Browse content similar to 22/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the south-east, angry farmers demand new laws to fight | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:46. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1767 seconds | :01:46. | :31:13. | |
the fly-tippers who keep on dumping Welcome to the Sunday Politics in | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
the south-east. Coming up. Living on the breadline. The towns where | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
child poverty is more than twice the national average. But first let | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
me introduce you to our guests of the day, the MP for Rochester Mark | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
Reckless and laider of Hastings Borough Council John Terry, they | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
will be here for the next 20 minutes with their views on the | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
most talked about events in the region. Let us start with the most | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
explosive story of the weeks. Plans for a massive hub airport in north | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
Kent. They will be included in a Government consultation on airport | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
expansion. We know that Boris Johnson is passionately in favour. | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
Mark Reckless, is there any that could persuade you this is a good | :31:56. | :32:02. | |
idea? No, it is a bad idea. Boris seems to think the peninsula is in | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
London. A new airport will be more expensive than expanding an | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
existing one. It would add between �50 and �80 every plane ticket. | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
Boris doesn't have any answers to the most basic of questions. How is | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
he going to persuade airlines to move there. It would be devastating | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
for environment. I don't think it is realistic or sensible. Every | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
time we talk about this on radio Kent we get more people saying they | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
like the sound of it. I think it's to do with jobs. Jeremy you would | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
like to have more jobs in your region. If somebody was offering to | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
put this in your backyard what would you be saying. It would be | :32:42. | :32:50. | |
hypothetical having an airport of that size anywhere near Hastings. | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
You would have to consider it wouldn't you. You would have to | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
weigh it up against the environmental impact, where ever it | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
is going to be. I think the Government has got itself in a | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
difficult position. It didn't want to expand Heathrow and now looking | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
at Boris island there is the potential to expand Gatwick, which | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
is reasonably linked to hastesings, I think we should look at the | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
existing airports and the potential there. When you were last in you | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
were talking about this idea to encourage people to get on the | :33:21. | :33:27. | |
housing lad e you would help them with their deposit what is the | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
latest. There has been a huge amount of interest. My worry is we | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
will be oversubscribed with the people who would like it. We now | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
that Kent County Council is loosely considering the idea, do you think | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
it's a good idea? The Government has aimed at the new build market. | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
In Medway we are keen to see generation and kick-start the | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
economy. If the Government through giving the support to mortgages can | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
help it that is something we would strongly support. Stay with us | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
because we have our big story. Imagine waking up to find someone's | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
dump their rubbish in your garden overnight. After you spend cash | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
getting rid of it someone else comes along and it happens again. | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
It is something farmers find themselves in with illegal fly- | :34:18. | :34:28. | |
tipping I seem there's is very little they can do about it. This | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
farm in Kent looks every inch the classic rural picture. Until you | :34:32. | :34:42. | |
:34:42. | :34:45. | ||
see this. We have various thing, kitchen unit, plastic bags, hard | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
board. Local Authorities and the Environment Agency deal with fly- | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
tipling on public land. But when it comes to private land, like the | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
many farms spread across the south- east, the responsibility falls to | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
the land owners. And here it is their worst incident yet. | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
probably require a ten, 12 cubic yard skip for that. That is | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
probably going to cost you over �200 to hire. It will cost us two | :35:09. | :35:16. | |
men half a day's work, so we get up to �300, �400 just to deal with | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
this without any help from the council or local environmental | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
bodies and that is a costing we have to take onboard. And there | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
have been three flys into this in the last three months. In the last | :35:28. | :35:35. | |
month. On this site alone we are looking at over seven, 800 pounds. | :35:35. | :35:41. | |
How do you feel about that Aggrieved. Mark isn't alone. Last | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
year the National Farmers' Union set up a hotline to complain about | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
fly-tipping and one region stands out. The problem mainly occurs in | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
the south-east. The figures show that roughly 30% of the fly-tipping | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
incidents reported were in the south-east. We can only assume that | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
is because of the population of London, and the spreading of waste | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
out from that major centre of population. Farmers could be set to | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
suffer much more of this. The Government's farming department | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
DEFRA reported that fly-tipping on public land has decreased slightly. | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
