To say that the Gym will be closed 'Until Christmas' is not acceptable, both to the members who use this facility and the instructors for whom this is their financial livelihood. The gym is a non-profit making facility and being out of action for this length of time (when we are only going to receive a general tidy up as part of the refurb) will mean that we cannot continue to run. We cannot expect members to pay for a service that won't be available to them. An alternative arrangement needs to be made for a phased refurb in order for us to continue. This Gym has been run for over 20 years this way and its' fantastic service and Commitment from the Committee who continue to run it is valued greatly by all tenants and members. It is not the same as just 'putting a treadmill in a corner and calling it a gym' - what we have is unique and has made a difference to so many people - please don't let us lose that. My passion for providing this fantastic facility for all drives me to fight for this for you all. Thank you, Martina

Merton Hall is a charming, ornate, structurally sound Victorian public hall which was commissioned by renowned philanthropist John Innes and executed by his first architect Henry Goodall Quartermain. Together Innes and Quartermain started the design and development of nearby Merton Park garden suburb. The hall is a well-proportioned, balanced and carefully designed public building which does not deserve to be decimated and crushed. Why Should It Be Saved? Structurally Sound ******************* Merton Hall is a fit-for-purpose, solid, Queen Anne style building, in good order which is used by the public daily. It does not merit demolition. Merton Council itself has for years acknowledged its historic and architectural merit by making it a locally-listed building, and putting it on the local heritage trail. Today, it plans to pull it apart The Council has allocated millions of pounds of public money to demolish and replace the main hall in its entirety, retaining only the front which will be blighted by a stitched-on extension made of glass, aluminium and stone cladding. Instead of Merton Hall’s beautiful warm brickwork, buttresses, ornate porches and terracotta plaques, the Council plans a modern, bland, “black box” style warehouse design replacement that doesn’t respect Wimbledon’s heritage nor local distinctiveness. Green space with mature plants and wildlife will be ripped out. If the demolition is not stopped, it could give a green light to “chip away” at John Innes’ distinctive Merton Park and other community assets as has already happened at nearby Merton Rush. Loss of Heritage Asset ************************ In 1898, John Innes' leafy and architecturally harmonious “garden suburb” Merton Park was now thriving. He decided it was time for the community to have a public hall for concerts and performances. He was approached by the headmaster of Merton school to build a Masonic Lodge as it would strengthen local ties. John Innes agreed, and commissioned Quartermain to design a building that would satisfy the dual purposes of a Masonic Lodge and a public hall. Merton Hall is the last jigsaw piece in his legacy to the public. Prominently positioned at 78 Kingston Road SW19, it is one of only two remaining public buildings built by Innes and Quartermain. The Boys’ Club across the road and the old Rutlish School were not so fortunate; they were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1891 privately-owned Manor Club built for working men sits alongside Merton Hall. The two buildings complement each other and together tell the success story of John Innes’ sense of community, extreme public generosity and concern for the physical and mental wellbeing of the people. Getting rid of Merton Hall is a diminution of John Innes’ legacy. He gave enormously to the area and his legacy should be respected and protected. To do otherwise would seem an act of ingratitude not only to Merton Hall but to all his community assets in the locality. Loss of Freehold in Swap ************************** The Council has agreed a “freehold swap” with Elim Pentecostal Church for the church's current industrial site on High Path. The Hall will no longer be called Merton Hall, a title it has held for over 100 years. It will be named Elim Pentecostal Church serving a limited congregation. Elim will own the freehold in this “swap”, giving it the right to dispose of this heritage asset at any time in the future. The wider community will lose Merton Hall as a public asset and a public hall - yet another blow to community life at a time of when social cohesion is much needed. To this day, John Innes has looked after the community through his Merton Hall which daily embraces everyone. It is an inclusive venue, well-used for a broad variety of activities for all, as well as innumerable weddings, birthdays, christenings and performances. The closure of Merton Hall and public asset transfer to privately-owned Elim Pentecostal Church will end John Innes’ legacy of inclusivity - regardless of creed and status. We Call Upon Merton Council ****************************** 1- To lead the way in respecting our dwindling heritage and planning law. 2- To shelve its plans for unnecessary demolition of a solid and fit-for-purpose building steeped in history and public legacy. 3- To find an alternative site for Elim Church or issue it with a compulsory purchase order (CPO) We must save Merton Hall for generations to come; it is Merton’s heritage, a British asset to be celebrated, not destroyed. Let us not forget: What heritage we easily demolish is lost forever and cannot be rebuilt. Useful links: - Merton Hall planning application live until August 24th 2017 - later representations can be accepted Planning.merton.gov.uk Application reference 17/P2668 https://www2.merton.gov.uk/environment/planning/planningapplications.htm Email [email protected] quoting 17/P2668 Merton Hall - List of Merton Locally Listed Buildings https://www2.merton.gov.uk/loc_list_descriptions_sort1.091.pdf Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @SaveMertonHall

With two primary schools, a community centre with pool and now a local park due to be built by the road the safety of our children and residents is paramount individuals are consistently speeding and using the road as a cut through.

