Yorkshire Water has said that it will give its customers in Thorne and Moorends “good will payments” after placing a Boil Water Notice in the area since Saturday which is not expected to be lifted until the end of this week. Charlie Haysom, Director of Service Delivery at Yorkshire Water, commented: “We understand this situation has been very inconvenient for our customers in Thorne and Moorends, and that’s why we’ve decided to give them a £30 good will payment to thank them for their patience. “We’re still asking residents to boil their water before drinking or cooking with it, and we hope to return to normal service as soon as possible.” Customers at approximately 3,600 properties have been told to boil their water before cooking and drinking after high bacteria levels were found in the water last Friday. Haysom added that the water supplier is still investigating how the incident was caused and continue to focus on the Coulman Industrial Estate as the potential source of the problem. The instruction to boil water prior to use will stay in place until further sample results have been examined, with the latest results on Sunday described as encouraging. However, Yorkshire Water is using extreme caution and will not remove the Boil First instruction until new samples show that the water is definitely safe to drink. The company has been delivering bottled water to the affected areas since the problem was first reported, however a number of people in the affected area have said that they have waited hours for the bottled water without sufficient communication from the supplier. Elderly residents have been particularly affected by the problem, with some of them having to walk a long way to pick up points. Thorne Moorends town councillors were at the club to pass messages from Yorkshire Water on to residents and try to keep people calm.

The proposed Moorside nuclear power station in Cumbria has retained the expertise of Amec Foster Wheeler with a continuation of its contract to provide environmental support by NuGeneration (NuGen). Amec Foster Wheeler is to undertake assessment and modelling work which will allow NuGen to submit an environmental impact assessment to support its development consent order application and environmental permit applications next year. Managing Director of Amec Foster Wheeler’s environment and infrastructure business in Europe, Rob Brown, commented: “Amec Foster Wheeler is the leading provider of environmental support to Moorside, this nationally significant infrastructure project. “We are delighted to be developing a long-term partnership with NuGen, providing quality, time-critical environmental deliverables, and enhancing our position as a leading player in the UK nuclear new build programme.” Meanwhile, NuGen Head of Environment, Paula Madill, said that the partnership between Amec Foster Wheeler and NuGen has been a success for a number of years and NuGen is delighted to be continuing the partnership as he environmental impact assessment and operation permits are prepared ahead of delivery early next year. NuGen is owned 40% by French firm Engie (formerly GDF Suez) and 60% by Japanese company Toshiba, while Westinghouse Electric Company will provide three AP1000 nuclear reactors for the 3.4GW plant. The end of last month saw the end of public consultation on the Moorside nuclear power station. According to NuGen, the station could provide enough electricity to power 7% of the UK, while also creating thousands of jobs and the promise of significant investment in local services and infrastructure. The plans have been approved in principle by Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council. However, they say that is the plans were to go ahead, there would also need to be a significant deal of investment in infrastructure in West Cumbria, in particular in community services and roads.

The latest research published by the Solar Trade Association (STA) and PwC has found that a third of solar jobs have been lost over the last 12 months, while a further 30% of solar firms have forecast staff cuts over the next year. The study surveyed 238 solar industry businesses which employ 3,665 staff between them now compared with 5,362 at the same time last year, which is a 32% fall. The analysis shows that four in 10 companies are left with no alternative but to diversify into other markets or completely exit the solar market to keep their businesses going. The survey also found that the number of job losses over the last 12 months could exceed 12,500, which is about a third of previous total employment in the sector. In the next year, solar deployment is expected to fall from the 1GW average of the last five years to fewer than 300MW in the next 12 month period, which is a fall of 75%. For quite some time the STA has been concerned with the UK’s lack of industrial strategy for the solar industry despite global energy investments being dominated more and more by solar power. Now, the UK government is allocating just 1% of new renewable energy project expenditure to solar power under the Feed-in Tariff. Therefore, the new Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy represents a much welcomed chance to adopt a strategic approach to a relatively cheap and winning technology, according to the association. STA’s Head of External Affairs, Leonie Greene, said that the survey shows that the British solar industry has suffered damage and the government should act promptly to resolve this. Greene added: “We urge new ministers, rather than increase the tax burden of going solar, please reward investment with sensible solar tax breaks consistent with action on climate change. International experience of tax breaks is solid, and the industry is clearly behind this.”

