Over 200 members from across the SW met at Taunton this weekend for our regional conference. We had a good debate on Zero Waste and saying NO to mass burn Incineration which was won. Also had a debate on the poor settlement for some our local fire brigades from the government.
Bath and NE Somerset was the first Council in the UK to adopt Zero Waste as its policy following a motion from Cllr Roger Symonds and myself. Since then the movement has been building but the Government is certainly doing all it can to ram ass Burn Incineration down everyone’s throat. We are fighting Labour+Conservative plans for a big incinerator in Bristol. Incineration is not an environmental solution it is an excuse to avoid addressing the issue of waste.
At the Conference we hear form our new president Ros Scott, our Europe leader Graham Watson, Nick Clegg and then today Vince Cable.
As ever he is the only politician making serious points about the horrendous state of the economy. It is worse here than in the world in general but all the Conservatives can say is Yah Boo to Gordon and Gordon still thinks he is saving the world!!! what a joke.
Over the last few weeks I have joined the lobbying of David Heath MP to take on as his private members bill the challenge of tackling fuel poverty. This is a serious issues for many families on low income in this country and that fact that it goes on year after year is a shame on the Government. Sticking plaster cash handouts are not the long term answer. We need a concerted attack on the way energy is charged and on how we improve the insulation and fuel efficiency of our current housing stock.
I was delighted that David took up the challenge and I hope he steers the Bill through parliament.
Here is the response I got from one of his staff
“Thank you for your email to David about the Fuel Poverty Bill.
I am delighted to inform you that, after much consultation with a diverse range of organisations and campaign groups, David decided to take forward the Bill through Parliament. While he received hundreds of worthy suggestions for potential Bills, he felt that the Fuel Poverty Bill would make a lasting difference to the huge number of people living in unacceptable conditions across Britain today.
The Bill will have two main objectives. The first will be the launch of a major energy efficiency programme to ‘fuel poverty proof’ existing homes by bringing them up to the current energy efficiency levels enjoyed by modern homes. The second will be the use of social tariffs to limit vulnerable households’ exposure to high energy bills. After the particularly cold weather we have experience this winter, there is a clear need to ensure that all homes are fully insulated, keeping the vulnerable warm and reducing energy bills.
Many high profile organisations, including Age Concern, the Child Poverty Action Group and Friends of the Earth, have backed the Bill. He is hopeful that with your continued support and effort, the Bill will build substantial cross-party backing.
Should you wish to receive updates on the progress of the Bill, please email me back and I will add you to our mailing list.”
Our MP Don Foster has launched a 10 point plan to help the city beat the recession.
Don launches plan to help boost Bath economy
Following his meeting with a selection of local business owners last week, Bath MP Don Foster has launched an 8-point plan which, if implemented, would boost the local economy.
Possible measures including running park & ride services at limited times on a Sunday; offering a free parking period once a week and conducting a full scale rent review of Council property.
Don has written to Council Chief Executive John Everitt and all four group leaders to outline has plan.
The plan in full includes:
Increasing the take up of small business rate relief
Introducing a park & ride service at appropriate hours on Sundays
Ensuring the Council pays its suppliers promptly
Offering a free parking period once a week
Giving local businesses as single point of contact at the Council
Conduct rent reviews that reflect the current economic situation
Consult properly with local small businesses on all changes
Effectively promote the ‘Buy with Confidence’ scheme
Don said, “We have got to start talking positively about local business, it is not all doom and gloom out there.The Council must start helping the local economy by promoting schemes that encourage people to spend.
“Getting extra people into town by offering a free parking period, or enhancing public transport provision on Sundays are simple steps that would make a real difference.
“The Council also needs to act as a responsible landlord and offer affordable rents to businesses; otherwise Bath could see an increase in empty units.”
Don also heard from a local business that had spent time and money in getting themselves approved for the Council-backed ‘Buy with Confidence’ scheme.
Don said, “It is very disappointing to learn that businesses are working hard to meet the ‘Buy with Confidence’ criteria and then getting very little in return.
“This scheme needs to be advertised a lot more widely so that the people of Bath know who the reputable local traders are.If the scheme is not promoted properly then its value is reduced and we will see fewer businesses attempting to sign up.”
The Bath Chronicle article can be seen at this LINK
I have just checked this link out and am surprised to see that our local newspaper seems to be blocking access to its articles. I would have thought they would welcome bloggers sending readers to look at their site. Oh well.
I have just had a helpful comment from a reader that this is the fault of the BLOG administration and not the Chronicle web so I am trying to get sorted.
The Sustrans board met in Bath for one of their quarterly meetings. After the board work we had a prsentation on the Two Tunnels project and the onto the site to look at the scope and extent.
