Browse content similar to 15/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the south-east: Trains, planes and automobiles, the Brighton | :01:38. | :01:48. | |
:01:48. | :01:48. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1731 seconds | :01:48. | :30:40. | |
straeugs congestion driving Hello, this is the Sunday Politics | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
in the south-east. Coming up: Turning back the blue tide, with | :30:45. | :30:50. | |
elections looming in Surrey, Kent and Sussex, can Labour win back the | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
voters who abandoned them in 2010? With me today Labour commentators | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
Paul Richards and Professor of politics at Sussex University, Tim | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
Bell. Anyone been to the seaside over the weekend? Not this weekend, | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
the weather wasn't that brilliant. If you drove to Brighton, seafront | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
parking will have given you a shock. The city's green council wants to | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
encourage day-trippers to think about alternatives to the car. Both | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
our guests live in coastal Sussex, we will be in Brighton itself, will | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
you still drive at �20 a day for parking? I wouldn't drive to | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
Brighton at all, it's a difficult place to drive in. That's my view. | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
You would avoid it altogether. Do you think any park something worth | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
�20? It's a disaster. The choice will not be with us to take the car | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
or not, it will be with us to go to Brighton or not, so for the economy, | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
a seaside town and relies on visitors, it's a disaster for | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
traders and people people whose livelihoods depend upon it. It's | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
more expensive than Berlin, parking in Brighton. How much do you pay in | :31:54. | :31:58. | |
east borne. It's cheaper, by the seafront to encourage people to go | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
to the seafront because the council in Eastbourne isn't anti-car like | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
the council in Brighton. We are learning more and more about the | :32:07. | :32:15. | |
tkpwraoerp all the -- Green Party all the time. They're a council | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
under pressure. It's austerity Britain. Parking is often an easy | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
hit. We will talk to their leader in waiting in a moment. The obvious | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
solution if you object to high parking charges is to travel by | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
public transport. But the train doesn't completely take the strain | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
in Brighton. Traffic congestion around the town's main main railway | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
station has got so bad it adds considerable time and stress to a | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
journey, and there are concerns that this could damage tourism and | :32:42. | :32:51. | |
local business. Helen Drew reports. | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
From London to Brighton in around 50 minutes, it's no wonder that | :32:55. | :33:03. | |
Brighton railway station has 14.5 million passengers a year. It's the | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
25th busiers station in the country. The chance of a quick onward | :33:06. | :33:13. | |
journey can go off the rails the moment you walk out of the station. | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
A lack of space at the front of the station can often lead to gridlock | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
with buses and taxis. Sometimes in a taxi, sometimes on a bus. But as | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
you can see here, it's shambolic. It's chaotic. The buses struggle to | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
get in. Taxis struggle to get in and out. It's a mess. There's | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
usually a queue of taxis and it stops the bus. It's an | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
inconvenience to travel to and from and I do a lot of travelling. I | :33:39. | :33:45. | |
find it's poorly laid out and getting into it and away from it is | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
more problematic than it should be. Concerns shared by transport | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
Minister Norman Baker. The traffic flows around the station are very | :33:51. | :33:55. | |
poor. It takes a long time for buses and taxis to exit the area. | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
There are jams down the road. There aren't proper cycle facilities | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
either, which there ought to be. It's not attractive to make your | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
onward journey, even if you can get on a bus or taxi, you don't get far | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
quickly and that lengthens journey time. You have a train journey from | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
London to Brighton about 49 minutes, at best, and you can take quite a | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
long time getting just half a mile down the road. Actually, if we are | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
going to get more people using public transport we have to sort | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
out that last leg in Brighton. the end of last year Brighton and | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
Hove city council held a consultation on how to improve it | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
station and hasn't made a decision yet. One option is to close a | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
nearby road to to private vehicles, many say that's not radical enough | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
and some motor motorists are put off driving by high parking charges. | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
Other options are move kwrg the taxi rank to the back of the | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
station or relocating the buses. But tphoert of neither wants to | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
move. The problem with moving the buses is there's nowhere else they | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
can go. The road network won't allow bus routes to go to the | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
northern entrance. Unless the buses stay here they're not going to be | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
here at all. That would go against what is Government policy and local | :35:07. | :35:10. | |
authority policy of trying to get buses and trains to integrate. If | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
anything, I would like to see more room for more buses. Taxi companies | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
are worried that because the council is run by the Green Party, | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
buses may get priority, moving taxis around the back. It's not an | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
option the drivers themselves want or passengers will want to be | :35:28. | :35:38. | |
honest. The rear entrance of the station, the northern entrance, is | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
actually the access roads are very, very complicated. It will add much | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
more to the journey, more money to the journey. We do feel buses get | :35:48. | :35:55. | |
