Category Archives: Do something!

Public meeting of #Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body 16th Jan

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The next public meeting of Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body is at 2-4pm, 16th January in Shibden Meeting Room, F Mill, Dean Clough. (This is near the Travelodge Hotel.)

All the papers for the meeting are downloadable from the Calderdale CCG website.

If you want to ask any questions, the CCG prefers you to email them by noon the day before the meeting, but you can also fill in a form on the day, before the meeting, and then hand it in. The person to email questions to is Jane Brownlie – her email address is:  jane.brownlie@calderdaleccg.nhs.uk
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Commemorate 30 year anniversary of miners strike at Trades, 12th March

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Calderdale Trades Council are commemorating 30 years since the miners’ strike, on 12th March at the Trades Club Hebden Bridge.

This will be Calderdale Trades Council’s first big public event, so please put this date in your diary, and help them to make it a success.

Orgreave Mass Picnic and Festival (June 14th) seeks wholesome caterers

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Orgreave Mass Picnic and Festival is happening on 14th June. They are looking for food collectives/coops that can provide wholesome food for the day. If you can do this, or would like to find out more, please contact  Bridget Bell, Tel: 01226 243502, email: orgreavejustice@hotmail.com

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Support 20mph in all Calderdale residential areas

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Myra James of Calderdale 20’s Plenty For Us has sent this info:

Calderdale Council has launched a consultation on three approaches to the development of 20mph speed limits:

  1. Introduce 20mph speed limits in all residential areas of Calderdale
  2. Introduce 20mph speed limits outside schools only
  3. Continue to introduce 20mph speed limits in selected areas based on numbers of casualties

The consultation remains open until 31st January and is available here.

“Total 20” – an idea whose time has come

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Campaign against Hospital Closure powers continues – find out more at 38 Degrees stall in Hebden, 21st Dec

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Although the House of Commons has passed the second reading of the Care Bill, including clause 118 that allows closure of hospitals and hospital departments without proper public consultation, the campaign against the Hospital closure clause is set to  gather momentum in the New Year.

Calderdale 38 Degrees is holding a stall in St George’s Square, Hebden Bridge between 10am and 12 noon on Saturday 21st December and you can find out more there. The theme of the stall is opposition to NHS privatisation and to A&E service reductions and closures.
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Bedroom tax tenants can get legal aid to stop evictions and challenge Council refusal of DHP through judicial review

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Solicitor Keith Lomax writes (below) about tenants’ eligibility for legal aid when facing eviction and how to challenge Councils’ decisions to refuse discretionary housing payments. 

Keith has specialised in housing since he qualified as a solicitor and has developed particular interest and experience in public law and human rights, regulatory law, planning, employment, education, and community care.

There have been severe cutbacks in legal aid, but legal aid is still available for people facing possession of their homes, or eviction after a possession order has been made.

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Open letter to Craig Whittaker MP – Vote to keep public right to consultation over hospital closures

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Dear Craig Whittaker,

The Coalition Government is taking a Care Bill through Parliament that will make it possible to close hospitals and A&E and other departments  without proper public consultation.

As you will know, the House Of Lords recently voted to accept  Earl Howe’s last-minute amendment to the  Care Bill. Amendment 168 essentially makes it possible for hospitals and A&E and other departments to be closed without public consultation – however successful, useful and popular they are.

The hospital closure clause 118, along with the rest of the Care Bill, will be debated and voted on in the Commons on 16th December. Clause 118 would allow any hospital to be closed down, or lose its A&E, maternity or other services, with hardly any local consultation.

I believe you have a responsibility to the public to make sure that this terrible Clause does not become law.
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Act now to keep our rights to public consultation on hospital closures & to campaign for NHS

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Please consider taking action now to stop the Coalition government from pushing through new laws that would further damage the NHS and restrict democratic freedoms. In a few minutes, you can:

  • sign the petition to stop a new law that will make it possible to close hospitals and hospital departments without any public consultation
  • write to your MP asking them to vote against this when the Care Bill comes to the House of Commons on 16th December
  • sign a petition against the Gagging Bill that will make it impossible for groups and Trade Unions to campaign effectively in the run up to elections
  • ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 793, which calls for an immediate freeze on talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement, in order to allow for a full public debate and Parliamentary scrutiny from both Houses of Parliament
Please read on for more info on each of these issues, and for the Halifax and Calder Valley MPs’ contact details.

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How to save the NHS? A key issue in the 2015 General Election run up

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The future of the NHS is shaping up to be a key battleground for all three major parties in the run up to the 2015 General Election.

Already the Halifax Tories, Calderdale Labour Party and Calderdale LibDems are staking out their positions on the proposed merger of Calderdale and Huddersfield A&E departments on a single site in Huddersfield.
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