MP's Column

Two significant Private Members’ Bills have featured in a big way in Parliament over
the past two weeks.
The proposed ‘Sunshine Bill’ which I sponsored, as proposed by my Liberal
Democrat colleague Max Wilkinson MP for Cheltenham, would require all newly built
houses to be fitted with solar panels.
When I served on the Ministerial Taskforce on Zero Carbon Homes which continued
until 2015 (when the Conservatives abolished it) we had already overseen draft
legislation due to come into force in 2016 to require this.
The private, voluntary and government sectors were all working together
collaboratively to this end and it was a disgraceful act to stop it from happening.
Over a million new homes have been built since 2016. If each one had included the
standard 4kW rooftop solar array, that would be 4,000 megawatts of generating
capacity – more than Hinkley Point C and considerably cheaper.
The other Bill was the Climate and Nature Bill, proposed by my Lib Dem colleague
Dr Roz Savage, MP for the Cotswolds. This would have established a switch away
from fossil fuels as soon as possible and tighter emissions standards.
It enabled me to highlight the air pollution levels in Henlade and Thornfalcon (and
also in East Reach) which exceed limits established by the EU.
Public Health England estimates that there are 250 avoidable deaths of Somerset
people every year due to air pollution.
I’m pushing for the much-needed bypass for those two villages but any Bill, which
would reduce harmful emissions and boost the switch to cleaner fuels and vehicles,
would definitely help.
Both Bills received cross-party support from all sides of the House and, while the
Government weren’t willing to vote them through, in both cases important
concessions were won from Ministers.
For example, new Building Regulations will be coming forward later this year, and I
challenged the Minister in the Commons to stick to his word that adding solar panels
would then become mandatory for new builds.
This week has also marked Holocaust Memorial Day. We must never forget that a
European government not so far from us in England murdered six million Jews and
many others in the concentration camps.
I’m so grateful to Leonard Daniels MBE and all those who organise the annual
service at St John’s in Taunton which I attended – it is always very moving.
Somerset’s Ann Frank Youth Awards are also unique outside London and well worth
supporting.

Meanwhile, in Wellington, the petition I launched upon the opening of the Banking
Hub to get a proper Post Office in the town is gathering strength with more than 200
signatures so far. Please add your name at www.tandwlibdems.org/our-
campaigns/post-office-for-wellington
It remains somewhat ridiculous to have a building run by the Post Office (the
Banking Hub) which doesn’t provide a Post Office.
Coffee #1, also in Wellington, was the scene for my most recent drop-in event on
Saturday. Lots of constituents came to see me and a number of them raised issues
regarding new developments.
I’m absolutely committed that, with the new housing the Government is now going to
impose, it must be a case of “infrastructure before expansion”.
We need the doctors’ surgeries, dentists, school places and, crucially, the jobs which
haven’t come in the numbers needed to accompany the many recent developments
we are seeing.
The Wellington Railway Station campaign continues apace, and I’m delighted that –
by working closely with my LibDem colleague Richard Foord, MP for Honiton and
Sidmouth – we have secured a meeting with the new Secretary of State for
Transport, Heidi Alexander, coming up soon to try and advance the case.
In Taunton, I was pleased that, after a long campaign, Musgrove Park Hospital’s new
maternity and paediatric unit is now scheduled to go ahead in the Government’s
second wave of hospital projects.
That’s a promotion from the last government's ‘Cohort 4’ status which didn’t even
have any money attached to it.
But the timescale of not starting work until the 2030s is far too slow. Buckets on the
floor in the winter, and staff fainting from the heat in summer, is not acceptable for
the mums admitted to give birth and those working there.
I’m seeking a meeting to get the repairs and maintenance budget we need. It’s
essential to get the current buildings functioning better, both now and until work
starts.