The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the main industry trade group for railway equipment manufacturers in the United Kingdom and is based in Smith Square, London. They are emphatic that the UK needs immediately to double the current rate of rail electrification.
Here's an example of how central government micro-manages local councils. To get money to fix traffic lights WC has to compete with other councils and draw up a bid and submit it to the government under a special time-limited traffic-light-fixing funding scheme. Read the WC announcement:
Wiltshire Tories want you to know that if your town has a population of over 10,000, then they will put at least one electric vehicle charging point in your car-park. We don't want to be churlish, but the council really needs to: Increase the number of charge points to something more realistic, one or two charge points for a town of 10,000 people really isn't enough! Work with suppliers to start on the task of bringing charging points to residential streets where people live and keep their cars. Make a start by refusing planning permission to new housing unless it has sufficient car charging facilities built-in. But for balance, here is a link to the Wiltshire Council announcement so that you can see the small-print for yourself. https://orlo.uk/67BWp
We were all shocked and saddened by the brutal murder of Sir David Amess, the Conservative MP for Southend. Our condolences go out to his family, friends and constituents who lost a good and accessible constituency MP. As one commentator pointed out, his accessibility and dependability became his vulnerabilities.
The A1000 Cycle Lane must be kept for good, and should be properly funded, Barnet Lib Dems say today, as they bring a motion to Full Council in its support.
In Green Liberal Democrats we are adamant. Making energy saving the nation's first priority is the best way forward. Compare the limited £3.9 billion announced over 3 years, to provide only 90,000 homes with a new type of hearing, with the £150 billion programme LibDem Leader, Ed Davey, proposes. That will insulate the social housing stock and help homeowners. How? Industry will develop new materials and switch to new products with technology we know about and some new that we don't know about now, to all but completely free us from the need for heating new domestic and commercial buildings. Changing regulations is key. If everyone has to meet the new regulations the scale of the market for sustainable tech will bring down prices in a competitive market. How will we pay for insulating homes? Vulnerability to escalating gas cost now shows that it won't take many years to recoup the cost to retrofit an existing property. The right government programme LibDems propose will result in the same quality of replac
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, called on the government to provide incentives for energy providers to develop solar power in the UK.
Mrs Hobhouse slammed the government for falling behind on meeting the UK’s renewable targets for solar energy capacity. The government plans to deploy 70 GW of solar power across the country by 2035. However, as of 2022, the UK had only installed 14.3 GW of solar pv.
Following a visit to a rooftop solar system installed by Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) at Beechen Cliff School last year, Wera Hobhouse is keen to encourage the development of similar solar projects across Bath. The solar system is predicted to significantly cut the school’s fuel costs and reduce their carbon emissions by 52 tonnes a year.
In the House of Commons on the 27th February, the Bath MP noted that the UK is lagging behind the rest of the world in renewable energy investment, she urged the government to offer incentives to energy providers to improve solar capacity.
However, Andrew Bowie, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, ignored Hobhouse’s proposals, failing to describe the ways in which the government could incentivise solar energy. Instead, Bowie said that the government’s Solar Taskforce would publish recommendations for solar power and reiterated the government’s target to deploy 70 GW by 2035.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, commented:
“The Conservatives are falling dangerously behind on meeting our targets for renewable energy production. It is no good the government setting an ambitious 70 GW solar target if they are nowhere near reaching it.
“It is clear that they have no plan to get us back on track to reach Net Zero. Evidently, they are more than happy to dismiss perfectly good proposals like incentivising solar power. That is why I am so proud that Bath is home to many community energy projects like the solar system at Beechen Cliff School, so that we can lead the way in renewables.”
“It is not just our climate targets harmed by the Conservatives’ delay. Families in Bath and across the country are struggling to pay soaring energy bills which investment in renewables could curb. That is why we Liberal Democrats would build significantly more renewable energy, aiming to generate 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030.”
Peter Capener, Managing Director of Bath & West Community Energy said:
“Our work with schools is really demonstrating the value of community energy in both addressing the climate crisis and reducing fuel bills. Rooftop solar installed last year has already saved local schools a combined total of £134,209 and has reduced carbon emissions by 224.3 tonnes, which is equivalent to 12,173 journeys from Bath to Edinburgh by train!”
