Responding to the news that the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal brought by Medway Council against the decision not to allow a Judicial Review, Medway Liberal Democrats are disappointed, but not surprised the Judicial Review had failed and we call on the Secretary of State to review the arguments before proceeding with this plan.
Slavery was finally abolished across the British Empire in 1833, but a hidden form of slavery exists 187 year later in the modern day. One example of the emergence of modern-day slavery is the Modern Taxi Business in the UK.
The Labour run Leicester City Council are yet again in disarray this week after the Guido Fawkes website, order-order.com exposed Leicester Deputy Mayor, Cllr Adam Clarke as having driven since February 2020 without a valid MOT certificate on his vehicle. Furthermore to add to the issue, the same vehicle has had no Road Fund license paid on it when due on May 1st. Both have since been rectified and in line with the a Labour lockdown rule breakers an apology issued.
Bucknell Stores shut up shop on Saturday having had to cope with repeated flooding over the last two years. Sam & Lee Taylor & family, who have run the shop for the past four years received a bouquet of flowers from a grateful community.
The latest weekly coronavirus statistics for Bedford Borough was published earlier this week.
Woodbridge Children's Centre to close as Tory cuts and closure plans are approved The Woodbridge Caterpillar Children's Centre and Chatterbox in Ipswich will shut as part of the Suffolk County Council's cabinet plans to revamp the 38 children's centres. Suffolk County Council closed nine centres in 2015 and under the currently approved plans, two more centres would be close and nine would become nurseries, leaving 27 full or part-time "family hubs". The council said the changes will offer more outreach services for hard-to-reach rural areas and cater for 0-19 year olds instead of just under fives. The Council said that the new model, called family hubs, will save around £435,000 in building costs which will be put towards staffing and helping recruit 12 outreach workers. The cuts and closures will see control of eight centres return to school or nurseries they are attached to, and will turn 11 into part-time hubs, with 17 staying open full-time, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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!”