Thought to be as an increase in enforcement action. There is | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
concern that the crackdown on fly- tipping on public land seems to | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
have led to an increase in fly- tipping on private land. Offenders | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
are less likely to get prosecuted as opposed to public areas where | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
councils have power to detect and prosecute. Although fly-tipping, | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
where ever it happens is a crime, councils have staff and covert | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
cameras to investigate. Private land owners can't do this, so they | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
think the Government should help them get rid of the waste that has | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
been tipped on their land We would like DEFRA first of all, to allow | :36:55. | :37:01. | |
land owners to tip fly-tipped waste without being charged for it. If | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
they have waist tipped on their land such as here, they have to | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
take it to the tip. They have to deal with it as nay see fit and in | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
the current circumstances they will get charged which seems unfair. | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
Most land we walk through is private land. To see rubbish like | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
this dumped, it is depressing and it is a crime. The problem on | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
public land isn't to be discounted. If someone illegally tips rubbish | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
there every 21 minutes there in the south-east. We have spoken to local | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
councils and it is costing many of them over �100,000 each every year. | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
But it is fly-tipping on private land that some would like the | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
Government to turn their attention to. I would like to say to DEFRA | :37:42. | :37:49. | |
farmers are suffering already from low prices and high costss they can | :37:49. | :37:51. | |
inafford to spend money on unnecessary things. This is a | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
criminal offence. Farmers are sick of paying for it and I would say do | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
something to help them. Farming is a crucial part of the rural economy. | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
But it is also struggling. Is it fair that farmers have to pick up | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
the fly-tipped waste? Along with the bill, for disposing of it? | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
Joining us from Hastings is Amber Rudd who is on the DEFRA Select | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
Committee. Nice to have you with us. Let us start with the question | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
attend of the report. Is it fair that farmers foot the bill when | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
they are victims? It is their land so when a crime is commit on their | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
land they are stuck with it. But in my conversations with farmers | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
locally, they have told me that depends very much on the council. I | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
mean I have been told some councils have done a good job with working | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
with farmers to make sure it is removed in a economical way. I take | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
the point as we crackdown, as we should, on the environmental crime | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
of fly-tipping on land generally, particularly public land, we have | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
to be careful it doesn't pop up in private land. What about hazardous | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
waste? That is very expensive and dangerous to get rid of. It is not | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
unreasonable they get help with the cost, if they have to take it to a | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
tip. They have to pay for it. Environment Agency will take | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
hazardous waste, but what they generally object to, is the fact | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
that just people get used to dumping waste in certain parts of | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
private land and that needs to stop. It is a crime, like any other. And | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
where it gets out of hand we need to have help clamping down on it. | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
It is our countryside isn't it. A lot of the private land we have | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
access to, we use it. It seems sad. Why do you think it happens on | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
private land? I think people who are go going to do the fly-tipping | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
we have seen haven't thought it through. They haven't thought | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
through what you say, this Sunderland we like to walk there, | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
that is our land to enjoy. Maybe we should have a public awareness | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
campaign, like the awareness campaign we have been having in | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
Hastings on dog fouling, that has been successful. What we should | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
look at is having a campaign to make people understand what they | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
are doing is a crime and it is antisocial and unnecessary. Mark | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
Reckless would you wanted any help, would you want a change in the law | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
so this was an area where farmerers didn't have to foot the bill? | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
we did in Medway to discourage householders doing this, we | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
restored free collection of bulky refuse, most of what we see like | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
this, it is commercial operator, people who are doing this as a | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
business, taking away, getting paid and dumping commercial waste. What | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
we really need is for the magistrates to take a very strong | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
line on this, when there is a prosecution, when the police do the | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
work, it is really important the courts send down really tough | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
sentences, to discourage this. Jeremy. From the perspective of a | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
Local Authority is there any money in the cough fers to help them? | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
an urban authority we are not faced with the same situation and we | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
