Pete has been told by Wealden District Council that he must either remove or destroy everything in his garden within 28 days due to the Council seeing Pete’s aquatic nursery as a ‘commercial enterprise’(1) and their objection to Pete using recyclable materials to build wooden wildlife arches, bird and bug houses. Pete has been told the removal of all of the contents of his garden and restoring it to it’s originality would cost him £10,000! Pete’s aquatic nursery contains 180 native and rare plant species which he has grown himself throughout his life and are used for educational and research purposes and also to grow plants to be put back into other ponds to create biodiversity for the native fauna and flora(2). I have also been told that Great Crested Newts currently reside and/or have resided in some of the ponds in Pete's garden*; this is important because GCN's are a European protected species, where “The animals and their eggs, breeding sites and resting places are protected by law”(3) Pete’s daughter, Kerrie, has described Pete’s work of building ponds and creating natural habitats as his “full time job and passion”(4) and Pete himself has described it as his "complete life", "sanctuary" and “lifetime hobby"(5).It’s not a 'commercial enterprise' as WDC are demanding it is, a definition that seems to be the raging bull behind their decision. This direct quote from Pete is exactly why Wealden Council must be forced to retract their demands of Pete: "There are so many species of birds and insects in my garden, so many to list, but I have many varieties of amphibians, larvae, fish, pond snails, insects, sparrows, blue tits, Robins, who take benefit of the bug and bird houses I create using recycled goods, also bees, I make bee houses from old tin cans which are very popular in season oh and of course my fox who has been a resident in my garden for 2 years"(6). Wealden Council also want Pete to remove the aforementioned Fox, calling it 'vermin'(7), which is factually and legally incorrect, see quote below: “As for the fox, I understand someone mentioned they are ‘vermin’. I can state, categorically, that foxes are not and have never been officially categorised as ‘vermin’ in law. For that reason, local authorities have neither an obligation nor a legal responsibility to deal with foxes in the manner they have with rodents and specific species of insects and birds. Frankly, if you choose to allow a fox to reside on your own private premises, that is your choice"(8). As most of Britain’s ponds have disappeared, they are now classed as an endangered habitat and 50 years ago, there were twice as many ponds as there are today(9). If WDC's demands go through, this can and will only have a negative impact; resulting in the direct and indirect loss of important biodiversity, habitats and rare plant and wildlife species, only adding to our current biodiversity crisis. WDC must see that issues concerning the environment are hugely important to all of our lives and us. What Pete, his family and all the volunteers do for the community, planet and wildlife is of the purest intention of the heart and wouldn't be possible without his garden. * I am awaiting further confirmation and evidence on this due to the monumental importance of this point, along with the potentially huge change in trajectory if shown as fact. I want it to be officially stated as true or false as I do not wish to sway the case in my favour, waste people's time or garner signatures based on a claim that cannot be proven officially; will keep everyone posted ASAP. Thanks for all the support, shares, messages and words of advice so far. ‘YouTube video, Save Pete the Pond’s Garden!’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSmrhcTaOLQ 1)https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/environment/he's-in-tears-you tube-pond-enthusiast-from-Willingdon-told-to-clear-his-garden- 2)https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/environment/he's-in-tears-you tube-pond-enthusiast-from-Willingdon-told-to-clear-his-garden- 3) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/great-crested-newts-protection-surveys-and-licences#:~:text=Great%20crested%20newts%20are%20a,and%20the%20land%20around%20ponds). 4)https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/environment/he's-in-tears-you tube-pond-enthusiast-from-Willingdon-told-to-clear-his-garden- 5) Quote taken directly from Pete from a private message between me and him on Facebook 6) Quote taken directly from Pete from a private message between me and him on Facebook 7) https://www.facebook.com/petethepond/ 8) https://www.facebook.com/petethepond/ 9) https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/ponds/ponds-past-and-present

