Latest news with #Scottishgovernment
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Popular Inverness play park reopens to the public
A popular play park in Inverness has reopened to the public following a £500,000 refurbishment projectNew interactive play equipment has been installed at Whin Park where there is also a miniature railway and a boating pond. The improvement works were carried out by Jupiter Play and Leisure for the project came from the Highland Council, the Scottish government and the Inverness Common Good Fund.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Work begins on community campus in Tain
Work has started on a £1.6m community hub in Tain in Easter Gro For You Community Innovation Campus is expected to create 24 full-time jobs as well as apprenticeship roles when it opens in site will offer space for training in food technologies and will also have facilities for visitors travelling the Highlands' North Coast 500 tourist route, including waste disposal for campervans and electric vehicle charging points. The Scottish government, Social Investment Scotland, SSE Renewables and Glenmorangie distillery company are among organisations backing the and chief executive Sarah MacKenzie said: "What this offers is a catalogue of community and economic benefits that will provide solutions to challenges Highland rural communities face."She said it was hoped the campus would provide opportunities for young people in terms of jobs and training.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Taxpayer cash ploughed into wooden bottles under Labour's net zero drive
Millions of pounds of taxpayer cash is being ploughed into a company that makes wooden drinking bottles as part of Labour's push towards net zero. Britain's National Wealth Fund, which is fully owned by the Treasury, on Wednesday announced a £43.5m investment into Cambridgeshire-based start-up Pulpex, which makes recyclable water bottles out of wood pulp. The investment will help finance Pulpex's plan to build its first ever manufacturing plant, near Glasgow, which is expected to produce 50m wooden bottles each year and create 35 jobs in Scotland. The wood-based bottles have a lower carbon footprint than plastic or glass and Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said the investment would 'aid the decarbonisation of our packaging industry and help accelerate our net zero goals as we drive delivery of clean power by 2030'. The Scottish National Investment Bank, which is fully owned by the Scottish government, is investing £10m alongside the National Wealth Fund and Pulpex ultimately hopes to raise £62m. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, hailed the investment as 'welcome news' that was 'creating jobs, sustainable growth and opportunity in Scotland'. The UK's endorsement of wood-based bottles comes as Donald Trump rails against similar products in the US. Last week, the president signed an executive order to ban the US government from buying paper straws. Mr Trump told reporters: 'We're going back to plastic straws.' Referring to paper straws, he said: 'These things don't work, I've had them many times and, on occasion, they break, they explode. If something's hot, they don't last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It's a ridiculous situation.' The UK Government's investment comes as Labour is scrambling to transform the UK into a net zero economy, which involves cutting the country's carbon footprint and rewiring the country's electricity grid to be based on renewable energy. A new levy on packaging, which has been dubbed a 'glass tax' by industry, will come into force later this year and is meant to encourage recycling. John Flint, the outgoing chief of the National Wealth Fund, said: 'We need to recycle more and unlock the growth potential of the circular economy. That requires sophisticated, long-term investment, both in infrastructure and packaging innovation.' Over 38.5m plastic bottles are used every day, with around 16m ending up in landfill, being burnt or littering the environment and waterways, according to Water UK. The National Wealth Fund was formerly called the UK Infrastructure Bank before it was rebranded by Labour last year. It was allocated £7.3bn in the Budget and has been tasked with investing in 'the new industries of the future'. Ministers have pledged to use the National Wealth Fund to accelerate Britain's transition away from oil and gas, including by supporting efforts to decarbonise parts of the economy that are most reliant on fossil fuels. Pulpex makes drinks bottles by moulding wood pulp into fully biodegradable containers, which it eventually plans to sell to major companies as alternatives to glass or plastic. The start-up was first formed in 2020 out of a research and development project between sustainability consultancy Pilot Lite and FTSE 100 drinks group Diageo, which owns major brands including Smirnoff and Guinness. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
19-02-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Taxpayer cash ploughed into wooden bottles under Labour's net zero drive
Millions of pounds of taxpayer cash is being ploughed into a company that makes wooden drinking bottles as part of Labour's push towards net zero. Britain's National Wealth Fund, which is fully owned by the Treasury, on Wednesday announced a £43.5m investment into Cambridgeshire-based start-up Pulpex, which makes recyclable water bottles out of wood pulp. The investment will help finance Pulpex's plan to build its first ever manufacturing plant, near Glasgow, which is expected to produce 50m wooden bottles each year and create 35 jobs in Scotland. The wood-based bottles have a lower carbon footprint than plastic or glass and Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said the investment would 'aid the decarbonisation of our packaging industry and help accelerate our net zero goals as we drive delivery of clean power by 2030'. The Scottish National Investment Bank, which is fully owned by the Scottish government, is investing £10m alongside the National Wealth Fund and Pulpex ultimately hopes to raise £62m. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, hailed the investment as 'welcome news' that was 'creating jobs, sustainable growth and opportunity in Scotland'. The UK's endorsement of wood-based bottles comes as Donald Trump rails against similar products in the US. Last week, the president signed an executive order to ban the US government from buying paper straws. Mr Trump told reporters: 'We're going back to plastic straws.' Referring to paper straws, he said: 'These things don't work, I've had them many times and, on occasion, they break, they explode. If something's hot, they don't last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It's a ridiculous situation.' The UK Government's investment comes as Labour is scrambling to transform the UK into a net zero economy, which involves cutting the country's carbon footprint and rewiring the country's electricity grid to be based on renewable energy. A new levy on packaging, which has been dubbed a 'glass tax' by industry, will come into force later this year and is meant to encourage recycling. John Flint, the outgoing chief of the National Wealth Fund, said: 'We need to recycle more and unlock the growth potential of the circular economy. That requires sophisticated, long-term investment, both in infrastructure and packaging innovation.' Over 38.5m plastic bottles are used every day, with around 16m ending up in landfill, being burnt or littering the environment and waterways, according to Water UK. The National Wealth Fund was formerly called the UK Infrastructure Bank before it was rebranded by Labour last year. It was allocated £7.3bn in the Budget and has been tasked with investing in 'the new industries of the future'. Ministers have pledged to use the National Wealth Fund to accelerate Britain's transition away from oil and gas, including by supporting efforts to decarbonise parts of the economy that are most reliant on fossil fuels. Pulpex makes drinks bottles by moulding wood pulp into fully biodegradable containers, which it eventually plans to sell to major companies as alternatives to glass or plastic. The start-up was first formed in 2020 out of a research and development project between sustainability consultancy Pilot Lite and FTSE 100 drinks group Diageo, which owns major brands including Smirnoff and Guinness.