clampdown ourselves on fly-tipping. The problem is finding out who is | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
responsible. Mark is right, what you showed, that wasn't an ordinary | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
householder putting a black bag on the wrong day, that was a business, | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
that business is committing an offence, the person who is shifting | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
it is committing an offence. Let us go back to Amber Rudd for a moment. | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
When you think about the material that was dumped there, there has to | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
be evidence in there. Surely it should be possible to find out who | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
is responsible. Agree. In that case I would hope they would involve the | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
police and clampdown and find somebody who did this. That is the | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
way to top stop it, make sure these actions have consequence, as Mark | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
said we need to make sure that the magistrates are tough. We need to | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
send a clear signal this isn't a acceptable form of behaviour. We | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
need to make sure people know it is a crime and it will have | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
consequences. The next story is relevant for Amber Rudd as well. | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
When people talk about poverty they probably don't think it's a big | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
problem in the south-east. They would be wrong. Some parts of Kent | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
Sussex and Surrey have a growing number of poor children. According | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
to the latest figures Hastings has more than twice the national rate | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
of child poverty and it is not just pockets of deprivation. The vast | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
majority of wards suffer greater child poverty han the national | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
average. Nearly half the children in Central St Leonards are | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
officially poor. In Kent Thanet has the biggest problem. Child poverty | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
rates are higher than the national average and the worst yair is | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
Newington. Nearly half the children come from poor families. Will | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
things improve? Not according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
It says child poverty will get worse not better, especially as the | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
coalition Government's austerity plans bite. You remember the ward | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
with the worst child poverty in the whole of the south. What does | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
poverty look like? It is ward with great potential and huge benefits | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
and opportunities there as well. What does it look like? It looks | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
like overcrowded flats, it look like poor quality accommodation, it | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
looks like children who are on the street because they haven't got | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
adequate opportunities in their home, it is children who haven't | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
got access to computers, they are at school with their peer, who have | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
access to a computer at home, which they can use for educational | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
purposes and leisure purposes, these youngsters don't have any of | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
those opportunities. Perhaps they come from a home where over | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
generations there has been unemployment and a lack of drive | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
and ambition. We will talk about aspiration in a moment. I want to | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
talk to Amber Rudd. What is going to improve the lives for these | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
families and children? It is a combination of education, and work. | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
On education, I am pleased to say that Hastings is getting 1.5 | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
million pound this year on the pupil premium to help children, 2.5 | :43:49. | :43:55. | |
million next year. We have two new academies being built. Hold on a | :43:55. | :44:02. | |
second. On education those two new academies were the last of the old | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
Labour academies. In fact where Michael Gove became Secretary of | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
State for education he stripped �11 million away from the St Leonards | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
academy. It nearly didn't get built. That is not true. The �70 million | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
combined going into the two academy, of which East Sussex County Council | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
is picking up about a third. They picked up �11 billion because that | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
was taken away from the Government. The council have footed the bill | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
because the money wasn't there from your Government. It is taxpayer | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
money, do you think the children mind where it comes from the | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
council or the Government. The majority is coming from the | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
Government 6789 what I am concerned about is these schools get built | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
and the family, the children have better opportunities than they have | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
had before. It is education, and it is worklessness, as Jeremy referm - | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
- referred to. You have families who have been unemployed for | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
generation, we are targeting through the Government families | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
like that so we can help them. We can help them get back to work, get | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
educated so we can end that cycle. The best thing to erads Kate child | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
poverty is education and work, those are the areas we will focus | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
on to take them out of poverty. us go back to Mark Reckless on this | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
one. On the subject of employment, it is a bit of a myth isn't it. It | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
is not the only problem by any means. Nearly 60% of the children | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
