West Sussex County Council is proposing huge cuts to support for homeless people. Up to £4 million could be slashed from services and hostels, as well as support teams and drop in centres. These cuts will affect some of the most vulnerable people in our county: rough sleepers, victims of domestic abuse, care leavers, and frail older people who rely on support from the council. These vital services are often life saving, and provide a pathway to recovery and independence for the most vulnerable people in the county. Charities estimate that the cost of the proposed cuts will be high: human lives could be lost, and the financial costs will simply be transferred to the NHS, child protection, homelessness provision and the criminal justice system. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/20/lives-lost-housing-cuts-rough-sleepers-west-sussex-homeless?bucket=email-blast-22_2_2019_westsussex_seeder&utm_campaign=blast2019-02-22&utm_medium=email&utm_source=

We've been neglected by successive governments. For the economy of the whole country this is essential as well as for the health and well being of our citizens. To meet climate change targets we need fewer polluting cars on our roads and this will only happen with efficient, reliable public transport. Too many people have difficult and stressful journeys each day because of a broken, inefficient and neglected transport system. Urgent action is needed NOW not by 2030.

I used to cycle to work in the summer and at weekends but storing my bike is a real problem. I used to lock it up outside my home until it was stolen. Now, it is rusting in my back garden when I am not trying to manoeuvre it through my home by any weather. There are many benefits to cycling - environmental, financial, social (with friends and family), physical and mental health and just pure enjoyment. I know many more people would cycle but cannot as: - Live in a flat - don't have outside space/ shed - Live in a terraced house - Have to carry bike up/ down stairs - Want to start cycling but no point buying bike as no convenient storage - Don't have space for all family bikes I have been trying to campaign to have Cyclehoop Bikehangars https://www.cyclehoop.rentals/types/bikehangars in the local area for the past 6 months by contacting councillor, Deborah Huckle ([email protected]). I alongside another neighbour, would fill a whole bikehangar just with both our families - thus rendering the financing of the bikehangar viable. In October 2018, Ms Huckle shared the following update " Balmoral Road is on the list I passed to Cyclehoop last week for them to conduct a site visit to identify the best location for a bikehangar, following this we need to conduct a public consultation to ensure the majority of local residents are in support and then finally we get sign off from our Head of Service. I would estimate the whole process to take around 6 months." I know there is a lot of interest for this sort of scheme in our side of the borough and in Brent in general. Compared to other councils in London there are very few bikehangars in Brent. Once this local campaign is successful for mentioned streets/ area - I am happy to roll this out to a bigger area such as Willesden Green. However, first I want to understand the impact of a local campaign. Councillors are very keen to see the financial viability of this scheme on pockets of areas in a borough. To keep up the pressure and ensure we secure bikehangar(s) where we desire, could you please sign this petition. Please also contact Brent Council https://www.cyclehoop.rentals/contact-council AND Cyclehoop https://www.cyclehoop.rentals/types/bikehangars to express your interest for this scheme. Once we have achieved sufficient support I will take the petition to Deborah Huckle so she can use it to continue to back the case with Brent Council for our local area.

