Builders are lobbying the government to keep planning policy as it is. They say that their industry depends upon Greenfield sites being available to build on, without the need to use up Brownfield sites first. This is causing misery across the country. We find that builders are cherry-picking the green fields on the edges of towns, because these are the easiest and most profitable sites to develop. Meanwhile, Brownfield sites are left to rot, or remain for years as piles of rubble in the heart of towns. There are alternatives to the present policies which would keep builders in work, provide apprenticeships, supply just as many homes, avoid conflict with communities and would halt the relentless encroachment upon our precious countryside. Please lobby the candidates for the coming general election to support the following proposals: • To bring back the sequential testing of land, so that applications to develop Greenfield sites can be turned down if alternative Brownfield sites exist. • To award grants for the decontamination of industrial land. • To give incentives to councils and builders to renovate empty homes. • To encourage the building of higher density homes on Brownfield sites, where this would not impact on the light and space of neighbours. • To increase the tax threshold for renting out rooms to lodgers, so that there is less single occupancy of homes. • To provide funding for the merging of houses, when this is appropriate, e.g. in large areas of high density housing, where a better mix is needed. • To follow one of the main objectives of the National Planning Policy Framework: of ‘allowing people and communities back into planning’. There is rigour in complying with the rest of the framework – why not with this? Merely inviting people to comment on proposals is not good enough - communities should be genuinely involved in the planning process.

A new owner is in the process of taking over the Brighton Hippodrome site. Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) gave planning approval to convert the Hippodrome into an eight-screen cinema, restaurants and retail units. We are told that the scheme is not going ahead. Vue Entertainment, the company that was to have operated the cinema, is no longer involved. This means that the magnificent Grade II* listed theatre, designed by Frank Matcham—the finest unused theatre in the country—will be left with no plan to save it other than the one being developed by Our Brighton Hippodrome (OBH). The BHCC City Plan names the Hippodrome as one of the key venues in the city’s cultural infrastructure that should be protected and enhanced ‘for their existing use or potential for such use’. It is long past the time when BHCC should issue an urgent repairs notice to protect one of the most important buildings in the city from further deterioration. Meanwhile, the city council should give its full support to enable OBH to complete its plans for restoration of the Hippodrome for live performance and as a major community asset. With BHCC's backing, OBH will be more able to raise the funding for restoration and will be in a stronger position to negotiate with the site’s owner. A restored Hippodrome would add considerably to the local economy, serving the residents of the city and the county and attracting valuable tourist spending with shows that cannot currently be presented in Sussex. A petition on 38 Degrees in favour of theatre restoration has achieved over 11,500 signatures. BHCC should acknowledge the massive public support for revival of the iconic Hippodrome for live performance—and the preference of most of the council’s own elected members for theatre restoration, if possible. It IS possible. The community can make it happen and the council should help achieve this aspiration. Read about the project at ourhippodrome.org.uk Contact the campaign at [email protected] Become a member of the campaign at ourhippodrome.org.uk/join Donate to the campaign fighting fund at ourhippodrome.org.uk/donate

The Prime Minister made a personal promise to cancer patients at the last election that they would be able to access the treatments their doctors recommended. In response, the Cancer Drugs Fund was introduced in 2010 to ensure cancer patients in England were able to access new, innovative treatments that weren't currently available on the NHS. This was an enormous step forward for thousands of patients with advanced or rare cancers, giving them access to treatments that enhanced their quality of life and gave them precious extra time with their families. Yet, from March 13 2015 8,000 cancer patients will have this access to vital treatments cut off. NHS England has recently announced that it will remove 25 treatments from the Cancer Drugs Fund, with effect from March 2015, meaning nearly 8,000 cancer patients a year will be denied life-extending drugs condemning them to an early death and denying the opportunity to improve their quality of life. These changes are a backward step in treatment for advanced cancer and rarer cancers. Doctors will be forced to tell their patients there are treatments that can prolong their lives but they will no longer be available. The Government and drug companies must sit down and find a way to guarantee access to cancer treatments at a cost which is affordable to the NHS. The NHS should be there when you need it the most and the Prime Minister should stand up for cancer patients.

The 'Friends of the River Nene' (FOTRN) has been formed as a group dedicated to improving everyone's experience when using or visiting the river Nene. As such we have volunteers willing to work to help the E.A., local councils and local landowners to improve all aspects of the enjoyment of this lovely river. Please sign our petition, which we hope will help us improve things.

