CUMBRIA is only days away from a hosepipe ban unless there is ‘significant’ rainfall, which is not forecast, United Utilities has warned. But the threat has been criticised by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who said the water company needed to modernise the way it managed its resources. “We are the wettest county in [...]

THE Prime Minister’s decision to waive VAT on Simon Cowell’s charity single in aid of Haiti earthquake victims has fired up England’s mountain rescue bosses. Gordon Brown’s tax concession, announced within days of the single Everybody Hurts Sometimes being recorded, is causing a stir among volunteer rescuers who have spent five years battling for the [...]

THE fight to save the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus has been taken to 10 Downing Street. A 5,500 signature petition calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene in the university’s funding crisis was handed over by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron on Tuesday. He said the aim was to put pressure on [...]

THE Liberal Democrats have made a manifesto pledge to give mountain rescue teams a grant to cover the amount they pay each year in VAT. Vince Cable, the party’s Treasury spokesman, has agreed to include the £200,000 cost of the measure as part of spending commitments to be announced ahead of the General Election. The [...]

A DECISION to end undergraduate provision at Ambleside’s historic educational centre has been described as “madness” and a “huge blow” to the town with economic comparisons being made to the damaging recent floods. Bosses at the heavily indebted University of Cumbria are seeking to save £2 million a year – and the institution’s future viability [...]