Scottish Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Cross-Border Transport John Barrett MP today called on the Scottish Executive to champion high speed rail links between Scotland and the South of England to provide greener alternatives to air travel.
The Brickfields Lunch Club has been reprieved, thanks to Colin Taylor. The club is run by Rethink, a charity that supports people with mental health problems. To ensure the club can continue into 2005, Colin provided more than £3,000 from his discretionary allocation as a County Councillor.
Gordon Brown's apparent budget hand out of extra money for school heads is another example of the same money being recycled in a different guise. In the budget Mr. Brown announced that a typical primary school of 250 pupils would receive a direct payment of £55,000 and a 1000 pupil secondary school could expect a cheque for £180,000. An e-mail from the Department of Education and Skills received by Kingsbridge Community College recently confirmed that this is not new money. These payments are nothing more than a combination of the existing School Standards Fund and the Devolved Formula Capital Grant that were previously announced.
An Executive investment of £20 million in energy efficiency will help save up to £70 million over the next five years for spending on schools, health and other public services across Scotland.
Government Inspectors vetting Surrey's plans for the 35,400 new homes demanded by John Prescott, have recommended startling changes in a report just revealed to Councillors following their "examination in public" hearings. These include a further 350 additional homes to be built in Epsom & Ewell by 2016.
Responding to a report commissioned by the Passenger Transport Executive Group into bus services outside London, John Thurso MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, said:
