The best thing I can do to explain this is to get you to read the Guardian article. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/03/jodrell-bank-observatory-artists-writers-scientists-letter A world leading facility being shut down by a government department  with a budget of £10bn to save a mere £2.8m / year. It's a UNESCO world heritage site playing a key world-wide role in astronomy.  

Southall already suffers from high temperatures due to the loss of gardens and lack of larger green spaces when compared to the rest of the borough.  This lack of mature greenery also slows the overnight cooling as the heavily concreted environment holds onto heat and releases it more slowly.  The addition of the new data centres will multiply this problem, resulting in greater risk to the health and well-being of Southall residents and those who work in this community. I have lived in Southall, West London for over 30 years and watched front gardens and green spaces disappear under paved drives and concrete back gardens.  Mature trees lining our roads have been removed to make way for new builds.  As the summers get warmer, the heat trapped in the concrete and brickwork continue to keep temperatures high well into the night.  And yet despite this, Ealing Council has agreed to the construction of three new data centres, known for their heat pollution and high demand for water.  Many Southall residents live in high rise flats, with little means of cooling their homes during heatwaves. Adding the data centres to an already known heat trap is further risking the health and safety of Southall’s residents. Please tell Ealing Council to withdraw their permission for the new data centres.

The English National Travel Concession scheme provides passes that offer free bus travel for pensioners and disabled people.  But on weekdays, free travel only applies from 09:30 am for pensioners, and 09:00 am for disabled people.  (A few areas use local discretion to allow for an earlier start, but all seem to have some morning restiction). My rationale is that during very hot weather it's obviously better - and less risky for the elderly and the vulnerable - to get things done early, before the worst of the heat builds up.  But  pensioners (or disabled people)on a tight budget, relying on bus passes to get around, can't go to the shops till after 9:30 (or 09:00), and the heat is really building up by the time they get home and into the shade. High temperatures are dangerous, especially to people who are sick, disabled or elderly.  A recent Met Office report estimated that the heatwaves in May and June 2026 caused 2,700 more deaths than would have been expected without the heatwaves.    The report quotes Dr. Malcolm Mistry, Assistant Professor in Climate and Geo-spatial Modelling, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM): “We are still in the first half of summer in the UK and large parts of England and Wales have already experienced two record-breaking heatwaves, in May and June, triggering extreme heat-health alerts across England. With climate change driven by human activity making summer heatwaves more frequent and more intense, these spikes of extreme hot weather are rapidly evolving into a major health risk for people in the UK. “It is vital that action on adapting Britain’s homes, workplaces, and critical infrastructure to extreme heat outpaces these health risks, especially if we are to protect those most vulnerable to its impacts, such as older people, babies, and children.”   One quick and simple helpful adaptation to our transport infrastructure would be to lift the morning time restriction for bus passes when there is a health alert for excessive heat.  This would enable pensioners and disabled people to get to the shop and get home again in the early morning, before the worst of the heat builds up. So I’m asking the new government – with its well documented interest in buses – to change the rules to enable earlier bus travel for pensioners and disabled people in the heat.  If that would take time, as an interim measure, local councils and Mayors could do this for their own areas under discretionary powers.  There should be little or no extra cost – this would change the time at which pensioners travel, rather than add to the number of journeys made. And any cost would be trivial compared to the cost to the NHS of emergency treatment for heat-related problems.

Walton & Hersham FC has become one of Elmbridge's biggest community success stories. Since 2019, the club has grown beyond recognition, providing football and community activities for thousands of children, families and supporters across the borough and beyond. Yet despite this success, Places for People and Elmbridge Borough Council continue to prevent the club from making even basic improvements to The Hub. The club has been unable to install covered spectator areas, terracing, ‘proper’ floodlights for evening matches or a scoreboard. It also receives no income from bar sales at its own stadium. These ongoing restrictions are holding back a club that is bringing enormous value to the local community. For many local families, Walton & Hersham FC is more than just a football club. Our children play here, our friends volunteer here, and hundreds of local people attend matches every week. It has become a genuine community hub. The first team now competes in National League South, just two promotions away from the Football League, which is an incredible achievement for a community club. Yet instead of receiving support to match that ambition, it continues to face unnecessary barriers. Other councils actively support their local football clubs because they recognise the economic, social and community benefits they bring. Elmbridge should do the same. We are calling on Elmbridge Borough Council and Places for People to: 1. Approve reasonable stadium improvements, including spectator terracing, covered standing areas, floodlights and a scoreboard, subject to normal planning and safety requirements. 2. Agree a fair commercial arrangement that allows Walton & Hersham FC to benefit from matchday bar and hospitality income generated at The Hub.  3. Develop a joint long-term stadium strategy with the club, setting out how The Hub can continue to serve the community while supporting the club's future ambitions. 4. Treat Walton & Hersham FC as a strategic community asset, recognising the thousands of local people who benefit from its youth, women's, grassroots and senior football programmes. Walton & Hersham FC has demonstrated what can be achieved through ambition, volunteers and community spirit. It is now time for the organisations responsible for The Hub to match that ambition by working with the club, not against it, to secure a thriving future for football in Elmbridge.

