Browse content similar to 26/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
And in the North West: The proposals for the marina complex | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
that ran aground. As plans for Barrow's regeneration | :01:34. | :01:44. | |
:01:44. | :01:44. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2032 seconds | :01:44. | :35:36. | |
hit choppy waters, we ask what's Hello, I'm Annabel Tiffin. In the | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
next 20 minutes: the proposals for the marina complex that ran aground. | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
As plans for Barrow's regeneration hit choppy waters, we asked what | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
next for the town. First, let me introduce our two | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
guests of the day. For this week, we have branched out from | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
Westminster to Brussels with two north-west MEPs. For the | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
Conservatives, Jacqueline Foster, and for UKIP, the deputy leader, | :35:59. | :36:09. | |
:36:09. | :36:13. | ||
Paul Nuttall. We are used to having any bes in | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
here but we don't see you very often. How often are you in the | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
north-west was struck Mark --? me about three weeks of the month | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
we are in Brussels where we do committee work. Once a month, a | :36:27. | :36:30. | |
very controversial journey takes place do Strasbourg because we have | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
to sit there for about 12 times in mid-air. The public does not | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
understand why you do that. There are actually two European | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
Parliament and it comes at great expense to the public, not just to | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
transfer the MEPs, but also the officers and staff all the way from | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
Brussels to Strasbourg. It is about 500 miles. It is a waste of money, | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
and the Strasbourg parliament should be scrapped, quite badly. | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
That is something we will take longer than we have got to talk | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
about, so I am going to move on. Liverpool's hosting the Green | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
Party's spring conference this weekend and, on the face of it, the | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
party has much to celebrate. Over the past few years, the environment | :37:10. | :37:12. | |
has gone from being an ethical sideshow to centre stage politics. | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
Every party is now anxious to show its green credentials. But, where | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
does that leave the people who started it all? In a moment, I'll | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
be talking to the leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, but | :37:22. | :37:24. | |
first, Peter Marshall has been to Merseyside where the environment | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
has become big business. It seems many firms have seen the | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
light when it comes to going green. In fact, this transport | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
refrigeration company in Knowsley has diversified to meet the demand | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
:37:44. | :37:46. | ||
for green energy products. looked to reduce our overheads and | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
one way was to reduce our electricity and gas bill and | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
various other costs. As we looked into it, within the first couple of | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
months, we found it was quite a viable business proposition. | :37:57. | :37:59. | |
Alongside the core business they now supply and install renewable | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
and energy-saving equipment. The Government needs to promote a green | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
agenda. By 2020, 15 per cent of all the UK's Energy should come from | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
renewable sources. It has outlined plans for what it calls the world's | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
first Green Investment Bank, to help firms finance renewable energy | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
schemes. Liverpool hope to be its home, as do Manchester, Warrington | :38:18. | :38:26. | |
and Chester. The north-west is so appropriate. Excuse the cliche, but | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
this is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. This will | :38:32. | :38:34. | |
bring in other prospective investors who have got plans for | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
the region and look for Bank Investment. It is about profile. | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
But the green economy faces challenges. The Government is | :38:41. | :38:43. | |
trying to cut the amount of money paid to householders for | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
electricity they feed back into the grid by using solar panels. The | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
industry fears cutting that feed in tariff could cause a devastating | :38:49. | :38:56. | |
drop in demand. The Government have done what they have done for their | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
own reasons, and no one can really understand that. You had a good | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
incentive there, so hopefully, if the Government sort themselves out, | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
get the business back as usual. Liverpool John Moores University, | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
they are working on the green technologies of the future, like | :39:10. | :39:12. | |
using microwaves to speed up incineration, and produce fewer | :39:12. | :39:19. | |
harmful emissions. These technologies that we are trying to | :39:20. | :39:22. | |
look at make things faster and they think -- make things more | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
productive. They are also economically viable. So, green can | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
pay its way? It can, yes. wherewithal for a greener future is | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
out there, but it has to make economic as well as environmental | :39:35. | :39:42. | |
sense. In our Mees -- Merseyside studio is | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party. Going green can be big | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
business, but a lot of the mainstream parties are taking this | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
on now. Does that mean, do you think, that your work is done, | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
really? If any that were the case. We have got a coalition government | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
that likes to say it wants to be the greenest government ever, but | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
when you look at what it is doing, it is quite contrary. Your piece | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
just cited the example of the solar feed in Paris. That change that the | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
Government is about to make, not just the amount of money going into | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
