Both councils were making decisions on merger using the same process. A merger decision was to be made by both councils on 26th July 2016. At the last minute and only after Taunton Deane's meeting to discuss merger was called, West Somerset decided to pause until September 2016. Despite requests for a similar pause the leader of Taunton Deane has decided to go ahead regardless. After calling the Taunton Deane meeting the Leader of Taunton Deane has invited Sedgemoor District Council to be involved as well. Taunton Deane councillors are being asked to vote on a merger without knowing: 1. whether West Somerset are equally committed to merger; 2.why West Somerset are delaying and 3.without knowing if Sedgemoor District Council will be involved.

It is vital to make sure children from all backgrounds are inspired by to do science and that scientific education remains reflective of the scientific consensus and not what is in the interests of the sponsors. As big fans of science education, we are deeply saddened to hear that the popular Launch Pad gallery is to be relaunched not just with sponsorship from an oil company, but an entrance charge too. As research at King’s College and the Wellcome Trust emphasise, the British public are keen consumers of our amazing scientific culture, but also there are worrying divides in terms of which economic groups are most likely to engage. Price tags on science museum galleries will only exacerbate such social division. In addition to the entrance charge, it is totally inappropriate for this new gallery to be sponsored by an oil and gas company. It is a corruption of science to see our energies captured by fossil fuel companies and especially galling to see such sponsorship of a gallery aimed at children - it is their futures and qualties of life we risk ruining after all. We have particular concerns when it comes to the London Science Museum. As freedom of information requests by Art Not Oil have shown, previous sponsorship deals have shown the museum seriously pressurised by oil companies, compromising their scientific and cultural credibility.

There is no evidence to support that the building of further border defenses at Calais will help resolve the border situation, and will rather put refugees at further risk of injury and death. We need better political dialogue around the safe passage of refugees into Britain. As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it is Britain's responsibility to care for those affected by wars, poverty and conflict, particularly those that Britain has had a direct hand in creating or maintaining through defensive interventions and the arms trade. Britain's responsibility includes caring for the displaced citizens of those countries on our home soil. The Calais jungle and other migrant camps in the Calais area are a human rights sore on the conscience of the West. The first-step solution is to stop the building of a pointless wall on the UK border in Calais, the second step will be to remove the UK border from Calais and back into the UK. This will ensure a safe passage of refugees into their destination country. The border situation is not going to be solved by building a pointless wall. The camps exist in Calais because the UK has pushed its border controls into France, to try and stem migration into the UK. Since the defenses were built in 2014, net migration into the UK has increased, as have the residents of Calais and the documented border crossing attempts. This proves that these controls have little or no impact on migration into the UK. The UK demonstrates a rigid, racist border control policy by not allowing migration form outside the EU into the UK where people can seek asylum through legal means. This results in people being trapped on the border in Calais living in slum conditions, attempting dangerous crossings to try and reach family and asylum in the UK. Building walls and increasing border defenses has yet to be proven as an effective means of dealing with refugees and migration. Instead it puts pressure on neighbouring countries and fractures international relations with these countries. Stop the building of a pointless wall in Calais, and take our border back onto our own soil. #pointlesswall #Calais #stopthewall ----- Il n’y a aucune preuve soutenant que la construction de défenses frontalières supplémentaires va aider à résoudre la situation à la frontière, et cela va plutôt mettre les réfugiés dans une situation où ils courent plus de risques de blessures et de mort. Nous avons besoin d’un meilleur dialogue politique autour de possibilités de passage sûr des réfugiés vers la Grande-Bretagne. En tant qu’un des pays les plus riches du monde, il est de la responsabilité de la Grande-Bretagne de prendre soin des personnes affectées par la guerre, la pauvreté et les conflits, particulièrement ceux dans lesquels la Grande-Bretagne a une implication directe en les créant ou les maintenant par des interventions défensives ou par les ventes d’armes. La responsabilité de la Grande-Bretagne est notamment d’accueillir des citoyens déplacés sur son propre sol. Les campements existent à Calais parce que le Royaume-uni a déplacé ses contrôles frontaliers en France, pour essayer d’empêcher la migration vers le Royaume-uni. Depuis que des défenses ont été érigées en 2014, la migration nette vers le Royaume-uni a augmenté, comme le nombre de réfugiés présents à Calais et les tentatives documentés de franchissement de la frontière. Cela prouve que ces contrôles ont un impact limité ou pas d’impact sur la migration vers le Royaume-uni. Le Royaume-uni fait preuve d’une politique de contrôle des frontières rigide et raciste en n’autorisant pas l’immigration de l’extérieur de l’Union européenne de personnes qui peuvent demander légalement l’asile. Avec comme résultat des personnes bloquées à la frontière à Calais vivant dans des conditions misérables, essayant dangereusement de franchir la frontière pour rejoindre leur famille et tenter l’asile au Royaume-uni. Il faudrait maintenant prouver que construire des murs et accroître les défenses à la frontière sont un moyen effectif de traiter la question des réfugiés et de la migration. Cela met plutôt sous pression les pays voisins et brise les relations internationales avec ces pays. Arrêtez la construction d’un mur inutile à Calais, et reprenez votre frontière sur votre propre sol. #pointlesswall #Calais #stopthewall