Civil engineering contractors believe that growth years are now over, according to the first national poll since the EU referendum. According to the Civil Engineering Contractors Association’s (CECA) most recent quarterly workload trends survey, the sector’s boom period seems to be coming to an end as major projects stall. In the second quarter of this year, six out of 10 civil engineering subsectors reported a fall in workloads. Compared with a balance of over 20% reported in the first quarter, workloads increased for a net balance of just 2 percentage points; the lowest growth balance in three years. Alasdair Reisner, Chief Executive of CECA, said that these results are bad news for the UK economy and need to serve as a warning sign for policy makers. He said: “We know that infrastructure investment is a driver of economic growth. Given the recent disappointing economic forecasts following the Brexit vote, our figures show that the market is slowing just as the country needs it to speed up. “The new government can’t afford to sit on its hands. There are existing committed programmes of work where we need to see the delivery of schemes – now – if this situation is to be reversed.” Reisner also believes that unless the government is able to kick on and ensure more work for the construction industry, then a dramatic slowdown in growth is inevitable, which will spell trouble for the 200,000 workers in the sector, as well as bad news for the country on the whole. Earlier in the month, CECA said that new Prime Minister Theresa May must commit to infrastructure at the start of her tenure. Reisner commented: “The government must provide certainty on other elements of the country’s infrastructure investment pipeline. After three weeks of uncertainty, the new government must hit the ground running, and commit to a bold infrastructure agenda.”

Council leaders from the North West are backing the £1 billion campaign for rail improvements throughout North Wales and Cheshire. Manchester City Council leader, Sir Richard Leese and Liverpool Mayor, Joe Anderson are among the senior figures who have called for the Government to back the Growth Track 360 campaign. Also behind the campaign are Merseytravel chair Cllr, Liam Robinson and Manchester Science Partnerships chairman, Chris Oglesby. Growth Track 360 is led by political leaders, the public sector and a cross-border alliance of businesses and, if successful, the campaign would provide a welcome boost for Wirral, Cheshire and North Wales economies, as they would be connected to the planned HS2 line and provide better links to Greater Manchester and Liverpool. Over a 20 year period, the £1 billion investment would lead to more than 70,000 jobs being created in the North West region. Leese said that the campaign is crucial as connectivity is imperative to the region’s development and strength. He believes that by improving transport links between Greater Manchester, Cheshire and North Wales will provide a much needed boost to business in the region and support the aspirations of the Northern Powerhouse. Leese added: “Opening up communities, increasing networks, and delivering access to employment opportunities across the regions is key to strengthening our local economies and creating a more effective, connected and ultimately, powerful whole and I am fully behind this much-needed campaign.” The campaign is being driven by the North Wales and Mersey Dee Rail Task Force (NW&MD) and has so far secured the backing of the eight local authorities in the area: the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, the North Wales Business Council, the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, the West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Mersey Dee Alliance. The campaign wants the line between North Wales and Crewe to be electrified, which would allow the region to be more easily linked to HS2.

North Sea oil platforms are facing the first big strike in decades, as hundreds of workers protest against the cost cutting measures that have been introduced in response to reduced oil prices. This week, employees of Wood Group (an oilfield services company, across eight platforms operated by Shell) have planned a 24 hour stoppage. The dispute is being viewed keenly as a test of whether companies will be able to force through further cuts in labour costs in the face of resistance from unions as part of the wider task of keeping oil and gas in the North Sea competitive. Since oil prices fell from more than $100 a barrel two years ago to a 12 year low of $28 in January this year, leaders of unions say that workers have already made significant sacrifices in this period. Since January, prices have rebounded back to about $47 a barrel, although this has not been sufficient to lift the darkness that surrounds the North Sea basins. John Boland, Regional Officer of Unite, which called the strike along with the RMT union, said: “Strike action by our members is not a decision they take lightly but they have been pushed to the limit.” Industry group Oil & Gas UK believed that by the end of 2016, the number of oil and gas jobs in the UK will fall by 8,000 from its 41,700 peak two years ago. Furthermore, when support jobs are included in this figure, it is expected to have fallen to 330,400 from 453,800, which is a loss of more than 120,000. The majority of losses have been suffered in the capital of the UK oil industry, Aberdeen, where the amount of people who claim unemployment benefit has more than doubled in the last two years. Meanwhile, figures also show that the average pay for an offshore worker has decreased to £62,000 from £80,000 in 2014.

