Would you like to attend the funeral of one of your loved ones only to hear the sounds of a neighbouring barbecue or a loud stereo? Would you like to live next door to a constant funeral procession, with all the associated sounds coming through your windows daily? The Scottish Government is proposing to allow crematoriums to be built and operated directly next to your house in their new Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill. The Local Government and Regeneration Committee will meet on January 6th to review their proposals. The Scottish Government have made a huge oversight in their new Cremations and Burials Bill: they have removed the requirement for any minimum distance to be upheld between crematoriums and homes. This is a vital protection for the privacy of mourners and home-owners and a minimum distance must be upheld in law. In the Government's own consultation paper on the bill (which they put out to industry experts to pass comment on their plans) 75% of respondents recommended to keep a minimum distance of 200 yards (see Q11 in this document: https://goo.gl/8PlZ93). The Consultation Report states: "Respondents were strongly in favour of retaining a significant minimum distance. Many who commented considered that the most important factor for retaining a minimum distance was to ensure privacy and dignity for both home owners and mourners. A substantial distance would also ensure adequate provision for memorial gardens and car parking." This petition asks the Local Government and Regeneration Committee to ensure the 200 yard minimum distance is upheld in the new Bill. Already in Haddington, East Lothian, the local planning authority has granted permission for a crematorium to be built in anticipation of the new law - construction has not begun yet but it will soon if the Bill is passed by the Committee this petition is addressed to. For the crematorium in question; there are several neighbouring properties, including a dairy farm. The closest home is only 45 yards away and has bedroom windows below the level of the proposed chimneys in line with the prevailing wind! The proposed car park for the crematorium is directly next to the garden meaning that both the home owners and mourners would have a huge lack of privacy. Imagine walking to your loved-one's funeral and hearing children playing or people laughing? Imagine trying to relax in your garden whilst mourners walk by. Also, emissions from crematoriums are still not entirely understood - particularly and most worryingly in the case of mercury which is present in tooth fillings and is extremely toxic to humans and animals. The Scottish Government hope that by removing the requirement for any minimum distance to be upheld between a crematorium and a home that local planning authorities will make the correct decisions on a case-by-case basis. However, the above development is a case in point that this does not work: East Lothian council owns the building in which the proposed crematorium is to be built and they have wanted to sell it for a number of years. They have agreed a deal with a crematorium developer to sell the building and therefore have a vested interest in ensuring everything goes smoothly in the panning process and, as such, have ignored local businesses and home-owners concerns and ignored all of the numerous negative impacts the development might have. They have abandoned due diligence in the pursuit of profit. If the Scottish Government allows this Bill to pass without upholding the minimum distance of 200 yards which is recommended by it's own consultation then it is condemning not only the people of Haddington but also countless others in future to have their homes and businesses - never mind the funerals all over the country - severely affected. The Government's job is to create legislation to protect people in all aspects life and if this Bill is passed into law without upholding any minimum distance between a crematorium and homes/businesses then the Government will fail in it's duty to the people of Scotland. It is clear that Local Planning Authorities are subject to prejudice and therefore fail to protect the people of Scotland given what has occurred in Haddington, East Lothian in anticipation of the new law being passed. Please uphold the minimum distance of 200 yards!

B&Q Muller road Bristol has been serving the central communities of Bristol for 27 years. Trades people and keen D.I.Y lovers rely on this store. It has no problem making trade. It just doesn't own the land so now the land owner is selling to another housing development. With the closing of the Filton store aswell the closest store is now Longwell Green! a journey that many will find difficult and upsetting. I for one have been using this store for 20 years..for little jobs and big ones. Bits and bobs etc.I have always loved going here on my own as well as with family and enjoyed searching the isles for things as well as choosing plants in the garden section. The staff are very helpful and lets not forget having a lovely egg butty in the car park on a Saturday! Its more than just a B&Q its a very important part of our community.