favoured. And cyclists. And the Green Party, it seems to be pushing | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
that way. Hopefully they will come around to our way of thinking and | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
see the value of getting taxis and private hire. As well as there | :36:03. | :36:05. | |
there possibly not space to accommodate all types of transport | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
there's the time-scale. The council is planning to start the work next | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
year, but people are already tired of the long-standing problem. | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
very, very important they do something about this soon, because | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
this situation has goth gone on long skwruf. It's been for years | :36:21. | :36:27. | |
now a great example of trying to get a quart into a pint pot. | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
people are not arriving at that point by public transport is going | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
to increase further and carrying on as we are, I don't think is an | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
option. Could the Green Party use the station revamp to get a step | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
closer to their environmental ideology, ousting taxis and giving | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
preference to buses? And is it acting quickly enough or are the | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
benefits of a Fast Train line getting derailed with every bus and | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
taxi queue? Joining me now from Brighton is the | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
leader in waiting of Brighton and Hove City Council. Let's start with | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
that point at the end of that report, will you oust the taxis | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
from the southern entrance in favour of the buses? It's the | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
suspicions of the drivers that's what you plan to do? We did a | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
survey as the report mentioned of 1,1,200 people who use the station, | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
over 70% access the station on foot and the next highest usage was bus | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
and after that taxi and other forms. So, that's the way the lay of the | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
land already. Just recognising that existing usage means we need to | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
cater for those needs of the people coming on foot. We haven't got any | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
firm plan yet. We will put out in May two or three detailed proposals | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
for consultation so that in August we can decide move forward, and | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
start construction. This is a complicated project. It's not just | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
us, we have southern rail who have over �4 million of Government | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
funding. We have developers for a block behind the station looking to | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
move forward as well. There's an hotel being built, lots of | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
independent things going on. Clearly people want it sorted and | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
quickly. You realise, I assume, this is not the best welcome to | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
Brighton. Absolutely. We have not been in power a year yet and we | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
have made more progress on that than any administration pwr so so - | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
- before we think we are making fast progress. What progress, you | :38:18. | :38:20. | |
haven't done anything, you have asked a few questions? We have | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
brought forward the funding for this and we are working with | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
southern rail who have already got the funding from the Government. | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
They're looking to create a cycle parking hub which is much needed | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
for the area, lots of cycles are chained on railings which add to | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
the unwelcoming nature. It's very difficult project to bring forward, | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
given the fact no one person, no one body owns the whole area. | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
clue is in the title, you are the Green Party and the greenest thing | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
to do would be to favour buses over taxis, wouldn't it? Taxis play a | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
part in transport and it's not about pitting one form against the | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
other. They've all a part to play. It is a bit about that once you | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
have a Tyne aoeu amount -- tiny amount of space of a station built | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
in 1840s, you must wish sometimes you could put the station somewhere | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
else? We have to deal with the city we have got and it's wonderful | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
history. The taxi rank is on the private land controlled by the | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
railway, it's not a council rank. This is part of the complexity, the | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
railway company charge a fee for taxis to access that. So it's a | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
real mix of issues going on. Stay with us, let's bring our guests in. | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
Paul Richards, how bad is it as a first impression? It's really bad. | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
Again it's a city that relies on visitors, holiday-makers and day- | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
tripers, they come to the station and what do they see? A strategic | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
nightmare. It's already saying it's been a year and we are making | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
progress, there's no progress. There's pollution and so on. What | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
would you do then. You can not cow- to you to developers and say there | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
should be more shops which is one of the proposals, there should be | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
space for the taxis. You wouldn't put it around the back, I don't | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
think that helps. Drivers have to make a living and you want to see a | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
taxi at the front of the station. He wants us all to walk or get | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
bikes, that was the subtext of what he was saying. He doesn't want us | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
to get on the bus or taxi. Let's bring in Tim for a second. You use | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
this station regularly, you are a Professor at the University. It is | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
a legacy obviously of a railway station built in 1840, it's 21st | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
century thriving city, is there an answer? I think, if you know the | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
station well it's in the middle of a hill. Very difficult to do much | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
about. Unless you take a very, very expensive option. I can see why no | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
