29/01/2012 Sunday Politics South East

In the South East, green or greedy? Brighton and Hove City Council's

dramatically but are not parking charges for traders and they are

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2019 seconds

Welcomed to the Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming up,

expedience over experience? Some of our longest serving police officers

are being forced to retire to cut costs. How concerned should we be?

First let me introduce you to our guests. The newly knighted Sir

Roger Gale, Conservative MP for Thanet North, and crime novelist

Peter James, whose books are set in Brighton. They will be with me for

the next 20 minutes with their views on current events in the

region. Roger, congratulations on your night had. How does it feel?

It is great. People have been so nice about it. But it is not mine,

it belongs to all the people who have worked with me for so long,

including all the people who elected me. It is nice for North

Thanet. Do you feel like another man? Completely! Of course not. I

am Roger. Peter, not a knighthood, but on your website there is a

little note encouraging fans to vote for your names -- Your Name to

be used. It is a teaching organisation in Scotland and they

have asked 10 crime writers to encourage their fans to vote for

them. It costs �1 for the boat. The one who gets the most money will

have be thing named after them. -- the thing. Roger, one to ask you

about one event that has been in the news. The government has

announced plans to introduce a levy on foreign lover it -- lorry

drivers using our motorways. Kent County Council has been campaigning

for this for about 20 years but they are not sure that will get the

money brought in. No money of that kind normally goes to the county.

It will go to the Department of Transport pot. But it will be used

to build roads and it is a fair system. Our lorry drivers pay when

we go abroad. They pay quite a lot. But mainland European lorry drivers

do not pay when they come to Kent. We know the damage they can do to

our of Rhodes, we know they drive around without diffused headlights.

-- to our roads. Peter, I know you are an average car collector. What

you make of charging foreign drivers? As Roger says, they cause

more problems to English lorries. If a lorry is a problem in daringly

-- invariably it is a foreign one. It used to be in the Guinness Book

of Records, the loneliest tree in the world, knocked down by a

Belgian lorry driver. Any car enthusiast who regularly visits

Brighton can testify how expensive it can be to park in the city. The

Green-run council wants to encrypt -- increase car-parking charges and

the plans have caused upset. The council says it wants to raise

revenue and increased emissions but opponents say it will harm the

local economy. -- increase emissions.

On a tea break from plumbing and electrical work, the tradesmen of

Brighton and Hove protested over the city council's plans to

increase the cost of parking permits. They allow traders to park

wherever the jobs after �350 a year but it is set to rise to �600.

Brighton council is run by the Green Party which is not only

hoping to raise revenue but also make the city more environmentally

friendly by encouraging the use of sustainable transport like buses.

Trades men say this is not possible for the kind of work they do. John

is a gas engineer. To do his job he needs to be able to park easily.

Travelling around the city to do our work, we would be stuffed. In

every job you go to you need staff out of your fan, whether you're

tall bag or your full kit. -- van. Could you afford to pay nearly

double fit your permit? Not at all. We are being dragged over the coals

as it is with the cost of fuel and everything. Earlier this month a

group called traders need transport was set up to it -- to protest

against the changes. One-man businesses are working on profit

margins between 5 % and 10 %. The amount of work they would need to

compensate for this increase is very high. It is very difficult in

the current climate. Putting up prices by 70 % is a kick in the

teeth. It is not just traders permit that could God. The council

wants to increase its revenue from various parking sources. -- that

could go up. The council is hoping to more than double the cost of its

business permits for people who need to park through its place of

work. Then Derek parking meters, which are often used by visitors

and shoppers. -- and Ben there are parking meters. These ones on the

seafront are being nearly tripled from �2.20 for two hours to �6.

Brighton and Hove is famous for its small independent shops but these

increases concern some shop owners. The on-street car-parking,

generally speaking you don't get a lot of time. You are only looking

at a couple of hours anyway. To pop in and out in that short period, it

will go up exponentially in price. It will be very detrimental on-

trade. There is not really any doubt about that. What can you say?

Everything is going up and your takings are going down, that is

broadly what is happening. You can't just be constantly adding

more pressure to small business. It stands or falls together and it can

be a bit of a domino effect. That is what we are keen to avoid.

no surprise that the Green Party wants to put its environmental

stamp on the first city it is in charge of but clearly some people

feel it is put in these ideals ahead of the needs of local traders

and businesses. -- put him -- putting these ideals. Jason Kitcat,

I think you are going to raise nearly �1 million by increasing the

parking charges. What we do with that money? It will be invested

into transport, bus subsidies and the public realm. The government

are reducing our funding by 33 % over four years so we are in a

situation where we have less money coming in from government. It is

not happening just because we have had a sudden inspiration, it is

because the government are pressing us from every point of view. We saw

some of those struggling small businesses, they are already having

their margins squeezed. John the gas engineer is not going to use

public transport. Absolutely. The previous administration left a two-

to-three year waiting list for permits. People had to pay and

display and pay much more. We have eliminated that waiting list and

people getting a permit will be paying less than �2 a day to park.

