01/07/2012 Sunday Politics East Midlands

The company behind a proposal to provide 6,000 new jobs talks

exclusively to us. And why Liberal Democrats are

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1681 seconds

snubbing elections for Police I am Marie Ashby and my guests in

the East Midlands this week know what it is like to grapple with the

challenges facing our local authorities. Richard Blunt is the

Conservative leader of North West Leicestershire and Anne Western is

on the Labour Derbyshire County Council.

Coming up: A massive freights project that could create up to

6,000 new jobs. The company behind it give their first interview to us.

It is a big scheme, an important scheme. It is significant. We are

working hard with our technical team to assess all the impacts,

both positive and less positive. And why Liberal Democrat in one of

our counties are refusing to put up a candidate for elected police

commissioner. The Health Secretary is being asked

to investigate claims that patient safety was put at risk in hospitals

in Lincolnshire because of an obsession with targets. The former

chief executive of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust has

been gagged from speaking to the media in a �500,000 pay-off.

Rising debts and ageing populations. Pressure on our hospitals is rising,

but what happens when it gets too much? In late 2008, Lincoln County

Hospital was experiencing a period of demand, and staff were being

placed under more pressure to meet targets without any additional

resources. Documents handed to the Sunday Politics show that bosses

had concerns about patient safety. They requested a review of the

situation but were turned down by NHS regional managers. My concerns

were that the pressures coming up on the trust from outside could

compromise patient safety. I stood up to those pressures and when it

got to the point where I could not stand them any longer, I resigned

and made my concerns about patient safety public. Lincolnshire MP

Stephen Phillips has written to the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley

asking for an urgent investigation. What we need is to see all the

documents so we can see whether or not the last Government's target

culture led to risks being taken with patient safety, added that is

right and give officials within the Department of Health were en

forcing these targets and giving rise to risks with patient health

and safety, they will have to be held to account. Both the Hospitals

Trust and NHS Midlands and East to say that patient safety is a top

priority and that more talent -- mortality rates have fallen in

recent years. It is too simple to say that targets are good or bad.

You have to look at the whole picture. The whole picture is that

the NHS is under more pressure today than it has ever been. It is

up to the Health Secretary to decide whether to reopen the row

that has Dr this trust in recent years. -- that has played to the

stress in recent years. Do you think the trust have acted

against the public interest by stopping and talking about what

happened? The difficulty is that none of us know the exact details.

The first fundamental principle is that this is public money and

people are entitled to know where it is being spent. There are

several potential scenarios. It could be about personality clashes,

it could be about other personal issues we do not know about. It

might not be relevant -- relevant for the public to know. It is about

patient safety, I cannot imagine that there are not routes through

the NHS hierarchy through which things could have been reported. I

would be very concerned if it is about patient safety. Somebody

somewhere, within the NHS all within the Department of Health,

needs to look at this to establish what the story is about. We know

there are concerns about patient safety. Surely patients have the

right to know what is happening on this case. The target culture is

always scary. If you have a certain amount of money, you will spend in

is certain way. What caught my eye in the story was the fact that the

person he was defending himself was put in his house on the line to

defend it. When you are fighting the NHS at that level, that must be

-- you must be incredibly strong. Our health of his more elected to

come forward because of this? -- our health bosses more out --

reluctant to come forward because of this? The safety issues have to

be the first thing to be established beyond doubt. If there

are significant patient safety issues, immediate action has to be

taken and if the things this person has to say contribute to that, they

need to be made available. A leading developer is planning to

build a huge new freight depot near Castle Donington. It will be so big

that the company, Roxhill, claimed it could create 6,000 jobs. They

have been speaking for the first time about the project to our

Political Editor John Hess. Another delivery, another heavy

lorry on our congested roads. This is junction 24 of the M1 motorway

near East Midlands Airport. It is tucked out of sight from passing

drivers. This is farmland which could make way for a huge

distribution centre linking rail and motorway networks. There have

been consultation meetings with local residents, but some are

outraged at the prospects of noise and disruption. The company behind

the scheme, Roxhill, is unrepentant. One of its directors, Kate Bedson,

gave her as its first media interview about its ambitions.

site will act as a kind of inland port for goods to come in from

overseas. We are expecting to develop up to 6 million square feet.

