Parish Councillor Nick Stapleton co-ordinates the West Malling Speedwatch scheme and has been working hard over the past year, alongside residents and fellow parish councillors, doing sessions in various locations across the town.
Arundel House has been a blot on our High Street since 2013. It is owned by someone who lives outside the UK much of the time.
Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners are leading the campaign to protect and strengthen Mole Valley's libraries during the next round of Tory cuts at Surrey County Council.
We receive many complaints about the lack of grass cutting and weed clearance in Leybourne and around the county. TMBC are responsible for " amenity mowing" to keep the grass looking neat and tidy, and they do this 12 times a year. KCC are responsible for
After pressure from local Lib Dem Councillors, work was authorised to sort out the floods at the New Road - London Rd junction near B and Q. But even we were surprised to hear the account of the drainage engineer on what happened next. He wrote " I can confirm that 9 soakaways, 3 catchpits, 27 gullies and about 280 metres of 150mm surface water pipes have been cleaned. We removed 70.18 tonnes of spoil and it took 8
When KCC say on the news that it has "salted all the roads", what it means is that they have salted all the 'Primary Salting Routes'. These are generally A and B roads and busy commuter routes. Locally, just the A20, A228 (bypass) and the road from A20 into West Malling are Primary routes. Secondary Salting routes are meant to include places like Doctors, Care Homes, and Schools. Last winter, none of the secondary routes were
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!”
