Burst main in Brent Knoll leaves residents without water
Temporary traffic lights have been put in place on the A38, outside Mill Batch Farm at East Brent, while work is carried out. Containers will be available at water collection site, but people can also take their own to be filled, Bristol Water said. A spokesperson said bottled water would be delivered to vulnerable customers."We're working as quickly and safely as possible to repair the burst and get everyone back into water," a spokesperson said.Bristol Water said residents who purchase bottled water while the supply is off can send a receipt to the firm for a refund of up to £10.
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Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Oxford fusion pioneer risks running out of cash within months
A British nuclear fusion pioneer has warned it risks running out of cash within six months as it races to raise millions of pounds in funding to secure its future. First Light Fusion, which is based in Oxford, is in talks with investors to raise £20m after burning through tens of millions of pounds to develop its novel fusion technology. The start-up, founded in 2011, had sought to develop what it called 'projectile fusion', developing a giant gas-powered gun that would fire a 5p-sized projectile at extreme speeds into a fuel source, sparking a fusion reaction. However, the company abandoned plans to build a prototype reactor earlier this year as it struggled to raise funds. The business is now seeking financing to supply its inventions to other fusion and technology companies. It has created what it calls an 'amplifier', a fuel capsule that can boost the power of nuclear reactions. First Light had previously raised more than £75m from investors including Tencent and London-listed IP Group. However, in company accounts signed off last month, First Light said it now only had cash reserves to continue to trade 'until mid-January 2026 whereupon additional funding shall be required'. The business said it had secured £10m in March, in the form of a convertible loan, and was in talks for a £20m equity injection in the coming months. However, that funding had yet to be confirmed, casting 'significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern'. The accounts for First Light said it had £9.9m in cash at the end of March and had burned through £13.4m in the past year. It said it ultimately planned to raise £60m. In April, The Telegraph reported that one of First Light's biggest investors had cut the value of its stake in the loss-making business by around 60pc. Holy grail of clean power Nuclear fusion aims to harness the kind of reaction that takes place at the heart of the sun, forcing hydrogen atoms together to release enormous amounts of energy. It is seen as the holy grail of renewable power as it has the potential to deliver continuous power, with helium its only by-product. Researchers have pursued fusion power for decades, but significant engineering and scientific challenges remain before a reactor can begin producing energy. The scramble for funding at First Light comes despite Labour promising to invest £2.5bn in fusion research over the next five years with the aim of developing a working reactor by 2040. On Thursday, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, announced measures to ease planning rules for future fusion projects. Several US fusion companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the technology. Last month, Google agreed to buy 200 megawatts of power from an as-yet undeveloped fusion plant in Massachusetts. Earlier this month, First Light confirmed its founder, Nicholas Hawker, had left the start-up. In a post on X, he said: 'I remain 100pc convinced that fusion can be done. But there are a set of hard truths that no amount of VC hype can disappear.' David Bryon, First Light's chief financial officer, said the company had seen significant interest, both in the UK and internationally, in its £60m fundraising round. He said: 'This is thanks to our strategic shift to a capital-light, high-margin business with applications across fusion, materials science, space and sovereign defence. With our unique capabilities, First Light is putting Britain at the heart of the global inertial fusion market.'
Sky News
27 minutes ago
- Sky News
Labour will eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in a decade, environment secretary says
Labour will eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in 10 years, the environment secretary has told Sky News. Steve Reed also pledged to halve sewage pollution from water companies by 2030 as he announced £104 billion of private investment to help the government do that. But he told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips this "isn't the end of our ambition" and eliminating unauthorised sewage spillages over the next decade is part of Labour's "decade of national renewal". He added: "Over a decade of national renewal, we'll be able to eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages. "But you have to have staging posts along the way, cutting it in half in five years is a dramatic improvement to the problem getting worse and worse and worse every single year." He said the water sector is "absolutely broken" and promised to rebuild it and reform it from "top to bottom". His earlier pledge to halve sewage pollution from water companies by 2030 is linked to 2024 levels. The government said it is the first time ministers have set a clear target to reduce sewage pollution and is part of its efforts to respond to record sewage spills and rising water bills. Ministers are also aiming to cut phosphorus - which causes harmful algae blooms - in half by 2028. Mr Reed said families had watched rivers, coastlines and lakes "suffer from record levels of pollution". "My pledge to you: the government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade," he added. Addressing suggestions wealthier families would be charged more for their water, Mr Reed said there are already "social tariffs" and he does not think more needs to be done as he pointed out there is help for those struggling to pay water bills. The announcement comes ahead of the publication of the Independent Water Commission's landmark review into the sector on Monday morning. The commission was established by the UK and Welsh governments as part of their joint response to failures in the industry, but ministers have already said they'll stop short of nationalising water companies. Mr Reed said he is eagerly awaiting the report's publication and said he would wait to see what author Sir John Cunliffe says about OFWAT, the water regulator, following suggestions the government is considering scrapping it. On Friday, the Environment Agency published data which showed serious pollution incidents caused by water firms increased by 60% in England last year, compared with 2023. 1:38 Meanwhile, the watchdog has received a record £189m to support hundreds of enforcement officers for inspections and prosecutions. "One of the largest infrastructure projects in England's history will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good," Mr Reed said. But the Conservatives have accused the Labour government of having so far "simply copied previous Conservative government policy". "Labour's water plans must also include credible proposals to improve the water system's resilience to droughts, without placing an additional burden on bill payers and taxpayers," shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins added. The Rivers Trust says sewage and wastewater discharges have taken place over the weekend, amid thunderstorms in parts of the UK. Discharges take place to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed, with storm overflows used to release extra wastewater and rainwater into rivers and seas. Water company Southern Water said storm releases are part of the way sewage and drainage systems across the world protect homes, schools and hospitals from flooding.
Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
Billionaire to list £250m Chelsea manor as ‘UK's gone to hell'
One billionaire's frustration can be another's opportunity. After the Norwegian-born shipping baron John Fredriksen quit London, he declared 'Britain has gone to hell', but his departure has created the chance for someone to snap up his home. They'll just need to have at least £250 million to spare to buy one of the capital's most intriguing and desirable residences. Rather than merely shutter the Old Rectory, the 300-year-old Georgian manor, or hand it to one of his two daughters, Fredriksen, 81, is eyeing a sale. Local residents say the mogul has already let go of more than a dozen domestic staff and arranged for discreet viewings. A listing on RightMove is unlikely. Homes of this grandeur are usually sold in confidential 'off-market' deals, which are brokered by a select band of specialist agents. Tucked away on the oldest street in Chelsea, southwest London, the Old Rectory boasts its own ballroom and a garden of nearly two acres, one of the biggest belonging to a private house in central London. The Duke of Wellington is said to have drawn up his plans for the Battle of Waterloo on the Old Rectory's lawns because his brother, Gerald Valerian Wellesley, a rector, lived in the property for 27 years. Charles Kingsley, the Victorian writer who wrote The Water-Babies, is another former resident. Secluded behind high brick walls, the property is barely visible from the street, offering the secrecy the very wealthy often crave. A renovation during the 1990s added two wings, leaving the property with ten suites and about 30,000 square feet of living space. A spokesman for Fredriksen declined to comment on whether the Old Rectory was for sale or how many domestic staff had been let go earlier this year. John Waters, a director of the independent buying agency Robert Bailey Property, said: 'Many of the wealthy owners we have seen leave the UK recently have not in fact chosen to sell their London homes — instead deciding to rent overseas in the hope that the UK tax system will in the future become less unfavourable. 'Often they are very sad to be leaving, but they feel they have little choice due to the end of non-dom status and the prospect of all their global assets being subject to UK inheritance tax.' • Why the super-rich are leaving Britain For centuries, the non-dom regime allowed wealthy people, who were domiciled overseas for tax purposes, to only pay UK tax on income earned here, until it was scrapped by the chancellor in April. Fredriksen bought the Old Rectory from the Greek businessman, Theodore Angelopoulos, for £37 million in 2001, making his debut on The Sunday Times Rich List two years later with an estimated wealth of £475 million. He appeared at No 9 in this year's Rich List with wealth estimated at £13.7 billion. • The Sunday Times Rich List 2025 Born in Norway to a welder and his wife, Fredriksen started his oil trading career in his twenties. In the 1970s he began assembling a vast tanker fleet, profiting handsomely by transporting oil at high risk amid the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s. As well as shipping, his financial interests include oil drilling, salmon farming and commercial property. Fredriksen's wife, Inger, died in 2006 from cancer. The couple's twin daughters, Cecilie and Kathrine, 41, have spent much of their lives in London. The Old Rectory has been Fredriksen's main home since 2001. It was the high taxes of his homeland that inspired Fredriksen to leave Norway for the UK, and later renounce his Norwegian citizenship. He is now a Cypriot national. At an event in Oslo last month, he was asked about his views on the UK. 'It's starting to remind me more and more of Norway,' the billionaire told the business newspaper E24. 'Britain has gone to hell, like Norway … I try to avoid Norway as much as I can.' He added that the 'the entire western world is on its way down', describing Donald Trump's trade policy as 'completely hopeless'. 'People should get up and work even more, and go to the office instead of having a home office,' he said. • Non-dom changes have 'lost the Treasury £400m in stamp duty' The closure of his office in Sloane Square, near the Old Rectory, earlier this year, and his decision to spend much of his time in the United Arab Emirates suggests he will not feature in future editions of the Rich List. Rob McGibbon, the editor of the online local newspaper The Chelsea Citizen, described the Old Rectory as a 'prized jewel' that 'comes with excellent bragging rights'. He said: 'My hope is that the next owners are a family who will actually live in the house full-time and are people who care about the Chelsea community. Too many homes in our area are lived in for a few weeks a year. They're just places to park money. Please, don't let this amazing house go to another billionaire who uses it like a luxury hotel. Make it a permanent home.' Would-be buyers will find themselves pitted against a wily negotiator, one who previously thwarted another billionaire with local connections. In 2004 Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea FC owner who invested heavily in property in the area, offered Fredriksen £100 million for the Old Rectory. The Russian's unsolicited bid was turned down.
