Episode 45 Show Me the Money

same to to identify the baby. Those are the headlines. Now it's

time for Show Me the Money. This is your weekly guide to who is

making the cash, how they're doing it. He boar red a few quid off his

dad to buy the building firm he works for Steve Morgan is chairman

of red row. Kevin Green says he's one of the UK's biggest residential

landlords and Louise Cooper works for BCG partners. No U-turn, but

the Government is tweaking plans for the economy. Laws on unfair

dismissal could be overhauled. More small businesses may be let off

expensive pensions to provide retirement savings. And it might

try to build a recovery with acres of Government-owned land handed

over to developers. Kevin, we start with you for the discussion on this.

Those things that we outline, do they make a plan for growth? Yes,

they certainly do. The housing market's gone stagnant. We need to

free up the planning permissions and the land to encourage a supply

/demand equality. Extreme shortage will only prop housing prices in

the medium term. 3,000 acres can make all that difference? It will

make a big difference. This slacking of planning law, the

document of a thousand page sz now down to 25, long overdue. Steve,

from Redrow, the release of land, you're from another perspective in

the property business, what do you think? I'm very much in favour,

anything the Government can do to get the housing industry moving has

got to be welcome. But 100,000 homes sounds a lot, but it's a drop

in the ocean compared to what we need. Government's owns statistics

talk of 250,000 new homes per annum. We are building at levels the

lowest since 1923. The population of Great Britain in 1923 was 40

million people. Today it's 65 million people. So in real terms,

we're building the lowest we've built for centuries. I keep reading

about developers such as yours having huge banks of land, horde

add way in the background. It's just rubbish. Part of the issue of

land banks is that some builders, flankfully not us, some are stuck

with planning permission for city centre apartments, but the market

isn't there any more. The real issue is when planning was given in

the past it was given in too large a lump, thousands of houses here.

It's not economical to develop them. No big superdevelopment. Something

a lot smaller, more intimate? you know what, we wonder why our

village schools and shops and pubs are closing, and the reality is the

planning system has stagnated growth in villages and small towns

for decades. That's why there's been no growth and people then

wonder why the shops close or the schools close or the pubs close.

The reality is you can't stand still. You have to grow. That's

what the new national planning policy framework is all about. It's

saying to local people, local government, you have got to provide

housing in your locality and you decide where it goes. We'll pick up

and develop that thought later in the programme. Louise, sticking

with growth and how you get recovery in the economy, instead of

tackling red tape and releasing land, which these two have got

quite excited about, is it more important that the Bank of

England's meeting this week and could decide to release another 50

billion into the economy? This is quantitative easing to MPC meeting

this Thursday is expecting, either this month or next month to come up

with more money printing. The jury's really out on QE as to

whether it works or not. It might flood the system with liquidity,

but small businesses still can't get their hands on it. So, to be

fair, the economy needs much more than QE2. That's a critical point.

It's all very well the Bank of England giving lots of cash to the

banks and taking their distressed assets off their hands. Doesn't

mean it trickles down to the level you're operating. Louise is spot on

with that comments. First-hand I've found the problem of trying to

borrow money from the banks recently. Until the banks start

lending us money to grow businesses and start businesses, the economy

won't the solved. Thank youment time now for that period of the

programme where we look at some of the stoirz from the week that you

maybe would rather not know about - it's boom or bust. You might think

Europe's bankers have a fair bit of work at the moment, but none of it.

This is the annual international table tennis tournament of European

bankers, taking place in year in Austria. Greece managed to send a

contingent, can you believe it? They lost to Germany. How much is

that doggy on the surfboard? This is the third annual dog surfing

event, held in California. They're attempting to break two world

records, the longest wave ridden by a dog in open water and most dogs

on a single board. Some of these mutts look like they're just having

trouble going in the right direction. What's fat and screams

and wobbles when it's at high speed? Supersized passengers at

Thorpe Park in Surrey. It's installed bigger seats on one of

its most popular rides to accommodate plumper pleasure

seekers. Universal Studios in Orlando has had to do something

similar, modifying seats on the Harry Potter roller coaster.

We start with Steve and the table tennis and I assume the bankers had

a good reason for being there, maybe they were letting off a bit

of stress, a bit of steam? Ping- pong bankers, that makes the mind

boggle. The only thing I could say, I wish they'd bat some mortgages

around, particularly for first-time buyers. That has been the biggest

problem with why the housing turnover has dropped to the levels

it has dropped to historic levels, lack of mortgages. It's all down to

we can't get mortgages out of the bank. If they were hitting pound

coins you would have been happier. Bat a few mortgages to first time

buyers and get the housing industry moving. It creates five jobs for

every new house built. Half a million people, 1.5% on GDP,

problem solved. Some of your best friends are bankers. I had friends

all over the world in all kinds of professions. I work an a trading

floor. I like the idea of playing ping-pong to relieve stress. It

gets stressful on occasions. wonder whether bankers get such a

hard time from everyone, they can't even indulge in everyday

recreational activity without people wagging their fingers at

them in disapproval. Exactly. I don't even work for a bank and you

asked me the question! You get the baen for them by proxy. I'm going

to ask about the surfer dogs. Some of those dogs didn't really look

terribly happy. They didn't look they wanted to be there on those

boards. How do you motivate people in business to do things that they

really don't want to do? I think the first school of thought for

myself is you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That was the case

with that particular instance. You'll be putting a fine cliche box

for that. Motivation can only come from the person themselves. We have

to empower people to realise that's a passion that they want to achieve.

