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For centuries, they Mayor has been the centre of municipal power. It | :00:24. | :00:32. | |
has been warned by Lord Mayor is for years, what a great privilege for me | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
to have it for one year. Now the people are collecting an additional | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
Mayor, for the West of England. What will that person do? That person | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
will be responsible for developing the economy of the region. Almost a | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
million of us from the great cities of Bristol and Bath to the busy | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
towns of Thornbury will choose at Metro Mayor. The winner will compete | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
with the northern Para has and the new Midlands engine, for jobs and | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
investment, for Bath, Bristol and beyond. First, they have to convince | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
the voters. I don't think we should have won. Waste of money. Would-be | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
employer may? I wouldn't mind having a couple of grand each month. The | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
long-term budget is ?1 million, control over jobs, transport and | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
where we live. There aren't enough decent homes, not nearly enough. | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
Fixing that will be right at the top of the new Metro Mayor's to do list. | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
From our safe harbours... To the dangerous waters of the River | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
Severn, can a Metro Mayor broaden our horizons? | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
Tonight, the six people who want to be Metro Mayor are here, | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
at the Bristol and Bath Science Park in South Gloucestershire. | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
In a special debate, we will be finding out who's got | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
what it takes to represent this vibrant part of the world on the | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
Hello welcome. It is good to be with you. | :02:05. | :02:33. | |
This is their interview with you, the voters. | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
Their chance to impress you as you make your | :02:37. | :02:38. | |
So, let's meet the people who want to be mayor | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
For the Conservatives, Tim Bowles, a councillor | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
For Ukip, Aaron Foot, who is a farmer. | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
The environmental consultant Darren Hall | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
She is a Diversity and Equality Manager for the NHS. | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
The only independent candidate is the businessman | :03:04. | :03:05. | |
and hospital chairman, that's John Savage. | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
And the ex-Bristol West MP and former government minister | :03:09. | :03:10. | |
Stephen Williams is standing for the Liberal Democrats. | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
I should does tell you that our audience tonight is made up of | :03:18. | :03:34. | |
community campaigners, local business people and supporters of | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
the candidates, some of their families are here as well and they | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
are welcome. Of course the political dynamic completely change this week | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
after the Prime Minister surprised us all by collie that General | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
Election. With that in mind, let's take our first question. The Prime | :03:52. | :03:59. | |
Minister is calling a surprise election in June, will this and | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
Brexit overshadow the role of the Metro Mayor and also the election in | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
itself, will it affect your focus on the job? My fears at the moment and | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
I am a Remainer through and through, is that this role is our safety net | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
and we need to make sure that whatever happens, the region and its | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
security is put at the top of the priority list. Whatever happens with | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
Brexit? All right, Tim Bowles, was Theresa May right to go to the | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
country and will it overshadow what we are doing tonight? We have been | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
asked how we think it will affect the election. I welcome the General | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
Election in that sense because I think it will help us raise the | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
profile of what is happening here. It will certainly mean we have more | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
media opportunities and I think it is a really positive thing for us to | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
be able to go and take our message is out. I voted to remain. Your | :04:53. | :05:03. | |
message to Theresa May is what? My message is to get the best deal for | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
the country and that is what will be working for. John Savage, are you | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
concerned about voter turnout? Yes I am. I think there is quite a lot of | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
voter boredom with politics in general and it is interesting how | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
quickly the magnet of central politics can draw the minds of | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
people away. This is a really unique opportunity. I think it strengthens | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
me to understand that we have got to make it work. The idea that we can | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
get more say about our own future is very important and it is a shame | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
that there has been this rather big hiatus. It is a spur to keep going. | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
Stephen Williams. I think it is a cynical and opportunist moved by the | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
Prime Minister to call an election, there is no pressing national reason | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
to do so. The only reason Theresa May is doing this is because she | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
recognises the fact that in Jeremy Corbyn led party, it is the best | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
scenario they could dream of in order to call a snap election. Three | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
years earlier than she needs to. In order to win a political advantage. | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
There is no pressing Brexit reason for doing so, it is simply naked | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
party advantage. However, are now in that situation | :06:19. | :06:38. | |
and the Liberal Democrats and myself and the selection will be putting | :06:39. | :06:40. | |
forward how we can still resist a Brexit, I am not in favour of a soft | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
Brexit, I think Brexit will be damaging to the regional economy. We | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
rely on our European partners for our trading links and if I am | :06:47. | :06:48. | |
elected as regional Mayor, I will be putting forward a case to put | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
forward to the Prime Minister to say this is what you need to protect us | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
against. It has put you on the spot, because you wanted to stand as a | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
candidate in Bristol as a Liberal Democrat and you're standing for | :06:58. | :06:59. | |
this, what would you prefer? I hope to win this election on May the 4th | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
and I think I have a good chance of doing so. And if I win this job, it | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
will actually be more important than a member of Parliament. I was a | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
member of Parliament for ten years. This is a huge opportunity for | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
someone to make a difference on the issues that used to frustrate me | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
when I was a councillor and an MP. I relish the challenge of winning this | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
position. So you would prefer this job? I would actually. Darren Hall. | :07:26. | :07:33. | |
I think you picked up a really important point, because the UK is | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
the most centrally controlled country in Europe and this is the | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
biggest opportunity in a generation that we have to have some control | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
back here. That has never been more important than now, when the | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
government are trying to set a autocracy up in London over the next | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
couple of years. People now have an opportunity on May the 4th to set | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
the scene for this region to be a beacon for equality, as opposed to | :08:02. | :08:03. | |
the kind of right wing mentality that we are getting from London at | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