Punch Taverns, the owners of the Rising Sun in Backwell are applying to turn the pub into housing. This would leave the village with only one pub at the far end of the village (over a mile away). We feel Backwell needs, and can support, more than one pub.  The Rising Sun is a great facility with lots of previously untapped potential.  We want to retain it as a pub, a place to meet, drink and eat, but also to use the many spaces within the building and gardens for community activities and groups. We are a thriving village with a strong and welcoming community - we support three schools, many sporting clubs, a music festival and a whole host of other activities.  Retaining The Rising Sun as a pub and breathing some much needed life into the space and business model would produce a profitable business that provides a real community and family hub - within a good old British pub environment.  Please sign our petition to show your support for turning The Rising Sun into an excellent community pub.  If we lose it to housing, it’ll be gone forever. Do look out for a survey about the pub coming soon - to make sure we gather the opinions of everyone in the community. We will also include some more information about how this exciting project could be delivered - lots of communities in the UK have saved their local pub! In the meantime, if you have any questions please use the Facebook page or email [email protected] and spread the word! Thank you!

To describe the UKs nuclear waste site as a “Repository” is putting a spin on the UKs main nuclear dump for "low level" waste. There is "controlled discharge direct to the Irish Sea" not to mention run off to the Drigg Stream and River Irt. Discharges to the air of radioactive gases are ongoing. According to the British Geological Society the Drigg site is above a regional aquifer. It is also "likely to be destroyed by coastal erosion" in 500 to 5000 years (computer modelling can be wrong either way) . Much of the waste is long lived and high risk. Below are a few of the reasons why it is important that Cumbria County Council Lock the Gate on Drigg: Planning Application PL\1508\05 (4/15/9012):The phased construction of additional vaults, higher stacking of containers..capping.. 1. Drigg Low Level Waste Repository (the word nuclear was dropped so as not to scare the horses) would continue to accept nuclear waste for decades to come. "Capping" is misleading. To cap” a nuclear dump is akin to putting a cap on a fizzy lemonade bottle while there are holes in the bottom of the bottle. The site will continue to leach aqueous emissions to groundwater and gaseous emissions to air. 2. LOW LEVEL: This suggests that the waste at Drigg is low risk and short lived. Neither is true. As the University of Reading has pointed out: “The Drigg site uses two disposal systems: 1) An original system operated from 1959 to 1988 comprising a series of parallel trenches excavated into glacial clays, back filled with LLW and covered with an interim water resistant cap. 2) Current disposal of compacted waste placed in steel ISO-freight containers, with void space filled with highly fluid cement based grout. These containers are then disposed of in a series of open concrete vaults. Radionuclides with highest activities in the inventory include 3H, 241Pu, 137Cs, 234U and 90Sr, 238U and 232Th. http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/16608/1/mrspaper.pdf 3. RADIOACTIVE FLY TIPPING: The chemical and nuclear dump site has moved on from the years 1940 to 1988 when chemical and radioactive waste was tumble tipped into trenches. Now the waste is compacted into steel shipping containers filled with cement. Incredibly the containers are stacked high. In 2013 the LLW management wrote: “in containers at the tops of stacks, the external capping grout has 
undergone extensive physical degradation and settlement; the lids are not full of grout, and the grout is generally heavily cracked. The state of the capping grout in underlying layers is better; most containers only show sparse cracking and typical settlement in the lid is approximately 15 mm. Standing water, sometimes contaminated with low levels of radioactivity, is present in approximately half of the containers at the tops of stacks. ..In containers at the tops of stacks, organic matter has accumulated beneath many open grout ports, with vegetation growing from some grout ports. ..Corrosion, sometimes fully penetrating, is present in some container lids at the tops of stacks…” http://llwrsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/30-RP-LLWRGR-PROJ-0139-Vault-8-Container-Issues-Project-MAS.pdf 4. FLOODWATER AND SEA INUNDATION: “The Environment Agency has given a formal view that “the potential for disruption of the site is an acceptable risk” By “disruption of the site” they mean inundation by sea and flood. This is a far cry from the Environment Agency's previous criticism in 2005: "BNFL (Now the NDA) has not yet demonstrated that the wider benefits to the UK from continued LLW disposal on this site outweigh the potential future impacts" We would hope that Cumbria County Council agree with the Environment Agency's 2005 findings that that the real and present threat of inundation of the Drigg site by flood or by sea is not an acceptable risk to the people of Cumbria or to our international neighbours. 5. THE COLLAPSE in 1985 of the largest black-headed gull breeding colony in Europe on the Drigg dunes has never been satisfactorily explained. The official explanation is that a fox did it! https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/disappearing-trick-birds-and-nuclear-waste/ 6. CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA is officially blamed on "population mixing" due to the influx of workers firstly to the 1940 explosives factory (Royal Ordnance Factory) at Drigg and then the ROF at Sellafield. The irony of this incredible argument is that the plan for 3 new nuclear reactors at ' Moorside' a few miles from Drigg ('Moorside' is at the village of Beckermet) would involve a boom and bust influx of thousands of workers along with a further tsunami of nuclear wastes and ever more Driggs. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-moorside-biggest-nuclear-development-in-europe Many of the Councillors expressed serious concerns at the meeting and yet the vote was unanimously in favour which, to campaigners and the wider public, smacks of something very fishy indeed. To rely on the testament of the Environment Agency who merely look at the information provided to them by the industry is reckless. All projections and computer modelling are based on information provided by the operators. Much of the Drigg site is already unable to be accessed for monitoring due to the stacking of containers. At the planning meeting on 15th July 2016 There was no discussion of a. the increased possibility of criticality with an ever increasing radiological burden. The words criticality “will not occur” cannot be applied to Drigg's LLWR : https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/drigg-decision-we-are-caught-in-a-trap-no-way-out-because-we-love-nuclear-waste-too-much/ b. the ethics of denying future generations the right to protect themselves, c. whether to warn future generations not to dig or distrurb the poisonous chalice beneath the land. d. the ethics of adding to an already intolerable radioactive burden on this vulnerable coastal site.

