• Making Basement Excavations Safer with Compulsory Controls
    Over the last few years basement excavations have caused considerable damage to a large number of properties in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames and many residents are alarmed by the increasing demand for basement extensions. We are not campaigning against basements as such but we believe that Richmond Council as a matter of urgency needs to put in place effective protection for neighbours and our environment. In the majority of cases problems have occurred as a result of inadequate knowledge of complex ground and groundwater conditions, combined with poor understanding of the effects of excavation. Our Council has recently issued guidelines suggesting tests to accompany any planning application for a basement but these tests are insufficient; they do not specify the level of expertise and qualifications require; and crucially THEY ARE NOT COMPULSORY. Other councils, such as Camden and Kensington & Chelsea, are tackling the same problems much more rigorously, demanding that anyone wishing to install a basement must first commission a Basement Impact Assessment from highly qualified experts, and also a detailed construction plan. Only when this has been accepted by the Council's technical experts will a planning application for the basement be considered. Historically many areas in and around Richmond have had problems with underground water and some parts were basically marshland, as shown in the 1837 Tithe Map of Barnes Parish. Because so many parts of the London Borough of Richmond are vulnerable to much increased and often uncontrolled excavation, the protection outlined above is urgently required for all its residents.
    237 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Safer Basements
  • Help us cross the road safely!
    Guideposts Trust runs a day community service, and our service users- all of whom have a Learning Disability- have to cross the road here daily. Thousands of cars speed down this busy road every single day, which makes finding a safe space to cross over extremely difficult and dangerous. Alongside this, almost every office/company situated in Two Rivers crosses here too, so we know we aren't alone. Please sign our petition today and secure a safer environment for those who live and work in the affected area.
    359 of 400 Signatures
    Created by Emily Huckstep
  • empty flats
    These flats are two bedroom properties that were part of the conditions of planning, they have been empty for nearly ten years as it seems there was never a completion date built into the contract, I have been on BM radio with Adrian Goldberg, written to my MP Steve McCabe these are supposed to be affordable flats that 22 families are being denied. Housing homeless families at affordable rents is vital to our society
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    Created by syd vughana
  • "Save North Tyneside's Green Spaces"
    At the 2013 consultation on preferences for growth in North Tyneside to 2032, 37% of respondents expressed a preference for seeking other options rather than build any new homes, and a further 47% preferred working with neighbours to reduce the requirement to 10-12,000 homes. Only 10% of respondents expressed a preference for building 16,000 homes. The council have selected this option and the Draft Local Plan 2015 sets out plans to build 16,000 extra homes in this plan due to be agreed in 2015. The difference between the chosen growth option and those preferred by the vast majority of respondents is approximately 5000 homes. This is the number of homes planned to be built at two important greenfield sites at Murton and Killingworth Moor. We believe that North Tyneside Council's decision to adopt the higher growth model goes against the clearly expressed view of respondents to the 2013 consultation for no new homes or fewer new homes to be built. We are calling for the Draft Plan to be re-written based on the preferred low / no growth model, and remove proposed plans for 5000 new homes.
