Browse content similar to 12/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South East: We have one of the country's worst problems with | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
ash dieback, but we're not considered a priority. Is Kent's | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
:01:28. | :01:28. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1903 seconds | :01:28. | :33:12. | |
I'm Julia George. This is the Sunday Politics in the South East. | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
Coming up: Should police commissioners be able to do | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
whatever they like, even if their advisory panel doesn't approve? | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
Who answers to whom when it comes to running Sussex Police. Joining | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
me in the studio today to discuss this and other topics is Sussex- | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
based Labour Political Commentator Paul Richards and Conservative MEP | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
for the South East, Richard Ashworth. Welcome. Following UKIP's | :33:32. | :33:34. | |
strong showing in the county council elections, speculation is | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
rife about possible political alliances among the main parties to | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
strengthen their current standings. In Kent, where UKIP is currently | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
the official opposition with 17 councillors, a Labour/Lib Dem pact | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
would freeze out Nigel Farage's party. And what about East Sussex | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
where the Conservatives lost their overall majority, will they join | :33:49. | :33:57. | |
forces with anyone or carry on with a minority leadership? I don't like | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
doing deals with smaller parties but they have to listen to the | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
electorate and reflect more views other than their own to get the | :34:05. | :34:13. | |
budget through County Hall. Would you try a minority leadership? | :34:13. | :34:20. | |
would. You have to remember they Iraq two or three independents who | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
might support whatever to get through. There were two things they | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
need to do. Get a budget past and get an annual programme agreed. | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
When you have that, essentially the Cabinet will be largely made up of | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
Conservatives and the leader has the opportunity to get on with | :34:37. | :34:44. | |
business. In Kent, the cans -- Conservatives have an overall | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
majority. UKIP won 17 seats. The Lib Dem spokeswoman seems | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
disinclined to join up with another party to become the opposition. | :34:54. | :35:00. | |
That is right, isn't it? Respecting democracy? I can't see why she | :35:00. | :35:07. | |
would want to. In fairness to UKIP, they gained those seats and now | :35:07. | :35:14. | |
they have to do the business. We shall see whether if policies stand | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
the test of time and whether they're members stand the test of | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
time. The public will be able to decide on that but I hope they do a | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
better job than they do in Europe where they don't turn up on their | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
policies don't stand the test. were talking about this before the | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
elections, the role of council tax. The Kent League day is talking | :35:37. | :35:45. | |
about keeping a frozen council tax. They, the Conservatives lost seats. | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
What do we learn about the relationship between council tax | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
and voting? We learned that if you freeze it, you have to make big | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
cuts and so people see those cuts to services they value and they | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
know there is a link between frozen council tax and fewer services. | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
People recognise that link between the money they pay and the services | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
they get. We will find out what they do this year with the council | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
tax in Kent. Cases of ash dieback disease have more than tripled in | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
Kent since November and, as ash trees come into leaf this month, | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
we'll discover how many more have been infected by the fungus since | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
then. The South East, along with East Anglia, has been worst hit by | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
the disease since it appeared in the UK last year. The government | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
has now announced a plan to limit the damage to the nation's ash | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
trees, but it's labelled the South East a "low priority area". Does | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
this mean our woodland will be abandoned? Lucinda Adam has this | :36:41. | :36:51. | |
:36:51. | :36:55. | ||
The south-east has the largest population of ash trees in the | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
country, but ash dieback disease threatens to wipe out 97% of them. | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
We first noticed the ash dieback last summer. At this estate near | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
Maidstone, spores of the deadly Chalara or funders have been | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
carried on the wind from Europe. can see this bronze or brown | :37:18. | :37:24. | |
coloured tree here and this bit has died but below the buds are | :37:25. | :37:32. | |
breaking. How well the infection happen? The spores of the fungus | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
comes in up through the leaves and down to the main stem. Will this | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
treat be likely to die from this? Hopefully, one or two might survive | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
but the answer probably is yes. Nearly 500 cases of doubt aqua | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
found in the UK last year and most in Kent and East Anglia. Now, as | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
spring breeze -- brings trees into leaf, experts are waiting to see | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
how it has spread. The government says the south-east is at the | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
