28/04/2013 Sunday Politics South


28/04/2013

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using the localism thanks to decide where development is going. They

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2288 seconds

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have got the plan but will they get my name is Peter Henley. Coming up -

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The town that is hoping to take planning into its own hands. Thame

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in Oxfordshire is holding a referendum on its neighbourhood plan

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that will set the framework for planning in the community - and it

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is all their own work. More on that shortly. First, we will meet the

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politicians joining me for the next 20 minutes. The Conservative leader

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of the... We have got a local authority hats on. Southampton

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Council, the Labour leader Richard Williams resigned suddenly at the

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end of the week. It is tough being a councillor and some of it is to do

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with the report and differences within his party. It is difficult

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work, is it not? It is not recognised by the public. For

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somebody that wants to become a counsellor they have got to the

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intelligent and articulate and wants to do that. That can be quite

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difficult, especially if you are used to being heard and councillors

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are not used to that. And running a large organisation with the counties

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that we will be voting on next week. They are employed to do a lot of the

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work but large authorities like ourselves require a lot of clinical

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direction and that is what local democracy is all about. I know

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Richard very well. It is sad that he has stood down. As a counsellor as

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well as everything else. It is a sad loss to local government, regardless

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of the circumstances surrounding the immediate resignation.

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Bournemouth and Poole, with this campaign, they have targeted

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individual houses and millionaires, as they have said, describing them

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as a crime scene with things posted through the letterbox. It is an

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awful attack on local democracy. Councillors are ordinary people

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giving up their time to do their job to help local communities. And

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frankly Bournemouth uncut, they are intelligent and articulate and

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Minister was giving his almost weekly round of praise to the work

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done by food banks. It came on the same day as the Salisbury-based

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Trussell Trust revealed that the number of people using its food

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banks over the last year had tripled banks are increasingly being used by

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councils rather than handing out emergency cash loans when benefits

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payments are delayed. I am joined by Mark Ward from company-macro. The

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end of crisis loans and community care grants. -- the trust will

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trust. Is this going to work? Is it something you approve of? This is a

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problem and it is going to vary. Food banks are going to have two

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work with different authorities and work out what to do. It is a variety

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of different approaches, is it? not think we have got a complete set

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of approaches yet which is probably more worrying, that every councillor

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has got themselves into a position where they know where they are going

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to the. We are already getting calls from people that expect us to the

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dealing with their crisis loan payments. And that is an issue that

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we are having to deal with and say to people that is not what we do. We

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deal with food. We can possibly help stop but we are not here to resolve

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that problem. With all of these things we are going to have a

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transition period. But within that, we are going to have more people

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that are falling foul of regulations. You are expanding

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because demand is growing and it has in fact outstripped supply in some

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places. This week we have learned Stoke on Trent are having to

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restrict the people that they are helping to families with children

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because they do not have sufficient supplies. Can they not get it from

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other places? I am sure we can deal with that but it is the first time

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we have had a crisis like that. general public are immensely helpful

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and generous to local communities. But there comes a point with

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everything that is happening in terms of their own incomes, that

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maybe we have got a point where people say that it is not going to

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sort out the deficit. That is an interesting situation we will try to

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resolve but I hope it does not happen in too many places. Is it

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partly that you are creating some of this demand because people are

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knowing about food banks? Or are people needing it more than they

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used to Western Mark I do not believe we have --? I do not believe

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that is the case. We have got to have the right professional people

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in the loop to make that referral. You cannot turn up and say, " I need

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some food and I have not got any money. " the numbers are bound to

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rise up to a point because they are opening in more places. But the

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members in places where we have been for a number of years continued to

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rise year upon year. We will turn to our politicians. GDP figures suggest

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things are getting better. Somewhere like pool and Redding is pretty

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prosperous but yet we have got these problems. -- Poole in Dorset and

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reading macro. The people that turn up by and in employment. We would

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like to try and get people to think about this. Many people are in

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full-time and many in part-time employment. Wages have been held

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down and cost of living has increased and real pressure. We are

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working closely with agencies like this trust and the voluntary sector

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and faith organisations to make the most out of the money that we have

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been given. But it is not ring fenced all stop the way we played

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locally is how we will have two look at in the next few months.