the moment. And your views on Brexit? I would class myself as | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
European. I feel European and feel part of that family of countries who | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
were working together on a global scale. This idea that we are going | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
to go back to the Great Britain of old is completely ridiculous. We | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
need to work together on global problems. Don't think that we | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
support the people of this area by doing anything other than trying to | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
take positive steps. You would support Brexit? I am very clear that | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
we ought to have the opportunity to vote on what the deal is as part of | :08:44. | :08:50. | |
this process. We must move on. Lesley Mansell. Well, it is | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
affecting the election already because what we have found in the | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
Labour Party is that lots more people have got involved in the door | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
knocking and talking to people. It has really enthused the Labour Party | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
membership and the Co-op party membership. But I think it will also | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
do is hopefully in those more of the community to get involved. We have | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
found some people on the doorstep you are not quite sure about the | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
Metro Mayor but we are starting to get quite pointed questions asked of | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
us and so we should. I think we're in this position now because the | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
Conservative government have made a right hash of negotiations with the | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
Europeans, they have put their demands on the floor, on the table | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
and the European Union has said, we are not having that. 27 countries | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
have said we do not want that. Are you the person who can actually | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
mediate between the difficult political exchanges that there will | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
be? Well, I have been a trade unionist for 30 years now and one of | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
my fortes is trying to solve problems, to bring people together | :09:58. | :10:00. | |
and I can demonstrate how I have done that. You would do that with | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
the Conservatives as well? Absolutely. I have worked with them | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
as a local councillor. Aaron Foot. I think it is overshadowing it. We are | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
trying to get the message out of what the Metro Mayor is an people do | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
not know what it will involve, the powers that it will give us here in | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
the region and I think if we can try and engage with people and get the | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
fact that we will be taking on transport and housing and taking on | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
education and things like that, it would be an important message. It | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
has been overshadowed now by a government that wants a second | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
referendum technically on a General Election and I feel that the Tories | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
want to have a bigger mandate to have a soft Brexit. They don't want | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
to have a higher Brexit and they probably don't even want to have a | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
Brexit, they want to try and get the hard Brexiteers daily to down and | :10:54. | :10:55. | |
that is why they are pushing forward is to try and increase the majority | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
and I think it has been overshadowing the selection. You are | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
in favour of hard Brexit? I am a true Brexiteer. I would like to see | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
powers back to the people. Thank you. Let's take our next question | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
and it is from Richard Jordan. Good evening. What I would like to ask is | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
why do we need another Mayor with all the attendant staff and costs | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
and expenses? Particularly as the proposed Mayor does not include the | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
whole of the Greater Bristol area. Thank you for your question. Let's | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
talk to the Deputy Leader of North Somerset Council. North Somerset | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
have decided not to be part of the new Metro Mayor set up. Why is that? | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
Why aren't you joining not. I have to agree with the previous bigger. | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
We can see no reason for a Metro Mayor. We have worked perfectly well | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
with our colleagues in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. We have been | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
part of the West of England partnership. We worked on joint | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
transport, we have never had a quarrel in the ten years we have | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
been doing it and we have made real progress. There is ?1 billion of | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
government money over 30 years. That money, that part remains the same | :12:23. | :12:25. | |
but North Somerset is not part of it. Fine, we don't have a problem | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
with that because at the end of the day, the other local authorities are | :12:31. | :12:31. | |
going to have to borrow a great deal more than that | :12:32. | :12:52. | |
to be able to do things and we wouldn't want to be part of the | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
debt. Can I make one other point and that is that it is naive to think | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
that a Metro Mayor is going to tell the government what to do, the | :13:00. | :13:01. | |
government, whatever party it is, will tell the Metro Mayor what to do | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
or they will not give the money they think they are getting. Stephen | :13:05. | :13:06. | |
Williams, do you agree? I don't. It is a big mistake to opt out of this | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
arrangement and I think the residents will regret it perhaps | :13:10. | :13:11. | |
before their political leaders. In order to make this region work, | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
whoever is elected to this position will have to have a good | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
constructive relationship with all of our neighbours, certainly with | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
North Somerset but also with the historic county of Somerset, | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
Wiltshire and Gloucestershire as well. With the Welsh Government on | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
some issues as well, in order to rebalance the power of | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
decision-making away from our overcentralised system of government | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
that we have had for so long, to establishing strong leadership in | :13:37. | :13:37. | |
this region. The ?62,000 a year salary, is that | :13:38. | :13:46. | |
the beginning of it or is there more money? The important thing is it | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
actually makes somebody accountable for the investment and | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
opportunities, clearly defined in what those powers are. For us to be | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
able to start delivering for the region. The whole point of having a | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
regional mayors that we actually realise where there are strategic | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
roles, housing, transport, jobs and skill challenges, that allow us to | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
think collectively by working with our leaders to come up with those | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
solutions. That has to be done in a constructive way. It's one of the | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
things that has come out very much... It's another layer of | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
management, isn't it? The Tories are taking out managers from the NHS, | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
and putting them in. This is another layer? It's about making somebody | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
directly responsible for those strategic decisions, and somebody | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
who was then working with our leaders who are here this evening, | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
somebody who will have that skill and experience and expertise. That's | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
worth the extra money? None of us here on the stage today make any | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
decisions about the salary. Darren Hall, we have had a lot of anger | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
