MP joins local community to celebrate 10 years of Witherslack Community Shop
Local MP Tim Farron recently joined the local community in Witherslack to celebrate 10 years since the community shop opened.
11 Sep 2018
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
Liverpool Councillor Kay Davies joins the Liberal Democrats
Former Labour councillor for County Ward has joined the Liberal Democrats and will sit with the party group on Liverpool City Council.
11 Sep 2018
Final Day at the Brighton Conference-Preview
Annual Conference - Brighton 15-18 September 2018 Liberal Democrats - DEMAND BETTER In the final part of the Federal Conference preview, we take a look at the programme and agenda for the events at Brighton on Tuesday.
11 Sep 2018
New powers needed to tackle lorry drivers who ignore weight restrictions
Councils need tougher powers to deal with heavy haulage road rogues. Tough new powers are needed for town halls to tackle lorry drivers who ignore weight restrictions, bringing chaos to the nation's villages and roads, local Liberal Democrats are saying. Lorries of a certain weight, height or width are banned from many minor roads but the police, whilst doing all they can, do not always have the resources to enforce the restrictions.
10 Sep 2018
Killingworth Road - first phase nearing completion
The long-delayed Northern Gas Networks' works being carried out at Killingwoth Road, which have caused it to be closed for many months, now seem to be reaching a conclusion.
10 Sep 2018
CONSERVATIVES BLOCK LIB DEM PROPOSAL TO RESOLVE BIN PROBLEMS
At a Council meeting on Thursday North Herts Conservative councillors voted down a proposal from the Liberal Democrats that the leader of the council and the executive member for waste and recycling should meet senior managers from Urbaser to solve the problems with the bin service. They also rejected a call for them to prepare a contingency plan to deal with the situation if Urbaser fails to improve.
10 Sep 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!”
