Browse content similar to 01/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The company behind a proposal to provide 6,000 new jobs talks | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
exclusively to us. And why Liberal Democrats are | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:46. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1681 seconds | :01:46. | :29:47. | |
snubbing elections for Police I am Marie Ashby and my guests in | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
the East Midlands this week know what it is like to grapple with the | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
challenges facing our local authorities. Richard Blunt is the | :29:55. | :30:01. | |
Conservative leader of North West Leicestershire and Anne Western is | :30:01. | :30:03. | |
on the Labour Derbyshire County Council. | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
Coming up: A massive freights project that could create up to | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
6,000 new jobs. The company behind it give their first interview to us. | :30:13. | :30:18. | |
It is a big scheme, an important scheme. It is significant. We are | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
working hard with our technical team to assess all the impacts, | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
both positive and less positive. And why Liberal Democrat in one of | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
our counties are refusing to put up a candidate for elected police | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
commissioner. The Health Secretary is being asked | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
to investigate claims that patient safety was put at risk in hospitals | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
in Lincolnshire because of an obsession with targets. The former | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
chief executive of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust has | :30:46. | :30:54. | |
been gagged from speaking to the media in a �500,000 pay-off. | :30:54. | :31:02. | |
Rising debts and ageing populations. Pressure on our hospitals is rising, | :31:02. | :31:08. | |
but what happens when it gets too much? In late 2008, Lincoln County | :31:08. | :31:14. | |
Hospital was experiencing a period of demand, and staff were being | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
placed under more pressure to meet targets without any additional | :31:17. | :31:24. | |
resources. Documents handed to the Sunday Politics show that bosses | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
had concerns about patient safety. They requested a review of the | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
situation but were turned down by NHS regional managers. My concerns | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
were that the pressures coming up on the trust from outside could | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
compromise patient safety. I stood up to those pressures and when it | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
got to the point where I could not stand them any longer, I resigned | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
and made my concerns about patient safety public. Lincolnshire MP | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
Stephen Phillips has written to the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
asking for an urgent investigation. What we need is to see all the | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
documents so we can see whether or not the last Government's target | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
culture led to risks being taken with patient safety, added that is | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
right and give officials within the Department of Health were en | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
forcing these targets and giving rise to risks with patient health | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
and safety, they will have to be held to account. Both the Hospitals | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
Trust and NHS Midlands and East to say that patient safety is a top | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
priority and that more talent -- mortality rates have fallen in | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
recent years. It is too simple to say that targets are good or bad. | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
You have to look at the whole picture. The whole picture is that | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
the NHS is under more pressure today than it has ever been. It is | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
up to the Health Secretary to decide whether to reopen the row | :32:43. | :32:50. | |
that has Dr this trust in recent years. -- that has played to the | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
stress in recent years. Do you think the trust have acted | :32:54. | :32:56. | |
against the public interest by stopping and talking about what | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
happened? The difficulty is that none of us know the exact details. | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
The first fundamental principle is that this is public money and | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
people are entitled to know where it is being spent. There are | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
several potential scenarios. It could be about personality clashes, | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
it could be about other personal issues we do not know about. It | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
might not be relevant -- relevant for the public to know. It is about | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
patient safety, I cannot imagine that there are not routes through | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
the NHS hierarchy through which things could have been reported. I | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
would be very concerned if it is about patient safety. Somebody | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
somewhere, within the NHS all within the Department of Health, | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
needs to look at this to establish what the story is about. We know | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
there are concerns about patient safety. Surely patients have the | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
right to know what is happening on this case. The target culture is | :33:51. | :33:58. | |
always scary. If you have a certain amount of money, you will spend in | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
is certain way. What caught my eye in the story was the fact that the | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
person he was defending himself was put in his house on the line to | :34:07. | :34:16. | |
defend it. When you are fighting the NHS at that level, that must be | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