council's grasped nettle on this for years. In some ways you have to | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
admire the current council for trying to do something about it and | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
push this on. Admiration there from Tim, not so much from Paul Richards | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
who says you really aren't interested in anyone who doesn't | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
either walk or cycle? That's untrue. We are looking to support everyone | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
who needs to get to the station and make use of facilities. We know how | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
critical that that link is to the success of Brighton's economy. | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
taxi driver issue again for a second. Is there some sort of | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
compromise, is it so terrible to ask drivers to go around the back | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
to the other entrans. That would create more congestion around the | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
back, that's sweeping it under the carpet. The basic rule in politics, | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
if you take on taxi drivers, you rue the day. You sound like you are | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
speaking from experience. They're a powerful lobby, they live in the | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
city and have families and a lot of people listen to them driving | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
around the city. Listen to the tkraoeurs. -- drivers. Nobody's | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
talking about taking on the taxi lobby. It's not a lobby, it's hard | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
working Brighton ians who want to earn a living. We are talking to | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
them and the bus company and the pedestrians, cyclists, railway | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
companies and we are trying to come to a resolution to meet the needs | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
of the many, many different groups who depend on the station and the | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
area around it. It's very challenging but this is not about | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
picking on taxi drivers, we recognise they're an important part | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
of the city. Thank you for joining Now, if you live in Hastings, | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
Maidstone, objection instead, Lingfield, Crawley or Tunbridge | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
wells, what, if anything, has Labour done to make you vote for | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
them in your local elections on May 3rd? Currently, there are only two | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
Labour-held councils in the south- east. Of course, at a parliamentary | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
level Labour was wiped out at the last general election. The leader | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
made much of the party's success in taking control of Gravesham council | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
last year but was it really the start of a Labour comeback in the | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
south-east as he suggested? Let's ask our guests what they're | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
expecting to happen and what it will mean in a couple of weeks? | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
First of all, how hungry is Labour for success? The south-east. | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
Desperate, we know without winning in the sees we can't be in contepgs | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
to form a Government tpepb. -- again. I take heart we have done it | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
before. But it's hard and the party has to already talk to people who | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
own their own cars, homes, go on holidays, feeling reason flee | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
affluent and say vote Labour, that's a hard ask. Hungry, but | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
deserving, are they? I don't think this election is going to be very | :43:12. | :43:17. | |
much to do with what Labour to be honest,,, it's going to be with | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
people's disaffection with the current Government and people use | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
local elections to punish than reward, if you like, the opposition. | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
Let's look at recent issues, granny tax, pasties, charitable donations, | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
dinners in Downing Street and cuts, cuts on a local hrefpl. Level level. | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
If Labour can't make inroads now, it's game over. They're going to | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
need to make gains here, not just actually to give them heart, but | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
also for the general election. It's important you have boots on the | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
ground and boots on the ground is often councillors and friends and | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
their relations actually, getting people in there is very important. | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
Let's look on a micro local level at what might constitute success. | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
Crawley council, if Labour could steal six seats from the | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
Conservatives they would take overall control, is that sort of | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
movement within their grasp? It is within the grasp. But it's going to | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
be very hard. Don't forget what a low base we are coming from. | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
Historically all the things you mentioned were to go to the arms of | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
a protest party like the Lib Dems of course they're now the party | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
doing these things. That's out of the equation, we hope that vote | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
comes to Labour, of course. We have heard these councils in the past | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
but we are at a low ebb. I think share of the vote needs to be | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
significant, but also picking up a few councils here and there and | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
more councillors across the south- east will be a strong sign that Ed | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
is on his way to Downing Street. Some councils where Labour is | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
completely unrepresented. On two that are have elections, tan Trent | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
Bridge and Maidstone, they are never going to win those councils, | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
so does it matter what happens there. I think what happens there | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
matters in terms of the vote share. If you see a marginal increase in | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
the Labour vote that's not brilliant. If you see a reasonable | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
increase that's good. I don't think they'll be interested in seats in | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
those places, they're going to be interested across the south-east | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
generally. Hastings is one to watch. It's close, Labour holds the | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
