Local campaigner Bobby Dean, has been speaking to residents at various events across Carshalton & Wallington.
Domestic abuse can have a devastating impact on families, and can take on many different forms.
Local MP Tim Farron has written to the Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) urging him to go ahead with plans to block banks from leaving the high street after it was announced that Barclays will be closing its Windermere and Kirkby Lonsdale branches in January.
COP26 - Less Than a Week Away Excitement - Or Concern (And Trepidation!) As we get closer to COP26, I feel both a sense of excitement that this major global conference is about to happen, in our backyard, as it were … and a real sense of concern and disappointment that we are going to be let down again by an incompetent and bungling Government. Not to mention trepidation at the threat of strike action by rail and bus employees!
Commenting on a new damning report from the Care Quality Commission into the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) which found that "poor leadership was impacting on patient care and the experience of staff work" and that "there wasn't always enough nursing and medical staff to keep people safe", local MP Tim Farron said:
Small and medium-sized businesses from tech start-ups to hairdressers and cafes in Woking will pay an extra £4 million a year due to the rise in national insurance, research commissioned by the Lib Dems has found.
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!”