the tariff is reducing, but it needs to be done in a predictable | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
way, not a sudden way, as the Government has done it. That move | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
will mean that we are losing about 20,000 jobs in the solar industry. | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
That is one of the fastest-growing industries in this country, and it | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
would be tragic if those jobs go. But the coalition Government wants | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
to introduce the Green Investment Bank, which is going to plough in | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
�15 billion into the green economy. Surely that shows they are taking | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
this seriously? Credit where it is due, I guess, it is a good idea. | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
But of course the mud that it will be able to borrow and lend and pass | :40:50. | :40:56. | |
on has gone down. -- the amount. The time frame has also lent them. | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
There are concerns about whether that Green Investment Bank is going | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
to be able to meet his potential. I hope that it is, but on a whole | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
range of issues so far, in spite of the rhetoric, we have seen very | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
little real action on the ground. cake, but green jobs are well and | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
good, but in this region where there really needs some way of | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
making up for the loss of public sector jobs, is it enough? We need | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
all kinds of different levers to create jobs in places like the | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
north-west and elsewhere. I think the green economy has to be a | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
crucial part of it, and not just because it is good for the | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
environment, but because the green economy is so labour-intensive. | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
There has been a lot of work done with unions and others to show how | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
we can create one million new jobs across the country. And not just | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
saying that because you would expect me to, but because it is a | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
really good way of putting money into create jobs that are | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
sustainable into the future, and in industries that are labour | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
intensive. This green economy is far more labour intensive and the | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
fossil fuel economy that it replaces. There are some real big | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
wins out there, and the Government's challenge now is to | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
show some real ambition around maximising the benefits that are | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
out there. Do stay with us. Paul Nuttall, do you think that the | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
green jobs can stimulate our economy? I am not sure actually. | :42:15. | :42:23. | |
What I will say is that if we carry on down the line of this Greek | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
environmental -- green environmentalism in terms of energy, | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
if we continue with this crackpot idea, quite frankly the lights will | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
go out in Britain very soon indeed. What ideas? Wind farms, for example. | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
They are more than a costly distraction, they don't work. They | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
only work 25% of the time and when you most need energy, during cold | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
snaps or heat waves, the wind does not blow so they don't work. Even | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
where it does blow to strong, you have to turn them off. All they are | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
doing is making rich landowners richer. Jacqueline, you are on the | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
environment committee in Brussels. Do you think that these are | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
crackpot ideas? I think some of them are. I am not a great fan of | :43:10. | :43:16. | |
wind farms. I think you have got to look in the round, really. What do | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
we actually need to keep the country going? What do we need in | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
certain industries? Where I would agree with Caroline, I think a lot | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
of the manufacturing industries over the years have started to come | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
up trumps in terms of the way that the manufacturing. If you Broughton | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
best from energy, I have always supported expanding our nuclear | :43:36. | :43:42. | |
capacity in this country. I am very pleased the Government has actually | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
decided that it will do this. the Conservatives now see | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
themselves as a Green Party? It is worldwide. It is part and parcel - | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
when you are a grown-up party and you have to take responsibility to | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
be the government of the day, of course you are going to take into | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
account all sorts of... Before I come back, let's bring Caroline | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
back in. I'm sure you want to respond. And surprisingly, I do. | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
Look at Germany, where they are putting in more solar panels in a | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
month than Britain does in a year. That is good for the economy - they | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
are doing very well economically at the moment. This idea that | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
environmental policies are a distraction from business as usual | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
for grown-up politics is cloud- cuckoo-land. Some of the things | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
that Ball said about wind power is not the case. If you look at | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
nuclear power stations, both of your guests sing in favour of these, | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
but they regularly go off-line and stay off-line. When that happens | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
because of some problem in the mechanism, you have got a huge | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
amount of energy that is taken off- line at once. At least with a range | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
of different renewables, you have got a range that you can draw on. | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
All right, Caroline, I'm sorry we are running out of time. Thank you | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