-- you must be incredibly strong. Our health of his more elected to | :34:20. | :34:28. | |
come forward because of this? -- our health bosses more out -- | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
reluctant to come forward because of this? The safety issues have to | :34:35. | :34:39. | |
be the first thing to be established beyond doubt. If there | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
are significant patient safety issues, immediate action has to be | :34:42. | :34:48. | |
taken and if the things this person has to say contribute to that, they | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
need to be made available. A leading developer is planning to | :34:53. | :35:00. | |
build a huge new freight depot near Castle Donington. It will be so big | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
that the company, Roxhill, claimed it could create 6,000 jobs. They | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
have been speaking for the first time about the project to our | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
Political Editor John Hess. Another delivery, another heavy | :35:12. | :35:18. | |
lorry on our congested roads. This is junction 24 of the M1 motorway | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
near East Midlands Airport. It is tucked out of sight from passing | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
drivers. This is farmland which could make way for a huge | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
distribution centre linking rail and motorway networks. There have | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
been consultation meetings with local residents, but some are | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
outraged at the prospects of noise and disruption. The company behind | :35:39. | :35:46. | |
the scheme, Roxhill, is unrepentant. One of its directors, Kate Bedson, | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
gave her as its first media interview about its ambitions. | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
site will act as a kind of inland port for goods to come in from | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
overseas. We are expecting to develop up to 6 million square feet. | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
Evidence suggests that will generate 6,000 jobs. An existing | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
freight line linking Nottingham and Birmingham would be extended to the | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
proposed site. Junction 24 is very important for the region. It is | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
close to capacity at the moment. The work we are hoping to do there | :36:18. | :36:28. | |
:36:28. | :36:28. | ||
will improve junction 24. We are proposing to give way to judge in | :36:28. | :36:37. | |
23 and puts in a new bypass. That sort of talk is attracting | :36:37. | :36:44. | |
influential backing. It is an opportunity for us to link both | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
rail and air transport. This is the second largest air transport | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
freight in the UK. The opportunity of linking rail to it would be an | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
enormous strategic advantage for this area. It would put over �10 | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
million of business race into the local council. We need jobs and | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
economic growth. That is a major factor. In a time of recession, he | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
would have thought that the prospect of 6,000 jobs would have | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
been welcomed with open arms, but not here, it seems. I don't think | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
for a minute it can be 6,000 permanent jobs, and even if there | :37:18. | :37:24. | |
are 6,000, unemployment here is very low, so that will be 6,000 | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
people coming into here when we are already under strain on the busiest | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
motorway junction in the country. Residents from nearby villages are | :37:33. | :37:39. | |
fighting the development. village itself will be completely | :37:39. | :37:48. | |
ring-fenced by a railway system and continual freight traffic movement. | :37:48. | :37:55. | |
This part of the M1 might be the shape of warehouses to come. 50 | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
miles further South, near Daventry rail terminal wants to expand. | :38:00. | :38:08. | |
he wants -- if you want, get the development Denham and reassess | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
what is actually required in his immediate area. The Government | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
wants a network of such rail interchanges to take more freight | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
off the roads. Justine Greening says the Government is considering | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
taking measures to what she calls and block obstacles in the way of | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
construction. She means the Government may consider planning | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
powers to approve rail and transport infrastructure projects | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
deemed to be of national significance. I support the | :38:36. | :38:43. | |
Government's policy a strategic rail freight into James's. -- | :38:43. | :38:51. | |
interchanges. It will be good for business. This woman is planning | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
the next stage in her Facebook campaign to block the scheme. | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
have had 5,000 leaflets printed and we will get them out to every | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
household in the area. This form of transport remains a welcome sight | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
in the village. The proposed rail freight interchange is set to be an | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
end Markham neighbour. The residents say it is not a done deal, | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
but the economic case may prove to be too powerful and persuasive for | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
government. There are a number of hurdles to | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
clear, but you must welcome the prospect of new jobs. If there were | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
no villages anywhere near junction 24, it would be easy to say, yes, | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
we will have the jobs and the business rates and we will plough | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
the money back into the economy. Unfortunately, there are four | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