We the undersigned object to the proposed closure of the Town Centre Bureau’s in Alfreton, Belper and Heanor. The Council operates 4 Town Centre Offices in Alfreton, Belper, Heanor and Ripley. The offices handle payments made over the counter bycash, cheque, credit card and debit card and enquiries relating to services provided by the Council. The offices are open 5 days per week (9am to 4.30pm) but the offices in Alfreton, Belper and Heanor close at lunchtime on a Wednesday. The Council issues Council Tax accounts with a total value of £60 million per annum, Business Rate accounts with a value of £30 million per annum and Sundry Debtors with a value of £3 million per annum giving a total of £93 million per annum. Of this total the Town Centre offices collect £4.4 million in cash payments which represents 4.7% of the total collectable. 94% of the cash paid is for Council Tax. In total £4,282,493 is paid in to these offices by 6,316 residents. This service is vital to both maximise the council Tax collected and also to allow those who do not have access to internet or bank accounts to make payments. The Town Centre Offices in Alfreton, Belper and Ripley also handle general enquiries from the public and scan in and send electronically documents used forHousing Benefit and Council Tax Support applications. Closing the offices risks a reduction in council tax collected and also withdraws a service that some of our most vulnerable residents rely on.

The loss of Warren Farm School Sports centre will deny many school children, local sports clubs and associations a place to play sports and keep fit. Many local schools have no sports field to play on. Warren Farm contains the best pitches in the borough with excellent drainage in the winter. Its 61 acres provides one of the few centres in London with enough space for multi-sport tournaments. Public land is being gifted or signed away to commercial operations all over the country at an alarming rate to the detriment of the tax paying public. This has to stop before we have no public open space left. Please start by Saving Warren Farm. You can help by donating to our legal challenge to quash the planning permission at; https://www.crowdjustice.org/case/save-warren-farm/

A redevelopment of Sandbrook Way in (Woodvale, Southport) has been promised again and again, only to have scheme after scheme flop. We still have a badly lit, down-at-heel, area around the shops, which attracts antisocial behaviour. One sticking point putting developers off is the fact that there are many interests and owners to relocate or agree to change. As a result the problem persists. It can be solved if the Council uses its powers and is willing, when there is deadlock, to compulsorily purchase property at the market rate. If they show they are willing to do this it will potentially encourage developers to take more interest. Those who are holding up development will have to sell. So far the Council has NOT been willing to use its muscle and as a result the area remains blighted. We do not run the council but we can put real pressure on by petitioning the Council to take action and use its compulsory' purchase powers. We need your help. Cllrs Lynne Thompson and Haydn Preece are also collecting hard copy signatures.

We want School Nurses to be recognised in their own right. All school Nurses are qualified Nurses but many are Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (Equivalent to Health Visitors|). Their care is gesared towards children from the time they start School. Their value is long recognised in the protection of children, child development, growth, promotion of emotional health and wellbeing in parents and children. We support those suffering domestic abuse, in poverty and with complex health needs in any way that protects children and enables them to thrive. School Nurses are able to make a difference to families. Following on from the great work provided by Health Visitors

HS2 is set to destroy some of the finest biodiversity in London and one of the finest outdoor assets, Denham Country Park. We stand to lose: • Beautiful nature on our doorstep; • Irreplaceable habitat (including Priority UK Biodiversity Habitat in wet woodlands); • Glow worm, water vole, otter, dragonfly and many more mammals, bird, fish, amphibian, reptile, invertebrate and plant species; • Natural flood mitigation protecting Uxbridge to Staines; • Natural water and air cleansing; • Outdoor pursuits; • Peace and quiet.

