The Government led Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP - formerly known as Success Regime) are 'selling' their scheme to the public by stating that separation of emergency and planned (elective) care alongside the centralisation of emergency care facilities, will relieve the burden on the three hospitals in this area, thus improving patient outcomes and relieve the current bed shortages, financial and recruitment crisis facing Southend, Basildon and Broomfield ( Mid Essex) hospitals. The bottom line is that this is a financially driven scheme and they need to slash the £400-500 million estimated financial deficit by 2020/21. The health of our local population is being sacrificed in the name of savings in an already highly underfunded NHS which is in crisis. If the Mid and South Essex STP plans are allowed to progress, annually over 5400 patients from the Southend Hospital catchment area alone will have their planned and emergency care re-located to either Basildon or Broomfield hospitals. There are a huge number of concerns that many of their preferred pathways for re-locating and centralising planned and emergency care specialities are detrimental to patient outcomes and will enforce a 'postcode lottery' for NHS services for our local, ever expanding population. The STP had to shelve their dangerous scheme in July 2017 for the A&E downgrades and blanket re-direction of 999 ambulances from Southend and Broomfield Hospital to a 'super A&E' at Basildon, following exposure that the 'on the floor clinicians' were NOT behind the plans and there was the mass public pressure, led by our campaigns. We acknowledge that there are certain conditions such as complex trauma and neurological issues which do indeed benefit patient outcome by transfer to specialist centres and those pathways are already in place. We stand by the opinions of the 'on the floor' clinicians working at our local hospital. We are all for any modernisation of health services IF there is a CLEAR, CLINICALLY EVIDENCE BASED CASE FOR CHANGE supported by adequately staffed community health services, early GP access and increased provision of social care beds and home support to assist discharging patients. There is however little independent clinical rationale for their proposals and the STP to date have not provided any detail about how they will transfer these vast numbers of acutely ill patients between the three hospitals, other than claim they will provide an 'in house transfer team' so they do not increase the pressure on the already understaffed and over-burdened East of England Ambulance Service. We say - by who? With what staff? At what cost to life? With emergency general surgery to name just one example, being moved from Southend to Broomfield - we feel it's a long and busy journey from Southend when you are in an ambulance desperately in need of an operation. If we are honest, we do not think the STP leads have ANY intention of such provision for a large, complex and expensive internal transfer service and the long term goal is to return to the downgrading of both Southend and Broomfield A&Es, redirecting most of the 999 emergencies to Basildon or Broomfield according to their medical or surgical pre-hospital diagnosis. Then there's the HUMAN factor - that many of our loved ones won't be in our LOCAL hospital at their time of crisis, where we can pop to see them (emotional well-being and support from family plays a huge role in patient improvement) or how do we get there 'in time' if we get 'the call' to come quickly. The Mid and South Essex STP are on a Government led timeframe to achieve massive financial savings and the whole STP proposals are built on mass improvement in primary care services (access to GPs, mental health practitioners, community nurses, physios, specialist children's practitioners etc) in the community via 'Locality HUBS' which allegedly will PREVENT many unnecessary hospital admissions. There is also a huge focus on 'self care' and the increased use of web-based apps for self-diagnosis and treatment. Currently and historically, there is a huge GP crisis in South Essex and a significant drop in the numbers of nursing and allied health professional applicants plus unfilled vacancies across the whole of the healthcare sector. Hubs may be located at increased distance from resident's homes than their current GP facility therefore causing issues of accessibility for many patient groups. Then there's the issue of actual investment in the creation of these 'locality hubs' and that these will take YEARS to actually significantly reduce the hospital admission rate in an area with an increasingly elderly population group and massively growing commercial and residential infrastructure. Despite all this, the Mid and South Essex STP still feel it is your best interests to completely re-structure acute hospital services and 'centralise' emergency care for acutely unwell medical and surgical patients in our town. We believe that they must not alter our acute hospital services if there is not the community care resources proven to be in place first. There has been no mention in the STP for provision of community social care beds for those patients discharged from hospital, yet still requiring further care or rehabilitation before they can safely go home. Investment in this would reduce the 'exit block' from our A&E, provide timely discharges back to the community and prevent cancelled operations, as there would once more be the availability of inpatient beds. These simple measures would alleviate much of the pressure on our local hospital without the need to re-locate essential and life-saving services. Our NHS is in crisis and we refuse to become collateral damage in the name of cuts. For further details of all of the concerns, please follow the SaveSouthendNHS page https://www.facebook.com/SaveSouthendNHS/ Twitter @NHSunited.

