Whenever the weather is bad, and I find myself in rather than out I usually quietly give thanks to the fact that I am not having the travel along the A4042 - having spent enough time travelling from Pontypool through Mamhilad and Goetre and on to Abergavenny (via Llanelen) in all seasons, all sorts of weathers and at all sorts of hours, I am now pretty familiar with the road, its limitations and its accident black spots.
When heading from north to south from Pontypool, through Mamhilad where the duel carriageway ends, the passing motorist is presented with a number of particularly dangerous accident black spots that regularly take lives and cause serious injury. Gwent Police were absolutely right when they requested that to the Welsh Assembly Government give serious consideration to building a roundabout at the dangerous Little Mill junction.
I have over the years seen the aftermath of far too many accidents on the A4042 at the Little Mill junction. Moving north towards Goetre, the road once you get up the hill, is increasingly windy and on dark nights, in bad weather as well as in good weather quite treacherous, there have been too many bad accidents along this stretch of highway, which carries a significant amount of HGV traffic as well as ordinary motorists. I have seen the Police hard at work in the pouring rain brushing the broken glass of the road too many times, or have been halted by a patrol car with its lights flashing to bring traffic to a halt after yet another bad accident.
As a trainee journalist on the Pontypool Free Press (in the late 1980’s) I can remember the complaints and concerns from residents then and can recall the results of road accidents. However, it's not just the stretch of the road between Pontypool and Goetre that causes problems, I can recall my news desk dealing regularly with regular news stories relating to flooding and accidents at Llanelen Bridge on the A4042 between Pontypool and Abergavenny.
I have personally lost track of the number of times that my journey to and from Abergavenny and the north west of Monmouth constituency have been stopped or diverted by the Police and other emergency services dealing with the consequences of yet another traffic accident. Now this is nothing new, the problems along the road between Little Mill and at Llanelen had been clearly identified when Gwent County Council still existed (and that was pre 1992) and there have been far too many accidents since, over the years - the question is now no so much what will be done as when will something be done, before the grim toll of accidents is added too.
Further north the area around Llanelen Bridge has long been prone to flooding as well as being recognised and well known as a pretty lethal accident black spot; all we have had over the years is talk about sorting out the problems, but, never any action to resolve the problem. We have to ask ourselves; as we approach potentially another season of long dark winter evenings, is how many more lives will be lost or broken before any action is finally taken? For how much longer must we put up with inaction before anything is actually done to solve the problem and save lives?
The increasingly inadequate A4042, which might once (if we were lucky) have benefited from some minor improvements, is going to fall way down the list of spending priorities (if it is even on the list) as the UK Government is in the process of looking to make significant savings to its capital expenditure programme which will be passed in due turn down the line to the National Assembly in Cardiff and on to our local authorities.
There are no quick fixes, and no easy answers, one thing that seriously needs to be done is to get road freight back onto rail and off our roads, far too much freight is being moved long distances by HGV's along roads which are entirely unsuitable for such volumes of traffic. This is one lasting side effect of the wholesale butchery of our rail network in the 1950's and 1960's - fifty years ago the communities that now lie along the A4042 (and elsewhere in Wales) were reasonably well served or had reasonable access to the rail network with railway stations at Little Mill, Nant-y-derry and Pen-pergwm - no long gone.
Now the privatised rail passenger carrying companies pursue maximising their profits at our expense in exchange of regular fat payments to the UK Government and the provision of an increasingly disjointed and increasingly minimalist service to boot. Little in relation to this changed during the thirteen years of New Labour Government and in relation to the Con Dem's we had better brace ourselves of even less change and little improvement when it comes to provision of a decent rail service.
Now not being naive I fully expect a degree of indifference from a distant Westminster and Whitehall, but, I and many other people expect our politicians in Cardiff to take a different view, even with the National Assembly's relatively limited powers and its soon to be reduced budget. We can do better, we have to do better here in Wales, because no one else will, no one else will care or even try. Ironically, if Government in both London and Cardiff was really serious about cutting carbon emissions and seriously reducing road congestion then there would be far more emphasis on getting heavy goods back onto our railways.
