Bath and North-East Somerset Council are planning to cut the budget of the local Citizen's Advice Bureau by 55%. Many people rely on the services our local CAB provides, and we can't let the council cut the funding.
If you haven't already used the CAB, it's very possible that you or someone you know will need to at some point in their lives. These are some of the reasons why people have needed to use the Bath CAB in the past:
Help! I've been diagnosed with a serious illness and I can't work any more - what am I entitled to?
Help! I've got rent arrears and I've lost my job. What can I do?
Help! My employer sacked me while I was pregnant - can they do this?
Help! My landlord threatened to evict my family because I complained that the roof is leaking
The CAB is often the only thing that stands between a lot of people and families becoming "vulnerable and greatest in need".
So what can you do? Three actions have been planned to attempt to get the council to change their minds - if you can help with one or more of these then it will go a long way to helping the campaign.
A demo will be taking place on the steps of the Guildhall at 1pm on Tuesday 5th November. If you can make it, please come along and show that you care, and tell your family and friends.
Local resident Lin Patterson has managed to get 3 mins to speak about the CAB at the full council meeting on Thursday 14th November. There will be a demonstration at 6pm outside the Guildhall, just prior to her slot. Please come along and support her!
It's official: As of 8pm today the occupation of the Twerton public toilets has ended. After spending 3 nights in the toilet and collecting 2000 petition signatures online and a further 400 outside the toilets, Lin Patterson has left the building. On hearing the news, Occupy Bath posted on Facebook: "BREAKING
NEWS - Lin has ended the occupation! She just informed us over the
phone and said that she has accomplished what she set out to do. Lin
will be appearing as a guest on Daybreak on ITV on Monday morning. The
petition is now at 1983 signatures and additionally there are around 400
signatures on a paper petition collected outside the toilets. Well done
Lin!!!"
Earlier today, Lin issued the following statement: "A big thank you to all 38 Degrees people who
have signed the petition to save our public toilets in Bath. You are
amazing. Please ask your family, friends and work colleagues to sign the
petition and continue to share it by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
Both Councillors for Twerton have visited outside the toilets and it
seems there may be 2 rays of hope - but nothing is certain , so it would
NOT be wise to think the Twerton toilets are safe yet.
First,
the disabled toilet is the only wheelchair accessible one in the area,
even the football ground has been relying on it to fulfill their
statutory obligation to provide equal access. So an Equalities Impact
Assessment has been called for, which MAY keep the toilets open for 3
months - possibly.
Then negotiations are going on with nearby
establishments. This is possibly the football ground or Morrisons, who
have bought the old Blockbuster building, to subsidize the existing
toilets and hold the RADAR key for the disabled cubicle. So a lot of
maybes. In the meantime the community can keep up the pressure, now that more people are aware.
So many times today and yesterday, I wished I could film the passion
and clarity of those who approached to sign, and their outrage over the
possibility of closure.
A couple of 14 year old girls held the
fort with the petition table for an hour while I took a much needed nap.
They counted the signatures, which now total 309 in 2 days.
Considering most of those people were either using the loo or making a
special trip, that is phenomenal. So between the 2 petitions in 2 days,
we've topped 2000. Has this happened in Bath before? Sometimes you can
be almost overcome by the goodness of people. Let's hope the council
will recognize the changed landscape."
Councillor David Dixon, to whom the petition is addressed said "Once I have received the petition I can ensure a full response"
Standing Stone's Blog will report on the outcome of the petition when the time comes.
Congratulations Lin, and well done for standing up for ordinary people.
The Twerton Toilet Demo has seen a successful third day. On Wednesday, Lin Patterson begun the occupation of a public toilet that was due to be closed for good yesterday. Since then her petition on the 38 Degrees website has grown to over 1800 signatures and Lin has been featured in the local and national news.
Earlier today, Lin was stood outside the toilet answering questions from the public. Other Bath residents have joined in by collecting several hundred paper signatures. Local taxi drivers have also been very supportive, telling Lin that they regularly stop to use those toilets. A Twerton resident with mobility difficulties commented "I have great difficulty getting to the shops and back. If I get caught short while doing my weekly shopping, I can't just run home like a normal person. I need these toilets to stay open". It has also come to the attention of the demonstrators that Twerton public toilets are the only loos in that region of Bath with disabled access.
