Post by nickd on Oct 1, 2011 22:52:49 GMT 1
Our Prime Minister never misses an opportunity to promote his Big Society
But his communities are trying to tell him, how he's
letting them down....
Take what's happening in Greenwich. To some of us it may appear quite affluent and summon up images of historic well kept buildings, green parks and of course the flagship of yesteryear; - the world famous Cutty Sark.
Others see it differently. In 2008, the End Child Poverty London Project had this to say:
"Greenwich has high levels of deprivation, ranking as the 8th most deprived borough in London and has the 10th highest level of child poverty (out of the 32 boroughs in the capital).
Problems of disadvantage in income, health and crime are particularly significant drivers of deprivation in the borough."
What our Prime Minister just doesn't get is how when people have a problem and they need some legal advice to sort it, they go to trained professionals. It's not that different to how people go to the dentist when they have toothache, or to the doctors when they feel unwell.
There are a multitude of deeper social issues in Greenwich that remain to some of us out of sight; - to others they are very much something that prey on the mind. Be it problems with the authorities, employers, neighbours; - sometimes people need a bit of legal help.
With the threat of closure, Greenwich Law Centre is urging people to sign its petition. You can do so using this link..
www.ipetitions.com/petition/greenwichlawcentre/
Here's just a few comments left by the people of Greenwich on the petition website, sign the petition and you will see many more.
By signing the petition you help Greenwich Law Centre and you also get a chance to say why you think services like these should continue to receive funding; - especially when they are needed to help people through difficult times like these.
Here are just some of the comments
Name: T Wickramasingha on Sep 12, 2011
Do not withdraw funding from GCLC,whichs serves the most vulnerable in the community
Name: Terry Wheeler on Sep 12, 2011
This is a vital service that helps the disabled and poorest in the community and if the Law Centre closes there will be no one locally to help people. The Law Centre also does debt work and form filling which no other local advice agency offers. They need more funding including a fair share of the running costs which other agencies get and they don't.
Name: P.Kalu on Sep 12, 2011
This is sad news for those of us who have had a great service in the past and also for the deserving people in the future. This centre has provided excellent service to the local community who cannot afford heavy legal fees to get legal advice.
Name: Raj Tharmasunderam on Sep 12, 2011
I have had excellent service from this centre in the past, and I personally know so many people got their legal services and fully satisfied with the advice provided. Geenich is not at all an affluent area, and most people are unable to get paid advice, in particular legal advice. It will be very sad for many local people.
Name: Prema Kalubowila on Sep 12, 2011
Very unfair. We will pray to god to keep the centre going. After all it has been doing a great service to the community.
Name: Shammi Wicks on Sep 12, 2011
A valuable service is provided to the community by this organisation. Cutting funding means the so called yet to be established big society will be affected, and in the shorter term the small community that's being served will have no one to then to. This funding cut needs to be stooped.
Name: Gamini Padmaperuma on Sep 12, 2011
Absolutely unfair. This centre has provided an excellent service over the past 27 years.
Name: Gamini Kalubowila on Sep 12, 2011
Comments: So, poor people like us are supposed to go where for advice when needed?
Name: Punya Wijesudera on Sep 12, 2011
This is unfair, it will be a great loss to our community. And my husband and I have had a great legal advice from this centre.
Name: Pushpa on Sep 12, 2011
Comments: Great loss to the community if this centre ceased to exist. We have had excellent advice from the legal department of this centre and some wrong advice from another centre where we used to live some while ago.
Name: Chitra Amarasiriwardena on Sep 12, 2011
I say NO
Name: Angela Marke on Sep 12, 2011
This is an invaluable service. It provides excellent value for money and brings more money into the borough than the grant paid by Greenwich Council
Name: Thalatha Wickramasinghe on Sep 13, 2011
STOP FUNDING CUTS TO GREENWICH LAW CENTRE
Name: Nisha Wickramasinghe on Sep 13, 2011
Services like Greenwich Community Law centre should be given high priority. They help support some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the borough. without this service people will become desperate and there will be more mental health problems as a result. Long term the borough will face more costs, social problems etc.
Name: Paul Ward on Sep 13, 2011
We serve the most vulnerable people in our community. The proposed cuts to this service will have a devastating impact on many people who rely on the Centre to assist in often complex issues.
Name: Daljit Kaur Seehra on Sep 13, 2011
Greenwich Community Law Centre has been running for over two decades and during this time it has provided invaluable legal services to the local community. To learn that it is being threatened with closure as a result of a lack of funding is highly disheartening. The Council should be doing its utmost to support organisations like this, not eliminating them! If positive action is not taken to secure the future of the Law Centre, many local residents (several belonging to vulnerable social groups), who have come to utilise, trust and rely on the sevices of the Law Centre, will suffer hardship, & inevitably, will be left without recourse to adequate legal advice, representation and support. Is the this the Council's interpretation of justice for all?