Telling somebody to do something is no good. Once they realise they

want to do it from their own guts and heart and soul, that's the key.

What's the best motivational technique you've used? Money is a

good motivator. Louise, best motivational technique? I'm not

going there. Fine. This is a family show after all. Motivational

techniques? You're in a solid, decent business here, does this all

sound like rubbish to you? No, it doesn't. I agree with Kevin, money

is a great motivator. Pride in the job as well. We like to build,

think we build the best product in the industry and we enjoy handing

our new homes over to our customers. I think all our team get a great

deal of pleasure out of that. It's very motivational. Louise, the

people on the theme rides who, you know, I can say this without any

sense of shame, some of us need a little bit more room. Extra room. I

have no idea who you're talking about. I'm talking about myself.

There's no denial about this one. It show that's when you try to

predict what your customers are going to be like in the future,

sometimes the predictions are a bit off the mark. I've been in my

working career now for two decades, and what I find fascinating is how

quickly the world of business moves. And how some firms that used to be

these fabulously brilliant companies, their competitive

position deteriorates rapidly. You look at the FTSE 100 and how many

companies that were, that started off there 30 years ago, they've

lost their position completely. I find it extraordinary how big

companies seem to lose their creativity and lose their

understanding their customer really well and fail to adapt. Because

they stop listening to the customers? Or they're not looking

at the broader world around them? don't know what it is. But very few

companies adapt and change quickly enough for the fast moving world in

which we're in. How closely do you listen to your customers? Very

closely. Everyone says that. It's true! If I supply a house which a

customer doesn't want they're not going to buy it. I have to lock at

the customer needs 100%. Let's spend a bit more time talking to

Steve now, the big boss here, chairman of house builder red row.

You were talking about planning. The accusation is and forgive the

glibness of this, that you are only happy when you're concreting over

the countryside. That's quite right. Concrete over the lot. It's

absolute rubbish. It is complete schizophrenia The reality is house

builders, land banks and their output is 75% brown field land.

That's the current rate and it's been that way for years. Ever since

records began have house builders ever built on more than 50% green

field land, ever. And let's just say they did. Let's just say that

they built 250,000 new homes for the next 25 years, which is what

the Government proinjects we need to do, and let's say half of it

does go on green field land, in that scenario, we would just build

.7 of 1% on green field land of the English land mass. Why build on any

green field land at all. You go around any major town or city and

you'll see lots of land that's sitting there that is either not

used at all or under used. It's brown field land. Why not use that?

We are doing. 75% of all output is on breen field land. Why not make

it higher than that It's impractical. If you want to build

in the West Country for example, there is no breen field -- brown

field. The West Country has no industrial background to be able to

do so. London, by contrast, 1 hundred% of development in London

is on brown field land. It depends where you are in the country.

That's why you cannot have higher statistics than that. The higher

factor though, house builders like putting houses on green field land

because that's where the nice land is. It's got the beautiful view.

You can charge a higher price. at all. House builders like to

build houses where people live, in chimney pot areas, ie areas of

population. We don't like to build houses in the middle of the

countryside because the demand isn't there. We much prefer to

build houses in urban areas where people live. We have no problem

building houses on brown field land. The industry is building 75% of its

output on brown field land to date. Inevitably to meet growth, we will

have to build on more green field land. As I say, even since records

began, and you go back to the '80s when house building was more than

double what it is today, even then, the industry never built on more

than 50% green field land. This hysterical rubbish that's being put

about, urban sprawl and concreting over the countryside, is exactly

that. Please, for those people against the national planning

policy framework, stick to the facts and stop this silly rhetoric.

Reported in a paper today that among the planning changes being

considered by the government is removing the obligation that

currently sits with developers but when they Deary decent sized

development they will build a certain number of affordable homes,

or social housing -- do a decent sized. They say half of social

housing built every year is built because of that one rule. If the

rule is removed does it not make it harder for hard-pressed people to

afford? These are only proposals at the moment but what is happening is

it is putting back decision-making like this into the hands of local

people and governments. It is up to local people to decide whether they

want social housing and poor levels they want. There are national needs

here. There are, but that is what the Government has done with the

new homes bonus, they have doubled the amount of new homes bonuses for

social homes as they have for private homes, so it encourages

local authorities to provide social homes when they draw up plans. We

are planning nothing else but building a proportion of social

homes into the future. It is interesting to hear you argue in

favour of local planning because often the planning process tells us

local communities do not want stuff in their back yard, they need

national intervention to force them to take homes. Under the old system

that is right. But under the new system he is saying that each local

authority has to draw up a local plan that meets the local needs.

