Author Archive
Cardiff Action Day success
Very successful Action Day in Cardiff on Saturday May 19th. TPA supporters gathered in Queen Street opposite Cardiff Castle and helped voice the concerns of local shopkeepers by raising a petition against the 5p plastic bag tax introduced by the Welsh Assembly six months ago. Lee Canning, Welsh grassroots co-ordinator spoke to camera teams from [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Cardiff Action Day success
Very successful Action Day in Cardiff on Saturday May 19th. TPA supporters gathered in Queen Street opposite Cardiff Castle and helped voice the concerns of local shopkeepers by raising a petition against the 5p plastic bag tax introduced by the Welsh Assembly six months ago. Lee Canning, Welsh grassroots co-ordinator spoke to camera teams from [...] Read the rest of this entry »
West Country against Caravan tax
MPs in the South-West have joined the growing wave of anger against the government’s proposed tax on static caravans. Cornish MPs Dan Rogerson and Andrew George have both signed a parliamentary petition against the VAT hike, seeing it as a tax on holiday park caravans—a key part of the West Country’s tourist industry. So far, [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Cornwall Council’s continuing rubbish failure
Cornwall Council’s recycling collection incompetence, reported recently here, continues to cause distress to local taxpayers. Not only are residents being baffled by a complex array of colour coded bags and boxes, which change from area to area, but the contracted refuse collectors are not even removing the recycled rubbish on time—some left uncollected for over [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Cornwall Council’s continuing rubbish failure
Cornwall Council’s recycling collection incompetence, reported recently here, continues to cause distress to local taxpayers. Not only are residents being baffled by a complex array of colour coded bags and boxes, which change from area to area, but the contracted refuse collectors are not even removing the recycled rubbish on time—some left uncollected for over [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Protest against bag tax
It is six months since the Welsh Assembly introduced a 5p tax on each plastic bag given to customers in shops—and not everyone is happy with it. Plus, there are plans afoot to expand it to the whole of the UK. The TPA is organising a protest petition against the bag tax in central Cardiff [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Exeter spends money switching off lights
More council false economies put young people at risk in Exeter. Devon County Council (DCC) wants to turn off city lights to cut carbon emissions and save £280,000—but it’s going to cost them £1.7 million to implement. If that’s not bad enough, by turning off inner city lights, they’re endangering Exeter’s student population. DCC has [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Exeter spends money switching off lights
More council false economies put young people at risk in Exeter. Devon County Council (DCC) wants to turn off city lights to cut carbon emissions and save £280,000—but it’s going to cost them £1.7 million to implement. If that’s not bad enough, by turning off inner city lights, they’re endangering Exeter’s student population. DCC has [...] Read the rest of this entry »
20mph waste of money
Why is Bath & North East Somerset Council persisting with its plans to introduce 20mph speed limits across Bath? They waste taxpayers’ money, are environmentally unfriendly and are either legally unenforceable or ineffective. 20mph zones are only enforceable if they come with expensive (and unpopular) traffic calming measures, such as humps and road narrowing; the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Yeovil Action Day success
Great success at our Yeovil Action Day. Local TPA supporters gathered in the heart of the South Somerset market town to urge local residents to sign a petition asking the council to stop the rise in council parking charges in Yeovil Town Centre, as it badly effects local shops and the community. South Somerset District [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Pasty Tax fight continues
In the latest twist to protests over the government’s pasty tax, the Chairman of the Cornish Pasty Association has stepped into the fray, saying he fears for the viability of his regional industry following the proposed 20% hike in prices in October. ‘Collectively, the Cornish pasty industry accounts as one of the largest employers in [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Pasty Tax fight continues
In the latest twist to protests over the government’s pasty tax, the Chairman of the Cornish Pasty Association has stepped into the fray, saying he fears for the viability of his regional industry following the proposed 20% hike in prices in October. ‘Collectively, the Cornish pasty industry accounts as one of the largest employers in [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Costly recycling confusion
Cornwall Council has been forced to employ additional staff at taxpayers’ expense simply to explain new recycling rules to their residents. The changes in recycling collections from the start of April have resulted in 35,000 confused locals phoning their council for help. ‘I don’t think we underestimated,’ said a spokesperson from their waste and recycling [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Fury over Pasty Tax
Fury continues to grow over the pasty tax in Cornwall. Ever since the Chancellor first announced his decision to impose VAT on hot take-out food in last week’s budget, the pasty industry has been counting the cost. Greggs, the popular bakery chain, had £20m wiped off its share price as investors realised the new tax [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Fury over Pasty Tax
Fury continues to grow over the pasty tax in Cornwall. Ever since the Chancellor first announced his decision to impose VAT on hot take-out food in last week’s budget, the pasty industry has been counting the cost. Greggs, the popular bakery chain, had £20m wiped off its share price as investors realised the new tax [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Cornish cost of death rises
Cornwall Council is set to double the cost of council burials, but local outrage has forced it to think again. Its plan is to standardise burial fees across Cornwall, but this means vast new increases in parts of the county hit worst by the recession, including Helston, Redruth, Camborne and Porthleven. The cost of burial [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Bath’s expensive jolly
Delegates from Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) rushed off to the South of France earlier this month to take part in MIPIM, the annual jamboree for ‘international property trade’. Five council officers felt the need to go out there in order to ‘promote the overall development agenda for B&NES’ and they dangled the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
South Somerset’s dodgy parking deal
Anger in South Somerset as their District Council (SSDC) is threatening to introduce car parking charges on market towns that have never had charges before—unless the town councils cough up money to compensate them. ‘The District Council are saying the only way the Town Council can keep free parking is to pay the District Council “compensation” for the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Avon’s hot air
Wiltshire Council – the council that got rid of its chief executive last year – now announces that it is freezing its council tax and is implementing savings of £32m on its budget of £330m by ‘closing council offices, cutting posts and working more efficiently.’ ‘Interestingly enough in our financial plan we had already got [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Avon’s hot air
Wiltshire Council – the council that got rid of its chief executive last year – now announces that it is freezing its council tax and is implementing savings of £32m on its budget of £330m by ‘closing council offices, cutting posts and working more efficiently.’ ‘Interestingly enough in our financial plan we had already got [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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