Presteigne and Knighton have been named as part of a project to deliver super-fast fibre broadband to poorly connected areas in Powys. In a statement last week, telecommunications company Openreach outlined plans to build ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband to at least three million more homes and businesses in what it describes as some of the UK’s hardest-to-serve communities. In a survey conducted by utilities broker USwitch in December 2020, Knighton and Presteigne were identified as having some of the slowest internet connection speeds in the county. The new, five-year deployment plan includes the majority of homes and business in around 1100 exchange locations - including market and coastal towns, villages and hamlets spread across the entire UK. The upgrade is proposed to include over 30,000 homes in Powys.
MPs launch inquiry seeking ways to boost rural economy
12 May 2021 |
The inquiry wants to hear from those living and working in rural areas, including farmers
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has launched a new inquiry that wants to explore ways to boost the UK rural economy post-pandemic.
The inquiry will explore why rural productivity is 18% below the national average and identify solutions to help bridge the divide.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business will focus on digital connectivity, the planning system, land use, rural skills and the tax system.
The APPG is seeking written evidence from the rural economy, including from the farming sector, and will run oral evidence sessions through the year.
Green Homes Grant: Less than 10% of promised vouchers issued
Less than £200m of the £2bn of vouchers initially promised under the UK s Green Homes Grant Scheme has been issued, new official Government figures show.
The scheme had targeted 600,000 homes, but just 53,000 homes made successful applications before its closure
The Green Homes Grant was launched last summer as part of the Government’s broader green recovery approach. It originally had a £2bn budget and was set to help 600,000 UK homes with the cost of retrofitting schemes to improve energy efficiency.
But, after claiming that the UK’s retrofitting services sector did not have enough tradespeople qualified to conduct accredited works, and receiving many applications from homes that did not meet the accreditation criteria, the Government pulled £1.5bn of the funding earlier this year. The move proved almost universally unpopular.
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British Institute of Innkeeping
“With the package of support from government laid out, our pubs can begin to look to the future of their businesses once more. The extension of furlough to September will help our pubs to manage the return of their teams until they are able to trade freely again. The confirmation of further reductions in business rates will allow them time to recover, but until our nation’s pubs are able to return to normal trading, the vast majority of these businesses will still be loss making.
WORD ON THE GROUND: Police need a Rural Crime Action Team
| Updated: 15:47, 26 February 2021
After discussion with our members we have joined up with the Country Land & Business Association (CLA) and made a joint call for a county-wide Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) after increasing concern from our farmers, growers, landowners and the wider community over hare coursing, machinery and plant theft, deer coursing and other rural crimes.
For a few years we saw a real focus on hare coursing by Lincolnshire Police and a very real reduction in incidents.
But, since lockdown eased, weâve seen a big increase in not only the number of incidents across the county but also the severity.