We can keep St David’s Hall council run, scrap increases in school bus passes and school meals, invest more in roads and footways and set lower council tax rise say Lib Dems.
Federal Policy Committee meetings report: February 2023. From Jeremy Hargreaves, vice-chair of the Federal Policy Committee.
A man who dumped packaging from a television in Rutland Road, Bedford this month has paid a Fixed Penalty Notice for fly-tipping. The Fixed Penalty Notice for fly-tipping is £400 which can be reduced to £300 with an early payment discount.
This week was food waste action week 🧅🍌🍍🥚 Apps like Too Good To Go, food waste action charities and initiatives are great. Of...
We have all been appalled by the new Asylum Bill announced last week. If passed into law this Bill will stop anyone who arrives on a small boat putting in an asylum claim in the UK - it will be deemed inadmissible meaning the Home Office won't even consider the claim, This is despite the fact that two thirds of all people who crossed the Channel last year would have their claim for asylum accepted. Everyone arriving on a small boat will be detained and removed. This means that people who have come here fleeing war and persecution and already traumatised are locked up - at enormous cost and despite the lack of spaces in detention centres - and a realistic chance of them being removed. The refugee agencies and others including the Archbishop of York and, as you may have heard, Gary Linekar have strong condemned this inhumane and totally unworkable proposal. You can read more about the Bill and the Refugee Council's response here.
CONSERVATIVE councillors in Wirral have voted for a Council Tax rise despite campaigning against the proposal on the doorstep.
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!”
