:01:27. > :01:37.A rule North East, shed thousands of new houses be built here. If not,
:01:37. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :29:58.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1700 seconds
:29:58. > :30:05.or where? Battle-lines are drawn up A warm welcome to the local part of
:30:05. > :30:10.the show. Coming up. 36,000 new homes but at what price to the
:30:10. > :30:16.countryside? We hear from the critics and the council. Joining me
:30:16. > :30:20.it is the blithe MP Ronnie Campbell. Let's start with the bowling number
:30:20. > :30:24.of young people looking for work. We have had a report from this week
:30:24. > :30:29.from the Commission on youth unemployment chaired by David
:30:29. > :30:35.Miliband. He argues the government to take emergency action. What are
:30:35. > :30:39.you seeing amongst the young people in your constituency? There has
:30:39. > :30:46.been a 25% increase in young people unemployed and the last year which
:30:46. > :30:51.is unacceptable. What is the cost of that? At is enormous. The cost
:30:51. > :30:56.to them, they have to be kept by their families most of the time,
:30:56. > :31:01.and that is just a waste of my young life. We have to get them
:31:01. > :31:07.started and walk as soon as possible. It must be worrying for
:31:07. > :31:12.anyone planning to leave school this summer with no jobs there?
:31:12. > :31:17.This government did not invent youth unemployment. It has been
:31:17. > :31:21.increasing since 2003 and have a problem the country. Even with a
:31:21. > :31:27.booming economy, there was still on employment and you have to wonder
:31:27. > :31:32.at the deeper causes and what measures we can take. I must say
:31:32. > :31:36.that one of David Miliband's ideas about the effects of directly
:31:36. > :31:41.elected mayors as a good one. will come back to that. The stats
:31:41. > :31:46.do not make for good reading. David Miliband highlighted hot spots
:31:46. > :31:55.where the numbers seeking Jobseeker's Allowance a double the
:31:55. > :32:02.national average. How tough as it out there? Our reporter has been to
:32:02. > :32:12.County Durham to make one young man looking for work. I am 20 p and
:32:12. > :32:18.have been unemployed for three years. -- 23. I get good support
:32:18. > :32:25.here. They have sat down with me and reassessed my CV. I have worked
:32:25. > :32:29.more to put what I'll do that and not what I am not good at. I went
:32:29. > :32:36.to college and study brickwork, passed the course and while I was
:32:36. > :32:41.there, I was doing English and IT courses and passed them as well.
:32:41. > :32:46.When I came out of college, it was bad timing for Brick Lane. There
:32:46. > :32:51.was no work in their construction industries. It was hard to find
:32:51. > :32:55.anything then. I am currently applying for any type of work,
:32:55. > :33:00.general factory work. Most of the time I am not getting any response
:33:00. > :33:04.at all. I am sending applications of and not heaving but anything
:33:04. > :33:08.that from employers. I am being turned them down because I have got
:33:08. > :33:13.no experience but nobody is giving me an opportunity to gain that
:33:13. > :33:17.experience. Nobody is letting me have buffeted the door so it is a
:33:17. > :33:20.vicious circle of how do I get employed if nobody gives me the
:33:20. > :33:27.chance? What is the Employment Minister
:33:27. > :33:31.say? Chris Grayling was here this week and he denies Labour's claims
:33:31. > :33:36.of complacency and talks of Investment be made in the regional
:33:36. > :33:41.economy. This is a part of the country we want to see succeed. It
:33:41. > :33:45.has some pretty long lasting challengers, things that go back
:33:45. > :33:49.years. We really want to help turn this region around and there are
:33:49. > :33:53.some great business success stories here are already. People doing
:33:54. > :33:59.wonderful things and some world beaters around here, but we want
:33:59. > :34:03.more of them. He said unemployment started rising
:34:03. > :34:09.before this Government came into office. What would you say to James
:34:09. > :34:14.as jobs are not there, what can be done? A word of criticism here
:34:14. > :34:18.about local labour. People I know who run businesses here cannot get
:34:18. > :34:24.the right people, people with engineering skills. People are
:34:24. > :34:31.being trained for the wrong things in our view. In the building trade?
:34:31. > :34:38.Surely that is a scale we always beat. He did not choose wrongly.
