Our new report shows that from the £240,000 that we receive via HCC Community Grants, we are able to save the public purse at least £312,418 every year – at least £72,000 per year more than we receive in total from the grants. Not only this, but the savings to older people’s lives are even greater. Following a survey of the older people who access our services and activities in Hampshire we found: • 57% felt that activities and services that they engaged with help to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness. • 86% who took part in exercise classes (such as strength and balance groups, cheerleading and tai chi) felt that the services improved their physical fitness. • 16% of service users (325 of 2,300) said that accessing services and activities provided by the Community Grants delayed them needing to access social care services in 2021 • 1 in ten (244 of 2,300) service users told us that these services reduced their need to access health services as a result of ill health. We need your support to stop these life-saving grants from being cut so we can keep enabling older people in Hampshire to live later life well, please add your voice to the campaign and sign the petition below. You can help to share this petition on social media using the hashtag #SaveHampshireServices If you would like to add your views to Hampshire County Council’s consultation directly please visit the HCC website at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/AHC-consultation Read our full report here: https://mha.org.uk/savehampshireservices

Open Letter from Southwark Park Association 1869 Dear Cllr. Kieron Williams, We are a well-established, open and democratic voluntary group committed to the promotion of Southwark Park for the benefit of the community. We are shocked to know that Southwark Council has decided to defund the annual Bermondsey Carnival. It seems responsibility for our landmark local event, with origins going back to 1901, is to be put aside, without any communication or consultation with the public. For years the free to attend Carnival has bought people of all ages and backgrounds together for a day of enjoyment and relaxation, without interfering with people’s access to their park. It has been especially important to those who live within the immediate area – over 64,000 people, a fifth of the borough’s population, of whom some 14,000 (22%) are economically disadvantaged. Without a dedicated budget from the Council the future of the Carnival is in doubt. Reinstatement of £35,000 would cost about 54p a head of the local population, or a tiny 0.4% of the Council’s overall Environment and Leisure budget of £88m. As we come out of the pandemic, giving some certainty around funding for the organisers of the much-loved Carnival makes financial and social sense. We call upon the Council to urgently reconsider its decision. If you share our concern about the threat to the future of the Bermondsey Carnival please sign this online petition to the Leader of Southwark Council.

This extra payment on top of maximum increase that you will impose in Council Tax (2.99%) will lead to the most vulnerable in our city being affected alongside the £20 per week Universal Credit cut and the fact that electricity and gas bills for a typical household will go up by £693 a year in April. All these combined will create a 'Perfect Storm' of people suffering more financial hardship. The worry is will the Labour led council then impose a Blue Bin Tax? Or a Purple Bin Tax? When will the line be drawn? Please Stop And Scrap The Green Bin Tax.

Chris Packham the TV presenter is part of an organisation called Wild Justice and last year they raised the issue of glyphosates being used by local authorities in public spaces. Glyphosate (also known as Roundup) is one of the most-used individual pesticides in the world. It is used as a herbicide in agriculture, in public spaces (such as parks but also in the streets) and in private spaces such as gardens. Wild Justice encouraged people to contact their council to find out about the local situation. They provided a template to allow people to submit a Freedom Of Information request. Sustainable Bramhall contacted Stockport Council and the reply is below; Stockport Council is clearly still using glyphosates: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/herbicide_use_requests_for_infor#incoming-1903081 The use of glyphosates is an issue about which many organisations have raised concerns, over time, such as Pesticides Action Network. [1] In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’. [2] There is a live debate about glyphosate’s environmental impacts and use in gardens. [3] Glyphosate kills plants that insects and birds depend on for food. The Soil Association reports that research indicates potential impacts in increasing crop diseases, changing the composition and functioning of soil micro-organism species and ecosystems, and recently published studies are showing a negative impact on earthworms. [4] There is also evidence that glyphosates can enter water courses and affect plant life there affecting habitats for other organisms. Recent research also suggests that glyphosate can kill honey bees by affecting their immunity to pathogens. [5] Bees are essential pollinators of plants including crops for food. Please sign our petition to ask Stockport Council to give up on glyphosates. If you still use them at home, perhaps you should give up too, but be careful of how you dispose of them. References: [1] https://www.pan-uk.org/pesticide-free/ [2] https://www.iarc.who.int/featured-news/media-centre-iarc-news-glyphosate/ [3] https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/glyphosate-debate [4] https://www.soilassociation.org/media/7202/glyphosate-and-soil-health-full-report.pdf [5] https://e360.yale.edu/features/bee-alert-is-a-controversial-herbicide-harming-honeybees For more information about the Wild Justice Campaign see here: https://wildjustice.org.uk/glyphosate/glyphosate-use-by-local-authorities/

According to the Young Women's Trust, 40% of HR managers have said they do not advertise salary details with job adverts. Often this means that salary will be based on the new employee's previous salary. But this perpetuates existing gender and ethnic pay gaps. We can't really try and end gender and ethnic pay inequality without putting an end to this practice. Please help us put an end to this practice.