Evidence suggests that will generate 6,000 jobs. An existing

freight line linking Nottingham and Birmingham would be extended to the

proposed site. Junction 24 is very important for the region. It is

close to capacity at the moment. The work we are hoping to do there

will improve junction 24. We are proposing to give way to judge in

23 and puts in a new bypass. That sort of talk is attracting

influential backing. It is an opportunity for us to link both

rail and air transport. This is the second largest air transport

freight in the UK. The opportunity of linking rail to it would be an

enormous strategic advantage for this area. It would put over �10

million of business race into the local council. We need jobs and

economic growth. That is a major factor. In a time of recession, he

would have thought that the prospect of 6,000 jobs would have

been welcomed with open arms, but not here, it seems. I don't think

for a minute it can be 6,000 permanent jobs, and even if there

are 6,000, unemployment here is very low, so that will be 6,000

people coming into here when we are already under strain on the busiest

motorway junction in the country. Residents from nearby villages are

fighting the development. village itself will be completely

ring-fenced by a railway system and continual freight traffic movement.

This part of the M1 might be the shape of warehouses to come. 50

miles further South, near Daventry rail terminal wants to expand.

he wants -- if you want, get the development Denham and reassess

what is actually required in his immediate area. The Government

wants a network of such rail interchanges to take more freight

off the roads. Justine Greening says the Government is considering

taking measures to what she calls and block obstacles in the way of

construction. She means the Government may consider planning

powers to approve rail and transport infrastructure projects

deemed to be of national significance. I support the

Government's policy a strategic rail freight into James's. --

interchanges. It will be good for business. This woman is planning

the next stage in her Facebook campaign to block the scheme.

have had 5,000 leaflets printed and we will get them out to every

household in the area. This form of transport remains a welcome sight

in the village. The proposed rail freight interchange is set to be an

end Markham neighbour. The residents say it is not a done deal,

but the economic case may prove to be too powerful and persuasive for

government. There are a number of hurdles to

clear, but you must welcome the prospect of new jobs. If there were

no villages anywhere near junction 24, it would be easy to say, yes,

we will have the jobs and the business rates and we will plough

the money back into the economy. Unfortunately, there are four

lovely villages there. There are ancient villages and people have

lived there for a long time. Their lives and their future is now under

threat. But we have lost a lot of jobs in the East Midlands including

redundancies from Bombardier and Thorntons. This could be great news

for our economy? Yes, and in principle, you have to welcome jobs

and investment at times like these. The issue is that this particular

area is not an area of high unemployment at, as areas further

the M1 R. When you are looking at this daughter of -- this sort of

strategic site, this has many advantages that her sides do not

have. You would struggle to find as many advantages at another site.

This scheme could bring in �10 million in business rates. I'm sure

you would like to get your hands on that money. The Government said

they would give business rates back to councils. We get about 10% back.

The are the thing that is quite clever with the proposal is they

have taken the pressure of the M1. They are going to provide a bypass

for Kegworth. The Government will never be able to afford that in the

next 20 years. It was only in March last year that your council said

you were proposing to allocate any land -- to not allocate any land

for strategic distribution. Is that still the case? Decisions will not

be taken by our district. Decisions will be made in Bristol, which is a

concern for local people. We have to try to win as many concessions

as possible. I told the applicants that they had to sit down with

every parish council and borough councillor and everyone in the area

and convince them that they can put this in there and mitigate the

damage to the villages. Say you are seeking assurances from Roxhill?

That is our job as local politicians. We do not have to look

at the whole of the colony of the UK. We are looking at one area. We

are not desperate for jobs, but give jobs to come, I know in

Derbyshire, where there is more unemployment, it is a different

position. Areas within 10 miles to needed jobs. You mentioned the

concerns of local residents. Residents to say that before the

proposal gathers more momentum, you should look at the expanding depots

at Lutterworth and Daventry instead of swarming up more farmland.

is true, and within the immediate area, there may not be greater

levels of unemployment, but within the band beyond that, and

employment is an issue, and if you get in Nottingham, Derby and beyond,

it is a significant issue. For me, if that is the site which is chosen

and developed an Beragh 6,000 jobs on offer, we have to look at

transport networks to allow people to access those jobs. Justine

Greening has championed these integrated rail schemes. The

coalition is already talking about taking measures to speed up the

planning process to allow these things to happen. There is a

difference between the strategic national importance of this and

making it accessible to locals. It is the next year down of highway

development and improvement that needs to be looked at to make sure

we deal with the immediate site and the connections that needs. Can I

give you one number to think about? 500 metres. We live in villages.