There is a danger to life. It is not safe to cross as cars often drive round islands to get past. Learner drivers are targeted and as there is a park entrance there are lots of young children about. There have been many reports to Council and Police that justify extra measures but these are largely not producing a response. Local residents have supplied video, photographic and first hand accounts of the driving that is illegal and highly dangerous. There are 20 signs on this road but speeds are often in excess of 60 miles and hour. There have been reports of eye witness and CCTV footage from businesses nearby that has shown near misses and the scale of the problem.

Braintree Town FC has been in dialogue with Braintree District Council for nearly 10 years on relocating to a new stadium. With planning applications refused and a new community stadium removed from the local plan, the club has so far been unable to garner support from the local authority for relocation. Recently the council have released the proposals for the next local plan for housing developments this includes land owned by the council adjacent to the Ironmongery Direct Stadium. This land is currently leased to the football club by the council with the lease due to expire in 2030, the lease going through to 2030 but the Local Plan designates 60 houses on the land to be built in 2022 so could be subject to a compulsory purchase order . The land is currently used as a training pitch used by the first and reserve teams, and also the car park for users of the stadium and social club. If the land is developed for housing not only will the club lose its training ground and car park but also access to the turnstile block used for away fans when the ground is segregated. The club will have to find alternative arrangements for training, and users of the stadium will be forced to park in neighbouring residential streets. This would all mean that there is a very real chance that the club would be unable to continue to operate at their current home, and with no support for relocation the very existence of the club is under threat. Please sign this petition so that a football club that has been in existence since 1889 can continue.

In common with many villages in Britain, Chalfont St Giles has seen a severe reduction in the number of traditional pubs and their replacement by gastro-pubs , restaurants and non-licensed premises. The villagers are therefore saddened by the fire at the Milton's Head and its eventual demolition as it had been a licensed premises since 1901. In order to prevent any further reduction in licensed premises, the residents of Chalfont St Giles hereby petition Chiltern District Council to refuse any planning application for a change of use of the site from licensed premises /restaurant to any alternative use.

This was a deliberate and premeditated breach designed to dupe Lancashire County Council and disregards their authority.

Jake Berry MP (Tory minister for the so-called Northern "Powerhouse") has advised cash strapped Wirral Council to use its own resources and reserves to help victims of the huge explosion that tore through the centre of New Ferry, Wirral earlier this year. 33 people were injured 2 seriously, many businesses were destroyed, a further dozen shops and services put out of action and 30 families displaced from their homes. With so much of the town centre destroyed, shoppers have stopped going to New Ferry and the surviving businesses are suffering from loss of trade and facing financial ruin. Insurance companies have been very slow to act and indeed reluctant to pay out (with nobody having yet been found guilty of causing the explosion), leaving residents and businesses without sufficient financial support with which to rebuild their lives. Many people are not only suffering financially, but also emotionally with depression and the equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder. The government has shockingly refused to call the explosion a NATIONAL INCIDENT, what on earth does constitute a "national incident" then ? Despite pleas for funding assistance from local MPs, businesses and residents, the government has turned its back on this devastated community, citing rules and regulations for not offering any disaster relief funding to help those affected. New Ferry, Wirral - a deprived community in a Labour controlled authority - is being treated entirely differently to other communities in the UK that have faced similar, and seemingly less significant, disasters. Jake Berry's refusal of assistance is an absolute disgrace and makes a mockery of the title Northern Powerhouse. New Ferry should be treated the same as other communities that have recently suffered (as should every community in the country should a similar disaster befall them), and the rebuilding of its centre should be funded by the British government A.S.A.P If you agree that New Ferry (and every other community in the country affected by such an economically damaging disaster) should be treated fairly and given government support, please, please sign this petition, thank you

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.

GSK have recently announced that they are closing their factory in Slough: http://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/15421539.Up_to_320_jobs_to_go_as_GSK_shuts_Slough_Horlicks_factory/ This building is well known locally as the Horlicks Building and can be seen by anyone in a train passing along the Great Western Mainline from the west of England into Paddington. Built in 1908, architecturally its most notable features are the large HORLICKS signage that sits above the roof, the castle like tower with it's art-deco clock and particularly from a distance the large circular chimney. There are concerns by many local residents that the site will be bought up by developers and demolished to be replaced by offices or apartments, rather than retained in its current form. As a remnant of Slough's early industrial history, it tells an important part of the town's history and is known as a local landmark to everyone living in the town. To lose it would be a great loss to the town. Read more about the building on this local blog here: https://friendly-bombs.tumblr.com/tagged/Horlicks

Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing. Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour. To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public. By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.

Because its ridiculously dangerous driver or pedestrian crossing mean everyone who approaches the highly dangerous cross road are 100% uncertain of who has the righter way. Me. My family and all loved ones the great local area use the junction numerous times a day. Typically only last night I waited 5 minutes to pull out in the time a pedestrian had a car reverse into him. Its only a matter of time until a death occurs. Just observe the junction for a day and see for yourself. Thanks