council 17 to Conservatives 14. Half the seats here are up for | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
election. There is a new Tory MP who is clearly smart, passionate | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
about her constituency. Labour could lose here, couldn't they? | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
This would be a disaster. I think the people in the councillors in | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
Hastings actually are fighting on local issues. What issues? Social | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
behaviour, crime, regeneration of the town. We are talking about the | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
National Health Service in this election which may seem | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
counterintuitive but authorities have a public health role too and | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
the Bill and those issues, that's generating support for Labour. | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
do you think about happen in Hastings? If things go to plan, and | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
they should do, this is the mid- term after all, it's an unpopular | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
Government at the moment. Labour should do well. They will be | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
looking to do well and if they don't they're going to be | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
disappointed. Ed Miliband did make a lot out of Gravesham and the | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
success of winning. Did he make too much of it? This week it's been | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
about underpromising and overachieving. He seemed to think | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
this was beginning a march in the south-east. If you are Ed Miliband, | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
look at Bradford, you are doing reasonably well but not well enough | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
to get into Downing Street. You are going to grab on to anything that | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
you can get and Hastings could be one of those things. Is he ever | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
going to reasonate in the south- east in the way Tony Blair did? | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
not? If the policies are right, and if the campaigning is there, which | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
it is on the ground, then why not? It wasn't all about Tony Blair and | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
by the end of course he was not necessarily an asset either, he was | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
at the beginning. So, yes, why not? He is a family man. He is southern. | :46:46. | :46:52. | |
He is middle-class, what's not to like? Do you like him? Yes. Is the | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
person you want to lead the party? I put some money on. It's not the | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
same as wanting him to win. We are fully behind him. If it was a | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
general election in a couple of weeks what would we see happen? | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
General election, I still think... Here in the south-east? I think we | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
would still see a coalition Government. Still see the | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
Government doing reasonably well and Labour stand no chance because | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
this isn't generally fertile territory for the Labour Party. | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
They can pick up a few seats perhaps in 2015 and that could be | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
enough to get them into Government, maybe as a coalition, maybe on | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
their own. Brighton, Crawley, those kind of places should come our way. | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
We will be be rounding up the results on May 6th. Now a roundup | :47:37. | :47:47. | |
:47:47. | :47:47. | ||
of the week's events. The Home Office should take control | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
of the borders agency, that's what members of the Home Affairs Select | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
Committee, including the MP for Rochester and straou, are calling | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
for. We have to get in it right, particularly with the Olympics this | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
summer, large numbers of people coming to this country. It's a real | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
opportunity to show Britain at its best. | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
Businesses moving to discovery park in sandwich will get tax breaks | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
from this week. An enterprise zone announced last summer comes into | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
force. Surrey County Council is urging the the Transport Secretary | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
to invest in more trains, longer station platforms, and upgraded | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
infrastructure to get the economy moving. Muir ral Matters, | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
originally from Australia but lived in Hastings for many years, once | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
chained herself to a grill in the House of Commons campaigning for | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
votes for women. Now politicians down under want to gift a statue in | :48:40. | :48:49. | |
her honour to the town because she still matters. | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
Does Muriel still matter? You have been doing your homework on Muriel. | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
She is a wonderful woman and she was in Hastings until 1969 but | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
stood for parliament in 1924. Thanks to women like her winning | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
votes for women in the first place. She deserves a statue. Does that | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
still reasonate with women voters? Will women turn out on May 3rd | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
because of people like Muriel? reason they have the vote is | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
because of women like her, and across the world you are seeing | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
similar struggles, so of course they should be reminded of that | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
same struggle took place here, thanks to women like Muriel. | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
would welcome a statue? Definitely, I hope they welcome it with open | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
arms. Does she still matter to you and those like you who study | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
politics? You have to remind people about history and about the people | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
who struggle for things we take for granted now. There's certainly | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
nothing wrong with actually putting up a statue if that jogs a few | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
people's memories and makes them realise how lucky we have-to--- we | :49:51. | :49:59. | |
are to have a vote. My vote is in the 1800s, Karl Marx and Frederick | :49:59. | :50:06. | |
Inkles used to use east borne as their holiday of choice. And he was | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
buried at sea. There is no commemoration to that fact at all. | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
Historical figures deserve a statue. We have learned something new on | :50:13. | :50:18. | |
the show. Quickly, who would you have a statue for? Probably the | :50:18. | :50:20. | |
Conservative Education Secretary, to go to the University of Sussex, | :50:20. | :50:25. |