highest risk of the disease but it has been made a low priority area | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
for action. It says that because the disease is widespread here, it | :38:12. | :38:18. | |
is not cost-effective to tackle it. So while other areas can apply for | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
government grants to remove affected trees, the South East | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
cannot. The Labour Party accuses the government of abandoning the | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
region to the disease. The plan says that certain parts of the | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
country are beyond the point of saving so they will have a minimal | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
amount of money spent on them. Clearly, people in those areas will | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
want ministers to explain why. the canteen known as the Garden of | :38:45. | :38:50. | |
England, the The Kent Men of the Trees raises funds to plant and | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
conserve cheese -- trees. It's chairman says Kent needs better | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
protection. I have been studying diseases around the world all my | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
professional life and I always have thought that if you have a focus - | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
and if a disease is being spread rapidly - that is where you put in | :39:09. | :39:15. | |
your effort. If Kent is an area such as that and there... I would | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
have thought it would make sense to put effort and money into this area | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
also. One thing the government is doing in the south-east is a | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
research trial planting thousands of young ash trees. But it is a | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
long shot. Scientists hope just 1% of these trees may survive and | :39:34. | :39:41. | |
develop resistance. But with a budget of just �30 million for | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
plant health research, compared to �450 million for animal research, | :39:45. | :39:51. | |
there are calls for more investment. Would more money have helped save | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
more ash trees in the south-east? It would have helped us plan for | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
the future. Setting up these research plots a few years back so | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
they would have already been set up. We need more staff and more | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
research into looking at the disease is coming in from abroad, | :40:09. | :40:15. | |
not just Europe but elsewhere. this commercial tree nursery in | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
Ashford, �10,000 worth of ash trees that were grown here have ended up | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
on the bonfire. A movement ban means they cannot be sold. Some | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
growers say they are considering legal action for compensation. | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
country, for its unique biodiversity, needs a strong and | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
viable UK horticultural industry. I don't think the Government's | :40:41. | :40:47. | |
response has been good enough. Too little, too late. All the nurseries | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
and these small businesses are carrying the can at the moment. | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
ash trees are lost from the south- east, its landscape and ecology | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
will be lost for ever. With more being done elsewhere, is the | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
government abandoning the south- east's ash trees? They are | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
unimportant part of our ecosystem and represent a major tree crop in | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
Britain, particularly the south- east. To lose there would be very | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
Joining me from our Westminster studio is the UK's Chief Plant | :41:21. | :41:29. | |
Health Officer Martin Ward. So, the south-east is considered | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
high a risk but low priority. Does that make sense? We have to be | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
careful how we understand the terms. It is high risk because it seems | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
likely the disease has spread by aerial movement from the Continent | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
by spores on the wind. The modelling we have commissioned at | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
Cambridge University suggests the cost of intervention, like removing | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
recently planted infected plants, the benefits of that will be higher | :41:58. | :42:07. | |
in areas where there are very few environment cases all few -- or no | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
wider environment cases. Potentially there removing recent | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
plantings can reduce the rate of spread. Labour is right, you are | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
abandoning the south-east because it would be too costly to do | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
otherwise? It is about prioritising the intervention we can make and | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
some of the research done, you mentioned the screening of trees | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
for resistance. We are also looking at possible funders sidle | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
treatments and those are of potential benefits to the area | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
where the disease is most prevalent now. The experiment to look for | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
disease resistant strains will not help the trees now. Before a bath - | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
a vast swathes of Archie will be dead, what use is that and there is | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
no guarantee that any of those trees will develop a resistance? | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
Disease in mature trees develops slowly. There have been scare | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
stories about 90% of ash trees in Denmark being dead but that is not | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
true. A large proportion of trees are affected but it takes mature | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
trees along time for the effect of other diseases, sometimes, to kill | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
them off. It is a long-term problem and we are looking at long-term | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
solutions, such as the at identification of a resistant | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
