The Grand in Southport to host International Women's Day celebration

THE Grand in Southport, in association with Hatter's Digital Agency, will host a glamorous afternoon of celebration for International Women's Day 2024.

Guests will enjoy lunch, live music, and inspirational speeches at this fabulous celebration of equality on:- Friday, 8 March 2024, between:- 12pm and 4pm.

The event is being held in aid of Queenscourt Hospice, and has been generously sponsored by Morecrofts Solicitors.

John Coates will host the event. John has performed in a vast array of musicals and plays, and during the course of his career, has enjoyed success in London's West End working in musical theatre on such shows as:- Sweeney Todd, Billy Elliot, Calamity Jane, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific and Show Boat. He says he is very happy to be at The Grand celebrating a compassionate and humbling cause for Queenscourt Hospice.

Southport's Kelly Bond, and Liverpool's Meg Edwards will both grace the stage with their musical talents on the day.

There will also be a variety of inspirational female speakers sharing their experiences throughout the afternoon.

Sarah Jackson of Hatter's Digital Agency said:- "We were really keen to support such a wonderful event. Encouraging and advocating for women is incredibly important to us, but it goes further than that. I am a mum to a wonderful young man, and I want him to grow up in a world where we have true equality. That starts with coming together to celebrate inclusion, diversity, and equality. This isn't just an event for women, it's for everyone! Hopefully this is the 1st event in what will become a mainstay of the Southport social calendar."

The event will raise money for a cause that is incredibly important to many local people.

"So many Southport residents have at some point in their lives been touched by the kindness and support offered by Queenscourt Hospice, and we are delighted to be able to support them in this way," said Ged Janssen from The Grand.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the charity, and there will be a raffle on the day to raise extra funds.

Tickets include a welcome drink and a 2 course meal prepared by the talented chefs at The Grand, in Southport, Merseyside. They can be purchased online on:- TicketTailor.Com.

Rollout of electric vehicle chargepoints to be accelerated

NEW measures to support electric vehicle drivers from the Government's Plan for Drivers have launched, including:- grants for Schools, cash for Councils and new proposals to boost chargepoint numbers.

Technology and Decarbonisation Minister Anthony Browne launched support for greener Schools in Nottinghamshire, with a new grant providing up to 75% of the cost to buy and install chargepoints, up to £2,500 per socket, up from the previous £350.

Paid for by the Department for Transport, the grant forms part of the Workplace Charging Scheme and is available for state-funded Schools, colleges, nurseries and academies to boost the chargepoint facilities for staff and visitors. This could also help Schools to generate revenue by making their chargepoints available to the public.

The Schools grant is for state funded Schools and education institutions which must have dedicated off-street parking facilities; applications can be made online. Independent Schools may apply for funding through the Workplace Charging Scheme and electric vehicle infrastructure grant for SMEs.

The Government is also delivering the £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to local authorities across the country. The 1st capital payments for charging projects have been approved to 3 local authorities from East Sussex to North Yorkshire, and 2 London Boroughs, bringing the total funding for these areas to more than £14.2m. The funding will support the installation of thousands of new chargers, ensuring the rollout continues at pace to support drivers in every area of the country.

Through our LEVI Capability funding, almost 100 dedicated EV officers have been newly recruited to support chargepoint procurement. To aid local authorities in building a skilled workforce and delivering their charging projects, the Government is also launching the electric vehicle infrastructure (EVI) training course for their officers, which will open to all local authorities from mid-March following a successful trial.

Technology and Decarbonisation Minister Anthony Browne said:- "We're getting on with delivering our Plan for Drivers, and this latest set of measures will mean EV owners everywhere benefit from easier and more convenient access to chargepoints. This Government has already spent over £2bn to ensure a smooth switch to EVs, and we're committed to supporting drivers as we transition towards net zero in a proportionate way that doesn't burden working people."

More and more drivers are making the switch to electric vehicles, with fully electric vehicles accounting for over 16% of the new UK car market in 2023, according to industry statistics. The number of plug-in vehicles in the UK has also risen to over 1.2 million, of which 770,000 are fully battery electric, meaning more and more drivers are making the switch.

As this number continues to grow, Government is investing alongside industry in EV infrastructure and ensure we meet our climate change commitments, whilst charting the fairest path to net zero which doesn't unnecessarily burden families.

New laws recently came into force to provide EV drivers with easier and more reliable public charging, mandating that prices across chargepoints are transparent, easy to compare and that a large proportion of new public chargepoints have contactless payment options. This comes as over 53,000 public chargepoints have been installed across the UK, demonstrating the progress that has been made in the switch to electric.

Minister for the School System and Student Finance at the Department for Education Baroness Barran said:- "This is an exciting opportunity for Schools across England to become part of an ongoing move towards a greener public sector. Schools engaging with this grant will be supporting the development of green infrastructure, helping to improve their local environments. Developing a greener education estate is a key element of our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. The expansion of this grant supports our ambition to improve the sustainability of our Schools in the ongoing move towards net zero."

In addition, the Government is today launching a consultation to look at ways to speed up chargepoint installation across the country. The proposals would give EV chargepoint operators the right to carry out street works using a permit rather than a licence.

Permits can be issued much faster, taking days instead of months, and are significantly cheaper to obtain than licences, reducing costs for operators and speeding up the chargepoint rollout for drivers.

While the consultation runs, a new good practice guide has been published by the Government to improve consistency in processing licence applications across different areas.

These are the second package of measures delivered from the Government's Plan for Drivers, and follow last month's announcement of a crackdown on disruptive roadworks and better digital information to boost sat nav accuracy.

To further deliver on our Plan for Drivers commitments, we have published a list of common questions and answers on the transition to EVs, including:- battery range and chargepoint availability across the country.

To provide further flexibility to individuals and organisations wishing to install EV charging outlets, we will shortly consult on removing the 2 metre limitation so that wall mounted outlets and upstands can be installed anywhere within an area lawfully used for off street parking.

Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said:- "Through initiatives like the Electric Vehicle Cable Channel Pilot Programme and improving local electric vehicle infrastructure, we're working hard to help residents without off street parking, along with road users in Nottinghamshire, to charge their Electric Vehicles. We are continuing with our ambition to make Nottinghamshire healthier, more prosperous, and greener. Initiatives like this are a step closer to achieving these ambitions. As a county, we must do all that we can to protect the environment, and that's why we welcome this continued Government support, which helps us to roll out electric vehicle infrastructure more widely across Nottinghamshire."

These measures come following the UK's world leading path to reaching zero emission vehicles by 2035 coming into effect earlier this year. The zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain to be zero emission by 2030, providing certainty to consumers and industry; helping speed up the rollout of chargepoints.

The Government's approach to EVs has already attracted record investment in gigafactories and EV manufacturing, including Nissan's recent investment of over £3 billion to develop 2 new electric vehicles at their Sunderland plant; Tata's investment of over £4 billion in a new 40 GWh gigafactory; BMW's investment of £600 million to build next generation MINI EVs in Oxford; Ford's investment of £380 million in Halewood to make Electric Drive Units; and Stellantis' £100 million investment in Ellesmere Port for EV van production. Last year, the UK and EU agreed to extend trade rules on electric vehicles, saving manufacturers and consumers up to £4.3 billion in additional costs and providing long term certainty for industry.

In addition, the On-street residential chargepoint scheme (ORCS) is open to all UK local authorities. Grants are also available to help businesses make the transition through the Government's Workplace charging scheme (WCS), as well as people in flats and rented accommodation through the Electric vehicle chargepoint grant.