http://simonwright.org.uk/newsarchive.php Recent News Stories from Simon Wright en-GB Simon Wright http://simonwright.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Simon Wright 2010-03-12T13:40+00:00 United Kingdom http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000138/calls_to_act_on_14000_empty_houses_across_norfolk.html The Liberal Democrats have revealed plans today to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs. There are nearly 14,000 empty properties across Norfolk, and over 760,000 across England, which are no longer used as homes. Under the Lib Dem plans, people who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use. 2010-01-14T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000140/calls_to_tackle_cheap_alcohol_in_norwich.html Norwich City Council and Norfolk Trading Standards have been asked to look into the measures taken by Oldham Council in tackling the supply of cheap alcohol. 2010-01-13T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000139/28000_pensioners_expected_to_miss_out_on_cold_weather_payments.html Analysis of Government figures by the Liberal Democrats reveals that up to 28,000 pensioners in Norfolk will miss out on Cold Weather Payments triggered by the recent weather. Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit which nationally goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7m pensioners. 2010-01-12T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000141/big_increase_in_use_of_stopandsearch_powers_in_norfolk.html New figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats reveal significant yearly increases in the use of stop-and-search powers by Norfolk police over each of the last 5 years. Under-10s are amongst those included in the figures, which show: 2010-01-08T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000137/questions_raised_over_norwich_and_peterborough_branch_closure.html Simon Wright, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Norwich South, has written to the Chief Executive of the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society to raise concerns about the proposal to close the Norwich Unthank Road branch in March. 2009-12-20T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000136/norwich_lib_dems_joining_the_wave.html Liberal Democrats from Norwich will join thousands of campaigners in London at The Wave on Saturday. The Wave is part of a series of events being organised in the run-up to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen to encourage the UK government to take a leading role and agree on a treaty that safeguards our climate for the future. 2009-12-03T00:00+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000135/day_care_centres_threatened_with_closure.html Two Norwich day care centres and under threat of closure, Conservative controlled Norfolk County Council has announced. The Essex Rooms on Essex Street and the Silver Road Day Centre are both threatened. 2009-11-17T13:47+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000134/norfolks_school_children_funded_below_national_average.html Latest figures reveal that funding per pupil in Norfolk is £280 less than the national average. 2009-11-02T20:22+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000133/norfolks_dna_database_nearly_onethousand_innocent_people_added_since_court_ruling.html Nearly 1,000 DNA profiles of innocent people in Norfolk have been added to a national database since the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the practice was illegal last December. This is the equivalent to the profiles of 3 innocent people from Norfolk being added every day. Over the same period, just 6 profiles have been removed from the database. 2009-10-28T19:22+00:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000132/liberal_democrats_propose_bans_for_airbrushed_adverts_aimed_at_children.html Liberal Democrat conference delegates voted in favour this afternoon of proposals to ban airbrushing in adverts aimed at under 16s. Their proposals also include requiring advertisers to state when body images of women have been digitally manipulated. 2009-09-19T19:25+01:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000131/nearly_400_norfolk_school_children_in_unlawfully_large_classes.html Latest figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families reveal that Norfolk has one of the highest number of infant school-children in unlawfully large classes in England. 2009-09-04T17:22+01:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000127/bus_fare_investigation_welcomed.html The referral of the local bus sector to the Competition Commission due to concerns over high fares has been welcomed by campaigners in Norwich. 2009-08-20T21:26+01:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000128/food_wasted_equal_to_food_sold_in_supermarkets.html Liberal Democrat research has revealed that as much food is thrown away from supermarkets, restaurants and homes as is bought by shoppers. 2009-08-04T19:24+01:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000129/norfolks_big_leap_in_young_people_out_of_work_and_education.html Norfolk has had one of the highest increases in the country of young people not in work, education or training over recent years. 2009-07-27T19:21+01:00 http://simonwright.org.uk/news/000130/one_in_eight_norwich_households_on_housing_waiting_list.html Latest figures reveal that nearly one-in-eight households in Norwich are stuck on the housing waiting list. In 2008, 6999 households were on the waiting list compared to 2948 households in 1997. At the same time, millions of pounds of tenants rents in Norwich are being paid back to the treasury in 'negative subsidy' - rent collected above the treasury's calculated need for local authorities. 2009-07-01T16:21+01:00