Browse content similar to 29/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South East, green or greedy? Brighton and Hove City Council's | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
dramatically but are not parking charges for traders and they are | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2019 seconds | :01:41. | :35:21. | |
Welcomed to the Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming up, | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
expedience over experience? Some of our longest serving police officers | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
are being forced to retire to cut costs. How concerned should we be? | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
First let me introduce you to our guests. The newly knighted Sir | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
Roger Gale, Conservative MP for Thanet North, and crime novelist | :35:40. | :35:48. | |
Peter James, whose books are set in Brighton. They will be with me for | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
the next 20 minutes with their views on current events in the | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
region. Roger, congratulations on your night had. How does it feel? | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
It is great. People have been so nice about it. But it is not mine, | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
it belongs to all the people who have worked with me for so long, | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
including all the people who elected me. It is nice for North | :36:11. | :36:19. | |
Thanet. Do you feel like another man? Completely! Of course not. I | :36:19. | :36:28. | |
am Roger. Peter, not a knighthood, but on your website there is a | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
little note encouraging fans to vote for your names -- Your Name to | :36:32. | :36:40. | |
be used. It is a teaching organisation in Scotland and they | :36:40. | :36:44. | |
have asked 10 crime writers to encourage their fans to vote for | :36:44. | :36:51. | |
them. It costs �1 for the boat. The one who gets the most money will | :36:51. | :37:01. | |
:37:01. | :37:03. | ||
have be thing named after them. -- the thing. Roger, one to ask you | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
about one event that has been in the news. The government has | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
announced plans to introduce a levy on foreign lover it -- lorry | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
drivers using our motorways. Kent County Council has been campaigning | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
for this for about 20 years but they are not sure that will get the | :37:17. | :37:25. | |
money brought in. No money of that kind normally goes to the county. | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
It will go to the Department of Transport pot. But it will be used | :37:30. | :37:37. | |
to build roads and it is a fair system. Our lorry drivers pay when | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
we go abroad. They pay quite a lot. But mainland European lorry drivers | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
do not pay when they come to Kent. We know the damage they can do to | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
our of Rhodes, we know they drive around without diffused headlights. | :37:53. | :38:01. | |
-- to our roads. Peter, I know you are an average car collector. What | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
you make of charging foreign drivers? As Roger says, they cause | :38:07. | :38:14. | |
more problems to English lorries. If a lorry is a problem in daringly | :38:14. | :38:20. | |
-- invariably it is a foreign one. It used to be in the Guinness Book | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
of Records, the loneliest tree in the world, knocked down by a | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
Belgian lorry driver. Any car enthusiast who regularly visits | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
Brighton can testify how expensive it can be to park in the city. The | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
Green-run council wants to encrypt -- increase car-parking charges and | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
the plans have caused upset. The council says it wants to raise | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
revenue and increased emissions but opponents say it will harm the | :38:48. | :38:58. | |
:38:58. | :38:59. | ||
local economy. -- increase emissions. | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
On a tea break from plumbing and electrical work, the tradesmen of | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
Brighton and Hove protested over the city council's plans to | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
increase the cost of parking permits. They allow traders to park | :39:13. | :39:20. | |
wherever the jobs after �350 a year but it is set to rise to �600. | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
Brighton council is run by the Green Party which is not only | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
hoping to raise revenue but also make the city more environmentally | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
friendly by encouraging the use of sustainable transport like buses. | :39:32. | :39:41. | |
Trades men say this is not possible for the kind of work they do. John | :39:41. | :39:49. | |
is a gas engineer. To do his job he needs to be able to park easily. | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
Travelling around the city to do our work, we would be stuffed. In | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
every job you go to you need staff out of your fan, whether you're | :39:58. | :40:08. | |
tall bag or your full kit. -- van. Could you afford to pay nearly | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
double fit your permit? Not at all. We are being dragged over the coals | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
as it is with the cost of fuel and everything. Earlier this month a | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
group called traders need transport was set up to it -- to protest | :40:22. | :40:28. | |
against the changes. One-man businesses are working on profit | :40:28. | :40:37. | |
margins between 5 % and 10 %. The amount of work they would need to | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
compensate for this increase is very high. It is very difficult in | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
the current climate. Putting up prices by 70 % is a kick in the | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
teeth. It is not just traders permit that could God. The council | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
wants to increase its revenue from various parking sources. -- that | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
could go up. The council is hoping to more than double the cost of its | :41:01. | :41:08. | |
business permits for people who need to park through its place of | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
work. Then Derek parking meters, which are often used by visitors | :41:13. | :41:21. | |
and shoppers. -- and Ben there are parking meters. These ones on the | :41:21. | :41:29. | |
seafront are being nearly tripled from �2.20 for two hours to �6. | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
Brighton and Hove is famous for its small independent shops but these | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
increases concern some shop owners. The on-street car-parking, | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
generally speaking you don't get a lot of time. You are only looking | :41:42. | :41:49. | |