lovely villages there. There are ancient villages and people have | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
lived there for a long time. Their lives and their future is now under | :39:47. | :39:53. | |
threat. But we have lost a lot of jobs in the East Midlands including | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
redundancies from Bombardier and Thorntons. This could be great news | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
for our economy? Yes, and in principle, you have to welcome jobs | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
and investment at times like these. The issue is that this particular | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
area is not an area of high unemployment at, as areas further | :40:12. | :40:19. | |
the M1 R. When you are looking at this daughter of -- this sort of | :40:19. | :40:27. | |
strategic site, this has many advantages that her sides do not | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
have. You would struggle to find as many advantages at another site. | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
This scheme could bring in �10 million in business rates. I'm sure | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
you would like to get your hands on that money. The Government said | :40:39. | :40:45. | |
they would give business rates back to councils. We get about 10% back. | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
The are the thing that is quite clever with the proposal is they | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
have taken the pressure of the M1. They are going to provide a bypass | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
for Kegworth. The Government will never be able to afford that in the | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
next 20 years. It was only in March last year that your council said | :41:04. | :41:11. | |
you were proposing to allocate any land -- to not allocate any land | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
for strategic distribution. Is that still the case? Decisions will not | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
be taken by our district. Decisions will be made in Bristol, which is a | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
concern for local people. We have to try to win as many concessions | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
as possible. I told the applicants that they had to sit down with | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
every parish council and borough councillor and everyone in the area | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
and convince them that they can put this in there and mitigate the | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
damage to the villages. Say you are seeking assurances from Roxhill? | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
That is our job as local politicians. We do not have to look | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
at the whole of the colony of the UK. We are looking at one area. We | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
are not desperate for jobs, but give jobs to come, I know in | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
Derbyshire, where there is more unemployment, it is a different | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
position. Areas within 10 miles to needed jobs. You mentioned the | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
concerns of local residents. Residents to say that before the | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
proposal gathers more momentum, you should look at the expanding depots | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
at Lutterworth and Daventry instead of swarming up more farmland. | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
is true, and within the immediate area, there may not be greater | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
levels of unemployment, but within the band beyond that, and | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
employment is an issue, and if you get in Nottingham, Derby and beyond, | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
it is a significant issue. For me, if that is the site which is chosen | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
and developed an Beragh 6,000 jobs on offer, we have to look at | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
transport networks to allow people to access those jobs. Justine | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
Greening has championed these integrated rail schemes. The | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
coalition is already talking about taking measures to speed up the | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
planning process to allow these things to happen. There is a | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
difference between the strategic national importance of this and | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
making it accessible to locals. It is the next year down of highway | :43:05. | :43:11. | |
development and improvement that needs to be looked at to make sure | :43:11. | :43:16. | |
we deal with the immediate site and the connections that needs. Can I | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
give you one number to think about? 500 metres. We live in villages. | :43:21. | :43:28. | |
500 metres is the distance to neighbouring villages. Say you | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
would like people in Bristol to take that into account? 500 metres | :43:31. | :43:37. | |
is not a big difference. We have to leave it there. Now we look at the | :43:37. | :43:47. | |
:43:47. | :43:47. | ||
other political stories in the East The police are investigating the | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
European travel expenses of Leicestershire Conservative leader | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
David Parsons. He has already been censored by the standards committee | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
for breaching a code of conduct. Nottingham South MP Lillian | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
Greenwood is urging the Government not to cut its grant for social | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
housing improvements. She claims those already in -- completed have | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
saved pensioner's blue mac lives by making them warmer in winter. | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
hope the Minister will confirm the funding and enabled Nottingham city | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
-- city homes to finish the work. The new college has been praised as | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
one of the country's top 10 improving schools. She warned | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
Michael Gove that plans to reintroduce O-levels would creche | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
motivated students. Liberal Democrats in Derbyshire | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
will not be put in a anybody to stand for elected police | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
