Browse content similar to 11/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
In the south, the town centre redevelopment that is causing | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
ructions in Dorchester. No replacement car-parking, but the | :01:37. | :01:47. | |
:01:47. | :01:47. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2141 seconds | :01:47. | :37:28. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name's Peter Henley. On today's | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
show: The Charles Street redevelopment in Dorchester was | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
meant to regenerate the town with a luxury hotel and new council | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
offices, but halfway through the council's had to step in with �2 | :37:37. | :37:45. | |
million to keep it on track. Let's meet the politicians with me for | :37:45. | :37:55. | |
:37:55. | :37:56. | ||
the next 220 minutes. Caroline, still the reverberations from Ford | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
pulling out have Southampton. You met with the chairman this week. | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
Have you got to the bottom of whether they should or shouldn't | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
have received this government grant just before they made it all those | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
people redundant? We haven't really got to the bottom of that and there | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
are still a lot of questions being asked in the house on that point. | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
From my perspective, the most important thing that I can do is | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
work with Ford, with the local agencies, to make sure there is | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
support not just for the direct employees but for the contract to | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
us and those in the supply chain. And it to look to the future to see | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
what will happen to the site. it must have been inevitable and | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
office to this government ministers handing over at taxpayers' money to | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
Ford, that when Labour Cosworth third as British cast in Turkey and | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
they did not have enough capacity, that was where the jobs were going | :38:54. | :39:01. | |
to go -- labour costs? There were no discussions prior to those | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
awards of public money. From my perspective we can analyse what has | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
gone on previously. It's important that we do that. But it is also | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
important to make sure there is the maximum support available for those | :39:13. | :39:20. | |
employees. And also for getting new jobs in to Southampton. And that | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
new jobs, Tony Page, in Reading, the employment rate is pretty good, | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
but those are jobs for the future rather than those Ford drops. In | :39:30. | :39:36. | |
this downturn, may be starting to pick up, do think employment is | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
more resilient in the Thames Valley area? It has been although there is | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
a major skills gap in the Thames Valley. Reading is grateful that we | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
have been given the chance to work with the government on the City | :39:49. | :39:57. | |
Deal and we have been one of the 20 authorities offered the prospect. | :39:57. | :40:06. | |
It is not confirmed yet but the focus, it is around the skills gap, | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
because we have more vacancies, a cohort of people who don't have the | :40:10. | :40:17. | |
skills. The jobs are there, they can't be filled and we have got to | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
get people skilled to fill those vacancies. That would make a major | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
hit locally and it also reduce benefit payments and would also | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
give people that opportunity to break out of an unskilled white | :40:32. | :40:39. | |
staff. Tying a lot of things together. -- and unskilled at | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
lifestyles. On Remembrance Sunday we're obviously thinking more about | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
servicemen and women, and especially those who've been | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
disabled. I'm joined now by Peta Wilkinson, from the charity the | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
Enham Trust, based at Enham Alamein in Hampshire. It's a village that's | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
been associated with disabled service personnel since just after | :40:54. | :41:04. | |
:41:04. | :41:08. | ||
the First World War. A remarkable place, where you are. It is. It was | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
after the First World War that disabled soldiers first were given | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
this opportunity to earn money, wasn't it? Absolutely. We were the | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
first world war help their heroes and provided opportunities for | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
people to have a home and work when they were returning from the wall, | :41:25. | :41:35. | |
:41:35. | :41:35. | ||
injured and sick. And after the Second World War? Yes, a pivotal | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
point in the Second World War and pivotal for our development. | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
Pivotal for the Egyptian people who put a lot of money into the | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
development. How did things move on and had good progress in terms of | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
helping people with disabilities? From the Second World War, were | :41:52. | :42:00. | |
provided a home, work, social integration, we then created a | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
charity to provide key elements every aspect of disabled people's | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
lives to the border committee. We provide homes, skills, education | :42:09. | :42:18. | |
