Small and medium-sized businesses, from tech start-ups to hairdressers and cafes, in Hinckley and Bosworth will pay an extra £4.3million a year due to the rise in national insurance, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has found.
Great progress has been made in tackling child poverty in the city following the Milton Keynes Child Poverty Commission suggesting a way forward, a recent report finds.
I have lived and studied in Guildford for more than 20 years and before that, I grew up in Farnham. Visits to Guildford as a child were always a treat, so as you can see, Guildford is in my blood and I am pleased and proud to support Guildford Borough Council's bid for city status for Guildford. It would, of course, be a 'third-time lucky' bid and I am hopeful that my home town will this time be granted the city status it deserves. The City of Guildford has a positive ring to it and as the county town of Surrey, with a Cathedral and a University, it makes complete sense for Guildford to be granted city status by Her Majesty to celebrate her 70 years on the throne next year.
Bedford Borough Council and BedfordBID (Bedford's Business Improvement District) have been working together to bring exciting plans to life for Christmas in Bedford town centre this year.
Last year water companies dumped raw #sewage into British rivers and coastal waters over 400,000 times. Opposition MPs and even some Tories voted in favour of an amendment which would stop this dangerous pollution destroying the environment. It was defeated by Tory MPs such as the local MP Andrew Murrison. Now they say 'we don't understand, apparently they were voting to dump sewage to stop it back flowing in the system!' Water privatisation took place in 1989. That's 32 years, of which 19 have been under Tory or Tory-dominated govts. Why haven't the water companies used their profits to take the steps needed long before now? https://www.theriverstrust.org/key-issues/sewage-in-rivers
Wiltshire Council and Natural England have created the Wiltshire Environmental Toolkit, (WET) which gives community groups, and town and parish councils, helpful advice to create and improve habitats and the natural environment in their area.
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!”