Now lets be honest this is not a quick fix and it may not be cheap but it can be done if the political will is there, as has happened in Scotland,but, sadly it appears to be lacking south of the border, which is something that has to change over the next few years. Even with limited resources and limited powers we in Wales should be able to make a real and lasting difference to our communities - if our elected politicians at all levels are there to merely fill the seats and are not prepared to try then its time to replace them with people who will serve and help their communities rather than serve and help themselves.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
POWER FOR THE PEOPLE
Our country is pretty well off when it comes to natural renewable resources for energy production, I am glad to see that we are finally beginning to follow Scotland's example of harnessing the potential of renewable energy. A generation scheme off Ynys Mon , promoted by Marine Current Turbines and RWE npower renewables plans to generate a fifth of the island's electricity needs from the £70m project, with seven turbines between the Skerries and Carmel Head acting as underwater windmills, if the plans are approved.
There are other potential spots where we can generate sustainable energy not to mention the readily exportable skills and technologies that can help to sustain and develop our economy over the next decades and help to tackle Climate Change. Here in Wales, when it comes to power generation there are real job opportunities; there is absolutely no reason why the renewable energy sector can not play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs not to mention sustainable secure and safe energy supplies.
There is a need to create a decentralised power generation system which will create sustainable long-term jobs for local people, not damage the environment and contribute to providing our local communities with a long-term viable economic energy future. Sadly I suspect that there will be little new from David Cameron's Con Dem's over the next few years - if the coalition lasts that long - and even less leadership on the green energy issue. It need not be this way, away from the Westminster village and the dead hand of Whitehall, things are already happening.
In Scotland, the Scottish Government has plans to tackle the threat of Climate change, with plans for a 42% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, rising to 80% by 2050. These proposals which were first unveiled last year are far more ambitious than anything that has been proposed in Westminster in recent years, where the 2020 target (set before the Con Dems came to power) for cutting carbon emissions has been set at 34%. The Scottish Government has already set out a wide-ranging vision to address climate change, which includes a drive to boost renewable energy such as wind and wave power.
Scottish Ministers also aim to see significant progress in boosting the energy efficiency of buildings, increase the number of electric vehicles on the roads and aim to cut in emissions across the farming and rural sector. This is serious forward thinking on the part of the Scottish government as energy experts have for several years been consistently warning of a serious future shortfall in Britain's energy supplies.
This will be as a result of the rapid depletion of Britain's North Sea gas reserves, the increasingly tough regulations on carbon emissions from Britain's ageing coal-fired power plants and the planned decommissioning of 14 of 15 existing nuclear generating stations by 2025.
Now is definitely the time for control of energy policy to be devolved to the National Assembly and time for some original non nuclear thinking and a fundamental sea change in attitude from government in Wales when it comes to energy policy. Imagine what we could do if the National Assembly possessed similar powers to develop the alternative energy sector here in Wales as in Scotland.
In Wales, we need real direction when it comes to the development of safe and secure energy resources, power generation can provide the potential for real sustainable long term job opportunities; the renewable energy sector can and should play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs.
There are other potential spots where we can generate sustainable energy not to mention the readily exportable skills and technologies that can help to sustain and develop our economy over the next decades and help to tackle Climate Change. Here in Wales, when it comes to power generation there are real job opportunities; there is absolutely no reason why the renewable energy sector can not play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs not to mention sustainable secure and safe energy supplies.
There is a need to create a decentralised power generation system which will create sustainable long-term jobs for local people, not damage the environment and contribute to providing our local communities with a long-term viable economic energy future. Sadly I suspect that there will be little new from David Cameron's Con Dem's over the next few years - if the coalition lasts that long - and even less leadership on the green energy issue. It need not be this way, away from the Westminster village and the dead hand of Whitehall, things are already happening.
In Scotland, the Scottish Government has plans to tackle the threat of Climate change, with plans for a 42% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, rising to 80% by 2050. These proposals which were first unveiled last year are far more ambitious than anything that has been proposed in Westminster in recent years, where the 2020 target (set before the Con Dems came to power) for cutting carbon emissions has been set at 34%. The Scottish Government has already set out a wide-ranging vision to address climate change, which includes a drive to boost renewable energy such as wind and wave power.
