BUDE and Stratton received a special visit from the continent recently as they welcomed 30 friends from their twinned town in France.   As part of its 45th anniversary, Bude-Stratton Twinning Association and Ergué-Gabéric Twinning Association have come together in the coastal town.   Thirty residents from the French town of Ergué-Gabéric made the long trip across the Channel to visit Bude for a fun-filled weekend. Following the formal presentation, attendees enjoyed a buffet lunch followed by an informative talk from the town council’s project and strategy manager, Francesca Churchill-Zerilli, on the project to relocate the Storm Tower. This presentation was simultaneously translated into French for the benefit of the guests. On Sunday, the group took a trip to Padstow, starting with a walk from Daymer Bay to Rock and then the ferry across to Padstow. Sunday evening they were once again warmly welcomed, this time by everyone at the Beach House restaurant in Widemouth Bay, with musical entertainment from local singer/songwriter Ezmay Grace, followed by a sumptuous banquet and local Cornish cheeses from Whalesborough Cheeses.  Monday saw an early start, with a visit to the Tamar Bridge Visitor Centre, a fascinating tour discovering the history of life before and after the construction of the bridges, which also gave insights in to the engineering and operations of the Tamar Bridge and Brunel's Royal Albert rail bridge.   In the afternoon the group paid a visit to the Mayflower museum, learning about the Mayflower story and looking at the history and legacies of voyages to America and the impact of colonisation. Finally, they enjoyed some free time exploring the Barbican and the Hoe, finishing the day with fish and chips at Pier One Restaurant overlooking Plymouth Sound, before their guests departed on the overnight ferry.  A spokesperson from Bude-Stratton Twinning Association said: “The weekend was a great success, enjoyed by all, who celebrated long-standing and new friendships. Our French guests were made to feel very welcome wherever they went and we enjoyed glorious weather, showing off the best of Bude, Cornwall and Plymouth! Comments Tel: 01566 778213[email protected]Follow us Further Links Owned or licensed to Tindle Newspapers Ltd | Independent Family-Owned Newspapers | Copyright & Trade Mark Notice & 2013 - 2025 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information In light of the Treasury Department’s final rules for transferring clean energy tax credits companies should be aware that such transfers have potential for project-related risks They should understand and take steps to mitigate these risks if they want to purchase clean energy tax credits companies that buy (and thus claim) clean energy tax credits will bear all the risk of losing the credits if there are qualification deficiencies or tax credit overstatements by the seller And when the transfer is of investment tax credits purchasers bear all risk of liability to repay all or part of the tax credit to the government if certain project-related events occur the Treasury rejected the idea that tax credit sellers should be allowed to divide the tax credits from a particular project into higher-risk and lower-risk tranches to accommodate buyers with different risk tolerances addressing these challenges through deal structuring and terms Sellers of credits should anticipate these issues and proactively consider structural and transactional means to reduce a buyer’s risk to help ease transactions Clean energy tax credit risks generally fall into two buckets The first is risk of disallowance for claiming credits to which the applicable project wasn’t entitled either because the project didn’t meet applicable qualification requirements or because the amount was otherwise overstated The final rules call this an “excessive transfer” but place the risk on the purchaser The rules also impose a 20% penalty on the purchaser unless the purchaser can show that it performed a reasonable level of due diligence The second bucket is “recapture” liability and applies only to ITC projects all or a portion of the ITC must be repaid if there’s a change of ownership of a ITC project—or the project is permanently taken out of service—during a specified period (generally five years) The recapture amount is 100% during the first year and steps down annually in equal increments to 0% in the first year following the recapture period Except for an indirect change of ownership of a project owned by a partnership the rules again place recapture liability on the purchaser Market participants should expect to perform detailed due diligence about the underlying project’s tax credit qualifications and amounts to avoid additional penalties under the final rules Sellers should be prepared to provide documentation and third-party verification of critical facts including compliance with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements third-party verification of the nature and amount of costs or production and an appraisal supporting any ITC basis step-up Most tax credit purchasers don’t insist on full-blown diligence about the project itself because their return is based on the tax credit purchase price discount rather than on the project’s performance because ITC purchasers are exposed to recapture liability upon a shut-down or transfer of the project (due to bankruptcy ITC sellers can expect buyers to conduct some level of diligence on the project’s viability strong representations regarding the project’s tax credit qualification and claimed amounts Many tax credit purchasers don’t have much experience with clean energy tax credits The new prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements raise novel issues as do the qualification requirements for new and “bonus” credits tax credit purchasers have no project ownership interest through which to access project cash-flows and recover their expected return Due to the forward-looking nature of recapture events ITC buyers should require—and ITC sellers should expect to commit to—strong negative covenants prohibiting actions that constitute or increase the risk of a recapture event Both sides also should prioritize affirmative covenants including obligations to maintain insurance that will enable the project to continue operation following a material liability or casualty event Indemnities are only as strong as the entity standing behind them A tax credit seller often is a