The Friary site was gifted in 1920 by Richard Cooper MP for the ‘permanent use and benefit of the citizens of Lichfield’. It’s an important and historic public resource for the people of Lichfield and surrounding areas. It is not just a library building, but a fantastic community hub. The proposals to relocate to St Mary’s in the Market Square would see a drastic reduction in floor size, so the space for books, computers and various community groups will be greatly diminished. Library services are evolving and public funding is being slashed, but the County Council has a duty to ensure an open and democratic public consultation about the future of the site, before any decisions are made on the future of the building. The County has shown a lack of transparency on it's strategy for disposal and some details of the deal have only recently been disclosed. To achieve the disposal of the whole site requires the Library and Record Office to move out. The County Council is obviously motivated by the financial pressures they are under rather than the local community benefit the services and site provide. Once the site is sold, it will be lost to the people of Lichfield forever.

The health centre, which has been in place for over thirty years, is no longer fit for purpose. Structurally the building requires significant investments for the level of repairs required and the level of capacity it is no longer able to accommodate the increasing demands placed upon it. In an area which has higher than both the Fife and Scottish levels of multiple health problems we need a Health Centre which is able to support the increasing population and provide support for the varying degrees of mental and physical support that the people of Lochgelly deserve.

St Luke's Church, built 1861, is arguably Wolverhampton's finest building. Described by Pevsner in The Buildings of England as 'furiously unruly' and also the birthplace of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, the distinctive and unusually colourful, poly-chromatic, Gothic Revival architecture marks it out as being of national architectural importance. The Church closed in 2014 following a Church of England consultation and is now at risk of demolition http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2015/09/18/endangered-architecture-the-fight-to-save-victorian-treasures/

The Kings Arms has been on its current site in the centre of Kingsbridge since 1775 and has offered hospitality to locals and visitors since that time. It is currently closed and is in a dilapidated state - spoiling our main street which otherwise enjoys virtually fully occupancy with independent traders and giving a terrible impression to visitors new to the town. We want to open a dialogue with the owners to see about reinvigorating the building and to let it, once again, be the heart of our community.

The beach was for many years, a very popular area for tourists and locals alike. In recent years, the groynes, believed to help retain the sand have fallen into disrepair. This has allowed the sand to migrate from the north side of the beach, leaving only rocks and exposed sewage pipework in its place. We desperately need the groyne repaired, the beach cleaned up, and a comprehensive study undertaken to ascertain the best way to manage the beach in future. The beach is the heart of our town. Right now it's broken.

All children and old age pensioners should be entitled to a hot meal provided for them by outside caterering companies with no VAT. These types of meals should remain affordable to ensure all children and elderly are not deprived of a healthy hot nutritious meal. The Vat rate currently stands at 20% on such services in comparison to children's clothing and childcare which stands at zero. Schools, nurseries, colleges, day centres etc have been forced to out source food supplies as they can not afford to keep this service in house. The laws involving EHO and new minimum wages alongside growing numbers of children and lack of space to educate them has all contributed to many schools out source where possible. If the food is cooked in house they are VAT exempt but as soon as a private firm is employed VAT is charged. THIS IS UNFAIR! We are putting pressure on schools to keep food in house and as a result they are only able to offer low grade food that does not meat the nutritional guidelines set by the government. By making such food zero rateable we are providing the opportunity for every child and elderly person to receive an affordable hot nutritious meal. Please support our campaign we believe that one meal a day is not too much to ask for.

Chancellor George Osborne is committed to cutting a further 100,000 Civil Service jobs by 2020 and shrinking the entire Government Estate by 75% before 2023. Government services that the public rely on are being decimated as a result of job cuts. Examples from the Passport Office, HMCTS, Land Registry, HMRC, DWP and elsewhere show that cuts in the Civil Service are having a negative impact on service users. Communities are being cut-off from local services. The Civil Service is near to breaking point, the digital technology replacing local services untested and unstable making the planned cuts unsustainable. In Stoke-on-Trent the HMRC have announced that Blackburn House tax office will close by or before 2020 with the loss of between 250-300 jobs to the local economy. Locally DWP has lost around a third of its workforce in the area since 2010 to the detriment of service delivery and the welfare of its remaining workforce. The impact of the loss of this significant number of jobs to the local economy and labour market cannot be underestimated. There is no clear evidence that growth in private sector jobs within the area will replace these jobs. We call on the Government to halt the cuts to Civil Service jobs in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire and invest in Central Government services within the region.

