Browse content similar to 12/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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our services. We are the fastest-growing region in the | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
country, but councils are left struggling to pay for new school | :01:23. | :01:32. | |
:01:33. | :01:33. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1875 seconds | :01:33. | :32:48. | |
Politics. Pressure on services, why our councils are having to dig into | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
their pockets to pay for more school places. We've just been up at 22 | :32:54. | :33:04. | |
:33:04. | :33:08. | ||
million over the next couple of trunk road. Could one council's | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
decision not to pay up threaten this massive project? We don't see the | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
income coming to us from the improvements on the road and that's | :33:17. | :33:24. | |
why it is very difficult to put any back in. Let's meet our guests, | :33:24. | :33:30. | |
Andrew Lansley, former Health Secretary and Julian Huppert, local | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
MP Liberal Democrat for Cambridge. Let's talk about Europe. Nothing in | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
this weeks Queen's Speech about a referendum on UK membership of the | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
EU but two of our Euro-sceptic MPs on the east are trying to keep it at | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
the top of the agenda. Conservatives John Baron and Peter Bone have | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
tabled an amendment to the Queen's Speech expressing regret at the lack | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
of an EU referendum bill. There is expected to be a Commons vote next | :33:56. | :34:03. | |
week. Let's talk about this, Andrew Lansley, do you support it? It's not | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
a case of supporting it but it's not objecting to it because in a sense, | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
from the Conservative party's point of view, I don't speak for the | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
coalition as a whole, but from the Conservative party's point of view | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
there is a sense of regret in establishing the legislative | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
framework for what we're going to do. As a party, after the next | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
election, following the negotiations in Europe, we intend to give the | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
people of this country the opportunity to decide our future in | :34:33. | :34:40. | |
this referendum. If they work, this side of the next election, it could | :34:40. | :34:45. | |
be positive. We are part of a coalition, so if I put my coalition | :34:45. | :34:54. | |
hat on, we weren't able to do it. Julian Huppert? I don't support it, | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
the Conservatives have a history of being split by Europe. I think we | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
are just seeing another. It's a great shame because there are far | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
more important issues for this country. We need to get jobs and | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
growth, and the protracted discussion about the EU is a | :35:11. | :35:19. | |
distraction. What about the pressure this is putting on the coalition? | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
hope Andrew will take a sensitive -- sensible line when the vote comes | :35:23. | :35:29. | |
around. There are about 3 million jobs within the UK that rely on our | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
trade in Europe. We wouldn't lose all of that but we would put that at | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
risk and that's the wrong thing to do. Are you annoyed by this, Andrew | :35:38. | :35:47. | |
Lansley? No I'm not. It's simply expresses something that clearly | :35:47. | :35:53. | |
many conservatives feel. It's not in that sense objectionable. The point | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
is we don't know at this stage whether it will be one of the | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
amendments selected because eventually in the house amendments | :36:01. | :36:07. | |
are selected on behalf of the official opposition. So you don't | :36:07. | :36:13. | |
foresee it producing more rifts within your party? No because from | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
my party's point of view there is a consensus, a consensus that we want | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
to have a negotiation with Europe to get the new settlement leading to a | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
referendum. At the point at which there is a referendum, there will be | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
people who want to vote to be part of that reshaped Europe, others who | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
don't. We will come back to you shortly. | :36:38. | :36:40. | |
This week the Queen's Speech introduced measures to tackle | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
immigration. It's one of the reasons why UKIP did so well in the local | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
elections. In this region we seen an increase in migration which has put | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
pressure on all our services, but schools have been hit particularly | :36:53. | :37:00. | |
hard. Deborah McGurran has been to Peterborough to see of the scheme | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
that replaced it is keeping pace with demand. | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
It's clear Nene Park Academy has seen better days with narrow | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
staircases and in poor repair, the school is showing its age. It | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
should've been rebuilt under Labour's loathing schools for the | :37:14. | :37:21. | |
future programme which the coalition axed. We were disappointed because | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
all the schools and the north of the city have been modernised, rebuilt | :37:26. | :37:34. | |
refurbished. We were one of the two that got cancelled at the very end, | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
so the school and the community here are known in catchment area so I | :37:40. | :37:46. | |
understand why we've been waiting. In Peterborough, three school | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
buildings were lost, 18 projects in Essex were cancelled, six were | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
abandoned in Hertfordshire, 13 more in Luton and the same in Suffolk, | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
and six went in Cambridgeshire. He rips Nene Park Academy there is a | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
new �14 million building due to open in September and existing buildings | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
have been refurbished since the school became an Academy two years | :38:06. | :38:12. | |
