COUNCILLORS IN BID TO SAVE HOUSEHOLD SHOPPING IN GRAFTON AREA
Lib Dem City Councillors Katie Porrer and Tim Bick are campaigning to save key shops in the Grafton area in response to the plans...
22 Nov 2022
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
New figures reveal over £100m needed to fix Esher and Walton’s local hospitals
£100m is needed to clear the hospital maintenance backlog and to repair crumbling buildings at the two main hospitals which serve Esher and Walton, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found. Meanwhile, the part of the NHS which covers hospital buildings is facing a £700 million cut, threatening the planned new hospital for nearby...
22 Nov 2022
Federal Party Press Releases
Debt figures: Conservative Chancellors have blown black hole in Britain's finances
Responding to new ONS figures showing the scale of UK government borrowing in October, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said:
22 Nov 2022
Kempston Christmas Lights switch-on
This year, the Kempston Christmas lights switch on-event is on Sunday 27 November.
22 Nov 2022
CREATING A NEW CHINESE COMMUNITY IN TUNBRIDGE WELLS
The introduction of National Securities legislation has led to the UK government offering BNO passport holders the right to settle in the UK as from January 2021 as well as funding a welcome package for HKers amounting to £43 million to be accessible through local authority services in England, Scotland and Wales. It has been reported that as of April approximately 140,000 to 150,000 BNO passport holders have applied to the UK under the new visa scheme with pathway to citizenship after 5 years of residency.
CMMTWBC
21 Nov 2022
Update on Conservation Area
On Tuesday last week the decison on the conservation areas around Highgate Lane and Chingford Avenue went at short notice to the Conservative Cabinet meeting at Rushmoor Council for decision. We found out about this only days before hand and put a note out as soon as we could to residents in the area. The conservation areas had been amended - Farnborough Hill area now retains the grounds of Farnborough Hill but no longer includes Highgate Lane and Chingford Avenue. The new Farnborough Street area also had some amendments. Local residents attended the meeting and 70 people had responded to the consultation held earlier in the year. Whilst the Lib Dem team do not agree in particular with the Highgate lane and Chingford Avenue area being removed the Conservative Cabinet agreed with the proposals.
LC
21 Nov 2022
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!”
