Why do they make it so hard?

I recently ran as an independent candidate for Reading West & Mid Berkshire. This article is not about the result – that’s just democracy as it stands today.

This is about barriers that exist but really should not. They only exist because they suit the party-political system we have.

Recognition

Unless you happen to be famous, the number-one issue any independent faces is name recognition. Combining this with the PM being able to call and select a date whenever it suits, means you have six weeks max to do everything.

So, the first two things that would bring back some democracy are

• Bring back the Fixed-term Parliament Act.
• Allow candidates to register and have access to the electoral register up to a year in advance of the election day.

As name recognition is a major issue for any independent candidate, accessing the electoral register is essential. This allows for a more even playing field against the political parties. It allows candidates to know who is registered to vote in each household. It also means you can be more polite when introducing yourself and it makes it possible to record those who are not interested in voting, so you don’t disturb them again or waste time sending leaflets.

Branding

My own campaign started in January 2024 as I (and others) were expecting an election to be called around November. I used a logo with hands shaking as a brand to demonstrate cooperation and that I wanted to represent the people, not a party. However, the rules that apply “only to independents” are

• You can’t have your logo on the ballot paper;
• You can’t describe yourself other than with the word “Independent”.

In the constituency I stood in there were two independents. I was running a campaign that revolved around “Party Politics is Broken”, while Aide who stood to help promote “Action Against Hard Drugs and Knife Crime”. In the voting booth, no one would see this, just that we were both independent.

These rules make no sense whatsoever and are just another anti-democratic barrier.

Communicating

The media (especially radio and TV) are the next issue. Although Ofcom clearly states there should, at a local level, be equal coverage of all candidates, that’s not how the BBC works. BBC Radio Berkshire ran what it called “debates” – they can’t be called hustings because, if so, you must invite all candidates.

The other candidates flagged to me that they were going to be at a BBC hustings and asked if I was going. That allowed me to contact the editor and find out why I was not invited. To quote him, “It’s against BBC Policy”.

I’ll be the first to say there could be situations where there are so many independents it would not work – but in this case, there were just two of us. For this non-husting, Aide could not be contacted by the BBC and Reform did not bother to turn up anyway.

The Ofcom rules also say independents should have something different to say. Well, both Aide and I were saying something none of the party candidates were. It came down to the entrenched connection between party politics and the political editors in our mainstream media. It’s not even though people had not been getting the party line constantly anyway. Other than introducing themselves, the questions were all about what the party would do if they won. It added nothing new to the debate and suppressed other positions.

This is a case where editors should simply follow the existing rules. It’s not for them to decide who people should hear from.

Printed and online media were better at this, but there were several examples where editors and journalists focused only on party candidates, ignoring the independents.

Mailing

Next is the Royal Mail. You are allowed to send every voter one A5 piece of communication with the postage covered by the electoral commission. Each candidate must pay for the production, stuffing of the letter into an envelope, and delivery to the local mailing office.

What you are not told, until after you have had your artwork approved by the Royal Mail and until after you have your date from your mailing house for delivery to the sorting office, is that the Royal Mail can simply say they are too busy and will get to your delivery at a date that suits them. Even after delivery to the sorting office, they can take three to five working days from receipt to delivery.

Why is that a barrier? 20% of all votes are now cast by postal vote. Those go out approximately two weeks before election day and most people who have this type of vote complete it within 24 hours of receipt.

To make the most of your one-time letter, you need it to arrive with people just before the postal vote form so it’s fresh in people’s minds. Therefore, because of Royal Mail, you really need to get your letter to them at least five working days before the postal vote. Because all the parties know this, they are also pushing to get Royal Mail to accept their delivery at this optimum time.

In my case, Royal Mail started saying they were too busy and could not accept my letter until approximately a day before the postal vote landed. Therefore, it would not have been delivered until two to four days after this date and thus after many people would have voted.

I concede that this affects all parties equally. However, for an independent this service is of far more significance than it is for the parties. Elections don’t happen that frequently so it’s hard to see why Royal Mail can’t make a bit more of an effort to accommodate the interests of democracy.

Timing

Let’s now go back to when an election is called. The Prime Minister chooses the date. The party they represent has the clear advantage of being able to plan all this in advance and make sure their messages get prime slot.

As an independent, who has this sprung on them at no notice, you therefore have less than three weeks to get everything done. During that time, you also need to collect your nomination signatures, appoint your agent and request your copy of the electoral register (which you won’t get until you are an approved candidate)

This brings me back to another barrier. Remember, you don’t have access to the electoral register. But you are required to check the voter ID against your signatures before you or your agent hand deliver your nomination paper. This is within the first ten days of the process. At that time the voter cards have not gone out to those people you’re asking to nominate, so they won’t have their voter ID yet and neither will you. Therefore, the only way to check is to ask officers at the council to check for you. It’s why Aide scraped in with just an hour to spare with his nomination.

Funding

Next funding. I’m not talking about being able to afford to run as an Independent, but rather what you can spend as an Independent. It’s not the same as what a Party can spend. A Party contesting every seat gets to spend up to £34,134,320 over the seats they contest across England, Scotland and Wales. That’s over and above what the party candidate can spend (which is the same as an Independent).

All parties have target seats, so they tend to focus this extra money on those seats. As an example. Even though the Lib Dems stood 630 candidates in this latest election, their target list was much much smaller, fewer than 100 in reality. So, they were able to spend (£54,010 x 630) ÷ 100 = £300,000-plus per target seat. Their only real barrier is fundraising.

The consequence…

Given all the above, it’s not a surprise we get fewer than one percent of MPs as independents. The whole system is designed for party politics.

The House of Commons library says just 60% of people who registered to vote bothered. That’s the third lowest since 1918. But it ignores those that could have registered but did not. The BBC were saying the day before the deadline to register that millions of people had yet to bother! Millions…

Whichever way you look at it, even if it’s just one million, that’s another worrying statistic.

The system we have, and the lack of real choice, point towards democracy failing. Strangely, the only party I see being able to make enough noise is Reform. That’s because of who leads them and that person’s ability to get voter recognition: which leads me back to where I started…

If you want to share this story please do so. A pdf copy is downloadable below

I created a vision that shows a possible positive future for the UK. (click on the image)

It will take 10-20 years to complete, but we could see benefits start within the next parliament.

Without a Vision, there can't be a strategy or tactical plans to get there.

If you want an MP who will ensure local matters are dealt with, but who can also bring some life experience as a solution creator, then please Vote for me on July 4th.

Sincerely

Adrian Abbs

Independent Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire

Bias at the BBC!

It may seem trivial to some but the first steps to dictatorship often start by silencing people.

The barriers erected for anything but a Party to participate in a general election get ever higher. 

It further shows why “Party Politics is Broken” BBC Radio Berkshire has just told me that the hustings they are doing at 10 AM on the 19th is in fact not a hustings – That's despite all the party candidates thinking it is.

They say it is against policy to invite any independents on their show? Well, what they are doing certainly seems to break Ofcom guidelines see for yourself using this link and look at 6.2 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-standards/section-six-elections-referendums 

But, hey ho why bother with democracy? Think that’s wrong? 

Would you have at least liked to have heard something different than the political promises being offered by the parties? 

I suggest you drop an email to BBC Radio Berkshire letting them know. They can’t ignore the public – Just Independent candidates (Yes both of us not invited) radio.berkshire.news@bbc.co.uk

The BBOWT-organised hustings took place last night. A focus on the environment and biodiversity was the theme. 

James Aldrige live-tweeted the event (thanks James) and we all pitched our case on why we should be the MP.

Reform did not turn up, so maybe we will see them at the next one. I encourage people to go to one and see their prospective candidates pitch their various cases for selection.

My view is that we use STEAM (Save The Environment And Money) to return the UK to a positive GDP whilst improving the wellness of people in the UK. I laid out my vision of how we could do that during the various questions. I've previously created a YouTube Video about this.

In case you are struggling to spot me I am on the right of the picture. The picture was taken by James Aldridge

The next Hustings is at Pangbourne Collage on 12th June https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pangbourne-college-election-hustings-tickets-914507726227

Hope to see you there.

Adrian Abbs

Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire

Equal Access to clean energy.

Those who have cash have been able to take advantage of the cost savings delivered by installing solar for some time now. On 1^st June 2024, a search of the web showed adverts for full solar installations on a typical house for less than £6K.

Most homes halve the electricity they take from the grid after solar is installed. With the energy price cap currently at £1690, it means a potential saving of £845 per annum. So approximately 7 years to payback if the savings are used to fund the installation. If we halve that saving the payback goes to 14 years approx. That’s around half the lifetime of the solar installation.

So, can Westminster enable equal access to the savings available? The answer is yes of course. We simply need a scheme where anyone can apply to have solar installed and paid for from the savings made. The risk to the UK is low. It helps accelerate towards greater availability of green energy, reduces the load on local transformers and Grid, whilst allowing everyone access to some level of saving and therefore helps with people's cost of living.

Those with cash can still get the full savings straight away, whilst everyone else gets some of the gains without having to find the up-front money.

As an MP, I would love to help work on the details of a scheme something like this. It could be done in combination with the UK Infrastructure Bank or Local councils and deliver equal access to clean energy for the Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency.

Adrian Abbs

Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire Constituency

Different from the rest

No one likes to admit they got something wrong, maybe it’s just part of human nature, but let’s face it, we all make mistakes, me included. However, if we keep open minds, we should be able to say things like “With what I know now I can see my previous position needs to change”. With Paula Vennells and the post office scandal, it is becoming a clear example of someone who needs to admit they made a mistake. It’s the same with those who covered up the infected blood scandal and more locally those responsible for CIL demands that had no merit.

Maybe the problem starts with our political system. From what I’ve seen, no one dare say “I made a mistake”, because the opposition would immediately attack. Although our civil servants are meant to be apolitical, they are of course subject to that same culture. Our public services in turn have similar pressures.

With the blood scandal, we finally had leaders of all parties offering an apology for those in charge before them. Saying essentially “Sorry we made a mistake”. Unfortunately, the cynical side of me thinks they are forced to say it, because no matter which party was in charge the same culture existed. i.e. they can’t afford not to apologise. So, I ask myself, would our current crop of MPs really have made a different set of decisions? I’m sure there are those that would, but it’s hard to find examples of cooperation. I just see opposition.