from viewers about this. Saying, what on earth do we need this | :14:53. | :15:01. | |
position for? I think, I have to say that North Somerset have made a | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
mistake. I agree, that in not being part of it, and the reason why is | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
that this area works as a system. Economists will talk about it as a | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
functional market area. People commute in and out of Bristol. | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
Because that is the way the system works. If you look at housing and | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
transport, part of the problem is because we have tried to break it | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
up. At the heart of some of the problems that are faced by this | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
functional market area. I'm pretty sure that by the time we get round | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
to, in four years' time, the voters of North Somerset will be saying to | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
their counsel, we had to be part of this agreement. We are being left | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
out. And you have said you will do it for half the money? What I have | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
said is that, why should I be paid more than the average of the region, | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
to highlight the fact that the average wage in this region is | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
around about ?30,000 a year. Its link to housing. If you want to try | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
to get a mortgage, four times ?30,000 a year does not enable you | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
to buy a house in this region. I don't think the average is dirty, I | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
think it's less. We have some other council leaders in our audience | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
tonight. -- I don't think the average is 30. The newly elected | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
Mayor of Bristol, are you worried that you might be big footed by one | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
of these guys? I'm not worried at all. What I need to hear from the | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
candidates are some clarity over how they see this position, relating to | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
the existing leaders of the authority. And the sovereignty | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
within our own authorities now. I have been concerned that some of the | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
language talks about coming in, being in charge, even just now I | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
have had a number of candidates talk about their relationship to | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
government with no reference to the existing authorities. We have an | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
elected ads leaders of our area with a mandate. I have said, one of the | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
most important qualities of the Metro Mayor will be a emotional | :17:04. | :17:05. | |
intelligence. Four of us, in terms of combined authority. We have | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
developed a coherent set of relationships. What we are saying, | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
anyone who comes in, you can't come in like a big but because actually, | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
we are here. If you disturb those relationships, it will cause a | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
problem. You will have to be very smart about this. One thing I | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
learned today is that you three will be the vice Metro Mayor. Of course. | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
I have been elected to Bristol, Tim has been elected to Baines, Matthew | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
is elected in self authorship. We are elected to run our authorities. | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
-- in South Gloucestershire. This is not just about legislative powers. | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
The areas over which you have control are quite limited. I want to | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
come back to the other two as well. But we must go back to the | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
candidates. Lesley Mansell, your thoughts? What I'm seeing on the | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
doorstep, people are sick of authority. They are struggling to | :18:03. | :18:04. | |
find decent housing and having to deal with the inequality in the job | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
market. The daily commute. This is an opportunity to bring somebody in | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
who will work with the three authorities, as Marvin Rees has just | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
outlined, to try and get a better deal not just for one group within | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
the area but with everyone in the area. John Savage? This conversation | :18:23. | :18:31. | |
just proves that this is not a job for a conventional politician. It's | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
wrong. I must say, I absolutely understand the point about | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
respecting the other elected people. It is absolutely right. This is a | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
job to make it work. Let's be fair, you say you work together. You have | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
all over 30 years, and I in my business group have tried to do | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
things, failed to have ambition. If you have failed to do enough. You | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
have! By our standards, if it was not for my group, we would not have | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
developed harbour-side, we would not have gotten the shopping centre. You | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
are too slow. I admit that it is not about bossing you around, but you | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
need is support. I've been elected for one year. Let's talk to Tim | :19:14. | :19:22. | |
Warren and Matthew Riddle. Do you accept that? You have been slow and | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
you need a mature man to come along? That's total rubbish. -- you need to | :19:27. | :19:37. | |
a Metro Mayor. We are a team. We get on well. Three of us sitting at this | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
table. We are conservatives, Marvin is Labour. You would not know. We | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
want to move things on. I don't know if anyone knows how the voting | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
system works, but Mayor cannot come along and dictate. They will have to | :19:53. | :20:00. | |
work with us. Will you be able to get along? I think there is one | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
point, by the sound of it. I'm happy to work with anybody to advance the | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
South Gloucestershire and the West of England. Whoever is elected, we | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
will work closely and meaningfully with anybody to make this work. | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
Aaron Foot? I think you're quite right. It's about facilitating a | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
roll and listening to the people, working with leaders of all three | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
areas. We can't forget North Somerset. They are still in this | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
area, it has Bristol Airport and Avonmouth. We can't forget them. We | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
have to work and facilitate the role. This is where direct democracy | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
comes in. Why would you facilitate North Somerset when they don't want | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
to join in? Because they are still part of the greater area. You still | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
have to listen to them. We had to work as a coherent team. You would | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
like more referendums? Yes, I would like more say. What sort of | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
referendum? It depends what people want. More bus services, cheaper bus | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
services, no park and ride in Bathampton Meadows? Let's have our | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
say. Tim? My whole philosophy and everything I have done in work, | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
socially and politics, has been about working together. That is the | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
only way we do get good results. I am very lucky to have worked with | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
Matthew and him very closely for a long time. I know they work closely | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
with Marvin, and I know they get, from everything I hear, they work | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
really well together. It is critical that somebody joins you as a team, | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
and works together will stop by doing that, we will get the right | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
decisions on this key things, transport and housing. You could | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
work with them. Could you also work with a Labour government? Yes, | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
because ultimately we will be going along on behalf of everybody here. | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
