Numerous times it has been requested by bother parents teachers that a crossing is put on Damson Lane and refused. 2 children in the past 6 months have been involved in accidents within a few feet of one another and many more have had near misses. The Land Rover traffic and the bus route of the 966 means that children and parents have to weave between cars to get accross and often don't have a clear view of the other side and further down due to the busses and delivery trucks and lorries passing during school hours. There are two infant and junior schools nearby as well as shopping facilities that are frequented nearby making it a high traffic area for both pedestrians and cars. It's only a matter of time before another child/adult is hurt there, a crossing would stop traffic for them to cross safely. There are moms crossing with more than 4 children and a school walking bus with more than 10 children to cross to Yew Tree School on Wherrets Well Lane. A crossing is definitely warranted for the safety of everyone and will allow for the children and parents to get across without having to dip between traffic to get to the other side.

The Eel Brook is an important part of community life in SW6. It was built in 1892 and has been serving pints to locals ever since. If this pub is important to you, please sign to let our council know. For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheEelBrook or follow on Twitter @SaveTheEelBrook UPDATE: the new owner of the Eel Brook has been in touch with the Save the Eel Brook Campaign and we have good news. The plans are to retain the ground floor as an eating and drinking venue, while the flats above will be redeveloped. Plans about the first theatre space are as yet undecided. The new owners are locals too, and not faceless developers, and are keen that the pub works for the people who use it. We have passed on the feedback about the pub we have received through this campaign and we will keep in touch with the new owners as they draw up more concrete plans. Thank you all for your support and for the love you have shown for this pub. Here's hoping we can work together with the new owners to make this place work for all of us. Watch this space for more info!

Volunteer doctors and nurses from MSF were working in one of the few functioning hospitals in Afghanistan. The hospital was targeted by American bombers in an act of complete bungling incompetence. 42 patients and staff were killed by the Americans in their attack. MSF believe that a war crime was committed. Those responsible need to be held accountable for their actions: not only the air crew, but their commanders as well.

‘The Home Office estimates that 14,273 women and girls in Bristol have been a victim of domestic abuse in the past year’ (Bristol Ideal: 2015). For the women who have to flee from domestic abuse there are some fantastic support networks in Bristol that supply ‘emergency’, ‘temporary’ accommodation in safe houses and women’s refuges. I myself was living within a safe house in Bristol with my one year old son when I started this petition. It took me almost a year to move out and that is relatively quick as many women I left behind have been there 2 years and counting. Currently women and families living in temporary housing that need help from social housing to move on are not given priority. This petition is to get Bristol City Council to change the banding criteria to put vulnerable women and children into the highest band, Band 1. Despite being officially classed as homeless and at risk, the current highest banding we can be put into is Band 2. Not all women even get up to Band 2! This petition has got us some great attention and coverage and the issue was out to Bristol City Council in March as a motion to change the banding. A vote was taken and we got a unanimous yes vote. We thought we had won and the change would be made. Unfortunately politics is never that simple. The then mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson, did not action the motion so it was not put through. As the local councillor and mayoral elections were coming up we knew we would not see a change happen till after May. So continuing to campaign we attended mayoral hustings, posed questions on radio programmes and used social media to reach out to all the mayoral candidates to give a response to this band change. All were extremely positive about making this change and promised to see it happen. Marvin Rees, the new mayor of Bristol, went as far as putting it into his campaign manifesto to become mayor. Now he is in power, and has been for over 100 days, we still have not seen the band change! So now we are calling on him to make good on his promise and help save many lives. With the startling, but sadly well known, statistic that on average 2 women per week are killed nationally as a result of domestic abuse, it’s time more action was taken to improve services. Bristol City Council needs to give priority banding to re house survivors of domestic abuse to literally save lives. According to Women’s Aid (online), ‘the most dangerous time for a woman is when she is trying to escape her abuser’. Having to wait months to get into emergency accommodation is not good enough. Having to wait years to get out of emergency accommodation is not good enough. Please sign this petition to make Marvin Rees stick to his promise and make this important change ! Thank You. Reference Links: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220036§ionTitle=Statistics http://www.bristolideal.org.uk/domestic-and-sexual-violence/

