Successful Campaigns

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority have agreed to proceed with investigating the options available to them in the sale of FirstBus. They made reference to the petition in their decision meeting and accepted the initial petition signatures. Future decisions will be required by the Combined Authority on this so further public action may be needed once the options open to them become clearer.

15/11/21 Seven years ago, The Bull’s Head at Craswall, one of Herefordshire’s best-loved pubs, closed its doors, seemingly for ever. Three and a half years ago, two hundred people protested outside the pub and 1300 signed a petition calling for its reinstatement. On Thursday November 25, we are delighted to tell you, that the Bull – refurbished but far from ruined – will finally reopen under the control of Jake and Aimi Townley. You will find the stone-walled bar hardly changed at all. For some of us it’s been a long, long trail and we hope it’s going to be a fantastic outcome. Jake is an acclaimed chef who specialises in simple, local and high-quality food, and you can expect a warm welcome. But the Townleys promise it will always be a pub as well as a restaurant. To find out more, please go to https://www.wildbynaturellp.com/the-bulls-head-inn And hope to see you there. Thanks to everyone for their support. You really did make a difference. Very best, Matthew and Jim

We stopped local planning permission.

Many of you will have seen the fantastic news that plans to build an incinerator at Barton Stacey have been scrapped. The MPs, campaign leaders, councillors, residents and others who have contested the plans, or have agitated and informed all deserve huge credit. As North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse - who campaigned against the plant alongside Caroline Nokes MP - said, “This is great news and a tribute to the community’s campaign against this project”. Thank you, too, for signing this petition that played a small part in illustrating our collective opposition.

We Won! 05/03/19 A big thank you to everyone who signed our petition. Sandwell Autism Group are thrilled to report that Sandwell Council have now funded specialist autism family support for another year. The support is across the whole of Sandwell to any parent/carer who needs it. A grant was given to Autism West Midlands to provide the service and they have been asked to consult with parent/carers to make sure the offer of support meets the needs of the parent/carers. We are now looking towards how our voice can become part of the planning at a strategic level so we don't have this issue every year. Again, thanks to everyone who took time to sign and share the petition. Best wishes Rebecca Harris

10/04/19 We did it! Newcastle Council has declared a Climate Emergency, promising to make our city carbon neutral by 2030!! Thanks to your support for this campaign, climate change is back on our Council's agenda. But of course, the devil’s in the detail… Here’s the full story: We presented the almost 3,000-signature petition to Newcastle City Council’s meeting on Wednesday Evening. I asked Taymar Pitman from Newcastle Green Party to speak in support of the petition inside the Council’s chamber, since she’s been instrumental in helping me to understand Council procedures and has regularly joined me out on the street in freezing weather to gather signatures - along with many other Greens and supporters of the climate pressure group Extinction Rebellion, among fabulous others. Taymar explained to the council why each of the petition’s four points was critical to tackling the climate emergency. A crowd rallied outside the Civic Centre to push our Council to take climate action. We were also joined by supporters of Save Newcastle Wildlife’s campaign opposing a new open cast coal mine at Dewley Hill near Throckley, on the edge of Newcastle. Despite the Council delaying the debate about the climate emergency into ‘extra time’, we got a pledge from them to make Newcastle carbon neutral by 2030! However, the Council ignored the petition’s call to set specific targets for sectors such as housing and transport, and refused to commit to the annual progress reporting we’d asked for. Their ‘carbon neutral’ pledge (not ‘climate neutral’ as we’d asked) also ignores other climate-warming emissions such as methane and nitrous oxides. I’m glad the Council expressed a desire to divest their pension fund from fossil fuels, although again with no firm commitment. I very much hope that myself and other supporters of this petition will be invited to take part in the Council’s proposed new ‘Climate Change Convention’, bringing together businesses, residents, academics and the public sector to create a city-wide plan for action! The lack of commitment to a timeline worries me though, given that the Council have previously failed to meet the ambitions set out in their past climate change plans. Nonetheless, Newcastle Council’s recognition of the climate emergency opens up a window of opportunity to keep pressing them to take rapid, ambitious action to tackle the looming threat of climate breakdown… To continue to build momentum, I’ll be again joining the #YouthStrike4Climate’s #FridaysForFuture rally this Friday outside Newcastle Civic Centre (12 April 11am-2pm), as well as working alongside Newcastle Green Party, and Extinction Rebellion [I’ll be talking about their campaign at Jesmond Library on 25 April 6pm during their North East action week], to keep the pressure on our Council to urgently agree it’s plan for climate action! Newcastle Green Party also ask me to invite supporters of this petition to contribute their ideas for continuing the push for urgent action at their meeting tomorrow (Thurs 11 April 7pm at Commercial Union House, 39 Pilgrim Street NE1 6QE) or for a celebratory drink afterwards at the Tyneside Cinema Bar opposite (8.30pm). Friends, I thank all of you for signing, sharing and supporting this successful call on Newcastle Council to declare a Climate Emergency – together we have put climate change firmly back on our leaders’ agenda in Newcastle. I hope you will join me in continuing to push for urgent climate action, and thank you again for your support, Clare Petition link: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/declare-a-climate-emergency

04/11/18 Great news The Totnes Sunday Good Food Market has been saved. South Hams District Council has reached an agreement with Ray Reynolds, the market operator. The award winning market will continue to be operated under the stewardship of Ray and will hopefully go from strength to strength. Thanks for signing the petition and this played a part in getting the council to talk to Ray to bring about an agreement. Regards John Birch

Thanks to your support the St. Andrews GP out of hours service has been saved. Last Friday the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership Board agreed to the remodelled service for North East Fife. It will mean that no-one, except a small number of people, will have to travel to Kirkcaldy to receive help with a primary care emergency. There is still work to be done to ensure smooth implementation which will probably take until Christmas but it is believed that the new flexible arrangement can last. It will involve slightly reducing the opening hours in the evening, using other health professionals, bringing together the minor injuries with the minor illness service and using the GP in the centre at night to do home visits too. The campaign was won thanks to you and the thousands of others who signed my petition, sent in a postcard, attended the packed public meetings and so much more. Also thank you to the coordinating group of community councils, the university, students, GPs and others who worked together to find a practical solution. I will continue to keep you informed of progress. You can find more regular updates at www.facebook.com/WillieRennieFife Willie Rennie Member of the Scottish Parliament North East Fife

15/05/18 - We won... mostly. The University is retaining the pension scheme for existing staff, but new staff from the start of next year will not be eligible to join. The petition was an important part of the campaign and certainly made a difference.

WE WON! 31/05/18 Scotrail have agreed service was below acceptable standard, carried out an independent review and stopped the practice of skipping stops as the first of 20 improvement steps