A year of helping kids in poverty By Amy Pantall It doesn't have to be this way HUNDREDS of children living in poverty this year have been helped by a newly formed charity who provide essential living items packaged up in ruck sacks to those in need.
Bedford Borough Council is asking for your views on their 2020 Budget and the Capital Programme.
Following repeated incidents of extreme weather and a number of instances of flooding in the village of Worthen over the last few months, Shropshire Councillor Heather Kidd called an urgent meeting of specialistsjust before Christmas to try and find a way to tackle this problem
The following structural examinations exposing the need for urgent remedial works.
Responding to a report from Oxfam revealing that the value of UK arms licenced to members of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the five years since the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) came into effect is 45 per cent higher than the preceding five years, Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Ed Davey said: "The regime of Saudi Arabia is an enemy of British values. Their persistent violation and disregard for human rights and the rule of law should have led the Conservative Government to halt arms sales long ago. "It was just earlier this year that the Court of Appeal ruled that the Tory Government had acted unlawfully in licensing the sale of UK-made arms for use in Yemen without assessing whether or not past incidents amounted to breaches of International Humanitarian Law. "Since then the Conservatives have breached this ruling in a blatant disregard for not only British law, but for the lives of innocent civilians lost thanks to the brutal Saudi regime. Since January 2015, £6.4bn worth of arms have been
The East Midlands Railway (EMR) consultation has now been published and has confirmed the Conservative Government's downgrade of the Bedford rail services, with Bedford completely disappearing from the Intercity map.
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!”
