11/03/2012 Sunday Politics East


11/03/2012

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In the East. Housebuilding plumb it so leaving family's out in the cold.

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And from Leicester to this. It least save money but is it keeping

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1807 seconds

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Good morning. It is getting harder to find somewhere to live in the

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East of England. Not enough houses are being built.

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Our guests at this week are Dr Theresa coffee and David Ellesmere.

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-- Dr Therese Coffey. One of the things that has happened

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is that the government in raising the tax threshold has lifted over 1

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million people out of paying income tax and most of those are women.

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the debate on Thursday in the House of Commons, it was fascinating to

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listen and interact to other women MPs on a variety of issues. Just

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tackling the things that do matter to women. Labour has talked a lot

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about getting and people apprenticeships, but what about

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getting women into the work place? I can understand why women are not

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happy with the government. The government appears to be hitting

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women hardest. If you look at the changes that are being made it to

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benefit, to taxes, to wage freezes, 70% of those are hitting women

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rather than men. Women's unemployment is at its highest rate

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since 1974 and is rising faster than men's. Let's move on to

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switching off street lights. It is claimed that money can be saved by

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doing this. Essex is rolling out plans to extend its switch off

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county-wide. Put that light out! The night-time

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of blackouts of the Second World War war may be the stuff of

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nostalgia, but Essex County Council has started putting its alight out

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between midnight and 5am. High streets and town centres will

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continue to be let all night and so will main roads like this one. --

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lit. But you may have to carry a torch if you are using side streets

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at night. Maldon it is a step ahead of the rest of Essex. What is the

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verdict from the ladies at the local keep-fit club? I think in

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light is too early. Perhaps 2 o'clock in the morning. When we

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were young, we just took torch is everywhere. But the town council

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wants the county council to push back the switch of time by one hour.

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We have a night-time economy. If they could have some of the lights

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are on, that would be better. it is estimated that switching of

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70% of that the street lights it will save almost �1 million a year

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for one Council. When we put that figure together, we were very

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conservative in our estimate. Since we came up with that figure, energy

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costs have gone up, we also save on carbon tax. If you look at what

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happened in other areas, we could be saving over �70,000 per year.

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Crime figures do appear to have dropped where lights have been

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switched off, but the fear of crime could be rising. Councils are now...

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What about concerns about safety? There are savings to be made.

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Suffolk County Council are expecting to sit about half a

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million pounds a year from this. There are concerned, and certainly

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people in Ipswich do have concerns out of the town centre. In

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particular, there is the fear of crime, but it is also about safety

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as well. Mothers are worried, not for themselves, but for their

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children who are working late at night and coming home. One report

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says that cuts to street lighting, female friends tell me that if you

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cannot afford a taxi and are you still walking around in safety, it

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does make a difference having a curfew imposed. There is certainly

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a lot of concern about it. People do not feel as safe as a result of

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this. The street maintenance budget has been cut as well so there are

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potholes as well. It is not just about crime, there is a fear of

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accidents. Do you disagree? I think most people I'm not think it is a

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safe -- most people final think it is our sensible idea. I would say

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that, of course, if you have concerns about your particular area,

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you can ask for the likes to be put on again. And I know that that has

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happened. In areas where it has happened, crime has gone down.

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what about the fear of crime? not know what research has been

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done by Labour women, but what people do feel that there is an

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issue, I believe at the County Council has kept those lights on.

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Is there enough public information about this happening? I think a lot

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of people are surprised when it does actually happen. But it is

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fight that a lot of people are not and about at these times, -- it is

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right that a lot of people are not out and about at these times. And

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light can be switched back on if there is a problem. We have done

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that on streets where there has been any crime. It is absolutely

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essential that people have to be aware of that. How far is this

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going to go? I would like to see it county-wide, and a nationwide, I

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think it makes sense. Light pollution is also an issue.

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The housing shortage now. We are the fastest-growing region in the

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country, but despite the will of consecutive governments to build,

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there is a crisis. Planning permissions are down by 25%. The

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social housing waiting list is up. And first-time buyers here now need

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a deposit of around �29,000. It is expected the government will

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announce his planning policy framework this month, but will it

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help? Colchester is expected to be the career with the largest number

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of people needing help. A after three difficult years, the

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building industry believes that things are starting to pick up. At

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this site in Colchester, homes are under construction. They will be

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ready by the summer and they are expected to sell fast. Things are a

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lot more positive. Because see changes in the planning system

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coming through. There are improvements in net mortgage market.