Name: Dan Radcliffe on Sep 13, 2011
Comments: It would be a massive loss to the local community to lose the Grenwich law centre which has been an integral source of help for them for 27 years
Name: Jennifer Brooks on Sep 13, 2011
The services provided at the Law Centre is so valuable and worth fighting for. They are the voice within this local community and it is so heart- breaking that a decision of this magnitude to withdraw funding from the Centre is being made at this crucial time and not seeking the opinion of the community that it serves.
Name: Jennifer Brooks on Sep 13, 2011
The services provided at the Law Centre is so valuable and worth fighting for. They are the voice within this local community and it is so heart- breaking that a decision of this magnitude to withdraw funding from the Centre is being made at this crucial time and not seeking the opinion of the community that it serves.
Name: Ranjith Dassanayake on Sep 13, 2011
Please don’t undermine this essential and a valuable service to really deserving people in our society.
Name: Senarath Bowila on Sep 13, 2011
Comments: It looks like the Council have no knowledge of what CAB is able to do and what they do, compaired to what Law centre can do and what they do.The Council's yard stick to measure the value of sevices must be changed or the officers should be educated to enable them to measure the vlue of the services.
Name: Lynnecampbell on Sep 14, 2011
I feel that our community really needs the centre and that it will be a great lost to the local people who need the help and reassurance of legal advice while maybe not having the funds to pay .
Name: S S Anantha on Sep 14, 2011
Please do not take this from out greenwhich people
Name: Larry Doyle on Sep 14, 2011
Totally invaluable service for the vulnerable and people who are not in a position to pay for legal advice, another erosion of essential provision which will further alienate and divide between those who have and those in need.
Name: Anonymous on Sep 14, 2011
If the Greenwich Law Centre is forced close it will be a sad loss for the local community
Name: Upawansa Kaur on Sep 14, 2011
When I was facing eviction I went to the CAB,I was referred to Greenwich Housing Rights &Law Centres stating that it was a complicated legal matter. The only Law Centre which gave me an immediate appointment and assisted me was Greenwich Law Centre . I would have been homeless if not for Greenwich Law Centre. The only people who will suffer are the vulnerable clients, not the council or anyone else.
Name: Guled Ismail on Sep 14, 2011
We all need this centre
Name: Robert Elias on Sep 14, 2011
This is a crime commited on the local community
Name: Carol Brown on Sep 14, 2011
This cut in funding appears to have been ill thought out. How and where are these clients to access the services they desperately need?
Name: Karen Hearne on Sep 14, 2011
This service is essential to the community. I have been a Greenwich resident for 50 years. I have worked in my community for the past 40 years and for 38 years have paid council tax and rates to the borough. I am sick of the councils waste of resources. It is criminal for Greenwich Council to maintain two elite boxes at the O2 arena for entertainment whilst essential resources to the borough are destroyed. Greenwich council needs a clean sweep at the top because current position holders are completely out of touch with those they are paid to represent.
Name: Barry Hayman on Sep 14, 2011
The law Centre and Barry Mills gave me invaluable advice when i needed to take a previous employer to court last year (in a case that without their help would have dragged and dragged) they do a wonderful job and it would be a terrible shame if the centre was to close.
Name: David Eakins on Sep 14, 2011
I feel very strongly that the Greenwich Law Centre (GLC) has to continue. It was an essential life line after i was actively managed out of my job. My employer broke the law and GLC was there to offer valuable advice, support and guidance when I had no one else to turn to. Barry Mills prepared us brilliantly to take our employer to court. We had a brilliant out come and won an out of court settlement. I lost £15,000 as it took me half a year to find another job. This settlement saved me from having to sell my flat. I cannot stress how important this centre was for me at the lowest point of my life.
Name: Nigel Machin on Sep 14, 2011
I worked at the Centre for 4-months on pro bono basis and saw first hand the vital role the Centre plays in the community and ending funding would be a huge mistake in my opinion.
Name: Anonymous on Sep 14, 2011
It would be a travesty to lose the Greenwich Law Centre. They were invaluable in helping my father when he was under threat of eviction for something that was not his fault. I would think thousands of people would have nowhere to turn to for help and support when they are desperate.
Here's the petition website link again; - please help the people of Greenwich by taking a few minutes of your time to sign it.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/greenwichlawcentre/
Source of information; www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/london/poverty-in-your-area/greenwich-24/