    286 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Albert Boyd
  • Reopen Investigations into Malpractice at City of Edinburgh Council
    Reekieleaks calls for Transparency, Accountability and Honesty in our Public Institutions. The remit of this petition is more finite, but the clarion call is for accountability to start somewhere, here ... as a 1st step. This is important because the very fabric of local democracy is being cynically abused by those at the top of institutions that are set up to protect citizens. Dame Sue Bruce, the 5 Directors of Edinburgh Council, 58 Councillors, MSPS and Nicola Sturgeon are all refusing to collectively answer legitimate concerns, preferring to hide behind the flawed 'independent' Deloitte Reports which cost taxpayers Millions on top of irrecoverable losses due to the fraud. These are 'Reports' that Deloitte themselves referred to as 'at best patchy' due to the lack of information they received from the Council to allow them to investigate the scandal fully. Many Millions have been wasted that should have gone to good causes, thousands of residents have been and are still being caused undue stress. In the region of 3000 to 3500 Statutory Notices were issued per year on Edinburgh properties, that equates to approximately 20,000+ individual notices! The Scandal is known to have been going on for at least 10 years. Those on the inside say more. These figures are staggering, yet as Councillor Rose stated recently to the BBC “The implications are that what we saw at court [22/06/2015] was the tip of the iceberg. For the sake of the council and the people of Edinburgh this needs to be out in the open, otherwise suspicions will 
continue”. We at reekieleaks.org.uk could not agree more. As yet most of the perpetrators go free (only 4 have been jailed), and the systems that allowed it to happen go unchallenged by the public. If we do not challenge them, they will occur again. Do not believe Councillor Alasdair Rankin's protestations that investigations have been 'robust' and 'independent'. CEC has tried to contain the problem in the ill-advised belief that it is for the greater good if the true extent of corruption and malpractice is not known. What is for the greater good, is the rooting out of corruption and maladministration so that ever penny of taxpayers' income is put to good use in the future. And that those manifestly not fit for office are never again allowed into office ... not simply conveniently moved into other positions. The Police launched an investigation in 2011 which was dropped by the Crown reportedly due to lack of evidence. According to the few Councillors within City of Edinburgh who are prepared to fight against institutional stone-walling: there are wide-spread allegations from within and outside the Council that this was because staff had been ordered to shred damning documentation en masse. This is borne out by the fact that Deloitte confirmed that so much crucial documentation, in hundreds of cases is indeed missing. There are only two plausible possibilities as to why the documents are not there: the first is institutional incompetence, and the second is that they were systematically destroyed. Given this did not happen elsewhere in the Council and that there must be rules about sound data management, the latter is the more likely. Detective Inspector Arron Clinkscales, of the Organised Crime Unit at Police Scotland, has promised that officers would liaise with prosecutors if further allegations surfaced (Edinburgh Evening News, 22/06/2015): “It could mushroom, it could escalate. With public sector corruption, there are more and more people willing to come forward to speak out. I think [the recent convictions] will prompt people to come forward.” Let us hope he is correct. Who was in charge at the time? What was the chain of command? What orders were given to staff? What is known within CEC that would prove wide-spread fraud? Why have staff been sacked or moved by CEC with no disciplinary or legal charges brought against them? Why is Dame Sue Bruce not engaging in open and transparent conversation about this scandal with Constituents who are writing to her directly? Why are countless Freedom of Information requests being refused and information willfully withheld? We the Public deserve to know how much was wasted by corrupt officials and contractors through the years of the Statutory Notice Scandal, how much has been spent on external consultants in the attempt to draw a line under the fiasco, who was to blame, and what concrete implementations have been made to ensure that this never, ever happens again. Now is the time for conscientious citizens (inside and outside the Council) to come forward and fight for a truly democratic, honest and accountable local government in Scotland's Capital. Please support this campaign, and reekieleaks.org.uk in the fight for an honest and competent Council.
    340 of 400 Signatures
    Created by Simon Williams Picture
  • SAVE 40 HEALTHY TREES FROM BEING FELLED IN CASTLEFIELDS PARK
    Castlefields Park is habitat for buzzards, owls, squirrels, songbirds, turtle doves, bats, and insect life, and mass tree removal will disturb them greatly. The birds require high trees in which to perch; the trees are a precious asset to the park and the community. Please sign the petition and also email your concerns to [email protected]. Thanks.
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    Created by Ann Carton
  • Maintain Brynhafod Field in its current beautiful state.
    A popular community green space, owned by SCC (Shropshire County Council), is under threat of being developed as a sporting facility, By OCC (Oswestry Cricket Club) We are petitioning to Shropshire County Council for Brynhafod field to maintain a beautiful, green urban environment, inclusive to ALL members of the community, including toddlers, wheel chair users and dog walkers.