Scottish Ministers also aim to see significant progress in boosting the energy efficiency of buildings, increase the number of electric vehicles on the roads and aim to cut in emissions across the farming and rural sector. This is serious forward thinking on the part of the Scottish government as energy experts have for several years been consistently warning of a serious future shortfall in Britain's energy supplies.
This will be as a result of the rapid depletion of Britain's North Sea gas reserves, the increasingly tough regulations on carbon emissions from Britain's ageing coal-fired power plants and the planned decommissioning of 14 of 15 existing nuclear generating stations by 2025.
Now is definitely the time for control of energy policy to be devolved to the National Assembly and time for some original non nuclear thinking and a fundamental sea change in attitude from government in Wales when it comes to energy policy. Imagine what we could do if the National Assembly possessed similar powers to develop the alternative energy sector here in Wales as in Scotland.
In Wales, we need real direction when it comes to the development of safe and secure energy resources, power generation can provide the potential for real sustainable long term job opportunities; the renewable energy sector can and should play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs.
Monday, 23 August 2010
POST WESTMINSTER IMPRESSIONS
The views of the citizens should be regularly sought and heeded, rather than regularly avoided and ignored which sadly may have been the lasting impression gained by observing some of our sitting MP's on the stump during the last Westminster General election. The icing on the cake was Gordon Brown's televised mutterings following a clash with a potential Labour voter up north. The end result was being particularity grim up north for Gordon thanks to the presence of a live microphone - the rest as they say, along with his premiership was history.
Now just over four months or so down the line from Polling day, and after the dust has begun to settle I am still left with the impression that rather than being a historic election it was more of an odd one. This impression has been reinforced by the fact that a significant number of our Parliamentary representatives quite openly and quite deeply resented having to account for how they had fleeced the system, for some years, to line their pockets at our expense.
This impression has been deepened by the fact that so few of our formerly elected representatives who were unluckily enough to get caught with their hands in the till, so to speak, have finally ended up before the bench or the beak (or will at least do so shortly). I suspect that all of this could be said to leave any impartial observer of our questionable democracy wondering about the effectiveness (or not) of the system of checks (rather than cheques) and balances in place to monitor our elected representatives even after the expenses scandal.
It is worth remembering that The Times (back on the 25th September 2009) revealed that 28 prospective Conservative candidates who had a reasonably good chances of becoming Tory MPs were working as lobbyists or public relations consultants on behalf of businesses and other interests. Over a quarter of them had got their jobs after being selected to fight parliamentary seats.
A number of them were duly forced to put up their hands to admit that they had set up meetings for clients with Conservative Shadow ministers, MPs and officials. Others said that they provided advice on the party’s direction and some admitted to lobbying Tory Frontbenchers on behalf of clients. So much for a brave new sleaze free new Westminster world, I wonder how many of them got elected?
The then leader of the opposition, David Cameron (now Con Dem PM) found himself in a potentially difficult situation with at least one fifth of his 150 parliamentary candidates who are likely to get elected working or had worked in the highly lucrative field of public affairs or communications. The Times at the time noted that only 7 Labour and 3 Lib Dem parliamentary candidates (with a chance of being elected) had jobs in public relations or communications.
The real question you have to ask, and it is one that everyone should be asking is with regard to Westminster and every other elected body is how much has really changed?
UPDATE: As for lobby see the Guido Fawkes blog...
Now just over four months or so down the line from Polling day, and after the dust has begun to settle I am still left with the impression that rather than being a historic election it was more of an odd one. This impression has been reinforced by the fact that a significant number of our Parliamentary representatives quite openly and quite deeply resented having to account for how they had fleeced the system, for some years, to line their pockets at our expense.
This impression has been deepened by the fact that so few of our formerly elected representatives who were unluckily enough to get caught with their hands in the till, so to speak, have finally ended up before the bench or the beak (or will at least do so shortly). I suspect that all of this could be said to leave any impartial observer of our questionable democracy wondering about the effectiveness (or not) of the system of checks (rather than cheques) and balances in place to monitor our elected representatives even after the expenses scandal.