Castle Toward has been in public ownership for over 20 years. During that time the public has made extensive use of the grounds for a wide range of activities including walking, cycling and horse riding. Paths in the area date back to Victorian times. Nobody knows what the future holds for the estate. It is now December 2015 and Castle Toward does not appear to have actually been sold yet. Once sold it may eventually be resold, or even broken up, and access to the grounds might be lost. Since May, before the Council had even announced it had a prospective buyer, the Council has been asked to officially recognise an important and popular route through the estate as a Public Right of Way. That recognition will enable the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society to record the route in the National Catalogue of Rights of Way which will give some protection to access for future generations. Please help to get the Council to finally make a decision by signing this petition. Even better why not also get the Council to take account of your own use of the estate by downloading this form and returning it to the Council. The form contains a map of the Right of Way with some interesting features marked. Just click on the link below (or cut and paste it into a browser) then select download. http://www.mediafire.com/view/1e4uhy3x541qi58/Castle_Toward_RightOfWay_form.doc The form asks for a signature but you can just type your name in and send it to the Council email address at the end of the form. You don't need to live in the area or to have used the route frequently for your form to count. You do need to have used the route without asking permission. The longer ago you first used the route the better, we need to show usage for over twenty years. Ideally you will have used the route shown in the form end-to-end, but use of any part of it helps to show its importance. If you have not used the route then why not visit Castle Toward over the festive period for a pleasant walk and then return the form!

My family planted a tree in memory of George Taylor My Granddad. It was a place to go and have a chat with George, and over time our grief eased and we got some closure.Watching The tree grow help us through our grief. The council put a sign on 10 trees Stating Due to health and safety reasons and after lengthy consultations we will be removing these trees, Could the owner please contact the Clerk 01246 81186 There is NO HEALTH AND SAFETY REASONS and after 8 weeks of emails I have yet to see any proof of any lengthy consultations. I have been trying to stop the trees being chopped down. But to no avail, the Parish Council, burial committee, and my local councilor have not helped in the slightest and seem to have a god like approach to dealing with me. Information is still being held back. Even though I have requested it under the freedom of information act three times. Could you Please help me by signing my petition,

The NHS Clayton Hospital site is already owned by the public so the first civic response should be to re-purpose the site for continued public use. It is official policy of The Department of Health that, where surplus NHS land is being considered for disposal, NHS Trusts should "provide the public with the opportunity to consider for themselves whether estate is being best used". The site was originally an 18th century garden built on for a 19th/20th-century hospital. None of the jumble of hospital buildings are listed for preservation and their complete demolition would considerably enhance the conservation area. It is a large central site and any in-filling with contemporary buildings would be extremely detrimental to the character of the whole conservation area. The site would be relatively inexpensive to landscape into a park/garden. The site retains many large trees within an existing stone boundary wall and ornate entrance ways. A park/garden would provide a much-needed open green leisure space within the city centre for all city centre users. The park/garden could provide many other amenities such as a terrace cafe, childrens play areas, dog walking area, etc. The site would create a spectacular public open space for the city which could be used for civic gatherings and events.