This will be a fabulous extension to the cycle network and will pass through two tunnels as well as requiring new bridges. It will enable cyclists to get from Midford under Combe Down and out into the heart of Bath using the old somerset rail lin into Green Park Station.
length 4 miles – Devonshire Tunnel 400M Combe Down Tunnel 1672M – 2 new bridges.
We finally seem to have set in place the joint project board between Sustrans, Two Tunnels and the Council. It took far longer than should have been the case as the Conservative administration dithered and doubted.
In Bath Liberal Democrats have been leading the campaign alongside parents and pupils to promote school travel systems using buses rather than parents ferrying kids around the city in cars.
The Conservative administration has put back consideration of the issue by several months. In the meantuime they are propagandising on Grid Lock Bath and trying to justify a costly new bus highway through people back gardens.
Everyone knows that the traffic jams reduce to near negligeable in the school holidays. Lets reduce traffic before building roads to give a small number of commuters a 2 minute travel time reduction.
For immediate release: Tuesday, 2nd December 2008
Are Tories serious about home-to-school transport?
Liberal Democrat Councillors are questioning the Conservative-led Council’s commitment to developing a sustainable home-to-school transport package which has been shelved for at least another 9 months.
The strategy has been developed to get more children out of private transport and on to school buses on their way to and from school.Currently parents find it easier and more cost effective to drive their children to school, thus adding to congestion across the district, and especially in Bath.Liberal Democrats in Bath & North East Somerset see home-to-school transport as a key element of providing transport improvements in the city.
Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Bath & North East Somerset Council, Cllr Paul Crossley (Southdown) said:
“This is deeply disappointing news, and makes me wonder whether the Conservative Council is as serious about congestion in Bath as it should be.
“Everyone who travels into Bath at peak times knows how much extra traffic there is during the school term.Getting our children out of their parent’s cars and onto buses is a massively important step in reducing congestion in the city, yet it is being delayed for another year.
“It is even more concerning that the £16million Bus Rapid Transit is being forced through, whereas a project that will actually help to reduce congestion is being put on the back-burner.”
Cllr Andy Furse, (Lib Dem, Kingsmead) said,
“This project is of major importance in promoting sustainable transport in Bath and it is a massive blow to see it delayed for a year.
“Parents across the city want to be able to send their children to school on reliable and affordable public transport.This decision by the Conservatives is a kick-in-the-teeth to these parents, and I want to know why this scheme will now be delayed until the 2009/10 academic year.
“I have real doubts as to whether the Conservative Council will ever deliver this crucial service.”
London seems to be leading the way on the latest bout of buearocratic nonsense and form filling.
Form 696 will ensure that pubs give up on live music. The form is discriminatory and an invasion of privacy. Pubs already have enough problems keeping open and the ones putting on live entertainment should be seen as an asset not something to be closed down.
Obviously the entertainment needs to be contained and the rights of neighbours need considering – but the vast majority of pubs offering live entertainment do so with no problems at all. Surely the correct solution is to use licencing powers on pubs that act anti-socially and let us contnue to enjoy live music and entertainment at our pubs.
Bath suffers from HGVs passing through en-route to somewhere else. The streets of Bath are not suited to hese modern monsters. The Cionservative administration talk but do not act.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for real action in keeping HGVs and through traffic out of Bath , by researching a scheme that sees alternative recommended routes sent to Sat Nav mapping companies.
Earlier this month Liberal Democrat research revealed that Bath and North East Somerset Council officers had not been attending meetings of the South West Regional Freight Forum, where the scheme has been discussed and actively piloted by Somerset County Council.
Our MP Don Foster has now written to the Chief Executive of Somerset County Council to find out more. Don said, “This is a sensible, practical way of reducing the number of HGVs getting stuck on inappropriate routes in our city, and can also help to reduce through traffic. It is pleasing that these companies are willing to work with local communities to improve the service they provide. We need to find out more about this scheme and start playing catch up so that we can work with Somerset County Council in producing effective alternative routes. It is time that there was real action on this issue.”
Liberal Democrat Councillor Ian Gilchrist asked a question on the issue at the last Full Council meeting. He said, “The Tories have talked and talked and talked. They keep claiming that they are working to stop HGVs using Bath as a through route, but the reality is that they are doing very little.
“If this was really a priority, as they claim it is, then they would have made sure officers were attending these meetings and that our Council was pioneering this scheme. Instead we are sadly lagging behind.”
And it is not just lorries blindly following satnav routes. Recently a car towing a caravan got hopelessly stuck at the right angle turn at the bottom of Sham Castle Lane where I live demolishing a garden wall in its efforts to escape its entrapment.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have welcomed the adoption of their motion on the Sustainable Communities Act. By adopting the motion B&NES Council has resolved to “use, to the full, its powers under the Act by preparing and submitting proposals to central government”.