Marks & Spencer, an iconic UK retailer, has cultivated a reputation for itself as leader in quality and sustainability. Yet right now they are selling tens of thousands of tonnes of farmed salmon which scientists warn is causing environmental damage. To add insult to injury, they’re labelling this harmful product as “responsibly sourced”. M&S wants us to believe that farmed salmon is a “responsible” alternative to wild fish. In reality, salmon farms rely on catching vast quantities of wild fish to feed the caged animals. Recent investigations have found this to be driving over-fishing and endangering ecosystems as far away as South American and Africa. Closer to home, salmon farms are a huge source of pollution of Scotland’s beautiful coastline. And farmed salmon are infested with disease and sea-lice, which causes them huge suffering and spreads to wild fish in the surrounding area. Wild salmon numbers in Scotland are collapsing. Marks & Spencer describes itself as committed to a “sustainable future” and as a “leader in animal welfare”. But when it comes to their salmon, the reality is that it damages wild fish ecosystems and packs salmon into dirty, disease-infested cages. Treatments for parasites kill and hurt significant numbers of farmed salmon. These farms are not leaders in animal welfare. Let’s tell them to stop. Stop labelling unsustainable, factory farmed salmon as “responsibly sourced”. Be honest about the impacts that these products have so that your customers are empowered to make good choices.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act is essential to holding the government accountable. But it’s being undermined by a major loophole: it doesn’t apply to government contractors. Since the Act was passed, outsourcing has vastly expanded. Government now spends £292bn a year buying goods and services – more than a third of all public expenditure. Private companies like Serco, G4S and Capita receive millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, but because they’re not subject to FOI we can’t properly hold them to account. During the pandemic £10.5bn of government contracts were awarded without competitive tender and hundreds of millions was spent on “potentially unsuitable” PPE according to the National Audit Office, the spending watchdog. It also found that suppliers with political connections were 10 times more likely to receive government contracts. Access to contractor-held information depends on the public authority and contractor agreeing to it in the contract – a totally unacceptable situation that allows vital information to be withheld from the public. We think the FOI Act should be extended to cover all contractor-held information via an FOI request to the public authority. Major contractors should be required to answer requests directly. Support for bringing contractors under FOI has come from: - The Information Commissioner, who enforces the FOI Act. - The House of Commons Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee - The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee - The Committee on Standards in Public Life - The government appointed Independent Commission on Freedom of Information - The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, which brings together 18 of the UK’s leading anti-corruption organisations - The Open Government Network of civil society organisations Will you sign the petition urging Boris Johnson to extend FOI so we can hold companies with contracts paid for by the taxpayer to account?

Our mental health has a detrimental effect on all aspects of lives I believe Cornwall needs more support for the adults and children who need access to these services! I think a standard a 3 year waiting list for CAMHS is to long and having a very negative effect on young people if you do not access mental health services at the point needed it leads to self harm, depression, anxiety, anti social behaviour; drink/drugs and unfortunately suicide😓 coronavirus has only added to the very limited resources Cornwall is receiving . This cannot be accepted anymore Cornwall deserves more, everyone does. Mental health matters

Britain has drastically cut its aid to Yemen, which has been devastated by conflict for six years, saying the pandemic created "a difficult financial context for us all". The UK government said it would provide "at least" £87m ($120m) this year, down from £164m pledged last year. Aid officials have condemned the cut. The UN chief, António Guterres, said reducing aid was a "death sentence".

Police chiefs and government ministers are seeking new powers to clamp down protests that may cause disruption and, in particular, that involve direct action and civil disobedience. These changes are an unnecessary attack on the freedom to protest. Netpol's Charter for Freedom of Assembly Rights calls on the National Police Chiefs Council (the national body for Chief Constables) to accept greater transparency and accountability for the way protests are policed, based on international human rights standards. See https://netpol.org/2021/03/15/thousands-support-charter/ There have already been repeated attempts to convince senior officers to publish their own guidelines. Despite promises to do so, they have been reluctant to explain how police will protect, not restrict, the right to protest. With new restrictions planned, we are tired of waiting. Backed by a coalition of other organisations, the Charter for Freedom of Assembly Rights sets out what people taking part in protests can expect from the police. It calls for: * Proper protections – not more restrictions – for the right to protest. This includes an end to treating direct action and civil disobedience as an excuse to shut down protests completely. * An end to routine surveillance of protesters. This includes strict limitations on the use of police video recording, use of facial recognition, and surveillance of social media sites used by campaigners. * An end to the excessive use of force and the targeting of organisers for arrest, surveillance and punishment. Black-led protests in particular disproportionately face excessive and violent interventions by police. * An end to targeting the most vulnerable. The police have a particular duty to protect the rights of young people, vulnerable and disabled people wishing to exercise their rights to freedom of assembly Support the campaign by signing and sharing the petition. If you’re part of a group or organisation, you can also endorse the Charter. Contact info[at]netpol.org to add your name.

Not enough people actually know what LGBTQ is

This is important because Helen Mary Jones (HMJ) has openly and proudly made speeches using derogatory and abusive terminology under the Equality Act 2010 towards trans people and trans communities as part of a repeated pattern of behaviour over years. HMJ has used her position in the Senedd to campaign for gender identity to be taken out of legal protections. We are concerned about what effect HMJ is having on Plaid Cymru, and the toxic impact she is having on LGBTQ communities across Wales. This has resulted in Youth Cymru ejecting young trans women from their meetings because of HMJ’s behaviour. Plaid Cymru is approaching activists and trans rights organisation asking to give donations and asking to buy funded training. We believe that this is an underhanded approach to damage control institutional transphobia and not address the root of the cause. Training is just the top of the iceberg. HMJ has been repeatedly enabled on a personal and institutional level directly by Plaid Cymru and Adam Price. We are worried that Plaid Cymru is choosing to actively turn back decades of good work by Plaid Cymru around equality issues to alienate would-be voters and members of Plaid Cymru. She has shown no remorse for any of this behaviour and we are worried about the environment that Plaid is creating for trans people and trans allies. Here is an article about HMJ's transphobia: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55259522 Here is HMJ speaking with trans exclusionary hate group A Woman's Place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2CjrBTC7w Here is the written testimony of a young trans woman of colour, Shash, who was ejected from a meeting because HMJ was there: https://itsshash.com/posts/llais-fanc-hustings-silenced-2021/ Here is another article about HMJ's transphobia: http://www.peoplefirstwales.org.uk/2018/04/trans-women-belong-in-womens-places.html ht