By allowing the painting of the subway ceilings, people of all ages can come together to discuss the project and eventually work with professional Street Artists who can share their time and talents to help transform Hertford's excellent system of town centre subways. With permission, a crowd-funding project can get under way to pay for the Artists and materials. Once completed, a beautiful project like this will be unique in the county, possibly the rest of the country. Approx. 5 pedestrian subways serve the people of Hertford, providing easy access to and from the town centre. These subways are clean and well lit and in constant use. Schoolchildren, in fact all ages, make use of the pedestrian accesses. I use them every day. I often see elderly people and women with babies, likewise people with disabilities and travellers to and from work in the centre of Hertford. I have overheard young people say to their friends that they find using the subways a frightening or unpleasant experience. Why? I believe that subways can be a scary place. I would like the Council to agree to a project to allow the local youth groups and schools to work with professional Artists, to bring the ceilings of the subways to life, in an ambitious project that could put Hertford in the national spotlight. We want to make the walk to or from town a pleasurable experience, with Art inspired and created by Hertford - the place, the people - itself.

We can't stop violence in films, TV shows and video games but we can stop the glorification of that violence using guns and knives in adverts in media streams and posters. Knife and gun crime is on the increase and the message from these adverts is that it is OK to use them. If you choose to watch a film, TV show or play a video game then fine, but advertising is usually seen by all ages indiscriminately. Please help ban the use of guns and knives in all forms of adverting.

A New Town was built housing over 30,000 people right beside Aycliffe Village called Newton Aycliffe . The decision to close the East Coast mainline station in 1947 just as Newton Aycliffe was being built was a mistake. There is now plenty of demand for mainline services. People are forced to use private cars instead to access college opportunities and the jobs market in Durham, Chester le Street and Newcastle upon Tyne. The current Newton Aycliffe station is only on the Bishop Auckland branch line and goes to Darlington.

The number of 18-25 year olds who are homeless is ever increasing and looking for a roof over their head is made difficult by barriers put there by Medway Council. This is completely unacceptable and we call for change regarding this is issue, especially in the winter months.

Mental Health services are stretched to breaking point there is a severe lack of units for both children and adults, sometimes resulting in people being held in police cells which is both ethically and morally wrong! People in crisis and their families have little to no help whilst awaiting a bed and often have to travel hundreds of miles away from home due to lack of suitable units close to home, breaking families apart for weeks and even months at a time. Community services, crisis teams and social service departments are not fit for purpose due to a lack of funding and staff shortages, the increasing demand of community care not being supplied is causing bed blocking in many units and is causing many to not receive the help they need to prevent admission in the first place. The whole system is in need of change and it needs to be made a high priority because the numbers of people in need and in crisis is rising fast!

Last Thursday one of the members was missing from the club, this sent the alarm bells ringing and thanks to this community the lady was found on her lounge floor and was able to receive medical attention and hospitalised. With no club who can look out for these members? Whilst the majority of Peel members are able to remain active and independent through services provided at the Centre, as users grow older their needs increase and they often become frailer and more dependent on staff for support and assistance. Working closely with social services and primary care providers we are able to support these members to remain independent and living in their own homes. This lifeline for the members is now under threat

In 2012, Gloucestershire County Council agreed a £500 million contract with corporate developer UBB (Urbaser Balfour Beatty) to build and operate a huge "mass burn" incinerator at Javelin Park, Haresfield, on the edge of the Cotswolds designated Area Of Natural Beauty, to be paid for using taxpayers' money. Negotiations were shrouded in secrecy and no public consultation was entered into with respect to cleaner and cheaper waste solutions [1], which were - and still are - available. We do not know the contents of the contract, because they have never been fully revealed. What we do know is that - democratic bodies representing over half of the county opposed the plans (2 MPs, 3 District Councils,19 Town and Parish Councils) - 3 weeks after the contract was actually signed, in 2013, the Gloucestershire County Council Planning Committee, after a full hearing of all sides of the debate, voted unanimously to refuse planning permission [2] And yet, on the 7th of January 2015, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles overturned that democratic planning decision. Now we are being told that if the Council uphold democracy and cancel the contract with UBB there will be a massive penalty to pay - up to £100 million - yet we are not being told how they have reached this figure. We have a right to know how this happened. It is our money, our environment and our health that are at issue and we are not being told the whole story. NOTES: [1] An MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) plant already has planning permission in Gloucestershire - and UBB themselves have been commissioned to build one in Essex. See the developer's own explanation of its advantages: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gVTCv92hHWNDs5LxcJ7CoEruEPxuad9gul-T9nIsuI4/edit [2] Among the reasons for refusal were: - evidence of air pollution and fear of health risk - competition with sustainable methods such as recycling - huge impact on the landscape - high CO2 emissions - significant import of waste from elsewhere required to maintain function

This will give all political parties and the nation the information that shows how much of the UKs power can be achieved without fossil fuels and to help plan for the shortfall if any .