BEACh - Bath East Asian and Chinese friends group held their community New Year party today. It was great to be invited to join the celebrations again. Guests this year included the Mayor of Bath and Don Foster MP.

The annual celebration gets bigger each year and the range of entertainments gets better each year. There is a real cross culture of East meets West happening in Bath. I practised my Mandarin with several people with varying degrees of success.

It was a real family get together and with no alcohol it was much better for all generations to have a good time together.

Pictures at THIS LINK

As a ward Councillor for Southdown and as the Leader of the the Liberal Democrat group I have a large range of duties and tasks to perform over the Council area only a few of which I claim expenses for. This month I visited Bristol Port, Radstock 3 times, Keynsham twice, Whitchurch once and Peasdown twice - outside the Bath and Bathavon area

Below is a summary of costs for the month followed by what I claimed for:

Miles by car or cycle (walking not included)  231 (210 car 21 cycle)

First Bus day bus passes   1  plus 2 returns on Faresaver

Train to Bristol for a West of England Partnership meeting

Coffee/tea/sundries  £69.53

My expenses claim for January

12 miles of travel £5.26 : 1 First day bus pass £4 : 1 return train to Bristol £5.90 : No sundries claimed for.

Total = £15.16

Congratulations to Stefan Di-Finizio for winning this years Youth MP election in B&NES

Results of Youth Parliament Elections announced

Bath and North East Somerset has a new Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP), following the results of the nation UK Youth Parliament Elections.

Nearly all Bath and North East Somerset schools and youth projects participated in the elections, with 6,552 11-18 year olds casting their vote. Stefan Di-finizio, from Wellsway School, was elected as the MYP (Member of the Youth Parliament) for Bath and North East Somerset with 1,253 votes. Runner up with 1,122 votes, was William Holmes from Norton Hill School, who now becomes the Deputy Member of the Youth Parliament for B&NES for the next year.

The elections were organised by the young people of DAFBY (Democratic  Action For B&NES Youth) with a coordinating volunteer, Mike Evans, and the support of Bath and North East Somerset Council Youth Service. Ten young people stood as candidates from eight different schools.

Visit the B- Active Youth Zone website http://www.b-active.info/info/Youth_Parliament2.php

Bath was lucky to win a grant over two years ago to develop the Two Tunnels cycleway project. The bid was won by a community coalition including the Two Tunnels group and sustrans. The year of the Pigs public art project raised a lot of money for it. It was only the slowness of the Conservative administration of the Council that has put a break on the project.

Now finally the Council has finally signed up to its side of the deal. Lets hope we can get some speedy progress now.

Funding released for Two Tunnels Project

A £1.8 million project to create new cycle routes in the district is being financially supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council following a decision made this week. The Two Tunnels Project is being overseen by sustainable transport charity Sustrans as part of their Connect2 project that once complete will see hundreds of miles of walking and cycling routes spring up around the UK – providing extra bridges, extra links - improving travel and reducing our carbon footprint. Patrick Tully, Senior Engineer Bath Two Tunnels from Sustrans, said, “We are very pleased with the progress that is being made to make the decision for the Bath Two Tunnels scheme to go ahead.  We look forward to signing the finalised paperwork very soon and getting on site so we can start making this route a reality and the local communities can start to benefit from it.”

Councillor Charles Gerrish (Conservative, Keynsham North), Cabinet Member for Customer Services, said, “The Two Tunnels Project is an initiative that will make walking and cycling more attractive and enjoyable. Bath & North East Somerset Council is delighted to invest money in this project that will improve transport and the public realm. It will help promote sustainable transport use and support people to get active through improving health and fitness. I’m very aware of the high levels of community support for this scheme.”

The multi-user path will join Bath and Midford by a virtually flat system of tunnels and impressive overland paths following the existing disused railway. The route makes a wide sweep through Oldfield Park, surfaces in Lyncombe Vale and finally emerges in beautiful open country at Tucking Mill, before joining the long distance Sustrans NCN24 route at Midford.

The Council will contribute £269,000 in 2010/11 and £100,000 in 2011/12.  £31,000 has been spent this year on principal inspections of Combe Down Tunnel, Devonshire Tunnel and Tucking Mill Viaduct, making a total contribution of £400,000.

Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib Dem, Combe Down), the Council’s Cycling Champion said, “Two Tunnels is a fantastic project and will put Bath on the map as far as cycling goes. The Council must now get on with the planned cycling improvements throughout the city to make it safer for the thousands of cyclists who will be attracted to Bath to use the Two Tunnels.”

This season watching Bath Rugby has not been easy. Teatering around at the bottom of the table, going nowhere in the European cup and then suddenly exploding to life in the LV cup against Sale. Great rugby from the team. Fantastic tries and a well deserved win.

The interesting site Power 2010 is addressing the mess that is our current political state with a simple vote on a number of measures to improve our democracy. See Power2010    Everyone is allowed to vote for 5 ideas.

I have voted for

1. Proportional Votes - our parliament must look and feel like our society

2. More power to the Local level -  government should serve communities not dictate to them

3. Fixed Term Parliaments - it is a nonsense that the PM can play fast and loose with the election date

4. An elected 2nd chamber - get rid of this absurd system of patronage and exclusivity

5. Political lessons in schools - our young people should be engaged in political choice and have a full understanding of how our society works. It is absurd that these ideas are not taught in school.

It is good news that the Government is starting to encourage householders to fit micro generation facilitiues to their homes. It is good news that the feeder rates come with a 25 year gaurantee.

The only problem is the lack of political will to make sure that this really takes off with a generous feeder tarrif rate. At 36p it is a start but not good enough. The We Support Solar coalition was asking for a feeder rate of 46p and in my submission to the consultation I suggested it needed to be set at 50p.

This is better than nothing but will not drive the setp change that is really desired to make every house in the country a power generating source.

This could be funded by simply cancelling any money it has set aside to continued support of new nuclear power stations. Also money could then be found to help householders on low income take advantage of the scheme.

As a ward Councillor for Southdown and as the Leader of the the Liberal Democrat group I have a large range of duties and tasks to perform over the Council area only a few of which I claim expenses for.

Below is a summary of costs for the month followed by what I claimed for:

Miles by car or cycle (walking not included)  126  (90 by car and 36 by cycle)

First Bus day bus passes   4  plus 1 return on Faresaver plus 1 journey on Wessex Connect

postage               £5

Coffee/tea/sundries  £60.95

My expenses claim for January was a total of £8.43 for 20 miles of travel costs