:34:38. > :34:41.is cyclical. There is a crisis there just now so somebody whose
:34:42. > :34:46.team specifically and that is going to struggle whether he is young or
:34:46. > :34:49.old. We had an opportunity and Darlington to Have I University
:34:49. > :34:52.technical college specialising in Engineering which would actually
:34:52. > :34:59.guarantee posts for suitably qualified young people which are
:34:59. > :35:02.not there at the moment and it was turned down. There is a general
:35:02. > :35:05.Work Programme which is showing encouraging trends but when
:35:05. > :35:11.Government millions after a delay because of protectionism it will
:35:11. > :35:14.not do. I do not know the details of that so cannot commit. The
:35:14. > :35:24.government is doing what it can with work programmes and
:35:24. > :35:26.
:35:26. > :35:32.apprenticeships. As far as I can see, most of the jobs they
:35:32. > :35:41.government are producing lasts only a year. Is that not what Labour did
:35:41. > :35:45.as well? Of course we get. We would not repeat that mistake. A lot of
:35:45. > :35:49.companies are taking apprentices on and what we need to do is get these
:35:49. > :35:54.lads into work and give them apprenticeships, some kind of scale
:35:54. > :35:59.in the end. After that, we need to pick the economy up and what we
:35:59. > :36:04.have always said is that we have to have growth. We will get nowhere if
:36:04. > :36:11.we're going to stagnate. The answer is not what Labour has been
:36:11. > :36:15.suggesting which is that we spend more? Are you do not spend more
:36:15. > :36:25.because you get that money back because the Golan to other jobs and
:36:25. > :36:27.they pay taxes and insurance. UK money in the long run. Isn't the
:36:27. > :36:35.Government responsible for failing to invest in infrastructure in the
:36:35. > :36:39.North East? We have just come out of a period of decades of huge
:36:39. > :36:44.public spending and look where it has got us in terms of the broader
:36:44. > :36:50.economy. When spending quite a lot, unemployment was at the lowest it
:36:50. > :36:54.been for quite a while? You cannot just build houses. It is an
:36:54. > :36:59.extremely complicated business involving planning, the state of
:36:59. > :37:04.the economy, mortgages and all the rest. You cannot magic up houses
:37:04. > :37:08.without huge borrowing. What we can do is train young people in things
:37:08. > :37:16.that are more likely to gain employment in skilled engineering
:37:16. > :37:20.and manufacturing. That is a success story in this region.
:37:20. > :37:24.36,000 new houses on Tyneside, with around backwater been built on the
:37:24. > :37:28.green belt. That is the plan. They will either swamp existing
:37:28. > :37:33.communities or perhaps provide badly-needed homes for those who
:37:33. > :37:38.cannot get onto the housing mother. First, I've been to meet some of
:37:38. > :37:44.those fighting the development. You could be forgiven if a feeling
:37:44. > :37:49.which are deep in the countryside. Goss was part nature reserve as the
:37:49. > :37:53.Newcastle's green belt. To the astonishment of locals, Newcastle
:37:53. > :38:03.council believes the field for next door are suitable for hundreds of
:38:03. > :38:03.
:38:03. > :38:09.new homes. This is not a zoo. Wildlife needs that land to forage
:38:09. > :38:14.for food. People have been very angry and upset and very
:38:14. > :38:17.disbelieving in what the council is proposing. If they had their way,
:38:17. > :38:22.the consultation period would have been over in the twinkling of an
:38:22. > :38:27.eye. It is not just about the wildlife but about democracy and
:38:27. > :38:36.people's rights to be able to say what they think about the area.
:38:36. > :38:38.campaign won the support of their local MP. Their main concern they
:38:39. > :38:43.raised was to do with the number of houses there are looking to develop
:38:43. > :38:48.because people have very serious concerns that we are perhaps over
:38:48. > :38:55.developing the city at the time of economic recession. Those houses
:38:55. > :38:59.may actually not be needed and the long-term. Other rural idles at
:39:00. > :39:06.risk as well. This could become part of a large new suburb of
:39:06. > :39:13.Newcastle. These fields could be competed over. Goodbye to raising
:39:13. > :39:18.cattle and hello to 6500 new homes. Should those concerns halt house
:39:18. > :39:24.building in its tracks? One of the argument begins groups like the
:39:24. > :39:28.cells is that we just do not want something on our doorstep. This
:39:28. > :39:35.bland as a great resource for Newcastle and once it is built on,
:39:35. > :39:40.that is lost forever. We shouldn't be going down this road. Their
:39:40. > :39:44.plans stretch beyond Newcastle's boundaries. This is across the
:39:44. > :39:51.border in Northumberland but thousands of new -- Newcastle homes
:39:51. > :39:55.will now be on its doorstep. This could put extra strain on the roads
:39:55. > :40:01.here in week to a shortage of places in local schools and because
:40:01. > :40:05.of this, the local Conservative MP as dead against Newcastle's plan.
