At the last full Bath and North-East Somerset Council meeting, on 18th November, there was unanimous cross-party support for the council doing all it can to help residents struggling in the current cold weather with inflated energy bills, due to Putin's war in Ukraine.
Conservative councillors supported a motion tabled by the Labour group, calling on the Council to encourage and support public "warm spaces", and to help residents who would benefit most to be aware of them, and able to reach them easily.
With snow having fallen on Bath today, local Conservatives are urging the Council to act quickly:
- while a useful online directory has been created, with links to registered "warm spaces", the directory is online, so excludes residents not able to access the information in this way;
- the directory fails to highlight that several locations are only open on certain days. This needs to be urgently corrected;
- nothing has been done yet to provide convenient transport to the warm spaces, especially important for residents some distance from them, including those in villages across NES with poor local transport links.
Bath Conservative campaigner, Martin Grixoni, said:
"The unanimous cross-party supported motion on helping our most vulnerable residents this Winter is to be welcomed. But now BANES must step up. Warm words aren't enough. Our neighbours who need help need warm spaces and an effective set of actions."
