Mayor launches All Age Skills Plan
Bedford Borough Mayor Dave Hodgson, this week launched the All Age Skills Plan.
13 Feb 2020
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
Growing up in Africa
The Friends of Folkestone Museum present a talk by Lord Boateng on Saturday 21 March, 2pm-3.45pm in the Education Room, Folkestone Museum. The title of the talk is 'Growing up in Africa'.
FFM
13 Feb 2020
Give us our railway back!
Speaking on the statement by the Prime Minister on HS2 and Transport Infrastructure, which was repeated in the House of Lords by transport minister Baroness Vere, Pendle based Liberal Democrat Lord Tony Greaves said that "those of us who live in the corridor between East Lancashire and Skipton in the Aire Valley in Yorkshire are not bothered about having high-speed rail. We want our railway back: the 11 miles between Colne and Skipton."
13 Feb 2020
Conservative Councillors to Abandon Top Election Pledge
The Conservative council executive is about to approve plans which go against another of its election pledges after abandoning its commitment to protect the green belt at last month's council meeting, sending proposals for extensive building on the green belt out for consultation. At this month's executive meeting the conservative look set to abandon their top election pledge to keep the 1 hour free parking at its town centre car parks.
JA
12 Feb 2020
Danger at unfinished zebra crossing
After a good deal of pressure from local councillors, a zebra crossing has at last been installed by The Dam in Lymm.
WLD
12 Feb 2020
Priorities for Lymm
Lymm Liberal Democrats have been out in the centre of the village talking to residents about their priorities for the village over the next few years.
WLD
12 Feb 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!”