It is worth remembering that The Times (back on the 25th September 2009) revealed that 28 prospective Conservative candidates who had a reasonably good chances of becoming Tory MPs were working as lobbyists or public relations consultants on behalf of businesses and other interests. Over a quarter of them had got their jobs after being selected to fight parliamentary seats.
A number of them were duly forced to put up their hands to admit that they had set up meetings for clients with Conservative Shadow ministers, MPs and officials. Others said that they provided advice on the party’s direction and some admitted to lobbying Tory Frontbenchers on behalf of clients. So much for a brave new sleaze free new Westminster world, I wonder how many of them got elected?
The then leader of the opposition, David Cameron (now Con Dem PM) found himself in a potentially difficult situation with at least one fifth of his 150 parliamentary candidates who are likely to get elected working or had worked in the highly lucrative field of public affairs or communications. The Times at the time noted that only 7 Labour and 3 Lib Dem parliamentary candidates (with a chance of being elected) had jobs in public relations or communications.
The real question you have to ask, and it is one that everyone should be asking is with regard to Westminster and every other elected body is how much has really changed?
UPDATE: As for lobby see the Guido Fawkes blog...
Saturday, 21 August 2010
DOWN AT THE DIG...
So now it's back to reality with a bump, and playing catchup. I have spent the last four days working as a volunteer (with trowel, mattock, shovel, bucket and wheelbarrow) on an archaeological dig on the Priory field, inside the Legionary Fortress at Caerleon - so no radio, no TV, no politics, etc.
So far it's been a fairly a typical August with sunshine, drizzle, humidity and gales - am pretty tired, but, it has been worth it and great fun. The dig is part of on-going excavations, which, have over the last four years, helped to identify eight previously unknown barrack blocks, three large granaries, a monumental metal workshop and a very large store building. You can keep up to date with progress via the excavation blog.
Final excavations are taking place this year, and last up until mid September, inside the Roman fortress involving staff and students from University College London (UCL) and Cardiff University. The dig is open to the public and there are guided tours of the excavation site, at 11am and 2.30pm daily, except for Monday's.
Back to reality, have I missed anything whilst i have been away...?
Monday, 16 August 2010
TIME FOR WELSH GREEN BELT?
There is a need for a Welsh equivalent to Green belt, to fringe our urban areas, to help focus out of town and fringe of town developments, not to mention helping to protect rural green spaces between and within some of our urban areas. It's worth noting that 'Green belt' is a useful planning tool, which was introduced for London in 1938 but then ended up being rolled out to England as a whole by a government circular in 1955. The original idea was that the opportunity to develop green belt which would allow local councils to designate green belts when they wanted to restrict urban growth.
The idea worked and worked well, as of 2007, Green belt covered something like 13% of England (around one-and-a-half million hectares) which despite the best efforts of previous Conservative and New Labour Governments it is still relatively well protected both by normal planning controls and against "inappropriate development" within its boundaries. Wales only has one green belt, and that lies between Cardiff and Newport, Scotland has seven and Northern Ireland has 30 - each has its own policy guidance.
In the south east, along the coastal belt and in and around Torfaen, the last twenty years has seen a significant if not spectacular growth in the amount of housing, a significant percentage of which was never aimed to fulfil local housing needs. As a result the infrastructure along the coastal belt between Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet and Magor is struggling to cope with existing developments and this is well before the projected expansion of housing on and around the former Llanwern site. The north of Newport has now been linked effectively to the south Cwmbran - something that has brought little material benefit to either urban area.
In Torfaen, there are on going plans to literally fill in the gap between Pontnewydd and Sebastopol - this development was vigorously (and rightly in my opinion) opposed in the 1990's by the "Fight the Plan" campaign group . The original development proposals, aim to include 1,200 new homes, shops, playing fields, and a school, and a community centre, these were effectively rubber stamped by Torfaen council (in 2005), but developers were unable complete a legal agreement in time so it never took place.
However, these things never quite go away and now there is a new development consortium (which now includes the Welsh Development Agency, Crest Strategic Projects Ltd and Barratt South Wales) which has decided to revisit the old development plans, with a view to submitting them this autumn. So much for sustainability, while it would be too much, on past experience to expect Torfaen County Council to do anything other than rubber stamp the proposals, they have been hell bent on maximising as much housing development as possible over recent years.
