Author: laurahendersonsite

48% of Kippen residents say their mobile tariff is not good value for money

A recent survey of Kippen on 4G coverage from Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford has shown that there is widespread dissatisfaction about what local people are paying for in mobile phone tariffs when they are unable to connect to the most up-to-date mobile internet services.

Mr Crawford received hundreds of responses which also showed that 59% of local people are unable to connect to 4G in their own home, and 65% could not connect elsewhere in Kippen.

48% of people in Kippen said that their mobile phone tariff was not good value for money as a result of the inability to connect to these services.

Commenting, Bruce Crawford said:

“Firstly, I’m grateful to everyone who took time to fill out and return my survey on 4G in the area. The large number of responses that I received alone tells a story about how important this issue is.

“There are obvious challenges within rural communities in terms of mobile internet coverage – however, I do not think enough has been done to connect rural Stirling communities such as Kippen.

“The fact that 48% of local people here do not feel that their mobile phone tariff is good value for money because of an inability to connect to the most up to date services is a very serious matter and one that I will be raising with individual mobile network providers in coming weeks.

“4G access is an important way of modern life, both socially and economically and, as I pursue this issue, I hope to see better coverage of 4G across the whole rural Stirling area, including in Kippen.”

Notes to the Editor:

Photograph attached: Bruce Crawford MSP

SB/PR

SNP MSP for the Stirling Constituency Bruce Crawford and the Stirling Council Environment Convener Cllr Jim Thomson have met with Helen Wilson of Kippen Community Council and Polly Douglas of Kippen Primary Parent Council, to discuss the local campaign for speed limits throughout the village to be reduced to 20mph.

Mr Crawford then met with Kippen Primary P7s, who have been running their own campaign for speed limit reduction, with their teacher Mrs Stone.

Councillor Thomson confirmed that the SNP Group on Stirling Council supports 20mph zones in communities where there is a want and a need for it and highlighted that there is £40,000 available in this year’s local Budget to invest in ground work for reducing speed limits in residential areas.

Pending the expressed support from local groups such as the Community Council, Parent Council and the Toddler’s Group, the Council will take into consideration what work can be carried out to reduce speed limits in the village under the current Budget.

Stirling Council have carried out a survey on traffic in the village, following a letter from Mr Crawford, calling for the local authority to look into introducing 20mph throughout Kippen.

The findings of the survey are:

By far the majority of traffic comes from cars, whose behaviour would be most affected by a change in speed limit.

The average speed of traffic is above the 30mph speed limit.

There’s a peak in traffic on a Saturday – indicating that the 20mph during start and finish times at school just isn’t going far enough.

Commenting, Bruce Crawford MSP said:

“I fully support the efforts of the local community, including the Community Council, the Parent Council and the superb work that Primary 7 at Kippen Primary have been doing with Mrs Stone to campaign on this issue.

“I am pleased that the SNP Partnership Administration on Stirling Council has committed funding to delivering 20mph zones, and it is clear that there is a desire within the local community to have this implemented throughout Kippen.

“The meetings I had with various local goups were very positive and I look forward to supporting the Kippen community throughout the next stages of this campaign.

“I must make special mention of the Kippen Primary P7s, who have shown incredible determination and have run a fantastic campaign themselves. Raising awareness of this issue has got the local community to this point and, as they prepare themselves to leave Primary School to begin High School after the summer, they should be very proud of all they have achieved.”

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In Westminster, I am a member of the cross- party Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. Consumers’ energy bills are one of the most important issues we are dealing with, which is why   this new legislation, which will introduce an energy price cap for domestic energy supplies, is so important. The committee reported last month that it was overwhelmingly in support of this policy. The Bill will require the regulator (OfGEM) to introduce a price cap for all customers, which would run until 2020, with provision to be extended if needed. There are already caps in place for those customers on pre-payment meters and for certain vulnerable groups, this would now introduce a cap on the price any customer would pay if they were on a variable or default tariff.  There will be opportunities for Green Energy tariffs to be exempted from the cap to ensure they can be made available. Although switching suppliers is encouraged, a recent report stated that only 18% of customers do so on a regular basis and that many customers remain with the ‘Big 6’ energy companies, despite there now being over sixty suppliers operating. We must make it far easier to switch between suppliers. This is an important opportunity to stop many customers from paying a lot more than they need to and ensure we have a consumer led marketplace. I will continue to support this legislation as it progresses through Parliament.

John Bennett

Communications Officer for Stephen Kerr MP