Many people don’t know that North Lanarkshire Council do not regard Shotts as a Town. The Council prefer to divide our community into two neighbourhood centers of Stane and Dykehead. In 2013 Councillor Cochrane and Councillor Cefferty put a motion to North Lanarkshire council that Shotts be recognized as a Town. This was defeated, Shotts is still not regarded as a Town. Our community cannot apply for Town Centre regeneration as to quote North Lanarkshire Council, “Shotts is not a Town”

It's official: George Osborne has just announced Britain's biggest ever privatisation. He's going ahead and selling off RBS at a loss of £13bn -- a huge loss to the taxpayer. It's part of the rush to privatise Britain -- an ideological move to hand over power and profit to corporations. Just as he's pushing through £12bn of welfare cuts that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in society, Osborne is prepared to sell RBS off at a £13bn loss. £13bn is enough to plug the gap, protecting our public services and preventing austerity. We’re already paying for the banking crisis that we didn’t cause, and now Osborne wants to return RBS on the cheap to the people who caused the crisis in the first place. Just a few months ago, George Osborne was insisting we’d get our money -- the £45.2bn spent to save RBS from collapse -- back from any sale of the bank. Now, after the election, he thinks he can get away with selling it at a massive loss by rushing through the sale before we have time to stop him. Let’s prove Osborne wrong.

Many Students are going to be priced out of education if this grant is cut, many students will not be able to go, or be faced with enormous debt and will feel frightened of the huge lifetime loans. This grant is a lifeline for poorer students. There are students who have worked hard, they’ve got the grades and now they don’t know whether they’ll be able to go to university. Even if they worked part time whilst studying, it still would not be enough money to live on. Please sign and share so we can stop this madness and help our next generations of students become wonderful teachers, scientists, doctors, etc. Education is for people from all walks of life not just rich people. Being poor should not be a trap preventing a university education. We are one of the richest nations in the world, stopping student maintenance grants would be catastrophic for many generations to come, curbing our future development as a country by not investing in young people. This is the wrong place for the government to make savings. Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33444557

The government is considering reducing tax credits for millions of working families as part of its £12bn welfare cuts. Changes would cut entitlements for about 3.7 million low-income families by about £1,400 a year, the IFS said, and has calculated that for the poorest families it would mean a reduction of £845 per child per year. Mr Osborne's political allies are saying the move will increase 'incentives to work' and Senior Tory sources are trying to suggest that tax credits have allowed big companies to get away with paying employees lower wages. During the general election, Prime Minister David Cameron promised he would not be cutting many benefits - including the state pension, pensioner benefits, and child benefit. It appears this didn't include child tax credits! On a recent appearance on BBC Two's Newsnight, David Skelton, director of the Conservative pressure group Renewal, stated that he agreed the tax credit bill could be lowered. "you have a lot of employers who are basically getting subsidy from the state for low paid work and we'd like to see a shift towards those employers who can afford to pay the living wage to pay the living wage." Mr Skelton said. The conservatives believe that this move will encourage workers to work more hours if they can, or if they are working part time at the moment. And also get to see a higher minimum wage over time as well. What is apparent is that this will hit the poorest hard in the short term with no guarantees that the lost benefits will be made up. Vulnerable families will have to work longer hours to maintain their current levels of income or loose out. We propose that these cuts do not go ahead. Stephen Timms, Labour's acting work and pensions secretary, said plans to cut £12bn from social security would hit "working families and children hard". "It's clear that David Cameron and George Osborne's plan will make working families less secure," he said. These cuts are an idea that is among many being considered now as the Tories wrestle with how to deliver their pledge to cut £12bn from Britain's £220bn budget for benefits and tax credits. We need to act now to show how many of us would be disappointed in such a decision.

Contact your local MP and ask them to keep the Hunting Ban in place. Go to https://www.writetothem.com/ and ask them their views. If they are voting to repel the ban then you can send through letters to push the other point of view and we use the following as a guideline: We can only hope that the crisis in the NHS and our economy and the poverty situation are now under control in the UK in order for 'traditional countryside pastimes and elite hobbies' such as fox hunting to get any air time in parliament at all. Maybe this is coming straight from Mr. Cameron with orders for all Conservative MPs to vote for repeal ? Many MPs complain of Mr. Blair wasting time previously on this - I disagree as I think it was a landmark in our society of humane overcoming inhumane and to repeal an act that went through 10 years ago is a waste of time for sure. Many counties are indeed rural constituency but foxes are of no threat to arable land and indeed keep rabbit numbers down protecting crops. Then there is the cost of running the hunt - it is not cheap to keep that many dogs and horses in good health and this is surely a waste of farmers time and money if the land is mainly arable - perhaps not the farmers that are fox hunting? Farmers are not the richest people in the world as we know due to the criminal acts of supermarkets and EU issues and we are fully aware of the costs linked into being part of the elite world of fox hunting. Which brings us onto the word 'tradition' - bear bating was a tradition once as was cock fighting and both are now banned - and rightly so! Surely the chasing of a fox through the countryside with a load of people dressed up in finery is not really the issue - the issue we are taking about here is its classification as sport - how can it be sport with so many against one fox? Have you ever witnessed the kill - it is not humane, it is not quick. In ecological terms if you kill an animal another will take its place - this is how the nature works so well without us - so maybe we should be protecting our livestock better - just a thought? Also many people have been caught up in the hunt whilst out in the fields, on footpaths and even walking through villages whilst on the footpath! You can not contain and control a pack of hounds on the scent of a fox and there will only be more conflict as they run across arable land, private land and through villages and people's gardens. They must surely damage crops in their pursuit of the fox and surely this is an issue?! If the area is one with livestock you often here the woeful cry from the fox hunters that they never catch one - then why would you go to so much effort and cost just to ride around on horse back and damage the environment and scare the life out of countryside walkers and people enjoying the serenity and beauty of the countryside for no supposed benefit to farmers? This is surely then classed as a leisure activity and therefore we ask again - why waste time on trying to reintroduce it when you can still drag hunt? I wonder how many of your constituents realise you are voting to repeal the ban?

