For the 2nd time in 6 years a planning application for an 18-hole international golf course threatens Coul Links, within Loch Fleet Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Loch Fleet & Dornoch Firth Special Protection Area (SPA) & Ramsar wetland. Councillors approved of this Groundhog application by a whisker on 6 Dec 2023, but the Scottish Government called it in on 8 Feb 2024 for review. The Screening Request was from a councillor by proxy on behalf of a defunct football club, but Scoping & Full application were adopted by an astroturfing & greenwashing stalking horse, Communities for Coul (C4C), purporting to represent the local populace (from a biased & oxymoronic ballot - see Updates ↓ of 16 June 2021 & 27 Aug 2023) but representing golf & tourism interests in coastal Sutherland, appointing the same developer, applicant of 1st failed planning application, & intending to dissolve! The 2023 golf course plan is similar to the ‘environmentally friendly’ design of the previous Coul Links Ltd planning saga, first mooted in Oct 2015, approved almost unanimously by councillors, but refused in 2020 after Scottish Government intervention. The decision followed crucial objection by government agency Scottish Natural Heritage (now NatureScot); recommended refusal by Highland Council’s Planning Officer; 1864 planning objections, a campaign by Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, Marine Conservation Society, National Trust for Scotland, Plantlife, RSPB, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Ramblers, Scotways & Not Coul (all objecting again); a Wembley Stadium capacity 38Degrees petition https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/conserve-coul-links-for-nature-not-golf-1 (please sign too); & 4 weeks of Public Local Inquiry, whose Report recommended refusal.   Scottish Ministers summarised in Feb 2020: “Reporters have concluded that the harmful impacts of this development to protected habitats & species would outweigh the potential socio-economic benefits. This proposal does not comply with the relevant provisions of the Highland Wide Local Development Plan & runs contrary to Scottish planning policy’s emphasis on protecting natural heritage sites & world class environmental assets. The Scottish Government has considered the reporter’s findings carefully & agree with the recommendation that planning permission should be refused”.   The developer to re-emerge is Mike Keiser of Bandon Dunes Oregon, Cabot Nova Scotia (NS) & Cabot Highlands UK. He was a funder of Heartland climate change denial Institute https://littlesis.org/person/42895-Michael_Keiser & doesn’t have an impeccable conservation record in Oregon: https://oregoncoastalliance.org/bandon-dunesbiota-bulldoze-roads-and-dig-bore-holes-in-bandon-state-natural-area/. Cabot NS failed to obtain a lease to convert wild protected public dunes to a golf course: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/west-mabou-beach-provincial-park-cabot-golf-tory-rushton-1.6817243. The only substantial improvement to the previous course design is abandonment of the major juniper translocation experiment within the SSSI. Assertions common to both planning applications & their inadequate Environmental Impact Assessments were refuted by Inquiry. One fallacy is that golf will only impact 1% of the SSSI, which is predominantly tidal estuary & contains substantial areas of beach, saltmarsh & native pinewood. This ignores the effects of expanding wetlands, golf management & disturbance beyond constructed tees & greens of biopoverty lawns, & intensively mown fairways, the effects of habitat fragmentation on ecological integrity & retreating coastline: perilously close to holes 15, 17 (fairway edge collapsed into sea March 2024) & 18 (back tee) after Storm Ciarán of Nov 2023 & equinoctial tides of spring 2024. Tees & greens would be excavated, recontoured, turfed with amenity grassland, fertilised & irrigated. Fairways, ostensibly to preserve biodiversity & naturalness, would be mown weekly during growing season, compacting irregular topography & gradually reducing any sward to the most mower & trampling-tolerant (from anticipated 25,000 rounds per annum) grasses & mosses, with no opportunity for surviving herbs to flower. Dune heath, chiefly of heathers, mosses & lichens, with sparser & tussocky grasses, would be obliterated by mowing, leaving habitat susceptible to more wind erosion than desirable. Mowing would nowhere produce a world-class playing surface & eroded areas would likely be patched up with introduced grasses, & 'weeds' treated with herbicide. C4C claims that golf development is the only way to fund conserving Coul Links for nature, with golf management ending management neglect (by the landowner, a 2017 developer), initiating removal of ‘invasive’ species. This is untrue, as a land management agreement with NatureScot has commenced & funds are available for future work. Gorse, birches, Bracken, Meadowsweet, Burnet Rose & unspecified willows are all perceived by the development team as undesirables to be severely controlled, despite their collectively supporting numerous insects, some rare, & nesting birds. While some control of first three species is desirable to preserve more valuable habitats, they are all natural & native components of dune vegetation. From 9 July 2025 Coul Links wetlands should be better protected: Updated Scottish Government policy on protecting Ramsar sites - Wetlands - protecting Ramsar sites: updated Scottish Government policy - gov.scot Coul Links is not a wildlife garden but one of the most natural, biodiverse & intact dune habitat systems surviving in Scotland, where much has already been lost to golf. Naturalness, supported by size, is a chief criterion for SSSI evaluation & selection. 50% of the anticipated market for Coul Links golf would be from USA, jetting to Scotland to contribute to climate warming emissions & coastal erosion. DPEA Hearing: Scottish Government - DPEA - Case Details (scotland.gov.uk) Planning: https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/ ref. 23/00580/FUL Not Coul: https://notcoul.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnm7krCGoGQ&t=4s Coastal Erosion Crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Zpr6c1elI&list=LL Information: https://www.coullinksgolf.com/ Photographs: Coul-Links-Comparative-Photographs-by-Andrew-Weston-September-2024-FINAL.pdf Coul-Links-Supplementary-Photographs-by-Andrew-Weston-September-2024-FINAL.pdf 'Community' propaganda: https://www.communities4coul.scot/