Apart from being an example of prime pasture land, the marshes contain a concentrated diverse range of protected British wildlife that is equalled nowhere else in the country. Many of the identified creatures that thrive there are protected by law. Braunton Marshes are a prime example of how traditional farming methods have sustained wildlife for over a century. Grazing Marsh is identified as a priority habitat within the Devon BAP (Biodiversity Action Plans). It is part of our history and heritage, and arguably a habitat of national importance. There are various buildings that are Grade 2 listed on the Marshes. Safe public access to the iconic Crow Point Beach (AONB and SSSI) will be eradicated. This situation has been allowed to escalate to a point where immediate action must now be taken or we lose it forever.

The BBC recently published a review of its religious programming however despite getting the views from a range of religious leaders, no Pagans were consulted. Thought for the Day (T4tD) goes out on Radio 4 and despite it being multi-faith it has no Pagan voices on it. According to the 2011 Census, Pagans make up 0.2% of all people in the UK expressing a religion (this will be understated given our natural reluctance to make ourselves know!). By comparison 0.6% identified as Buddhists but had 3% of T4tD broadcasts and 0.7% identified as Jewish with 5% of T4tD broadcasts. It is clear we are being discriminated against. Nature based religions have never had more relevance than now with climate change hurting the world and plastic soup killing our oceans. Human animals are failing to honour Nature despite us being part of her. Having voices in the media that have a different regard to the world of which we are part is more necessary now than ever.

A+M Hire is one of the "Big 3" prop houses in Europe and the UK. It supplies period props and dressing for major feature films and TV dramas like ‘Victoria’, ‘The Crown’, ‘Game of Thrones’, the ‘Harry Potter’ films, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘Murder of the Orient Express’ and many more. Due to the fact that HS2 require their premises as a construction site and due to circumstances beyond both A+M’s and HS2’s control A+M has to cease trading. As you may be aware there has been an upsurge in the film industry with companies like Netflix, Amazon and Sony making more and more productions in the UK, not only because of the tax breaks but also because of the facilities and skills we provide. Without A+M, who supply a huge amount of the props that are used in these films and dramas, the supply chain will be broken. Their stock is incalculably valuable, both in monetary terms and historically, irreplaceable and very often unique. It will endanger productions as inevitably the art department costs will soar as items, previously easily hired from A+M, will now have to be sourced from elsewhere, and almost certainly purchased, involving more upfront costs and considerably higher transport costs, both financially and ecologically, and of course, precious time. A+M’s collapse will also put all of their staff out of work, cause production costs to rise, and thus discourage companies to film in the UK and damage the film industry as a whole. This will obviously have a knock-on effect for all of the skilled crew that depend on the industry for their livelihood. We urge you to sign this petition, and hopefully prevent this shocking and debilitating loss to the industry.

We have been running the page since October 2017 raising money for Milestones School. Both of our children have special needs and attend the school. We opened the page to give back to the school who has done so much for us as a family and we are gutted to have been shut down. We had already raised £2,025 for the school which was going towards a much needed update of the sensory room for the early years department. We’d done everything by the book and we’ve got a license as well so we’re quite shocked the page was removed.

Very few people are intentionally homeless. Many people have mental health problems. We need to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Housing is the responsibility of the Council so they must work with other agencies so that people do not need to be homeless.

It is both necessary and vital to the well being and safe delivery of babies. It is extremely busy and well used facility with lovely caring staff. Women will now be forced to travel twice the distance to give birth. The only Hospital in Cardiff cant cope with demand and since closing a delivery ward in Royal Glamorgan women are being turned away due to no space. The skeleton staff left are overworked and having to cope without necessary resources. If this unit closes it puts the welfare of women and babies at risk, causes more stress, makes families travel further and puts remaining hospitals under more pressure.