It's one of the reasons I now believe Party Politics is broken. It is just too tribal and built on getting one over on the other. I’d propose a simple start to the change in culture needed. This would be to remove the word opposition from politics and the media. Just switching the word “opposition” to “minority” might help with the mindset change needed. Referring to the current Labour party as the Official Minority. It becomes clear that the role of a minority MP is not to oppose but to scrutinize the administration. Be that a single party or a coalition.

The UK faces several crises that are so big that they can’t be resolved in a single parliament. It's time for those MPs to work together. I know that would be my aim if I’m fortunate enough to become one.

Adrian Abbs

Prospective Independent Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire Constituency

Replacement for the current Royal Berkshire Hospital plus A&E

Where the replacement hospital is built will have a massive impact on who it can effectively serve in our community.

Rumours of it being placed at the Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield seem at a glance positive, but that location has issues of connectivity, as it's not easily accessed from the M4 for instance.

Although an A & E is expensive to staff and run, If emergency services are centralised, then, by default, the travel time in an Ambulance for many is increased. So, health impacts are certain to be worse.

It's around 15 miles from Upper Bucklebury to the proposed site. That’s 25-30 mins. If the hospital was at junction 12 instead, then it’s around ½ that time. Let’s remember this is on top of the Ambulance getting to you in the first place.

With heart attacks and strokes especially, time is critical and measured in minutes for the best outcomes for the patient. It is also critical for the cost associated with recovery afterwards which is borne by the NHS, Social care teams, and the patient.

Newbury has a very good community hospital but no A&E. Using Upper Bucklebury as an example the NHS website directs you to either Basingstoke and North Hampshire or the Royal Berkshire.

I’ve been a champion of DeFibs across West Berkshire since first becoming a Cllr, because of the time criticality involved when suffering cardiac arrest. But as we have an opportunity to plan for the future, I’d like to see the new Hospital moved very close to an existing motorway junction or at least have direct access from the M4, thus ensuring people in Berkshire can easily get there. I’d also like to see the Newbury community hospital services increased to provide a 24x7 A&E. These two things could reduce Ambulance travel time and we could all benefit from the resulting health outcomes.

It would be great to get your opinion on this as I continue to develop the list of things I would like to tackle if I’m lucky enough to become the MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

Just use this link to take the 2-minute survey I have created https://adrianabbs.uk/hospitals-survey

As previously promised. Whether I win or not at the election, the feedback I am getting from voters, about what they want the MP to be doing and things they want sorted, will be passed to whoever wins. So your vote and feedback won’t be wasted.

The advent of humanoid robots combined with artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to bring about a seismic shift in the global job market. Why? Because these advanced technologies are no longer just tools we use, but active participants capable of performing tasks with a degree of autonomy and precision that equals or surpasses human capabilities in certain areas.

Some are being designed to fit into the same spaces where we currently work and mimic our actions.

When integrated with AI, these robots can learn, adapt, and make decisions, thereby handling complex tasks that require cognitive abilities.

This technological revolution, while promising for some, also raises concerns about job displacement. As they become more prevalent, many traditional jobs may become obsolete. This could lead to significant job losses and require a fundamental restructuring of our economy and society.

So far, in every industrial revolution in history, that revolution has led to the creation of new jobs even as it rendered others obsolete. The key lies in our ability to anticipate these changes and adapt accordingly. We need to start planning for a future where work as we know it may no longer exist.

This involves constantly investing in education and training programs, but also exploring new socio-economic models.

Westminster is often way behind in terms of policy making and certainly did not think about things like the impact of the Amazon model of direct warehouse to shopper selling, and its reshaping of the high street.

We need to look at those businesses who will choose to replace a person with a robot. Ask questions like, Should the robot pay NI and Tax equivalent to employing a person? I personally think so, otherwise, how will services get paid for?

There are things we need to think about now so that as they arrive over the next decade, we at least have a plan.

That means having MPs that look at the long term not just the next election.

Can you guess which segment of the housing market is most often associated with declining value over time? That would be the housing aimed at the more mature occupant i.e. living for those over 55 etc. It’s an area that plays on people’s desire to care for others.

I’ll use an example of a development in Wantage and data from Zoopla. A 1-bed flat was first sold in August 2011 for £120,000, it was re-sold in July 2023 for £100,000. Adjusting for inflation it should have sold for £169,822!

So why does the value fall so dramatically?

Often the management company associated with the development is not controlled by the residents. Its charges grow disproportionally to when the property is first purchased.

The services brought in to carry out any work is usually associated with the same group that the management company belongs to. It's not unusual for the management company to say “We have to charge more because the services needed are costing so much more”. But there not using the market for services, they are using internal resources and not being transparent with owners.

Most frequently there are terms and conditions buried in the original purchase agreement that means anything from 1-10% of the value of the property must be paid every time the person living their changes. You read correctly, every time and on the full value of the property. There is a market for renting out retirement properties, but most often that’s because the owner inherited the flat, not because a property investor sees a viable return.

Now let’s look at when the person at 55 buys the property but reaches say 70 or 80 and needs more of an assistive living place. Just when you might want to release equity to pay for it, you find the bricks and mortar that’s normally a solid investment is in fact a liability. You either don’t get anything like the rental income you might get with an ordinary flat, or you're forced to sell at a loss and of course, the money released does not go as far as you might have planned.

It’s been reported as an issue for several years, a minister even looked at this, but nothing has been done to stop companies from praying on the vulnerable. Its something I would want to raise should I be lucky enough to represent people in Parliament.

Red Tape and Parking

As I continue to leaflet and canvas the voters of Reading West and Mid Berkshire, I also pop into any businesses I pass on the way. In my leaflet, it says “I’ll be there for the public and local business in the constituency”. To do that I first wanted to listen to the problems that are holding them back, finding out if there is anything a local MP can do about it.

I’ve now done this from Newbury to Tilehurst and a lot of places in between. If it’s a service business in a high street, especially in places like Tilehurst, then their number one concern was parking charges, FYI I hear the same in Newbury High Street. They express how it directly impacts the footfall and so viability of their business.

But the other thing that comes up regularly is Red Tape. All sorts of red tape, from simple things like how hard it is to take in an intern or apprentice, to the regulations associated with now being out of the EU.

Being a local councillor, I know the root cause of parking charges. It’s because mandated services are not funded sustainably. That leads to ever more inventive ways of trying to raise money from what they do control. Hence parking charges go up and up and up. That is something that can be fixed by Westminster by sorting social care funding once and for all.

The reduction of bureaucracy was touted as a Brexit benefit. However, years later, the anticipated easing of regulations has yet to materialise, with much of the bureaucracy being self-imposed.

As much of parliament is made up of MPs who have only had political careers, then it’s not surprising that the laws we get often hinder, rather than help small businesses thrive. As a local businessman, I’ll aim to bring common sense and business sense to parliament.

I delivered my 10,000^th leaflet across the new Reading West & Mid Berkshire constituency last weekend (7th April_. From doing this its already clear that voters must take great care with what the parties are saying. Whether its Labour delivering leaflets saying how they are the only ones that can win, even though their base out of Reading is just 30% of the new constituency, or the Lib Dems doing the opposite based on Local election results in Mid Berkshire. Voters need to treat the content in a leaflet or canvassing on the door with care. The labour leaflet even mentioned that all polling shows its neck and neck between them and the Conservatives. But based on what polling? They don’t say.

What do I base this statement on! I have had nigh on 400 conversations with Voters as I have been delivering. So that’s my polling so far. The almost universal message is one of not knowing which way to vote and being depressed with the state of Politics. Many people simply saying they are not going to vote because “it makes no difference; all politicians are the same”. Not one person said they were voting Labour! or Lib Dem or Green for that matter. It’s way too early for most people to have decided.

So, how can we trust parties that start campaigning by twisting things? As a demonstration, I’ll use the same techniques used by parties to show how an independent has just as good a chance, if not better, of being elected in the new constituency.

Let’s start with the most recent byelection result from Rochdale. Independents polled 24.5% of the vote and the largest independent got 21%. Now let’s look at Politico and the poll of polls as of 3^rd April.

It says Labour 44%, Conservative 23%, Reform 13%, Lib Dems 10% & Greens 5%.

So, 44% of the stronger area for Labour (Reading West) means just 44% of 30% i.e. just 13.2% of the total vote.

For the Conservatives, 23% of the remaining 70% is just 16.1%, but that’s an absolute max as it ignores everyone else’s vote. Reform gets just 9.1%, Lib Dems just 7.77% & Greens just 3.5%. So, any independent getting 21% of the Vote easily wins.

Anyone who thinks about the statement above will see the flaws in it. There are many, but as with the Labour leaflet, its is presenting things in a way that suits the narrative of the presenter.

We all know that the polls are often wrong. The polls for Brexit said it would not happen. No poll was indicating that an independent would do so well in Rochdale. So why should anyone believe what is so obviously a twist of reality?

All I will say is “Please Vote”. If you really don’t know who to vote for, then why not a local businessman who’s independent. Let’s not give up on democracy, but use your vote to bring it back to parliament.

The turnout for the 2019 general election was 67.3% - So 32.7% did not vote. That’s more than enough to return anyone voters choose. The average turnout since the 2001 election (including the Brexit referendum) is even less at 65.7%. Without Brexit, it's just 64.6%. So the reality is that anyone can win – Including the Conservatives.

Can Reading West & Mid Berkshire voters learn anything from the Rochdale By Election result?

First, it was an unusual election, if for no other reason than the Labour candidate not being supported by Labour in the end. However, something does seem to have been different.

The usual narrative from all the main parties is that to win you need to be a member of their party. It was certainly what I’ve been told in the past.

But Rochdale blew a hole in that argument in two significant ways. First, the winner is from a party, but that party is essentially one unusual person who was able to fight on mainly one issue. Second, Independents made up 25.3% of the vote, which is more than the Conservatives, Labour and Green combined (21.1%)

The leading Independent, who came second, had a simple message. “I’m a local businessman who wants to work on behalf of this constituency”.

It without doubt shows that voting Independent is not what the parties claim i.e. a wasted vote. It shows that change is possible if people want it.

The result encourages me to work even harder. You, as a voter, can make the difference. Standing as an Independent I’ll be delivering the same message as the 2^nd place candidate in Rochdale. “I’m a local businessman who wants to work on behalf of this constituency”.

Last week’s West Berkshire council meeting emphasised this further with motions that talked about lobbying the local MP and Westminster.

I’m happy to commit to both Reading and West Berkshire that should I become the MP, I’ll attend District council meetings at least 4 times a year. I would want to hear directly what Councillors' issues are for their specific area. I’ve committed to do something similar for Town and Parishes. How will I have the time to do this? Well, I won’t have to attend party meetings which for anyone involved in politics knows takes up a huge amount of time.