and work -- the disabled community. In the Independent such a gender, | :42:18. | :42:28. | |
:42:28. | :42:28. | ||
the last 10 years, it has really going to ground -- the | :42:28. | :42:36. | |
Independents' agenda. Yes, the focus has to be on independence and | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
transition and opening up choices. We have focused ball-retention are | :42:39. | :42:47. | |
making sure we build appropriate homes for people -- focused all our | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
attention. It is based on their own needs and aspirations. There is a | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
threat that comes from some of the support from tax payers at the | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
moment. Is that worrying people? is very worrying. If we look at the | :43:03. | :43:09. | |
report recently produced under Baroness Thompson, we found that up | :43:09. | :43:16. | |
to 450,000 people could be affected in a negative way. 100,000 children | :43:16. | :43:22. | |
could be affected by up to �28 a week. 230,000 disabled adult | :43:22. | :43:29. | |
thriller cut themselves could be effected between 28 and �58 a week | :43:29. | :43:36. | |
and 116,000 disabled people in work, because their disability component | :43:36. | :43:46. | |
:43:46. | :43:50. | ||
is moving into the new system and it could be 55 up to �45 a week. | :43:50. | :43:59. | |
-- 75 % of people get their allowance pro-life time. Perhaps | :43:59. | :44:05. | |
they are more independent of modern technology and we could spend it | :44:05. | :44:13. | |
when people need it more? We are focusing clearly on certain groups | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
of people. We think for a government needs to protect the | :44:17. | :44:27. | |
most vulnerable people in society - - we think the government needs to. | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
Caroline, a lot of worry. You think it will become clear when the | :44:32. | :44:34. | |
assessments start being made that this is going to the most | :44:34. | :44:41. | |
vulnerable? That is certainly the intention. I'm very conscious from | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
my own postbag as a Member of Parliament that people are worried. | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
They're not sure what is going to happen yet. The government is going | :44:50. | :44:57. | |
to make significant changes. The delay has not been reviewed accents | :44:57. | :45:07. | |
:45:07. | :45:08. | ||
1992 -- big deal out a. It is time we look at it very carefully. -- | :45:08. | :45:16. | |
the DLA. And a lot of these things are being farmed out to agencies, | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
aren't they? Yes, and a lot is being offloaded on to local | :45:21. | :45:27. | |
authorities. A range of benefits is being attributed to us and | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
protecting the most vulnerable is going to be a challenge. With | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
pension is being protected, it means the cut falls more heavily on | :45:37. | :45:46. | |
the remaining -- pensioners. We are having to consult to allocate less | :45:46. | :45:56. | |
:45:56. | :45:58. | ||
money, effectively. The fear is, and Patrick Jenkins warned in the | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
House of Lords only a few weeks ago that this was potentially a new | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
poll tax. Local-authority is having to pursue people for perhaps as | :46:08. | :46:15. | |
little as �2.50 or �3 a week, often consuming more resources in | :46:15. | :46:22. | |
pursuing people than the total debt. There will only have to be a couple | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
of examples of people who were of the disadvantaged, and terribly | :46:27. | :46:33. | |
unfairly, but among the newspapers and they will be, this is a crazy | :46:33. | :46:43. | |
:46:43. | :46:43. | ||
system. The welfare bill has increased enormously. The | :46:43. | :46:51. | |
government has asked to look at that. The last thing I want is that | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
they are vulnerable to be disadvantaged. If you've been | :46:57. | :46:59. | |
through Dorchester recently you'll know that there's some building | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
going on. Quite a lot of building, actually. It's all part of a �10 | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
million scheme to regenerate the town centre. Rather unusual in the | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
current economic climate, but as Tristan Pascoe reports, it's the | :47:08. | :47:16. | |
economic climate that's made it all rather controversial. There has | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
been secrecy. There has not been transparency. It was never brought | :47:21. | :47:28. | |
to the executive committee, never to the council meeting. Assurances | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
it had been given are not worth the paper they were written on. | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
just under �10 million, Dorchester was promised a revitalised town | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
centre, new council offices and a county library. But halfway through | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
cover the developers said the plans were unviable, so out goes the new | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
hotel and crucially hundreds of underground car-parking spaces. The | :47:48. | :47:54. | |
council has had to stump up another 2 million quid to keep on track. | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
unfortunately, the council decided to place its new offices and the | :47:57. | :48:03. | |
car park with 200 and we to six spaces, which is the equivalent of | :48:03. | :48:09. | |
600,001 our parking opportunities per year. They have now gone. | :48:09. | :48:17. | |
of our most established department stores is this one. Last month, the | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
chief executive of this family run business wrote to the council | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
warning that it is inconceivable that the new scheme would be viable, | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
given the significant reduction in adjacent car parking spaces. | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
Something the leader of the council reject. At the moment, our servers | :48:33. | :48:42. | |
show there are a ticket -- our surveys show there is adequate car- | :48:42. | :48:50. | |