The Government is going to end the funding for the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. Bernard Lovell built the original structure from spare metal pieces after the war and created a radio telescope to study cosmic rays. He found meteors. Next, they discovered radio waves from the Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light years away. Since then, the telescope has expanded and improved, becoming part of a connected network of telescopes around the country. It has recorded the transit of Sputnik, and the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.  Latterly, it has played a role in the study of black holes, quasars, pulsars, gravitational lenses and the origins of the Big Bang.  The science goes on. The Livell telescope is the third biggest telescope in the world, is Grade I listed, and a UNESCO world heritage site. We must appeal to the Government to continue funding for such an historical, and current scientific trailblazer.

The Jodrell Bank Observatory, which has housed the UK's largest telescope for nearly 70 years, has lost its funding and could now close.  The observatory and its network of telescopes have been pivotal to the country's study of distant galaxies and training future astronomers. Scientists have described the decision as "heartbreaking" and "scientifically misguided". All scientific observations at Jodrell are expected to cease on the 1 April 2028 unless alternative funding can be found. The funding body, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency, said it had to focus investment on projects that deliver "the greatest long-term impact". Prof Brian Cox, professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester - which hosts Jodrell Bank Observatory - described the cuts as "hasty and ill-considered".  "The damage to the UK's science base has already been substantial. I am astonished that UKRI are still ploughing ahead and not working with the Burnham government to find a solution," he said. In response, Jonathan Reynolds, who is the new Secretary of State in the expanded business department that now has responsibility for science, told BBC News that the UK's world class research was "absolutely central to creating a better future for the UK". "I am committed to working with UKRI to ensure the UK remains able not only to sustain its world-leading research capabilities, but also to invest in the next generation of scientific facilities and infrastructure that will underpin discovery, innovation and growth in the years ahead." The Jodrell Bank site was first established in 1945 and pioneered radio astronomy and the study of galaxies beyond our own.  It was also pivotal during the Cold War, when it was used to monitor Soviet missiles during the height of nuclear tensions between the USSR and Nato powers.  Its contribution to global scientific efforts earned it Unesco World Heritage status in 2019.  But the UKRI, which has an annual budget of just under £10bn, says it has had to cut the observatory's annual £2.8m budget because planned research costs for physics and the running of its labs had escalated. The announcement is part of broader cuts to astronomy, nuclear and particle physics research over the next four years which will also impact on other projects.  The UK will no longer participate in research at the James Clark Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, which scientists are using to image supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies.  UKRI has also cut funding for the UK's involvement in two instruments on the Extremely Large Telescope which is being built in Chile to search for signs of life on other Earth-like worlds.

The physical presence of a data centre impacts the infrastructure of its surrounding area: • Grid Overloading: Data centres consume unprecedented amounts of electricity. A single large facility can consume as much power as a small city, placing immense strain on local energy grids and increasing the risk of blackouts for residents.  • Water Scarcity: Many facilities rely on evaporative cooling systems to keep servers from melting. This consumes millions of litres of fresh water daily, which can deplete local reservoirs and water tables during droughts. • Chemical Pollution: Data centres rely on massive industrial diesel generators for backup power. Regular testing and prolonged emergency use release high volumes of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into the local air. 

Providing free bus travel would help ease the financial burden on families during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, making it more affordable for parents to take their children out during weekends and school holidays. Free bus travel would also encourage greater independence for young people, improve access to sports, libraries, and community activities, reduce social isolation, and promote the use of public transport from an early age. Investing in this initiative would support families, strengthen local communities, and ensure that children across Kent have the same opportunities and benefits as those living in London. I  regularly see parents trying to take their children out on the bus during the school holidays, only to be told they must pay a fare for them. Today, I witnessed a particularly upsetting situation. A mother and her son had been waiting at the bus stop, and after a delayed bus finally arrived, the driver informed her that she would have to pay for her son's journey. The mother quietly explained that she simply couldn't afford the extra cost. With no alternative, she had to get off the bus with her son. It was heartbreaking to see how disappointed and anxious the young boy became, knowing that their day out had been cut short before it had even begun. No family should have to experience this during the school holidays. At a time when many households are already struggling with the rising cost of living, free bus travel for school-aged children in Kent would help families access parks, libraries, community activities, and other essential services without worrying about transport costs. Our children deserve the opportunity to enjoy their summer break, regardless of their family's financial circumstances. It's time for something to be done.