ago. They've said they got a lot of new utilities for science | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
especially, so looking forward to that. The art department is going to | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
be a big studio with massive windows so there will be a beautiful view of | :38:21. | :38:27. | |
the area. New technologies can help you learn and you can achieve better | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
grades. The Council of had to pick up the tab for the developments | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
here. We have been offered �22 million over the next couple of | :38:37. | :38:43. | |
years which is really helpful. We need �108 million over the next five | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
years. We are having to borrow it, it's as simple as that and there is | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
a cost for that. You borrow a million, you've got to find money to | :38:53. | :38:59. | |
do it. This school down the road is fortunate to have a former | :38:59. | :39:07. | |
children's home being up graded. have an opportunity to become to | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
form entry primary school, look at the new curriculum coming our way | :39:13. | :39:20. | |
and look at how structures can help us do that in a positive way. | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
pressure on school places is immense in Peterborough were the growth in | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
population is the sixth highest in the country. There is predicted | :39:28. | :39:34. | |
shortfall in school places of 8000 x 2018, and how many projects have | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
been started under the new school building project, none. That's the | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
same figure for the rest of the region. We've seen a growing | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
population in recent years, and it's what we would consider to be a | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
phenomenal wave of children coming through. What about the governments | :39:53. | :39:59. | |
new project, the priority building programme? It's very welcome that | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
the government has introduced more funding to support schools. We have | :40:03. | :40:10. | |
put in requests to bid for money pot. They are not looking to start | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
until September 2017, my immediate needs are known. The timing is not | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
perfect for what we need to do. seems to be taking a long time to be | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
getting going. There were a lot of bureaucratic procedure is | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
reminiscent of the old systems to be honest. It tends to come in fits and | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
starts, one minute everything is happening, the next minute | :40:34. | :40:41. | |
everything goes quiet. But it is taking longer to move that one than | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
it did when we started to move on with this building here with this | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
building herewith the City Council. Peterborough councils borrowing | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
looks set to continue. In the past five years they have created 5000 | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
spaces, in the next five years another 8000 are needed. | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
Earlier I spoke to the Education Minister Elizabeth Truss and I put | :41:01. | :41:09. | |
it to her that this new scheme is too little too late. We are spending | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
�5 billion in this Parliament on new school buildings and half a billion | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
of that is going to be in the East of England, so progress is being | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
made but what we're doing is in a much more efficient way than the | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
building schools for the future programme. Schools are being built | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
across the East of England at the moment. As we heard, the timing | :41:29. | :41:36. | |
isn't perfect and in the meantime councils are happy to fill the gap. | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
Councils do have responsibility for funding capital for school. The | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
government's programme is there to help and what this programme does is | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
target schools most in need, those were the population is growing and | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
those with poor maintenance at the moment. The previous government's | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
programme was focused on things like educational performance, and wasn't | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
targeting those schools in the most need. But at a time when councils | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
are having to freeze their council tax, is it fair that they are having | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
to find this money from elsewhere and pay expensive interest? There | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
are schools being built at the moment, the Thetford Academy is | :42:13. | :42:21. | |
building this autumn. This new programme will come into being | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
soon, as you've heard there are going to be two schools in | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
Peterborough already on that list and more schools across the East of | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
England. It's important we get value for money from these programmes and | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
the schools under our programme are going to cost 30% less to build, so | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
we will be able to use the money more efficiently. We will also be | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
able to build the school is quicker, so from an average time of three | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
years to an average time of two years, which means places will be | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
open sooner. I you concerned that we're creating a gap year? We heard | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
that birth rate is going through the roof in areas like Peterborough and | :42:57. | :43:04. | |
as we heard nothing is being done at least at one school until 2017, so | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
what are the school is expected to do and the council is expected to do | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
in the meantime? Peterborough Council is funding school building | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
to take place so that those places can be provided for children. We are | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
