Millions of families are struggling to keep their homes warm this winter. Yet today, Centrica, British Gas’ parent company, announced that its profits TRIPLED in the last year. If that wasn’t bad enough, CEO Chris O’Shea is now set to take home a £1.6 million bonus. It’s a bonus for break-ins. An undercover investigation recently revealed that British Gas agents were routinely forcing their way into the homes of vulnerable people to fit prepayment meters, leaving many without heating and electricity. And with millions more families struggling to keep up with their extortionate energy bills, it’s sickening he’s even considering taking this £1.6 million bonus. He must reject the bonus and donate it to a support fund to help struggling families with their energy bills.

Decisions over how to manage health and any long-term sickness should be between a patient and their GP. It's horrifying to think the Government could pressure GPs into sending people who are sick back into work. They say it's to help boost the economy, but targeting sick people instead of corporations like BP and Shell that have made billions in profit, is cruel and short-sighted. The Government must not include these terrible plans in its Spring budget.

Join this campaign and show your support for better customer service and accountability. We need the return of phone numbers and the ability to talk to a human and not an infuriating chat bot with links to endless circles of unhelpful articles to help ourselves. To have a monitored system where "I'm sorry" is not good enough but has reasonable consequences.

We are a small charity that listens to young people on issues that affect their progress and prosperity. We are hearing how local secondary schools are operating policies that disproportionally exclude young people in particular young people from African and Carribbean backgrounds. Our young people have seen how these policies have conspired against them and do not want to see any more cases where young people are being stripped searched by Police in schools. We also want to bring more fairness to secondary schools by ensuring policies are not disproportionately affecting their well being. We are currently undertaking a survey of young people in our borough Hackney and beyond to evaluate this impact and we wish to share the views expressed by over 200 children and young people from 16 - 25 years. We want you to ensure: 1. All schools behavioural policies are consulted on by its young people. 2. Police in schools are reviewed monthly to make their involvement accountable to young people and parents. 3. Allow schools to become part of the community and encourage schools to be transparent about exclusions and how this is now being managed. 4. Head masters are held accountable for their staff actions 5. Ensuring more localised accountability for academy secondary schools. We hope to see changes in the way secondary schools administrates it's behaviour codes and ensures there is local more accountability for decisions and greater involvement of young people and parents. We also want to stop anymore incidences of Child Q.

15% of bus services could be scrapped due to a funding shortfall when the Government’s recovery grant introduced to keep buses running after the pandemic comes to an end. Buses are the most popular mode of transport in England. People rely on buses to get to work, school, hospital appointments and more. But with bus routes and services set to be scrapped, it could leave millions of people feeling isolated and unable to travel in and around their local area and beyond. Together we need to demand the Government takes action to protect these vital bus routes and make sure England can stay connected.

Please join this campaign and stop TfL disregarding the needs of passengers here and elsewhere on the basis of no evidence. Cyclists get injured at junctions, not bus stops and there are bus stop designs that are safe for cyclists given the right training.

The proposed 72% allotment rent hike in Barry and Rhoose will mean many poorer allotment holders, who have often tended their plot for many years, will be forced to surrender their allotment due to the increased cost. We believe that this level of rent rise is not proportionate with other council charge increases such as car parking, council house rents or council tax and will hurt those on the lowest incomes most. Allotments have never been meant to be rented at an economic rent, they were and are a social and environmental benefit. Increasing rents in line with inflation would be reasonable but making allotment holders plug council finances is simply wrong. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales)Act 2015 sets out a clear obligation for public bodies to enable positive change that leads to a more resilient, sustainable, secure and healthy Wales. The Guidence for local Authorities, Town & Community Councils issued by the Welsh Government clearly states on page 8 under Costs and charges: "The rent charged for an allotment plot 'shall be let at such rent as a tenant may reasonably be expected to pay for the land' (Allotments Act 1950 section 10). While the temptation may be to increase rents to cover the cost of providing allotments, this may exclude the very people who need them most. Rents should be in line with the national average of approximately £45 a year for a full plot(correct as at April 2020) and its at the authority's discretion if they have concessionary rates." The Vale of Glamorgan Council has declared both Climate and Nature emergencies. Allotments contribute to both climate by growing local food in a sustainable way and nature by providing green spaces where wildlife can find food, shelter and breeding sites. Many allotments have ponds and honey bees both of which are vital for healthy ecosystems. Although allotments will always be mainly used for growing food, they have other social and environmental benefits. They are great places for healthy exercise, providing good opportunities for socialising, and puts us in touch with nature. Please do not make our allotments only affordable to the wealthy!