parking space. These motorists disagree. I have spent 10 or 15 | :48:50. | :48:57. | |
minutes going round and round. It is very bad. Absolutely terrible. | :48:57. | :49:02. | |
Especially when stays, everybody parks on double yellow lines. -- | :49:02. | :49:09. | |
especially under Wednesday's. is a hugely controversial scheme. | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
93 % of our opposed to the council relocating to their new offices | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
hair, and local traders say they are already feeling the effects of | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
losing hundreds of town-centre car parking spaces. The impact was | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
immediate for us. In the first 12 months of this development, we lost | :49:27. | :49:37. | |
over 7,000 customers and �31,000 in trade. We rely on passing trade. | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
Others say the council have bodged the scheme. They said, we will put | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
our offices here and then we'll get the rest of the development. They | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
have now said they will spend another �2 million, but still | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
without a guarantee that we get the development. They're trying to work | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
in an area in which they do not have the expertise, clearly the | :49:58. | :50:03. | |
market forces aren't appropriate at this time. It is not a viable | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
scheme. Leave it until things change. And some councillors say | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
they were not given all the facts before they were asked to approve | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
the revised scheme. At this stage, we now know that a viability | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
assessment had been published the day before the council meeting and | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
it was not presented to the council for consideration. That is where | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
this whole process has been riddled with undone -- undemocratic | :50:26. | :50:31. | |
decision-making. An auditor's report said the council and needed | :50:31. | :50:38. | |
to be more transparent and open. Did you'd helical cap -- local | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
taxpayers through your community link magazine that the second car | :50:41. | :50:48. | |
park would be closed for 160 weeks during construction? I think it was | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
absolutely clear. We have always said we were going to put in place | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
measures to counteract the fact that those parking spaces were not | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
available during the construction period. There has never been any | :50:58. | :51:06. | |
lack of clarity and that. council says project will beat sub | :51:06. | :51:13. | |
Dec two public scrutiny -- will be subject to public scrutiny. Where | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
are the other me going to park? They will have no were. The outlook | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
for these businesses is not very good. It is the transport issues as | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
ever. Not enough car-parking spaces. Ready -- Reading is slightly | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
different because there was a lot more transport than a rural area, | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
but people still really care. And people seem to be care if | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
politicians are spending money on their own office bays. Invading you | :51:44. | :51:54. | |
:51:54. | :51:56. | ||
have had a similar issue. -- their own office space. Yes, it buildings | :51:56. | :52:03. | |
don't last very long. We have taken the decision to relocate to | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
existing empty offices nearby, but we did have a scheme given planning | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
permission about five years ago for a new office block. We decided | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
after the recession that a politically, it was not viable to | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
go ahead with the scheme. On paper, one could argue that it was better | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
value for money, but politically it was simply not possible. We are | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
relocating to an existing office block which isn't much better nick | :52:32. | :52:40. | |
and what actually be accessible to members of the public -- which is | :52:40. | :52:47. | |
in much better nick. But is the issue that it is the cancer was | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
working and -- in an area where they haven't got expertise, | :52:50. | :52:58. | |
property development, and those -- and they should stick to what they | :52:58. | :53:08. | |
:53:08. | :53:08. | ||
no? It strikes me that it might have been done that in a bit too | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
close to a fashion in Dorchester. We had independent validation and | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
experts assisting last. We used the services of Hampshire County | :53:16. | :53:26. | |
Council, who have a very expert... Who have come under criticism, but | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
they have a very skilled resource that we have drawn on to good | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
effect. Do you think that the houses of parliament will ever get | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
redeveloped? Not redeveloped, but there's an enormous amount of work | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
to be done to them to make them safe, watertight, get rid of | :53:43. | :53:53. | |
:53:53. | :53:55. | ||
asbestos, and get rid of the Maes! -- but rodents. Not much longer now | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
to make up your minds about who to vote for in the Police and Crime | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
Commissioner elections on Thursday. Over the past few weeks we've heard | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
from the candidates in Dorset and the Thames Valley. Today Alex | :54:05. | :54:07. | |
Forsyth has a round-up of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