In this room. With these three leaders, to make our case for the | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
right things for the future of the West of England. Stephen Williams. | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
You need to be a diplomat for this job. You have to get along with | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
these people and the government. And put the West country's case. They | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
have been less than flattering about some of your opponents? You do have | :22:09. | :22:15. | |
to be a diplomat in order to make a success of this job. In all the time | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
I have been politics, I have worked with people from other parties. | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
Going right back to when I was a very young councillor in the early | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
90s. I worked with Labour, Conservatives. Can you remind us of | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
your words about some of your fellow candidates? One of the things I | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
think the public are looking for in this election is, can they spot a | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
candidate who has got ideas about what they want to do? Can they | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
communicate what they want to do? It's really an insult to the | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
electorate, putting them up. That's what you said. You've never seen | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
such a... I use the word. I can tell you. Some of the party members of | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
the Labour candidates are even more disparaging to me in person about | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
their choice of candidate. I was simply reflecting that. In this job, | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
you have to work with people across political parties and I have done | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
that including a national government. Let's turn out to some | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
of the key powers that one of these candidates will have. Just a quick | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
show of hands, in the audience. How many of you came here by bus | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
tonight? I thought it might be. We have got one. I did not know there | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
was a boss running here. I don't know how you did it, but well done. | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
That brings us neatly to the subject of transport. Here is false report | :23:36. | :23:44. | |
from Robin Markwell. -- here is our first report. Westman, what West | :23:45. | :23:55. | |
Mayor? Do you know about that, the Metro Mayor? The Metro Mayor. No. | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
Some of the cab drivers at Bristol Temple Meads were still in the dark | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
over this new politician. Yet he or she will play a key role in tackling | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
some of the worst gridlock the country. What the traffic like here? | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
Horrendous. Very poor. Very hard to drive around. 40 years I've been a | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
cabbie. Last five or six years, it's been a nightmare. The winning | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
candidate will have to devise a transport plan for the region. They | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
will have control over key roads as well. That could mean a clean air | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
zone all a congestion charge. There is power over the buses. Handing out | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
franchises, if operators fail. What you think of public transport? | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
Really awful. Nothing is on time. The standard of service? No. There | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
don't seem to be enough buses and you can't actually tell when they | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
are going to arrive. The timing is bad. The price is increasing. It's | :24:54. | :25:01. | |
not great. It used to be 70p for a ticket, then 80p, then a pound, then | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
?1 20. It's going up too much. This government is ripping us off! Along | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
with the power comes money. A promise of 30 million a year for 30 | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
years to spend on infrastructure. Then there's the chance to raise | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
more by increasing taxes on business. So who can get our region | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
moving again? Now that is the billion pound question. Thanks to | :25:24. | :25:32. | |
Robin and our next question. On transport, that comes from Becky | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
Farmer. Good evening. I appreciate that there is no easy solution to | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
traffic congestion. If we need to get more traffic of our roads, why | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
can't we invest in an underground metro system? A tube, you mean? That | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
would be ambitious. John Savage? There are two things, in particular, | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
the cost. A tube would be enormously expensive. Our peculiar and | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
wonderful geography would make it quite difficult. It's a nice idea | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
but don't think it is the answer. There are answers, the existing work | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
that is being done is laudable. It goes some way to making change. But | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
there are other answers. I think I saw this tube, a tram, to certain | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
parts would be very useful. There are some other tricks. We do not | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
have public transport in England, in the UK, and we have to find ways of | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
making public transport more accessible. I do not think there is | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
any point in punishing car drivers, but we might use the car drivers | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
requirement to use their vehicle to help us pay for a system that would | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
get more people. A congestion charge. How would you get motorists | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
to pay? The guy we supported that. What we said was, the alternative | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
must be in place first. You talked of having a tram? Yes, there are | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
some obvious routes. How would you pay? From a combination of | :27:07. | :27:12. | |
investment, I think we would have a congestion charge. In the end, yes. | :27:13. | :27:20. | |
You haven't got the power is as much magic do that? A lot of this is | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
about negotiating new ways, change, a vision about how things should be | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
different. If we keep doing the same things we will get the same answers. | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
Lesley Mansell? In actual fact, there is already money coming into | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
this region to try to deal with the congestion. It has gone to the | :27:39. | :27:41. | |
authorities already mentioned. Some of that is about trying to get | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
people out of cars and onto public transport. What public transport? | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
There is lots we need to do about it. For example, make it greener so | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
it is less polluting. For me, we have to start thinking outside the | :27:55. | :27:57. | |
box. If we are going to make big changes, I think we should bring in | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
more flexible working. Not just about public authorities, but | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
businesses doing that as well. That could make a real difference. I | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
worked on a project at Bristol council a few years ago, one of the | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
big things to come out of that was the opening of the library on a | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
Sunday. It benefited an awful lot of people. I think if we have flexible | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
work we can make a lot of difference. On the actual | :28:23. | :28:24. | |
infrastructure, what would you do as a Labour candidate? | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
I would fill in the pot holes for a start. If you are psychos, it is a | :28:30. | :28:39. | |
nightmare. I thought you wanted underground trance. -- if you are a | :28:40. | :28:47. | |
psychologist. In Nottingham and they levied a charge on people parking at | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
work and what they did was they provided their service with that. I | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
think that will be something that will be looked at. You would look at | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
a tram system? There are lots of things we would look up but it would | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
depend what would work in different areas. Maybe that would work. I must | :29:05. | :29:14. | |
rush on. The only applause we have got is when you mentioned potholes. | :29:15. | :29:24. | |
