The changes to local goverment in Cumbria have see the elections to the new council of Westmorland and Furness take place with the 65 new council memebrs elected to represent the wards they have been elected in. However from the majority group that now controls the council the political group will select the leader of the council and the leader the cabinet memebrs. This petition calls for the new Westmorland and Furness Council to hold a public referendum on the question of should Westmorland and Furness change its structure to have a directly elected mayor as its leader that the voting public select rather than the leaded be selected behind closed doors by memebrs of the majority party on the council. A directly elected mayor would enable voters the choice of who leads the council and would represent the entire council area rather than a leader that is elected by a few 100 voters in a ward and then appointed by a political party/group as the council leader. Democracy need the voting public to have a direct say on who leads our new council and directly elected Mayor to leaded Westmorland and Furness is the only way to deliver this. Supoorting this petition as a registered voter in the Westmorland and Furness Council area will see a referendum held if enough sign the petition were the voting public get to say yes to a mayor. then an election would take place to elect a mayor directy to lead Westmorland and Furness council. For each local authority there is an Executive. Depending on the local arrangements, the Executive is organised in one of three ways: A Leader elected by the Council and a cabinet of Councillors; or A directly elected Mayor and a council manager appointed by the Council. What is a directly elected Mayor? A directly elected Mayor is elected by all the voters in the Council’s area to be the head of the Council’s decision making body. A directly elected Mayor should not be confused with a ceremonial Mayor. Why is a referendum necessary? The introduction of a directly elected Mayor is a significant constitutional change and so a referendum is held to give all voters in the area a chance to choose if they would want this to happen. In order to call a referendum for a directly elected Mayor, a petition must be compiled which is signed by 5% of the number of local government electors that are shown in the current Register of Electors. This 5% figure is called the ‘verification figure’ and is published annually as a formal notice. Please consider signing and sharing this petition calling for a public referendum on a directly elected mayor.

For many modern families, the digitally-connected world isn't a new one. For children especially, a digital-heavy reality is a reality they have always known. There are currently more than four times as many IoT devices as human beings on the planet, with a predicted 75 billion devices in use by 2025 (Statista). Over a third of children under the age of one have already used a smart device, and user rates only increase with age. The idea that there are IoT devices that introduce simplicity, are inclusive to all users, is fair and just, and protect users at all times, is a dream that has not yet come true. Tech companies often market IoT devices as the next big, revolutionary thing, promising to add convenience to routine, mundane tasks and enable families to live happier and healthier lifestyles. IoT devices marketed for the home range from tracking technologies to wireless-connected toys and appliances. Parents are often responsible for introducing these devices into the home, whether for play, entertainment, or education. However, parents rarely know what data is being collected, transferred and utilized. There are significant security and privacy concerns, especially with data collection, personal information and potential security breaches. However, parents often do not have references to educate themselves on these issues, leaving them to navigate a tangled, complicated, and often contradicting mess of privacy policies, terms of services, and product information guides. "When it comes to staying safe online, children and their parents have been left with all responsibility, but none of the control." - Dame Rachel de Souza - UK Children's Commissioner Awareness of the potential threat of IoT and digital technologies to society has grown exponentially over the past few years. However, awareness alone is not enough; a significant cultural shift in public opinion and changes in consumer behaviour is needed. We need to improve cybersecurity education to help parents understand more about the concerns brought upon by IoT technologies.

This petition is of great importance, as it will look deeply into certain problems which have derived from affordability issues within housing policy and gentrification surrounding the housing market. The petition focuses upon the issues gentrification brings to lower income communities and aims to form a new way of going about affordable housing policy. The revision of the 106 agreement as well as gentrification activism are at the heart of this petition in attempts to fight of issues with national policy and greedy developers!

We need an independent investigation to determine that the Tory Party are changing their procedures so that this can never happen again

Women are the predominant victims of coercive control, affecting 1.6million in 2019. These figures have greatly increased in 2022. Coercive control is often a hidden abuse, where there involves a lot of gaslighting, lies, behind the scene manipulating and sabotage. The damaging element is that it takes a long time to know what is going on, and also it affects every part of the victim's life and also it is hard to be believed. Often a victim is very isolated and having to suffer on their own. This has far reaching and permanent damage. Coercive control is a crime but it is hard for a victim to bring that perpetrator to court for the crime. Equally the courts are not arresting many perpetrators of coercive control. So again the victim is in a trap. If the perpetrator is not going to be arrested then surely they should have some punishment for their crime and that would be in the form of a fine or compensation to the victim.

In 2018, a CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) investigation found that many people in homes on a heat network are facing higher prices and have less protection over the service they receive. The government promised to bring in new regulation to oversee heat networks and ensure heat network customers get the same rights and protections other energy customers receive - but there's no sign of it yet. This legislation is needed urgently, especially with today's energy price crisis. Heat networks are a way of heating a block of flats or even a neighbourhood using a single central boiler, with pipes leading into each home to supply heating and hot water. There are 14,000 such networks in the UK, providing heating to about 450,000 people. However, currently there's no regulator overseeing heat networks, so customers don't have the rights and protections standard gas and electricity customers receive. Also, you can't compare and switch supplier if you're unhappy with the service or price. And with providers usually contracted to supply a site for 25 years or more, there's little incentive to offer a deal that's right for customers. As the cost of living crisis deepens, it's vital the government acts quickly and keeps to its promise to regulate heat networks and give customers the rights and protections they need!

When there are parked vehicles outside schools drivers do not have a clear view of children crossing. You often get children coming out and dashing across the road, like if there is an ice-cream van on the other side. By having red lines and stopping vehicles from parking directly outside you would be able to see children and people more clearly, making it safer.

This is important because children and teenagers are already struggling with anxiety due to the pandemic, personal issues and school. School should be a safe place, where they should feel comfortable to express themselves and generally be comfortable. It should not be a place they fear going are stress too much over.

Key workers are struggling to live near where they work, damaging communities. Communities are falling apart as properties are left vacant in winter months. People's mental health is heavily impacted as they struggle to manage financially

The Housing Crisis isn't something that's new, if anything its getting worse. We need your help to be able to pressure the people in power to provide for us and our needs.

Please support us by signing our petition

The crossing point just before the bridge between turf lane and edge lane in Royton is an accident waiting to happen. There are no indications for drivers that this is a crossing point and pedestrians cant see traffic coming due to parked cars. A pelican crossing is needed before a serious accident occurs. It would be so easy to prevent a serious accident from occurring if the local council installed a pelican crossing. After several near misses with my children I fear that something serious occurring is inevitable without change.