This amazing monument belongs to us all - we should have opportunities to visit and experience it without charges. Stonehenge is English Heritage’s largest single income source.  The Estimated annual Stonehenge visitor revenue is £25–38 million. The visitor centre at Stonehenge cost £27 million. We call on English Heritage to create more free opportunities for people to visit Stonehenge and experience the wonderful stone circle without restrictions. At present a visit to view Stonehenge from behind a rope barrier costs upwards of £26. The only chances people get to properly experience this ancient and sacred site (without charge) is at the winter and summer solstices. These can be very crowded events. https://www.sarsen.org/2026/03/the-stones-are-losing-their-pull-whats.html?utm_source=copilot.com

AI data centres are using evaporative cooling to maintain their equipment, drawing on our limited clean water supply, running it through their systems and losing large quantities to evaporation. Larger data centres can use up to 5 million gallons of clean water per day – enough for a town of up to 50,000 people. This directly threatens the survival of people living near data centres and our climate.  While large swathes of the general public are under a hosepipe ban, AI datacentres are allowed to use and waste millions of gallons of clean drinking water a day, simply because they don't feel like investing in less wasteful systems. In a country that experiences annual droughts (in part due to water company incompetence but lets not even start on that) this is not acceptable.  They have chosen this method because it is cheapest and easiest for them, least impactful for the company's bottom line. But alternative methods exist that can reduce water consumption by up to 70%, it would just require effort and investment on the part of the company.  If AI companies want to use British land for their technology, they will need to invest in protecting the environment here.  AI is coming, we will only end up with more data centres. This water wastage will only increase while our supply stays the same. Who loses out? The British public. 

Our rivers can't take any more Big Chicken. Now is the time to act, not plan to make the problem worse. Across the UK, rivers are already paying the price for industrial chicken farming. Every year, over 1 BILLION chickens are reared in the UK producing 3.5 million tonnes of chicken manure. In many areas there is already more waste than the land can safely absorb. When fields become overloaded, rain washes pollution into rivers, fuelling toxic algal blooms, killing wildlife and devastating precious habitats. At the same time, much of the feed used to raise Britain's industrial chickens relies on imported soya linked to the destruction of some of the world's most important rainforests. Yet instead of fixing these problems, the Government is backing more industrial chicken production.  But where will all the extra chicken waste go? There is no credible plan. There isn't enough capacity to safely process the manure produced already let alone all the extra waste, and there isn't enough suitable land to spread it without increasing the risk of river pollution. We don't need a plan to produce more cheap chicken, we need a plan that supports farmers to produce good food without polluting our rivers.  Growing the poultry industry without a sustainable plan for managing its waste is reckless. We need a better approach. It's time to stop #BigChicken choking our rivers.

The Government should maintain adequate support through PIP, Universal Credit, LCWRA, Carer’s Allowance, Housing Benefit and other essential benefits; uprate payments in line with living costs; and publish full poverty, disability and equality impact assessments before making major changes. Deliberate benefit fraud should be tackled through targeted, evidence-led investigation and appropriate enforcement. Genuine claimants should not be punished through blanket cuts, repeated reassessments or unreasonable conditions because of the actions of a minority. Any reform must be developed with disabled people and benefit claimants, protect those who cannot work, and offer voluntary, properly funded employment support to people who are able and want to work. The objective should be reducing poverty and improving security—not simply reducing benefit expenditure. My name is Phoebe, and I rely on disability benefits because my conditions affect almost every part of my daily life. I have cerebral palsy, severe instability in my knee, autism, anxiety, depression and complex PTSD. These are not choices, and they cannot be removed by cutting my income or placing me under greater pressure. My knee can become extremely painful, unstable and locked in place without warning. On my worst days, I cannot reliably walk even 20 metres without having to stop. I may need to pause for up to ten minutes before I can move again. Even on better days, walking around 50 metres can leave me exhausted and in pain. Because of my cerebral palsy and knee problems, I can lose my balance, trip or fall. Standing for prolonged periods also causes significant pain and fatigue. My mental health and autism create further barriers. Unfamiliar journeys can cause overwhelming distress, panic and freezing. I can become withdrawn and unable to communicate properly with strangers. I need prompting and support with medication, preparing food, washing, managing money and completing other everyday activities. I would love to have the freedom and security that other people take for granted, but I cannot reliably sustain employment when I do not know whether my knee will lock, whether I will fall, or whether anxiety and PTSD will prevent me from leaving home or communicating. Being unable to work consistently does not mean that I lack ambition or value. It means that my body and mind impose limitations that determination alone cannot overcome. PIP and Universal Credit with LCWRA are not luxuries. They help me pay for essential living costs and maintain as much independence and dignity as possible. Without that support, I would not suddenly become less disabled or able to work. I would simply become poorer, more isolated and more dependent on other people and public services. I understand that deliberate benefit fraud must be investigated and dealt with firmly. But genuine claimants should not be punished because a minority abuse the system. Cutting benefits or making eligibility increasingly restrictive would force disabled people to choose between food, heating, transport, care and other necessities. Behind every benefits statistic is a real person who may already be fighting pain, exhaustion, fear and isolation. We should not have to live in constant anxiety that the support keeping us safe will be taken away. I am asking the Government to protect essential benefits, listen to disabled people and reform the system with compassion rather than forcing vulnerable people further into poverty.