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demand is growing. And everything connected with welfare is being

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refined and cut down. We have actually meant taint social funding.

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Despite the cut in social funding. -- retained social funding. We tend

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to know local situations. If somebody has got a house that has

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flooded we are likely to know about that well and we can respond

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quickly. As a Conservative, how do you defend that reduction? Because

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it has gone up and up. The social funding is a crisis fund for

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somebody actually in a crisis. It is not all about food banks and

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furniture reclamation. It is about helping people through the crisis.

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It does not help people on welfare. Change it so that you have got less

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of a dependency but surely do not cut money at the same time.

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Everybody has got to face up to austerity and where we need to the

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going. The millionaires are getting a big handout. That is a choice the

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governance need not have taken. That could have maintained funding.

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not agree. We will come back to that, I am sure. Polling day on

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Thursday of course and many of us will be choosing our county

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councillors. But one Oxfordshire town has another item on the ballot

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paper - a referendum on its neighbourhood plan. It is only the

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second time one of these has been held - and as Tristan Pascoe

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reports, it is all about local planning for local folk. This is an

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ancient and historic market town. Notable residents include the Irish

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poet WB Yeats and the late Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees. For many

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years, planning in village-macro has been the responsibility of the South

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Oxfordshire district Council. -- Mac came in Oxford. -- tame in Oxford.

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Under the district council core strategy, the bulk of 775 homes

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required would go here, the Greenfield on the edge of town. But

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the council have said that is too many new homes concentrated on one

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greenfield site. They are using localism powers to trigger a

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referendum to have a greater say on where the homes will be cited. The

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campaign said it is what localism is all about. It is an opportunity for

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asked to determine our future. We get the opportunity to look at sites

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in the community. The whole community will be involved in

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consultation. Self-determination? Absolutely. It should be taken as

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closely as possible to the people affected. The number of houses

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needed was dictated by the South East of England development agency,

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now-defunct. Opponents say the strategy should be examined again.

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The figures that came out of the organisation were predicated on the

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assumption of things which are against government policy. They said

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that they are going to reduce immigration. Why have the figures

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which have been put in train by this organisation still been used?

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might say forcing a referendum is just legitimised not in my backyard

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approaches. By engaging in the process we can say no to

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development. But we did not want houses in our backyard. The whole

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community is sharing the load and taking it on board. They have got

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together and looked at the good of the town has a whole and we think it

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is easier to integrate newcomers if they are in the smaller pockets of

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new developments instead of one big estate. At a similar referendum in

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Cumbria last month, 90% were in favour of a plan drawn up by parish

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council. Will people go with the South Oxfordshire district Council

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strategy, or should local people have the final say? People in the

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local area must have a say. They are not going to the living here forever

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perhaps but of course they should have a say. I think they should in

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time. Will you support the referendum? Yes, I think so, in

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time. I think they take more notice of what people say in the town but

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what people have two say is not always sensible. I would rather that

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the council decided. You would be voting no? Yes.If approved in the

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referendum, the district council will be legally obliged to accept

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the town 's neighbourhood plan has policy. Remember that although it

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has been called a plan it is not a plan but a series of objectives.

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They are often very vague. We have said it is punching above its

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weight. Community groups up and down the country will be watching this

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vote very closely indeed. One Dorset Parish confirms it is considering a

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referendum and the battle against new housing on greenbelt land will

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the blue skies. We will talk about the Oxfordshire town punching its

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weight. It is a charter of not in my backyard in its way. What are you

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doing here and what are you doing next door? Have we started? !Are

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they punching above their weight? What they are doing is using The

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Localism Act and they are changing the details of where development

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should be in the borough. But what they cannot do is actually address

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the strategic issues about what is happening in that borough. But I

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think the Green party has always favoured giving people a greater

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local say. But if everybody has their say, does it not become

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panicky? Well, heaven forbid. -- an archaic. -- anarchy. It is looking

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at economic growth as the holy Grail. And if you have got a

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planning application, that is growth and that is good and you must give

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it permission. That is the reality of the planning system the

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Government wants. If we have got a chance to give the communities some

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voice back, I think we should take it. But please, do not let the

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thought go that it is going to the everything that the community once.

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Because the Government and the developers will actually be calling

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the shots. That is the issue, isn't it? We are going to get a lot of

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development and we are likely to get a knot of house-building. We have

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got to see Morehouse holding and it has got to the affordable housing.

