Browse content similar to 30/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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of the show. This week, a warning that | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
Middlesbrough could be heading towards bankruptcy if cuts continue. | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods and North East Euro MP Fiona Hall join | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
me in the studio to give us their take on the spending review. | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
And they are here on loan from tomorrow, but is it time the North | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
East got the Lindisfarne Gospels back for good? | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
Let us start with the Mayor of Middlesbrough Ray Mallon, who has | :33:46. | :33:48. | |
hit out at Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for failing to | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
understand the scale of the problems facing the town. He warned that | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
further cuts could push Middlesbrough towards bankruptcy. | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
These cuts are too quick and too deep. They are savage to a place | :34:05. | :34:12. | |
like Middlesbrough. As it stands, we are heading towards bankruptcy. This | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
is happening all over the country to local authorities. I am sure they | :34:18. | :34:26. | |
will echo my comments. Look at the brass tacks. The budgets are | :34:26. | :34:34. | |
re-juice yet the age of the adult population is growing. The amount of | :34:34. | :34:44. | |
:34:44. | :34:46. | ||
people needed here is growing. We can estimate that they ended future | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
years, the vast majority of our budget will be spent on adult social | :34:52. | :34:58. | |
care. It is complete nonsense what the communities secretary is seen. | :34:58. | :35:07. | |
He needs to see at first hand what people are having to live with. I | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
stand for value for money, efficiency and effectiveness. But I | :35:13. | :35:21. | |
am not a magician. Unfortunately, it seems that Eric sometimes thinks he | :35:21. | :35:31. | |
:35:31. | :35:33. | ||
is a magician and can just weave his magic wand. Will councils be able to | :35:33. | :35:40. | |
cope with this? Well, we have seen this before and councils have | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
managed to adapt. We are not getting the full story here. There has been | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
a storm money for many aspects of council spending, such as the adult | :35:52. | :36:02. | |
social care that Ray was talking about the. Sorry is not telling the | :36:02. | :36:12. | |
:36:12. | :36:13. | ||
truth in this? I understand that many councils are under pressure to | :36:13. | :36:19. | |
make the cuts required, but there are also opportunities for them to | :36:19. | :36:26. | |
come together and share costs like some have done. The actual amount of | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
spend that councils have is actually only down by 2%, which is not | :36:33. | :36:40. | |
catastrophic, is it? I think what we should ask is why they were out the | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
dispatch box seeking more cuts. To me, it just shows that they have | :36:45. | :36:52. | |
failed. And the trouble is that the people who'd be the brunt of that | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
feel you are communities, particularly in the North. And it is | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
taking away from the councils who have the greatest needs. The | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
government is complacent and has no regard for the deal difficulties of | :37:06. | :37:16. | |
:37:16. | :37:16. | ||
people. People rely on council services. But when you look at the | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
cuts in some government departments are as high as 10%, surely local | :37:20. | :37:30. | |
:37:30. | :37:34. | ||
councils have to take their share of them? What we have seen is the cuts | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
being applied very unfairly. It is mostly northern councils which are | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
suffering the most. So what can our town halls do to | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
save money, apart from cut front-line services? Some believe | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
they need to think more radically, by sharing work with neighbouring | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
councils, or perhaps we should consider scrapping some local | :37:50. | :37:59. | |
:38:00. | :38:03. | ||
authorities altogether. A council printing works in stock and. These | :38:03. | :38:13. | |
:38:13. | :38:16. | ||
days, it is busier than ever. promotional leaflets and folders and | :38:16. | :38:22. | |
also do general formwork, the likes of the annual tax bill. Although | :38:22. | :38:29. | |
this unit is the based in Stockton, it also does the printing for | :38:29. | :38:35. | |
Darlington Council. The sheer package saves Darlington �1 million | :38:35. | :38:43. | |
a year. Over the last three years, the council in Darlington has faced | :38:43. | :38:49. | |
the 14 million cut in its funding. Over 400 jobs have been lost and | :38:49. | :38:59. | |
:38:59. | :39:01. | ||
jobs have been hit in the likes of the arts Centre, which closed. There | :39:01. | :39:08. | |
is a further �40 million cut coming in the budget. If Darlington where | :39:08. | :39:13. | |
to stop cutting the grass, entering the bends, closing leisure centres | :39:13. | :39:22. | |
and museums and libraries tomorrow, that would equate to the �14 million | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
we have two fame. It is a significant challenge, particularly | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
for the likes of us. How are you going to manage this? There are | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
