Brentwood Liberal Democrats are calling on the Chancellor to protect education spending, as shocking new figures show that schools in Brentwood & Ongar face cuts in their spending power of £1.9 million next year.
Orkney's MSP, Liam McArthur, has renewed his calls for isles-based businesses to be brought back into the Air Discount Scheme (ADS). It follows a report by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) suggesting that cheaper air travel for business passengers is needed to strengthen the viability of lifeline routes.
Mayor Dave Hodgson recently visited Bedford Road Primary School who successfully applied for £10,900 of funding from the Climate Change Fund.
As many you are aware, the Liberal Democrats have been running a residents' survey over the last couple of months across North West Hampshire. One of the regular complaints is over the lack of police visibility and anti-social behaviour. There has been much comment recently on the decline of police effectiveness despite an increase in numbers. In 2021 police only charged a suspect in 6.6% of robberies and 4.2% of thefts. These are not figures to be proud of. Most of this was due to basic errors in investigative techniques, such as not reviewing CCTV evidence before dropping a case. Many victims feel let down and the bars for prosecution appear high.
With Small Business Saturday on November 26th, Councillor Jack Caldwell made three asks from the Council administration to help support Leith's small indepdendent shops
New figures out today from the Ministry of Justice show that “mortgage claims, orders, warrants and repossessions have increased significantly”.
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!”