Members of the public find it difficult to support a political party 100%. Our system is out of date, our MPs out of touch, the public go unheard. We agree with points made by the Lib Dems, the Conservatives, Labour, the Green Party, the SNP etc and sometimes we disagree with them all. Either way we can't communicate with the government effectively. The system needs to work for us all but instead it's dusty, nobody really understands it or cares to sort it out with any long term vision. We need to start again. Simplify. Direct questions, direct answers. If regular referendums were to take place, the public are truly part of the process, allowing us to demonstrate what we care about, that we're united and want to invest in the future of this land and it's people. Less moaning and more doing, having a proactive and fair say, feeling satisfied that the decisions are being made and supported by the majority of the UK. Let the UK public vote for their future. This Kingdom can then begin to feel proud and respected, and most importantly, united.

The withdrawal of the councils own Planning Core Strategy puts the whole borough at risk of developers gaining their planning consent by appeal. The councils repeated failure to deliver a five year supply of sites for new homes means that the whole borough is at risk from developers. The root causes of this has been incompetency and political inertia and a reluctance to identify sites across the borough which might be unpopular.

Swindon School of Gymnastics is currently the only Boy's & Mens Artistic Gymnastics facility in Wiltshire. But we need help; We may be losing our premises in 4 years time and want to build a State of The Art facility to support Men’s & Women’s Artistic, Disability Gymnastics, Tumbling, Trampolining and Acro for all ages. We also want to cater for Dance, Circus Skills, Cheerleading and the free running/Parkour side of fitness. Due to such a high profile success from Team GB, gymnastics is booming and our current facility can not cope with the increasing demand. We have 400 children training weekly and have over 600+ on our waiting list. We have a large dedicated team of volunteer coaches who give up their time for the sport whilst also working full time jobs. These coaches are eager to see the children improve and succeed. Their commitment is second to none, and they are ferociously hungry to see the children grow and develop into confident, well balanced individuals, whilst also enjoying a disciplined and challenging sport. We have an on site personal trainer, nutritionist and remedial sports massage therapist. We need your help on Facebook to like and share this plea as we need to maintain the momentum we are currently receiving through our paper petition. Please take a moment to help these children, as they love their chosen sport and thoroughly adopt the values and life mentoring support they receive from their devoted coaches. Thank you for your help.

As a nineteen year old there have been many things that I have experienced so far in my life. We all in someway have gone though a lot that we unfortunately had no help with or anyone there to to comfort us and tell us that its going to be okay. You have the good memories that we cling to so dearly, and then there are those which are not so great. Events that should have never even taken place, especially for those so young and vulnerable. The bad memories where you think I wish I would have known ‘this’ or ‘that’ then maybe I would have not been so lost and helpless in that situation. If that were the case you could have been somewhere else today. A lot of our youth nowadays are susceptible to making very life-changing decisions or mistakes that they were not warned or aware of as they were growing up. Our education system is so set on Sex Education being improved constantly and carrying out classes to younger and younger ages each year. In doing so each generation is thinking more about sex in contrast to accomplishing a fully content life with healthy relationships amongst friends, families and significant others. Instead we end up with unsatisfied young men and women who seek happiness in the wrong things and places, they take their loved ones for granted, push their family away and allow the road to anti-social behaviour and depression to creep in where it seems almost impossible for the individual to ever be happy with anything or anyone. My aim for this petition is to launch the start of Relationship Education classes for young people. Where we can teach children the values of trust, respect, loyalty, communication, love, and integrity in the right way. From being raised in a single parent family I saw my mother in the most damaging ways as a child. I saw her beaten by men and women, I saw her heartbroken numerous times, she was also very angry with the world. But the one thing I would see in her for the most part compared to everything else was of course disappointment. She would always weep and wonder why she never saw certain things coming or how she wishes she would have done things differently or maybe to have not done anything at all. Relationship classes should have been put in place a long time ago, God knows so many of us would have benefited highly from them. Classes where we can help guide our youth, pave out the road to success and point them in the right direction is something that should be encouraged not thrown to the side. Good relationships with others should hold far more importance than Sex Education which I do still believe is essential to be taught but definitely not more significant than building a happy community with one another. I believe these classes will help our schools to see a dramatic drop in bullying, absences and insecurities. Through this scheme we will teach mutual respect, the correct manner to communicate with one another and to avoid unkind comments or gestures that would hurt your peer in any way. In addition to this procedure we will have gained a large increase in sociable engagement with other peers, good attendance, confident individuals, an expansion on creativity and most of all a happy class. Not only will this benefit children during school time but the life skills they will attain will be practiced in the comfort of their own home, with family and friends, through college, university, in the workplace and so on.