at a couple of hours anyway. To pop in and out in that short period, it | :41:49. | :41:56. | |
will go up exponentially in price. It will be very detrimental on- | :41:56. | :42:03. | |
trade. There is not really any doubt about that. What can you say? | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
Everything is going up and your takings are going down, that is | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
broadly what is happening. You can't just be constantly adding | :42:12. | :42:18. | |
more pressure to small business. It stands or falls together and it can | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
be a bit of a domino effect. That is what we are keen to avoid. | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
no surprise that the Green Party wants to put its environmental | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
stamp on the first city it is in charge of but clearly some people | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
feel it is put in these ideals ahead of the needs of local traders | :42:36. | :42:45. | |
and businesses. -- put him -- putting these ideals. Jason Kitcat, | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
I think you are going to raise nearly �1 million by increasing the | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
parking charges. What we do with that money? It will be invested | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
into transport, bus subsidies and the public realm. The government | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
are reducing our funding by 33 % over four years so we are in a | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
situation where we have less money coming in from government. It is | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
not happening just because we have had a sudden inspiration, it is | :43:13. | :43:20. | |
because the government are pressing us from every point of view. We saw | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
some of those struggling small businesses, they are already having | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
their margins squeezed. John the gas engineer is not going to use | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
public transport. Absolutely. The previous administration left a two- | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
to-three year waiting list for permits. People had to pay and | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
display and pay much more. We have eliminated that waiting list and | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
people getting a permit will be paying less than �2 a day to park. | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
We are supporting those traders. They will be able to park for | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
cheaper anywhere. That is not good news for the beach shop owner, who | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
said that it costs �6 an hour. Nobody will pop into the city | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
centre and do a bit of shopping. have simplified the parking tariffs | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
or stop if you look at the proposals overall, the increase is | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
just over 5 %, in line with inflation. Some have gone up more | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
to try to push people into the other car-parks. We have multi- | :44:21. | :44:27. | |
storey car parks that are not being used. We want to rationalise the | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
situation. The seafront parking spaces are very popular and there | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
is a lot of pressure. You are a Green-run council but you are | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
talking about balancing the books. Is this about revenue rather than | :44:39. | :44:45. | |
getting people out of their cars? bit of both. With regards to the | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
trade as permits it is about eliminating the waiting lists. In | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
some areas it is about increasing revenue and it is also about | :44:52. | :44:59. | |
supporting the green agenda. aren't you raising residents' | :44:59. | :45:05. | |
permits? Every stone has a different waiting list and the | :45:06. | :45:13. | |
level of pressure. -- zone. doesn't sound very green. You could | :45:13. | :45:20. | |
go further with this. In Lewes it costs �1,000 to have a trait -- | :45:20. | :45:27. | |
trading permit. We think that some traders do need to have drive the | :45:27. | :45:37. | |
:45:37. | :45:37. | ||
fans so we have taken the middle ground on this. -- vans. Peter, you | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
are a driver and you live near Brighton. Do you take your car into | :45:41. | :45:50. | |
Brighton? Near Brighton. Successive councils have waged a war on | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
motorists, particularly those coming from out-of-town. My partner | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
doesn't go into Brighton any more, she goes to Tunbridge Wells or | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
Guildford, where you can park easily. There has to be a reason | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
why Brighton does not have one single world-class department store | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
today. It does not have a Harvey Nichols or a John Lewis because | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
people do not go there to shop. We have to help motorists, not drive | :46:17. | :46:25. | |
them out. Sir Roger, you were saying you thought it was insane. | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
Everybody in so -- understands that you have to pay for parking schemes | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
and you have to control parking but using parking as a fund raiser is | :46:34. | :46:40. | |
quite wrong. I am opposed to any new burden on small business and I | :46:40. | :46:47. | |
think that this is what this is. this has not been implemented yet, | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
as it? Are you going to make any changes? We have made modifications | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
but fundamentally visit the numbers continue to increase in Brighton | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
and Hove, there is massive pressure and we would like to get people to | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
consider using the bus or the train if they can. Those who do park will | :47:05. | :47:12. | |
have to pay the price unfortunately. We will leave it there for now. We | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
will be including due in our next discussion. D S Roy grace, the main | :47:17. | :47:26. | |
character in Peter's Roy -- crime novels, is becoming a rare breed. | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
To make budget cuts each of our police forces are being asked to | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
lose staff. Home Office figures released this week said that police | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
officer numbers across the country are the lowest for a decade. Sussex | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
and Surrey Police have been using a controversial tactic to force | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
officers with 30 years' experience into retirement. Peter, you know | :47:48. | :47:55. | |
many of these people personally and you are concerned. Yes, it is men | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