With a joint population of nearly 30,000 people in Rosyth, Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and North Queensferry none of these towns has a swimming pool and the people of these towns have been crying out for a swimming pool for years. Why not use the old Invekething High School to bring much-needed facilities to the area. Having a new sports centre and leisure complex on the old high school site would help bring footfall and income to Inverkeithing after the new High School moves to Rosyth

The Department for Transport is currently deciding whether to award Avanti a new 10-year contract to continue running services on our West Coast Main Line until 2032. They are due to make a final decision by 1 April 2023. This has to be stopped. Let’s not reward failure. Let’s make our West Coast public instead. ---- References: • 20 August 2021, 'West Coast Partnership: prior information notice', Department for Transport https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-coast-partnership-prior-information-notice • 2 July 2020, 'National Rail Passenger Survey Spring 2020', Transport Focus https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/publication/national-rail-passenger-survey-nrps-spring-2020-main-report • 21 October 2021, 'Details of operational support payments to franchised passenger rail operators under emergency agreements and National Rail Contracts', Department for Transport https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-payments-to-passenger-rail-operators-under-emergency-agreements/details-of-operational-support-payments-to-franchised-passenger-rail-operators-under-emergency-agreements • 6 January 2022, 'Rail prices to rise by the largest amount in nearly a decade', Money Saving Expert https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/12/train-fares-rail-increase-march • 4 January 2022, 'Rail firms gave £38m to shareholders after being bailed out by taxpayer during Covid lockdowns', Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10366385/Rail-firms-gave-38m-shareholders-bailed-taxpayer-Covid.html

To protect and preserve a truly iconic species, to protect fragile rural economies, to restore the status of Scotland as a top global destination for visiting anglers.

This week it was revealed that the Director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, is in advanced talks with BP about renewing their sponsorship deal. It’s vital that we don’t let another five years of BP sponsorship of the British Museum - or even a new ‘BP wing’ as part of its $1bn redevelopment plan - go ahead. It’s time that the British Museum picks a side on climate change, and stops sending the message to its visitors, especially young people, that fossil fuels can be a part of a liveable future. The plans to renew the sponsorship come as BP announces obscene profits, while people in the UK are being forced to choose between heating and eating, and the company admits it will continue to drill for new oil and gas for decades to come, despite the climate emergency. The trustees have a legal duty to protect the reputation of the museum. They must step in now, following in the footsteps of other major cultural institutions, and drop BP as a sponsor.

It is not currently safe for women to give birth in the UK. Our services are very under funded and under staffed. Those midwifes who remain feel burnt out, unappreciated and are underpaid. The role of midwife needs to change and be better supported if we are ever going to be able to train, recruit and retain the 2500 additional midwives that are so desperately needed.

This is important because it will: - Reduce the carbon footprint of thousands of homes, helping those most in need to pay their rising energy bills - Bring more money back to the council from the leftover energy which can be sold back to the National Grid which the council can use to fund local projects to further improve the area It's a win-win situation.

On 30th July 2020, hedgehogs were added to the Red List for British mammals and classified as vulnerable to extinction. The Dartford Hedgehog Project and wonderful hedgehog groups across the country are doing their upmost to help this species recover, by raising awareness of their needs, encouraging communities to allow access through hedgehog highways, provide shelter and suitable food - such as dry kitten food with a high meat percentage. This has had a positive impact in urban areas, however there is still a long way to go! Also, sadly, well meaning people are buying products labelled as specialist hedgehog food, but as food for wildlife is currently completely unregulated, this can lead to deadly consequences for hedgehogs. A lot of the food supposedly designed for them contains ingredients such as wheat, calci worms, meal worms, fruit, sunflower seeds, nuts or oats. Eating too much of this causes teeth issues and metabolic bone disease in hedgehogs. This is a debilitating condition that eventually leads to an agonising death. It is simply unacceptable that products that can cause such harm are currently allowed to be sold freely! We are therefore calling on the government to bring in regulations to the sale of food specifically labelled as suitable for Hedgehogs! Written by Green Party Cllr Laura Edie, On behalf of Dartford Hedgehog Project.