Last month, our swimming pool in Rye closed. Just ten days before the doors closed, I joined a huge crowd gathered to protest the closure and show the strength of feeling in our community at the loss of our pool. People of all ages showed up, and it was particularly moving to see so many children make their voices heard.
The case for keeping the pool open has been well made in these pages, but we must not lose sight of why we find ourselves in this situation. Leisure facilities, like the rest of society, have been subject to spiralling energy costs. Our Conservative government spent the summer having a leadership contest instead of tackling energy bills and our wider cost of living crisis.
When they did finally get around to addressing the problem, too late in the day, they put forward uncosted plans and crashed the economy in the process. Unlike the Conservatives, Labour under Keir Starmer’s leadership has always set out how we would pay for every policy. We were the first to call for a windfall tax on oil and gas giants making bumper profits in this crisis, to help fund our energy price freeze. Our own Conservative MP made reference at the pool protest to the need for additional central government funding for leisure facilities. With the economy crashed by her Conservative colleagues leaving a reported £50bn black hole in the public finances, the prospects of finding extra funding for Rye pool and other leisure facilities look slim. In the week when Shell recorded yet more eye-watering profits, perhaps she could urge her government to look again at Labour’s windfall tax plans. Is it any wonder that this government has failed to plan ahead to save facilities like Rye pool when we’ve had three prime ministers in three months, and four chancellors in four months?
And this comes on the back of twelve years of Conservative government that has failed to prepare and refused to invest in energy security, leaving bills higher and our country less secure. It is directly because of this failure to make the UK energy independent that we are so exposed to the fluctuations of the global gas market, which has been too easily manipulated by Putin and other dictators. Other countries, which are more energy secure, have not been impacted as heavily as us. If we are to save Rye pool and get to grips with rocketing bills, we need long-term solutions that cut bills for good. That is why the central mission of a Labour government will be to turn the UK into a clean energy superpower. We will establish Great British Energy, a new home-grown company that will harness the power of Britain’s sun, wind, and waves to deliver good, secure, high-paid British jobs, cut energy bills and deliver energy independence for our country. By investing in cheap offshore wind, onshore wind, nuclear, solar, and tidal power, we can cut bills, create jobs, and protect our world for future generations by tackling the climate crisis.
We should be in no doubt that our pool is closed because of this reckless Conservative government and its failure to deliver energy security, sound finances, and a fully costed energy support package for families, businesses, and community facilities. The British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. The long-term solution is a change of government.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .
The cheapest form of energy is energy that you don’t use, or what the pioneer scientist Amory Lovins dubbed ‘negawatts’. Which is why insulation – not mentioned here – is the first thing we should be tackling. Also a job generator, BTW. And contrary to Helen’s description, offshore wind is not the cheap option – it is actually almost double the cost of onshore wind. Now, how about a community-owned wind turbine at Little Cheyne Court to help meet Rye’s future power needs?
Insulation is a key part of the solution and Labour will insulate 19 million homes – which would save families an average of over £1,000 a year off their energy bills, cut national gas imports by up to 15 per cent, and support 500,000 jobs over the next five years. You can read more here. https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-calls-for-home-insulation-plan-to-save-households-cash-as-energy-bills-hike-looms-12679086
Offshore vs onshore wind is not as simple as initial capital outlay, it is also about efficiency and output as this article from the National Power Grid makes clear https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/onshore-vs-offshore-wind-energy
The windiest part of the UK is offshore. Labour’s plans are coherent, achievable and costed. Bit of a contrast to anything coming out of our current government’s mouths.
Helena’s point about energy independence for the country and the disastrous effects of our reliance on non renewables together with the lack of meaningful investment in infrastructure couldn’t be clearer.
Insulation, along with other possibilities such as solar panels or a heat pump, will be considered by Rother in consultation with the County Council (freehold owner) to see if the pool can be made a viable proposition. Funds may be available for the Community Infrastructure Levy charged on new house builds. Those funds are not available for running costs, only capital schemes.
Just to correct Ms Dollimore, I believe the Lib Dems were the first to propose the windfall tax on oil and gas companies back in Oct 2021.
Nice of Miss Dollimore to show interest in ‘our pool’. I wonder how much time she spends representing the residents in the Ward she was elected to in London last year. (https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/councillor-blasted-for-spending-time-65-miles-away-from-ward-campaigning-to-become-an-mp/) I just wish the local Labour Party would of selected a true local candidate rather than parachuting in some wannabe career politician with very little links to Hastings & Rye.
Adrian if you read the article you posted it says in the fourth paragraph that she is in fact from this area. Councillors campaign all of the time to become MPs, it’s not as if she’s starting in a game show is it.
It’s true the current government is to blame for the financial chaos caused by its reckless ‘mini budget’, which trashed Britain’s reputation and ramped up mortgage rates and borrowing costs. Voters have long memories and this will be remembered at the next election. As Nick points out, and as was indicated in an earlier thread on Rye News, the town’s energy needs could best be supplied by building community wind turbines. Calculations, based on the published power output and cost of Little Cheyne Court wind farm, are that Rye would need two turbines together costing about £5M at 2008 prices, equivalent to £7M today. This is a ballpark figure and is affected by future inflation. However, if one assumes Rye’s population to be about 5,000, we’re looking at a cost of around £1,400 per person to secure energy for 25 years, or £56 per person a year. This compares to the current domestic energy ‘cap’ of £2,500 a year for a household. Of course, other costs would be involved in community wind turbines, such as maintenance, connection fees and so on, but the overall benefit to the community would be immense. Rye Town Council urgently needs to look into the viability of a community wind turbine project for the town. Two additional turbines could easily be added to the existing 26 at Little Cheyne Court. The solution to our energy problems are in our own hands.