commissioner in the county. The crime spokesman for the counter -- | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
County said it was a stupid idea and will come back to bite the | :44:44. | :44:54. | |
:44:54. | :44:57. | ||
The man in question, Tony Rodgers, is here. Colourful language. It | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
will come back to bite the Tories. How exactly? It is fraught with | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
danger. I am totally opposed to party politics within the police | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
force. If you have just one person he was totally responsible, can | :45:15. | :45:22. | |
hire and sack the chief constable, the only people in my view which | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
will be able to afford to stand for the police commissioner our | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
political parties, which is to say the chances are... So you don't | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
want them and you don't think we need him? Is the Prime Minister | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
saying that our police force in the past and police authorities have | :45:39. | :45:49. | |
been rubbished? I don't think so. Richard? They have done a good job. | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
There is no doubt in my view that everyone associated with the police | :45:53. | :46:02. | |
at a local council level has gone native. I do believe me | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
accountability is not working at the moment. Mrs a high risk | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
strategy. It is a little bit like Boris Johnson in London, it all | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
depends on the character and Canada of the person who get the job. | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
know that we are getting elected commissioners as a result of | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
coalition legislation, so you are defined by party. Our own party is | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
opposed to the policy of police commissioners. It just happened to | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
be one of the Tory policies that they could not keep out of the | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
coalition agreement. We have kept a lot of right-wing Tory philosophy | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
out of the agreement, but this is not one of those things. Ed Davey | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
said this week that he would expect Liberal Democrats to field | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
candidates or at least get behind one. What the party nationally has | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
decided is to let it go to the regions. The regional parties can | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
do what they want to do. We will be standing one in Northampton because | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
we actually have a person there who I think is highly suitable to be a | :47:02. | :47:04. | |
police commissioner and will probably win the seat. His one | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
enough? It is really up to the individual counties. That is the | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
only county that really wants to stand a candidate for Police | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
Commissioner. A I think there is a difference here between reality and | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
what is being said. We are where we are. Police commissioners are | :47:21. | :47:28. | |
coming in whether we agree with it or not. In Derbyshire, and our | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
candidate, the rest of us don't agree with it, but we are stuck | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
with it. Do you walk away or fight it? We have to fight it to | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
represent our communities. I have known Tony for several years. He is | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
a realist and he is very shrewd. He comes here and stands on the moral | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
high ground, but basically, they can't win, the Lib Dems can't win. | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
Why would you want to take the backlash of all the negative | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
feelings against the Lib Dems in government and risk losing your | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
�5,000 deposit? Why would you what to do that? If the Liberal | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
Democrats were to stand a candidate and we thought we could take on the | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
Labour Party and the Tory party or -- Tory party, we can prove that we | :48:10. | :48:17. | |
could win. It is a problem that we didn't know how this will work out. | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
It is all a bit of a stab in the dark. I am concerned about the | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
politics in this, because these - but the Conservatives in this are | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
not put in for a political person, they have chosen a retired RAF | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
senior officer for Leicestershire. I applaud that, because they are | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
bringing in somebody who is far more non-political. You don't look | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
happy with that. That is not the case in Derbyshire. The | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
Conservative candidate there is the current deputy leader of the | :48:46. | :48:53. | |
Conservative group on the council and a political operator. I don't | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
think you can take politics out of this because of the way it has been | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
set up. The whiskeys you either get somebody who knows something about | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
how the police service operates or you get somebody who comes in with | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
no knowledge. It is an almighty gamble. And has raised an | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
interesting point. It has been a big surprise to another of those he | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
will be the Conservative candidate and that itself is fraught with | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
danger. I'm sure we will find out soon enough. | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
Thanks to all my guests. If you want to stand for Police | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
Commissioner, you have until mid- October to submit your nomination. | :49:27. | :49:31. |