Only 30 per cent of local authorities have a current local

plan. We have a situation where there is two year land supplies. We

have just been refused planning permission for housing on a

chemical plant in Leeds because they did not want housing. This is

the kind of the posture situation builders operate in. The government

is saying Local Authority is can no longer avoid the issue. The

presumption in favour of sustainable development only kicks

in were Local Authority is do not fulfil their statutory duties.

you have a good, or bad week this week? Did your business to

something good, or were you part of You have been told that all growth

is the same. All ways of doing We do not really care how they will

fix the economy, or the whole situation, our job is to make money

for people. Personally I have been dreaming of this moment for three

years. I go to bed every night dreaming of another recession,

another moment like this. Are you on the side of the wealth creators,

or the asset-strippers? The producers, or predators? This is

not a time right now to wishful think that the government will sort

things out. The Government's don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules

the world. Does it? Our used to work there. Not that I know of. --

I used to work there. The euro-zone crisis, are they getting on their

knees to Goldman Sachs, or Angela Merkel? Of course it does not rule

the world. When Ed Miliband talks about good and bad business and the

government choosing a positively good businesses, he means the city,

doesn't he? I don't know who he means. I think making a moral

judgement about business is difficult. Do you think the defence

industry is bad? What about the tens of thousands of people who

work in that industry? Do you say it boos, cigarette and betting a

bad businesses? Try selling that to the Labour Party electorate, or

many of them, all of which enjoy a drink on a Friday night and a

cigarette on a Saturday night. We have laws in this country and have

businesses abide by those laws, that should be it. Moral judgments

are not... Is it not time for the city to be brought to to check?

many businesses have cost us. One person's terrorist is another

person's freedom fighter. Would you describe yourself as an asset

stripper, or predator? I would not but Ed Miliband clearly does.

it distress you? He is an idiot. He has lost reality on this. He is

putting two segments in place there, one as producers, one as predators.

It is not that simple. Business is integrated and whether we are in

the supply side, production, or one the end of a wealth creator, as he

calls it, so I do take offence. Does it matter? He is the Leader of

the Opposition. He is not going to go to a white wall apart --

department tomorrow and draw applause. It does matter because

public perception matters and people look up to leaders. If the

means a definition, make it clear. The way that comes across is people

like myself would be asset- strippers and predators. I think he

Everyone in business should know it is good to save money and also to

make a bit of cash. With tips to get you started, here is death.

the time you have paid for petrol, insurance and the MoT, having a car

can put a real dent in your finances. But there are things you

can do to try to get some of the cost back. The number of items you

can rent out to others is going up. If you have a room, or driveway

going spare there are plenty of people who will pay you money to

use them. If you are not using your car all the time, you could even

rent attack, too. This website allows drivers to rent out their

car whenever they are not using it. Many people do not use their cars

but often, on average one hour a day, so with the service they can

rent out their cars and see how much they can make. When a booking

is confirmed both sides are messaged on e-mail, text, they are

told where to pick up the car. Let's meet somebody who has done

this. Ian rents out his car regularly. Do you make much money

from this? On to �300 a month. I usually do it between two and three

times a week. Have you had any problems? There was one occasion

where the car got damaged on the door. The company were really

helpful, to go to we're and fix it on their insurance. No problem.

might not fancy renting out your car to a stranger so how about

getting adverts on the side, because some companies will pay you

to have your logo -- their logo on the side of your car. There are

lots of ways to save money as well. We all know cars are expensive,

particularly petrol, but have you got any ideas for how people can

save money on them? Shop around when you buy petrol but apart from

that you can keep an eye on how you drive. It is amazing how much

petrol you can save if you do not break or accelerate sharply. Make

sure the tyres are always pumped up, that can help. Insurance is a big

issue because the cost has gone up by 40 per cent. Is there anything

you can do to cut that down? Those who have experienced the biggest

price rises a young drivers, particularly young male drivers. We

are starting to see the reintroduction of pay-as-you-go

insurance. It means you have a little black box in your car the

report -- that records how you drive, that could bring premiums

down. If you are not young, what can you do? You can still save

money. It is often said to shop around but I think you should shop

around and be smart about it. So no cut a few price comparison sides.

Taught we specialist Motion -- motor insurance broker and if you

get a quote, go back to your insurer to see if they will Majid.

With the you want to make money with your car, or just save a few

pennies, there are many things you can do with your car to try to help