Health Visitors provide a service to every child and family. They are Specialist Community Public Health Nurses who care for all under fives from the antenatal period to school age. Their value is long recognised in the protection of children, child development, growth, promotion of emotional health and wellbeing in parents and children. We support those suffering domestic abuse, in poverty and with complex health needs in any way that protects children and enables them to thrive. health Visitors make a difference to families. The effectiveness of Health Visiting is well documented. U.K. Government recently trained and recruited 4200 extra SCPHN (Health Visitors) and yet without the funds in Councils many of these Health Visitors may be facing redundancy. Along with cuts to libraries, Children's Centres and Social Services budgets, the risks to our children are mounting. In Scotland the devolved Govt has increased the mandated contacts by Health Visitors to 11 in the first 5 years, recognising that the outcomes for children will be better. In England these contacts are only 5 with a real possibility in some areas this will not involve a Health Visitor contact. Health Visitors support every child, with the emphasis and knowledge that visible children and community support for parenting is the best way of Safeguarding our under 5s. Health Visiting is 120 years old, babies and yet children require support more than ever right now in these austere times. Please ask our Government to protect our Children by funding our service.

Update (28 August, 2016): Since I started this petition the NHS Trust where I live has decided, due to the huge increase in cost imposed by Univar, the manufacturer, that it can no longer supply me with Trientine Dihydrochloride, the drug that I rely on to control an otherwise fatal rare liver condition called Wilson's Disease. The situation for me and other Wilson's Disease patients has taken a turn for the worse so please sign the petition and please share it and encourage as many people as possible to do the same. Thank you so much! Jude ___________________________________________________________ The amazing NHS, funded by us through our taxes, buys drugs and provides them to us, our family members, our friends, our colleagues, to help us beat, alleviate and control all kinds of physical and mental health conditions. My case is just one example of how pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers unfairly hike the prices of vital lifesaving drugs in order to inflate profits and company share prices. It's not the only example out there and I'm sure it's not the worst. We need to stand up and let them know that unethical price hikes are not acceptable. I have a rare genetic liver condition called Wilson's Disease. To control this, I take a drug called Trientine Dihydrochloride, which is a product that's been unchanged since it was developed for the treatment of this potentially fatal condition in the 1960s. Trientine is owned by multinational corporation, Univar, and it's been a registered product in the UK since 1985. Trientine is a great drug! It's kept me alive and healthy for the past 30 years when other drugs haven't worked. The fantastic NHS provides Trientine to me free of charge (I just pay the tiny prescription fee). The hospital pharmacist that supplies me with Trientine told me that until recently it cost the NHS about ￡400 for 100 Trientine capsules (that's a lot, right!) and that was about 16 days' worth for me. Univar has, over several incremental rises, increased the cost by about 750% so it now costs the NHS nearly ￡3,400 for the same amount. That's ￡205 each day to keep me alive and healthy; ￡1,431 each week; ￡6,219 each month; ￡74,624 each year... I now face periods without this vital drug because the NHS pharmacy cannot provide enough due to their spending limits and the increased cost. I don't know what this means for my health exactly but it's not good - I know that much. I'm not the only person. Others with Wilson's Disease are facing the same uncertainty over their health and prospects for controlling this condition. This is the ugly, greedy, unethical face of the pharmaceutical industry. Companies often have a monopoly on the rights to a certain vitally important drug and abuse this status to make profit hand over fist and inflate their share prices with no care for good organisations like the NHS that they're ripping off, and no regard for the patients that ultimately suffer, fall ill and die by being priced out of the treatment that they need. It can cost a pharmaceutical company a lot of money to develop new drugs but we're talking here about products that are long established and unchanged. There's no justification for astronomical price hikes. We need to show that we care and demand better ethical standards and enforce fair pricing regulations with us the people and our NHS at the heart. Thanks.

Animals cannot speak for themselves and while we can't change people's hearts we at least need to restrain the heartless!!

Global warming is the biggest threat this country faces