We are supporting those traders. They will be able to park for

cheaper anywhere. That is not good news for the beach shop owner, who

said that it costs �6 an hour. Nobody will pop into the city

centre and do a bit of shopping. have simplified the parking tariffs

or stop if you look at the proposals overall, the increase is

just over 5 %, in line with inflation. Some have gone up more

to try to push people into the other car-parks. We have multi-

storey car parks that are not being used. We want to rationalise the

situation. The seafront parking spaces are very popular and there

is a lot of pressure. You are a Green-run council but you are

talking about balancing the books. Is this about revenue rather than

getting people out of their cars? bit of both. With regards to the

trade as permits it is about eliminating the waiting lists. In

some areas it is about increasing revenue and it is also about

supporting the green agenda. aren't you raising residents'

permits? Every stone has a different waiting list and the

level of pressure. -- zone. doesn't sound very green. You could

go further with this. In Lewes it costs �1,000 to have a trait --

trading permit. We think that some traders do need to have drive the

fans so we have taken the middle ground on this. -- vans. Peter, you

are a driver and you live near Brighton. Do you take your car into

Brighton? Near Brighton. Successive councils have waged a war on

motorists, particularly those coming from out-of-town. My partner

doesn't go into Brighton any more, she goes to Tunbridge Wells or

Guildford, where you can park easily. There has to be a reason

why Brighton does not have one single world-class department store

today. It does not have a Harvey Nichols or a John Lewis because

people do not go there to shop. We have to help motorists, not drive

them out. Sir Roger, you were saying you thought it was insane.

Everybody in so -- understands that you have to pay for parking schemes

and you have to control parking but using parking as a fund raiser is

quite wrong. I am opposed to any new burden on small business and I

think that this is what this is. this has not been implemented yet,

as it? Are you going to make any changes? We have made modifications

but fundamentally visit the numbers continue to increase in Brighton

and Hove, there is massive pressure and we would like to get people to

consider using the bus or the train if they can. Those who do park will

have to pay the price unfortunately. We will leave it there for now. We

will be including due in our next discussion. D S Roy grace, the main

character in Peter's Roy -- crime novels, is becoming a rare breed.

To make budget cuts each of our police forces are being asked to

lose staff. Home Office figures released this week said that police

officer numbers across the country are the lowest for a decade. Sussex

and Surrey Police have been using a controversial tactic to force

officers with 30 years' experience into retirement. Peter, you know

many of these people personally and you are concerned. Yes, it is men

and women and what concerns me is that the police have to save money,

that is fine, but we have been hearing noises about this not

affecting the frontline. It is just not the case. The chief constables,

and it is not just Sussex and Surrey Police, it is every force,

because to save 20% of costs when 85 % of their costs our labour,

they will have to bring this in. It is a very blunt instrument. The

thing about A19 is that it does not discriminate. Everybody goes after

30 years. The majority of police officers Gauguin in their teens so

you are losing people at 48, 49 years old. -- Degas in. When the

government is persuading people to work longer, they are dissuading

people from staying in the job. We have lost two district commanders.

It is not just at the top, it is people with massive experience down

the ranks. A lady who has just received the Queen's Police model

and she would love to have done another 10 or five years and she

has had to go. A19 is the legislation that enables police

authorities to lose their staff after 30 years but it has not been

introduced yet. What would you say if they did? A19 has not been used

so far. He is right, it it's a very blunt instrument, it was not

designed for this purpose. The police constable can't say, I have

somebody who has done 30 years but is highly productive and we need to

keep them. That is the problem. There has to be a better way.

is the better way? I think both your party and the Labour Party

agree that the 20 % cuts have to happen. We know that we have a

massive deficit that we inherited and we have to deal with it. Chief

constables have to be given the right to discriminate, to choose,

to say, that person has real wisdom, we need that person, male or female,

on the force. Somebody else may be less productive. That person has to

be got rid of. Without naming names, Peter, would you concede that some

people after 30 years, it is time for them to go? Absolutely. Just

like a character in my books who is an old racist homophobic. He was

based on somebody! Roger is right, the chief constables can't

discriminate and their hands are being forced by the government. It

is completely wrong. It is not just at the senior level where there are

some superb people going. It is intelligence officers, drugs

liaison officers. You are losing people who deal with the court

process, who process prisoners. Jason Kitcat, what are your

concerns about this? You are having to make difficult choices. What

should happen to the police? don't support cuts in police

numbers but this is something that all areas of local public service

are seeing. It is trying to enforce these budget targets. It is

experienced people being made to leave and to there is a hollowing

out of the expertise in these organisations. It is building up

big problems for later on. policing Minister would say there

was and no correlation between losing officers and crime rates

going up. That is true that we are determined to maintain the front

line. But we have to maintain the front line with the right people.

Bill Bratton was brought in because he was the person who single-

handedly cleaned up new York. He didn't. New York was cleaned up

because they trebled the number of police officers. Now it is time for

our round-up of events with Louise Stewart.

Sheppey was dealt a blow with the announcement that the island's

largest private employer, Thamesteel Ltd, has gone into

administration with the loss of around at 250 jobs.

Most South East residents will see their council tax frozen for a

second year. Those councils rejected them and voted for an

increase. She Robinson faced questions from

MPs on the cost of beat some of's games. -- Hugh Robinson. MPs have

bought more tickets for the beach volleyball than any other sport.

The MP for South Thanet used a food prices debate to plug her new

company to sell ugly fruit and veg. Tasty but imperfect, just like you.

We love that. Sir Roger, about Thamesteel, a terrible situation.

What can politicians realistically do? If it is your mortgage, your

family, then one job is one job to many. They are feeling real pain.

All I can say is that even as we are sitting here Gordon Henderson,

who represents Sheppey, is working with the people managing the

business to try to find a solution. It may not be possible but they are

doing their level best because we need those skills intent. -- in

Kent. Do you have any volley ball tickets? Sadly no, but I will watch

pretty closely on TV. Are you getting into the spirit of 2012?

think it is fantastic. I can understand why politicians want to

watch a volley ball, it is juggling something in the air. We will leave

it at that! The beach volleyball is in Margate. Yes, and I think the