Plumbers may be missing out on trade because of a poor online presence, according to UK digital marketing provider Yell. The company has found that a significant majority of plumbers (90%) have inconsistent or incorrect information online, including basic details such as correct email and phone number. Yell analysed the online presence of almost 5,000 plumbers in the UK throughout a number of sites including My Local Services UK, Facebook and Bing, and also asked customers throughout the country about their online expectations and habits. The findings revealed some basic and common errors in the approach of small businesses to reaching potential online customers, for example having different phone numbers listed on different sites. The feedback found that 89% of customers would try contacting a different firm if the details listed online for a particular company are not correct, which suggests that many small firms, including plumbers, are missing out on a considerable amount of potential custom. Some of the key findings from the investigation were that 54% of people rely on positive online reviews when deciding on a new local business or service, while just over half (51%) of customers said when they were looking for a new service, the most important source of information was a website. Marketing Director at Yell, Mark Clisby, said that if a company’s online information is incorrect, then it could be argued that this is worse than not being online at all. He added: “Not only is the company effectively invisible to customers, it can also seem careless or even untrustworthy. “This often happens because companies don’t always know all the listings sites where they appear, or when they move they forget to update their information. It’s easily done, but can be incredibly damaging for business.” Yell has launched Connect to support small businesses, which is a service that recognises the importance of connections and word of mouth referrals and recommendations.

  The committee highlighted failures in the design of household efficiency schemes and claimed that take-up of the Green Deal scheme was “woefully low” because it had not been adequately tested. The forecast was “excessively optimistic” and “gave a completely misleading picture of the scheme’s prospects to parliament and other stakeholders,” it said in a report. Th committee raised concerns about the £25 million of investment for the Green Deal finance company from taxpayers, as the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) had “no formal role” in approving company expenditure. Decc spent a total of £240 million setting up and raising demand for loans under the Green Deal. Is also found that the government lacked information it needed to measure progress and the impact of fuel poverty for the Energy Company Obligation (Eco) scheme. The scheme ran alongside Green Deal and required energy companies to provide households with energy efficiency measures such as loft insulation. It has called on the government to ensure policy decisions are “thoroughly tested and based on accurate evidence”. The department must “be prepared to pull back on plans if it is clear they are unlikely to be successful and risk taxpayers’ money,” it said, adding that the Department “must not leave itself open to accusations of misleading parliament to achieve its own ends”. PAC chair Meg Hillier said: “The government rushed into the Green Deal without proper consideration of concerns about its weaknesses. This blinkered approach resulted in a truly dismal take-up for Green Deal loans and a cost to taxpayers of £17,000 for every loan arranged. Savings in CO2 were minimal.” The Green Deal and Eco schemes were implemented in 2013 to help improve household energy efficiency. The money available to Green Deal will not be renewed once it has run out, and the Eco scheme will enter a transitional year in 2017 before a new one is announced.

Ineos is aiming to accelerate its shale gas development in the UK by lodging up to 30 planning applications to drill test wells over the course of the next six months. The $50 billion petrochemicals firm is controlled by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, and one of its directors, Tom Crotty, said that the company has plans to begin drilling in the north of England early in 2017, while gas extraction could start in 18 months through the controversial fracking process. The plan has been announced at a time when the group is ending a six year tax exile with the opening of a new London headquarters for its upstream oil and gas operations which are based primarily in the UK. Ratcliffe was the UK founder of the company, which he took to Switzerland in 2010 as it was struggling to pay its taxes following the global financial crisis, while he has now also returned to live in the UK. Ineos’ primary concern now is to continue its free trade with the EU, in particular with Norway, where the firm has a significant petrochemical business, which Ratcliffe says “is a model that works for us.” The company has been built up over more than a decade through a number of acquisitions and last year moved into gas production after its $750 million acquisition of 12 North Sea fields from Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. The group also owns the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland and has ambitions of becoming a major producer of oil and gas, in particular shale gas. Over the last year, Ineos has backed a very public campaign to persuade the Scottish government to remove its moratorium on fracking. However, the campaign was unsuccessful and has resulted in the group bidding for licenses in England and now has rights covering 1m acres, primarily in North Yorkshire, the North Midlands and the Cheshire basin.