strain. But it seems fatalistic to say, we cannot cure it so we will | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
not spend money on looking for a cure. We are investigating possible | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
cures but the disease has been spreading across the Continent for | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
many years. There has been no indication from there that any | :43:47. | :43:54. | |
magic cure will be available. though, the difference is that, in | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
some countries, the ash tree is not so prevalent. We have more of a | :44:00. | :44:08. | |
need here, don't we? Ash trees are significant in Denmark. There is a | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
wide belt in northern Europe in which there is a significant part | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
of the landscape with these trees. Finding cures for these diseases is | :44:17. | :44:24. | |
difficult. A blind fund decides to trees, other than small numbers of | :44:24. | :44:34. | |
:44:34. | :44:34. | ||
particularly valuable trees -- a fungicide. To Richard as worth, we | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
had the spread it on the Continent has been rapid. -- Richard Ashworth. | :44:39. | :44:46. | |
Has enough being done? The this is symptomatic of climate change. It | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
isn't just with plants and trees that we are getting new diseases. | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
In livestock as well. Again, talking about ash trees, but there | :44:56. | :45:02. | |
are many other insect pests, viruses and fund I'd beginning to | :45:02. | :45:12. | |
:45:12. | :45:14. | ||
appear in the south-east that have DEFRA at his right in that it is a | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
variety of species in our would land that we want to protect. What | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
would be bad news for some varieties is good news for others. | :45:22. | :45:30. | |
It sounds like be... They have been abandoned. Ministers ignored advice | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
from their own scientists and they waited for months through a false | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
consultation process. As you have heard, they will abandon huge | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
swathes of our woodland. This is what makes the South a beautiful | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
part on the country and the government is turning its back on | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
it. The ash it is an essential part of our would land. There are things | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
you can do about it but if you cut the budget of the Forestry Kisha | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
Nick -- Forestry Commission and the number that Deborah -- DEFRA, you | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
haven't got the tools to do Further details emerged this week | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
on why the Police and Crime Panel in Sussex initially opposed the | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
hiring of a Deputy for Police Commissioner Katy Bourne earlier | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
this year. Members had expressed concerns about the candidate, but | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
the Commissioner went ahead anyway and hired West Sussex County | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
Councillor Steve Waight at a salary of �45,000 a year. Police panels | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
were set up to scrutinise PCCs and hold them to account, but if they | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
have no real power, how effective can they be? Green Joining me from | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
our Brighton studio is Conservative West Sussex County Councillor Brad | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
Watson, Chair of the Sussex Police and Crime Panel. | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
What do you think the panel is for and what do you think it can | :46:43. | :46:51. | |
achieve? Hello. You have described what the panel is for. We act as a | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
scrutiny for the actions of the Police and Crime Commissioner. A | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
sort of critical friend. That is our role and we have been doing it | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
effectively. I hear that term bandied around a lot in government. | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
I'll have never understood what a critical friend is. You say the | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
Royal is to act as a critical friend and continue to work closely | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
with the Commission and respect any decision she makes. What exactly is | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
a critical friend? Don't friends listen to each other when they make | :47:24. | :47:30. | |
suggestions? Yes, they do and that is the whole point. If there is | :47:30. | :47:36. | |
something you are concerned about, you voice it. It is a critical | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
comment but not necessarily a criticism. But not much of a friend | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
if she complete the ignores you, Ishi? The role of the panel was to | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
look at the appointment. That is what the panel discussed. We | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
interviewed and the panel was concerned that there was a time | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
commitment he already had as a county councillor and borough | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
councillor and a Cabinet member as to whether he could fulfil the role | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
as deputy commissioner as a full- time job. I wonder whether that | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
criticism would stand end employment law if you say to | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
somebody, you cannot do this job because you are too busy doing | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
civic things. Is it anyone's business what we do in our spare | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
time when we applied for a job? this instance, we are looking at | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
�45,000 of public money spent for the purposes of the deputy. Our | :48:32. | :48:37. | |
role was to look at that and say is the money being right and fairly | :48:37. | :48:44. | |
spent. Can the candidate fulfil the number of hours? Your | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
recommendation to her was a complete and utter waste of time. | :48:47. | :48:53. | |
The local government advice or Association's advice, and as I | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
understand it, the legislation states you are allowed to consult | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