:40:05. > :40:09.We do not understand why they are not building on brownfield sites.
:40:09. > :40:12.Why they are not filling in the empty homes. They should be doing
:40:13. > :40:19.that and not paving over green fields with executive homes that
:40:19. > :40:25.are not needed. The government's proposed relaxation of planning
:40:25. > :40:28.laws to make this much easier is changing the rules of the game.
:40:28. > :40:33.is the government framework that started it all off and has started
:40:33. > :40:36.a whole catalogue of proposals. Not just here but across the urban
:40:36. > :40:41.fringe and that is threatening wildlife. We feel that we're
:40:41. > :40:45.fighting battles that we one years ago. Although the focus is on the
:40:45. > :40:55.Tyneside green belt today, similar battles will be fought all across
:40:55. > :40:55.
:40:55. > :41:00.the North. With me now it is at Newcastle
:41:00. > :41:03.councillor. You put together a Labour and Conservative MP with
:41:03. > :41:08.serious considerations about your plans. Do you except you have got
:41:08. > :41:12.this badly wrong? We need to change the plans and he will do that at
:41:12. > :41:16.the end of the month. Some of the term is used in that bill were a
:41:16. > :41:20.little misleading. This was always only the basis for consultation.
:41:20. > :41:26.What we will come back with his a lot more plans to build on
:41:26. > :41:36.brownfield sites. Why come up with these proposals to build next to a
:41:36. > :41:36.
:41:36. > :41:40.nature reserve? Why did they come up and the first place. Their
:41:40. > :41:46.counsel have to find more money elsewhere and borrow capital might
:41:47. > :41:50.have used elsewhere. To build on brownfield site is more expensive
:41:50. > :41:54.which is why it the end of the month we will announce a new fund
:41:54. > :42:04.to push harder on to brownfield sites. The Government is making us
:42:04. > :42:06.do that unless we can find ways to build on brownfield more. We are
:42:06. > :42:13.arguing first for more money from government to develop brownfield
:42:13. > :42:19.areas but we will need to use money to build on greenfield site for
:42:19. > :42:25.more affordable homes. Offering housebuilders the carrot of open
:42:25. > :42:29.countryside is what they want? need to find 21,000 new homes in
:42:29. > :42:36.Newcastle before 2030. The bulk will be on brownfield sites. The
:42:36. > :42:44.last thing I came into politics to do is build on fields. We'll try to
:42:44. > :42:49.do it as little as we can. He had so we will make sure that where
:42:49. > :42:54.possible we will push to build on brownfield sites. This we have
:42:54. > :42:57.listened to the local MP and they agree with her. Ian Gow latterly,
:42:57. > :43:04.the council has taken a lot of flak but this is down to government
:43:05. > :43:09.proposals? They have removed some of the it sentence. We have
:43:09. > :43:13.attention here between the need for housing and the push to build a
:43:13. > :43:17.more affordable housing and that the same time it will cause a row
:43:17. > :43:24.which is giving more power back to local people and communities. There
:43:24. > :43:30.is conflict here. The people of Tyneside do not feel empowered.
:43:30. > :43:36.you may well fed here that there is, like trade union negotiations, you
:43:36. > :43:41.ask for more than expected get. MPs, as a trade secret, fight battles
:43:41. > :43:46.they expect to lose. Who knows the outcome of this particular issue. I
:43:46. > :43:51.do agree with you on brownfield sites. In the public sector, up
:43:51. > :43:57.good building land has hoarded the and the biggest Borders are the
:43:57. > :44:02.Royal Mail and the BBC. How dare you! They are now going to be
:44:02. > :44:08.required to release some of that. A lot of that is not heavily
:44:08. > :44:13.industrialised but it is brownfield that has been used very gently.