If you want to help get that change, please get in touch with me via https://adrainabbs.uk
Adrian Abbs
Independent Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire

It is impossible to have missed the evolving situation in the USA, with a real possibility that Donald Trump might get re-elected. However, even without that, we hear about President Joe Biden’s thoughts re the UK and Ireland. He’s not that positive about us apparently. Or at least that’s what gets reported.

So, I do find myself asking “Would the USA really come to our aid? Would they stay involved long enough to make the difference? Can we take the risk?” Whereas 20 years ago I would never have doubted, today I’m less sure.

Add to this what we see reported from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran means we face the real possibility of our way of life being changed significantly with direct aggression, or by weaponizing capitalism (which the Chinese state has done very successfully). FYI. I try and stay in touch by watching a range of news channels from the BBC through ITV, GB News, Al Jazeera and Sky. Just so I can get different perspectives on things.

The conflation of all this news is that we live in ever more dangerous times. Its why one of the things I’m keen to see is the UK get to energy independence. I.e. Energy security. I have written previously about ways we can do this in an environmentally positive way, but once we have abundant cheap energy security, we can make positive moves to improve food security, we also get positive outcomes for health and industry and importantly cost of living.

But even if we manage to reverse the trends and make the UK independent in the basics of life, we still won’t be secure given the growing aggression in the world.

It's why I support a strong military, not for global dominance, but to safeguard our interests and respond effectively when necessary. Collaborating with neighbouring countries, who share cultural similarities to form a robust alliance—whether within or outside NATO— can deter potential aggressors.

It’s one of the main reasons why staying close to our European neighbours is a good thing. We need to get passed painting the EU as the devil. It’s a long way from perfect but our cultures are closer than many seem to realise.

As a potential independent MP, I would consider evidence and vote in the best interests of the nation, recognizing that decisions in this area span multiple decades and should be independent of party politics.

Adrian Abbs

Independent Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire

This link will open a .pdf. It is the 1st document that will be delivered to voters and gives an overview of why "The only way to get change is to change how you vote!"

This year I have focused on the capital budget for West Berkshire Council (WBC)

With interest rates high, any borrowing to buy and build things has a long-term effect on the revenue budget.

I believe I found 3.5 million that could be saved now or at least delayed until the council is in a better financial state.

My day job is IT Services, so when I see the council wanting to spend money on things like replacing all devices in one go, I get nervous. It’s usually better to negotiate a contract that allows the buying of quantity over time at a pre-agreed price. i.e. replace when it breaks not replace for the sake of it. That is a £168K approx. saving.

Next, when I see the council replacing server infrastructure, I see an organisation living in the IT world of pre-cloud. Every time I have looked at this for my customers, when the total cost of ownership is considered, then public, private or a hybrid of the two comes out cheaper. WBC wants to do things like replace an air con unit to keep servers cool. That’s £100K. They want to replace a Storage Address Network device, another £150K. Also replace a DB server, £75K. We are already at £325K and all this can be done easily and at a lower cost in the cloud. The above does not even consider the energy, staff, maintenance or space costs associated with having this in-house.

Next, I saw £280K per annum for 2 years to get full fibre to schools. So a £560K cost. But hang on, WBC, under the conservatives, announced they had finished full fibre across West Berkshire ages ago. There are 92 schools, so the proposal is to spend £46K per school. My suggestion will be to go to something like Starlink instead. It works everywhere, already delivers 100’s Mbps and costs around £449. i.e. 1/10^th of the proposed per school costs. That saves £514K over 2 years.

Finally, I looked at the line item about building extra storage for records across Berkshire. A legal hangover from when Berkshire County Council existed. That is £2.5Million to build plus some extra revenue costs to maintain where it's stored. Then I hear about how well the programme to have staff work from home has gone, and how the Market Street offices of WBC are now underutilised. Combined with that is speculation about building new offices somewhere in the London Road Industrial estate.

Well, if we have spare room, why are we building more storage elsewhere? Store the records at existing offices that have space and save the 2.5 million.

If we use spare office capacity, then this also benefits the other parts of the old Berkshire County Council including Reading. So other authorities also save money!

Adrian Abbs

Independent West Berkshire Councillor

Independent candidate for Reading West & Mid Berkshire constituency.

It's only when you talk to local people that you can understand the effects of large developments on a community.

I went along to the latest meeting for the campaign run by the Say NO to Thatcham NE Development team. Mainly to see if I could help in anyway given the experience gained by standing up for the community in Wash Common and the impact the proposed Sandleford development would have. There are a lot of similarities between the 2 sites.

It's not about no housing, but should all be about the right type, at the right price, in the right place with the right infrastructure!

What the campaign is doing now is critical, because once the local plan is adopted, it becomes very hard indeed to stop the actual development. Much discussion was had about getting Sandleford removed from a local plan. Apparently its not that you can’t, but that no one has ever managed it. Compensating developers was one reason I heard – which is ridiculous as all development is speculation.

In our developer-led planning world it's far less about what a community needs and too much about just profit.

There are exceptions of course but they are in the minority.

I think there are 4 things we could change that would help.

1) Move to community-led development where local people describe what they need to keep their local service etc.

2) Carry out land value reform, so that the development of needed housing does not start with the huge hike associated with profiteering from turning land which is worth a few K to land that is worth millions. Direct that profit (not made by the developer usually) to ensure infrastructure is delivered.

3) Schedule the infrastructure improvements and fixes to the early stages of development. Not to the end as so often happens.

4) Give some teeth back to local planners and more weight to local development plans. They know far better what works for a community than the Secretary of State.

A lot of this is managed and controlled by Westminster.

That’s why we need constituency MPs who are willing to stand up for inappropriate development in their areas.

Adrian Abbs

Independent Candidate

Reading West and Mid Berkshire

Council Budgets

Let’s face the facts, it’s not actually a council budget but rather a Government one. As per my letter of a few weeks ago, the single biggest factor is social care, the next is waste. The first is statutory but uncontrollable as inflation and the actual numbers needing this service is only guesswork when setting a budget. The second, for West Berkshire Council, is stuck in a Private Funding Initiative (PFI) contract which has 8 plus years left to run. PFI contracts have been amongst the worst types of contracts, and no one today would even consider them. FYI West Berkshire’s is amongst the most expensive waste service in the country for residents. Who suggested they were a good idea? That would be central government. Central Government also encouraged councils to play the property market. This created a situation where they were competing against each other. The summary of that for many councils is that they bought high and are now selling low.

You will all have seen the Conservative's announcement of extra funding for councils. This is just a small sticking plaster. At the time of writing, we don’t know how much West Berks or Reading will get from this. Therefore, the councillors and officers must guess the number whilst trying to figure out what can be cut to afford the mandatory things. Add to that the accounting tricks which allow capital receipts to be used as revenue, means the real problems do not get fixed. This constant kicking down the road of funding for local services will come back to hurt us.

We need some different types of MP. Not career politicians, but people who bring their careers to politics. People who have lived in the real world, not one of theory.

I’m currently meeting all councils in Reading West and Mid Berkshire to compile a list of priorities the MP should be dealing with in the Constituency. If you would like to share your thoughts, just go to Https://adrianabbs.uk/Constituency-Ideas. I’ve committed to hand it all over to whoever wins at the general election, whether it’s me or not.

Adrian Abbs

Independent Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire constituency.

Net Migration / Emigration / Immigration / Asylum seekers.

Which is the most important?

Before we look at the above, we need to keep a couple of things in mind. 1 The birth rate in the UK. 2 How the UK is set up in terms of the number of people it needs to remain in what we think of as a prosperous nation. The reality is that the UK birth rate is falling, and a workforce is needed to pay for everything that makes us prosperous.

With that said, what gets little to no coverage is emigration from the UK. The latest ONS numbers, June 2023, say 93000 British citizens left the UK. An AXA PPP International report says the main drivers behind British emigration was Poor work / life balance and poor pay and benefits.

First, that’s around 3 times the number of people that arrive by small boats according to a Dec 15^th Article on the BBC website. In the same story, 89000 sought Asylum in the UK in 2022 (Still less).

What’s not said, and what’s hard to find is the socio-economic breakdown in those numbers.

Let’s face it, if we are losing the mid to high earners and only replace with low earners then it’s not a matter of just measuring in and out, it’s a matter of value (or tax revenue if you like). For example. If I lose a Dr. whose average pay is £76K (net £54K) and replace them with someone working in retail where the average salary is £23.3K (net 20K) then I’m at least 3 times worse off as the government. But it’s even worse than that, because a single parent earning £23.3K with 2 school-age kids living in Berkshire would be entitled to £329.44 per week of benefits, according to money-saving experts website. That’s another £17130 per annum we need to find. FYI the Dr. gets just child benefits at 39.90 per week or 2074.80 per annum.

The extra cost of the 3.3 people on benefits compared to the 1 Dr. is £56.5K. That’s over twice the tax revenue from the Dr.

A GMC report said that 4843 Drs left the UK in the year May 2021 to 2022

Given the above. I’m going to say the emigration part of net migration is something we need to focus on as a high priority. i.e. retain our talent.

This is another thing our MPs should be looking into urgently.

Adrian Abbs

Prospective Candidate

Reading West & Mid Berkshire

Public meeting with police at Falklands Cricket Club on 11th Jan for up to 50 people. Start approx 18:30.
The agenda will be confirmed later, but having listened to concerns from residents I asked for details of what has been happening crime-wise in our area.
Given the result, I have agreed with Angela Money (A local champion on this in our area) that it could be beneficial to arrange for the Police to bring along a team and talk through directly with the public what we think is happening and to describe what can be done.
The reason for choosing mid-Jan is the time it will take to arrange various diaries, and so we can have a look at a full calendar year.

Post Meeting Update

First thanks to Falklands Cricket Club for lending us the room for this important community function.

Also, thanks to my co-host Angela Money.

The local Safeguarding Inspector Matt Gow and Sgt Lizzie McDowell reported back on what crime is looking like in wash common given the rise that seemed to be happening last year. The first thing to say, was that the gang responsible for vehicle theft have been caught (in Derby as it happens). They are now on remand (behind bars).

Other types of crime are around or a little below pre pandemic levels, so it looks like things are back to near normal.

Others may wish to comment, but I felt we heard from two officers who care about what’s happening in our ward and who want to be proactive in helping address some other issues of concern.

