Due to the Parish Council elections taking place on Thursday 5th May, The Parish Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday 10th May has now been changed to Monday 16th May 2022.
Breadcrumbs
The next meeting of Cannington Parish Council will take place at 7.00pm on Tuesday 12th April in Cannington Village Hall.
News Release
Sedgemoor District Council Corporate Relations Manager: Claire Faun
Bridgwater House Direct Dial: 01278 435320
King Square, Bridgwater
Somerset, TA6 3AR e-mail: [email protected]
General Enquiries: 0300 303 7800 twitter.com/SedgemoorDC
Date: 23 February, 2022
Not too late to apply for energy improvement funds
Is your household income less than £30,000; or does anyone living in your property receive a means-tested benefit or does your home have an Energy Performance Rating of D, E, F or G?
If you have answered yes to any of the above, you could be eligible for up to £10,000 of funding towards insulations, solar panels or other green heating products. Find out more on find more information on the scheme: Somerset Independence Plus – Green Homes Grants Scheme. Applications for the scheme close at the end of March 2022, so don’t delay.
However, residents are reminded to be wary of phone call or someone at your front door offering ‘free services’ for free solar panels and free cavity wall insulation, offering no cost deals and energy pay-back deals on energy generated by the panels.
Whilst many of the companies are legitimate and can offer financial assistance (depending on your circumstances), it is always worth just checking with Centre for Sustainable Energy on their advice line number 0800 082 2234 as, unfortunately, there are also some companies who are less than reputable.
April 2022 was meant to augur in a new era for our buses. It was the month when the £3 billion as part of Bus Back Better, National Strategy for Buses for England, could be used to improve bus services. People could be invited to abandon their cars and opt for the ‘greener’ option of going by bus on journeys to nearby towns and villages.
To improve buses across the county, Somerset had put in a bid for £163 million of Bus Back Better money. That was the sum of money Somerset needed because Somerset bus services currently are the worst rated of any county in England. But the Bus Back Better fund has been over subscribed 8 times by all the bids from across England and so it’s unknown how much money Somerset might get. But it’s unlikely to get anything like what Somerset needs.
The 2 years of Covid with endless warnings not to use buses has seen bus passenger numbers down 40% on pre Covid levels. This has meant the Government has had to step in and subsidise bus services in order to keep them running. To fund this the Government has diverted more than half of the £3 billion pot allocated for transforming our bus services to just maintain our current bus services.
Worse still, the Government has still not said whether it will keep funding our existing bus services from April.
If it doesn’t, then without this subsidy, bus services across the county (including here in Somerset) could “fall off the side of the cliff” (as said by Wera Hobhouse, Bath MP). It’s been estimated 30% of bus services would go. Some bus services could even disappear completely.
Without this Covid Bus Recovery Grant, a leading bus operator has said, “The bus sector is hurtling towards disaster.”
So what can we do?
Could you please … today … send an email (doesn’t need to be long) to the Government Buses Minister demanding that the Covid-19 Bus Recovery Grant funding is continued beyond April. Send it to BARONESS VERE OF NORBITON (Buses Minister) – email [email protected]. Also copy your email to your MP:
IAN LIDDELL-GRAINGER (Bridgwater and West Somerset) – email [email protected]
Please also copy in Somerset Bus Partnership to any emails too. Our email address: [email protected] .
Additionally, if you should speak to any of the candidates for the Somerset Unitary Council May 5th elections, please ask them what their plans are to protect and improve our bus services here in Somerset. There’s never been a time when our bus services in Somerset have been at so much risk.
Somerset Bus Partnership Team
Somerset’s residents are invited to sign up to free, interactive online training with emergency responders and volunteer organisations throughout October, organised by the Somerset Prepared partnership.
The fourth annual Resilience event starts with live talks on Monday 4 October and aims to help communities become better prepared for emergencies as well as looking at wider preparedness measures that anyone can take.
Anyone who registers will receive an information pack, event pack and weekly emails signposting to videos and toolkits on a variety of subjects. Interactive training sessions with national training provider Communities Prepared are on offer, alongside live online presentations from emergency and community organisations, as well as national flood resilience expert Mary Dhonau.
Cllr David Hall, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Community Infrastructure, said: “Interactive events like this are an excellent way to raise awareness with local communities and individuals and help them to take vital steps in preparing for an incident, which could ultimately save lives.
“The sessions will cover a range of subjects from how to use social media in emergencies to food resilience and crime prevention.
“It’s a great opportunity for groups to hear from each other, share their experiences and ask the experts. The training workshops are focussed on topics we often see raised by communities, including recruiting volunteers, how to assess risk and insurance.”
As well as the online training, face-to-face events include an open evening for Langport and Huish Episcopi Flood Group, and Avon & Somerset Police beat surgeries around the county. Sessions will be led by a range of organisations including the Environment Agency, South West Ambulance Service Trust, Communities Prepared, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Avon & Somerset Police, Somerset Rotary, Somerset Civil Contingencies Unit, Spark, and Community Council for Somerset.
Participants are encouraged to share their experiences throughout October by tweeting Somerset Prepared (@SomersetPrepare) and using the hashtag #ImSomersetPrepared
To attend this free event, people can register their interest and book training sessions on the Somerset Prepared website www.somersetprepared.org.uk.