Shelter Scotland estimate that 5,000 people sleep rough on Scotland's streets throughout the year (1). The main route to homelessness is the loss of a tenancy. In Glasgow alone, 39 people died between May 2016 and March 2017 (2). This risk is far higher in the winter. And this situation is completely avoidable. In France since December 1956, there has been a “winter break’’ to help protect residents from being thrown out into the cold from the 1st of November until the 31st of March. This covers all tenants, people in temporary accommodation, and people living in any temporary shelters from being evicted or such temporary structures from being destroyed (3). The “winter break” law helps reduce the risk of people having to sleep rough during the winter, and reduces winter deaths. Help us win this for people in Scotland too. We are calling on the Scottish Government to implement a similar law against evictions during the winter. We do not want anyone sleeping rough this winter and any more winter deaths in Scotland. We want a #WinterBreak for evictions in Scotland. https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_involved/campaigning/homelessness_far_from_fixed/why_this_matters http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15284726.Death_on_the_streets__Shock_figures_reveal_horrifying_extent_of_homeless_fatalities_in_Scotland/ https://www.verdict.co.uk/winter-truce-france/

Fakenham Gateway Sure Start children’s centre is an important life line for the local community. It offers support and assistance to families - with out the Sure Start centre we would be lost. The council is currently considering a £5 million cut to the budget for children services, putting the future of Fakenham Sure Start centre at risk. If the centre closed it would leave local families without vital support. http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/fears-norfolk-children-s-centres-could-close-as-county-hall-considers-5m-cut-1-5231037

You are aware that the old library in Prestatyn current home to Artisans Collective CIC is offered for sale by private treaty and initial expressions of interest are invited from occupiers and developers. We have expressed our interest subject to funding, but without a fixed price we can not raise funding. When we took occupation exactly 3 years ago we were fully aware that it could be a short term lease and in fact everything we have done to date has been always with the possibility that we could be given 2 months’ notice at any time. This has proven to be a block on obtaining funding. Originally we wanted to use the building as a sales outlet for local artisan products, but quickly found out that there was a need for something else in the community. We now hold community art as therapy and companionship sessions for older and younger citizens, we have developed Mens shed into a standalone entity, we chair Prestatyn Dementia Friendly Community, host bereavement counselling sessions, and are Kew Gardens North Wales Community hub, plus lots more each week. We are already working closely with Healthy Prestatyn Iach who now occupy Ty Nant and we have a golden opportunity for more social prescribing and de-medicalisation activities between us. We gave a major presentation recently to over 250 people including the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport, our work to date was much admired. We have also presented for the Welsh Audit office as an example of best practice and have given dozens of talks for the Older Peoples commissioner and Alzheimer’s society about our work here in Prestatyn, Meliden and surrounding areas. We find it very frustrating that Artisans Collective are recognised and highly regarded locally and nationally but it seems we are not so much within our own county council. A lot of our work is based around the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and we are meeting again with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner’s team in the near future. If the decision to sell the old library is a purely financial decision, may we point out that the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Well-being Plan (2018 – 2023) states: “The plan focuses on 6 priority areas: 1. The First 1,000 days of life 2. Promoting community hubs 3. Promoting mental well-being for all ages 4. Promoting resilience in older people 5. Promoting environmental resilience 6. Raising resilient and aspirational young people” Link to the document http://conwyanddenbighshirelsb.org.uk/en/well-being-plan/ We currently focus on most of the points above, for the council to effectively close us down would mean that investment by the council would have to be found in the future to facilitate the wellbeing plan in our locality. During the Ty Nant Development Brief Consultation DCC stated: "A joint working group will be set up to take forward discussions on community asset transfer and the potential future uses for existing buildings on the site." "The Brief requires the retention of existing community facilities on site or alternative provision to be made. This could include provision for the occupants of the Old Library." Bangor university researchers are currently working alongside us to quantify and put a value on our 3rd sector voluntary social prescribing activities and we will share the findings in due course.

