West Midlands Policing falls £12.5m short of what is needed
Demands for adequate funding for local Policing have once again fallen on deaf ears. Park Ward Lib Dem campaigner Nick...
BL
9 Jan 2018
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
"Where's the 40%?" housing petition - what happened next
Many thanks to everyone who signed our housing petition, which we presented to the council last month. We're pleased to say that it's already started to have an impact - proposals to have developers present their viability reports on affordable housing openly, rather than behind closed doors, are already being discussed.
9 Jan 2018
Surrey Police face a £1.9m real-terms cut in Government funding – and Council taxpayers must plug the gap
Police in Surrey are facing a real-terms cut of £1.9m next year, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.
9 Jan 2018
Local councillor slams controversial Thirlmere zipwire plans
Local Lib Dem County Councillor Will Clark says he is strongly opposed to plans to erect multiple zipwires across the valley of Thirlmere.
9 Jan 2018
Lib Dems to oppose 500 houses at public hearing
We will be voicing our opposition to plans for 500 houses north of Clayton Mills in Hassocks at a Public Hearing on 5th February. The special hearing has been called by the Planning Inspector after more than 1,000 local residents registered their opposition to the proposals in the Mid Sussex District Plan.
9 Jan 2018
Hertfordshire Waste Partnership Still Making Progress
The responsibility for waste is split between the district and borough councils - which are responsible for collecting household waste - and the county council - which is reponsible for setting up Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) and for disposing of all the waste arising within the county. Hertfordshire County Council must devise a Waste Disposal Strategy and this must account for commercial waste as well as all municipal waste. The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership is a consortium between all the districts and boroughs in the county and the the county council itself. This shares costs, refunds savings and explores and assesses new methods of waste disposal. It also uses the economies of scale that result from a county-wide co-ordination in order to negotiate competitive contracts for waste disposal that save money for all of Hertfordshire's council tax payers.
8 Jan 2018
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!”