providing 5 billion across the country and have a billion in the | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
East of England and it's very much focused on those areas that need the | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
most resources and what we have done in Peterborough in particular is | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
that the new figures coming through or more accurate about the growth in | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
population, so Peterborough will get the funding it deserves. You're | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
focusing your funding on the areas they need the most resources, you | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
say, and without taking anything away from the north-east, why are | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
you going to that area next when clearly places are needed right | :43:49. | :43:55. | |
here, right now in the East? We are funding half a billion worth of new | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
buildings in the East in this parliamentary session, so there is | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
money going in across the East of England and new schools being built. | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
The point is that our programme is entirely based on which schools need | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
it from the point of view of the condition of the buildings and which | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
schools need it because the birth rate is growing in the area. The | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
previous programme was all over the shop. In hindsight, was right to | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
scrap the building schools for future programme, as it was done in | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
one fell swoop? Absolutely, it was one of the government's most | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
wasteful programmes, it didn't work, it wasn't delivering schools quickly | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
enough, that fitted requirements for local communities. Some of those | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
schools on that programme are being built under this government but they | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
are being built much more efficiently, so at least 30% | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
reduction in the cost of those buildings. It was right to scrap | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
that wasteful programme and look again at the real needs of towns and | :44:55. | :45:02. | |
cities in these areas. Thank you very much indeed. | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
If money for building schools is in short supply, you could say the same | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
thing about roads. There is a claim that funding disputes are | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
threatening an upgrade to our busiest and most congested trunk | :45:13. | :45:23. | |
:45:23. | :45:23. | ||
road the Alpha 14. -- the A14. Parts carry up to 80,000 vehicles a day. | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
The government announced a �1.5 billion improvement scheme last year | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
for the stretch between Huntingdon and Cambridge. Part of it will be | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
told. Work should start in 2018. But business leaders have claimed the | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
upgrade in Cambridgeshire is being hampered by political infighting. | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
Under current proposal some of the money would have to come from local | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
councils because of the economic benefits the road will bring. | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
Cambridge city councillors refusing to pay up. The Cambridgeshire | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
Chamber of Commerce is unhappy, it says A14 congestion costs the local | :46:00. | :46:08. | |
economy �12 million every month. terms of the city council, we don't | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
see the income coming to us from the improvements on the road. That's why | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
it's very difficult to put any backing in. We want everybody be to | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
-- to be together because of we want the government to improve the road | :46:24. | :46:30. | |
we need to have a united front and everybody going together. Julian | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
Huppert, the Liberal Democrats accused of jeopardising this | :46:34. | :46:40. | |
project, why don't they just pay up? That is simply not true. The key | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
issue is where the money comes from, Cambridge City Council doesn't get | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
any benefit from growth in new buildings outside the city | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
boundaries, the city is already quite full with housing. The city | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
council doesn't get the �5 million in cash that it is being asked to | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
put into. I would like to see the road improves, I've campaigned for | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
that since I was a young County Council. The viaduct at Huntingdon | :47:09. | :47:17. | |
is well past its design life. The City Council doesn't get the �5 | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
million back to put into it. What about this lost money? It is | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
absolutely right that national government should be putting money | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
into this. I don't think the City Council, it doesn't get the money | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
back, you'd have to take a huge amount out of what the City Council | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
is currently doing for people. It should be funded nationally and I | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
had people during the recent elections asking me why is it that | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
people within Cambridge are expected to pay for it through their city | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
council tax, County Council tax, through a toll and through NAT -- | :47:51. | :47:58. | |
and not through national funding. Andrew Lansley, how have local MPs | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
done enough to back this? We have seen MPs working really hard in | :48:02. | :48:10. | |
other areas, has enough being done for this road? We have worked very | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
closely with the County Council and local authorities to make sure that | :48:13. | :48:19. | |
it is backed firmly on the agenda. Going back to the national | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
infrastructure plan that the government published. The A14 was | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