Mellish Street Community Centre has been a central part of The Isle of Dog since the NHS built it in 2005, in one form or another. The building was left as a legacy by the NHS to the Community and today it is used by a local charity named the Docklands Community Organisation(DCO) which is a consortium of a host of Voluntary organisations all based on the Isle of Dogs. The organisation provides a host of activities but not limited to: youth groups, after school supplementary education clubs for local school children, fitness classes, adult education, health education, gardening projects and much more. It is important that Tower Hamlets Council recognise and support its status as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) so that it cannot be sold on for unsympathetic other uses without the community knowing and first having the chance to buy it. Granting Mellish Street Community Centre as an Asset of Community Value status gives the local community the time it requires to raise the funds required to save the centre. The Centre was left derelict for number of years. Residents from the local community invested over £70,000 to bring it to a habitable state and have been maintaining it. In addition, the ACV registration should be taken into account when planning applications on the building are made and can be grounds for refusal where this would strip the building of its use or result in demolition. Community centres such as the Mellish Street Community Centre play a pivotal part in community life, providing activities and a focal point for the community. Among the benefits that come from activities in community buildings are: less social isolation, healthier living, more education and better training, better support for young families and the elderly and access to local democracy. Mellish Street Community Centre serves an important purpose for the local community and we will do everything we can to save it. This petition is asking Tower Hamlets Council to grant ACV status to the Mellish Street Community Centre, to give us, the Isle of dog’s community, the time we need to raise the funds to save the community centre, for us and for our children. We also seek the Council to grant the Docklands Community Organisation to enter into a long lease and seek a Community Asset transfer and/or Community Right to Reclaim Land so that we can have the Community Right to Build a new permanent community centre with ancillary provision to meet the needs of Islanders within the meaning and spirit of the Localism Act so that the site can be developed at no cost to the Council.

We have saved our library before when it was under threat and let's do so again as it is central to village life. It is used by everyone from babies to older residents - the oldest of whom is 102. It is currently open 7 days per week and several evenings, when various organisations hold meetings, and events including talks, exhibitions and film shows. In addition to 'traditional' library and information services it offers: 1) Internet access and training 2) Meeting place for old, young and those with a disability to meet others 3) Mother and toddler groups and baby clinic 4) Rhyme Thyme 5) Reading groups and informal meetings during the day 6) Local craft/art exhibitions and sales 7) Various organisations holding meetings/events in the evening are Garden Club, History Society and MCLSG events, talks and films shows. "Libraries are about Freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information." -- Neil Gaiman, from The Reading Agency second annual lecture on the future of reading and libraries.

The Universal Credit programme is pushing people into poverty, debt and homelessness.  It is due to be rolled out in County Durham in mid December leaving thousands of people at risk of delayed and incorrect payments over Christmas and the coldest months of the year.  The Department of Work and Pensions should halt any further rollout of Universal Credit and require the Department of Work and Pensions to undertake a fundamental review that takes into account the needs, views and experiences of those directly affected.

We are all calling on the Chancellor to ring-fence mental health spend in his Autumn Budget. The government has announced additional funding for mental health - £1.4 billion over five years to deliver the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and £1.25 billion for the Future In Mind programme for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. This money is a step forward but is only a fraction of what mental health services need to meet growing demands. Across England, for the second year in a row, over half of Clinical Commissioning Groups – the bodies that decide how money is spent locally - say they plan to reduce the proportion of their budget spend on mental health. This is unacceptable. The money needed to transform mental health services and save lives is just not reaching the front line. Waiting times are too long, people are not receiving the best care in the community and people are having to travel too far for in-patient services. On November 22, in his Budget, the Chancellor Philip Hammond can make a difference and ring-fence mental health budgets to make sure that the promised money actually reaches local mental health services. Please sign this petition today to urge the Chancellor to ring-fence mental health spending on November 22 and ask your friends and family to sign too. Together, we can make a difference. #mentalhealthmatters https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public38/images/mp.gif

Imagine fleeing domestic abuse, finding the courage to start a new life, only to discover you can’t find work, claim benefits, or even rent a home. That’s the reality for many domestic abuse survivors, whose abusers often steal or destroy their identification documents – passports, birth certificates and driving licences. Emergency ID would enable survivors to prove their identity and citizenship and allow them to access benefits and housing support immediately. It could also be used to support them when trying to gain DBS checks, driving licences or passports.

Xplore are proposing two alternative routes to the 32/33 bus which would cut out Forfar Road. Their consultation highlights that the route could also stay as it is. You can see the proposed two route changes at this link http://nxbus.co.uk/files/NXDundee/misc/FintryRouteReview-PublicConsultationDocument.pdf This re-routing would severely restrict people's ability for travel: • make it harder for people with disabilities and older people with mobility problems to catch a bus and get out of the house, potentially leading to loneliness and social isolation • safety concerns of having to work through a scheme to get to/and from the bus • get to and from work • visit friends and relatives • access education and training • access to hospitals, doctors, dentists and other medical services • access to leisure activities including town and countryside locations Fewer buses on the road will mean more traffic congestion and delays which affects all of us.