The Financial Conduct Authority recently dropped it's review into Banking Culture, reportedly under alleged Government pressure (or leaning) as reported by the BBC., however this is denied by the treasury. I ask that we pressure the government to reinstate the review. McDonnell said: “This will be a huge blow to customers and taxpayers who are all still paying the price for the failed culture in the banking sector that’s been widely attributed to be among the main causes of the crash and the scandals over Libor and price-fixing.” He said the FCA was making a “dangerous and costly mistake”. “The chancellor therefore cannot stay silent on this issue. It’s time he used his influence to keep this review going. Otherwise he’s letting down the rest of us who bailed the banks out and also allowing a signal to be sent to carry on regardless. Given the scale and severity of the failings in the financial sector and the criminal behaviour shown by some banks, the scrapping of the FCA’s review into banking culture sends the wrong message at the wrong time,”. Also The review was included in the FCA’s business plan for 2015, but was dropped after an initial assessment found it difficult to compare different cultures inside banks. The decision to abandon the review follows the resignation of the FCA chief executive, Martin Wheatley, after the chancellor forced him out in July. A permanent replacement has not been named to take over from Wheatley, who had flagged his tough stance towards the industry by warning he would shoot first and ask questions later.

For recreation, and access to the very few walking areas around here, for general quality of life; this is not a city!

Second Edit - and here we are again. Unfortunately this time, on Friday 20th September 2024 I have been informed another pupil from Outwood Academy Adwick has been knocked down. I am unsure of his condition but I'm told it has warranted the services of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Enough is enough.  It's high time Ros Jones and Doncaster Council listened to it's residents. This road would be a challenge for anyone to cross, let alone a child. Something needs doing. And it needs doing NOW.  Edit - we are now in February 2023, 7 years on from the original petition and yesterday (23/02/23) yet another Outwood Academy pupil was knocked down on the A638. Fortunately, this child seems to have escaped with cuts and bruises.  The reality of the situation is simple. There are more houses and businesses than in 2016 which will have increased pedestrian footfall crossing this road (new housing on the site of Brodsworth Colliery, Next, B&Q, Asda warehouses increasing capacity and workforce) and less people are using public transport post COVID and choose to drive to thier daily commute.  Some kind of crossing is desperately needed on this stretch of road. The council need to act now before one of these incidents proves fatal. I have changed the Chief Exec name on the petition. The rest remains the same.  Today (13.01.2016) and in November 2015, two children in two separate incidents have been knocked down on the busy A638 dual carriageway outside Outwood Academy Adwick in Woodlands, Doncaster. The situation could be remedied with a crossing, the cost of which would be far less than the potential disaster that is waiting to happen, the cost of a child seriously injured or worse. We call upon the Ros Jones, Damien Allen and council to ensure our children are able to walk safely to and from school without the risk of being run over.

The council are decommissioning a vital care and treatment service for people with mental health issues in Staffordshire called Quest . The council state they have carried out extensive consultation on this issue whilst also admitting no actual service users were consulted. This contravenes the responsibility of the council under the Care Act to involve and treat with respect service users. This is a vital service for its users, without which any service users would see a significant deterioration in their mental health. Without the Quest service many service users will see a significant decline in their mental health as it is vital for users personal, social and occupational well being. The council are decommissioning the service without consulting or communicating with service users which is wrong on a common sense level but also goes against the responsibility the council has to users under the Care Act. The way the matter has been handled by Staffordshire County Council is disappointing to say the least. Users have been informed that the service closes on March 31st but the council refuses to give any details about what care and support the users will become offered after the closure causing practical problems with planning and much distress. Users have known about the closure for 5 months and there is only just over 2 months left before Quest closes and so have been worrying about this matter for a long time with no information to use in planning for care and support when Quest closes. Additionally in the local newspaper Staffordshire Newsletter Alan White (the appropriate cabinet member from the council) says that the council have conducted an 'extensive' consultation on the matter, in a later interview with BBC radio Stoke Mr White then admits that he hasn't consulted service users on this issue but instead consulted service providers. This lack of communication and miscommunication from the council does not show any respect to service users and is causing much upset. Users need to be involved in this process and supported to get the care they need when Quest is decommissioned as soon as possible.

