Since 2015 residents of North Wall have been worried about parking, speeding and access at the entrance to North Wall. After much effort Bob has been able to escalate the issue to the Community Area Transport Group (CATG). With the assistance of Cricklade Town Council parking restrictions have now been introduced around the entrance to make the junction safer.
Cricklade Councillor Bob Jones has been working with Green Square Housing Association during the development of Culverhay to introduce a 20mph speed limit covering the whole of Bath Road.
Working with Marston Meysey Parish and local residents Bob has been able to secure £5,000 of funding towards new play park equipment for the parish from the Area Board.
Local councillor Bob Jones has met with Wiltshire Council officers to facilitate the arrangements for a new lease for the Cricklade pre-school. The pre-school lease with Wiltshire Council had expired and they were unable to progress any funding or plans for the future without a secure lease in place.
Today Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats have launched our campaign to freeze fares for Bedford rail users.
Calne Central's Ian Thorn has described the increases in car parking charges, including introducing charges on Sunday's and Bank holidays, as a massive slap in the face for local residents and businesses. "This can only have an impact on our already hard pressed businesses, tourists and shoppers to the town,' said Ian. 'In Calne we are lucky that the town council provides funding for two hours free parking in the Church Street car park. Whether they will able to extend the funding for Sundays and Bank holidays is another matter.'
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!”