The National Assembly should know better and act accordingly, the institution is supposed to have sustainability enshrined in its actions, but, at times you really have to wonder, especially when it comes to the impact of some of the proposed developments on our communities. We need to protect the green wedges around and within our urban communities. The problem caused by a lack of protection to our Green wedges, etc is aggravated by the fact that what one generation of elected officials (and council officers) envisages as a green wedge, green lane, etc is often seen by later generations of elected officials (and council officers) as either prime land for development or a nice little earner to help balance out the books - this means that there is a lack of stability and a long term vision for many of our urban areas.
If the National Assembly was to take the long view and create Welsh Green belt land with the legal and planning protections then, we might go some way to calming things down when it comes to development planning and also manage to introduce a more long term element into the process by which our elected officials (and council officers) plan and view development and redevelopment within and around our urban and not so urban communities. This is something that could be accomplished by creating Welsh Green belt land, as part of the process we also need an urgent and open debate into the planning process in Wales - something that has been long overdue.
The idea worked and worked well, as of 2007, Green belt covered something like 13% of England (around one-and-a-half million hectares) which despite the best efforts of previous Conservative and New Labour Governments it is still relatively well protected both by normal planning controls and against "inappropriate development" within its boundaries. Wales only has one green belt, and that lies between Cardiff and Newport, Scotland has seven and Northern Ireland has 30 - each has its own policy guidance.
In the south east, along the coastal belt and in and around Torfaen, the last twenty years has seen a significant if not spectacular growth in the amount of housing, a significant percentage of which was never aimed to fulfil local housing needs. As a result the infrastructure along the coastal belt between Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet and Magor is struggling to cope with existing developments and this is well before the projected expansion of housing on and around the former Llanwern site. The north of Newport has now been linked effectively to the south Cwmbran - something that has brought little material benefit to either urban area.
In Torfaen, there are on going plans to literally fill in the gap between Pontnewydd and Sebastopol - this development was vigorously (and rightly in my opinion) opposed in the 1990's by the "Fight the Plan" campaign group . The original development proposals, aim to include 1,200 new homes, shops, playing fields, and a school, and a community centre, these were effectively rubber stamped by Torfaen council (in 2005), but developers were unable complete a legal agreement in time so it never took place.
However, these things never quite go away and now there is a new development consortium (which now includes the Welsh Development Agency, Crest Strategic Projects Ltd and Barratt South Wales) which has decided to revisit the old development plans, with a view to submitting them this autumn. So much for sustainability, while it would be too much, on past experience to expect Torfaen County Council to do anything other than rubber stamp the proposals, they have been hell bent on maximising as much housing development as possible over recent years.
The National Assembly should know better and act accordingly, the institution is supposed to have sustainability enshrined in its actions, but, at times you really have to wonder, especially when it comes to the impact of some of the proposed developments on our communities. We need to protect the green wedges around and within our urban communities. The problem caused by a lack of protection to our Green wedges, etc is aggravated by the fact that what one generation of elected officials (and council officers) envisages as a green wedge, green lane, etc is often seen by later generations of elected officials (and council officers) as either prime land for development or a nice little earner to help balance out the books - this means that there is a lack of stability and a long term vision for many of our urban areas.
If the National Assembly was to take the long view and create Welsh Green belt land with the legal and planning protections then, we might go some way to calming things down when it comes to development planning and also manage to introduce a more long term element into the process by which our elected officials (and council officers) plan and view development and redevelopment within and around our urban and not so urban communities. This is something that could be accomplished by creating Welsh Green belt land, as part of the process we also need an urgent and open debate into the planning process in Wales - something that has been long overdue.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
PAYING FOR WHAT YOU GET?
The Lib Dems as part of the Con Dem coalition government have not just signed up to George Osbourne's savage public sector cost cutting exercise scheduled for October, they are going to have to sign up to helping to bail out their own party out of the financial hole they find themselves in. Some 20 Lib Dem staff have lost their jobs at Lib Dems HQ, the rank and file are facing a 15 per cent rise in their membership fees.