Four other things of note for residents.

1) In addition to the 999 and 101 services we were encouraged to report things using the web from - https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

2) Keep your key fobs in a faraday cage. FYI any electrically conductive metal box (like a cake tin). Lots of cheap ones are available in online shops etc.

3) E-scooters and bikes – Be aware that police are clamping down one-scooters especially. You get one warning not to use then when caught again it will be confiscated. You can only get it back if you can get insurance – which you can’t. So, the e-scooter will be destroyed.

4) Lights on Bikes – We had a reminder that at night, your front and rear lights must have a least 1 always on light – One flashing light is not legal despite almost all lights sold supporting this functionality.

Angela Money’s neighbourhood watch meeting is tonight at the Wash Common Library and she can help you set a scheme up in your area if you would like.

Myself and David Marsh (As 2 of the District Cllrs) are going to work together with West Berkshire council and Police to look at speeding on Essex street and Monks lane. We will keep people posted via Facebook.

Press Release - A credible, local, independent candidate for the Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency.

I’ve always believed that an MPs first responsibility is to fight for the needs of the constituency they represent. Their 2nd priority should be helping the country no matter who forms the cabinet. These 2 things would be my guiding principles if I am lucky enough to be selected.

I’ve lived in Reading & West Berkshire for over 25 years now, with my children having attended school in Reading. My company (the day job) is based in Newbury.

Having found more time after building my business and wanting to give back to society, I became a Parish Councillor in 2018, then stood and was elected to West Berkshire Council in 2019 and re-elected in 2023. I have real-world experience as a local and international businessman and have demonstrated that I can get ideas adopted both whilst in opposition and when on the council executive. I would look to do the same in Parliament, i.e., work towards solutions, not just oppose.

If asked to describe my own politics, then I would say I’m a centralist who believes in a fair start for all. I’m also very aware of our place in the world and that we can’t isolate ourselves from it.

Also, if pressed to name a single thing that we could do as a nation that would have the most effect. I would point to energy cost & security as the thing to tackle. If we had control of this, then other benefits accrue exponentially and include, health, food, environment and the competitiveness of our business’s.

Before deciding to stand I did a brief survey via local Facebook groups across the constituency. It showed over 94% of those who responded, wanted an independent local person, who had had a career first. This describes me well.

So, if you’re tired of the same old party politics, as are others, make your vote count and send a signal to Parliament, by supporting me, Adrian Abbs, as I announce my candidacy. I can be the lightening rod that starts debate and ensures every vote can count at the next election!

I’m not so sure I see that with most career politicians, their focus is often party first, their political career, and then people. So, like others, I have concluded that party politics is broken, and it’s time for a change. By supporting me, you can help bring about that change. I will no longer be affiliated with any political party, so you can be sure that I will represent the interests of the people first.

In conclusion, if you want to make your vote count and make a difference, then consider supporting me.

You can find out more by going to https://adrianabbs.uk/RWMBC

EV Charging strategy.

During my 4.5 years as a Cllr, I have been consistently clear that we need the right types of chargers in the right places in the right quantities. I’ve also mentioned at council that what we charge for their use is a very important factor.

Many of you would have noticed that availability and maintenance have also become factors. i.e. Can I get to one and is it working? This becomes even more critical as 2^nd and 3^rd hand EVs enter the market, but also during the colder months when battery range is reduced.

I’ve shared my thoughts with relevant members of the executive already but encourage members of the public to send their own ideas to me so I can build a body of evidence and ensure we get this right for the future. Just email me at adrian.abbs1@westberks.gov.uk.

Right now, we have extreme examples that can easily be fixed but that are holding back the adoption of clean-air vehicles.

I’ll use two examples that I see almost daily. Example 1 is the charge points installed on West Mill Road, Newbury – There are 2 charge points in this road and they are rated at 5kW. FYI The bigger the charger the faster it fills the car battery. The first thing that can be fixed is their accessibility. There is no priority given to parking next to the charge point. So, most of the time you just can’t get to one. Second, there are time restrictions. It is a max of 2 hours and no return within an hour. Therefore, the best you can hope for, if you’re lucky, is 2 hours of charge. For a Nissan LEAF, 2 hours is about 36.4 miles. Of course, if you’re a resident then you will have a permit for overnight, but you still have the issue of access to the charge point. There is also slightly more bad news as the peak rate is rather high at 79p/kWh and a connection fee. Even off peak its 46p/kWh.

Why is the peak rate bad news? Well, the average UK car drives 38.8 miles to the gallon. As I write this letter the average cost per gallon is 147.8p/litre or £6.72 per gallon. Put another way its 17.32p per mile. In 2 hours, a Nissan LEAF would get 36.36 miles of range using a 5kW charger. However, the cost would be 21.72p per mile. Using the off-peak rate, then it’s just 12.56p per mile.

To add insult to injury the charge points were installed using a government grant. So someone has already had a slice of the cake and yet we don’t make them available and we don’t ensure at least a matching tariff to home use. Instead, someone somewhere wants to turn it into a cash cow.

Now let’s look at a couple of car parks in Newbury. Market Street car park (Council controlled) & Parkway (private). Well, no luck at Market Street as the 2 charging points have been out of action for over 6 months now. Parkway is much better and has 8 of its 10 working. Also, it’s just 30p per kWh to use, so a very low 8.2p per mile.

What I’d like to see happen includes

1) Where a government grant pays for infrastructure (which is our money anyway) then a cap on profits for the supply of power to the public should also be mandated.

2) That access to chargers becomes a priority – Especially overnight when these slow 5kW chargers are best used.

3) That West Berkshire follows through with Veolia on a trial of electric waste vehicles for certain routes and ensures at least some charge points are available in Padworth.

4) That once installed there is an associated service level agreed to ensure they are working.

5) That consultations are completed asap with Parish councils on where fast chargers can be installed on community facilities. Also, ensure engagement with other community facilities.

6) That if we can’t spend grants more wisely, then we don’t spend the money at all. At the end of the day, all this cash comes from tax revenue i.e. me and you.

Adrian Abbs

Independent Councillor

West Berkshire Council

Wishing everyone the very best for 2024

Warmest Regards

Adrian Abbs

Almost any conversation about homes will sooner or later come back to the selling off of council houses. The next sentence from people is often that the mistake was not re-investing the money in replacing that stock. With what I’ve seen as a councillor, I have concluded, that to get community-led homes, for those that need them, where we need them, then we have no choice but to enable councils to build homes again. If we really want to retain and attract key staff to our highest priority local services, then we have little choice. Land value reform is the long-term solution, because that would address the base problem of the cost of land once it has building permission. However, talk to anyone about affordability and they tell you it no longer exists. If I were to ever find myself in a position of influence in Westminster, then supporting changes to allow affordable homes in Berkshire would have to be a priority.

Speaking of priorities, it was an interesting read on page 10 of the Newbury Weekly News last week about the new Liberal Democrat candidate for Reading West & Mid Berkshire constituency Helen Belcher. According to the article, her top priorities have nothing to do with the constituency. It was about making sure we all know she is Trans and that she wants to move back to her birthplace. I also noted that there was no mention that she has not only lost twice when running for MP in Chippenham, but that the local Lib Dem members did not select her either.

She says at one point “I’m ready now”, therefore I guess we should conclude she was not ready when running before.

I do wonder if others who read the nearly full-page interview will also conclude Helen’s priorities seem to be, me me me. You would think that with so many column inches we would have heard something about what she wanted to do for the constituency!

I seriously doubt voters want another MP focused solely on themselves.

According to a quick web search, There are 27 council-operated car parks in West Berkshire and 469 designated parking spaces available on-street in Hungerford, Newbury and Thatcham.

The Kennet Centre Newbury car park has 415 spaces all by itself. With just £1 per night, as a permit charge, that’s £151,475 of revenue possible from 1 car park.

At a recent exec council meeting the age-old issue of revenue from parking charges came up. Comments were made about the inevitable rise to help fill the funding gap created by Westminster’s current way of funding councils. I believe there is an alternative that could lead to greater revenue for the council. It also helps stimulate activity in our towns and villages while helping solve off-street parking for people who live near them.

1^st Off street parking. With more and more flats, especially from converted offices, finding a parking space is a problem. Simultaneously we have council car parks that are pretty much empty overnight. Why not create resident permits that allow residents to reserve an overnight space?

2^nd Time of use. The charge per hour rate can change for parking. Some simple analytics of car space utilisation combined with information from people like “the bid” Newbury, means we can encourage behaviour change. i.e. Making it cheaper when its quiet, most likely leads to more shoppers on quiet days. This should lead to higher overall revenue.

3^rd Increasing footfall. The above should help keep our high streets as vibrant and viable places to be.

Overall, I certainly see ways to use parking as a force for good. https://adrianabbs.uk/rwmbc to contact me.

Adrian Abbs

Independent prospective candidate for Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency

Change can only come by doing something different. It’s time for change.

Where is the Vision from those in charge? Why do we keep choosing the hard-to-do expensive options?

I’m convinced that solving the energy conundrum could lead quickly to a wealth of benefits for the UK. But only if those in charge in central government would focus on what we can do and not what we can’t.

It's irrefutable that we have almost completely lost control of the energy market. We are left to take our chances on the goodwill of others to provide much of the fuel and technology we need at a cost set outside the UK.

Whilst nuclear fission power seemed an answer 30 years ago, we failed to deliver what was needed, and although nuclear fusion reactors are getting closer, they are also 20-30 years away. We now also need to replace the gas-powered stations because our own supplies will run out and that leaves us exposed to states who may have a different agenda than ours.

Even when we had part of the solution come forward i.e., onshore wind, we passed a law that all but killed any development in this area.

There are a series of solutions, that for the UK especially, can work.

First water in our rivers and streams i.e., micro hydro: Waterpower was at its peak just before the industrial revolution with estimates of well in excess of 10K water mills. The Canal & River trust states we have over 1800 locks. Water in our rivers and streams peaks during the autumn, winter and spring periods. Exactly when we need more power. So, we have approx. 12K small to medium generators on existing or historical sites distributed around the UK.

Tidal: More tidal energy goes past UK shores than we could ever use. Its predictable for 1000’s of years in advance. We currently only focus on a fraction of its potential.

Geothermal: We have to go down around 15kM to get to the heat we need, but once there we have again more than we could ever use. The turbine halls needed are not new tech either.

Solar & Wind: It's now well documented that the cheapest forms of power generation come from solar and wind. It’s also true, that there is more solar energy and wind energy on average than we ever need. The one real issue with it is consistency. So, for these two to work we really need energy storage as well.

