The services they provide is very important to the people of thurrock, and closing Orsett will put even more pressure on Basildon Hospital which is under immense pressure already not helped by the proposed closure of the A&E at Southend Hospital. With thousands of new homes planned for the borough, it would be better to save Orsett Hospital and expand some other services, to help cope with a rise in demand in the area.

Batley ITI Tennis Centre was purpose built for grass roots tennis and as an indoor tennis training centre, and is the only indoor Pay and Play Centre outside of Leeds suitable for players of all levels and abilities. The centre is only in decline because KAL have not appointed a suitable dedicated tennis manager at the centre who would develop grass roots tennis in the locale and surrounding areas and build the centre back to its former popularity with mini-tennis training and tournaments and adult classes and sessions for all. The centre is also the home ground of Batley ITI Tennis Club who have mens, womens and mixed teams playing competitively in the HADTL league and the Wakefield Tennis League, and these members also pay and regularly attend the Pay and Play Sessions. The Club was born out of the first users of the Tennis Centre when it opened as an Indoor Tennis Initiative over 25 years ago and the club members are dedicated pay and play attendees at the Centre on a regular weekly basis. We believe the Centre should remain a dedicated Tennis Centre and by carefully selecting a Tennis Business Development manager in co-operation with the LTA, the Centre can return to a thriving tennis centre of excellence once again. It would also pay for itself that way. The costs involved in attracting the right personnel to run the centre are far less than the costs involved in changing the use of the centre to be a multi-sport non-tennis environment. Let's keep Tennis a grass roots sport in Batley available for every child to be able to experience tennis. Please keep Batley ITI Tennis Centre open for Tennis for all, as that is what it was built for, and let's rebuild the centre attendance up to its potential again by working in close association with the LTA to bring in the right Tennis Development Manager.

ITS A FAMILY ORIENTATED PUB, THAT IS THE HUB OF THE SCOOTERING AND BIKING COMMUNITY.

The fox family currently live on a large derelict site, which has been vacant for years, consequently growing into a beautiful wildlife haven. The two adults made their den under a hedge and the wildflower meadow that has grown on the re-wildered garden has become the cub’s playground. Many local people have watched and admired this beautiful fox family from afar over the years. It has been a thrill to observe wildlife on our doorstep. There are now plans to completely destroy their well established home and build an 11 storey block of 36 flats with underground parking. Building is imminent. Overnight, this fox family of three (a bonded pair with their six month old cub) will lose their safe haven with nowhere to go. The “best” case scenario will be that the fox family will bolt and try to find a new territory, but this will not be easy as the few nearby gardens are most likely the territory of other urban foxes that will fiercely fight to protect their space. Also, not many humans welcome foxes into their garden and there have been cases of humans attempting to poison foxes. The worst case scenario is that some or all of these foxes could be hurt or killed by the demolition or could be classified as “vermin” and killed by “pest” controllers. Foxes are a native species and play and important part of our ecologic system. They do not harm us and it is humans who take more and more of their habitat away, actively persecuting them as if we had a right to own every inch of Planet Earth. Foxes have as much a right to live here as we do and as compassionate human beings it is our duty to protect them and all other wildlife. All they want is to be allowed to live their short lives in peace. They cannot speak up for themselves. Please be the voice for these beautiful, intelligent and sociable animals, so they will not be killed and are given time to find a new home. Thank you for speaking up for these beautiful animals.

Almost all of the City of York, and the many towns and villages around it, are licensed for fracking. We call on representatives at all levels to respect the wishes of local residents and stop the unconventional gas industry in this area.

