18/03/2012 Sunday Politics South


18/03/2012

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In the South: a 5th of primary schools are full of overflowing,

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and it is getting worse. Do we want our children learning in temporary

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1706 seconds

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Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name is Peter Henley. On today's

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show: The pitter-patter of tiny feet that is threatening to swamp

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some councils - why there just aren't enough primary school

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classrooms to cope with a current baby boom.

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First to me introduce the politician to will be with me.

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Nicola Blackwood and Andrew Smith. Andrew, a lot of talk in the papers

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about gay marriage, marriage rather than civil partnership. Is that

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something you pleased to see the government introduced? I was very

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pleased to see the government bring in civil partnerships, but I think

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if people want to be able to use the term marriage I don't think

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there's a strong argument against it. I wonder why the government has

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decided to push this to the top of the agenda right now? Light Andrew,

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I think civil partnerships for a strong step forward and I am not

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sure what the legal different is going to be between civil marriage

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and civil partnership. Could it be a step too far? A I have concerns

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of what we will end up with as a litigation situation were certain

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gay couples might decide they want their civil marriage to become a

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religious marriage and go to a church and take the Church to court.

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The government has assured us that domestic legislation won't allow

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religious marriages for gay couples, but if that went all the way to the

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European courts the UK government would then have to pay attention to

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that decision. Within the articles of human rights we have competing

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arguments that. I am concerned about what the outcome of that kind

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of dispute might be. But that we need to consider that very

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carefully while we discussed this. At this stage it is a consultation.

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The views of the religious community need to be taken into

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account. If it is posturing by the Conservative Party, repositioning

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maybe in some way, that could backfire? I would welcome the fact

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that the Conservatives are repositioning on this issue. On the

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end of the day, I think it is a matter of a quality.

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repositioning? I do a thing that has anything to do with the issue.

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It's the Budget on Wednesday, of course, and you might have noticed

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one or two people queuing up to give the Chancellor George Osborne

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plenty of advice about what he should and shouldn't do. The South

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of England is often described as the engine of the economy, so what

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message would the stokers like to see sent up to the bridge? Martin

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Dare-Edwards is the Chair of the Oxford Local Enterprise Partnership.

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It is the engine of the economy, isn't it? Regeneration should be

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happening in other places in the south of England. Spend it in the

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places where they need the jobs most. It is also making things that

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er goods, great and globally competitive. We are delighted by

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the approval from the government to create an enterprise zone in the

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south of the country. That gives the opportunity to take some

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leading technologies, to grow them on an international scale and

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improve the economy by increasing exports. If that -- is the

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government investing in our part of the world, is a regeneration,

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creating jobs? You're not applying to the regional growth fund. We are

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not. We got clear advice from government departments that the

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regional growth fund is devoted more for the north and west of the

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UK. We are pursuing by other means. We need to make compelling cases

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for investment. And the structure will be a key issue for us in

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Oxfordshire. Infrastructure to support the enterprise zone and

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other areas of the county were we foresee growth. The Oxford Show

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have other key areas there are looking at. We will be seeking

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support for funding. We talk about housebuilding a lot. Do you think

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are planning changes will help businesses? Should there be more

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support from things like housebuilding? Do isn't much of a

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building in terms of house building in Bicester. I think there is a lot

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of opportunity in Oxfordshire for houses. Development land is the

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issue and planning in that regard. This simplified planning

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arrangement there we have been setting up in the southern part of

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the county, we are first seen to see that as a template to bring to

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other parts of the county, using Eric Pickles's term, we will

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disappear as growth since. Growth because once been the engine room,

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successful and prosperous, we can create more jobs here and could be

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greater than other places and people might have become in and do

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those jobs? Go there was also the opportunity of bringing in

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investment from abroad, which is important. Investment in businesses

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that maybe taps into the technology development from a two world-class

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universities in Oxfordshire, and then generate businesses that

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create products by designing by technology that are differentiated

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and can be sold to the rest of the world and make the whole county

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much more resilient to changes in local economies. Golden future or a

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gloomy future? Golden. I Andrew Smith, do you think the Chancellor,

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has he believed -- has he been borrowing enough to get the whole

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country growing? Our argument has been the while the deficit needs to

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be tackled, the government has been cutting too far too fast so they

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have had to borrow �150 billion more than they were planning.