:44:13. > :44:20.Before we accuse, we should or can our own backyards. I look forward
:44:20. > :44:24.to moving families to the squalid conditions are my office. The first
:44:24. > :44:29.thing you need to do is build on the brink filled six. You must do
:44:29. > :44:33.that. Not everybody wants to live on brownfield sites. That is why
:44:33. > :44:38.housing developers like these green field site because they can sell it
:44:38. > :44:42.at a higher premium. I can imagine somebody wants to live in a lovely
:44:42. > :44:50.place like Goss had parked but then again, up a lot of people want to
:44:50. > :44:57.live where the work is which is in the town. She are you concerned by
:44:57. > :45:01.a lot of the council's building large number of houses when there
:45:01. > :45:10.is already quite a lot of empty homes. There is a problem with
:45:10. > :45:18.empty homes and we cannot push that agenda. There are going to be a lot
:45:18. > :45:26.of houses built their. Some of the communities like Blyth Ashingdon,
:45:26. > :45:30.if the Blues and part of their population will that be a problem?
:45:30. > :45:33.Sh I know where they are earned they are going to be built on land
:45:33. > :45:37.that is my argument. My argument is let's go for the brownfield site
:45:37. > :45:45.first and then decide, if Brownfield is all gone and there is
:45:45. > :45:50.unavailable, you may have to start arguing about that. I know you look
:45:50. > :45:55.forward to the next but of the show. It must be something to do with the
:45:55. > :46:05.music. Here is the regular catch up on the week's political events and
:46:05. > :46:08.
:46:08. > :46:13.At �21 million flood defence scheme is to go ahead and more to it. The
:46:13. > :46:19.minister said it would help prevent a repeat of 2008 flooding.
:46:19. > :46:23.The amount of subsidy given to offshore wind farms should be cut.
:46:23. > :46:26.This was by one of 100 Tory MPs who have written to the Prime Minister
:46:26. > :46:30.of the issue. The government had been encouraged
:46:30. > :46:38.to carry out a national audit to find out how much asbestos is in
:46:38. > :46:48.school buildings. There are 140 school teachers in a
:46:48. > :46:54.died from asbestos-related illness and last 10 years. Finally,
:46:54. > :47:00.passionate people, passionate places - he's up for sale. This was
:47:00. > :47:06.lodged in 2005 but with -- the government wants all his assets
:47:06. > :47:11.sold off including its famous slogan.
:47:11. > :47:18.One thing not mentioned is the news about the RMT's Valley airport
:47:18. > :47:21.which has announced the sale to peel Holdings. Is that good news?
:47:21. > :47:25.The airport was staring administration in the face if this
:47:25. > :47:34.did not happen so of course it is good news. Let's see what they
:47:35. > :47:38.propose to do with it. It is a victory for common sense. Three or
:47:38. > :47:42.four years ago, this company owned the airport and were accused of
:47:42. > :47:51.running it down. How much faced the you have that the new owner is
:47:51. > :48:00.serious? Their track record is less than great but they are the only
:48:00. > :48:06.show and pounds a let's get behind them. MPs' pay mentioned there. You
:48:06. > :48:15.work hard for so do you not want a pay increase? I don't think people
:48:15. > :48:21.see it that way but you're right. Being a great trade unionist I
:48:21. > :48:26.always demand a pay rise, I always have. Now they have to put my hand
:48:26. > :48:29.up and actually voted against them if it does come in for us. I do not
:48:29. > :48:38.think it well and I think we're being told we will not get it this
:48:38. > :48:42.year. That will be two years running. We may get 1% in 2013.
:48:42. > :48:49.That must be right at a time when other employees are having their
:48:49. > :48:57.wages squeezed? I can hear people crying at home thinking about you!
:48:57. > :49:03.You're saying to me, don't worry, take a wage freeze... Everybody is
:49:04. > :49:13.getting a wage freeze. When is it going to be politically acceptable
:49:14. > :49:15.
:49:15. > :49:22.for an MP to get a pay increase again? Abbot of purging has to go
:49:22. > :49:24.on before the government -- the people look favourably on it. Their
:49:24. > :49:30.government her new to the profession and are not the people
:49:30. > :49:34.who got it into trouble. It will be a year or two yet. We will have to