who live in poverty have at least one parent in work. Well, in the | :45:27. | :45:33. | |
short-term I think that the poverty we are speaking about, children | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
living in a household with 60% less of average income. You could | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
increase benefits. This year people on benefits are getting an | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
inflation rise. I think in the longer term, if we want to tackle | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
this problem, you have to make it more attractive for people to work, | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
compared to being on benefit. We have to ensure that jobs are there | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
for people trained, who are local, and not just always have more and | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
more in the way of immigration. are not seriously telling me what | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
the Government is doing in terms of austerity is improving the lot for | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
poor families. According to the campaign for poverty, child poverty | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
action group. The changes your Government has brought in will mean | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
a baby born to a low income family in April last year will be �1500 | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
worse Ofcom paired to a sibling born in 2010. You are making them | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
poorer. I have read that report. What they haven't taken into | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
account for this year people on benefit they are getting inceefs 5% | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
when people in work are only getting 2%. We have o make sure | :46:35. | :46:40. | |
that work pays. That is why we are bringing in a universal credit, so | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
that the taper at which income is withdrawn when people get a job is | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
less, an we insist people go to work, help them get into that work | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
and don't allow this option of continuing to be on benefit, | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
without the pressure and expectation. So speaks a man | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
without children and doesn't know about the cost of childcare when | :46:58. | :47:06. | |
you work longer hours. I spoke to a senior teacher at Hastings academy. | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
She said poverty of aspiration is what we have. These children don't | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
dream o of doing amazing thing, they see their future the same as | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
their parents and grandparents. How do you help them? We have to break | :47:18. | :47:26. | |
the cycle. I want children to dream they can become any occupation they | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
become doctors, lawyer, MPs, rather than thinking their only aspiration | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
is to continue in whatever their family has been doing, which may | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
well be generational unemployment. That is something we have to break. | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
What worries me, in Hastings in particular, with 43% of people who | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
are employed in the public sector. I am not sure where the jobs are | :47:44. | :47:51. | |
going to be. One of the most selfish things is us as individuals. | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
Isn't it selfish to have children when you can't afford to bring them | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
up outside of poverty. You. Children are a blessing. The | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
important thing is to work with your family to make sure you give | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
your children the best opportunity. Thank you for joining us. Now, a | :48:07. | :48:17. | |
:48:17. | :48:22. | ||
reminder of the other week's events Kent based Gurkhas may have won | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
over Joanna Lumley but they are facing their toughest battle after | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
being singled out for cuts by the MoD. Plans for Boris island airport | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
were floated again and saw the coalition partners at loggerheads. | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
The Prime Minister is apparently increasingly interested, but the | :48:40. | :48:42. | |
Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker is emphatic in his | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
opposition. We do not support the building of a new airport. | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
Politicians paid tribute to Dave Leigh who died this week. A big man | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
in every way, he also left a big legacy, raising more than �2 | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
million for charity. And David Cameron caused outraiming by | :49:01. | :49:10. | |
calling a veteran Labour MP a dinosaur. The honourable lady gets | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
a bit hysterical, in fact... Still at least he didn't tell her to calm | :49:15. | :49:25. | |
:49:25. | :49:26. | ||
down dear. Let us pick up on the Gurkhas. Is that the end of the | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
line now? Will there be further redundancies or can they get on | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
with their work? I hope not. The Gurkhas have suffered a bigger cut. | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
Fewer came forward to take the voluntary redundancy, in Medway we | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
have a lot of Gurkhas and retired Gurkhas and the contribution they | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
have made is immense, I there won't be any more redundancies. We are | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
chuckling at the end with the insult. Is politics a world where | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
you have to get used to insults. What is the worst thing anybody has | :49:55. | :50:03. | |
said to you Jeremy? That is printable. There was a placard once | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
saying knock birch off his perch. I know Dennis scirn. He won't mind | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
being called a dinosaur. Will he take it as a compliment. He will | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
say if it is believing in socialist values at a time when the banks are | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
collapsing, when free markets don't work, perhaps dinosaurs get a bad | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
press. I don't think he will worry about it. What about you Mark? You | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
haven't been in the world of politics all that long, Shortly | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
after I was elected I won an award from my party's whips and it was in | :50:36. | :50:43. | |
the newspaper. There was one letter and fives a the risks of it. | :50:43. | :50:48. | |
Unbroadcastable. Before we go I probably owe you an apology | :50:48. | :50:54. |