The threat to neighbourhoods and businesses suffering this plague of development show planning rules to be far too heavily weighted in favour of developers. Local residents and businesses, ambushed by ambitious plans, are now often locked out of any consultation process - their rights ignored. Local councils, who they count on to represent their interests are increasingly unwilling to fund legal appeals against their own refusals of planning consent - so give in. Now, not only are homes and businesses put at risk but the quality of life of entire neighbourhoods is vandalised. Innocent property owners should not have to mortgage their livelihoods to fight off the life-style expansions imposed by their neighbours and absent developers. This is wrong and needs to change nationally and locally. Legislation needs to be introduced to persuade or nudge a change in the current property abusing culture. The weight needs to shift in favour of those who need protection against the bullying financial demands of those who assume they can continue, and afford, to override and out-finance their innocent neighbours and local councils and, thereby, impose their encroachments on others. Somehow, a wholesale review of this clash needs to address and reform this injustice, where local authorities decide in favour of developments, regardless, because they are financially restricted, particularly through expensive appeals processes, in affording the costs incurred, to protect their constituents who innocently assume such local authorities might act in their civil interests – many are now disillusioned. As Air Studios fights for its survival, there are other fights against basement plans, including those of the owners of Admiral’s House to safeguard the heritage of Hampstead against plans by the owners of Grove Lodge and the residents of New End to stave off a 3 basement development by the owners of 29 New End. Countless others abound around the country. Something needs to be done against the tyranny of unsuitable basement developments.

It is imperative in a democracy that the electorate are informed by a news media that is unbiased and can effectively present news in a balanced way. It is concerning that staff at the BBC are appearing to manipulate the news and it is vital that this publicly funded institution is not using its position to abuse the public trust. The revelations in a recent blog by BBC producer Andrew Alexander, was very clear about how staff at the Corporation manipulated news to “make an impact.” This resulted in a member of the Shadow Front Bench Stephen Doughty, resigning live on air during the Wednesday 6th January 2016 edition of The Daily Politics. The blog went on to express how staff were delighted to have seen how this story was brought up by the Prime Minister in his exchange with the Leader of the Opposition. “As Andrew Neil handed from the studio to the Commons chamber we took a moment to watch the story ripple out across news outlets and social media. Within minutes we heard David Cameron refer to the resignation during his exchanges with Jeremy Corbyn. "During our regular debrief after coming off air at 1pm we agreed our job is always most enjoyable when a big story is breaking – but even more so when it’s breaking on the programme” There is considerable disquiet that the BBC is not fulfilling its public duty to report the news in a fair and balanced way. This has come to the fore since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the Leader of The Labour Party. This blog by Andrew Alexander will cause concern everyone who cares about the unbiased reporting of the news.

Many residents who do not have IT equipment or do not read the local papers will be disenfranchised. That is not democratic and is not proper consultation by Camden. There are other options available including requiring applicants to pay for the cost of sending these letters to neighbours. Please sign this petition if you agree and please provide your own comments to Camden on the reasons why you do not want them to remove paper notifications of planning applications. I will send the petition and comments to Camden before 16 January, 2016. There is an online survey (www.camden.gov.uk/sci) and comments can also be sent to [email protected] or residents can write to Camden at Development management, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, WC1H8ND.

If there is no independent organisation with sufficient resources and confidence to investigate and report on institutions doing work on behalf of the government and, eventually, of the people of this country, then we are one step closer to a totalitarian state. If no-one independent can say that something is wrong, then all we have is the mantra that 'the authorities can do no wrong'.