These five technologies make up everything we could ever need for as long as we can imagine needing them. They are completely renewable and can’t be interfered with easily by anyone outside of the UK. Two are already the cheapest, and micro-hydro is coming down in price rapidly. So, the UK could be totally independent of all outside fuel sources if we choose. It would be at a price that is way lower than staying on older fuel types as these increase due to geopolitics. Yes, we need a transition period, but we can transition and save money whilst being more secure.

What happens when we take back control of energy infrastructure and fix its price to something we control?

Well, first renewable energy can help increase food production over the entire UK by providing farmers with a reliable and affordable source of energy. Farmers can use this energy to power their irrigation systems, greenhouses, and other equipment, which can help increase crop yields. It can also reduce the costs of transportation of food by providing a cheaper and cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

Green hydrogen is a promising technology that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector and replace oil boilers. Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be used as a fuel for vehicles or to heat homes and buildings.. This helps reduce air pollution and improve public health

Also, the use of this energy will inexorably lead to significant health benefits for the UK. Air pollution is a major public health issue, and it is estimated to cause up to 36,000 premature deaths each year. The use of renewable energy can help reduce air pollution by replacing fossil fuels, which are a major source of air pollution.

Almost as a bi-product, renewable energy can also help reduce the risk of climate change, which can have additional significant health impacts, such as increased heat-related illnesses, respiratory problems, and infectious diseases.

In summary, the use of cheap green renewable energy could help solve the core issues related to the cost of living, food production, transport, and health in the UK.

What can we do in Berkshire? A lot if given half a chance. It just takes those in charge to have some vision. West Berkshire Council is using solar and looking at Micro Hydro. Every person who can afford it can reduce their long-term energy costs by becoming an energy generator. We can do our bit we just need some sensible thinking from those with real control and real budgets.

Let’s write to our MP and demand better.

Social care – It’s time we had a fundamental change.

At the moment, local councils are in an impossible situation. By law, they are mandated to deliver certain services, but the funding of those services is not aligned to the need as it occurs.

For example. No one knows how many children will need to be taken into care or how many elderly persons will need assistance from the state and when that might happen. Estimates can be created of course, but that is done well in advance of any council budget.

It’s therefore not a surprise, that with much of a council’s budget going towards costs of this type, and that often the estimates are wrong, its everything else that has to be squeezed to ensure a Council does not break the law.

The changes we need are that costs associated with providing these variable services are dealt with monthly, rather than yearly. Also these costs would go directly to Westminster who are better placed to fund it. They can more easily estimate needs because they are looking at the UK as a whole. They are also the ones who can develop policy that funds this need appropriately.

With social care funding where it belongs, in Westminster, Councils could be better judged on just how well they are managing remaining budgets and other services.

As we have entered general election campaigning territory, now’s your chance to write to your MP and demand change. As many MPs will not return to the next parliament, I suggest you also write to the prospective MPs who will be asking for your vote.

Covid – Can we trust the same teams to get it right next time?

We are currently being treated to the revelations of what everyone really thought of each other in the most senior parts of Government and how unorganised they really were.

For me, it still misses some keep points.

No one is saying all deaths could have been avoided, but it’s now clear, beyond any doubt, that more lives could have been saved. It comes down to the reaction speed on key events, with weeks or even days making a big difference as things were doubling daily at this critical time. If things had been done faster, then the peaks would have been lower. If the peaks had been lower deaths and associated costs of Covid would also have been lower, then recovery would have been quicker, if the recovery had been quicker, it would also have been deeper which in turn means the next wave would also have been reduced with the obvious benefits.

Now add in the science that was talked about at the time, specifically the wearing of face coverings. What people needed was protection from the incoming virus not a face covering. The only thing that has a significant effect are masks with a rating like FFP3. Face coverings just protected people from others coughing.

I often hear about how no one could have known. Sorry, but that’s just not the case. We were behind most of Europe and especially Italy.

Even in my role as a Councillor for West Berkshire Council, I was already asking questions in February about how prepared we were and why we did not even have hand gel in the receptions of the Council buildings. At my company, I’d already ordered FFP3 masks for all staff. So, there were people who had less data than the government but who were acting much faster and with greater effect.

Finally, it is often missed, but according to the UK gov in the early parts of covid they were saying we are well prepared for a pandemic – That turned out to be wrong and when we trace things back its because of another decision to deliberately not be prepared. Strange, but that was also a Conservative decision and anyone who looks at Exercise Cygnus from 2017 sees that “it concluded starkly that Britain was not adequately prepared for a flu-like pandemic’s extreme demands”.

At the next General Election, all parties will roll out their manifestos saying how well they have done or how well they will do and how it will all be different because it’s now a new team. It’s clearly not, it’s the same parties, the same type of people being selected and therefore the same outcomes.

How do we get change? We need a “none of the above” candidate. Then everyone knows that if they vote it counts.

After a long think, I concluded that I can best serve the Wash Common community by becoming an Independent Councillor. 

• It does allow me to speak freely on all matters of importance to the ward.
• It better matches the time I have to dedicate to being a Cllr whilst I consider running for MP.
• It does not alter the balance of power at West Berkshire Council so those that voted for me as an alternative to a conservative administration still have that.

The background is directly related to the prospective parliamentary candidate selection I went through for the Lib Dems. The Lib Dem English party left me with no option but to resign which in turn meant I could no longer be a local Lib Dem. 

Should, anyone like to chat about what that means please just call me or drop me an email.

Warmest Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

PS Should enough people in the ward want me to step down, then I will do that. 1,712 voted for me, so if more than half of that want me to go then I will without question.

Great Community Day at Falkland Cricket Club - Really enjoyed being there again this year.

The document referenced here will provide an overview of what West Berkshire Council is responsible for and what it is not. The aim is to improve engagement with the public and environmental groups so we focus on "CAN DO"

I am proud to lend my name and position to something directly in line with the principle of SMATE (Save Money And The Environment).

use this link to go to the Big Community Switch

As well as doing my councillor ward duties I just wanted everyone to know I have two  important extra duties for this coming year.

• I have been appointed to the executive at West Berkshire Council
• I have been elected as the Chairman of Western Area Planning.

My portfolio will be Climate Action, Recycling and Biodiversity. I'll also be working with transport of the EV charging infrastructure.

I promise to do my best for West Berkshire as a whole given these extra responsibilities and thank you again for placing your faith in me by re-electing me for these next 4 years.

Website https://www.sandlefordpark.com/

Thursday 25th May 2023

3:00pm to 8:00pm

at Wickens Suite, Newbury Rugby Football Club,

Monks Lane, Newbury RG14 7RW

Thank you to everyone that voted in the local elections. 6 colleagues and I look forward to doing our best for the Wash Common Ward.

For West Berkshire Council - Myself and Patrick Clark are here to help. 

For Newbury Town Council we have. Meg Thomas, Roger Hunneman, Jane French-Drayton, Sam Dibas & Tony Vickers

You can read the full manifesto by using the link here but its also available to  to download using the link below.

So far So Good.

The 3 biggest issues we face with getting homes in West Berkshire to an EPC rating of C or better is

Cost, Installers and Ability.

For many people, it's simply that they can't afford the capital layout, don't have the ability to do it well even if they could and the lack of installers to be able to tackle the 10,000's homes in West Berkshire that need doing.

We all know, that as much as we want the cost of living crisis to be over soon it's likely to stretch through 2023 and into 2024

We also know that the climate crisis is not being addressed anywhere near fast enough.

That's the backdrop to the insulation motion that is now being worked from its initial concept to a scheme that can be presented with funding streams identified to the council executive for sign-off. The motion has already gone through the West Berkshire Environmental Advisory Group once before being presented to the full council last Thursday. It will go back there for a final check.

Finally, we will get a West Berkshire scheme that takes a significant bite into the problem of saving money and the environment as it does.

Response to the key points of the new energy strategy by Adrian Abbs Lib Dem Portfolio Holder for the environment and public protection

An energy strategy looks into the future and should therefore contain both tactical and strategic elements. The strategy also needs to encompass what we want to achieve as a society and what we need to achieve.

Therefore, the strategy needs to achieve 4 things. 1) Provide energy security 2) a path to clean energy 3) ensure both businesses and consumers can afford the energy and 4) that we have enough energy to support the needs of society as a whole.
Having looked at the key points announced in the strategy and evaluated against the above criteria there are some parts that are easy to support and parts that seem less than optimum.

Nuclear - The government plans to reduce the UK's reliance on oil and gas by building as many as eight new nuclear reactors, including two at Sizewell in Suffolk. A new body will oversee the delivery of the new plants.

The Lib Dems voted to accept nuclear power as part of a low carbon energy strategy after being urged to do so by Ed Davey when he was still Energy secretary back in 2013. This changed a previous position and came about having listened at length to the low carbon argument – We have not changed that position, so the current Conservative administration setting a target to deliver some is in line with Lib Dem policy of the past decade.

My main issue is the length of time needed to go from concept to delivering power. Even with the new body, I am sceptical about enough being delivered quickly to have any sizeable impact on the coming decade in terms of energy security. It is also very expensive to implement a strategy overlay reliant on nuclear. It would fail the cost criteria but can help with the other 3 objectives.

When (progress is being made) fusion rather than fission arrives we lose the dangerous element often associated with Nuclear. Significant extra investment here is missing from the strategy which is odd given the promise it offers.

Wind - The government aims to reform planning laws to speed up approvals for new offshore wind farms. For onshore wind farms, it wants to develop partnerships with "supportive communities" that want to host turbines in exchange for guaranteed cheaper energy bills.

On-shore wind is the cheapest and one of the fastest to implement in terms of the energy techs we have right now – We would be in a better scenario if the Conservatives had not been opposing it for so long and had not introduced the laws that effectively banned it. As a tactical solution it's a no brainer, but given the intermittent nature of wind, it needs linking up to some energy storage solutions. It does come out positively on all 4 of the objectives mentioned at the start.

Hydrogen - Targets for hydrogen production are being doubled to help provide cleaner energy for industry as well as for power, transport and potentially heating.