for joining us. Now, still on the subject of the economy. Formal than | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
two decades now, regeneration has been the name up of the game in | :45:09. | :45:16. | |
post-industrial Britain. Until last year, millions of pounds of | :45:17. | :45:19. | |
regeneration money came from the regional North West Development | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
Agency, and a lot of that money was match funded by Europe. But, when | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
the agency was abolished by the coalition government in 2010, those | :45:25. | :45:27. | |
funds dried up. Naomi Cornwell has been to Barrow-in-Furness in | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
Cumbria where plans for the marina have been left high and dry. | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
This was Barrow's big dream - a �200 million transformation of the | :45:35. | :45:37. | |
town's waterfront, with a marina, homes, hotels and a large | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
industrial park. But, many years after the plans were unveiled, work | :45:41. | :45:49. | |
has stopped. There is little to see for the �7 million so far spent. | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
is frustrating for people. When we started the project initially, I | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
believed that we would have it done in five or seven years' time. I had | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
visions of houses and penthouses and God knows what. The project was | :46:03. | :46:05. | |
mainly funded by the North West Development Agency. In 2010, the | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
Government announced it would abolish the agency and its grants | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
have since dried up. But it has not stopped Barrow Council buying up | :46:11. | :46:18. | |
land. If we don't do that as a council, then what we are saying to | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
the people is that Barrow would develop and expand, so we have to | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
keep that going. That is our plan for the future. It is a big | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
disappointment for Barrow, a town with high levels of deprivation. | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
The proportion of people claiming jobseeker's allowance is higher | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
here than the national average. So is the proportion of the population | :46:34. | :46:41. | |
on incapacity benefit. Many agree that Barrow needs a boost. We could | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
do with something like that. It is just on the edge. Yes, definitely. | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
Then you might get ships and that coming in, too, which would help. | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
What do you think Barrow needs? better shopping centre. That's it. | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
Regeneration in the town centre. The Dock Museum shows the town's | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
main industry through the ages. But shipbuilding has been in decline | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
over the last 20 years, prompting calls for new jobs in other sectors. | :47:07. | :47:08. | |
That is the challenge facing Cumbria's Local Enterprise | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
Partnership. LEPs were set up to replace the regional development | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
agencies. They can help projects but the Government money, but can't | :47:14. | :47:22. | |
fund things themselves. It is extremely tough, so I think we have | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
to admit that the days of speculative development on these | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
types of industry are for the time being gone. Development will need | :47:30. | :47:36. | |
to be led by investors, rather than speculative developers, and we are | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
talking to a number of investment developers. The town's prospects | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
aren't perhaps as bleak as it may seem here. Out at sea, a new | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
industry has emerged, as wind farms transform the Cumbrian coast line. | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
They have been championed by Furness Enterprise. It wants to | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
attract more private investors into Barrow to help regenerate the town. | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
But it, too, faces an uncertain future, and will close in August | :47:57. | :48:04. | |
unless more funding can be found. There are still opportunities. We | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
have a cluster of companies in this area involved in solid state | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
lighting, the new energy efficient lighting for the 21st century. With | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
the right kind of support from the Government, we can make a real | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
impact and create jobs. But we are not getting back from the UK | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
government. There are concerns that delays to regeneration projects | :48:24. | :48:32. | |
could have a big impact on young people in towns like Barrow. | :48:32. | :48:38. | |
any apprenticeship I can found his with BAe. The members of Furness | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
Youth Council pass on their ideas on improving the town to the local | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
authority. There is not much here, there is not much choice. I would | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
not get a job here. There is a little chance that I would get a | :48:52. | :49:00. | |
job here. I would rather work away. When people will take more interest | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
in Barrow, people will then be interested because it is their home | :49:05. | :49:15. | |
:49:15. | :49:16. | ||
town and they will want to come back. I have no objection to | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
Manchester or Liverpool in their share, but you can't do | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
regeneration simply in cities because all that happens is the | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
town's Dye. I would like to see a JCB digger on here as soon as | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
possible. I will have to be a little bit patient. The dream has | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
not died, but the wait for Barrow's bright future might take longer | :49:35. | :49:45. | |
than anyone here expected. Professor Alan Harding joins us in | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
the studio. Taking that last point that was made, what is the future | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
of regeneration for our north-west pounds? The last speaker was right | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
to suggest that there has been a big concentration on cities. I | :49:58. | :50:04. | |
think that is for a good reason. If you look at the statistics, it will | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
demonstrate that it is the bigger urban areas that have had most | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
success. For a government that is concentrating on success, then the | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
implications for areas like Barrow, even though there are quite | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