certain savings we can put into place, but that will only take so | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
far. We have had already 400 members of staff made redundant over the | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
last few years unlucky at the scale of cuts we have defined, there could | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
be a similar number coming up. some of these arguments get short | :39:54. | :40:03. | |
shrift. There are so many councils. So many of them could may urge. The | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
good meals together and share the services. Every business has to go | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
through cycles where you have to adapt to these changes. Why can they | :40:11. | :40:21. | |
:40:21. | :40:27. | ||
not do that? We are in this position, so is it not time for them | :40:27. | :40:34. | |
to think more radically? I think we had already seen local authorities | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
working in a much more co-ordinated day. We do of county council should | :40:38. | :40:45. | |
have got together to try and have certain functions sheared. You could | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
not get rid of the whole load of councils could you not? Well, you | :40:50. | :40:58. | |
have to be very careful about that. Everything comes at a price. People | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
want to have local representatives. I think councils are taking very | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
effective action to try and take money away from the backroom | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
functions and to try and reduce the cut to front-line services as much | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
as possible. This is really challenging. This is the most | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
challenging financial environment ever faced by local authorities and | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
of cuts keep coming year on year, we are going to see local councils | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
simply not able to provide the services they do at the moment. | :41:28. | :41:36. | |
is the reality. What we saw in Darlington is that councils can | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
think of a lie, but still they are struggling to cope and are stealing | :41:40. | :41:48. | |
down cannabis. They asked councils who could save. We have heard the | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
likes of the amount of money spent by some councils on consultants. | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
these are fiddling round the edges. What is left for the councils to | :42:00. | :42:09. | |
cut? There's not so much for them to cut. We have seen the letter. It is | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
not nice. It is not easy to have to live through butter has to be known | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
that Newcastle were still receiving a lot more money than some of the | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
wealthier councils down south. is absolute rubbish. What you are | :42:24. | :42:32. | |
trying to say is these cuts and there are still a lot of scope for | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
local councils to make changes to services. That is not true. It is | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
the councils in greatest needs. The true risk Council in the country, | :42:42. | :42:48. | |
Liverpool, has been given the biggest cut. The councils who are | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
coping with areas of the biggest deprivation are receiving the | :42:51. | :42:58. | |
biggest cuts. You have to target the communities with the greatest needs. | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
You have to look at the overall figures. The councils in the North | :43:02. | :43:11. | |
are still getting -- the North East are still coping very well in | :43:11. | :43:21. | |
:43:21. | :43:27. | ||
comparison to the likes of the North West. It is difficult, but we come | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
back to the fact that this is needed. Would you prefer councils to | :43:32. | :43:39. | |
have the freedom to argue for a council tax rise in order to protect | :43:39. | :43:46. | |
services? Generally, we should give more power to local government. The | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
government is passing down a lot of responsibilities to local | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
government, for example in the Administration of benefits. But it | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
is not giving them the resources to do that. At a general level, I think | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
we should be sent to local government, make your case out, try | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
and make your money go further, but what the adults are doing and it is | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
really important we do not leave lose sight of this, they are being | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
very imaginative to come together and plan for the future. Councils | :44:17. | :44:26. | |
are trapped here. BR having budgets cut but you're giving them the | :44:26. | :44:32. | |
freedom dashed not giving them the freedom to raise council tax. Is | :44:32. | :44:42. | |
:44:42. | :44:44. | ||
that unfair? We have seen the role that communities can pay. I am going | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
to stop you just fear. Because that is the story we are about to come | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
When Newcastle Council announced last year it wanted to shut all but | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
eight of its local libraries, the protests were long and loud. Yet the | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
story did not end there. Four out of the five libraries due to close for | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
good this week will in fact be reopening, under the control of | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