single-purpose entity with no assets other than the project and the project itself may be highly leveraged with senior debt Sellers therefore should expect purchasers to seek guarantees or similar support from a creditworthy entity to support the seller’s indemnification obligations Purchasers may require tax credit insurance the premium of which is often paid by the seller in lieu of or in addition to upstream credit support the coverages and exclusions of these policies may differ significantly Both parties should carefully consider the policy’s coverage Nearly all policies will cover tax credit qualification and amounts but coverage for forward-looking recapture risks isn’t universal Exclusions based on the accuracy of representations to the insurer by the seller would undermine the policy’s value to a tax credit purchaser If material credit support isn’t practical prospective ITC sellers should proactively consider pre-sale structuring to mitigate a buyer’s recapture risk This could include structuring ownership of the project through a bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle (and related protections) and loss-payee casualty insurance endorsements It also could include working with project financing parties up front to agree on acceptable foreclosure forbearance terms or to establish a financing structure that permits foreclosure without triggering recapture liability for the tax credit purchaser Although the allocation of project-related risk to a purchaser of clean energy tax credits presents challenges Understanding and proactively addressing the risks in deal structuring and terms allows both sellers and buyers the opportunity to get these deals done This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax Martha “Marty” Pugh is a corporate tax partner in K&L Gates’ power practice group focusing on renewable energy incentives related to wind Jim Goettsch is a mergers and acquisitions and finance partner in K&L Gates’ power practice group Write for Us: Author Guidelines To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Baker at rbaker@bloombergindustry.com; Melanie Cohen at mcohen@bloombergindustry.com Log in to keep reading or access research tools We use some essential cookies to make this website work We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK remember your settings and improve government services We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. News stories, speeches, letters and notices Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports The Crescent Flood Defence and River Restoration Project is expected to be completed next April and will better protect 22 homes and 15 commercial and community properties on The Crescent and Ergue-Gaberic Way, between the River Neet and Bude Canal. Site set up and pre-commencement work got underway this week ready for the main works to begin on 29 August. Nanny Moore’s Bridge and Ergue-Gaberic Way will be closed from 29 August until the end of October for heavy construction works. Erque-Gaberic Way will then have partial closures until April 2024, with access maintained for local premises. Tony Rago, Asset Performance Advisor at the Environment Agency said: The new works will strengthen the existing flood scheme and better protect the local community and economy from flood events, predicted to increase in the near future as a result of climate change. When the construction work has been completed, the Environment Agency will replant the embankment with native species of local provenance. This will provide enhanced foraging and habitats and will act as an important green corridor. Some non-native and ornamental species will also be planted to maintain the river character. Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. 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You can change your cookie settings at any time Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports The Bude flood defence and river restoration scheme is a £2.1 million scheme to improve the existing flood alleviation scheme It will also restore the ecological potential of the River Neet between Whalesborough Weir and Pethericks Mill Nature Reserve Bude has a long history of flooding from several sources: The original Bude flood alleviation scheme was built after an extreme flood event in the 1950s The scheme was later updated following a major fluvial flood in 1993 Over time some parts of the scheme have declined in condition These now needed work to maintain the design standard of protection it provides The parts of the scheme which required attention were: the earth flood embankment to the rear of Bude tourist information centre running between the canal and Bencoolen Bridge the masonry-faced embankment on Ergue-Gaberic Way between the Masonic Hall and Nanny Moore’s Bridge Since the construction of the existing Bude flood alleviation scheme Bude has continued to be affected by severe flood events Environment Agency Field Services teams provide pumps to remove water caused by waves over-topping the defences The scheme received £2.1 million funding from the government’s £170 million fund to accelerate the delivery of flood risk management schemes nationally The Crescent flood defence and river restoration project will better protect the local community and economy from flood events This includes the increase in future flood events predicted because of climate change The work focused on the renewal of the flood defence along Ergue-Gaberic Way This work includes the construction of a new flood wall on the landward face of the bank behind the existing roadside kerb Having completed the construction along Ergue-Gaberic Way we will replant the top of the bank with a selection of native plant species The project includes a river restoration element that focuses on the River Neet upstream of Bude between Whalesbourough Weir and Pethericks Mill Nature Reserve The Water Framework Directive is a European directive which aims to protect and improve the water environment the River Neet currently has moderate ecological potential The river must achieve good ecological potential by 2027 The River Restoration Centre has investigated potential measures to improve the status of the watercourse We will put these mitigation measures in place along this reach of the channel to help increase the ecological potential of the watercourse For further information, email DCISenquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk