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
The West of England Partnership (BathNES, Bristol, S.Glos and N.Somerset) have raised major concerns aboutb the availability of rolling stock for trains and services on the rail in the west of england.
The following letter has been sent on behalf of us to Lord Adonis
WEST OF ENGLAND RAIL ISSUES
The four Executive Members for Transport have asked that I write again, as a follow up to my previous letter of 7 April 2009, regarding our concerns over the lack of clarity on the provision of sufficient rolling stock to cater for passengers using train services in the West of England.Thank your for your reply of 28 April 2009 to our previous letter.
Local rail services in the West of England continue to be beset with problems of inadequate capacity.Short forming of trains on both local services at peak times and on the Cardiff-Bristol-Portsmouth service is still a problem.We very much welcomed the announcement that the Bristol to London route is to be electrified, and that as a result of a rolling stock cascade, there may be electric trains for some West of England local services. However this is in the longer term and brings a number of challenges, in particular how the continued growth in passengers and overcrowding on local and regional routes is to be tackled until electric services are provided after 2017.
The West of England Partnership undertakes an annual survey of rail passengers using local stations.The November 2009 survey shows a growth in station footfall of 16% over the previous year and a 44% growth over the last five years.
Figures from the Office of Rail Regulation, based on ticket sales, for all stations in the West of England area show a 25.3% increase in passengers over the period 2004/05 to 2007/08.These figures predate the three trains every two hours service introduced on the SevernBeach line in May 2008.
The Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Equipment Support site at Filton Abbey Wood is set to expand by 2,500 posts by 2012 further increasing the use and pressure on the adjacent railway station and train services.
In the light of all these figures more, and more reliable, rolling stock is an urgent requirement.
The proposed new trains for the Cardiff to Bristol to Portsmouth route would have brought much needed additional capacity.There was much disappointment when this order was cancelled.
We understand that some of the current local trains used in the West of England will be returned to their former operators in May 2010 and that First Great Western will instead receive trains cascaded from other Franchises. I would be grateful if you could confirm how many replacement trains will be provided, and how much additional capacity this will provide over the present train allocation in the West of England.Will these trains be fully refurbished before they enter service?
We wish to add our strong support to First Great Western’s negotiations for additional rolling stock.
Can you confirm the timescale for implementation of the proposals made in the Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS): Draft for Consultation (September 2009) for additional trains for the greater Bristol area?The RUS proposes nine additional vehicles (over and above the High Level Output Specification proposal of 12 vehicles) for services into and out of Bristol Temple Meads to address problems of overcrowding.We would be grateful for clarification of the future rolling stock strategy for the West of England sub-region.
Our sub-region is both a gateway to and vital to strengthening the economy of the South West.It is the main focus for shopping, cultural activities, education and tourism in the South West, with Bath designated as a World Heritage site.With the draft Regional Spatial Strategy, if approved, bringing further major growth in population, housing and economic activity over the coming years we need to continue to invest in our public transport network to ensure people have sustainable choices.
Working in partnership with Network Rail, First Great Western and the Severnside Community Rail Partnership much has been achieved on rail in the West of England and we intend to build upon this success with our Multi Area Agreement’s Memorandum of Understanding with the rail industry and the Regional Funding Allocation schemes for reopening the Portishead line and the Greater Bristol Metro project for enhanced ½ hourly cross Bristol train services.
In view of the serious concerns we have over rolling stock issues, we would request an urgent meeting with you to discuss these concerns in more detail and to try to identify possible solutions.
Following the consultation last year on HMOs I submitted my views that tougher planning legislation is required. It is good news then that the government’s announcement of new powers for Councils to control ‘Houses in Multiple Occupation’ (HMOs) has been made. Councillors (lead by SHaun McGall) and Don Foster MP have been campaigning on this issue for 10 years.
Today’s announcement shows that the government has finally bowed to national public pressure and has given local Councils the much-needed powers to control the spread of high concentrations of shared rented homes. This will allow Councils to tackle pockets of unsafe and substandard accommodation run by bad landlords. Liberal Democrat Councillors in the city and MP Don Foster had been calling on the Government to speed up action on the subject.
Don Foster has warmly welcomed this announcement from the Minister. HMOs play an important role in providing affordable housing, but a dense population can have serious effects on the local community. It is great that the government has finally realised this and changed the law.
Councillor Shaun McGall (Oldfield) said: “This is good for local residents giving control over unregulated profit driven changes to the community. Good for HMO tenants, as it will improve standards and get rid of bad landlords, by providing a mechanism for councils to set up local landlord licensing schemes. The changes mean that landlords will need to apply for planning permission in order to establish a new HMO with a change of use, for example when the use of a property is altered from a family home to a shared house, with three or more tenants who are not related.”
It wasn’t just Councillors who responded to the consultation as many submission were sent in from across Bath. This is a victory for communities including families, students, and other adults living in shared, rented housing.
B&NES is setting its budget now. The main problem of course is the whole system The Council Tax is the failed Conservative solution to the appaling Poll Tax. Its good to see central Government forcing Councils to set lower Council Tax rise. However they need to stop adding requirements on local Government without funding provision. That being said this is a problem for all local government so we just have to get on with it and provide services.
Initial budget announcements made by the Conservative-run B&NES Council are facing criticism from Liberal Democrat Councillors. Councillor David Dixon (Walcot), who shadows the Resources portfolio, commented: “These budget announcements are merely short term ‘surface dressing’ to mask the many cuts in this year’s budget and in future years. The Conservatives should be upfront about where the money is coming from. These extras are being paid for out of funds set aside for risks, which can now be reallocated, but this is one-off money and won’t be repeated in future years. Exceptional funds should be allocated to ‘invest-to-save’ projects to help soften the impacts of future pressures and to give the support the Council services need to reshape in light of the huge savings that will be needed in future years.”
Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown), Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: “Reading the Conservatives’ budget statement you would think that Bath and North East Somerset Council was unique in facing cuts. Year on year, the Cabinet has complained about being ‘short-changed’: it’s about time they stopped blaming the Government and got on with the business of delivering the services our residents want. Every Council in the land is dealing with the adverse financial climate, but nearby Liberal Democrat-run Councils are looking at lower Council tax rises than B&NES: Portsmouth Council is looking to freeze Council tax this year and Bristol is looking at a 2% increase.”
Councillor Nathan Hartley (Peasedown), who shadows the Children’s Services portfolio, said: “The funds announced for Children’s Services will keep the department’s budget above the line this year, but this money must be used to prevent cuts to front line services. Current budget plans include a £19,000 cut from youth democracy projects and £125,000 cut over the next 3 years from funds for free school transport to 16-18 year olds with special needs. Let’s just hope this funding from reserves can really help those that need it.”
Cuts are also a concern for Councillor Will Sandry (Oldfield), who shadows the Adult Services portfolio. He said: “The £150,000 of ‘extra’ funding announced for adult social care cannot distract from the massive hole in the budget over the next 3 years, with £2.25 million of ‘unidentified savings’ included to balance the books. Residents can expect to see more massive cuts and price hikes in this area.”
Come off it John, it was obvious at the time to several million UK citizens that the whole case for war was a scam and had been in preparation for over a year.
It is clear you feel guilty now in retrospect or if you were genuinely taken in by Tony Blair, it does not say much for your ability or judgement then.
The war was an illegal invasion from day one and as we approach the election people should not forget that it was not just Labour that voted for this outrage but also the large majority of the conservative party.
Liberal Democrats announce commitment to scrapping tuition fees
Many of us have been pressing for a while now for a clear policy to scrap tuition fees. It is welcome that the Liberal Democrat have now announced the party’s commitment to scrapping university tuition fees. The party has revealed plans which gradually phase out the fees over the course of six years. The commitment means that the Lib Dems are still the only one of the three major parties promising free university education for all. In contrast, Labour and the Conservatives refuse to address the issue of fees, leading to worries that they may rise.
University should not be elitist or only available to the wealthy. It should be open to all on ability only. Fees simply saddle young people with debt. Not all graduates go into high wage jobs and those that do will pay more tax over their working life.
However here in Bath we also want to see better regulation of housing for students and believe that Universities should be obliged to ensure that all first and final year students are housed in purpose built student accommodation. The Government could help by taking the simple step of allowing councils such as B&NES to count student housing units in their housing targets.
A lot of my travel around Bath is done on foot – it is great for health and great for the environment. It also allows thinking time. It is well worth signing up to the news letter for Walking Works . The Mince Pie calculator is a bit of good fun but also has a serious message.
In Bath the Conservative package of transport solutions has at last been called in by the Government. Schemes based on Park and Ride do not solve traffic congestion – they simply encourage more people to do the bulk of the journey by car. What is needed is a much bigger bus network linking the villages on a regular basis to the urban communities. Better still get more people to work were they live or move to live were they work. The problem with that in Bath is the high house price values which make them unnafordable for many. Our central government – whether Labour or Conservative – have been getting the issue of land value, employment, accomodation and transport wrong for decades though. The key is a first class public transport network – as so many European Cities can demonstrate.
The news that the Government is calling a public enquiry into the Bath Package is welcome news. The schemes to build a two lane highway to serve 1 bus every 6 minutes or so and put a large P&R in the flood plain were hugely controversial.
Many residents resented the way our Conservative Cabinet seemed to force these schemes through without giving due consideration to options put forward by the Liberal Democrats and others.
Perhaps now we can get some better options to solve Bath traffic problems on the table for consideration such as a rail station at Corsham, more control over the bus timetable and more bus routes to villages would be a start.