Research shows us that students in the UK are regularly witnessing and experiencing racism within their schools. This is also evident from recent headlines and news stories which range from hair discrimination, higher rates of exclusion for students from the global majority, issues of adultification as seen in the case of Child Q and most recently the disturbing video of a black child being viciously assaulted outside their school. One of the major ways we can ensure the safety of our students is to equip school leaders and staff with a basic understanding of the issues that face employees and students from the global majority in education. We already know that schools leaders and teachers are overwhelmingly white so this is an area in which they need time to study, reflect and understand how not being racialised as white will give you a very different experience and perspective of the education system in this country. Did you know: -More than 60,000 racist incidents were recorded in UK schools over a five-year period. -95% of young Black people report that they have heard and witnessed the use of racist language at school. -Almost 90% of teachers are not trained to prevent racism in schools -70% of young Black people have felt the need to change their hair to be “more professional” at work or school. -92.5% of headteachers are White British with 86% having an all white leadership team. -Ethnic minority candidates are less likely to be accepted onto teacher training than their white counterparts

As residents of Blackley Village we are subjected to high volumes of traffic in a neighbourhood which provides more car infrastructure than walking infrastructure. Pavements along Old Market Street, Oakworth Street, French Barn Lane, Plant Hill Road, Bank House, Hill Lane, Chapel Lane, Tweedle Hill Road are often narrow. At the same time roads are narrow and bendy. These roads are used by high volumes of vulnerable pedestrians, including school children of Pike Fold Primary School, the Co-op Academy, Crab Lane Primary School and Prospect House Specialist Support Primary School. Additionally, there is a high proportion of elderly road users, who access the shops on Old Market Street and Hill Lane as well as the GP practice on Old Market Street. Given the limited shared space for both motorized traffic and foot traffic, we ask that you reduce the risk of collisions and injury by reducing the speed limit to 20miles per hour throughout the entire residential area. Currently there are some 20miles zones outside some schools, such as parts of Old Market Street/Chapel Lane for Pike Fold Primary School and parts of Plant Hill Road outside the Co-op Academy. At the same time, Bank House outside Prospect House only has a recommended speed limit of 20miles per hour. Given the size of the neighbourhood and the high frequency of change in speed limits throughout the area, we ask you to consider introducing a blanket 20miles zone for the entire neighbourhood. The residential roads and their footpaths in Blackley Village are narrow and bendy. We also have hundreds of school children and their families using them every day. There are already 20miles per hour zones directly outside of the schools - which means 1) drivers have to change their speed several times and 2) most part of the children's way to school is not protected from fast cars. Additionally, we frequently have races occuring in the area. Petitioning for a 20miles per hour zone will pave the way for more physical traffic calming measures to stop these races.

More voices, more strength.

The traffic lights at Duke Street/Bernard Street/Talbot Street urgently need pedestrian signals. This has been a problem for many years. During rush hour there is no safe time to cross the road as there is always a stream of traffic coming from one direction or the other and the configuration of the roads makes it very difficult for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to view the traffic from every direction. We need to encourage more active travel in the city, enabling people to walk and cycle more. But this junction is so dangerous it puts people off walking, especially if they are not able to move quickly. It endangers commuters walking or going by bike into town in the mornings and out again at night. And families, young people and children travel to and from school each day. Car drivers are also at risk at this difficult and dangerous junction from trying to dodge people crossing. So they would also find appropriate safety road measures to their advantage. See the video here. https://youtu.be/GLPskLwasmM

Newark is a wonderful place, rich in history. It was originally a medieval walled town with the river making it strategic in the Midlands. Many historic buildings and sites remain to remind us of our heritage. Many have been lost or are in danger. The Lilley and Stone site is one of these. The trustees want to sell the site for a housing development. We believe that there are better solutions for the people of Newark which would increase the cultural standing and heritage value of the town. We want to maintain the best quality of life for residents, as well as build a future legacy for our children and the next generation.