Archive for April 7th, 2016
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
Funding to help tackle potholes on Staffordshire’s roads has been welcomed by the County’s highways chief.
As part of the national Pothole Action Fund, Conservative run Staffordshire County Council has been awarded just over £1 million to help towards its work in repairing potholes across the county.
Cllr Mark Deaville, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Support Member for Highways and Transport, said, “Maintaining good roads is important to the county council, to local communities and to businesses.
“With a network the sheer size of Staffordshire this is always going to be a significant and costly challenge and, while we want to focus more on preventing potholes in the first place, this annual funding will help our crews fix the potholes which are causing the biggest problems in the county.
“We already repair around 350 potholes per week and over the coming weeks we will be looking at how this funding can be best spent to get the maximum benefits for road users.”
As part of the pothole fund, local authorities in England will receive £50 million a year over the next five years, with allocations based on the size of the network. Staffordshire has around 6,400km of roads to maintain.
Click here to report potholes to Staffordshire County Council for repair.
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, has welcomed the biggest reform of the state pension since it was created more than a century ago, alongside a major package of reforms to tax, pensions and savings to help workers, which came into effect yesterday.
From 6th April 2016, eligible people in Tamworth who reach retirement age will receive the new State Pension, with the full rate set at £155.65 per week, or over £8,000 a year.
The new State Pension particularly benefits women reaching pension age over the next decade. In the past, many were unable to build much of the previous earnings-related additional State Pension, from now on, everyone will build up the new State Pension in the same way.
Over 75 per cent of women and over 70 per cent of men will gain in the first 15 years of the new State Pension, and by 2030 over three million women stand to gain an average of over £550 extra per year as a result of these changes – that is more than an extra £10.50 every week.
The new pension is among a number of reforms to taxes, National Insurance allowances and savings that came into effect yesterday to back hard work, support savers and ensure economic security at every stage of life. This includes a new personal savings allowance that means most people will be able to earn up to £1,000 interest a year on their savings without paying tax. Over 18 million are set to benefit, with nearly 17 million taken out of savings tax altogether.
The tax-free personal allowance also increases from £10,600 to £11,000, giving an £80 tax cut to a typical taxpayer in Tamworth while the higher rate threshold rises to £43,000, delivering on the Conservatives commitment that working people will keep more of the money they earn.
An estimated 1,089 low-earners in Tamworth will be taken out of paying income tax altogether, while a massive 42,044 people in the constituency will see their income tax cut. That is nearly 60% of all voters in Tamworth!
Mr Pincher commented, “We are committed to supporting people at every stage of their life, which means helping hardworking people keep more of the money they earn and providing dignity and security in retirement, especially women who have lost out before.
“The new State Pension will provide clarity and confidence for people across Tamworth about what income they will get from the state in their retirement while helping those who have historically lost out under the old system.
“It is also very good news that getting on for two thirds of people in Tamworth will receive an income tax cut today and over one thousand low-earners will be taken out of income tax altogether as we continue to back people who are working hard, saving hard, and doing the right thing. The Conservative Government is delivering on its election promise to help workers and families keep more of their own money to spend or save as they think best.”
Tamworth’s MP, Christopher Pincher, has welcomed the start of tax reforms that will help businesses across the town to invest more of their money into growing and taking on more staff.
Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, has welcomed proposed improvements to Staffordshire’s local health services which have been promised in a recent report by the National Health Service.