concerning in some areas, I think follow from what we have been doing | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
in recent years. Barrow has benefited from some European | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
funding in the past. Obviously the big cities much more so. Is that | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
all going to change in the future? There is a review going on at the | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
moment of European funding for the next period, which follows 2014. | :50:36. | :50:42. | |
All the indications are that the UK as a whole will get much less of an | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
allocation and it has this time around. Simply because there are | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
areas of southern and eastern Europe which are statistically | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
worse off than the UK. So they might get back pot of money that we | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
might otherwise have got? Yes, at the European funding is likely to | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
shift away from that big physical project do things like business | :51:01. | :51:07. | |
development, entrepreneur realism, high technology and so on. Talking | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
about Europe, the economy is struggling, there is no about -- | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
doubt about that, but there is over �1 billion of European funding that | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
is not being used. It was earmarked to help England's poorest regions | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
and cities lying unspent. Why is that? I have no idea. It is one | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
thing having a north-west development agency that is part of | :51:29. | :51:35. | |
rate mechanism and clearly everyone knew what they did, and... But that | :51:35. | :51:42. | |
has gone now. People can blame, of course they can. The money is going | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
to then be - the whole thing will be utilised through the local | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
enterprise partnerships. It is just that the structure is different. It | :51:51. | :51:56. | |
does not mean to say that there is less money or more money. If it | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
depends on who bids for what, but much funding still applied when it | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
was the north-west development agency. There is nothing new there. | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
The LEPs can't directly give money. The regional development agencies | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
did have their own money. That is the difference. They can't match | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
the European funding any more, so the European funding is not | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
forthcoming. The European funding is still... The funding promised is | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
still available. What is different is that the mechanisms in the | :52:25. | :52:31. | |
north-west and across the UK are different. Is that right, Paul, is | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
it just the structure that is different? Jackie is right. It is | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
more localised. I am a great believer in localism. If the is | :52:42. | :52:44. | |
organisations are run by a democratically elected councillors | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
and businesses, then I am all in favour. There is a bigger issue | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
here. You are talking about European funding. There is such a | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
big misnomer. It is our own money. So you are saying it is the money | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
that we have been given in the first prize? Absolutely. �50 | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
million a day, it cost this country to be a member of this organisation. | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
We sent the money out there, they sent half of it back and we are | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
expected to say thank you. There is no such thing as European money, it | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
is our money. How can we get this money to our regions that really | :53:15. | :53:23. | |
need it? A moment it is lying there and nobody can access it. We need a | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
referendum and we spend our own money sensibly on a foreign people | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
in our own country. I think the more realistic prospect is that we | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
need to think more carefully about much funding for things. He is | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
right, the money is on the table and we need to find Mechelen -- | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
different mechanisms for finding the match funding. In Barrow, my | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
understanding is that the assets of the ritual Development Agency had | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
been transferred to another organisation, the homes and | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
communities agency. There is some prospect that the agency will be | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
able to realise the value of some of those assets. That is just one | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
example. Local-authority is, you know, have got assets which they | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
can use to back European funding. It is not a lost cause. It's now | :54:08. | :54:14. | |
time for our round-up of this week's events with Gill Dummigan. | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
Lancashire MPs lobbied this week for BAe Systems's bid to build the | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
Indian Government's new fighter force. At the moment, France is the | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
preferred bidder. But MPs met David Cameron to urge him to keep up the | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
pressure. The House of Commons this week | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
debated calls for a new inquest into the death of a teenage victim | :54:30. | :54:33. | |
of the Hillsborough disaster. The mother of Kevin Williams has always | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
contested the verdict that he died accidentally. More than 100,000 | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
people signed her online petition, triggering the debate. | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
A public inquiry has been called for after a damning report on adult | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
social services at Wirral Council. Last week, the Labour leader Steve | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
Foulkes was voted out by councillors. The new man in charge | :54:51. | :54:58. | |
says an inquiry is the only way to restore trust. | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
I know that the prime minister has shown an interest. Ministers in | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
London are showing an interest. We will speak to them to see if we can | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
get this sorted. Finally, mothers in the Isle of Man | :55:10. | :55:12. | |
have been out on the streets protesting. They are concerned at | :55:12. | :55:22. | |
:55:22. | :55:24. |