Tim. Unfortunately, potholes will not fall under the remit of the | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
Mayor. The really important thing here. You could put the money into | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
pothole repairs. I know that our councils are investing a lot of | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
money in pothole repairs and I am not going to talk about that. Tell | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
me what you would do with public transport. We have to look at the | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
region, underground I don't think it will solve challenges. To solve | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
those problems, we need to have a whole host of integrated transport. | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
And the key again will be working with our council leaders and with | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
business importantly. Who would pay for it and what would it look like? | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
I am happy to go on to that. In different areas we will need | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
different solutions. We do need to invest in rail taking people off the | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
roads, improves air quality and improves our journey times. We need | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
to invest in what I call pinch points to look at how traffic flows. | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
When there is no one on the roads and I touched on this in an event | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
last week, during school holidays, transport is a lot easier. We need | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
to look up where those pinch points are and | :30:36. | :30:52. | |
invest in in the new strategic roads that we need to take that traffic | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
away and keep things moving. It needs to be a combination of new | :30:57. | :30:59. | |
rail, improved bus services, strategically and key road networks. | :31:00. | :31:01. | |
What about the congestion charge? No. It is not falling under our | :31:02. | :31:03. | |
remit. Stephen Williams. Candidates have to promise something realistic | :31:04. | :31:05. | |
and I do not think an underground system is realistic in our area but | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
there are lots of things we could do and we have missed out from doing in | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
the past. We need to make our buses more efficient by moving away from | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
pain by coins and notes to a cashless system so that you speed | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
them up along the main arterial roads. That will help contribute to | :31:22. | :31:28. | |
better air quality as well. There are railway stations that could be | :31:29. | :31:36. | |
reopened. And I am in favour of the clean air zone, air quality ought to | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
be a public health, it is a public health disaster and it ought to be a | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
major issue in this election. What about a congestion charge would you | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
ban diesels? Diesel is the problem because of the fine matter that is | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
admitted by diesel vehicles that deeply penetrate your lungs and the | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
NHS now says causes more premature deaths in our region than people who | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
are killed in road traffic accidents. I used to campaign | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
against tobacco, everyone gets up reading in tobacco | :32:06. | :32:33. | |
is bad for you and causes respiratory problems. Diesels, you | :32:34. | :32:35. | |
have not got the powers, but you could negotiate and try to ban them? | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
What I said in my manifesto is that this is an example whether regional | :32:39. | :32:40. | |
Mayor working with the council leaders would ask central government | :32:41. | :32:43. | |
for the ability to raise a charge of commercial vehicles especially or to | :32:44. | :32:45. | |
move to cleaner fuels. Darren Hall, this is your specialist subject. | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
What would you do? One point to say, thank you Becky for being so | :32:49. | :32:50. | |
ambitious in raising something that big and that is what we need, we | :32:51. | :32:52. | |
need big ideas for transport, because our thinking is as | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
gridlocked as our roads at the moment. What we have is a road | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
system with other bits of transport bolted on, so beware of politicians | :33:01. | :33:07. | |
bringing bold promises to meetings like this, because the reality is | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
over the next four years, this will be about setting a slight change in | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
direction of travel, so those cashless payment systems, I have | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
been to see about bringing in cleaner buses, but what we really | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
should be talking about is a transport revolution that looks at | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
the system which is based around non-car travel. And renew plea | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
powered automated vehicles, we should be looking 20 or 30 years | :33:34. | :33:40. | |
out. Is there anything you could deliver in your first 100 days? Yes, | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
I think there are a few things. Give me one example. We must aim to have | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
that cashless system across all the buses in the entire region. I | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
understand that that is very nearly available. If we have just got the | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
will to get all of the bus companies talking to each other. Aaron Foot. I | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
think we need to look at transport. It is strangling businesses here in | :34:07. | :34:09. | |
the West and it is also not making us want to go out or Explorer. We | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
have bus networks that don't really work. What is the answer? The answer | :34:17. | :34:24. | |
is a coherent system. We cannot penalised diesel cars. We have had | :34:25. | :34:33. | |
incentives to use diesels. We shouldn't be penalising diesel cars | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
because that is what we were told to use. You want to end the war on the | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
motorist. We want a coherent system, traffic lights that integrate with | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
the next set, roundabouts that actually work and not stalling card. | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
If we can get people moving and reduce congestion, then we will | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
reduce smog and pollution. General question for you all, you will have | :34:59. | :35:01. | |
some authority over the buses, you will have the power to nationalise | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
the bus services if you so wanted to do so. Who would be in favour of a | :35:07. | :35:15. | |
radical change on the buses? John Savage, yes? Would you bring them | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
in-house? I would get them to work better and I would make sure that we | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
looked at the possibility. Leslie, is that nationalisation on your | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
agenda? Absolutely. I would like to see bus companies like in London. | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
They have a mixed system and that is what we need to look at. The other | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
thing we need to look that is free bus passes for young people, 16-19, | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
it is a burden for them, some having to give up college courses. You | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
would subsidise that. Yes. What about the 15-year-olds? The would | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
pay. Young people having to stay at school until they are 18 so they | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
should be subsidised and have free passes. The more people who use | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
buses, the cheaper it gets for everyone. It works as a system and | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
that is the key point. How many of you use the bus? Hands up. A couple | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
of honest people. Thank you. If just joining us, you might have guessed, | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
this is not Question Time and I am not David Dimbleby, sadly, but | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
tonight we are hosting a special debate dedicated to the elections | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
for the West's first Mayor on the 4th of May. This Mayor will be | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
responsible for Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset. You can join in | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
the debate on Twitter. This Mayor will also have an important role in | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
delivering the homes we need. Here is again. -- here is Rob and again. | :36:46. | :36:55. | |
If you want to see the scale of our housing crisis, head over the bridge | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
to Wales and there you will meet people priced out of the West's | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
booming property market. Specialist heart nurse Joanne Dow used to live | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
