• Amend the Infrastructure Bill to exclude forests and limit land sales to surplus land
    The Infrastructure Bill is a rag-bag of proposals that we were told would just tidy up a few loose ends. Instead, it makes major changes in a number of critical areas, not just in the sale of public land. This petition is about Clause 21, which in its current form enables the transfer of any public land through the Homes and Communities Agency to developers. No doubt other campaigns will oppose other parts of the bill, especially the section on fracking which has not yet been published. Members of the House of Lords have already talked about these problem ands proposed amendments that will improve the bill. You can find out more here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/infrastructure.html The Government has given assurances that the Public Forest Estate is not included in current land sale schemes, and that this will be made clear later. But I think that we need to see it spelt out in the primary legislation - the Infrastructure Bill - and if the Government is truely determined to manage our woodlands properly, it will accept these amendments. I live in the Forest of Dean, and we have particular concerns around the loss of public access when public land is sold. Our forest is not "ancient" - it's a working Forest, producing timber, fuel and food - but we need those rights to maintain our way of life and culture. Some Foresters have historic rights to mine coal or graze sheep in the Forest, and without access these rights will die. But even if you only visit woodlands for fun, the loss of access could affect your quality of life and your mental and physical health. Selling off forests would also threaten biodiversity in this country - for example, wild bees survive better in wooded areas, perhaps because of lower levels of pesticides. Forests also reduce the risk of flooding and drought, because they absorb heavy rain and release it slowly into their surroundings, and of course they absorb CO2 as well, both in the trees and in the soil. For all these reasons, it is really important that we retain our woodlands and plant new ones. In 2011, the threatened disposal of our public forests and woodlands was prevented when the Public Bodies Bill was amended, as part of a spectacular climb-down by the government. This was followed by a massive public consultation and the publication of the report from the Independent Panel on Forestry (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-panel-on-forestry-final-report), that should have resulted in legislation to protect our forests permanently – but that never happened. So once again we need to make sure a Bill is amended to protect our treasured public woodlands and public land. The Independent Panel on Forestry Final Report would allow the sale of genuinely "surplus" forestry land but proposes a reasonable set of safeguards that would protect our forests from excessive development. You can see the all the proposed amendments to the Infrastructure Bill here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/infrastructure/documents.html and looking at the "Amendment papers" section.
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  • Extradite Adriana Rivas for complicity in the torture and murder during the coup in Chile
    Mrs Rivas is a fugitive from Justice, charged with aggravated assault and torture that resulted in the death and disappearance of twelve people. In memory of the fallen victims and the many survivors of torture that are currently living in Australia, Great Britain and beyond, we ask that the Australian Government consider the pain and suffering inflicted upon the Chilean people during the dictatorship and the international community of Chilean exiles of which there are over 3,000 in Britain.
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    Created by Carole Concha Picture
  • Carers Allowance to be on a par with the National Minimum Wage
    The Government recently agreed to spend £12 billion a year in Foreign Aid, yet Carers in THIS country are paid less than £2 an hour for ensuring the care needs of sick or disabled persons, for a minimum of 35 hours a week. There are about 800K carers in the UK, £220 (minimum wage) x 52 weeks = £11,440 per annum x 800,000 = £9.152 billion a "saving" of almost £3 billion on the Foreign Aid programme.
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    Created by Peter George
  • Fair Funding for Buckinghamshire
    For a substantial amount of time now, Buckinghamshire has received less funding per capita than most of the country for our hospitals. This ‘cash-starving’ or 'squeeze' contributed to downgrades at Amersham and Wycombe hospitals and our Trust has recently been in 'special measures'. Since the downgrades at Wycombe hospital, many people have suffered and neighbouring hospitals have been overwhelmed. Staff, patients and their loved ones deserve better.
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  • Scots Against TTIP
    It is important because TTIP will rid us of some of our basic liberties and will oblige the UK Goverment to put businesses over people,stop the UK making laws that hinder companies profitability and will allow companies to bring in workers from any where in the world to save money on labour. TTIP should not,must not and will not make exploitation from corporations easier! With the help of you we can stop this! For more information on the issue search TAFTA,TTIP or go to the following link http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/trade-justice/more/inform/18078-what-is-ttip
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    Created by Lewis Akers
  • Proposed Taylor Wimpey Devlopment; Ref no MC/14/1391
    This outline proposal which include plans for up to 500 homes, public open space, outdoor sporting facilities and a contribution towards, or the delivery of, a new primary school, destroys grade one farmland,and will make an already oversubscribed and neglected services in the area even worse. .
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  • Save Jarrow Walk In Centre
    The Walk In Centre is easily accessible and an excellent service used by more than 27,000 people last year. Local people are very concerned at the prospect of losing this local facility and feel the District Hospital in South Shields as an alternative is out of the way. Waiting 2 weeks to see a GP is not an option for worried parents with poorly kids, the elderly, and vulnerable patients. The Walk In Centre is a prime example of Right Treatment, Right Time, Right Place.