500 metres is the distance to neighbouring villages. Say you

would like people in Bristol to take that into account? 500 metres

is not a big difference. We have to leave it there. Now we look at the

other political stories in the East The police are investigating the

European travel expenses of Leicestershire Conservative leader

David Parsons. He has already been censored by the standards committee

for breaching a code of conduct. Nottingham South MP Lillian

Greenwood is urging the Government not to cut its grant for social

housing improvements. She claims those already in -- completed have

saved pensioner's blue mac lives by making them warmer in winter.

hope the Minister will confirm the funding and enabled Nottingham city

-- city homes to finish the work. The new college has been praised as

one of the country's top 10 improving schools. She warned

Michael Gove that plans to reintroduce O-levels would creche

motivated students. Liberal Democrats in Derbyshire

will not be put in a anybody to stand for elected police

commissioner in the county. The crime spokesman for the counter --

County said it was a stupid idea and will come back to bite the

The man in question, Tony Rodgers, is here. Colourful language. It

will come back to bite the Tories. How exactly? It is fraught with

danger. I am totally opposed to party politics within the police

force. If you have just one person he was totally responsible, can

hire and sack the chief constable, the only people in my view which

will be able to afford to stand for the police commissioner our

political parties, which is to say the chances are... So you don't

want them and you don't think we need him? Is the Prime Minister

saying that our police force in the past and police authorities have

been rubbished? I don't think so. Richard? They have done a good job.

There is no doubt in my view that everyone associated with the police

at a local council level has gone native. I do believe me

accountability is not working at the moment. Mrs a high risk

strategy. It is a little bit like Boris Johnson in London, it all

depends on the character and Canada of the person who get the job.

know that we are getting elected commissioners as a result of

coalition legislation, so you are defined by party. Our own party is

opposed to the policy of police commissioners. It just happened to

be one of the Tory policies that they could not keep out of the

coalition agreement. We have kept a lot of right-wing Tory philosophy

out of the agreement, but this is not one of those things. Ed Davey

said this week that he would expect Liberal Democrats to field

candidates or at least get behind one. What the party nationally has

decided is to let it go to the regions. The regional parties can

do what they want to do. We will be standing one in Northampton because

we actually have a person there who I think is highly suitable to be a

police commissioner and will probably win the seat. His one

enough? It is really up to the individual counties. That is the

only county that really wants to stand a candidate for Police

Commissioner. A I think there is a difference here between reality and

what is being said. We are where we are. Police commissioners are

coming in whether we agree with it or not. In Derbyshire, and our

candidate, the rest of us don't agree with it, but we are stuck

with it. Do you walk away or fight it? We have to fight it to

represent our communities. I have known Tony for several years. He is

a realist and he is very shrewd. He comes here and stands on the moral

high ground, but basically, they can't win, the Lib Dems can't win.

Why would you want to take the backlash of all the negative

feelings against the Lib Dems in government and risk losing your

�5,000 deposit? Why would you what to do that? If the Liberal

Democrats were to stand a candidate and we thought we could take on the

Labour Party and the Tory party or -- Tory party, we can prove that we

could win. It is a problem that we didn't know how this will work out.

It is all a bit of a stab in the dark. I am concerned about the

politics in this, because these - but the Conservatives in this are

not put in for a political person, they have chosen a retired RAF

senior officer for Leicestershire. I applaud that, because they are

bringing in somebody who is far more non-political. You don't look

happy with that. That is not the case in Derbyshire. The

Conservative candidate there is the current deputy leader of the

Conservative group on the council and a political operator. I don't

think you can take politics out of this because of the way it has been

set up. The whiskeys you either get somebody who knows something about

how the police service operates or you get somebody who comes in with

no knowledge. It is an almighty gamble. And has raised an

interesting point. It has been a big surprise to another of those he

will be the Conservative candidate and that itself is fraught with

danger. I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

Thanks to all my guests. If you want to stand for Police

Commissioner, you have until mid- October to submit your nomination.