candidates. Hampshire on the edge of the Solent, home to Winchester | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
Cathedral and of course the Hampshire hog. Here, police have | :54:17. | :54:26. | |
faced budget costs. -- cuts. The force has balanced the books by | :54:26. | :54:36. | |
:54:36. | :54:40. | ||
posing police -- closing police stations. Using technology to save | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
time. This chief constable has been at the head for four years, but he | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
is leaving to head up the new National College of policing. The | :54:48. | :54:53. | |
new PCC will choose the next top cop, and all six candidates are | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
keen to get started. My natural interest in this job came out of | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
the fact that my father with a policeman in Hampshire for 30 years. | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
My brother is currently in a policeman, so I have got a natural | :55:07. | :55:13. | |
interest in that aspect. That gave me the interest. I have also got | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
the skills to actually do it. come from a background of business, | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
and in these times of austerity, policing is very much going to be | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
dictated by the Budget. I'm used to looking at balance sheets and | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
making these decisions. Those skills will be very useful. In this | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
election, I'm the only candidate who has ever walked the beat, | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
warned a police uniform and carried the police warrant card. Turnout | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
was not a problem at this recent hustings in Winchester. In fact, | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
people were turned away. With the perfect chance for candidates to | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
convince voters of their credentials. I have been | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
responsible for a police force before. After that the fact that I | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
have kicked around for a long time so we know my way around government | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
-- so I know my way. Her will have all the right connections to be | :56:08. | :56:14. | |
able to come to the right decisions. I believe I'm the only person with | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
on-the-job experience, having been on the police authority for 16 | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
years. I have real on-the-job experience. I have no agenda have | :56:22. | :56:28. | |
passion about policing. As well as candidates from four political | :56:28. | :56:35. | |
parties can the two independents are in the race. A I have practical | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
experience. I have got contacts from my old days. Angrily be | :56:39. | :56:46. | |
motivated to do should the job. I'm Hampshire -- I'm very much | :56:46. | :56:55. | |
motivated to do the job. I believe that party politics shouldn't enter | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
into the remit. I believe I have got sufficient experience to | :56:58. | :57:04. | |
undertake the role. I'm currently chairman of the Crimestoppers | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
charity for Hampshire and Omagh past chairman of Hampshire Police | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
opera to -- and I am a past chairman. Come November 15th, it | :57:14. | :57:22. | |
will be up to you. Don't forget, if you'd like to see | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
details on any of the candidates in the election, there's a special BBC | :57:25. | :57:35. | |
website. There's the address on screen now. There will be a regular | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
look at all of the candidates throughout the rest of the next | :57:38. | :57:44. | |
week. Now our regular round-up of the political week in the South in | :57:44. | :57:54. | |
:57:54. | :57:56. | ||
The Co-op at cowls was the appropriate place for the launch of | :57:56. | :58:02. | |
Isle of Wight milk. Farmers hope processing on the island will | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
produce a better price. Dorset campaigners celebrated the decision | :58:07. | :58:12. | |
to reject four industrial wind turbines Nick Gillingham. | :58:12. | :58:20. | |
And Sussex MP and former minister and the cabinet warned people not | :58:20. | :58:28. | |
to return to bad planning. Biting council is complaining it | :58:28. | :58:35. | |
has been stitched up over finances. -- Brighton council. | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
Bournemouth council finally yielded to local pressure, starting | :58:38. | :58:45. | |
demolition of the hated IMAX building on the seafront. But the | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
surf reef is again in troubled waters, as the builders have gone | :58:49. | :58:59. | |
bust. On the wind turbine story, | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
Hampshire County Council is proposing to ban wind farms, not | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
single turbines from its buildings. It is a bit of a theme about his | :59:09. | :59:14. | |
best placed to take these decisions. Many of them spent on IMAX and the | :59:14. | :59:21. | |
surf reef, and the public hated certainly IMAX. It is very | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
difficult for a politician to have all the expertise they need. It is | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
better to have on some of these decisions out? I think local | :59:28. | :59:33. | |
accountability is what really matters. If local authorities have | :59:33. | :59:37. | |
good offices and councillors are well-advised, then of course they | :59:37. | :59:42. | |
are the best people to take this. But they are not the experts all | :59:42. | :59:47. | |
the time. They can take advice from all sorts of people. Transparency, | :59:47. | :59:54. | |
Tony Page? Yes, I agree entirely with Caroline. If you want experts, | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
you don't necessarily have democracy. You can go to some | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
countries in Europe where experts have been appointed to run the | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
government and they don't necessarily make better decisions. | :00:05. | :00:09. |