The Act became law in 2007 and gives Councils the opportunity to make proposals to make proposals to Government to encourage the improvement of the economic, social or environmental wellbeing of the local area.
Councillor Paul Crossley (Liberal Democrat, Southdown) who moved the motion, said:
“This Act empowers local communities to raise issues and get their voices heard. It works on the principle that local people know best what is needed for their area.
“The Act can be used to address issues such as over-concentration of second homes or student houses, ‘clone cities’ and protection of post offices and local shopping areas.
“Now the Council needs to decide how it will advise and help communities develop proposals to be submitted to local government and how it will evaluate these proposals.”
Councillor Roger Symonds (Liberal Democrat, Combe Down) who seconded the motion, added:
“This is a great opportunity for Councils to reverse the trend of removing services from local communities. Under this act the Council should be able to make devolution and decentralisation into reality.”
The motion was adopted unanimously, reflecting the cross-party support the act has received at Parliament level.
Bath is now debating a LTP which has several contentious elements – a bus rapid transit and a P&R in the flood plain. This has all been pushed through with inadequate consultation with the residents and a refusal to consider other options. The Rapid transit system will drive a two lane highway along peoples back gardens at huge expense all to get a few non-residents into the centre two minutes more quickly. The Liberal Democrats have proposed that the route should be reserved for green travel and the commuters bused in with improved bus lanes around the Lower and Upper Bristol Roads.
B&NES Conservatives Refuse
Independent Review of Bath Transportation Package
Conservative Councillors in B&NES have come under fire tonight for refusing to consider an independent review of the Bath Transportation Package.
The Liberal Democrat motion which was tabled to tonight’s B&NES Council meeting was intended to permit a proper debate on the Package, which has caused so much controversy. However the Conservative Group forced through an amendment, which was also backed by Labour and Independent Councillors, to maintain nothing more than the status quo.
Councillor Andrew Furse (Liberal Democrat, Kingsmead), who moved the original motion, said:
“We are still not convinced that all the alternatives have been properly looked at and that there has been real and meaningful consultation. Once again the Conservatives have shut their ears to the protests which have been raised by the very people who will be worst affected by the scheme.
“The Conservatives seem only to be concerned with quibbling about who voted for what and when in the past. But residents care more about what is on the table right now. It is clear that the other parties do not care about residents’ concerns.”
Speaking earlier in the debate, Councillor Caroline Roberts (Liberal Democrat, Newbridge) said:
“It has been said by some people that there is a lot of fuss over the loss of just a half a dozen gardens. In fact we have counted the numbers and there are up to 1000 residents who will be affected by the new road outside their houses, or the new extension to the Newbridge park and ride. I cannot comment on how many would be affected along other parts of the route and the east of Bath park and ride.
“The present situation is different in many ways to that agreed in the local transport plan, so the Tories should listen to the electorate and agree to an independent review to show the people that they are listening. But I suspects as usual they won’t listen yet again.”
At our Autumn Conference it was a great honour to meet with the Gurkhas who came to explain their plight and injustice to us. Talking to these ex-soldiers who had served the Country when called gave a sense of shame that our Government is simply not treating them fairly or as they deserve.
Liberal Democrats are campaigning for the rights of Gurkhas who are being denied citizenship and full pensions.
It’s an ongoing disgrace: Gurkhas who retired from the British Army after 1997 can automatically stay in the UK, but those who retired earlier must apply, and many have been refused and face deportation. Pension rights for years served by Gurkhas before 1997 count at only around a quarter of the level of years served after that time.
On Tuesday 30th September, in a test case, the High Court ruled their treatment had been unlawful in terms of the right to live in the UK if they retired before 1997. Following that decision, a huge campaign has been started to get the Government to change the law on how it treats Gurkhas.
Now Liberal Democrats on Bath and North East Somerset Council are backing a motion calling for equal treatment for Gurkhas. Councillor Cherry Beath (Liberal Democrat, Combe Down) spoke in the debate saying:
“The Liberal Democrats have been firmly backing the Justice Campaign, and have consistently raised this issue in Parliament. Our position is unequivocal: The government must allow all Gurkhas who risked their lives serving in our armed forces to become British citizens, and enjoy equal rights. If someone is prepared to die for our country they should have the right to live in our country.
“I have signed the Gurkha Justice petition as have many of my Liberal Democrat colleagues here in B&NES”
The motion coincides with a massive rally in London and the submission of a petition signed by 180,000 people to Number 10 Downing Street by Joanna Lumley.
