Sitting on the southern edge of Colchester, the Middlewick Ranges is a former Ministry of Defence firing range that has become a much-loved wildlife space in an increasingly congested city. Locally known as ‘the Wick’, this 76ha mosaic of flowery acid grassland, sandy slopes, scrub, woodland and hedgerows is home to a rich diversity of animals. The Wick is a key breeding area for the second-best population of Red Listed Nightingale in the UK, and a home to nesting Skylarks and Vulnerable Barbastelle Bats, while small mammals and reptiles also find a refuge here. It supports almost 1,500 invertebrate species, including a quarter of all the UK’s spiders and a quarter of all the butterflies and moths found in Essex. This includes threatened species such as the Four-banded Weevil-wasp (Cerceris quadricincta) and the Endangered Necklace Ground Beetle (Carabus monilis). However, despite the Wick’s huge value for wildlife and people, the site has been earmarked for up to 1,000 houses in Colchester’s Local Plan, and the Ministry of Defence has put the site up for sale. This would be a disaster for its precious wildlife. This petition calls for Colchester City Council to recognise that Essex’s largest acid grassland is too special to be lost under concrete.  We urge the Council to take this vital opportunity to remove the Middlewick Ranges allocation as part of its Local Plan review and find an alternative site that is less harmful to nature. Please sign our petition to save the wonderful Wick! This petition is supported by Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, Colchester Natural History Society, CPRE Essex, Essex Field Club, Essex Wildlife Trust, Friends of Middlewick, Essex Birdwatching Society and RSPB. For more information, please visit the Buglife campaign webpage and the Save the Middlewick Ranges website. 

Elderly people deserve better of you.

What would Jesus do if he owned 108,000 acres (over 60,000 football pitches) of land? Would he farm the vast majority for profit, or would he use some of it to restore forests, wetlands and meadows to help save our vanishing wildlife?   This is the dilemma faced by the Church of England whose wealthy and secretive investment arm - the Church Commissioners - own this staggering amount of land. In total the estate is worth over £10bn! Forget the churchyards - they’re just the tip of the iceberg.  How are the Church Commissioners stewarding their land in England? • Only 4% of the Commissioners’ land is covered by trees (compared to the UK’s already poor 13% average). • Over half of the special habitats on their land are in an unsatisfactory state. • The Commissioners’ land includes 5000 acres of degraded peat in the Fens which is emitting tonnes of carbon every year instead of sequestering it. As one of the biggest landowners in England, with a moral duty to care for all of creation, this is a BIG problem! Dear Church Commissioners: the Church of England, which you serve, is playing an important role in protecting all of God’s creation from the climate and biodiversity crises through initiatives such as Eco Church. Yet most of the 108,000 acres of land under your control is still part of the nature loss and climate change problem, when it could be part of the solution. The UN has recommended that we need to rewild 30% of land globally by 2030 to avert the worst environmental collapse. If you met this target,  you would be able to restore nature to land over half the size of Dartmoor! It would send a huge and powerful signal to landowners and governments around the world and could inspire a wave of rewilding action. Committing to rewilding 30% of the land you own would be an act of good stewardship for both people and nature, actively working towards a future more liveable for all. Will you invest in nature and rewild your land?

We all have different disabilities and illnesses so the money we get are spent on different things to help us have a better quality of life. My domestic and gardener won't take voucher, I want to choose who I have in my home to help me with my disability, how do you feel about this. Please sign this petition to stop this from happening 

People from across Dartford are in shock with the senseless killing of a group of geese, who were viciously run down along Anchor Boulevard last Sunday. There is no excuse for such behaviour and it's been hard to come to terms with anyone choosing to harm innocent creatures in this way. Crossways Boulevard and the surrounding roads have long been dangerous for humans and wildlife alike! Whilst we acknowledge steps taken by local representatives, local authorities and the police to implement road safety measures such as Public Safety Protection Orders (PSPOs) and Dartford Council installing an ANPR camera in 2023, a speed camera being installed here would ultimately be the most effective deterrent.  We would also like to see more being done to protect wildlife! Currently there is just one wildlife warning sign by a roundabout. We are pushing for the installation of "wildlife crossing" signs at the locations where geese and other wild fowl most frequently cross over to and from the 3 lakes that are positioned in this busy location.  It's imperative that action is taken and that KCC do all they can to protect wildlife in this area, to create an environment where people and nature can co-exist more harmoniously. Dartford Animal Rescue are in contact with Kent Wildlife Police to try and bring the perpetrator to justice. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to change this appalling act of violence, with an individual choosing to behave in this cruel manner. What we can do now is to gather our strength as a community and to highlight the urgent need for road users in general to be sensitive to wildlife living along here.  Petition by: Green Party Councillor Laura Edie and Ciara O'hare, on behalf of Dartford Animal Rescue Team. 