The emergency conference to approve the coalition deal with the Tories cost them the best part of £100,000. Now with potential Lib Dem support at the polls next year in Scotland (Parliamentary elections), Wales (National Assembly) and England (Local Government) looking to crash as a direct result of the coalition deal, not mention the cuts, and a potential electoral reform defeat / farce (take you pick) means that things may be starting to look grim for the Lib Dems.
What may make things more interesting is that the Lib Dem's may well be pretty skint - the Electoral Commission has revealed that the Lib Dems received £6.4 million but spent £6.6 million in the last Westminster election. As part of the Lib Dem austerity measures the party's membership fee is going to go up to £60 pounds. £60 pound to help fund potential electoral oblivion - that's value for money!
The emergency conference to approve the coalition deal with the Tories cost them the best part of £100,000. Now with potential Lib Dem support at the polls next year in Scotland (Parliamentary elections), Wales (National Assembly) and England (Local Government) looking to crash as a direct result of the coalition deal, not mention the cuts, and a potential electoral reform defeat / farce (take you pick) means that things may be starting to look grim for the Lib Dems.
What may make things more interesting is that the Lib Dem's may well be pretty skint - the Electoral Commission has revealed that the Lib Dems received £6.4 million but spent £6.6 million in the last Westminster election. As part of the Lib Dem austerity measures the party's membership fee is going to go up to £60 pounds. £60 pound to help fund potential electoral oblivion - that's value for money!
Thursday, 12 August 2010
STAYING WARM THIS WINTER?
Even though many of us will be enjoying the summer, some of us will also be faintly wondering about what our winter fuel bills will be like if we have a bad winter. Some of us may be thinking about making a stark choice between heating or eating this winter. Energy supply wise, we are now in the situation where we are now even more dependent upon imported gas from either unstable regions or dubious suppliers than ever before, and we the customers face unnecessarily expensive bills.
As a matter of urgency the Westminster Government, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly should work with the Irish Government to make these islands entirely self sufficient via renewable non market driven energy resources rather than pursing the dubious and costly (potentially in more ways than one) nuclear alternative that is particularly favoured by Whitehall civil servants.
The renewable energy sector can and should play a major role in creating more sustainable green energy jobs in Wales and elsewhere in the UK. If we can develop a flexible self-sufficient energy development strategy that actually encourages decentralised microgeneration schemes and then actually implement it then we have a fighting chance of creating jobs, useful new skills and will be able to bootstrap the economy out of the recession, as helping consumers and securing a stable safe energy supply.
As part of this process, we need to create a decentralised power generation system, which will create sustainable long-term jobs for local people, not damage the environment and contribute to providing our local communities with a long-term sustainable economic future. We can create more sustainable green jobs with exportable technology e.g. plumbers can install solar water heating and other professionals can install solar panels, micro-generation, biomass systems, green sanitation and water use can all contribute to the sustainable growth of our economy.
However, When it comes to energy supply in these isles, we are subject to the less than tender mercies of the so called 'free market', I say that because what we have is a virtual monopoly on energy supply in the UK. This is a direct result over the last eleven years of so or the departure from the commercial scene of a significant number of the energy supply companies - they fell from twenty two in number to six.
Now we have been told don't worry about it, that's the way the market works, and besides everybody took advantage to buy cheap shares in all the privatised utilities didn't they? Many people might have done so, but, how many people still have them or shares in their successor companies. By way of experiment at one of the Westminster election hustings (in Trelech) I asked that very question - out of well over 100+ people present only one person raised their hand. The only real beneficiary in the medium term was the City. Now the free marketeers will tell us that this was a good thing - I beg to differ the only real end result of the privatisations was that the ever richer minority in the City (and some of their friends in the Palace of Westminster) got richer at our expense.
Anyway, as I said, Free market, I think not, what we have is less than a £30 differential between all of the energy supply companies, which works out to be no more than a few pence a week difference in bills. We are all paying the price, and future generations will continue to pay the price of the economic consequences of an energy cartel which brings minimal benefit to hard pressed energy customers and maximises it's profits and which feeds the UK government impressive amounts of tax.