We are facing an unprecedented climate crisis crisis and the UK government simply isn’t doing enough. The Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill can help us change our course—making the government act with the urgency we need and involving everyday people in a Citizens’ Assembly that has real bite. If the CEE Bill is made law, the government would have to act fast, accounting for our entire carbon footprint while actively conserving nature here and overseas. The bill could set a precedent that can be replicated across the world. According to They Work for You, a website that documents MP voting records, Alister Jack "generally voted against measures to prevent climate change". Recently he refused to meet with a constituent to discuss environmental issues on the basis that he'd "already had discussions with an environmental group this year". It is vital that local environmental groups and concerned citizens have the opportunity to convey to Alister Jack the severity of the crisis we are facing and to demand his representation in parliament. Encouraging him to support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill would be a great start!

It is no coincidence that the rise in crime and anti-social behaviour has increased since the numbers of police officers, the closing of the station and the lack of a Magistrates Court occurred.

This is extremely important as we are in the middle of a pandemic and we would like customers to be able to use the café and be at a safe distance from each other. Using the garden and outside space will mean we can have a larger capacity and therefore have more opportunity to be a viable business.

Our campaign has uncovered many of our supporters living in communities blighted by speeding and excessive traffic noise and pollution. They have real fears for the safety of their loved ones, leading to poor mental health and impacting on their quality of life. Many of us live in towns and villages that are not equipped for the huge increases of speeding and heavy polluting traffic, Hertfordshire County Council advocate walking and cycling to schools and walks for wellbeing how is this possible when Hertfordshire roads are so dangerous? Why adopt 20mph? 20mph default speed limits reduce serious road injuries and death rates. >70% of residents want 20mph default limits this grows when mandatory. 20 million people in the UK already live in areas with 20mph default speed limits, where local authorities have rejected 30mph as a default limit. 20mph default speed limits marry safety and sustainability (Stockholm Declaration, 2020) therefore improving health and wellbeing from a cleaner environment and more active lifestyles. Medical experts are calling for 20mph default speed limits as they ‘lower the baseline‘ for NHS demand by reducing the NHS load. Please go to our national site for further information www.20splenty.org

This road goes from 60mph to 30mph from Elwick to Hartlepool. The 30mph speed limit starts quite close to the Elwick Grove estate entrance, and many vehicles do not reduce their speed as they pass the estate. The issue is that many vehicles tend to ignore the 30mph limit as they drive past Elwick Grove estate, or they speed up in readiness for the 60mph change if they are coming up the hill. There are lots of families living in Elwick Grove estate and the surrounding areas, using that road to cross with children for school. So the risk to children is a concern. There is also a risk of a collision when people are exiting the estate with speeding vehicles coming down Elwick Road, not giving themselves time to slow down before they reach the junction exit. This is an accident waiting to happen with some residents already experiencing near misses. We request the council assess this as a priority and put speed calming measures in place before a serious vehicle collision or a pedestrian is knocked down by a speeding vehicle.