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Looking at the Budget, infrastructure investment is very

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important. Investment in science is very important. We do need

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investment in transport infrastructure. There is always the

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chance that the government might funnel money to other parts of the

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country and killed the goose that lays the golden egg. I signed up

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�263 million to establish a big science investment in Didcot. We

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need to keep focused on that. The Chancellor has to do something

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about petrol prices. This is hitting families and businesses in

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our region and across the country very hard indeed. There has been a

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report at the centre of economic research which shows that if he

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holds food -- -- calls to fuel duty or cut it a little, it would

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generate jobs and pay for itself. Do you agree with that? On fuel

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issues, I do. I think that would be welcome. There has been a lot of

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investment in terms of real investment for Oxfordshire. I also

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think that one of the big challenges for the region is roads

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investment. The a 34 costs are so many problems. It is a major trade

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groups and I think it has had so little investment for so long we do

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need to be looking at how we can start improving that because when

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something goes wrong and just one part of that road the ripple

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effects are significant. People sitting in traffic jams cost as an

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environmental problem and the knock-on effect economically

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because people are economic the inactive when they're sitting in a

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traffic jam. The last improvement on a road was the Newbury bypass,

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which was a huge problem. So it won't happen, would it? I think you

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can't not make the case for something that needs to be done

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because the last time something was done it didn't go well. We need to

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look at this book but it has cost in people's lives a misery. We need

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to not just look at R&D investment, but we have so many scientists and

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researchers here, but the proper skills base. The apprenticeship

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scheme which is working has been very successful. We have had over a

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36 % increase. I think it should be extended to a younger age group.

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unified message from the start of the world! -- spark of the world!

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And just a reminder that tomorrow night you can see a special

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programme looking at the future for the economy in our region. They

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will be talking to key players about the pressures on incomes,

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rising unemployment and the prospects for growth. That's Our

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Economy, the South Today debate with Sally Taylor tomorrow night at

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11.05pm. 2008 was a bit of a boom year for

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babies. All very nice for the mums and dads of course, but it is now

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becoming a bit of a headache for education planners because all

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those little ones now need primary school places. There just aren't

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enough to go round, so, as Tristan Pascoe reports, some councils are

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having to consider some unusual classrooms.

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The post-war baby boom which sold the population jump by more than

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half a million. For whatever reason, it is happening again. In 2000 and

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made the UK experience this greatest population increase in

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almost half-a-century with the number of people living in the

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country going above 61 million for the first time. It is not just

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midwives who are rushed off their feet. In Dorset, as across the

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country, there aren't enough primary school places to go round.

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We have got pressure on her reception class intake. We are

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experiencing increasing demand and it is up to close to 50 %. These

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baby booms periodically come round. What seems to be incredible is that

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local authorities never seen to plan for this. The minute the

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birthrate drops they then start amalgamating schools, closing

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schools and losing all of the surplus places. His is an issue

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right across the south. Winchester there is huge opposition

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to new temporary classrooms, and in Brighton a former police station

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and the Amex stadium are being lined up as alternative classroom

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spaces. With the baby boom locally, 420 new Brummies go places are

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needed in Bournemouth. That will mean more modular buildings,

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temporary classrooms, only ever a short-term solution are now

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becoming something of a permanent fixture. This school is well-

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equipped to deal with the surge in numbers. They have recently added a

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brand-new hall, kitchen and larger work spaces, but there are

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drawbacks. This year because we have one spare classroom, we have a

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library in a proper room, but because we are expecting an

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additional class inspect -- in September we will lose that

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facility for four years. The on that we're confident we will regain

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that space. A short-term struggle or loss and the terms of the

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library, but you will gain aback. Campaigners fear for their impact

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of losing facilities like libraries to create extra space. It cannot be

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all funding to a few desks and chairs and the full on learning of

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the time. They have got to be able to express themselves, move around.