My disabled son, a wheel chair user, attends the Pathways day centre by St George's church in Gravesend. My wife collected our son from Pathways Thursday afternoon, 14 Feb in order to take our son to his Hydrotherapy session at Cotton Lane, Dartford. Jill, Andrew's mum, parked in St George's yard with our son's disabled blue badge clearly displayed, but was issued with a parking ticket. No obstruction was being caused so why the ticket? The warden came out with the usual comment,"I have issued the ticket. there is nothing I can do. There are free disabled parking places in the car park opposite St Georges Church, But usually there are no parking spaces available, and non-blue badge holders use the disabled bays. but we are, in any case, unable to use the car park with a wheel chair. Trying to cross from the car park back to St George's church pushing a wheel chair is extremely dangerous. There are ramps for wheel chairs on each side of the road, but they have been very poorly designed. The angles they are at are very steep and the wheelchair can get jammed in the road as you try to push the wheel chair on to the incline. Another problem is the pavement does not blend smoothly in to the road and means you have to have several attempts to get out of the road and on to the pavement. We have had several near misses with cars speeding around the bend to access St George's ctr car park, and decided our only safe option was to park at the entrance to St Georges, and push our son in his wheelchair up through the graveyard by the Pocahontas statue. Gravesend council should sort out the disabled facilities for people using Pathways Centre. Pathways is using what was the old Gravesend tourist office and has been in the place for 14 months. What was Gravesend council thinking of when they agreed to Pathways taking over the premises, but providing no suitable parking facilities for carers to deliver and collect their children from Pathways. Perhaps Gravesend's traffic wardens need some training, including practical demonstrations of how to get a wheel chair containing an adult from the lower car park to Pathways, especially when the people doing the pushing, in all weathers, are not very healthy pensioners...... Best regards, Malcolm Jackson, Andrew Jackson's dad.

I often think about how much waste sanitary products must create throughout the world...Imagine how much single use plastic and other waste is created every day from sanitary products worldwide. Over my years many women have expressed to me their anger at having to pay for sanitary products each month when menstruation isn't something they can control.. Throughout their lifetime I'm sure they would have spent a considerable amount of money on such products. I have been using a reusable product for years now and it certainly makes me feel more positive about the whole experience each month. I'd like to combine my feeling about both of these concerns and open the question about a government funded scheme whereby reuseable sanitary products are available free of charge.. Reuseable sanitary products are available in the form of silicone cups available form companies such as; organicup, moon cup, enna cycle and flaverta (and many more). There is also reusable sanitary cloths.. I think it would encourage women to engage more with their monthly cycle/body but also with the rising concern for waste management. Both products last for years and can simply be washed rather than having to be incinerated, dumped in landfill or accidentally find its way into the ocean/water works.

This is important because no one needs to be sleeping rough here. The council has a duty of care to every human being A home is a basic need Until a person has ‘a home’ they cannot move on to the next stage of rebuilding their life and participating in society. Providing a home for people will ‘pay for itself’ further down the line as people are able to contribute to the Economy once they are part of it. Am excluded person is costly! Help them!

This is important because it’s an issue that’s not isolated to West Sussex - it’s an epidemic of cost cutting measures aimed at the most isolated individuals.By 2020, the £6.3m the council currently spends on housing support services for rough sleepers, victims of domestic abuse, care leavers, and frail older people in the county, will shrink to just £2.3m.

MP's expenses are a blatant abuse of the system, and corruption of the worst kind. Perhaps a review of MP's expenses could be carried out by the DWP fraud department, using the same criteria, and penalties, as benefit fraud. If we are going to accept the rule of law, as decided by our elected representatives, then it must be applied fairly to all.

It puts people into debt and living on a reduced amount causing unnecessary suffering and hardship

McDonald's have already made a fantastic move to reducing the plastic waste epidemic by replacing plastic straws with other environmentaly friendly alternatives. This would just again show the importance of reducing plastic going to landfill or polluting the land as so many of these toys are thrown away without even being opened. Those who want a toy can still have it at no cost and those that don't simply don't take it. Better on the environment and saves money for the companies too.

We agree with Peabody that: “The sound of children playing is not considered anti-social behaviour. All children need to play inside or outside of their home in order to have a healthy upbringing.” We also agree that it is best for all residents that play should be respectful, both in times it occurs, and not to be of excessive volume or disturbance, and clearly self-regulation is the only effective enforcement. The families of the estate already abide to a set of informal guidelines around this - for example the time children may be outside playing - and are in constant communication and monitoring on this matter, a fact those without young families may not be aware of. We want to protect the children's rights as they have no voice themselves. We want to encourage dialogue between residents both for effectiveness and for the good of the community, and for all residents of all ages to enjoy living here 😀

Meals shouldn't be means tested all children in every school yr should be offereda hot meal . Prisoners get 3 free meals a day