Offering women Doppler scans to measure blood flow between the placenta and foetus, could cut the number of stillbirths each year by 50%. Another method of monitoring, which could cut the number by a further 22%, is the Growth Assisted Protocol (GAP). This works by giving each mother a customised growth chart to help ascertain the expected size that her baby should be throughout her pregnancy, so if the baby's growth falls then the mother is given extra, and potentially life saving, scans. Our Story Our daughter Sophie Louise Kirk was stillborn on 11th March 2016 after a period of reduced movement, it was the hardest day of our life, and she was just perfect. Since Sophie's death I set up a Facebook support group called 'Sophie's Angels' to help other grieving families, and a Facebook page called 'Our Angel Sophie' as a way of remembering our baby girl. Sophie would have likely been saved by either Doppler scans or GAP as she passed away from placental insufficiency, (possibly caused by a blood clotting disorder).

In July 2017, it was announced that the the state pension age in the UK will rise from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039, seven years earlier than previously planned. UK State Pension's are ranked the worst in the developed world. This is down to the earnings related element of a State Pension being removed, with the introduction of a new flat rate state pension. We are letting down the worker's of today, and the pensioners of now, if they cannot be provided with a decent retirement income at a fair realistic retirement age. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report that over 18.5% of people over age 75 have incomes below the poverty line. This is down to the state pension. Whilst it is a fact that the UK population is now living longer, I do believe that the income tax, and national insurance contributions, paid by an individual up to age 65 should be sufficient for them to retire at that age and live a peaceful retirement without worrying about basic living costs. It is down to the Government to stop wasting money on: * Trident Nuclear Missile System * High Speed Rail Link * Refusal to Recycle better * Benefit Fraud and Errors * Bad Gold Sale * Computer Blunders * Perk Credit Cards * Areas where cuts could be made but alas the Government won't cut back This is by no means an exhaustive list but gives an indication of the money being wasted that could be used to top up the UK State Pension Pot. Please I ask you the Government to consider this petition, and respond in due course. Thank you for reading.

The Act makes it illegal to sleep rough and/or beg. Whilst I do not wish anybody to have to sleep rough or beg, the people who are forced to do so should not be persecuted in any fashion, let alone from a legal stance. The Act was written at a time when wealth defined whether you were a criminal or not, thus segregating the poor from the rich, as a wealthy person would never find themselves in that position. The Vagrancy Act is out of date common law and needs to be vanquished so that Councillors cannot try and force Police to enforce such legislation when they are on a power trip, such as in the case of https://news.sky.com/story/outrage-as-council-leader-asks-police-to-clear-homeless-before-royal-wedding-11194599

We love living in Gateshead's best kept secret... Birtley! But the streets and pavements of our little town have now gone beyond what is an acceptable level for public health. There are increasing amounts of litter but more worryingly, dog waste. People with buggies are finding it impossible to steer away from unwanted 'deposits' and in the summer when children wear sandals it's nothing short of dangerous. When I asked the local council what could be done I was told cuts to local authority budgets meant a street cleaning service can no longer be provided in the Birtley area. We love living in Birtley - great schools, a bustling high street and amazing people, but the cleanliness of the streets is now unacceptable. As residents, many of us are vigilant and make sure any litter is picked up. But more needs to be done! Will you join me in signing and sharing this petition, as well as doing what we can when we see litter, to make Birtley better?

The only time this service ran successfully was while it was run by government after National Express handed it back after two years in 2009. In its five years as East Coast, the state-run firm returned a little more than £1bn in premiums, as well as several million in profits, to the Treasury. Detailed financial analysis from the Office of Rail Regulation shows it was one of two firms to make a net contribution to government coffers over the previous two years. Now, history is repeating itself. Grayling is terminating the contract with Stagecoach/Virgin and releasing them from the £2bn worth of payments they were due to make between 2020 and 2023. Guess who will pick up this tab. Not only that, but Stagecoach/Virgin will still be allowed to bid on future contracts. Unbelievable. I want Grayling to hold the franchisee to its obligations or bar them from future government bids. Other private companies in other sectors have backed out of their contractual obligations with impunity if their contract is not profitable within a couple of years, and it is becoming a norm. Public services should not succeed or fail at the whim of private firms' accountants. It is the government's responsibility to consistently fund those services on which the public depends for its health, security, education, transport and energy. If Grayling does not hold Stagecoach/Virgin responsible for its financial obligations or ban it from securing future contracts he should be sacked.