Blue of Green Hydrogen? If the focus is not placed on the delivery of Green Hydrogen, then environmentally we will have gone nowhere or backwards. Green hydrogen comes into its own when you have enough Green energy to create it. The amount of energy needed is vast which may explain why the Conservatives are saying 8 Nuclear power stations. When we can produce enough energy cleanly and cheaply then it will be a valuable part of moving heavy industry, trucks and potentially heating. Doubling production will have almost zero effect w.r.t heating change. We will need 10 to 100 times what is planned to have a chance at affecting heating and taking ourselves off imported gas. Also, keep in mind that 1) electric boilers and induction hobs are already common and offer a viable alternative to heating using gas. 2) When you convert energy from one form to another there are losses. Using green energy to produce hydrogen and then using hydrogen as part of the gas mix will not be as efficient as simply using the green energy to power electric boilers or other forms of electrically powered heating.

In terms of delivery, it is not a short-term win and could easily fail objectives 2 and 4

Solar - The government will consider reforming rules for installing solar panels on homes and commercial buildings to help increase the current solar capacity by up to five times by 2035.

First, let’s remember that it’s this government that stopped FITS (Feed-In Tariffs). Let me explain why that is important!

The above shows cumulative installed capacity (see data set herehttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solar-photovoltaics-deployment)

FITS ended 31^st March 2019 but the Conservatives really took down FITS payments rapidly so that by Mid 2017 it was just a few pence per kWh being paid to generate on a typical 4kW system fitted to homes.

The UK had 12546MW in March 2017. Today we have 13743MW (Feb 2022). So just 1197MW added in the past 5 years compared to 11234 in the previous 5 years (just 10%)

Cutting FITS, as they did, meant many firms, installers etc all disappeared and now we must rebuild that pool of talent. So, whilst reforming rules might help it will be the huge rise in the cost of energy that will re-stimulate the installation of solar in homes and on commercial property.

We need a scheme that boosts installation where we can already (i.e. FITS II) even if that means being owned and managed by councils and government.

Solar easily meets all objectives assuming we encourage the use of existing roofs. It does need to be matched to energy storage for the same reasons as wind. This is even faster to deploy than wind and has Agri solar options to ensure we meet other objectives such as security in food

Oil and gas- A new licensing round for North Sea projects is being launched in the summer on the basis that producing gas in the UK has a lower carbon footprint than doing so abroad.

I don't agree with the statement that it's less carbon footprint because it's not easy to extract compared to other places around the world. However, to have Zero local supplies of Gas and Oil would be a strategic mistake for decades to come. For the future of all, we must ensure we extract the minimum needed and focus on the cheaper and cleaner alt energies like solar, wind and tidal first.

This type of energy only supports objectives 1 & 2 in the near to mid-term. It cannot be the future if we want a planet to live on.

Heat pumps- There will be a £30m "heat pump investment accelerator competition" to make British heat pumps which reduce demand for gas.

For heat pumps to work well they require good installation for the home. To get a government grant homeowners must show Ofgem an EPC with the "minimum standards of loft insulation and for cavity walls" having been met. The technology has been accelerating for a while so I can’t see what the competition will achieve.

Heat pumps are about efficiency improvements when converting one form of energy to the heat we need to be comfortable. It can help with objectives2 and 4.

I would personally say that it’s better to spend 30M on installation. In fact, I would go much further and say we need a scheme with billions available for improvements to insulation. It has a faster and much more direct effect on the heating energy we need as a nation.

Insulation can help across all 4 objectives and is something tactical we can do.

On new builds and large builds heat pumps are a different story because it’s just a small add on to existing costs. However, community energy schemes are also a great way to ensure we stop building more problems. Since the Conservatives have not replaced the code for sustainable homes, we have had builders continue to provide homes that add to the problem rather than contribute to a solution.

If we should have a moratorium on anything, it's that no new homes should be completed without them being net zero. Also, any buildings yet to get planning permission should be built with 5-10% better than net-zero so they can contribute to those that will never get there due to their construction

I also think as a nation we are missing out on our largest predictable and uninterruptable energy source (Tidal). We have more energy flowing around our coastline than we can ever use, most is the tidal flow that is quite slow (just a few knots). Why not run a competition to work out how we extract energy from this energy source?

Sewage and Our Rivers – It Stinks

My now ex party (Lib Dems) have been fighting on this for quite a while now around the country. The ex-leader Tim Farron most recently called for local people to have representation on Water Company boards to give some accountability (it’s that bad).

I also firmly believe that pressure needs to come to bear ASAP and are asking people to write to their MP’s for the following actions

First let our MP know that the establishment of a Storm Overflows Taskforce and a date of September 2022 from the Government to publish a plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm outflows is too little, too late to tackle the issue. Second, the rules on sewage discharges must be tightened and enforcement improved, in conjunction with the Environment Agency. Third, housing developers should meet all the costs of the required supply and disposal of water from new homes. Fourth, the Government must make capital funding urgently available to address these issues. Finally our MP writes to the relevant Government Ministers, requesting an acceleration in the capital programme to lower risks of untreated sewage discharges into our rivers, and an assurance that local housing developers will be expected to fund water infrastructure to meet the needs of new housing.

See for yourself how bad it is - The River Trust has an excellent interactive map https://www.theriverstrust.org/key-issues/sewage-in-rivers

The screengrab above from their site looks like the UK has a severe case of measles. No river appears safe.

Hoping you can help

Why the current Conservative West Berks Council administration is failing us on Energy and more

The latest budget is now set for 2022-2023 the press release is out.

The administration, as usual, rejected all suggested amendments. Justified by saying we don’t understand, or we are looking at that already. Anyone watching (and I’m not suggesting people should because they have lives ) will simply see pre-prepared positions as to why they are voting against rather than listening and thinking about what is presented. In other words, it’s done simply for political positioning. Not invented here thinking

My shadow portfolio is Environment and Public protection so I’m going to focus on just that.

I thought we had a cross-party agreement when we set the climate emergency declaration just after the 2019 election. The administration has made just 1.3% progress so far and offered nothing new this year that makes any real difference in terms of progress towards our target. The money is being set aside for the 10MW solar facility near grazely, an old idea that was given to them as a budget amendment in 2020, is by far their largest investment that makes an impact on CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, it deals with just 1/3 of the council’s emissions, not the districts.

Further suggestions have been made by myself to increase this Solar to 60MW and add storage (the original suggestion in 2020 FYI). Fingers crossed this happens. We also suggested last year, 2021, that we set up a management company so the council could control the costs of energy supplied from these generation facilities to the public rejected of course).

This year we brought forward an enhancement of that company idea to allow west Berkshire to begin to secure and control its energy at an even larger scale. We were specifically aiming at the non-council CO2 problem which when combined with transport forms the vast majority of what needs to be tackled.

We suggested an investigation only at this time to ensure we could do this without huge risk and to establish how the various solutions needed could be managed.

The vision that the Lib Dems have here is a company or joint venture partnership that would have a remit of managing many complex evolving parts that gives us a way out of the cost of fuel and environmental crisis we are now in. We often refer to SMATE (Save Money And The Environment) because to start with we can invest to save whilst dealing with our climate emergency. For reference the remit we suggested was. 1) To manage all generation capacity created and owned by West Berkshire. 2) To work with communities and individuals who have their own generation capacity (also to seed new projects via grants to further accelerate West Berkshire wide adoption). 3) To work with the National Grid and maybe larger energy providers to install energy storage capacity at the consumer side of transformers. This can flatten out demand peaks from the grid which ensures we are using clean energy as often as possible but also protects against excessive loads on the transformers and so secures supply locally. 4) To again work with communities and individuals who have installed smaller scale storage.

The net effect of this all is that we can share generation capacity where needed whilst storing excess clean energy and redistributing that when things like solar or wind are not there. It is complex, yes, but the good news is that the UK infrastructure Bank is looking for projects like this to lend money to (they have 22Billion to spend here). Cllr McKinnon (Finance Portfolio) complained he did not understand, but much of this year's amendment is simply an enhancement of previous proposals and we had shared all this information with officers before the budget meeting. Many of the ideas are shared with West Berkshire's Environmental Advisory Group (Chaired by Steve Ardagh-Walter) to promote cross-party collaboration on environmental matters. A Group that is only allowed to meet in secret for no obvious reason given what I've seen presented there. Odd that as members of the exec they don't talk to each other.

The other part of my portfolio is Public Protection and for several years now I have been fighting for the council to look at de-fibs as a project across the area. Some work has been successful here in that we have managed to kick off the investigation of this. My amendment this year was simply to set aside a small amount of capital to buy some units rather than just talk about it. To my surprise, Cllr Bridgeman spoke against this siting that we were already looking at this project. My amendment simply asked to fund units). He also said that we had well over 100 already (when I had said another 100 would go a long way to ensuring near-universal cover). Maybe he misheard me, but I created a map some time ago in conjunction with the NHS that not only showed where they were but the area they covered and when they were available. I’ve shared that link many times and it clearly shows the gaps I know exist. So why vote it down when lives are at stake and when it was a trivial amount in the overall budget?

So Sorry - The District Planning committee passed a plan to build Monks lane to a Step 4 facility last night. Those who voted for it are all members of the Conservative party and at 5 5 the Conservative Chairman used his casting vote to pass. FYI The one public speaker who came and spoke in favour of the application stood as a Conservative candidate in the recent Clay Hill bi-election. Unless a Judicial Review is ordered that means the Conservative-led council will start work asap. It also means all residents of West Berkshire will be locked into a 40-year contract to pay a very large subsidy to rent the land for that 40 years. This is on top of the multiple millions being spent to build it initially. We have a shortage of pitches in West Berkshire - But so much money on 1 does not feel like a good use of our money. You can watch the event on youtube but at nearly 3 hours its a long drawn out event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsEKHRBihM I was asked to fight this to try and do something about the parking issue that results from playing at Step 4. Unfortunately, I failed hence my apology.

Here's to a better 2022

Still some way to go, but hopefully we are heading in the right direction

Warmest Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

I just wanted to wish everyone in wash common a Merry Christmas for 2021 after another challenging year.

I hope you continue to find a way to get some cheer in these oddest of times.

I know the community of Wash common has shown such warmth during covid which I seen often as a met people in the ward.

My Warmest Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

Half-Term Report since the Climate Emergency. ‘A’ for the Officers, ‘D’ for the Conservative Administration

Highwood Copse schools Opens September

Whilst I'm happy to say the school will finally open I can't say I've been impressed by the delivery. This all started way before I became a Councillor so I've not been able to change the result even though I've been asking from the leader of council to the officers I could find and the project team to do better.

They have a website which is here https://www.highwoodcopse.co.uk/

Please let the Council and Government know that it's just not right.

