News from across Barnwood
Ashley, Joanne and David have continued to work on resolving local issues, responding to residents' concerns big and small.
8 Jul 2020
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
Today's Headlines
Govt recovery plans do not match ambition of other countries
DS
8 Jul 2020
MP, Cumbria Tourism and Lakes hospitality leaders meet Tourism Minister to bid for long-term support
Yesterday, local MP Tim Farron, Cumbria Tourism and its hospitality leaders from the Lake District, Cumbria, held a call with Tourism Minister Nigel Huddlestone to make the case for long-term support for the hospitality and tourism industry.
8 Jul 2020
Sunderland’s NHS staff shouldn’t be “punished” by paying “extortionate parking charges”
Local councillors in Sunderland have hit out at revelations that the Government are going to end free parking for NHS staff.
NH
8 Jul 2020
Tories Plans to Scrap Runnymede Borough Council
Surreys Conservative administration have announced their plans to scrap all 11 local borough councils in Surrey and instead administer everything through a single Surrey wide administration. This means that all the services provided by Runnymede Borough Council such as bin collection and planning will be controlled by one Kingston based administration, which is not even in Surrey.
DWGLRLD
8 Jul 2020
Blackburn Bus Station Shocker £3.7 million over budget
Blackburn's much heralded bus station has finally cost £8.4 million. Blackburn with Darwen's Labour run council said it would only cost £4.7 million at the start. They had to replace the contractors during the building of the project and when challenged by Liberal Democrat Councillors they said it would not result in increased costs. Liberal Democrat Councillor Roy Davies said," This will come as a shock to Blackburn with Darwen Council Tax payers, the Labour Councillors in charge should hang their heads in shame." His colleague Councillor Paul Browne added, "This is not the first time this council has overspent on big projects - they miscalculated on the cost of removing burials to make way for the ring road extension."
8 Jul 2020
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!”