in Bradley Stoke but rising rents forced to move back. As a public | :37:13. | :37:19. | |
sector worker, it was really hard to make ends meet, especially as a | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
parent with two children. Her monthly weren't went up ?200 in two | :37:24. | :37:29. | |
years and she downsized twice before giving up. She moved her job to a | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
hospital in Wales. I think it is wrong that the landlords just put | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
the rent up so much. If you did have to move because you could not afford | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
to stay where you are going, their houses go so quickly. People are not | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
actually viewing them, they are just taking them up straightaway. House | :37:50. | :37:58. | |
prices rose 10% in Bristol last year. Bath was not far behind. They | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
haven't built enough property for a very long time to satisfy demand and | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
what they may have built is not enough and not always in the right | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
locations or if it is in the right locations, not enough infrastructure | :38:16. | :38:23. | |
as well. But the housing has to go somewhere. The green fields around | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
Thornbury have caught the eye of developers but plans to double the | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
size of the town have angered residents. Developers feel they have | :38:32. | :38:34. | |
got the green light now to come here and they are circling like hyenas | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
around the lucrative plots and it is proper driven. The type of houses | :38:39. | :38:45. | |
being built here are speculative development largely sold under the | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
banner of three to five bedroom executive housing for commuter | :38:49. | :38:51. | |
traffic. This West Mayor will help decide how many homes we need and | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
where they go. But with limited Brownfield sites and plenty of green | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
belts, the winner faces an unenviable task. This is so | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
important to many of you and we had a lot of questions on housing from | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
our viewers and indeed, from the audience here. We had to pick one | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
and we came up with Mary Walsh. Hello. New homes are desperately | :39:16. | :39:24. | |
needed. I ask, will he ever is elected Mayor commit to protecting | :39:25. | :39:32. | |
our green belts and so protecting small villages around Bath and | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
Bristol? That is important to you. Yes it is. We shall we start with, | :39:39. | :39:46. | |
Aaron Foot from Ukip? As a farmer, I see how valuable green and open | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
spaces are. I will protect them, they need protective or mental | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
well-being and for why lie. It is there for us to enjoy, we should not | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
be putting concrete on them. But we have a housing crisis in the West | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
Country. I feel we should work together with all the leaders and | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
look at building upwards, not ours. We should also work with the people | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
of the West Country and find Brownfield sites and see where | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
developers are not building on them. Developers are | :40:13. | :40:23. | |
refusing to on Brownfield sites because it is too costly. We need to | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
work together as a group and work and put pressure on the developers. | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
John Savage. It is an obscenity that there are so many people who cannot | :40:31. | :40:32. | |
find somewhere to live and that is the basis for doing anything in your | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
life. It is a perfect example of the fact that for 30 years or more we | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
have not built on of houses. They are not blaming these guys. They | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
should not take it personally, they have been around for two or three | :40:42. | :40:44. | |
years, I have dealt with councillors were 30 years but it is an | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
obscenity, it is a basic need and I am | :40:49. | :41:10. | |
talking to developers who understand that there is this terrible | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
conundrum about building on grass and they are prepared to do | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
different deals. They are prepared to work with us to make changes. But | :41:17. | :41:19. | |
you would build on the green belt? I would build firstly wherever we | :41:20. | :41:21. | |
could find land that is easy to develop. In the end, we will have to | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
build on some grass, but the mistake I would not make is just building | :41:25. | :41:27. | |
houses. We have to build hold communities. We have to provide | :41:28. | :41:29. | |
doctors surgeries, libraries and play feels and so on and there is | :41:30. | :41:31. | |
talk about just building houses and that is wrong and it comes from a | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
complete lack of vision. Have you got any green belt in mind that | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
this? There are pieces of grass that we could build on, running | :41:38. | :41:39. | |
north-east and South West without actually building into the wetlands. | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
Let's face it, if you look at the map of Bristol in 1830 and see the | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
way it was built up and you look at it in 2000, it has changed and it | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
will go on changing because people come here. Tim Bowles. Do you agree | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
with John Savage that actually there is green land around and why do we | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
build on it? I agree with the question of what we have got to be | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
doing is actually protecting our villages, protecting our existing | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
communities. The answer as I see it is for our focus on the region, | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
working with our council leaders, is to be bringing those Brownfield | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
sites to market, working with developers, working with the council | :42:23. | :42:25. | |
leaders, developing a housing development fund that will actually | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
help us start speeding is up. What sort of target would you have with | :42:31. | :42:40. | |
the number of homes? The joint strategic plan is looking at 105,000 | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
homes over the next 20 year period and that is what we would he looking | :42:44. | :42:46. | |
to. Obviously you will go to the Brownfield sites, you will go there | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
first, of course you would, but if it came to it, would you say that if | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
they field that would make a useful contribution to our housing needs? | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
We have to be building where the homes are going to be close to jobs, | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
close to communities, where we are able to build on that. Where we can | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
provide the infrastructure. On the green belt? The priority will be | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
developing the Brownfield. We have said that. Then we will work with | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
council leaders on identifying the other sites that we can bring to | :43:23. | :43:24. | |
market. Lesley Mansell, is the green belt | :43:25. | :43:33. | |
precious to you, or could it be used by people who need him? I live in a | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
village and the development I have seen around me is lots of houses but | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
not enough social housing. That's a real problem. Where building lots of | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
houses but quite often people are not living in them. If you look at | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
the harbour-side development down in Bristol, people in Malaysia, | :43:52. | :43:54. | |
business people there sought a great investment it was. But what we're | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
finding is people can't afford those properties. Prices are not so much | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
in this area that you need to have 12 times your earnings to be able to | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
afford one. APPLAUSE What would you do? I would look at | :44:07. | :44:15. | |
the rental sector. Putting caps on rent. They are going sky-high. What | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
we also find is the quality of renting property is quite poor in | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
some places. I would work with a developing agency, who are | :44:29. | :44:30. | |
developing a fair rental Charteris of people have a decent home to live | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
in. Not just one they can afford. -- rental charter. If you actually cap | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