the number-1 on that plan. It is essential we do it but the point is | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
that money is very tight, to make this project run, we're going to | :48:32. | :48:39. | |
have to do calling. That will bring in more than the �340 million that | :48:39. | :48:45. | |
is needed. From the Local Enterprise Partnership and local authority. | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
We're not asking the council to be the only council to contribute, it's | :48:50. | :48:57. | |
a regional wide commitment. Do you think there could be a domino effect | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
of one council doesn't pay, what about the others? It depends how | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
that works. There were talks between the City Council and the County | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
Council... The then leader of the County Council wanted to have a | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
political fight over this. The City Council is happy to look at ways of | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
helping the public transport environments, to make sure that it | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
does work and I hope we can reach a sensible arrangement. It is | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
unreasonable to expect a council which doesn't get the cash back to | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
pay a sum equivalent to almost its entire annual budget. Can I take | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
issue with this notion that came at city doesn't benefit. Remember this | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
is not just rebuilding the A14 on its existing track, it's also | :49:44. | :49:50. | |
including putting it alongside the carriageway. Right across the city | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
from the northern bypass all the way out through my constituency to | :49:53. | :49:59. | |
Huntingdon, we get a much better local road network, so commuting in | :49:59. | :50:09. | |
:50:09. | :50:11. | ||
a note is better -- commuting in and out. We've got to provide houses for | :50:11. | :50:19. | |
people to work in Cambridge and if we don't have the A14... You're | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
conflating the benefits from the city. I've campaigned for it for | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
over ten years, but the city council finances don't get that money. | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
need to have a unitary council and much more local control. Without the | :50:34. | :50:42. | |
cash coming in you cant pay it. this whole model going to work? The | :50:42. | :50:48. | |
M6 toll road has lost money in the past six years. Is this a good | :50:48. | :50:56. | |
model? It is a good model. If you know the M6 toll well, people make | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
the judgement that they don't need to use the tool because they can use | :51:02. | :51:09. | |
the main M6 without paying anything. We're talking about a piece of toll | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
road which for freight traffic in particular will be the only road to | :51:12. | :51:20. | |
use, whereas local people in my villages like Long Stanton, they'll | :51:20. | :51:26. | |
be hoping to get onto the local road and not necessarily pay a tall. | :51:26. | :51:34. | |
sceptical about it. But I am pleased that there is action on the A14. | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
About 12 years ago I was arguing we need to sort out some of the | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
junctions. This government has found money to do very quick things, | :51:42. | :51:49. | |
improve some of those junctions. are very short of time, 2018, is | :51:49. | :51:59. | |
:51:59. | :52:00. | ||
that soon enough? I hope of we all pitch in we can. These small schemes | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
these small schemes can start any moment. | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
To our round-up of the week. A Conservative MP having paid the | :52:10. | :52:19. | |
:52:20. | :52:22. | ||
price for jetting off to the jungle. She did the crime, she served the | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
time, known Dean Doris has the Tory whip again. She was let back in so | :52:28. | :52:38. | |
:52:38. | :52:39. | ||
she wouldn't be wooed back by UKIP, it's not. -- it's got. | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
leadership only knew that because they knew me. Nick Clegg came to | :52:44. | :52:51. | |
Essex to bang the drum for free child care. And our plans for a | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
controversial new waste incinerator in Kings Lynn falling apart -- | :52:57. | :53:04. | |
Labour warned that taxpayers could lose out by millions of pounds. | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
need to try and find it from somewhere. The taxpayer may be | :53:09. | :53:16. | |
landed with it. And with Tesco closing their warehouse, this man | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
has been fighting for workers rights to make sure their terms and | :53:19. | :53:27. | |
conditions are not affected. Well, Andrew Lansley, Nadine is back | :53:27. | :53:36. | |
in the fold, causing trouble for David Cameron again it seems or do | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
you disagree? There are lots of Conservative MPs who agree with her | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
about that issue. She was elected as a conservative, she is a | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
conservative. It's important she served in Parliament as a | :53:50. | :53:56. | |
conservative. Julian Huppert, where you stand on this? You happy that | :53:56. | :54:05. | |
she is but back in the caller should. -- back in the coalition? | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
Well she is certainly not a liberal, she is very much for the | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
Conservative party. It does exempt of either splits in the Conservative | :54:12. | :54:18. | |
party if this amendment is selected. It was only about not been elected | :54:18. | :54:27. | |
to vote. We both know there was a longer history to it than that! | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
that a concern, not only about Nadine, but about other Conservative | :54:31. | :54:37. | |
MPs as well? All I know as MIDI herself said she was disappointed, | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
she wanted to have the whip back. That seems to me to be absolutely | :54:42. | :54:50. | |
fine. How worried are you, Julian, about people defecting to UKIP? | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
would be alarming to see it happening from either Labour or the | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
Conservatives. UKIP of a few messages but they don't have solid | :54:58. | :55:05. | |
policies. In our region, at the last European Parliamentary elections, | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
David Cameron band UKIP from being a member of the European Parliament, | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
but he has defected from UKIP to the Conservative party and I would be | :55:15. | :55:20. |