We the undersigned hereby call on all at Teignbridge District Council - district councillors; Simon Thornley, Ian Perry, and the other planning officers; Nicola Bulbeck, the chief executive officer; and Cllr Jeremy Christophers, the council leader - to put the safety of human lives in Dawlish first, before any further houses are built in the DA2 development. The three separate developers involved in Teignbridge District Council’s DA2 draft framework agreement, planning to build over 1000 new houses on adjoining land plots, are permitted to build and sell 50 houses each on their 3 separate developments, before Teignbridge considers it necessary to start to build the link road, from the Gatehouse Farm housing development, over the Shutterton Brook, through the Secmaton Farm housing development, and to the roundabout at Sainsburys to join the A379. Until then, Teignbridge District Council think it is acceptable to have all the construction traffic over residential roads such as Elm Grove Drive and Sandy Lane. With this logic, the people of Dawlish would be required to wait for 150 houses to be built, sold, and inhabited, before the new road is started. 150 houses will not appear overnight, so the people of Dawlish, especially: - residents on Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove Drive, and Sandy Lane; children attending the Gatehouse primary school, Dawlish Community College, Red Rock Youth Centre, and Dawlish United Youth Football and Mini Soccer FC; and people attending the leisure centre and playing fields - would have to endure many months of colossal amounts of heavily laden construction trucks, contractors’ vans, noise, extra traffic, and pot holes. These residential roads are not designed and built to endure months and years of heavy vehicles. Indeed they are already crumbling with numerous pot holes. We call on Teignbridge District Council to show the people of Dawlish the respect that is shown to Newton Abbot and Teignmouth, and to find the funds to build a service road for construction vehicles to use before any further building in the DA2 area developments. These funds will be repaid by the developers as they build the houses. If Teignbridge District Council can find in its reserves £13 million for a new shopping centre in Newton Abbot, and £2.5 million towards the Pavilions in Teignmouth, then the cost can surely be found to build a ‘base core’ service link road to be built before the construction of 150 new houses begins. Devon County Council has already agreed to funding the main bridge costs. The people of Dawlish should not have to wait for a fatality to happen on our streets before Teignbridge District Council realises that human lives are worth a whole lot more than 150 houses.

We question whether this award is in keeping with the "truth and integrity in public affairs" of the Quakers. We question whether the JRRT should be paying legal fees. We ask for equity for the "Orkney 4"

ACORN the Community union is launching this petition to protect Bristols council homes. Council Housing is an essential community asset, that gives less fortunate people a secure home at an actually affordable price. The Mayor claims it will cost too much to refurbish these homes, but any cost would surely be recuperated within a few years of collecting rent on them; and this argument ignores the social cost of selling off another one of our cherished community assets. Earlier this week Labour's Mayoral candidate Marvin Rees did a public service by drawing attention to the planned mass auction of Council Homes by Bristol City Council and the Mayor this coming April the 20th and calling for its halt. Many Greens and progressively minded people from across the political spectrum support this call. Some of our councillor's have objected to the auction of homes when they are in their wards, but as in many things their objections mean nothing when the Mayor is committed to it. That's why we need people power to stop this now before its too late. Please sign and share this petition far and wide and put a stop to Bristol City Council's flogging of yet more of our collective assets. Full list of the homes up for sale available here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/440011226079038?view=permalink&id=977946188952203 [picture taken from Bristol 24/7 article http://www.bristol247.com/channel/news-comment/mayor-election-2016/news/calls-to-halt-council-housing-auction originally from Hollis Morgan of some of the homes going under the hammer.]

Are you afraid of being cut off from your grandchildren? If so, you’re not alone. Grandparent alienation is a problem affecting families across the country. Losing access to a grandchild can be devastating. There should be a law against parents who refuse to allow grandchildren and grandparents to have contact. It is extremely harmful to the child when they have had a good relationship with grandparents. I used to have my 2 grandchildren most weekends but since the breakup of the parents the mother will no longer allow us contact. The only people that suffer are the children in the long run. Stop the Alienation NOW

This campaign is important for multiple reasons, firstly it is unfair practice and a form of ageism to pay 18-20 year olds less than their 21+ year old counterparts for the same work, secondly young people are disadvantaged by low pay as it is working for lower wages means having to work longer hours for the same of money which can have a negative effect on commitments to education, family duties and a good work life balance and finally this campaign is important to highlight that young people are an equal and respect member of the work force.

The government wants to cut pharmacy funding by £170m - this means a quarter of pharmacies around the UK could close. The Pharmacy is much more helpful then 111. My local pharmacy is very helpful with my diabetes. They do a great job of helping the elderly and checking that you are taking the right drugs. The government put out that you should go see your pharmacy instead of your GP or A&E, and now they want to cut the funding.

The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) - an unaccountable and unelected body - has allocated a total of £16.6m of public money to SeaChange Sussex to build the North Bexhill Access Road (NBAR). The road would be 2.4km long, and would therefore cost £6.9m/km. By comparison, the 5.6km Bexhill Hastings Link Road (BHLR) is currently predicted to cost £124.3m, or £22.2m/km. So according to SeaChange Sussex, the NBAR will only cost 13% as much as the BHLR, even though it is 43% of the length. There is a very strong case to be made that SeaChange Sussex has deliberately underplayed the likely cost of the road in order to secure funding, and that more public money will be requested once construction starts. It would not appear possible for the NBAR to be built for £16.6m, and it would seem very likely that SeaChange Sussex will return to SELEP to ask for more money at a point where the project is seen to be too far on to be abandoned. There is precedent for this locally: over the past three years, East Sussex County Council has agreed four separate increases in funding for the Bexhill Hastings Link Road. Currently, with the greenway and landscaping still unfinished, the road cost is 44% above the original predicted cost. It would be utterly wrong to allocate yet more public money towards the polluting and destructive North Bexhill Access Road, especially at a time when public services for the most vulnerable are being cut to the bone. SELEP must refuse to grant any further funds to the NBAR.

To protect children, property and the environment from heavy vehicles used during the construction of thousands of new and infrastructure unsupported houses in and around the area. And to force the developers and council to provide a major new through road to support this development as was originally promised.

Charities are in a privileged position and contributors expect the cash they volunteer to go to the charitable cause, not inflate the pay packet of administrators. If you limit the maximum pay to that of a Member of Parliament-which is still three times the average pay of an employed worker, people would feel that more of their contributions were spent on the cause they support.

Poole Council is planning to charge for on-street parking along a huge swathe of coast and on roads that are far back from the beach. Pre-supposing that there is no limit on time allowed (which there might well be), it could cost £15 to spend a day at the beach. Beaches must be free and accessible because they always have been. They belong to us all. They need to be available for all, both rich and poor. Our children need the freedom to roam. This area depends on tourism and families who come here might well be put off by further charges on top of what they already pay for their hotels/camp sites and other expenses - do we really want to drive even more people away from English holidays? We are an island race, our coast is our heritage.

To see if the morality of the rules around expense claims matters more than the letter of the law. To show how he did this here is a helpful video from the bbc to explain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPqG7MjPwic

The continued exclusion of overseas pensioners from up-rating adjustments to their State Pensions means that the real terms incomes of those affected falls year-on-year. Over time this leads to hardship, poverty, loss of independence and loneliness. Some individuals have been forced to return to the UK, away from loved ones, just to get by. This policy also creates a barrier to pensioner emigration from the UK, as the prospect of a frozen pension means that many feel they simply couldn't afford to do so. Given the countries involved are largely in the Commonwealth, those in British Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities are disproportionately impacted. There is no dispute about the entitlement to receive a State Pension overseas. All British pensioners who have made the required NI contributions during their working life are eligible. The issue at stake is whether that pension is universally uprated or not. At the moment, the government's policy is inconsistent and unfair, with half British pensioners abroad getting up-rated and the other half excluded. This creates crazy anomalies i.e. uprating in the USA, frozen pensions in Canada. It is time for reform to give all pensioners the full state pension they deserve, wherever they live, and to end this injustice once and for all. A positive, and easily affordable, step forward would be for the Government to include all pensioners in the 2.7% State Pension up-rating to be granted this year, by withdrawing the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2016 currently before parliament. CASE STUDIES: Anne Puckridge Former college lecturer Anne Puckridge, now 91, lived and worked in the UK all her working life, paying mandatory NI contributions throughout this time. In 2002, aged 77 she finally retired and decided to move to Canada to be with her daughter and grandchildren who had moved to Calgary in the 1990s. Fourteen years on, Anne, who served as an intelligence officer in the Women’s Royal Navy in the Second World War, is struggling to live on the frozen £75.50 a week rate, she was entitled to when she moved abroad. Anne now feels that she will be forced to move back to Britain, because her pension will no longer cover day to day expenses and she is increasingly reliant on her daughter to get by. Anne says: “It’s the small things, and the injustice, that is really getting to me. I value my independence, but I can’t go on living on the breadline and I don’t want to inflict this on my family. As well as ever-increasingly poverty, I feel a sense of stress and shame, which is affecting my health.” Abhik Bonnerjee Abhik Bonnerjee, now 73, moved from India to Glasgow in 1960. He worked in the UK for 38 years, in shipbuilding, steel manufacture and the food industry. He owned an Indian restaurant for 6 years. Abhik returned to India in 1997 and reached the State Pension retirement age in 2008 when it was paid at £87.30 a week. Having made all the required NI contributions, if Abhik still in the UK today he would get £115.95, 28% more. The decline in his real terms income has left Abhik concerned about losing his home. He now feels he may have to move back to the UK. Abhik says: “The current situation makes me very, very angry. The government are scaremongering… [The Minister] says it will cost a lot of money but it is only a tiny percentage [of the pensions budget]. The government should be doing more, especially for Commonwealth countries and MPs can’t explain why they are not.” Rita Young Rita Young, 78, lives in Peterborough in the UK. She retired in 2002, aged 67, having enjoyed a long career in market research and as a community volunteer. Rita’s son moved to work in Australia some time ago and now has a family there. Since being widowed Rita has wanted to join her son and grandchildren in Australia, but has felt unable to do so due to the prospect of a frozen pension. As she gets older Rita finds daily life increasingly difficult, especially as she doesn’t have a family around who she can call on. She is deeply saddened that she is not able to be with her family during the later stages of her life, and feels that it is a complete injustice that had her son moved to a different country (e.g. France or the USA) she would be able join him with a full UK pension. Rita has spoken at the National Pensioners Convention about the issue and is very active in her community. Rita says: “I worked and contributed to my State Pension all my life. It doesn't seem fair that the government can just stop uprating it because I want to be with my family.” Geoff Amatt Geoff Amatt from Abergele in Wales reached 100 last year. Geoff contributed to the UK economy all his life and fought for his country during the Second World War. Geoff’s daughter Jean emigrated to Calgary, Canada more than 40 years ago, yet Geoff was unable to follow in the knowledge that his State Pension would be frozen at the rate of leaving the country. £29 per week at the time. As a result Geoff has been separated from his two grandchildren and two great grandchildren throughout his retirement. He has lived alone, largely dependent on the state for care, since his wife died seven years ago. Jean says: “Frozen pensions are unbelievably unfair. Canadians get their pension uprated in they live in the UK yet we don’t offer the same for those moving in the other direction. The government is keeping families apart and I worry about my father left all alone in Britain while we’re thousands of miles away.”