Lin has been overwhelmed by the amount of public support. She was stunned when a woman drove all of the way from South Gloucestershire today just to see her. Lin has been passing Occupy Bath updates to post on their Facebook page. Earlier today she commented "What
an incredible response to the 38 Degrees petition! Every signature
represents 10 others who are disabled, young, busy carers, elderly with
medical or mobility problems and the list goes on. We need the council
to take down the closure signs and acknowledge their closure plans were
unreasonable. I have a friend who absolutely relies on these toilets, which really brings it home. Today has seen a media frenzy which hopefully will generate even more signatures so the council will have to act."
Yesterday Bath resident Lin Patterson began an occupation of a public toilet due to be closed by the council today. The toilet remains open and Lin has attracted the attention of the local media, including the Bath Chronicle and the BBC, and was on BBC Points West this evening talking about the campaign.
Since her occupation began yesterday, her petition on the 38 Degrees website has reached over 1000 signatures. This afternoon she commented:
"1000
signatures in just over a day is absolutely amazing! What it means is
that we can prevail upon the council to have a debate based on achieving
1000 signatures on a petition to keep the toilets open. I have to thank
every single person who took the trouble to sign the petition and
please tell your friends and groups to do the same.
I would also like to thank a man named Adie Rawlings who single-handedly gathered almost 200 signatures on a paper petition.
The community is getting involved!"
Lin says that she intends to continue the occupation for at least a few more days.
The protest has seen support from Occupy Bath and many members of the public, many of whom were unaware that the council were closing down toilets in the city.
Political comedian Mark Thomas, who performed in Bath last week, has added his support to the campaign by tweeting the petition, and called Lin's protest "brilliant".
(updated 22:30 31/7/13) Late Wednesday afternoon, (31st July 2013)
Lin Patterson, 67, took a sleeping bag, fresh water and supplies and occupied
the public toilets in Twerton, Bath.The
local council want to close the toilets permanently the next day in order to
save £8,289 per year.It is one of three
public toilets closing that day in Bath (Combe Down and Peasedown are the
others).
Local residents attended a
demonstration at 6pm outside the toilets in support and as a last minute
attempt to save their toilets.One
father of a young boy said,” I didn’t even know the toilets were closing.I bring my young son here often, because you
know how it is with young children.”When it was pointed out that a sign had been posted on the toilets announcing
the closure, he said “I didn’t even notice that.”
Lin has been campaigning to keep the
public toilet open in Larkhall, the other side of Bath, where an extension has
been granted until April while local councillors and officers try to find
commercial subsidy.
She said, “I am occupying these
toilets for three reasons.There was
some good campaigning by Twerton people to keep the toilets open, with a
petition of 97 signatures handed in and another petition of at least 50
signatures gathered, but many people in Twerton still do not know our toilets
are closing, and we need to know and mobilise.
The second reason is that although I
have been campaigning to save the Larkhall toilets, people need all these facilities. We are stronger if
we work together.So this widens and
intensifies the campaign.
The third reason is to put this in the
context of cuts that are unnecessary, unreasonable and unwanted by people who can
vote. The priorities are wrong nationally and locally, with huge capital
budgets for massive projects that primarily serve vested interests.I
start with local toilets, which serve one of our most basic human needs, where
closure hurts the most vulnerable, elderly, women, children and disabled people.”
A local resident took a video of the occupation, below.
Councillor David Dixon, to whom the petition is addressed, was unsympathetic to the occupation, commenting on the Occupy Bath Facebook Page "Seriously,
you are occupying some loos. They will start to smell after a few
weeks. If you fancy cleaning them, opening and locking up each day, that
would be great. Enjoy!" Perhaps he will take the issue more seriously when he realises that people actually care about this issue in this city.
Occupy Bath were keen to stress that this is not one of their actions but that they are supporting it by getting word out. This evening Lin issued the following update: "9pm
on my first night occupying the Twerton Public Toilets. The cubicle is
all laid out with folded over air mattress, books perched on a handrail,
even some artificial flowers to brighten it up. People have been very
interested. When they see the big "Occupied" banner they are astonished
to learn their toilets are due to close tomorrow. It's quiet, with just
the gulls and traffic from the main High Street a block away. But
tomorrow I hope we'll see a buzz develop as the Twerton Market sets up
in the morning. I have placards ready for people if they want their
photo taken defending their right to public toilets"