In March we have Mother`s Day, June we see Father`s Day, then there`s Grand Parent`s Day, Armed Forces Day, Merchant Navy Day and everything else`s day, but where`s CARER`S DAY ? Carers don`t get the recognition they deserve, so by making a National day specifically for carers will highlight the importance of their role in society !!

The area is needed for physical and mental wellbeing for all the nearby residents, living in high rise and low rise flats. It is our only garden space, used by children and families, dog walkers and wildlife such as foxes, hedgehogs and bats. It is where we see the seasons change and have a moment of peace. Now there is a bike park development happening without local people knowing anything about it. The trees have all been cut down and the grassy area is about to be covered in tarmac. The residents here have not asked for a bike park, nor want it. Consultation was kept to a finely calculated minimum, and an arrangement for just one person on the council to approve planning consent, sealed the deal. Most people had no idea the land was being sold off for £1 pa and no other ideas were discussed, despite surveys having taken place with the residents. The idea for a bike park only came from councillors, who are keen cycling enthusiasts, back in 2012. They then involved other cycling specialist interest groups to set up a charity, called Braidwood Bike Group aka Skelf,, and ‘supported’ them with planning agreements to give away our land for £1 per year. This means that the bike group, Skelf, now own the land and can build a bike park. Whether you support a bike park or not, there was supposed to be a full consultation of local residents to discover ideas for our green space - promised as part of the planning permission presented to the council. The council refuse to do anything despite being presented with evidence of the flawed consultation and so we need your help - please - to make them take notice. Every single person who signs will make a difference. Results from surveys in the area asked for: · benches and picnic tables, · keeping the area as it is as a quiet space · some playpark activities for kids. (NOT a bike park) The trees have all gone already but stage 2 is to cover up the grass areas with tarmac bike paths - please stop this from happening without proper consultation.

At yesterday's Penge Forum meeting which was very well attended, standing room only, residents, trustees and councillor’s agreed to set up an action group led by Cllr Kevin Brooks, to work with and support the Trustees to devise a plan to make the services provided at Melvin Hall financially sustainable. Trustees had given notice of closure to LBB but the portfolio holder for care appeared to have listened to the residents demand to save this vital service in Penge, and he suggested there was a possibility of further rent relief payments and an opportunity of hiring out the halls when not required by Age Concern. This is just a very brief update on our last blog on the possible closure of Melvin Hall. This facility has not yet been saved, there is still a long way to go so work needs to start now to engage with the Trustees and LBB and take this fight forward. Ever since opening at the end of the second world war the Melvin Hall Day Centre’s main aim has been to increase the happiness of the older people of Penge.

With Five Quarters nolonger in operation there is only Cluff Natural Resources with licences who want use the North East as a testbed for undersea coal gasification (UCG), an experimental method of squeezing out the remaining drops of coal. They have received licences to test down the NE coast from Seaham to Hartlepool In Australia linc energy UCG wells were found to leak the same substances to groundwater as can be released by fracking resulting in a 320km zone be made around the plant. There are dangers of blowbacks and explosions. Many test have failed. It has never been used on a commercial basis. The gas produced is syngas or coal gas. It is a mixture of methane (natural gas), carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. They plan to pump it back into the hole they have made using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This is another process that has not been fully tested. Surely it would be better to use renewables and not produce the CO2 in the first place? There is of course the carrot of job creation. Any jobs created by UCG/fracking will be highly specialised. However, if the same amounts of money were to be invested in renewable energies and/or home and public building insulation, which the public have been shown to prefer as the majority of surveys have shown. There would be far more new jobs and far fewer environmental concern's. For more information see Frackfreehartlepool.co.uk

At the moment pensioners are expected to live on Approximately £100 less per week than someone on the minimum wage working a 37 hour week. How is this fair a retired person should be able to heat their home eat well and enjoy their retirement. There is no justification or logic to setting the pension rate so low. Pensioners need the same amount of money as anyone else to live on their costs are greater not less.