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Colchester needs more homes. 1400 need to be billed here every year

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for the next 20 years. -- needed to be built here. Jose needs are not

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being met. The number of new homes being built in the East has fallen

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by one-third in the last six years. Our region needs at 32,000 new

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homes every year for the next 20 years. But the report says that

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just 44% of the homes we need are being started. The federation it

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assess it is partly to do with the economy, but also the planning

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system. The planning system is between an old regime and a new

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regime that the government is introducing. Quite a lot of local

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councils have not felt the pressure that we would like to see to get on

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with positive planning. building federation has a vested

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interest, but those who work with almost say the problem is getting

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worse. We have 3000 people on the waiting list in Colchester. We are

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not producing the supply to meet that need at all. Cassey Clitheroe

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and Darrell Mole have just moved him to a new call you. They were on

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the council waiting list for three years. -- a new home. Everywhere we

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looked at, there was almost 20 people and front of us. It was a

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constant frustration. People stay at home longer with their parents,

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they share houses when children come a long. We are starting to see

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street homelessness again as well. The number of homeless in the East

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has increased by 28%. The government wants to see more homes

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being built. It has introduced a new Holmes bonus. -- homes.

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Ministers and the industry say there is a need for housing which

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is not being met. Why is housing it so slow? What is

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the real problem here? I think part of the problem is the planning

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system. It is a tortuous process. There is a mixed message coming

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from the presumption for development and the government

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saying to local community groups, you can store development in your

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area. -- stop development. Local authorities are in the middle tried

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to build the homes we need for people that want them. 1400 houses

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needed to be built every year for the next 20 years, how many are we

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getting at the moment? About half of that. Before the recession, we

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were building about 1000 homes a year. We are doing pretty well, but

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we are not meeting either need. What about social housing?

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waiting list is around 5000, we are just scratching the surface of it.

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When the new developments are built in Colchester, we insist on 35% of

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that being social housing. But it is not having a good effect because

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there are so many people coming on to the list. But is it moving now?

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Yes, there does seem to be a bit of movement this year. Development is

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picking up a little. We have got to be confident and optimistic because

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if we are not, things will never improve it. Should he be

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optimistic? Is the government's planning policy going to meet that

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need? Planning has always had a presumption in favour of

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development. This chargeable give greater freedom to councils in how

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they decide what building has to be done. The there will not be

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prescriptions about parking places and other issues such as that. They

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will be able to decide the shape and feel of the communities they

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wish to see. They will also be able to say where they do not want it.

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The that is not true, they cannot do that. The district and but

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development councils set their areas for development. That

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information has not got across. This Government has been saying

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that we needed to build more houses, they are giving incentives to build

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new houses and introducing, for first-time buyers, a home start

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programme. David Ellesmere, we had targets under Labour, but we did

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not meet them. The scrapping of targets is causing problems. What

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we are seeing is councils under pressure because people do not want

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to see development in their own backyard. We should not blame are

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the planning system entirely. In Ipswich, we are finding that the

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real problem is that the government has cut the housing budget by 60%

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and developers are not coming forward because they cannot find

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social housing developers. there is also freedom for the

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housing associations to be charging 80% rather than 60%. They can

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spread the burden. What do you need in order to get those houses built

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in Colchester? The slashing of the funding to the homes and

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communities agencies has had a real effect. If you have 80% of the

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market based in Colchester, that is an affordable for most people. They

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can afford a 60%, but 80% takes it out of the range of many people. We

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need to be able to give the money to housing associations so that

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they can afford to build the houses that people can afford to let him.

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-- to live in. Housing will always be a controversial topic. �400

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million is being given to developers at the moment to get the

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schemes going, to build housing, but we also have to get into houses

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into this game as well. This week saw the loss of one of

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almost colourful politicians. -- our most. Lord St John Has died.

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was a great man, a great parliamentarian and a great wit. He

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called Margaret Thatcher Attila the Hen! That deadlock or down too well

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at all. -- that did not go down too well. Douglas Carswell took great

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pleasure it in goading the Prime Minister. It is because of the

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constraints of coalition or because of the Whitehall machine? Would you

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like to see those conservation zones on the Suffolk coast? I think

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they are pretty controversial. I can understand why they want to do

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it, but it is where tourists goal sort I am not so keen on the idea.

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Should wildlife come first? It is absolutely right that our natural

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environment should be protected from exploitation. But much of our

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landscape has been shaped by humans. If humans are working their,

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fishing and so on and tourism, so long as there is not too much of it,

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