Archive for October, 2010
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth and Member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, spoke up for Energy Saving Week which is taking place this week.
Mr. Pincher said:
“Saving energy is not only vitally important for the environment but it also has obvious personal economic advantages. The less energy we use the lower our energy bills will be.”
“For example, turning down the thermostat by only one degree will reduce your total carbon footprint and could save you £100 yearly. There are many other things you can do and these are all on the Energy Saving Trust’s website or call 0800 512 012.”
“On a personal note, I am walking to the House of Commons this week rather than taking the tube and have turned down my own thermostat. And this week I will be seeing Energy Minister Charles Hendry to talk about energy and fuel issues facing local people.”
“It is also worth noting the Parliamentary Question I asked earlier on this year where I discovered that in 2010 there were 4,000 houses in Tamworth in fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is defined as having to spend more than 10% of income to adequately heat a house. This is a big number but fortunately companies like EAGA exist to help. If any one feels that they are in fuel poverty or are paying too much for their heating bills I would advise them to call Home Heat Helpline especially before it gets colder! They offer free and practical advice which often helps you save money on their heating bills and will inform you if there are schemes that will give you grants on insulation. This is particularly important for elderly or vulnerable people so please call now before it gets colder. Their helpline phone number is 0800 33 66 99.”
“The government is helping vulnerable people by keeping the Winter Fuel Payment and making permanent the increases to the Cold Weather Payments. We are also changing the way pensions work. By linking pensions to earnings we will increase the pension to help the most vulnerable with their income and fuel payments. This, in conjunction with support to councils to freeze council tax, should help people keep their bills as low as possible.”
Useful websites:
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
http://www.homeheathelpline.org.uk/
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Tamworth’s Member of Parliament, Christopher Pincher, and Leader of Tamworth Council, Cllr Danny Cook, have joined forces over concerns at further planned development at Ventura Retail Park. In 2004 Tamworth Borough Council turned down additional retail developments on empty land at Ventura Retail Park due to traffic volume worries.
The Council’s decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate and former Secretary of State for Transport, John Prescott. The Inspectorate gave permission to the developers with the condition that they place traffic lights on the Ventura Park and Jolly Sailor traffic islands. Construction work on both islands is due to start in January. The MP and the Conservative Council are concerned that this will lead to further congestion at Ventura.
Christopher Pincher said:
“It is clear neither the Planning Inspectorate nor John Prescott knew much about Tamworth when they overruled to local council. The decision made several years ago may haunt us for years to come. The Borough Council, unfortunately, is powerless to stop this. The ‘London knows best’ approach of the last government robbed local people of their opportunity to influence local infrastructure. The new government is starting to turn this around but I fear that will come too late to halt the plans for Ventura Park.”
“I have yet to be convinced this will help the traffic movement around Ventura Park. I am concerned we may end up with grid lock for several months and worse congestion as a permanent feature thereafter. “
Mr. Pincher has promised to do all he can to support the Council in its desire to review the proposals and confirm their viability.
Cllr Daniel Cook, Leader of the Council, said:
“I support the creation of Jobs and income coming into the town. It is important that we make this drive sustainable and think long term. The current developments offer this but give me serious concern about the extra traffic using Ventura. I need to see more evidence that traffic lights are the answer. My key concern is standing traffic. Tamworth Borough Council turned down both planning applications due to reasons of traffic impact. Building both sets of lights at the same time could cause chaos.”
He added:
“Yet the former government then agreed them both with traffic lights at Jolly Sailor and Sainsbury’s roundabouts. This was not locally planned and we need to check if the idea has merit, this is the main worry I have about the project. I think the people of Tamworth need more of a say in the changes at Ventura. I pledge to investigate the changes to the road network at Ventura and report my finding back to the people of Tamworth as soon as I can”.
