Folkestone and Hythe Lib Dem Leader Tim Prater and Green Party Leader Lesley Whybrow have put down a motion to the 26th June District Council meeting calling on the Council to withdraw its own proposals to develop Princes Parade, and instead build a new leisure centre and swimming pool at Martello Lakes in West Hythe.
Andrew Bryant took his concerns about Trowbridge to the top table.
On 24th May, the Opposition members of the Audit and Governance Committee on Folkestone and Hythe District Council (Lib Dem Tim Prater, Green Lesley Whybrow and Labour's Ray Field) put down a motion to remove the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee and to hold a meeting to elect their successors.
After yet more closures and redundancies as Ford says their engine plant in Bridgend will close in September 2020 with the loss of 1,700 jobs, Newcastle Liberal Democrats business spokesperson Cllr Robin Ashby said:
![Pegasus Bridge [Site of one of the earliest operations of D-Day 1944, WW2]](/fileadmin/_processed_/2/f/csm_pegasus-bridge-site-of-one-of-the-earliest-operations-of-d-day-1944-ww2_12d2a2616b.png)
On the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Mayor Dave Hodgson has paid tribute and highlighted the 'extraorindary, eternal debt of gratitude we all owe.'
Local MP Tim Farron has joined the search for Trustees to lead a new mental health charity based in South Lakeland.
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!”