rents, would that mean the supply of rented accommodation would go down? | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
I'm not sure it would in Bristol. We have a situation where over the last | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
15 years, the rate of home ownership has reduced to 52%. That's colossal. | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
There's a huge demand for rented accommodation. That's why you need | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
more. Absolutely, but we need more social housing as well. Over the | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
last year, Marvin Rees who was not yet been met for a year has already | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
committed to build council houses. We have seen that in Stroud were a | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
Labour council is building social housing. What we have not seen is | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
the Tories doing that all the Lib doing that. And on the green belt? | :45:17. | :45:25. | |
What we need to look at is the quality green belt, and then if we | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
do build on it, to build... To make sure we have something to appraise | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
that. So if necessary, you would, if it meant getting it housing the | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
element of the ground? There's another issue we saw in Radstock | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
weather was a developments, they came in, the builders were going to | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
do all sorts, as soon as they got planning applications they change | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
their minds. You'd want to make sure developers were held to what they | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
say they are going to do. APPLAUSE Stephen Williams. I think everyone | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
agrees there should be a presumption that you build on Brownfield land. | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
That in itself is an obvious political statement. How do you | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
develop that land, you develop it intensively. In some cities that | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
means high rises, in places such as bar. Where that might not be | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
suitable, but rather places such as Bath. In Bath? I'm saying, you | :46:17. | :46:26. | |
shouldn't build them in Bath. The Victorians got it right. That's why | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
you should use urban land. But the housing market at the moment, towns | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
like Thornbury feel a certain type of housing is being built. That does | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
not serve the local community. I would say, that the four members of | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
the command authority, this is a pure example of one all of us will | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
have to agree. Balanced and sustainable communities means single | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
bedroom units, two bedroom units. Families and single people can | :46:57. | :46:59. | |
aspire to live in their hometown. You also have got to get the | :47:00. | :47:02. | |
transport right. There is no point in expanding Thornbury or Yates, or | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
piece down St John, if people cannot get the bus along a 38 to get to | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
work in Bristol or elsewhere. We have got to plan holistically. | :47:13. | :47:15. | |
APPLAUSE I'm going to pursue as I did the | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
others. Would you build on the green belt? I don't think it is necessary, | :47:21. | :47:23. | |
as long as you build in towns and put infrastructure in the same place | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
at the same time. As I have said in my manifesto, in Thornbury there is | :47:29. | :47:31. | |
a freight railway line we should reopen. Darren Hall? I think we | :47:32. | :47:38. | |
actually need to change the conversation. With great respect to | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
my colleague, it's... Please answer the question! The thing is, the | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
question is about using the market to build more of the same. Executive | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
homes on the green belt that they can sell for half a million. We have | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
this slightly bizarre government idea that if we can reduce the price | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
of these things by 20%, it suddenly makes them affordable. That is not | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
affordable housing. The only way we are going to solve some of the | :48:05. | :48:08. | |
social housing crisis that we have is by building social housing. I'm | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
on the board of the community land trust, the way we make that | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
affordable is the shared ownership. We have to change the nature of this | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
conversation. We don't need to build on the green belt. I will say | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
another thing. What is great about the green belt campaign is coming | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
forward is that they have ideas for Brownfield sites that could work. I | :48:30. | :48:37. | |
spoke to the Hanham green belt group and said anyone can come up with an | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
idea. It's persuading people to have them on their own doorstep, isn't | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
it? It's about who you're asking to build the herbs. If you go to | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
developers say we would like you to build here, they will say no. I | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
really want to support what Marvin is doing a Bristol now. We will | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
build houses for ourselves. On our own land. Social housing, affordable | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
housing through community land trusts and housing associations. To | :49:06. | :49:08. | |
radically change the system. APPLAUSE | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
Last word with Aaron Foot. You say you want to prioritise social | :49:14. | :49:16. | |
housing or low-cost housing for local people. What does that mean? | :49:17. | :49:23. | |
Whose local? Local people who were priced out of villages, towns, even | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
Bristol and Bath. People from generations that cannot afford | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
houses. I wondered when I read that, does that mean no migrants? It | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
doesn't mean that. It means we should be looking after our people | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
that are born in our towns and Burgess first. We should be housing | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
them in flats, smaller houses. We should not be building a least three | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
and four beds. We need to restart the small housing scheme and held on | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
Brownfield sites. Time is flying. Leslie, one last word. In Bristol | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
there are 7000 planning applications gone through and nothing has | :49:59. | :50:01. | |
happened with them. In veins there are 4000. But Roker in Bains. There | :50:02. | :50:11. | |
have lots delay occurred been lots of applications but nothing | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
happening. You can't force developers? Its pricing people out. | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
I have already set out what I want to do, looking at capping rents to | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
make sure we build more social housing so people can have access to | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
it. Thank you. Our final question comes from Catherine. Hi. We hear a | :50:29. | :50:38. | |
lot in the media and from politicians about the Northern | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
powerhouse and the Midlands engine. Yet the West of England has got the | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
most successful economy anywhere outside of London in the UK. As the | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
first West of England Metro Mayor, what would you do to raise the | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
region 's profile and what would you call the region? What would you do | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
to raise the profile and what would you call our region? Who wants to go | :51:01. | :51:02. | |
first? All I will go for it. This is at the heart of one of the | :51:03. | :51:16. | |
most important roles of the mayor of the West of England, the vision and | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
strategy, over the horizon thinking that we need for this area. The | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
government are making it all about economic growth. Whereas I think one | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
of the most important aspects for asked to show leadership is to make | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
this region one of the most equal in the UK. In a more equal society, | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
everyone does better. But, I think the real opportunity in the West of | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
England to use our engineering expertise, our legal expertise, I | :51:46. | :51:48. | |
financial expertise, is to lead the world in the next generation of | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