BBC News
28-01-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Why Scottish Water bills are kicking up a storm
A rise in Scottish Water bills at four times the current rate of price inflation takes some Plant, the chief executive, points to Storm Eowyn to help explain the 9.9% rise, on top of the 8.8% increase last year. More severe weather events are coming at us more frequently, he says, and it is the utility firm's job to be it fails to be ready, he's accountable, which he cites as one of the justifications for his pay, bonus and benefits, over his first nine months in the job, of nearly £500,000. Unions see that differently, as "eye-watering", and are balloting on industrial action over their 3.4% pay offer. Eowyn was not a severe rain event, so the worst Scottish Water faced was power cuts to its water treatment plants. The larger ones have back-up generators installed, and smaller ones have temporary power put in place when storms are there is a severe rain "event", Scottish Water has more work to do, as it found 15 months ago with Storm Babette leaving Brechin and its water treatment plant severely Water, wholly owned by the Scottish government, has avoided the severe criticism and crisis surrounding several privately-owned English water companies, which were generous to shareholders while failing to invest adequately. Prices are expected to go up more sharply the Scottish utility was found to lack the monitoring of sewer overflow that has appalled England, finding the vast majority of its water courses above acceptable pollution levels. Last year, Scottish Water installed a thousand and this year, it aims to put in 700 more, promising transparency in what these monitors find. Global average temperatures Since last month, it has been possible to see the monitors updated hourly. At the time of writing, there have been prolonged overflows on identified river sites near Dunblane, Echt, Perth, Biggar, Coalburn and current rate of improved resilience to water and sewerage was set by the Scottish water regulator for the period 2021 to 2027. When that started, there was more optimism that global average temperatures could be contained to less of that now, which is likely to be reflected in a renewed assessment of the climate challenge facing Scotland, when the water company publishes its long-term projection of investment needs early next month. That includes heavy rain storms as well as long periods without the control period 2021-27, Scottish Water has been allowed by its regulator to increase bills by the rate of Consumer Price Inflation plus 2%. Having held back increases in the earlier part of that period, it is now allowed to catch long-term forecast feeds into the 2027 to 2033 period, for which Scottish Water is preparing the case for continued investment, which will be put to its regulator in a year. The regulator's job is to judge how much of that is reasonable, how much of it should be required, and how much more efficient the company should up the case for more investment is a new projection for Scotland's population, published on Tuesday. It is on course to rise by a further 300,000 by the decade to 2032, and by 400,000 by 2047. That means more households requiring water and waste water treatment, while the population is gradually shifting from west to east. Glasgow and its suburbs continue to grow, but much of the growth in Scotland is in and around Water has been building a £35m water treatment plant at Winchburgh in West Lothian, where one of the country's largest housing developments is quadrupling the local population. Alex Plant says this is using a new filtration technique and is "almost odour-free".Edinburgh city itself relies on the Seafield water treatment works, not odour-free and run by a private company, currently Veolia, since the 1990s. When that Private Finance Initiative comes to the contract, along with others run under the controversial contracts, there will be a new investment programme required, to upgrade Seafield and cope with the capital's growing strains. 'Good citizen effect' One way of reducing the pressure on Scottish Water capacity is to reduce the use of water and its discharge into sewers. Alex Plant suggests Scots have a view that water is plentiful because so much of it falls from the treating it for drinking quality is costly, and so is waste water. So there is a cost to Scots using 40% more water per head than people in It looks like household monitors make the difference, and there's a pilot project currently in Dundee to find out more. These are not meters for billing purposes, but to show home-owners and the utility company how much is being used."When you monitor people's use, that has an effect, even if you don't charge by the meter," says Plant, suggesting it's a 'good citizen' effect. "We need to have a conversation about what we want to do and how to do it. Let's think about piped drinking water as a precious resource, which we use as we need, and no more."
