Social Prescribers have been at the heart of our community, helping individuals navigate challenges such as mental health struggles, elderly isolation, homelessness, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. They connect people to vital resources, including food banks and employment support, all while strengthening community bonds. According to The BMJ, evaluating Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) too early risks overlooking their full potential. They recommend extending the evaluation period by at least two more years to conduct a thorough review of their impact. Let’s ensure these dedicated professionals can continue their essential work. Sign now to save this vital service!

ID legislation needs to be brought in. We need to stop teens and children from using dating sites and known sex offenders by using ID to verify ages and to do background checks on people 

Opportunities! To meet new people, learn a new language, learn new skills, grow your confidence, make connections and build friendships with people from Spain to Azerbaijan to Jordan! Open your mind, open your heart and open your world! And it's such an amazing opportunity to become more employable!  EU mobility schemes have so much to offer, why should the youth of the UK continue to be deprived of opportunities?  Lets get the ball rolling, and start to rebuild our relationship with the EU whilst opening up the doors to a world of opportunities! 

We are living in a Nature crisis, this last year our Insect populations have crashed . We need to do better. We need to save our nature . Raising awareness is vital to their survival 

Currently, tenants are being charged excessively, with some landlords demanding £25 per pet per month, despite landlords' insurance covering pets for just £25 a year. This needs to be regulated to a fairer rate of £15 per month if tenants don’t have their own coverage for pet-related damages. If tenants do have coverage, there should be no additional charge. Furthermore, if a pet dies and the landlord charges, no new charges should be imposed if estate agent/landlord made aware . This is particularly unfair given that those in council housing or who own their homes aren’t subjected to these fees, and pets often contribute to tenants' mental well-being and life in general. Additionally those tenants who already pay for contents insurance that includes liability get their damaged property fixed under the tenants insurance. So they may not get money into their bank but they get a "whatever" at no charges to themselves but higher charges to the tenant for claiming on their liability insurance 

This is important as walking through Evesham I do not feel safe and feel uneasy. Seeing frequent reports of anti social behaviour happening in our area shows something needs to be changed

This can’t happen. Officers claim the car park is surplus to requirements and people can simply park elsewhere but this contradicts local knowledge and experience. There will be a net loss of 12 disabled parking bays. High St/Mary St car park is the most accessible car park for many disabled people and older people who cannot walk far to visit High Street businesses or events/venues/groups in the vicinity. Many often can’t find a spot in the Crescent car park anymore and find Orchard multi-storey next door a nightmare by comparison. It is also the only place you can park in the area after 7pm (its lowest level is not locked) as Orchard is shut then. Removing that night time parking facility in particular would spell disaster for the popular nearby venues including CICCIC (Creative Innovation Centre) and the Lawns Social Club, businesses and churches, whilst also restricting the opportunities for many local residents to access a social life and increasing isolation. Taunton aspires to be a destination - for arts and culture, festivals, social activities, retail -  but removing this car park will do nothing but damage to town centre footfall, our cultural life and the town’s economy. Worshippers at churches in the area would also be deprived of the ability to attend services.  Vivary Park (owned and managed by Somerset Council) across the road hosts major popular events through the year attracting thousands of visitors, making the nearest car park - the High St/Mary St car park facility - absolutely vital to the continuing success of these and to avoiding traffic and parking chaos. People do not yet have an adequate level of public transport opportunities to always leave the car at home. We demand that Somerset Council presses PAUSE on current plans, undertakes a proper impact assessment, looks at all the options and commits to proper consultation and joint working with local residents, businesses and stakeholders to secure continuation of effective parking provision in the area (including at night) in the interests of Taunton’s community and economy.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It certainly takes families with children to maintain a community like ours. A recent policy change by North Yorkshire Council threatens to make our community fail, with implications for all. The Council has decided it will no longer provide free school transport for children living in our dales if they want to go to Richmond School. It will pay for children to go to the nearest of Leyburn, Barnard Castle or Kirkby Stephen schools, each entailing winter journeys over mountain passes. But not for the safest, cheapest, and most sensible option that keeps Swaledale and Arkengarthdale children together at Richmond school. I know it sounds like a wind up. It isn't. This decision is already causing nightmares in families with children in Year 6 who must decide what to do in the next few weeks, and have been given no sensible guidance to help them. If this policy continues, families with the freedom to choose will no longer choose to live in our two dales. There will soon be even fewer working age families than there are now. Reeth and Gunnerside schools will close. Businesses will close. Services will disappear. So please don’t ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for us. People make the dales, the children their families and their communities. Without them it will be a wilderness! We need councillors to overturn their decision. If we present a petition with over 500 signatures councillors must consider it. The last petition fell just short of this number. If we present a petition with over a 1,000 signatures, and present it with some pizzazz, it will wake up those councillors who were asleep at the wheel when they voted for this awful policy. So please, please sign this petition.  

This is important because thousands, if not millions of people depend on this benefit to maintain themselves. The Modernizing Support Green Paper also proposes changes to the Work Capability Assessment that denies those with mobility or mental health issues extra Universal Credit.

I have seen that wet wipes have been in rivers, and just in the smallest piece of a riverbank, a mountain has been made out of them. This also makes pollution and climate change much, much worse; if people love this planet then we should look after it or one day it will be gone.

If you want your child to have a warm lunch then you have no option but to buy school dinners whose options include pizza, chips, muffins, and chocolate crunch... hardly healthy. 

For too long pedestrians, cyclists and motorists have had to deal with traffic approaching and leaving Rugby at high speed along the A426. The number of pedestrians trying to cross the road has increased in recent years as more development of residential areas along side this busy road has taken place. More children are walking down the side of the road to get to school, and the number of cars and lorries using it has increased as more logistics depots have been built in Coton Park and Rochberie Heights. There are frequent minor accidents at roundabouts along the length of the road as road markings have worn away and drivers do not observe lane discipline.  Pleas from local councillors to Warwickshire County Council Highways for action to be taken have fallen on deaf ears. We are now calling on the County Council to take action to reduce traffic speed along the section of the road that is currently 60 mph to 40 mph and to review and repaint the lane markings at the roundabouts.