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    Created by Thomas Shotton
  • Do Not Change The Names Of The Buildings On The Highfield Road Estate
    In January 2015 Cllr Damian White who is the cabinet member for housing announced a proposal to rename buildings in the Highfield Road Estate in Collier Row after commonwealth countries at an estimated cost of £130,000. This is at a time when so many cuts are being made to local services. This proposal has been supported by MP Andrew Rosindell who actually employs Cllr Damian White. This affects all Havering council tax payers and will cause all the residents of this estate a great deal of inconvenience as they will have to change all of their address details with the DVLA, Banks, Doctors e.t.c. Please sign this petition if you do not want this ridiculous proposal to go ahead. It will also help if as many of you as possible leave a comment explaining why you have signed this petition, especially if you are one of the local residents who will have to face the inconvenience of changing all of your details. Please see http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/130_000_to_rename_collier_row_estate_no_thanks_1_3936382 http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/commonwealth_row_council_confirm_unpopular_plans_to_rename_estate_for_queen_s_milestone_1_4114893
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    Created by Lorraine Moss
  • SAVE STAFFORDSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE & AONB
    Following our successful campaign in 2015 the County Council is now revisiting its options for the Countryside it owns on our behalf. It is encouraging that the statements in the published papers reiterate the success of this campaign and state that the land will not be sold BUT options do include long term leases potentially with commercial operators. We need the County Councillors to ensure the detail of any management plan, lease or contractual agreements protect the green spaces, the wildlife and the community access. It is ours to enjoy not theirs for profit We continue to call upon Staffordshire County Council to commit to preserving our natural heritage, for the common good. And to reject the notion that a private profit motive should play any part in owning, or managing our much loved green spaces. The original text was as follows *Staffordshire County Council is currently consulting on a range of options concerning their (our) countryside estate. Their options explicitly include "Disposal of sites on the open market", "Land rental for industrial development" and "a private sector partnership". The countryside estate includes Country Parks, picnic areas, country walks (along disused lines etc.) and also sites where public access is currently restricted in aid of wildlife conservation etc. Each of these sites are highly valued green spaces, that are treasured by the local population, and by those from further afield alike. The loss of these areas of natural beauty would be felt by many, and in similar cases they also tend to be irreversible; meaning once these sites are lost from public ownership, they may never be returned.
    12,042 of 15,000 Signatures
    Created by Paul Woodhead
  • Save Our Village of Bentley from Massive Solar Farm Installation in Historic River Valley
    The government and the national planning framework and many influential organisations such as Nature England have provided clear guidelines on what are the most suitable sites for large scale Solar panel installations. The Energy Minister has quoted that such installations should preferably be on brownfield sites. Many in the community believe that Solstice Renewables are giving very little consideration to these guidelines with this proposal - and this has angered many who value the community they live in. If this goes ahead, we believe this beautiful village landscape, which adjoins the South Downs National Park, will be ruined for atleast the next 25 years. Solstice have acknowledged that they should be seeking more brownfield sites for such developments, but then are entering into deals with landowners to convert perfectly decent agricultural land to solar Installations, in the heart of communities and bringing misery to residents who love their views and their countryside. The Localism Act 2011 is giving communities more say about their local environment. We don't accept what this company is doing, do not believe it has considered fully the planning guidelines set out and are campaigning to get the proposal refused. We believe that these companies must focus much more on the sites they should be focusing on: brownfield sites, rooftops and land that is well hidden from communities, not on top of them. We petition our MP Damian Hinds to bring pressure to bear on this company to do the right thing and find a more suitable location. " We are not against renewable energy - far from it. Bentley already has a large solar farm identical to this proposal and has already done its share of combating global warming. 5 MW for 430 houses in the parish works out at 12 kW a house. This is far more electricity than we use. If every other community did the same we would soon solve the energy crisis."
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    Created by Anna Woodfine
  • Town Status for Shotts
    Many people don’t know that North Lanarkshire Council do not regard Shotts as a Town. The Council prefer to divide our community into two neighbourhood centers of Stane and Dykehead. In 2013 Councillor Cochrane and Councillor Cefferty put a motion to North Lanarkshire council that Shotts be recognized as a Town. This was defeated, Shotts is still not regarded as a Town. Our community cannot apply for Town Centre regeneration as to quote North Lanarkshire Council, “Shotts is not a Town”
    462 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Thomas Cochrane
  • All new homes/buildings should be built with solar panel tiles
    It helps to increase the national % of renewables. It creates new manufacturing jobs. It upscales production of solar panel tiles reducing the price for home owners in existing buildings to buy and install them on their homes.
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    Created by Yogaforu Leeds