The existing cycle route runs along Stray Rein connecting through Rayleigh Road and Hamilton Avenue. All these roads are relatively traffic free and there are no safety concerns.This connects both to the cycle paths at the end of Hookstone estate and more importantly the railway station. The proposed cycle lane runs parallel with the existing route only a few hundred metres further east, but less well connected with both infrastructure and other facilities (like the gym, Harrogate college, climbing wall, restaurants and cafes). There appears to be no logical demand for creating a parallel but less well connected facility. Spending money on something of lower quality than what already exists would seem a waste of taxpayers money. The more worrying point is one of road safety. There is a reasonable flow of traffic along Oatlands Drive with obvious peaks at the start and finish of school times. The road is wide and has good visibility. The existing traffic will need to go somewhere. Whilst on paper it may be hoped that the traffic will use either Wetherby Road or Leeds Road a significant amount of traffic will create rat runs through the Saints or through Wheatlands Road, Stray Rein and other connecting roads. This will divert traffic into residential areas with poor visibility, parked cars and other safety issues. Moving the cycle traffic onto a road that has more traffic than on the current route increases the car/bike interaction even allowing for a dedicated cycle lane and one way system. There will still be both bike and car movements on and off Oatlands Drive. A simple solution to cars obstructing the existing Oatlands Drive cycle lanes would be to have double yellow lines.

From our perspective the provision of accessible public toilet facilities is a basic duty of local government to protect and preserve the human rights of Bristol’s residents and visitors. It is also a question of upholding the public dignity of those who need regular access to such facilities. It is also imperative that these facilities include Changing Places facilities for use for those with profound physical and learning disabilities. It is our hope that Bristol City Council will be able to make use of the £30 million fund the Government established to help local councils provide such facilities last year. http://www.changing-places.org/the_campaign/what_are_changing_places_toilets_.aspx https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53448846 https://www.theibsnetwork.org/about-us/

Our teachers are key to keeping the country going! School is the biggest childcare service I know. Who has been looking after the children of Doctors, nurses, gp's, emergency services, and other essential services during the pandemic? TEACHERS have! Now all children are returning to school our teachers are going to once again be put at significantly higher risk of catching covid -19. Whilst children do not generally develop life threatening illness from covid-19, they can still transmit the virus and teachers being in close proximity are going to be at more risk than ever! Especially the early years and primary school teachers. If large numbers of teachers get ill with covid who is there to look after the children of our key workers? If 1 or 2 teachers in a small school, (like my own children go to) are struck down with covid its not only the poor teacher that suffers and they families- our children do to! Teachers cannot be furloghed, they can not work from home, they have no choice but go to their place of work to care for our children! So please Boris do what's right and vaccinate our precious irreplaceable teachers ❤!

A current condition of our planning, is that once construction is complete, we must block up the passing place/entrance, and build a new drive, to the west, requiring the felling of 8 mature trees, to tie into our neighbours drive. The existing passing place/entrance provides an essential passing place for motor vehicles, horses, pedestrians and cyclists, who cannot pass each other on this narrow lane. The lane is a slow bend and you cannot see oncoming traffic once you have entered the lane between the passing place/entrance to Bridge Farm, and the crossroads of Stony Lane/Dog Lane/White Cross Road. Our entrance/passing place is about halfway along this 150m stretch of blind narrow lane. Without the passing place, vehicles have to reverse up to 75m, and ones reversing eastwards, have to reverse out of a poor visibility junction onto a national speed limit road. The lane is narrow and a pram cannot pass a car, without using a passing place. The lane is on the natural village walking loop, used by many people daily. The current proposal is that this passing place must be closed up and restored to its original lane configuration. The current approved plan is to build a new driveway to the west to tie into the existing at Bridge Farm. This route will require the felling of 8 mature trees. The trees are on our home's South West corner, and will provide shade in the summer, but let light through in the winter, modulating the thermal gain, reducing the energy required to cool and heat the house. Removing them will add to the climate emergency. We accept that about 8m of mature hedgerow was removed by our predecessors, however our proposal is to plant approximately 100m of native hedgerow on our other three boundaries, more then compensating for the environmental loss. So we believe that the passing place/entrance should remain both on highway safety grounds, but also on environmental grounds