LibDem Future Power Cuts

Future Power Cuts

Conservative run Hampshire County Council say: "While advances are being made in the generation of renewable energy, we believe that land based wind farms are the least cost effective way of generating renewable energy, spoil the appearance of our countryside and cause noise pollution.  They are also not unreliable as the wind does not blow all the time, with the result that reliance on these - which is  Liberal Democrat national policy - will lead to power cuts in the future. 

"We will not allow them to be built on the land we own. Never the less, we would not oppose the establishment of collections of wind turbines on ‘off shore’ locations, where they could be more effective and less obstructive. We would also not oppose schools that might wish to erect a single turbine on their premises where these might be used to support power generation at the site and for education purposes.

"We would also support the development of land based photo-voltaic energy generation from sunlight in the countryside and on farm land, dependent on the outcome of formal environmental appraisals."

District Heating

The County Council is in favour of district heating in con-junction with combined heat and power installations and is supporting a pilot scheme to install one of these in Winchester to support the provision of heat and power to the Hospital, Prison, Police Authority and a number of Local Authority owned buildings in the area.

Highways

Hampshire County Council has been named as the 'Transport County of the Year' at the National Transport Awards ceremony in October this year supported by the department of Transport.

It is committed to ensuring that Hampshire's key net-work resource - its highway network - is fit for the demands of the 21st century. Wherever possible it is working to improve local travel options, so that public transport, walking and cycling, on their own or in combination, can provide viable, cost effective alternatives to the car.

It is working with Local Authority and Commercial partners to take a strategic approach the provision of multi mode solutions to provide an easily accessible and less congested transport provision for all travellers across Hampshire.Investing in Shared Space Investment is being made in a pilot ‘shared space project’ that reduces sign-age clutter and gives equality of access to pedestrians and vehicle traffic in town and village centres and for the provision of funding for Community centres

Road Maintenance

Following the severe winter and the damage left in the roads, the County Council’s Highways Department resurfaced over 70km of roads and repaired 30,000 potholes in a six month period in 2010. This paved the way for a major resilience programme that represents a substantial shift from reactive, to planned maintenance. Last year this planned programme saw work at 400 different sites, that included resurfacing, drainage works and pavement improvements aimed at making Hampshire’s roads resistant to the effect of the severe weather con-ditions that we might experience in future. This Capital Investment in Hampshire’s roads will continue over the next five years until all of them have been treated and is estimated to save millions each year in the recurring costs incurred in past years for reactive maintenance work.

The performance of Hampshire County Council shows what could be achieved if we had a Conservative government.  

A vote for Maria would be a step in the right direction.