHS is desperate for a cash injection, the banks are not. This petition is to the British Government, to supply the NHS with much needed cash to stabilise a true British achievement. The banks do not need ALL of the money and with the lies told for the leave campaign, its about time the people who devote their lives to helping others keep their health got a bit of a breather.

The NHS is a dearly loved institution that is been squeezed by cuts, and one which faces an uncertain future in light of the EU referendum result and that 10% of its workforce comes from overseas. In order to protect its status as the best health service in the world, we need to ensure that it is properly funded. A family member is a nurse and their ward faces privatisation. This is not because it underperforms, but because of the revenue it brings to the hospital trust. The trust nonetheless does not have the capital to purchase new equipment, forcing it to consider private investment to meet this shortfall. Going forward, the extra revenue generated from the ward will go into private hands and not be reinvested for the benefits of patients. We can resolve this by ensuring the promises made by the leave campaign are met, overturning years of under investment that threatens patient safety, and which has put doctors at the mercy of hard nosed contractual negotiations by the Secretary of State.

Nigel Farage and Leave campaigners promised to invest in our NHS - but this morning it looks like they're trying to wriggle out of it. They shouldn't be allowed to make promises they can't keep. Our NHS has been cash strapped for years. NHS staff are working so hard and it's crumbling around them. Now we have an opportunity to make the 'Leave' campaigners promise to put the £350 million saved from the EU into the NHS. Today, half the country is rejoicing, half the country is despairing. But the NHS unites us all. We need to hold them to their promise of £350 million a week for our NHS.

The Terrence Higgins Trust claimed counselling services were threatened by reduced funding in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. HIV rates in the three London boroughs are far higher than other parts of the UK. The services provided by the Terrence Higgins Trust, which currently provides specialist advice and counselling services for people living with HIV across the three boroughs are currently funded by Lambeth Council, Lewisham CCG and Southwark CCG but are being reviewed this month. Please continue to fund these vital services to vulnerable people in the borough who suffer with HIV.

The nursing advisory unit, advises the Government on health policies and how they will affect nursing and nurses, allied health professionals and ultimately the health of the country. Nurses are the largest workforce in the UK and if they close this unit, it means that effectively nurses voices will not be heard within the department of health and they will get their information from lobbyists and private health care companies. The nursing posts that will go are nurses who advocate on behalf of those with mental health and learning disabilities, some of of our most vulnerable members of society. The Royal College of Nurses voted to ask their council to lobby Jeremy Hunt to keep the unit. I would ask you to join the campaign.

Barbecues on London Fields have been trialled for several years and were approved again for 2017. Barbecues are banned in most of the parks of London on safety and health grounds. It is the only park in Hackney where the Council overlooks their own strict bye-laws banning fires in parks. As a result, London Fields is now popularised through social media to the point that on a sunny summer weekend it attracts thousands of visitors and tourists from all across London and beyond. The smoke from BBQs and fires makes it impossible for residents neighbouring the park to open their windows on hot summer days. Depending on the wind, dense smoke carries across the park in different directions - into houses and flats, up to the Lido or across the children's playgrounds. The smoke is unpleasant and represents a significant pollution risk, especially for people with breathing difficulties. A highly toxic particle known as PM2.5 is released into the atmosphere when burning barbecues. There is no safe level of PM2.5 and it can: * suppress lung function in children * cause heart disease and strokes * cause and aggravate asthma * cause lung cancer [Source: "Every Breath We Take", RCP / RCPCH pub. Feb 2016] In the summer of 2105 an investigation by King's College London pollution team showed toxic PM2.5 air pollution levels during barbecues on Highbury Fields, Islington, to be up to 3 times the kerbside levels at one of London's busiest roads in Marylebone. In 2013 a study involving 312,944 people in nine European countries revealed there was no safe level of particulates. Hackney Council has an air pollution plan (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/air-pollution) and an air quality action plan (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/air-quality-action-plan) - and does nothing to stop toxic smoke over children's play areas in the Fields. Anti-social behaviour is an ever-present worry with small groups staying in the park overnight. Mounds of litter are left behind, overflowing the many extra bins provided. On Sundays and Mondays, parts of the park are unusable by local residents until clear-ups are undertaken, bins are left on fire and discarded food attracts rats. Every summer this costs Hackney council-tax payers a potential £80,000 or more in extra bins, refuse disposal, signs, security and damage repairs to the park. According to an FOI request, £57,000 alone is paying for a security firm to watch just the BBQ area all summer long*. To put this in perspective - if the park charged 800 visitors every week for the whole summer £5 to BBQ (15 weekends) it would only raise £60,000 - and not cover those costs. And the security is there only on weekends - and BBQs are lit every day during the summer. London Fields is a small park. It just cannot sustain this pressure on such a tiny piece of land. It is time to call an end to a failed experiment and treat London Fields like any other Hackney Park – a green space which visitors should respect and use with care. Local people should not have to dread sunny weekends. And what if there were no barbecues? Well, they are no real loss to anyone; *picnics* are rather similar in nature but much less annoying and polluting - and they are fun, cheaper, eco-friendly, no smoke, no fire, less mess (except perhaps for egg sandwiches) and they can be eaten anywhere, in any park, in any neighbourhood, not just a tiny, barren corner of London Fields. So please sign this petition and share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and email - and in the street - to ask the Mayor and Hackney Council to end this abuse of the Fields. * Hackney Council claim the security is for the whole of the park; this is not what the security staff say - or do.

It is important to families of disabled children, those of us with sensory or mobility needs. Those visiting a sick relation. For many having to use two buses is just too much. This will have a huge impact on the most vulnerable. Transport should serve the public not put profit first. Please sign and share.