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We need to give them the space and I think it any a authority did so

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school into a position of having to close down a library, a play room,

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any of those facilities, then they really need to be held to ransom

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over it. It is not acceptable. years ago this primers: Bournemouth

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was closed with a loss of more than 60 places. It will now be reopened,

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so did the Borough Council get it wrong? No, we didn't. Circumstances

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were very different. It was closed because it was underperforming. We

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are in a different situation now with numbers with at big cohort

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coming up. By on a recent visit -- recent visit to this out the

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schools minister said funds were being made available. We are

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putting extra money into new provision particularly for primary

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school places. We have topped it up with an extra �600 million to

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ensure that local authorities have the capital to build new schools or

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new classrooms where there is increasing demand. There is

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increasing demand as the result of the baby boom of the beginning of

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the century. With highly protected heathland and his seat, its space

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for new schools as something that Bournemouth doesn't have. Andrew

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Smith, is it just one of those things, a baby boom, or is there

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bad planning? Questions have to be asked about the planning. It is a

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problem in Oxfordshire. A local newspaper did report shown that

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six-and-a-half 1000 children in our county who are in temporary

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classrooms. Some of their head teachers said that the temporary

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classrooms were of as good a quality as their permanent

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buildings! One of the first things this government did was cancel

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their Building Schools For The Future programme. Although we had

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the more money is going in, there is an opportunity for the

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Chancellor in the Budget. Why not bring forward expenditure that is

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planned on schools so we can guess -- so we can get the new school

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spilt and generate jobs. The reason they cancelled that was because the

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money had run out. Maybe some of those schools in the Midlands and

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North were too expensive. I would question that. In my own

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constituency, Wood Farm Primary School is being rebuilt and it is

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fantastic the transformation that is causing to the whole community.

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Money has to be spent effectively but it should not be an excuse for

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abandoning meeting the basic needs of children where they are in

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overcrowded or inadequate accommodation. A Nicola Blackwood,

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in Oxfordshire 92 schools are turning away some parents because

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they have chosen it as their place. That is nearly 50 % of the primary

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schools in Oxfordshire where they are getting full up. It is a

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problem. We can always improve planning and we need to look at how

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we can do that and anticipate birth rates. People move between areas,

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so even if you know what people have been born do don't necessarily

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know where they will go to Burmese school. We can improve our

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admissions code and the way we do admissions to primary schools. But

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secondary level there is one day on which all the offers for secondary

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schools come out, but that is not that thing for primary schools,

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which makes it very difficult. about just providing more spaces?

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An awful lot of money had been spent on bureaucracy and was not

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being built on the schools themselves. But was not a good

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programme. We eat got real benefit from it in my constituency and

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schools which suffered, that was a real blow. I'm really worry about

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the pace of the forced Academy's programme that the government is

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driving through. This is destroying local educational bomb macro is is

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not a forced Academy programme. school is forced to apply. Schools

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have ultimatums from the government through the Local Education

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Authority bomb macro they have to choose. They don't have any choice.

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It is causing turmoil and that is bound to damage the planning and

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provision of the places that we need. Academy schools are improving

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their quality of the Kade -- quality of education as none

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Academy Schools. Where you have Academy Schools the children are

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getting better quality of teachers and there are also able to expand

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the number of places. This is what parents are calling for. I think

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that is the government listening. Now our regular round-up of the

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political week in the South in 60 The despite spring showers it seems

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to have it right. 25 inches more than the 30 we need to keep the

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reservoirs topped up, so had no hosepipe bans. Thames Water staff

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got involved in cleaning up the River Thames at the weekend. This

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counts, Thames 21, all sorts of different groups come together

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because they care about breading. Bad news for the time when it

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failed to win the Diamond Jubilee competition to become a city.

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Clearly I am disappointed, but congratulations to the Downs the

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did become cities. Here is what will Council called an icon of

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their town success. This week the surface was falling apart on the

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bridge. Is that along we are saying you don't know yet? Yes. Some said

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the occupier protests would fall apart, but they moved on to the

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university. The protest continues. Hard luck Reading. And I think it

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is a great pity it has not been made a city. Why not give them the

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status? I think they have was a very good bid. -- they put forward

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a very good bid. I think Reading would have been an excellent choice.

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They remain as a London suburb, I suppose, which is not what we want.

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In it is not a London suburb! It is a very successful part of our

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economy. He might get some letters after that, Peter! Thank you so

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much. That's the Sunday Politics in the South. Thanks to my guests,

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