Lakeside Healthcare Group unexpectedly announced on Wednesday 16th September 2020 that St Mary’s surgery will close 1st December 2020. This has triggered considerable public disquiet and discontent, not only about this decision but also about the current quality of Primary Care delivery in Stamford. It has become clear that the Primary Care Committee of Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG] who contract with Lakeside has not approved the closure and will need to be satisfied that patient needs can be met with the appropriate level of quality care. The Patient Participation Group calls upon Lincolnshire CCG to work in conjunction with South Kesteven District Council [SKDC] to develop a strategic plan for the delivery of Primary Care in Stamford that will be fit for the next 20 years in line with the Local Plan. This plan should be based on a thorough “needs-based analysis” reviewing the town and surrounding villages' current and future demography, the distribution & growth of population, its traffic flows and projections of future healthcare needs as defined in the NHS long term plans … and whether it is the public’s best interests for there to be a monopoly primary care provider. This cannot be left to Lakeside alone who by their rushed and unplanned attempt to close St Mary’s have already shown they do not possess the required competence to lead on such an important subject.

6 children in every class of 30 are at risk of starting the day too hungry to learn. Hungry children struggle to concentrate on lessons and miss out on hours of valuable learning. This all contributes to a learning gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. That’s why the charities Magic Breakfast and Feeding Britain has put forward the ‘School Breakfast Bill’ - a potential new law that would provide schools the support they require to provide a free and nutritious breakfast to children at risk of hunger. But for the bill to become law we need to show that the public supports it. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more children are at risk of hunger. Will you sign the petition to demand that no child is too hungry to learn?

Lakeside makes the following claim: "Lakeside Healthcare is a new type of NHS general practice which builds upon and celebrates all that is great about traditional primary care services. We are local surgeries run by doctors, nurses and associated staff who know their patients and care deeply about the quality of health provided in their communities." Our experience is very different. Phone calls take a very long time to be answered, and it is between very difficult and impossible to get a face-to-face appointment.

It's essential for the community - local residents rely on the Post Office for banking, bill payments, stamps and parcels, and all the other services it provides. It would be a real blow to this community to lose their Post Office. The nearest one is too far to expect people to walk and many can't afford buses and cars to journey there.

Many families use a mixture of formal and informal childcare in order to continue working and ensure their children are looked after while they are working to provide for them. Local Restriction rules ban them from using informal childcare arrangements, such as grandparents, other family members and friends, unless they are part of their support bubble. This includes many key workers such as NHS staff, police officers, teachers, shop workers and factory workers - people that have worked throughout this crisis to keep our country going. Many have used up their annual leave to cover childcare during the national lockdown, leaving them with no options now. People with informal childcare arrangements tend not to be able to afford to pay for childcare or they work hours that do not fit in with paid childcare or paid childcare is not available or their children have disabilities that means formal childcare is not an option for them. They are also highly likely to have employment contracts that state that they will not be paid for time off to look after children. Not everybody can work from home, not everybody can work school hours, so how will they cope with the drop in income? Many are worried about losing their jobs. We urge the Health Secretary to think again as these rules are just not practical or workable for many families, they cannot afford to employ private nannies and it is completely unrealistic to expect that they can arrange formal childcare within a matter of days or that they can afford formal childcare.

One baby died at HMP Bronzefield in September 2019 and another at HMP Styal in June 2020. In both cases the mother gave birth in a prison cell rather than at hospital. The prisons and the Ministry of Justice have refused to release information publicly about why the mothers were not taken to hospital, despite being in labour. These deaths, and the resulting trauma for the families of the babies, could have been prevented with appropriate support and access to health care. This issue is now even more urgent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pregnant women have been included on the government’s list of those clinically vulnerable to COVID-19. In addition to this, prisons have responded to the pandemic by keeping prisoners locked in cells for 22 - 24 hours per day, increasing the risk of pregnant people going into labour in cells or being unable to access maternity care. The government acknowledged this with a promise in March 2020 to release pregnant women and women with babies in prison Mother and Baby Units, in order to allow them to safely self-isolate in the community. Despite this promise, according to the last figures stated by the government on 18th June, only six pregnant people and 16 new mothers have been released. We call on the Ministry of Justice to act immediately on this promise and release all pregnant people and mothers with babies in Mother and Baby Units, in order to prevent further harm and deaths.