The latest Halliford and Sunbury Focus
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25 Mar 2018
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
Ipswich March for Europe attracts hundreds for Staying Together.
Resounding support for Staying Together as Ipswich Exit from Brexit Rally attracts hundreds to March for Europe On a day when Labour Shadow spokesperson Owen Smith MP was sacked for speaking out and demanding that the British public get a voice through a referendum on the Brexit deal and Channel 4 and the Guardian made explosive claims about the Leave campaign's conduct during the EU referendum hundreds of supporters for Staying Together gathered at University Campus Ipswich for a March for Europe.
25 Mar 2018
Jo Swinson interview: Forget being good, women should be gutsy
WHEN Jo Swinson was a teenager, studying at Douglas Academy in Milngavie, she was awarded the Senior Dux prize for achievement, and was given a trophy plus a book of her choice. What she opted for, as she describes in her book Equal Power: And How You Can Make It Happen, was a popular title by Kate White, a journalist who would later go on to edit Cosmopolitan. It was called Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do.
VAS
25 Mar 2018
UK Chemical Industry will be Badly Damaged by Brexit - Starting Now as Companies Plan to Reduce Future Supply Complications
It is not just engineering which benefits from the free transit of products, parts and components along, often complex, international manufacturing and supply chains. The UK chemicals industry also relies on intermediate products and components being made in a succession of different countries. The import of goods for additional processing and subsequent re-export is common. Trade barriers of any kind - tariffs, duties, quotas, delays, bureaucracy - would be disastrous.
25 Mar 2018
UK Chemical Industry will be Badly Damaged by Brexit - Starting Now as Companies Plan to Reduce Future Supply Complications
It is not just engineering which benefits from the free transit of products, parts and components along, often complex, international manufacturing and supply chains. The UK chemicals industry also relies on intermediate products and components being made in a succession of different countries. The import of goods for additional processing and subsequent re-export is common. Trade barriers of any kind - tariffs, duties, quotas, delays, bureaucracy - would be disastrous.
25 Mar 2018
Democracy in local authority planning no longer exists
PRESS RELEASE
25 Mar 2018
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!”
