Taunton has massive potential for more cycling and walking journeys as an alternative to short car trips. Fifty percent of trips in Taunton are less than 2 miles. More cycling and walking would help reduce congestion, cut pollution, improve health , give people more reliable journey times, and save them money. It would give freedom and independence to some of the thousands of people who don't have access to a car, particularly young people and children. An efficient transport system will support the economy. Already cycling to work levels in Taunton are double the national average, although there has been very little investment in the last 15 years. Even without investment , cycling in the Taunton area is popular. With investment Taunton will become a beacon cycling town with good cycling links from Wellington, Bishops Lydeard and Kingston St Mary. Somerset County Council tends to favour road schemes when bidding for capital funds for transport. Over £40m has recently been spent or is planned for road schemes. We are asking their the next major scheme is a cycling and walking network project. Taunton is a 'Garden Town' and sustainable transport should be at its heart. Approximately 5000 new houses are planned for the town and so a new approach to transport is needed. Just sinking large amounts of money into new roads won't provide a sustained solution.

The proposed development site is not an existing farm, does not include any existing farm or other buildings/ infrastructure and is located on an uninterrupted English greenfield site which makes up part of the national character profile of Shropshire and the United Kingdom. The area is celebrated and enjoyed for its history, beauty, diversity and tranquility. This green corridor, with its multiple heritage assets, listed buildings, ancient woodland, rivers, scheduled ancient monuments, ancient hedgerows, historic villages, battlefield site, foot paths, bridleways and nearby vibrant market town & Shropshire Union Canal, makes up a significant part of Shropshire’s natural and historic environment. Pristine uninterrupted greenfield land should be celebrated, cherished and preserved for many reasons, not least for the future generations to enjoy. Help us protect one of our country's greatest assets by objecting today! The proposed development site poses nine threats to the community, they are: TRAFFIC DANGER- traffic has already reached danger level on our narrow approach roads. The Betton approach is also a school/nursery run and the increased traffic, including HGV and other heavy vehicles, will prove the tipping point in unacceptable risks. STENCH/FLIES - from 2 tonnes/day of excrement, which will carry in the prevailing wind (SW) along Main Road. ENTRAPMENT - For those unfortunate families close to the site, there is no escape. If you are driven to move, who will buy your house? RIVER POLLUTION - Contamination of the river located very close to the site due to surface water run off pollutants. HERITAGE - The proposed development is close/in line of sight to many Listed Properties, ancient woodland and heritage assets, plus, very close to a beautiful bridleway and footpaths. DEVASTATION - Betton is the attractive gateway to Norton, Best Kept Village and Champion of Champions, Britain in Bloom. The spoiling of this beautiful greenfield site will make a mockery of all the outstanding village work over many years. MISSION CREEP - This application is the advance guard for a much bigger plan. One unit of 32,000 birds is scarcely viable. Don’t be deceived by this Trojan Horse – 65% of all egg-laying applications in Shropshire are for expansion of facilities. CONSTRUCTION - Concrete access road, turning circle, barn, feed silo. earth moving, light pollution etc EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS - There are none. Poultry facilities are not labour intensive - they are hen intensive. (32000 hens =1 ½ people). Reasons why this planning proposal should be refused: - Negative visual impact - Air and river ammonia pollution - Odour, flies and noise -Danger from HGVs vehicles/tractors on the roads -Not a diversification for an existing farm -Not being located next to existing farm buildings Please object by 3rd December 2018. You can also write a full objection to Shropshire Council via their website on their online portal quoting: 18/04555/FUL