You decide, but here are some facts

First Environmental: -

Highwood Copse School in Wash Common was meant to have high environmental standards, a connected travel plan and solar energy (or panels) as it's a new school for the future.

What's delivered?

A drop from ‘excellent’ to ‘very good’ as its core environmental standard (BREEAM standard), removal of solar energy and a travel plan that's just not connected.

Why, given the decision to remove the solar panels was made after declaring a climate emergency, does this administration not admit the mistake and fund installation (the building was built with it in mind – it just need funding and fitting). You will likely hear that it's because it's an academy and they would all have to be treated the same. This is a brand-new school! Built with public money! Project managed by West Berkshire council!

Second the competence of the Conservative administration: -

This came to Western Area planning for final approval, so the school can open this September. Why did it come to planning as it's already built you might ask?

Because this council not only chose a builder that went bust, but approved and carried out a huge number of changes to the approved plans without getting permission and so had to submit for retrospective planning permission!

How is that any different than travellers buying a field and just starting to build and then also doing a retrospective planning application?

Also, how on earth do you contract with someone and then not bother to keep copies of the paperwork? This is the main reason why they asked to drop the requirement from ‘excellent’, to ‘very good’ as a standard.

I could go on, but urge the public to take note as a pattern has emerged.

With respect

Cllr Adrian Abbs (Lib Dem)

Vaccine booking available 13th July 2021 see events link to vaccine event Newbury

You can make a difference - Sign the Petition if you are against the development at Sandleford

As some of you might know, I currently represent the Wash Common Ward at West Berkshire but also hold the Shadow Portfolio position for Environment and Public Protection. In that capacity I lead the amendments put forward by the Lib Dems at the West Berkshire Budget meeting on this subject area. Rather sadly the Conservative leadership decided to again rejects all amendments on block. Meaning no matter what the idea, just a dogmatic rejection of everything.

This year I was bringing forward concepts that can lead to around £4 Million of net revenue to the council whilst helping all residents and business’s get lower energy costs (down to approx. 11p per kW hour, rather than the national average of 16.6p.

As you can see from the speech below, I was simply asking to investigate potentially useful things.

I wanted you all to know I am doing my best to achieve what was promised when you elected me.

Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs B.Sc.

Budget speech

Dear members.

The amendments proposed build on previous proposals put forward for solving the energy side of achieving carbon zero.

The “keystone” is to investigate becoming an energy supplier. Something in line with the Energy motion bought forward by myself originally and then again by Cllr Steve Ardagh Walters and approved by council unanimously.

Therefore, we suggest setting aside £100K to allow the detail to be scoped on exactly how we would do this. Estimates shared with our section 151 officer and our new director of place show the potential to fix energy costs significantly lower than current market averages for residents and businesses whilst generating approximately £4 million of net revenue that can support other green initiatives.

Last year we suggested following Warrington’s Council example of building a large solar farm. The welcome stake in the ground that has followed, Grazely, is a good “statement of intent” however the site can be at least 6 times larger than is currently planned. So, 60MW rather than the current 10MW. If Grazely is not a suitable location and to avoid an “all eggs in one basket” scenario alternatives sites may be needed. We, therefore, propose a budget of £100K to carry out this work and ensure we have enough locations to build what is needed.

Third, we’d like to propose £150K so that West Berkshire can focus some efforts on micro-hydro projects. We are lucky to have good candidates for this, including The Kennet, Dunn and of course River Lamborn. The fall across the county leads to an estimate of approx. 60 locations which can run all day and night. They could therefore provide up to another 10MW of power. FYI. Micro Hydro uses around 6% of the land compared to the same power from Solar. This investment of officer time, allows us to fully explore the proposal and even seed some initial projects as location have been previously identified.

The next amendment is for £50,000 pounds worth of officer time to rework all supplier contracts and include the parameters laid out in the Energy label (a copy of which you have all been sent). This gives all our suppliers a clear visual of parameters that will be considered when responding to briefs.

We next move on to Viable Villages. This requires part of an officer’s time to work with parish councils and village communities to truly understand their needs and support things such as energy projects, but also to understand how we might support say the local pub, shop etc. We propose £40K to this end.

Important to us is removing the green bin charge for those in receipt of council tax benefits tackling the poorest first. It would cost just £100K.

Finally, we are proposing to make all the officer expertise available through our community hub so residents and businesses can take advantage of the public money spent evaluating the solutions above and more.

The total cost of these amendments equates to just a fraction of the net revenue from the projects once deployed.

Thank you for listening

As part of the SMATE (Save Money & The Environment) series please find a link to a general guide on how to ensure a good outcome when switching lights at home to LED.

Every Year in May your ward members have the chance to put proposals forward that then go to a panel. 

If successful a grant of up to £5k can be available. This is how I arranged the funds for DeFibs which is still in progress.

If you have any ideas that could benefit the community of Wash Common please contact me to discuss.

Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

 20/03041/FUL - The application can be viewed on the West Berkshire portal
https://publicaccess.westberks.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QLR3WWRD0OX00&activeTab=summary

Here's to a better 2021

Still a long way to go but hopefully we are heading in the right direction

Warmest Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a bit poor

However, My company is running a campaign that starts Boxing day that offers 25 chances to win some great Alexa Devices and 11 chance to win the grand prize of a yet to launch Alexa Echo Show 10 3rd Generation.

It easy to enter. Just enable an Alexa skill called KickFire (FYI. anyone can have Alexa voice assistance as long as they have a Smartphone, Tablet or PC)

This QR code, if scanned by your smartphone/tablet, will enable the skill. If your looking at the barcode on any touch screen device then just touch the QR code to activate the link.

Once enabled just say to Alexa

"Alexa - Ask Kick Fire to tell me about Goodbye 20 hello 21"

The voice assistant will prompt you to enter and that's it. You might win an instant prize but you will be in the prize draw for sure.

Hope you have fun entering.

I just wanted to wish everyone in wash common a Merry Christmas

I hope you find a way to get some cheer in these oddest of times.

Warmest Regards

Cllr Adrian Abbs

UPDATE - Bloor Homes takes app to appeal

Bloor has formally lodged an appeal on this application that was refused by West Berkshire Council

 https://publicaccess.westberks.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=dates&keyVal=QBC4SGRD04Z00

Donnington New Homes have an amended app in

Joint working groups are looking at it with Urgency and meet on 26th November

I will be representing the ward along with Tony Vickers as members of the Joint working group

Do contact me if you have input on this particular application.

To try and help the community I'm pleased to say that I have been able to add a planning map for both Wash Common and Greenham to this site. It's there so that people in the ward can check out applications that have been made to West Berkshire.

Just go to the Planning Apps tab to see all local applications as a list or on a map.

Feedback most welcome

Existing, business, residents and community groups are in near-unanimous agreement about the abject failure, by the Conservative administration, of their last proposals to redevelop the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE). 

We have this one last chance to ensure the development becomes something of real value to the community. 

I now watch with dread as the current administration starts the next push without really listening first. 

Why am I so nervous? First the head man is the same person (Nick Carter), The administration is still run by the same party who's executive seem driven by the same ethos (money above community). 

They are still ignoring the wishes of the residents and business there, they won’t even listen to perfectly valid options from business people. 

Add that they can’t say sorry, because I assume they don’t think they did anything wrong means it is a recipe for another million of waste. 

Who will end up picking up the pieces – We the council tax payer.

Things I managed to get done in the first year

1. Got up to speed on planning matters and became a member of Western Area Planning
2. Became shadow portfolio holder for the environment and public protection
3. Joined the  West Berkshire Environmental Advisory Group contributed a wide range of practical ideas for immediate action
4. Had success with my members bid for more defibs within wash common
5. Got Newbury Town Council to add extra defibs to their strategy to enable support of my member's bid
6. Contributed ideas to Newbury Town Council on Alternative energy solutions
7. Support  several residents with the council matters
8. Kicked off ward surgeries and help face to face meetings ar the Falklands Memorial

Please do give me a call if you need some help during this time. If I can't help myself I'll be sure to connect you to the right person or people who are offering assistance.

Even if it's just a chat feel free to call me on 07768998370.

Wishing you all the very best as the world faces this Pandemic.

Your ward councilor

Adrian Abbs

Tel 07768998370

Our feedback and proposals are aimed at tackling the biggest issue, but also the ones we can do something about quickest. We are also urging West Berks Council (WBC) to do things in parallel, rather than the current approach which appears sequential. Our feedback covers Energy, Transport, Offsetting, Waste, Building (Planning), Speed of delivery and Finance. The full response and explanatory background can be found here.

We urge and suggest West Berkshire Council adopt the following:-

• The Executive to work with all parties in order to define a clearer vision and allow us all to achieve the needed goals.
• Reworking of the whole strategy to embed the philosophy of o Use less o Increase efficiency o Find carbon-friendly alternatives o Offset what’s left
• Working cross-party and with the public to ensure improvements in the key targets area. We have provided some detail about how to ensure the correct energy requirement is calculated for instance.
• Take advantage of many of the concepts already provided to EAG by the Lib Dem Group.
• Alter strategies to focus on Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (RRR) in parallel with the longer lead time renewable generation projects.
• We propose again that the green bin charge is removed (as per our standard policy)
• That the recycling centres become non-permit centres, allowing a much wider range of recycling and possible reuse of products (as per our standard policy).
• To embed ethical finance sources for all environmental related funding.
• That the Council begins looking at employing parallel activities based on proposals already delivered to EAG for consideration from the Liberal Democrats and others.
• Move to ULEV as a minimum whenever a vehicle is replaced and beyond this to zero-emission as soon as lifetime costs become with 5% of each other (this should happen within 3 to 5 years).
• To ensure a parking strategy must be associated with any deployment of EV charge points, we propose that reserved bays are immediately created next to all existing EV charge points.
• Stopping any further cuts to transport and that an increased emphasis is placed on improving existing services to promote better use and therefore viability.
• That the council reinforces the need in planning to establish passive house standards for new builds and that commercial builds requirements be lifted to BREEAM Outstanding immediately.
• Identify land immediately for use as carbon sinks.
• Create EPC linkage to business rates – Incentivise landlords to improve the environmental credentials of existing properties and stop penalising them for making improvements that benefit the environment.
• Undertake a rapid expansion at all WBC buildings in their use of renewable energy.
• Undertake a rapid reduction of energy used by WBC buildings for lighting and heat.
• Undertake rapid improvements in the insulation of WBC buildings to promote more efficient heat energy use.
• Using near free renewable energy during the night by storing and time-shifting the energy to when needed during the day on WBC assets (schools, offices, etc).
• Working with the National Grid, Tesla and others to create a grid of batteries that can then time shift near free renewable energy at night for commercial and home use during the day.
• The promotion of concepts outlined in the Lib Dem SMATE (Save Money And The Environment) document.
• The promotion of concepts outlined in the Lib Dem SMATE-4Biz document.
• Launch a public information campaign highlighting the savings associated with reusable cups and the availability of free water. 