and veto the appointment of a new police chief constable but you | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
cannot allow - might you cannot veto their appointment of a deputy | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
police commissioner so what was the point of all of this? The whole | :49:12. | :49:19. | |
point of the panel is to raise issues and highlight points to the | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
commissioner. It is up to the commissioner, of course, to accept | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
what we say. In this instance, it is a personal appointment to have a | :49:30. | :49:36. | |
deputy and that was our comments to her. She went ahead and appointed, | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
but I feel that because we have highlighted our concerns, it is a | :49:42. | :49:48. | |
notice to the commissioner that we are keeping an eye. I understand | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
subsequently, he has subsequently stood down from the borough and | :49:52. | :50:02. | |
:50:02. | :50:04. | ||
that, in a way, probably at answers I wanted turned to our best. What | :50:04. | :50:11. | |
you think? He is acting like an elected dictator. Power must be | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
accountable to somebody and it should be accountable to the panel. | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
Shouldn't it be accountable to the people who elected her? Just | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
because she is doing what she wants to do, she has a prerogative. The | :50:26. | :50:34. | |
point is, and no disrespect, there is an electric he who can decide at | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
the end of her term whether they wanted to carry on. But with that | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
much power, in between elections you need checks and balances. The | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
panels are supposed to be that and within weeks they have been well | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
Dover and are now useless. Part of the panel should be directly | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
elected and then you would have some democratic accountability at | :50:54. | :51:01. | |
the bottom. Do we need more elections? It is probably a bit | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
unfair to the system. Police and crime commissioners are independent | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
people who need to be scrutinised because they spend public money and | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
that is what the panel is doing. It is fair to say the panel has | :51:13. | :51:19. | |
limited powers. They have one strong power which is they can go | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
public and that is what they have done. They are drawing the public's | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
attention to something they are not happy about. It has happened in | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
Kent and in Sussex. These are early-day his but I don't think we | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
should condemn it too early. It is a new system and commissioners are | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
finding their way. It has only been there six months so give it a | :51:43. | :51:52. | |
chance. Lots of people are critical about policing being criticised. | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
The Commission and her deputy and so are you Conservatives. So are | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
many others. Nobody could at argue that policing in Sussex isn't | :52:01. | :52:07. | |
politicised, could they? If you asked a question about a councillor | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
when you collect, you would get that. It is the way you stand for | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
election. When they, you get on and do the job. I don't agree it is a | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
politicised system. The big difference now between a Commission | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
and the old police authority is very much a public role. Her | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
responsibility is to reach out, talk to people and discuss in a | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
public way much of what she plans to do and that hasn't happened | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
before. Thank you for joining us. Now a round-up of the week's events | :52:41. | :52:51. | |
:52:51. | :52:54. | ||
It has been holes of verses goes this week in a battle over played | :52:54. | :53:02. | |
and -- playing fields. The education wants to use as a school. | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
We are against this. It will take up greenfield space and they should | :53:07. | :53:14. | |
be other sides. Beatings in Margate and Hastings could be closed -- | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
beaches. Could be close to two swimmers as Tidewater regulation | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
comes in in 2015. Plans for the Thames St airports | :53:23. | :53:28. | |
should be abandoned according to a select -- track -- Treasury Select | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
Committee. In Brighton, There are plans to | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
accommodate a transgender community. It is a good thing because there | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
are alternative people around, particularly in this area. That is | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
why Brighton council wants to change its online application forms | :53:46. | :53:56. | |
:53:56. | :53:58. | ||
and transgender people could choose Paul Richards, free schools. Where | :53:58. | :54:05. | |
do you put them? I'm not against the idea. Andrew Adonis dreamt it | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
up but they are supposed to have local and parental support. If they | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
do not, as in this case, what are they doing? What about airports? We | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
heard there about the recommendations of the select | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
committee. We have been trying to get Boris Johnson on local radio | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
for three years and this week he came on and said this is a colossal | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
opportunity for Kent. We had always thought he was only interested in | :54:34. | :54:40. | |
London. Is anyone coming onside with Boris Johnson? A I don't think | :54:40. | :54:48. | |
the findings of the panel... The cost of the island is prohibitively | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
expensive and date agree. Live with what we have. People want to go to | :54:53. | :55:02. | |
Heathrow. You can develop it was still using it. In Brighton. Are | :55:02. | :55:08. | |
they being a bit Brighton? Or is it a good thing? People identify | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
themselves and their gender and there are a lot of people in the | :55:12. | :55:16. |