The Energy companies who have reaped vast profits over (500% between 2003 and 2008) were pretty quick to blame rising oil and gas prices, and even quicker to rake in the profits, as the average annual dual fuel bill rose from £662 a year in 2005 to 1,048 in 2007. The New Labour Government was pretty happy to rake in the extra tax revenues and ignore repeated calls for a windfall tax on excessive profits and the Energy companies were equally slow to pass on any reductions in energy costs to their customers – the only real losers in this pretty picture was us, the unhappy energy customers.
The then New Labour Government ignored repeated warnings that it was setting the UK on a path towards higher prices and blackouts. Over the next six years almost all of our old nuclear reactors, along with nine major coal and oil-fired power stations, will be closed, with nothing ready to replace them - now that is something to think about.
Now it's not all New Labours fault, that would be too easy and too simple. This mess has been along time coming, the real culprits are the Conservatives. Conservative complicity in the headlong dash to gas in the 1980’s was bad enough, but, things were compounded by a real and basic failure in strategic energy planning something that was made worse by the then New Labour Government's perverse decision to half-heartedly look at developing diverse reliable alternative energy sources.
Back in October 2009, the Tory Energy Spokesman, Greg Clark has said that the "cartel" of the big 6 energy firms would be referred to the Competition Commission by an incoming Conservative Government. He also condemned the unacceptable lag between the cost of wholesale gas prices and household energy bills - noting that customers were on average being charged some £74 pound too much for their energy per year.
Many people, at the time, could see the benefits of an 'independent' investigation into the Energy companies refusal to pass on reductions in wholesale energy prices to customers and welcomed the promise of a long overdue 'Energy Revolution' to overhaul the energy sector billing structure and charges. All good stuff, but, and don't get me wrong here, this all sounded great, but, it does seem to have gone awfully quiet over there (in Government).
Also if my memory serves me correctly wasn't it a Conservative Government that was responsible for starting the whole sorry mess in the first place by privatising the energy market in the first place, throwing any rational energy pricing structure upon the questionable whims of the 'market' by allowing the newly privatised energy companies to price gouge customers in the first place? One reason why it may have gone quiet is that the energy cartel helps to feed the fat wallets of their Tory chums in the City?
By the look of it and energy prices are set to rise once again and while no one is disputing that the six main energy suppliers have been ever so slowly (in most cases) reducing their prices since the beginning of this year, energy bills are still too high. Consumer Focus research suggests (in October 2009) that current gas bills should have been at least 7.4% cheaper (some £60.10 annually) and electricity bills should have been at least 3.1% cheaper (£13.80 annually). I suspect that the energy companies will move pretty swiftly to raise our bills if energy prices go up again.
Now the reality is that little has changed, vast profits are still being made by the energy companies. Customer Focus's research showed the reality, that the energy companies are pocketing £1.6bn extra, despite the belated passing on of some energy cost reduction to households, little has changed and if energy prices continue to fluctuate then once again millions of households may yet struggle to make ends meet this winter.
As a matter of urgency the Westminster Government, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly should work with the Irish Government to make these islands entirely self sufficient via renewable non market driven energy resources rather than pursing the dubious and costly (potentially in more ways than one) nuclear alternative that is particularly favoured by Whitehall civil servants.
The renewable energy sector can and should play a major role in creating more sustainable green energy jobs in Wales and elsewhere in the UK. If we can develop a flexible self-sufficient energy development strategy that actually encourages decentralised microgeneration schemes and then actually implement it then we have a fighting chance of creating jobs, useful new skills and will be able to bootstrap the economy out of the recession, as helping consumers and securing a stable safe energy supply.
As part of this process, we need to create a decentralised power generation system, which will create sustainable long-term jobs for local people, not damage the environment and contribute to providing our local communities with a long-term sustainable economic future. We can create more sustainable green jobs with exportable technology e.g. plumbers can install solar water heating and other professionals can install solar panels, micro-generation, biomass systems, green sanitation and water use can all contribute to the sustainable growth of our economy.