and women and what concerns me is that the police have to save money, | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
that is fine, but we have been hearing noises about this not | :48:05. | :48:12. | |
affecting the frontline. It is just not the case. The chief constables, | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
and it is not just Sussex and Surrey Police, it is every force, | :48:17. | :48:23. | |
because to save 20% of costs when 85 % of their costs our labour, | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
they will have to bring this in. It is a very blunt instrument. The | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
thing about A19 is that it does not discriminate. Everybody goes after | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
30 years. The majority of police officers Gauguin in their teens so | :48:40. | :48:50. | |
you are losing people at 48, 49 years old. -- Degas in. When the | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
government is persuading people to work longer, they are dissuading | :48:53. | :49:03. | |
:49:03. | :49:08. | ||
people from staying in the job. We have lost two district commanders. | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
It is not just at the top, it is people with massive experience down | :49:12. | :49:19. | |
the ranks. A lady who has just received the Queen's Police model | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
and she would love to have done another 10 or five years and she | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
has had to go. A19 is the legislation that enables police | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
authorities to lose their staff after 30 years but it has not been | :49:33. | :49:43. | |
:49:43. | :49:44. | ||
introduced yet. What would you say if they did? A19 has not been used | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
so far. He is right, it it's a very blunt instrument, it was not | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
designed for this purpose. The police constable can't say, I have | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
somebody who has done 30 years but is highly productive and we need to | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
keep them. That is the problem. There has to be a better way. | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
is the better way? I think both your party and the Labour Party | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
agree that the 20 % cuts have to happen. We know that we have a | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
massive deficit that we inherited and we have to deal with it. Chief | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
constables have to be given the right to discriminate, to choose, | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
to say, that person has real wisdom, we need that person, male or female, | :50:28. | :50:34. | |
on the force. Somebody else may be less productive. That person has to | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
be got rid of. Without naming names, Peter, would you concede that some | :50:40. | :50:47. | |
people after 30 years, it is time for them to go? Absolutely. Just | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
like a character in my books who is an old racist homophobic. He was | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
based on somebody! Roger is right, the chief constables can't | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
discriminate and their hands are being forced by the government. It | :51:00. | :51:06. | |
is completely wrong. It is not just at the senior level where there are | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
some superb people going. It is intelligence officers, drugs | :51:09. | :51:17. | |
liaison officers. You are losing people who deal with the court | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
process, who process prisoners. Jason Kitcat, what are your | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
concerns about this? You are having to make difficult choices. What | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
should happen to the police? don't support cuts in police | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
numbers but this is something that all areas of local public service | :51:34. | :51:43. | |
are seeing. It is trying to enforce these budget targets. It is | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
experienced people being made to leave and to there is a hollowing | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
out of the expertise in these organisations. It is building up | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
big problems for later on. policing Minister would say there | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
was and no correlation between losing officers and crime rates | :51:59. | :52:06. | |
going up. That is true that we are determined to maintain the front | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
line. But we have to maintain the front line with the right people. | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
Bill Bratton was brought in because he was the person who single- | :52:15. | :52:21. | |
handedly cleaned up new York. He didn't. New York was cleaned up | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
because they trebled the number of police officers. Now it is time for | :52:26. | :52:35. | |
our round-up of events with Louise Stewart. | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
Sheppey was dealt a blow with the announcement that the island's | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
largest private employer, Thamesteel Ltd, has gone into | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
administration with the loss of around at 250 jobs. | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
Most South East residents will see their council tax frozen for a | :52:51. | :53:00. | |
second year. Those councils rejected them and voted for an | :53:00. | :53:05. | |
increase. She Robinson faced questions from | :53:05. | :53:15. | |
:53:15. | :53:17. | ||
MPs on the cost of beat some of's games. -- Hugh Robinson. MPs have | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
bought more tickets for the beach volleyball than any other sport. | :53:21. | :53:28. | |
The MP for South Thanet used a food prices debate to plug her new | :53:28. | :53:38. | |
:53:38. | :53:40. | ||
company to sell ugly fruit and veg. Tasty but imperfect, just like you. | :53:40. | :53:47. | |
We love that. Sir Roger, about Thamesteel, a terrible situation. | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
What can politicians realistically do? If it is your mortgage, your | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
family, then one job is one job to many. They are feeling real pain. | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
All I can say is that even as we are sitting here Gordon Henderson, | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
who represents Sheppey, is working with the people managing the | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
business to try to find a solution. It may not be possible but they are | :54:10. | :54:18. | |
doing their level best because we need those skills intent. -- in | :54:18. | :54:27. | |
Kent. Do you have any volley ball tickets? Sadly no, but I will watch | :54:27. | :54:36. | |
pretty closely on TV. Are you getting into the spirit of 2012? | :54:36. | :54:41. | |
think it is fantastic. I can understand why politicians want to | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
watch a volley ball, it is juggling something in the air. We will leave | :54:45. | :54:55. | |
:54:55. | :54:57. | ||
it at that! The beach volleyball is in Margate. Yes, and I think the | :54:58. | :55:05. |