The Fairfield Halls is the biggest arts and entertainment complex in South London, staging over 500 events and shows per year as well as being a home to many local community groups and projects. With a rich history, a strong classical music programme, world-class comedy events, fantastic family shows and a rapidly developing contemporary music offering, this is a Croydon asset that needs and deserves nurturing and protection through the proposed redevelopment. The current Croydon Council proposal places huge risk on the Fairfield Halls NOT re-opening and carries significant financial cost to re-open and win back audiences, top quality shows and events. In summary: • Croydon will lose it’s ONLY viable music and arts venue for an unspecified period – not only is that a loss of live events coming to the Borough, but a lost opportunity for school children to engage and perform at the venue and will impact a large number of other community projects that utilise the venue. • The Council is entering into a risk/reward property development model to fund the project. If the risks materialise works may never be completed (leaving a “closed” sign permanently on the door of this great venue) and/or Council Tax and Business Rates payers will be left to foot the bill to the tune of £18m. However, the Council refuses to make these plans publically available. • The Council proposes shutting the Fairfield Halls when there is currently no detailed plan of the newly refurbished venue on the table, neither is there an operating model for it’s re-opening. • The timetable for delivering the Westfield shopping centre in Croydon has slipped now to 2020, despite Council claims that “this is the season for delivery”. We believe similar delays are likely with the Council’s proposal for Fairfield Halls’ redevelopment, resulting in closure period far in excess of the two years currently stipulated, increasing the risk of the venue never reopening. • There is no budget in place to re-launch the Fairfield after completion of the works. The Council wants the “new Fairfield Halls to rival the Southbank Centre”. An ambition we applaud (and assume this is a rivalry chosen as holding the Southbank Centre as a leading example of venue management), however to do so we firmly believe that: - Development should be phased (a bit like they are doing at the Southbank!). Operational ownership should remain independent to deliver the best for Croydon (a bit like at the Southbank). - The operational body should sit at the centre of the development project from inception to completion (kind of how the Southbank are managing things). - That an independent Fairfield Halls can thrive and deliver more to the community and local economy with proper planning and nurturing now rather than accept the Council rationale of “give it a polish and sell it to the highest bidder to operate”. Conclusion: There are far too many gaps in information, incomplete plans, omitted costs and lack of consultation for the Council proposal to hold any credence beyond being a concept paper. However, even with these risks, oversights and omissions they have approved this plan. Rather than meekly accept this flawed piece of Council planning and put at risk the future of this fantastic venue, we ask you to sign this petition to show your support for a more reasoned, phased redevelopment of the Fairfield Halls that WILL: • Ensure the longevity of the venue • Provide Croydon with a much needed cultural identity over the next two years • Continue to stage great events – from established favourites to the new and brave! •Build on the work already undertaken to improve “Brand Croydon” by attracting headline music acts to the Borough •Maintain audience engagement and a home for community initiatives •Ensure that on completion of the redevelopment, the Fairfield will be a vibrant and ALREADY OPERATIONAL world-class venue. Please show your support for the Fairfield Halls and it's current operating body Fairfield (Croydon) Limited, your desire for a more structure to the Council plan and love for the current and future prospects of the arts in Croydon by signing this petition. THANK YOU!