The Subs should be used by, and become an empowering hub for, ALL socio-economic groups, including vulnerable groups, community groups, the elderly and the young. The Subs can and should become a genuine community resource/space, showcasing a creative and caring community coming together to consolidate and extend what is rightfully ours, and to make available what should be accessible for all. In conversations on our High Street, it is clear how passionately Stroudies feel about this issue. Many are uncomprehending, and some even horrified, that Stroud, of all places, should be contemplating transferring this much-loved community gem into the private sector. With the active support of Stroud Town Council, the Stroud Trust has lodged an alternative bid, which would keep the centre run by, and open to, the whole community. Let's see all interested bidders and parties - including most importantly the District Council, Town Council and Ecotricity - come together with good faith and open mind to find a solution for the Subs' future that can serve and satisfy everyone's needs and aspirations. If enough of us sign this petition, we can show Stroud District Council that the people of Stroud want the centre to be publicly owned by the community, as it has been historically, and to stay open full-time for the people of Stroud and its environs.

The GREEN Team Canterbury, a local voluntary community group, has worked hard for the past few years to expose the enormous amount of perfectly good items going to waste in landfill during student relocation, which begins in May every year and continues over a period of about three weeks. The waste is plain to see but we have found much of the contents of bins and sacks is not RUBBISH! These include: CROCKERY, CUTLERY, POTS & PANS, ELECTRICALS, ELECTRONICS, CLOTHES, SHOES, BAGS, CDS & DVDS, JEWELLRY, BRIC A BRAC, SOFT FURNISHINGS, TOWELS, BOOKS, STATIONERY, BEDDING, AND NON-PERISHABLE FOOD. The sheer amount being thrown out is mind boggling, both on and off campuses, and would inundate our city's charity shop sector. Many students have no way of getting their unwanted possessions to them anyway. Added to this is the fact that most of this stuff is ideal for the following year’s students and we think that these items should be available in year round on campus free shops. There were many smiling faces when these items were redistributed at our Pop-up Free Shops over the past three summers. There was also shock that these items, some even new and unused (still sealed in their packaging!), were headed to landfill until they were covertly intercepted by The GREEN Team Canterbury. So much more could be achieved with an official well publicised scheme that doesn’t require going through contaminated rubbish to recycle unwanted stuff. There are already numerous schemes operating both nationally and globally. This is not rocket science. This can be done. We have been in contact with Canterbury City Council and local educational institutions for some time but unfortunately no scheme as yet has been planned. We are therefore petitioning the above to show the amount of support for a scheme and to spur them into action. Councils are being required to reduce landfill and may face penalties for non compliance with both national and Europe wide targets. Meanwhile our planet and its people are crying out for change. This would be good for all, especially the following year’s students. We think all the parties involved should work together and create a viable official and well publicised scheme in time for the next student relocation in May 2018. So please show your support and sign this petition as well as share it widely, thanks. Best wishes, Mark & Diane, co-founders, The GREEN Team Canterbury http://www.facebook.com/thegreenteamcanterbury [email protected] http://thegreenteamcanterbury.zohosites.com #thegreenteamcanterburypetition

The residents need peace of mind and relaxation at night so speed calming measures need to be put in place to stop our cars being damaged or written off, animals being killed and prevent the injury or death of a child as a result of people constantly excessively speeding, motorbikes doing wheelie's and mainly driving like lunatics. Our roads are used as a quick cut through, with vehicles usually driving faster than the 30 mph speed limit on a regular basis, in an attempt to beat the traffic on the busy Reading Road and then used as race tracks at night. The result of this behaviour is lots of damage to vehicles and losses of beloved animals. My daughter's car that she didn't know she had was written of by a speeding driver who fled the scene leaving no details early hours of 1st October 2017, as reported in the Henley Standard. Numerous cars have been side swiped or had wing mirrors damaged by speeding vehicles and we sit and listen to the screeching of brakes and await the bang of the collision on a regular basis in the evenings. I personally have witnessed a couple of cyclists being knocked off their bike's and motorcyclists doing wheelie's or tricks up the road, animals being hit and killed while the driver carries on their way without stopping. This needs to stop!!! It was bad enough when the road was covered in potholes but since it has been resurfaced it has become 10 times worse at least. It is only a matter of time before it becomes a pedestrian that is badly/critically injured.