local people. Let me tell you a story that begins in a place not far | :45:07. | :45:17. | |
:45:17. | :45:17. | ||
from here. For library lovers, it was a horror story. Protests earlier | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
this year about council cuts, among them proposals to close five | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
libraries in Newcastle and see more by 2015. No, that script has | :45:28. | :45:36. | |
changed. This is one of the library is slated to close, but will stay | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
open run by volunteers from the local community. We raise money from | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
a number of events. This is a beautiful building and is very well | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
adapted for the likes of concerts, lectures, children's activities and | :45:52. | :46:02. | |
:46:02. | :46:04. | ||
suchlike. It has been very well maintained by the council up until | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
now, so it is not as if we are taking over our building that is on | :46:08. | :46:16. | |
its last legs. This building is a beautiful facility. Under the | :46:16. | :46:26. | |
:46:26. | :46:27. | ||
original plans, a libraries would of close by 2015. -- eight libraries. | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
Four have been rescued and there are plans for the community to take | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
others on. One of them has shut for good, much for the annoyance of | :46:37. | :46:46. | |
local users. Pretty disappointing. Josh knows they are virtually every | :46:46. | :46:52. | |
night. The man in charge of the service in the city is relatively up | :46:52. | :47:00. | |
heat. We have been able to give support to community groups of the | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
transferrin buildings and the stock. It is a partnership of community | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
organisations and the council which has very well for years. So ugly | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
fears of libraries shutdowns unfounded. Was the local council | :47:16. | :47:23. | |
playing politics with libraries over the cuts? We have to make | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
large-scale cuts over the next few years, so it is unfair to say we | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
were playing with this. We were being very realistic and honest and | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
upfront. In County Durham, the council is in the process of handing | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
over dozens of community centres to local groups to run as part of its | :47:43. | :47:52. | |
evening routines. Gemma practises hard and shootings in one of them. | :47:52. | :48:02. | |
:48:02. | :48:08. | ||
But with this comes great responsibility. The council will | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
continue to pay for repairs on the Arisaig, but the part of that is | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
that they will only pay for 70% of that and we have defined the other | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
30%. There was an upside to the spending | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
review this week and it came in the shape of some extra money for road | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
improvements, like the A19. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny | :48:28. | :48:30. | |
Alexander also promised a feasibility study into dualling the | :48:30. | :48:40. | |
:48:40. | :48:41. | ||
A1 north of Newcastle. London gets a variety of projects. We get a update | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
on a previous I cancel programme and the talk of a feasibility study. Is | :48:48. | :48:54. | |
that really good enough? I am pleased that the study is going to | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
take place. Previous governments have failed to do this with regard | :48:58. | :49:04. | |
to the A1 and we have had that confirmed today by Danny Alexander. | :49:04. | :49:14. | |
:49:14. | :49:14. | ||
It is great news for the North East. It is a commitment which could | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
easily be going back on. They are looking at a feasibility study. We | :49:17. | :49:27. | |
:49:27. | :49:28. | ||
have heard this all before. Yes, but previous governments have failed. | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
But I think we will see it coming pretty quickly. With regard to this | :49:34. | :49:42. | |
road, this is more than the Labour Party ever did. What I would say was | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
that the last infrastructure plan from this government introduced 561 | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
projects and so far southern hub in Deal honoured. We need to see | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
something happening on the ground, not these empty words from the | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
government. I as the chief secretary and now is whether the road was | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
going to happen, whether the A1 would happen, what percentage would | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
come to the North East of infrastructure spending and he could | :50:09. | :50:18. | |
not tell me. The last time I hear, it was one half of 1%. This region | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
has been shortchanged by the government. These projects are all | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
going to happen after 2015. The cover is done nothing to stimulate | :50:26. | :50:34. | |
economic growth in the short term. There has been broadband investment | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
and investment in green industries, should be not be praising them for | :50:38. | :50:45. | |
that? Well, if they actually happened. The record of delivery, as | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
opposed to what he has been absolutely abysmal from this | :50:48. | :50:58. | |
:50:58. | :50:58. | ||