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    Created by Julie Armstrong
  • Hampstead calls on Sainsburys not to open a Local in South End Green
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FqdVitbgh0 South End Green is a shopping parade in the lower part of Hampstead. It is a few yards from the Royal Free Hospital and makes up a small high street with a number of diverse and independent shops. Mark & Spencer food halls is one of very few chains on this high street and is a large store. Recently, the landlord of 4 shops on this high street gave notice to its tenants because it wants to sell the 4 shops to Sainsburys who plan to knock them together and to open a Local store there. The sale has not yet occurred, but both parties have expressed the public intention that the sale should take place. Local residents object fiercely to the arrival of Sainsbury’s for a number of reasons: 1. The arrival of Sainsburys will unbalance this shopping area because there is already the large M&S supermarket in situ. South End Green is too small to fit two supermarkets. 2. It will take away 4 shop units and will replace them with an identikit chain store which will move South End Green closer to a clone town which detracts from its unique character. 3. The arrival of Sainsburys would reduce the ability of South End Green to sustain its independent character and it will be on its way to losing its sense of place and the distinctive facades of its high street under the march of the glass, steel, and concrete blandness of a chain store built for the demands of an inflexible business model that provides the ideal degree of sterility to house this big, clone town retailer. 4. Traffic will increase as those living further away come into South End Green to shop at Sainsburys. The roads in this area are already small and under a lot of traffic pressure. It cannot cope with more traffic. 5. The lorry deliveries which will be needed to service this store will cause blockages to the road which is already narrow. 6. In order to alleviate such blockage, Sainsburys will have to apply for planning permission to cut into Hampstead Heath on the opposite side of the shops to park its lorries so that they are not a traffic hazard or cause of accidents. Many residents will oppose vehemently, any suggestion that the heath should be encroached on in this way. 7. The loss of these independent local shops mean that social contact will be reduced. It is widely recognised that small independent shops make up the heart of a thriving community. The importance of this cannot be underestimated for people who are less mobile, such as the elderly. 8. Sainsburys has a much more limited view of its community role than do independent shops. It is unlikely to take a proactive role in activities that are not seen to be profit-making in the long term. 9. Food miles will increase with potentially devastating impact on climate change with an inflation of CO2 emissions arising from more lorries arriving to bring supplies to Sainsburys in this area. 10. The arrival of Sainsburys will have an impact on other shops in the area too, not simply on South End Green, but also on Hampstead High Street. As people gravitate towards the price synergies which Sainsburys can offer, the flower stall and cafes on that parade may experience less trade and may eventually close. M&S will be affected too. 11. If other shops close on the parade as a result of the arrival of Sainsburys, maybe they will be re-populated but it will take time and the local community will suffer the scabs of closed shops for a while. Why are residents responding in this way? The government has empowered the local people to take more of an interest and to make their voices heard in relation to what is going on on their high street. It affects our lives and we have a right to have an opinion on what landlords plan to do with shops in our midst. Many local groups on South End Green have mobilised in light of this threat and as the Hampstead Shops Campaign Town Team (set up by the Department of Communities and Local Government), we have joined their struggle. They see the imminent sale to Sainsburys by Dorringtons as the catalyst for action to prevent further decay and decline which will impact on their community. We invite you to join them as comrades and to lend your voice to their struggle. We hope that in this new era of local power, Sainsburys will heed our views and leave South End Green to retain its independent character. If you agree with the text of this petition, please sign it and forward it to anyone else you think may be interested. I will be delivering this petition to the Chair of the Board of J Sainsbury plc in the week ending 11 July. If you can obtain as many signatures as you can by Tuesday 8 July, that would be helpful. Jessica Learmond-Criqui Chair Hampstead Shops Campaign Town Team
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  • Factory farming should be abolished!
    Whether we farm animals for food, use them for recreation, or keep them as pets, we need to make sure they are properly looked after. This requires more than simply protecting them from cruelty. We need to meet their needs for food, water and living space, protect them from disease, and create a healthy and stress-free living environment for them. When we slaughter animals for food, we need to ensure that, as far as possible, they have calm, painless deaths.
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  • Freedom for the Wild Beavers
    Please sign and share this petition to save the first beavers who somehow managed to arrive in the UK and set up home. An article in the Guardian said... The future looks gloomy for the first wild group of beavers to be spotted in England for around 500 years after the government revealed it intended to trap the dam-building critters. To the delight of animal lovers, video footage proved the existence of a family of beavers apparently thriving in the River Otter in Devon earlier this year. But the government announced on Monday that it was planning to capture the animals and find a new home for them in a zoo or wildlife park. In a written parliamentary answer, George Eustice, a minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: "We intend to recapture and rehome the wild beavers in Devon and are currently working out plans for the best way to do so. All decisions will be made with the welfare of the beavers in mind. There are no plans to cull beavers" Please sign and share this petition. We can make a difference with a simple signature.
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    Created by Vanessa Fowler
  • Northampton General Hospital Pathology staff locked out.
    Biomedical Scientists working in the Pathology Department at Northampton General Hospital have been involved in a bitter year long dispute over changes to their shift patterns and payments. This involved plans to sack and re-engage them resulting in payments for out-of-hours being slashed by 80% and a doubling of night time shifts. Consequently Unite members voted to take industrial action, short of strike, at 00:01 on Thursday 26th June. However, when the 78 Biomedical Scientists turned up for work at 9am they were barred from entering the workplace unless they were prepared to sign that they would not participate in industrial action. They have been 'locked out' since and Unite has accused the hospital Management of a disgraceful abuse of power in retaliation for the laboratory staff exercising their legal right to take industrial action. Currently the service is being provided by a handful of poorly trained locums and non-laboratory based managers with many tests being out sourced to other laboratories. The cost of this may reach up to £1 million a year and the staff believe the service is no longer safe. Unite is calling on the Trust to abandon it's bully-boy tactics and to sit down with ACAS to settle the dispute.
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    Created by Derek Millard
  • Marches Against Austerity Must Be shown on News
    Six thousand people complained to the BBC that it completely ignored the march against austerity in London on its National News. The excuse given on 'Points of View' - 'We choose which stories we cover based on how newsworthy they are and what else is happening...' The BBC is clearly showing its Tory bias by ignoring the march of 50,000 people. It's time for change at the top of the BBC.
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    Created by Annie Weatherly-Barton