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Not the latest gimmick. -- more house building. There will always be

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a need for central government to have a role in planning the

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development of a very compacted and densely populated area. This is what

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you call a gimmick... The important thing is transparency. The final --

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the final point that he did not make is for the Secretary of State to

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impose his or her wheel is down to the planning Inspectorate. That is

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behind all of this. At the end of the day it does not matter what

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South oxygen district Council one. The will of national government will

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be enforced. -- South Oxfordshire Council want. That has not been made

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clear to local communities. I think it is important that people have a

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local voice and that they can say what they want. If we are ever to

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get out of this recession, we need growth. We have got local

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Conservatives saying, yes, but not here. I am not saying that. I am

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saying bring it on in Poole in Dorset. We have got a massive

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regeneration site and we want better jobs and homes for our children.

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am not sure about bring it on as a headline for the Green party!

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is a loss. If we look at these housing figures which Eric pickles

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has said do not exist, by the time it gets to the planning

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Inspectorate, they will say that they are the last regional housing

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statistics we have got. That is what they are going to work on. Really,

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you can ask for... You can ask for more housing but you cannot ask for

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less. You cannot, and why should you when we know what the figures are? I

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have got a son and I want him to have somewhere to live and to have

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an affordable home and I want him to stay living close to me and where he

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can afford to do a job. We have talked about this idea of being a

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figleaf. What they are actually doing is preventing house-building.

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It is not the planning inspector. The community do not say that. They

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have said that he will have a say and you can influence but they do

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not say that you cannot have it. It is not a charter. It cannot be

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dismissed. It is a well researched and well constructive document and I

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congratulate them on their work. But the important thing will be, will

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developers take it seriously and work with their community? Is the

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plan commends it? Not mean every detail... They will go straight to

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the inspector... What about the Green party buying houses for Elaine

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's macro children? We want more money allocated to affordable

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housing but on a slightly different point, the Green party are looking

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to see how this message of supermarkets in village centres, how

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that is actually received. Will we get Sainsbury's and Tesco is

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contesting it? Thank you very much. Now, the regular round-up of the

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political week in the South in 60 all of the newspapers at the start

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of the week apologising for racist comments about inner-city pupils

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coming to a controversial boarding school in the South Downs. He

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resigned from the Conservative party but is still on the ballot paper. A

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second row with David laws, accusing councils in affluent parts of the

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South for wasting the pupil premium. Wokingham say they are trying to

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reduce the attainment gap. We are talking about housing and what the

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children are accessing. Wednesday, veterans from Redding

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protesting at Westminster and hunger strikes in a fight for better

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pensions. Why can we not provide for ourselves? And Ed Miliband made what

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some people called a daring raid to the Prime Minister's constituency.

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Rising living costs, even in wealthier parts of the country. They

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will come a stage where a lot of these things, we are talking about

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hidden poverty and we have talked about the trust, that even in the

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Prime Minister's constituency, we have got a Labour district

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councillor. And while the Gurkhas are wealthy in their own country, in

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this country, they are poor. Is it about the gap between rich and poor?

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I tend not to look at gaps. We have two make sure that everybody can men

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train a lifestyle. If you are affluent, you are talking about a

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wealthy councillor that has said that all housing is affordable and I

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can afford mind that actually know that the else could. We have got to

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make sure we have got a safety net. Whether that is the Gurkhas, or

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somebody that is sleeping rough. We have got to have something in

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society to help and support them. But I cannot differentiate between

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affluent and not. But that is not to say we have not got deprivation in

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affluent areas. I am trying to get that message to the Minister.

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have you failed? I think I got a good hearing. You are still trying.

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I support the message of the Gurkhas. They have been organised

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and they have got a case. But they are better off than many people in

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Nepal and they knew that when they joined out. They have been given

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rights in Britain and they think that they are entitled to parity.

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And I think the majority of people support that as well. The judgement

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about poverty and affluence, that is much more subjective and we have got

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a lot of stereotyping happening. But living costs in any area must be

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assessed. It is not just a case of how much you earn but what you have

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got to support. Housing costs in the South are much higher. Both of you,

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thank you for coming in and being my guests today. We will see you after

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