Shankea lives in constant fear of having to leave the country she has called her home for 18 years. “I was 12 when I came here. I was a young girl dependent on my parents" Since leaving school, she has not been allowed to work. “I’ve never claimed benefits and I don’t have a criminal record. I was not given the opportunity to obtain my degree, to work. What’s the point in existing? I’m a strong woman, but it’s hard. It feels so cruel.” Shankea contributes to her community by doing voluntary work. Her mother passed away in Jamaica. Shankea missed her Mother’s funeral in Jamaica as she feared she wouldn’t be able to return to the UK. Her most recent Home Office application was declined on the grounds that she could maintain her relationships in the UK online. This inhumane treatment is a result of the Government's hostile environment towards Windrush families. As a UK community, we can stand by Shankea and support her by making our voices heard through this petition. UPDATE ON SHANKEA Thanks a million to everyone who has so far signed the petition to help my friend Shankea. It's amazing to me how she has coped with her unstable situation throughout her 20's, and incredible that the Government can contemplate sending her to Jamaica; a place she doesn't know any more. The Home Office say her Father can visit her in Jamaica but they are not taking his illness into consideration. Shankea lived with her Father as a child in London. She eventually moved to Peterborough to live with two Aunties who were able to support her. She has lived here ever since with an incredible 'surrogate Mum,' someone who has 'literally taken me under her wing,' many cousins, friends and a church community. The Government wants to deport her to Jamaica. A place where she has no close relatives and nowhere to stay. She asks "Where would I live? Where would I start? What would people think of me? I don't think I would fit in there. I am very outspoken here in England, but this is frowned upon in Jamaica." How would it feel to be sent away to live in a strange place away from everything & everyone you have grown up with? It is a cruel and inhumane act for any Government to consider, and would lead to psychological pain and suffering. Shankea worked hard at school and achieved three A Levels in Government & Politics, Sociology & English Literature. She applied to University to study Politics and Sociology and was accepted at all five Universities she applied to. She could not take up a place because she couldn't access a student loan due to not having a National Insurance Number. It was at this point, now 11 years ago, that Shankea's fight to remain in the UK started. Shankea has no way of earning a living. She desperately wants to work in the country that provided her education, but she hasn't got the correct papers. Her 'surrogate Mum' provides for her. Her Aunts, church community and friends help her afford to live, but she is constantly living on the breadline. She lives by a strict budget, on 'sheer blessings & luck.' She volunteers as a youth worker and attends access courses. Shankea is a proud young woman who deserves better. She says, " I could have got myself pregnant in order to stay, but that's not me, I don't want to do it that way." The judge has told Shankea she 'doesn't have enough family life here.' BUT WHAT IS A FAMILY IF IT'S NOT A CLOSE KNIT COMMUNITY OF RELATIVES AND FRIENDS? Shankea signs a list every month to prove to the home office she is still in Peterborough and complying. She insists on doing everything 'aboveboard.' All her important documents are with the home office: birth certificate; Jamaican Passport; school papers; leaving certificates; medical records; everything to mark every year she has been here. Part of Shankea's identity is in a file miles away. Shankea has made her life here and wants to stay. All her friends and family want her to stay. Please help her by signing and sharing this petition to every one you can think of so it flies off the scale! TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Thank You

There is a surplus of gas available to the UK even without shale gas exploration and the UK can satisfy its energy requirements using offshore resources and renewables. Shale gas will undermine the country’s climate change obligations and harvesting the gas presents unacceptable risks to the environment and the health of local residents and will consume and contaminate freshwater resources.

Our Hospital's A&E, Maternity and the Stroke Unit are threatened. NHS bosses want closures and services transferred to Canterbury or further. Our GPs are being corralled into 3 super-hubs, making it harder for us to get treatment. There are cuts to social care and the number of care homes – all private – are woefully inadequate. In spite of the government promising more NHS funding, it is not enough. The cuts are being pushed through under the ‘STP’ carried out by “Kent & Medway NHS’, which is neither a legal nor a democratic body.

Scotland is blessed with a diverse range of beautiful and unique wildlife. Often, a lack of natural predators means that grazing animals such as deer and wild goats are subject to culls, which are unfortunate but necessary, and conducted by professionals to limit the suffering of animals. What is unnecessary is the "hunt tourism" industry that encourages "tourists" from around the world, particularly Americans, to visit Scotland for the sole purpose of stalking, torturing and killing our beautiful and unique Scottish wildlife for pleasure. This is not the kind of tourism that we want in our country.

South Lakeland District Council in Cumbria turned down a planning application to keep an existing wind farm in place until 2027. The wind farm has been in place since 1993 and produces energy for 2,700 average homes every year. The decision on whether the planning application stands or whether the Kirkby Moor Wind Farm can stay in place for another nine years now rests with the planning inspector. THE DECISION WILL BE MADE AT AN INQUIRY IN JANUARY NEXT YEAR 2019. Scientists have recently warned of catastrophic consequences for the planet if global temperatures rise by more than 1.5 degrees.We believe that everyone should play their part to prevent this increase, in particular through supporting renewable forms of energy.

It is outrageous that fox hunts are still being allowed to kill and maim foxes in Welsh forests. the last date for killing our foxes on public land occurred 30th December 2018 - just a week ago. Please sign and share this petition to put an end to this cruelty.

Children have been hit by speeding cars at the crossing on College Road on more than one occasion. We want to prevent a loss of life or a serious accident.

People with long term disabilities are often asked to attend assessment centres that are too far for them to travel. This causes undue stress and expense as they are also being asked to pay up to £40 for private letters from their GP to prove they can't make the journey. People who are on benefits due to ill health, cannot afford to pay for private letters. There is a risk that people who are entitled to PIP or ESA will lose out, causing hardship and suffering.

Is important to give something back to the people of St Helens and surrounding areas, this show was something to look forward to each year and now its gone and we have nothing

SSE is a privatised utility building Scotland's flagship renewable energy project. They are in receipt of £2.6bn of taxpayers' money. The ITF union and RMT union have discovered that HM Government has relaxed the rules for migrant workers in order to allow SSE to import workers from Indonesia and Russia and pay them less than the minimum wage, let alone the going rate for British offshore workers and seafarers. Furthermore, this is happening in a region that has already been hit by the downturn in North Sea oil production. Thousands of offshore workers and seafarers have been laid off in the last couple of years so there are local men and women eminently qualified to take up these roles. That opportunity has been denied to them because the UK government is collaborating in importing non-EU workers to undercut local workers and the UK minimum wage. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/21/migrants-building-beatrice-windfarm-paid-fraction-of-minimum-wage