Roseland Court Nursing Home is a thriving care home in Tregony. It has amazing reviews, runs at a profit, is always full, and has a great name in the community.  It's the only care home in the area. The freeholders want to close the home, and turn it into apartments.  Our residents and families, staff and friends are extremely distressed and have been given notice to leave.  Residents who live in the existing apartments are very worried, as they purchased the properties with the security of having the nursing home at hand if they required nursing care.  Nursing Homes are vital in Cornwall. We have an elderly population, people come to retire in Cornwall for the beautiful countryside and quiet pace of life.  Cornwall has lost 138 nursing beds in the last 3 years, which has caused significant bed blocking in our only main hospital. The community hospitals are stretched, and some have closed.  Nursing Homes need to be protected to help our vulnerable elderly and our NHS.  The Government needs to support Nursing Homes and prevent this from happening.

• Many people were disenfranchised by the sudden calling of the 2024 General Election.  • The 4th of July did not allow enough time for many postal votes to be processed correctly. This was unfair.  • Scottish voters had arranged holidays and were away on election day. •  I live in France and I was told by my local election services that there was no way they would be able to send me the voting papers in enough time for me to return my vote in time to be counted! •  Although fixed term parliaments have ceased, there must be a legally enforceable time for all voters to participate.

The Labour Government under Harold Wilson built over 500,000 homes a year most were council homes, since then the numbers have dropped ever year despite whichever government were in power under Margret Thatcher homes were sold off at pennies of the value but no new homes were built. Our new Labour Government has made bold statement about building Social and Affordable homes, It does seem like they really are going to tackle the biggest issue facing the country and Brighton & Hove as a Labour stronghold should be leading by example. It does have the second biggest homeless and housing crisis outside London and you are far more likely to be found dead and homeless in this city than any other city. Homeless is the biggest drain on the Tax Payers Purse so there is real financial reasons to get on and solve the crisis. We need people with lived experience to be involved in the solution as the past has proven "Homelessness" to be a big cash cow for many businesses, charities and projects. We need people who do not have a financial axe to grind involved, people who want Homelessness, couch surfing, overcrowding and rough sleeping ended.

England are in the Euro finals! Last night’s incredible win saw our men’s team edge closer to a historic victory. If they win on Sunday, well, there’ll be one hell of a party. Whether you care about football or not, moments like this bring us together and, coming straight after the election, could help rebuild bridges. But to mark the occasion properly, we need a bank holiday! PM Keir Starmer is a huge footie fan and backed calls for a bank holiday to honour the Lionesses’ World Cup win in 2022 - so it won’t take much to convince him. In fact when asked about it today he didn't rule it out! So if enough of us sign a petition, calling for him to commit to a bank holiday if we win, we can make sure we all get Monday off to celebrate.

The road in question is: Easternville Gardens, Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex. It runs parallel with the A12 Eastern Avenue, between Cranley Drive at the east side and Quebec Road towards the west side.  It's only a matter of time that an emergency would occur and if coincidentally, vehicles ARE parked (ie two vehicles on opposite sides of the road at the either end of this road, with all four wheels on the road - in accordance with LBR-Traffic Regulations) then only will it become apparent the problem this Traffic Regulation has caused. NOTE: Emergency vehicles would NOT be able to pass between vehicles parked in the manner 'legally acceptable' to LBR, as photographs taken to simulate this situation, will prove, if necessary. Having contacted the Ilford Police via an online pro-forma, with this concern, they responded by claiming 'this a matter for the Redbridge Council and not the police'.      Many drivers had previously and some currently, parked with two wheels on the footpath at the 'problematic ends' of the Easternville Gardens - especially at the end with Canley Drive - only to be issued with PCNs. Apparently, it would seem this 'absurd and ambiguous regulation' is essentially ONLY for financial gains from imposed fines and no concern for the 'latent' problems that will undoubtedly occur in an emergency situation.   

Cutting this ticket option would price families and friend  out of using buses together and comes after significant recent profit reports. It would force yet more into private cars or cut them off from social and other opportunities, hitting the poorest hardest. https://www.firstbus.co.uk/leeds/news-and-service-updates/service-updates/fare-changes-14th-july https://cbwmagazine.com/firstgroup-issues-trading-results/

Beaches are very beloved places n the UK especially during the summer. If the litter gets so bad it will stop litter and cause Southend to loose money and decrease the amount of tourists who visit.