Simply because if the financing is not equal then it's not just about fairness but essentially undemocratic to have a Yes or No vote decided upon by which side can spew out the most propaganda.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO. Now they are listening, let's continue to shout! This petition was part of a campaign by Scottish communities that resulted in the Scottish Government putting a temporary ban on Underground Coal Gasification on October 8th 2015. This means the first campaign aim above has been achieved, but we are not finished. We need to use your signatures and the power that communities have found to continue to campaign to ensure a complete ban of all forms of Unconventional Gas Extraction in Scotland. Read on for more information on why you should sign and share this petition! But isn’t there already a ban?
 Unconventional Gas extraction in Scotland is currently covered by two separate temporary bans (moratoriums): a moratorium on Fracking for shale Gas and Coal Bed Methane developments was announced in January 2015 and a moratorium on Underground Coal Gasification developments in October 2015. These moratorium Are NOT BANS. They are pauses, allowing time for the Scottish Government to conduct studies into Unconventional Gas and to consult with communities. The moratoriums are likely to last until 2017. Our Forth believe therefore it is imperative that these moratoriums are viewed as a call to action for concerned communities to continue to inform themselves and their neighbours about the potential risks and alternatives to these industries. Why is a complete ban needed? Our Forth believe that the science is clear that the Unconventional Gas Extraction, including Fracking for Shale gas, Coal Bed Menthane Extraction and Underground Coal Gasification, cannot be done safely and is unlikey to bring economic benefits in the form of jobs and increased investment. We believe the more that ordinary people learn and research about these industries and learn of the scale of drilling that will blight their lives, industrialise rural areas, and devalue their homes - the more they will oppose it. We believe that any perceived benefits will come at a major cost to established Scottish industries (such as the tourism and food and drink industries), our natural environment and people's health. We believe that the main beneficiaries will be multi-millionaires and wealthy landowners, not the Scottish communities that will bear the burden of risk. We believe that these activities are entirely incompatible with the Scottish Government’s commitment to climate change targets. Our Forth want Scotland to follow the lead of enlightened countries and areas around the world banning these technologies and investing in the jobs and energy security that renewable energy can bring. Why a 2km Buffer Zone? In 2013 the Scottish Government introduced a requirement for developers to propose buffer zones between unconventional gas developments and communities. Disappointingly there is no minimum limit specified under Scottish Planning Policy. Ineos this summer stated that they would be looking at only 400 m Bufferzones between it’s fracking operations and communities!! Our Forth believe that this is not good enough to protect communities, and support Friends of the Earth call for a 2km buffer zone as is the case in New South Wales, Australia since February 2013, immediately and irrespective of the current moratorium. Our Forth believe that implementing 2km Buffer zones in Scotland would also have the effect of ruling out Unconventional Gas development in our densely populated areas, as it would effectively make it uneconomical for the companies involved. Watch this beautiful 10 minute video to find out more about our campaign: Our Forth from Waltzer Films on Vimeo.

Following the 2015 General Election and the success of the SNP, it is vital that all the elected MPs take a part in the voting to get the voice across for our wildlife.

Currently, all residents local to Heathrow Airport are receiving leaflets claiming there is overwhelming support for expanding capacity by building a new runway and extra facilities. THIS IS A BLATANT LIE !! In fact, many thousands of local residents have been petitioning for years to prevent this extra runway. Apart from the extra noise, it would mean the total removal of hundreds of homes and everyone who lives there. Please prove to our government that we do not want extra noise and pollution. We certainly should petition for the future of all the residents who wish to stay in their present homes, without being uprooted by uncaring commercial interests. Please sign this petition and then forward it to everyone you know. Thank you. The distribution of the leaflets claiming support for expansion, prove the interested parties behind this proposal are prepared to lie and deceive in order to persuade parliament that it has strong local support. We need to let our government know that we are wise to this deception and are not in favour of any increase in the size of Heathrow. Our lives are already blighted by the noise of planes flying overhead and we certainly don't want it to get any worse.

We're all in this together ? They work for us

Decisions should be made at a local level, close to the people they affect. The people of Hull and East Yorkshire should be able to influence policy on health, policing, and transport.

MPs already earn over £67,000pa plus expenses plus generous pensions. A 10% pay rise will take them to £74,000 which is around 3 times the national average salary. this at a time when many people are still restricted to zero rises or increments in line with inflation (again, currently at zero percent) To take such arise just shows complete arrogance and contempt for the British electorate.