On the 22nd of June 2017 the High Court found the governments benefit cap to be illegal. That's because we took them to court to say that as four women in single parent families the cap will have severe and disproportionate impact on us. The Judge agreed, ruling the cap illegal and saying “Most lone parents with children under two are not the sort of households the cap was intended to cover... Real misery is being caused to no good purpose." We were being pushed further and further into poverty due to the benefit cap, which was making our lives unmanageable and unaffordable. Two of us fled from domestic abuse, to find that we were financially penalised by the Government’s benefit cap for doing so. We’ve started this petition because, we know that we are not alone in this struggle. We have been shocked to learn through our involvement in this Court case that tens of thousands of children under two years old have been affected by the cap. Single parents have real difficulties finding work they can combine with caring for children single-handedly. As a result, they can’t easily escape the cap. We hope the public will support this petition and join us in calling on the Government to provide the financial security that one parent families affected by this cap need. This campaign is supported by: https://files.38degrees.org.uk/items/files/000/000/741/original/logos.gif

Wrong to be charged twice for the same service

Getting education in Afghanistan is hard enough. Being a girl and getting education is much harder. And these teenage girls are doing a robotics project! Trump's USA says 'no entry'. Let's bring them to the UK and encourage them, not knock them back like Trump has done.

Ben Ashworth is a hero and an inspiration. I was so sad to read that he passed away earlier today. Despite being diagnosed with ‘Terminal’ bowel cancer, Ben did not give up but fought it all the way – raising well over a quarter of a million pounds for cancer charities. Not through sympathy but through sheer bloody determination. In his last few years Ben ran over 24 marathons – he ran round the Guild Wheel in Preston twice in one day and for three years he organised ‘Cheeky Santa Dashes’ in Preston – persuading all and sundry to do a lap of the Avenham and Miller Parks wearing special shorts that had plastic backside cheeks protruding from the rear. All this to not only raise a fantastic amount of money, but also to raise awareness of this cruel disease. Read the blog - https://bensbowelmovements.com/

These meadows are a former landfill site that has gradually over the years been transformed and enhanced into a green space with a diverse number of uses, Trafford Councils Strategy for the site includes: • The provision of attractive, accessible links from surrounding residential areas; • The creation of a strategic route encouraging cycling and walking, linking urban and Countryside areas, that is highly accessible by a large number of Trafford residents; • The inclusion of measures to secure improvements to biodiversity, for instance by Enhancing the area adjacent to the existing wetland to encourage Reed Buntings, Improving meadow habitat for Skylarks and supplementing naturally regenerating oak trees; • Tree planting to create woodland to help tackle air pollution and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere All this could now be under threat if Land care develops proposals to industrialise our local greenspace, the local area includes high density housing and some depravation, and this green space is well used and valued by the local community. It is also home a diverse community of wildlife that would also be lost.

All over the UK there are eyesore properties. They stand festering for years, getting more and more dilapidated, depressing everyone who sees them, spoiling the look of the local area, attracting flyposting, flytipping and worse. Local councils have legal powers to do something about this, under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. And they do sometimes use this power when an an eyesore property is reported to them. They write a letter to the owner, giving them a deadline of usually a few months to get the necessary repairs done. But more often than not the deadline passes, the owner has ignored the letter and done nothing. The next step is for the council to take the owner to court, but how often does that happen? Time and time again, local residents like me who have reported an eyesore property are disappointed and frustrated, because the local council doesn't follow through. And when that local resident tries to get an update, the council ignores them. For example, the photo above shows a dilapidated corner shop with flats above it in south-east London which was reported to the council in June 2016. It was made an enforcement case, but no repairs have been done, and the council are not replying to emails asking for an update. The shop closed down in May 2017 - it's been suggested that the offputting appearance of the building had something to do with the business failing. Several people have commented that the building is beginning to look dangerous, and one person reports that pieces of masonry fall off onto the pavement when it rains. On 31 August 2017 the council rejected a Freedom of Information request, asking whether or not they are taking legal action against the owner. One interpretation of this would be that they are not taking legal action, but don't want to admit it. So please sign this petition – if it means a change in the law, then let's go for it. Because as council tax payers we have the right to see greater transparency in what our local councils are doing, or not doing, on our behalf. It will give those councils the motivation to keep up the pressure on owners to do essential repairs, because the information will be visible for all to see. Let's all get together to make eyesore properties a thing of the past, and help raise the standards of neighbourhoods all over the country. Thank you.

What about working to keep mental health services in Perth rather than centralising all services to Dundee? You can't expect someone with a mental health issue to get better treatment miles away from their loved ones!