For a full review that led to these proposals please read this pdf.

West Berkshire HELAA Out

This is a very important piece of public information to review! It shows where new land for development is being considered.

HELAA stands for Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment

There are a significant number of sites coming forward that will impact Wash Common, so please look and get your feedback into the council asap!

This is not a consultation but the next steps will use this information to justify why certain sites are thought as as OK. NOTE the additions at Sandleford in particular!!

Happy New Year Wash Common

Just to wish everyone a happy new year. Don't forget you can contact me at any time via the form or using adrian.abbs1@westberks.gov.uk

The Lib Dems are the first to provide a detailed and realistic plan to get the UK to carbon zero whilst influencing the rest of world to the same end game.

It's not easy and not as quick as some would want, but finally a major party has provided a how to guide to get there.

Use this link to read the motion just approved at conference

Environmental Impact Label Proposal

Understanding the impact on what you buy on the environment can help the UK influencve the world and how it produces goods. I'm proposing that the UK introduces a labeling scheme silimar to the food labeling scheme so that people can see at a glance 4 key criteria that will help environmental impact.

Link to download Environmental Impact Label Proposal

COFFEE SAVINGS! Update

I've added in another 4 Independent coffee shops in Newbury to the 5 that were in the original. The independents seem to focus on the environmental side of one use cups as well as allowing you to bring your own cup in.

Results from the update of the survey.

Original Blog Post

It turns out one of the ways you can help the environment also helps your pocket. If like me you enjoy a coffee on the way to work, then you’re more than likely to have switched to using a reusable cup. The great news is that there's no extra reward for doing that from lots of coffee shops.

I conducted a quick survey of coffee shops on Newbury High Street last Friday (19^th July 2019). I was staggered to find that one of the largest providers has no way for you to use a reusable cup! To name and shame them, it’s our ever-present McDonald’s. The reason they gave was safety, but it’s really because their machines can’t accept anything but their own sized cups. A bit lame if you ask me. The good news is that everyone else would at least let you use your reusable cup.

Out of the 14 places checked, here are the best and the worst in terms of coffee in a reusable cup (it’s probably similar throughout West Berkshire).

The cheapest coffee was from Greggs at £1.70.

Pret, Paul and Waterstones offer the best discount for a single cup at 50p off when using your own cup.

The best discount against an original price was with Café Nero, as combining a reusable cup with their stamping scheme means an effective 25% off your annual coffee bill – i.e. a saving of £150.

Greggs is also best overall, as long as you use their app-based loyalty scheme: this is £346 assuming 5 cups a week and 50 weeks a year.

The most expensive coffee was from Costa at £2.75. Also, given that their loyalty scheme is quite bad compared to others, that same per annum consumption is a whopping £600 vs £346.

My tip! Avoid coffee shops that won’t let you use your reusable cup, and don’t have a loyalty scheme.

FYI. The average saving per annum across all those I checked that had an offer was £79.65 – an improvement on the £65 noted in my SMATE document.

The survey criteria used a Latte as the drink, and assumed you are using a reusable cup at the same location each working day. All the loyalty schemes gave a stamp or points no matter what drink you purchased so the result should be similar for your favorite drink. I did not take into account the size of their standard Latte or the number of shots of coffee included.”

SMATE-4Biz.

Save Money and The Environment the business edition. To help West Berkshire business as a whole get started I've bought together some information on various ways business can save  money whilst saving the environment and reaching the goals of carbon zero by 2030. You can download or read the document using the link below

Link to download SMATE document in .pdf format.

West Berkshire DeFibs.

As a Trustee of Stroke Care Newbury & West Berkshire I'm aware of how life changing this event can be. I'm also well aware of how important it is to have access to a Defib as quickly as possible when the event occurs.

To that end, as a Greenham Parish councillor we started looking at this some months back (and are deploying Defibs shortly). Now as a Wash common District councillor I want to ensure there are no gaps for people in the ward.

I first needed to plot where all the current DeFibs are in West Berkshire and the NHS have made that data available to me. My colleague at TEEC (Dan Megarry) was kind enough to do the programming and now you can check whether one is near you yourself using the link below.

Link to the DeFib Map

The circles show the 400M radius around each DeFib. You need to be within 400M of one to be directed there by he NHS. The colours tell you if it's 24X7, down for repair or only available during certain opening ours. Just click on a pin to get the location address and details.

And Now the Good News!

Having just surveyed 14 cafes in the centre of Newbury its really great news. Every single place I asked confirmed that Free Tap Water was available and that anyone can pop in and fill up their water bottle. Even better, Coffee#1 in parkway provided iced water and Pret on Northbrook street offers Filtered water.

So, no need to buy bottled water and a very easy way for anyone to help the environment.

Of course, there are apps you can download that will give you official locations, but if my survey is anything to go buy, the whole of the business community in Newbury is already on board.

Top tip of the week to save money! Carry that reusable water bottle and use it

Results of the survey.

SMATE.

Save Money and The Environment. To help West Berkshire as a whole get started I've bought together some information on various ways we can all save ourselves money whilst saving the environment and reaching the goals of carbon zero by 2030. You can download or read the document using the link below

Link to download SMATE document in .pdf format.

Climate Change Principles.

I was asked to be the shadow spokesperson for climate change and wanted to share what I believe to be the guiding principles against which idea's, solutions and strategies can be measured to ensure success. These are:- 

• First that all solutions should be carrot-based. They should deliver benefits to the people implementing them, be that Businesses, the Public or the Council.
• Second that the solutions take into account whole energy principles – i.e. They are carbon positive schemes that ensure a net benefit – We must avoid making things worse in the hope they will be better later.
• Third, that they are practical & cost efficient. So the Community, Business and Council can implement the ideas very quickly, with everyone saving themselves money whilst saving the planet.

I'm currently trying to persuade the council to adopt these principles.

We are off and running.

It's been a month since the election results and I'm pleased to say myself and my Liberal Democrat colleagues are up and running having done all the required induction training. I’ve been chosen for some additional roles which I’m really looking forward to helping with. Obviously my first duty is to you as the people who voted for me, however, I’m (as expected) on the Western Area Planning (WAP) Committee as well Licensing Committee and as a sub for District Planning (DP) Committee, Personnel, plus Governance & Ethics (G&E). Finally, I’m honored to have been selected as Shadow Portfolio holder for Climate Change and Public Protection. I gave my first speech on this at the Climate Emergency Petition extraordinary meeting on 30^th May. Fingers crossed we can start to make a difference for Wash Common and the people of West Berkshire.

A big thanks to the 1830 people who voted for me..

I'll be doing my very best to represent the wishes of the voters of Wash Common. You can contact me using adrian.abbs1@westberks.gov.uk and I'll try and get back to you asap.

Thanks again for your votes.

Cllr Adrian Neil Abbs

Having 20mph and idle-free zones outside schools to improve safety and air quality.

Anyone on the Andover road knows there's an issue with speeding outside of the schools. That's why I and the Lib Dems want to ensure a 20mph zone is created outside of them. We also want to encourage parents who collect kids from school by car to be “idle aware”. It's one of the simplest ways to improve air quality around schools and even saves money for parents.

£500,000 of taxpayers' money in flawed LRIE project.

For some years West Berks Council has been trying to regenerate Newbury’s London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) and this month the council have finally revealed £5,665,181.08 of public money has been spent on the project to date. Investing in West Berkshire's towns to create new homes, and develop employment opportunities is a good thing, but the way this has been handled by the current council has meant all West Berks taxpayers have had to foot the bill.

The council claim most of the money has come from government grants and other contributors. However, it has now been revealed that, at the very least, £523,000 of West Berkshire taxpayers’ money has been thrown at the scheme.

This project has been full of calamity with £109,000 being spent on entering into an agreement with a private developer that has since been ruled unlawful and spending £363,545 on defending itself against a legal challenge that it has ultimately lost.

The Liberal Democrats have asked the Conservative-run Council to explain how it could spend over £350,000 on a legal case which it lost, especially in a year when it announced it is cutting funding to vital services for the elderly and vulnerable in a bid to save £295,000.

We are committed to finding out the truth behind the incompetent decisions that led to such a waste of money as we care about how our taxpayers’ money in being used, when there are so many other priorities that we could be investing in.

We want to know what you think the council should be funding, so please let us know using our contact page.

We look forward to hearing from you and we will, as always, report back in the regular Focus newsletter and here on our website.

Can you help us?

As your Liberal Democrat candidates for the upcoming local council elections (May 2nd). Adrian Abbs & Tony Vickers need to ensure we get the message to as many people in the Wash Common Ward as possible. Are you available to help? Our intent is to ensure we restore some balance to West Berkshire Council by being elected and providing some due diligence on any proposals coming to and through the council. With 7255 people to talk to and 3624 doors to knock on any help would be most appreciated.

Call me on 07768998370.

As your Liberal Democrat candidates for the upcoming local council elections (May 2nd). Tony Vickers and myself would love your feedback on installing solar powered motion sensitive lighting using CIL (Community Infrastructure Levey). We have identified 3 paths in wash common. One between Newton Road and Paddock Road, a second that connects Andover Road with Culver Road and a 3rd that connects Andover Road with Sidestrand Road. Please drop us a note via the contact us form if you know anything about the ownership of the land

I’m totally against the Green Bin Tax. I really don’t see the sense in introducing green bins to encourage us to separate our waste and then slapping an aggressive charge on its use. The liberal Democrats have a campaign you can join to have this tax scrapped.

I believe that recycling shouldn't be a hassle or cost. It should be encouraged by our councillors in order to protect our green spaces

Whilst canvasing over the weekend it became very clear why residents are asking for the speed limit on the Andover road to be reduced to 30mph.If elected I will be pushing for this change on your behalf.

I first joined Greenham Parish Council early in 2018 and it's become clear that there is a need for fresh thinking on the District council level given what appears to be some very poor decision making related to Sandleford Development by Bloor & Donnington New Homes.

So, I decided to run as a candidate for the Wash Common Ward which is most affected by this development and hope you will support me when it comes to the voting on 2nd May 2019.