However, When it comes to energy supply in these isles, we are subject to the less than tender mercies of the so called 'free market', I say that because what we have is a virtual monopoly on energy supply in the UK. This is a direct result over the last eleven years of so or the departure from the commercial scene of a significant number of the energy supply companies - they fell from twenty two in number to six.
Now we have been told don't worry about it, that's the way the market works, and besides everybody took advantage to buy cheap shares in all the privatised utilities didn't they? Many people might have done so, but, how many people still have them or shares in their successor companies. By way of experiment at one of the Westminster election hustings (in Trelech) I asked that very question - out of well over 100+ people present only one person raised their hand. The only real beneficiary in the medium term was the City. Now the free marketeers will tell us that this was a good thing - I beg to differ the only real end result of the privatisations was that the ever richer minority in the City (and some of their friends in the Palace of Westminster) got richer at our expense.
Anyway, as I said, Free market, I think not, what we have is less than a £30 differential between all of the energy supply companies, which works out to be no more than a few pence a week difference in bills. We are all paying the price, and future generations will continue to pay the price of the economic consequences of an energy cartel which brings minimal benefit to hard pressed energy customers and maximises it's profits and which feeds the UK government impressive amounts of tax.
The Energy companies who have reaped vast profits over (500% between 2003 and 2008) were pretty quick to blame rising oil and gas prices, and even quicker to rake in the profits, as the average annual dual fuel bill rose from £662 a year in 2005 to 1,048 in 2007. The New Labour Government was pretty happy to rake in the extra tax revenues and ignore repeated calls for a windfall tax on excessive profits and the Energy companies were equally slow to pass on any reductions in energy costs to their customers – the only real losers in this pretty picture was us, the unhappy energy customers.
The then New Labour Government ignored repeated warnings that it was setting the UK on a path towards higher prices and blackouts. Over the next six years almost all of our old nuclear reactors, along with nine major coal and oil-fired power stations, will be closed, with nothing ready to replace them - now that is something to think about.
Now it's not all New Labours fault, that would be too easy and too simple. This mess has been along time coming, the real culprits are the Conservatives. Conservative complicity in the headlong dash to gas in the 1980’s was bad enough, but, things were compounded by a real and basic failure in strategic energy planning something that was made worse by the then New Labour Government's perverse decision to half-heartedly look at developing diverse reliable alternative energy sources.
Back in October 2009, the Tory Energy Spokesman, Greg Clark has said that the "cartel" of the big 6 energy firms would be referred to the Competition Commission by an incoming Conservative Government. He also condemned the unacceptable lag between the cost of wholesale gas prices and household energy bills - noting that customers were on average being charged some £74 pound too much for their energy per year.
Many people, at the time, could see the benefits of an 'independent' investigation into the Energy companies refusal to pass on reductions in wholesale energy prices to customers and welcomed the promise of a long overdue 'Energy Revolution' to overhaul the energy sector billing structure and charges. All good stuff, but, and don't get me wrong here, this all sounded great, but, it does seem to have gone awfully quiet over there (in Government).
Also if my memory serves me correctly wasn't it a Conservative Government that was responsible for starting the whole sorry mess in the first place by privatising the energy market in the first place, throwing any rational energy pricing structure upon the questionable whims of the 'market' by allowing the newly privatised energy companies to price gouge customers in the first place? One reason why it may have gone quiet is that the energy cartel helps to feed the fat wallets of their Tory chums in the City?
By the look of it and energy prices are set to rise once again and while no one is disputing that the six main energy suppliers have been ever so slowly (in most cases) reducing their prices since the beginning of this year, energy bills are still too high. Consumer Focus research suggests (in October 2009) that current gas bills should have been at least 7.4% cheaper (some £60.10 annually) and electricity bills should have been at least 3.1% cheaper (£13.80 annually). I suspect that the energy companies will move pretty swiftly to raise our bills if energy prices go up again.
Now the reality is that little has changed, vast profits are still being made by the energy companies. Customer Focus's research showed the reality, that the energy companies are pocketing £1.6bn extra, despite the belated passing on of some energy cost reduction to households, little has changed and if energy prices continue to fluctuate then once again millions of households may yet struggle to make ends meet this winter.
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