government. We need this economic growth though. Local businesses need | :50:58. | :51:04. | |
support from the government. �2 billion across all the regions is | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
simply not enough. Lord Heseltine themselves said it would take 70 | :51:07. | :51:15. | |
billion. The government is as usual channelling resources into London | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
and the south-east and ignoring areas such as this. There has been a | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
big gap in spending between the South and the North? Of course we | :51:26. | :51:33. | |
would like more money, but there has been good news for the region. There | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
is now going to be a special transition region category which | :51:38. | :51:41. | |
Durham Tees Valley will be in and also because the government has made | :51:42. | :51:47. | |
the decision, as Durham county council asked, they wanted to have | :51:47. | :51:50. | |
more local control over spending and that is exactly what is going to | :51:50. | :51:59. | |
happen. This could see �100 million extra coming to the area. | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
And now, as they say, for something completely different. The | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
1,300-year-old Lindisfarne Gospels go on display to the public from | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
tomorrow, on loan from the British Library, with tens of thousands of | :52:08. | :52:10. | |
visitors expected to flock to Durham's Palace Green. Local MPs | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
welcome the exhibition, but think it should be just the start. Here is | :52:14. | :52:24. | |
:52:24. | :52:27. | ||
Mark with that and some of the other stories making the news this week. | :52:27. | :52:36. | |
Seven cyclist died on the lords of the North East in 2011. The overall | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
casualty rate is one of the highest in the United Kingdom. The hospital | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
in Whitehaven is in hospital again after an investigation by the care | :52:44. | :52:53. | |
quality commission. The Lindisfarne Gospels go on display tomorrow, but | :52:53. | :53:01. | |
should be returned permanently to the region according to local MPs. | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
Why can the British library not establish a base in Northumberland. | :53:05. | :53:14. | |
They could display them permanently the. And an accolade for Olson in | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
Cumbria, which is to become the first social enterprise stone in the | :53:19. | :53:29. | |
:53:29. | :53:31. | ||
United Kingdom. They have even set up their own co-operative. Let us | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
talk about the Lindisfarne Gospels. We are very thrilled the upcoming | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
two Durham. We have a more known. Should they be coming here | :53:38. | :53:44. | |
permanently? Firstly, it is fantastic we have them back in | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
Durham even for temporary period. People see it as a next ordinary | :53:50. | :53:56. | |
exhibition. We should start back congratulating the Cathedral for a | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
brilliant job in bringing them here. But it would be nice to have the | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
media permanently. We would have to sort out a way of financing that. I | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
would like to continue discussions with the University and Cathedral | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
and the British library to receive we can achieve that. That would be | :54:13. | :54:21. | |
fantastic. But at the moment, it is just great the RPM on temporary loan | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
along with other important relics. It is very important people let go | :54:26. | :54:28. | |
and see and important that we celebrate our heritage in this | :54:29. | :54:38. | |
:54:39. | :54:41. | ||
region. Should they be in this region? Firstly, I agree that it is | :54:41. | :54:44. | |
fantastic they are here, but I agree that you have to look at the | :54:45. | :54:54. | |
:54:55. | :54:57. | ||
financial implications of them being here on the time. But I think that | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
so many people visit them at the British library and maybe they would | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
not be so many people got exposure to them if they were permanently and | :55:06. | :55:13. | |
the North East. They are national treasures, so it is rather unfair | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
for us to claim them simply for the North East. It was interesting in | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
Parliament house MPs from other regions asked if they could have a | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
loan of the Lindisfarne Gospels as well, which was rather nice. I think | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
it's wonderful that people want to celebrate them and know more about | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
them. If we hadn't permanently there really be able to loan out to other | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
areas. One thing we want to acknowledge is that we really have | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
excellent facilities in the North East in order to house the | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
Lindisfarne Gospels and a lot of expertise in preserving them, so a | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
should be possible. What we do not have in place a long-term fund which | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
Ruud have to work on. And there will be a special | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
programme on the Gospels tomorrow night here on BBC One at 10.35pm. | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
That is about all we have got time for. It is the BBC news in a moment, | :56:06. | :56:10. |