smart urban living. I would like to see us being the gateway city, so | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
that's where I would start. APPLAUSE A reminder, all of the money coming | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
from the government is conditional on their being economic growth as a | :52:02. | :52:08. | |
result. So you would be prepared to promote economic growth? We know | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
that trickle-down doesn't work. We have to talk about... We have to | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
talk about prosperity. Meaning more than just profit and GDP. Otherwise, | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
we have got to get beyond that. That is one area where I think we have to | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
challenge the government and actually, the people of Bristol and | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
Bath agree with that. You have made that point. Just a three-day | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
weekend, would we get that? In the green manifesto. Productivity goes | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
up when we work less hard. John Savage? This is the point. We are in | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
competition with cities in Europe who may not be our friends very | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
soon. We are in competition with our own big cities and yet we have been | :52:57. | :52:59. | |
the most successful city region outside of London for donkeys years. | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
We still do not perform well enough. There is nothing wrong with profit. | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
Appropriate profit works, it pays for your pensions. But we have to | :53:09. | :53:11. | |
have an understanding of how we can make it work for everyone. I | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
absolutely believe that everybody should benefit. It is about the | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
economy. We have the best chance of improving the economy of a place in | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
the UK of any place here. And yet, we play at it. It is the answer. We | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
must push what we are good at and push it hard. So we have the best | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
chance of improving the economy of a place in the UK of any place here. | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
And yet, we play at it. It is the answer. We must push what we are | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
good at and push it hard. So we had to sell it into our own country and | :53:41. | :53:43. | |
into Europe and the world. It's called the west of England, | :53:44. | :53:45. | |
therefore the West of England. Can you think of something more snappy | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
than that? It's not the whole west and actually. Lots of the Westerman | :53:49. | :53:50. | |
and is not included in this. That's the conundrum. It's Greater Bristol | :53:51. | :54:02. | |
Bath, isn't it? My authorities in Manchester -- nine authorities in | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
Manchester got together and they are happy to call themselves greater | :54:06. | :54:07. | |
Manchester. They're getting on with the job. I think the title is not | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
the most important thing here. The most important thing is thinking | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
about what the Metro Mayor can do with the four local authorities. It | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
isn't just the ferry. There is some are set to consider as well. For me, | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
the big issue is to take this forward while we have to work | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
together. The electric need a clear choice here. Now we have an | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
opportunity to kick out these austerity policies, the once brought | :54:33. | :54:34. | |
in by the Conservative government, and backed up by the Lib Dems in | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
coalition. We have an opportunity to pick prosperity. That's what's | :54:40. | :54:42. | |
happened in Iceland and I think we can do that here as well. We have a | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
massive opportunity to do something different and I think that's what | :54:47. | :54:50. | |
I'm prepared to do. I'm not a career politician, and a person get things | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
done. That's what I will continue to do as much on there. One of the big | :54:55. | :55:01. | |
roles would be as an ambassador. See Donald Trump takes his ride in the | :55:02. | :55:03. | |
Golden carriage at the Moore and says I would like to visit the West | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
of England. Would you meet him? I would absolutely welcome him. When I | :55:10. | :55:12. | |
worked for Bristol City Council I wanted to welcome the President of | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Unfortunately that did not happen | :55:18. | :55:20. | |
but I think I would have been fantastic for our black communities. | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
They are being paid 10% less than white people. But you would shake | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
his hand as an ambassador for the West of England? OK. Tim Bowles. My | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
approach for this role would be about being positive, looking to the | :55:38. | :55:39. | |
future and having to drive our economy forward. By doing that, we | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
would ensure we get the jobs to help everybody throughout the region. In | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
our very diverse economy, so we have lots of things we are really good | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
at. We have got to drive forward the Digital agenda, focus on our | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
high-tech engineering and aerospace hubs. We have got to focus on our | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
small businesses as well. I will make sure we are working on all of | :56:02. | :56:05. | |
those things, delivering that growth will help us then in terms of | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
attracting the extra funding but we all know we need to deliver the | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
transport improvements. As the only person here who is currently working | :56:14. | :56:16. | |
in a leadership role with the council, we have got to remember the | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
key thing to this is working with these guys here. I'm going to Bishoo | :56:21. | :56:27. | |
on the name. I've said all along, it has to be about working with the | :56:28. | :56:30. | |
council leaders. We'll sit down at that out ourselves. That's not very | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
snappy, working with the council leaders! We are a really strong | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
team. That's what I'll be promoting. We'll do that. Come on Stephen, give | :56:40. | :56:47. | |
us a name. The question is right. This region has been overshadowed | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
for far too long compared to other regions which are punched above | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
their weight because they worked together in order to promote their | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
local brand. I used to get fed up with ministerial colleagues in | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
government talking about Silicon roundabout, which is quite a small | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
place in East London. Could you know, the biggest concentration of | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
silicone and high-tech businesses outside California is here? Here in | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
Bristol, Bath and Swindon. That's why we need this position, to get us | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
working together. To have someone who can champion the West of England | :57:18. | :57:20. | |
and say this is what we are great at. To answer your question, Bristol | :57:21. | :57:26. | |
and Bath together, I think could be a powerful world beating brand. | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
Whether you go in the world, somebody has heard of Bristol Bath, | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
I want to bring them closer together. So that's part. Aaron | :57:34. | :57:42. | |
Foot, quickly. I want to bring in the northern powerhouse. But I would | :57:43. | :57:45. | |
look to put the name out to the people. I think the people of the | :57:46. | :57:48. | |
Westerman and you come up with some ideas of a name. And create a brand. | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
Then we can push forward with the West of England. You suggesting a | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
referendum? LAUGHTER I'm not sure we can stand it. No, I'm suggesting | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
democracy. We have technology, let's use it. Thank you all so much. I'm | :58:05. | :58:14. | |
afraid our time is up. My thanks to all our candidates and to our | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
audience here tonight. The debate continues online using our hashtag, | :58:19. | :58:21. | |
West Mare. You can find more information on our website. The West | :58:22. | :58:29. | |
Maverick is being held the same night as the local council election | :58:30. | :58:39. | |
-- the West Mare. If you miss out on the election, don't worry. There | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
will be another one along soon. For now, that's it from us, he at the | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
Bristol and Bath science Park. Thank you very much for watching. Sleep | :58:49. | :58:50. | |
well. | :58:51. | :58:55. |