:01:38. > :01:48.In the south-east: Trains, planes and automobiles, the Brighton
:01:48. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :30:40.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1731 seconds
:30:40. > :30:45.straeugs congestion driving Hello, this is the Sunday Politics
:30:45. > :30:50.in the south-east. Coming up: Turning back the blue tide, with
:30:50. > :30:55.elections looming in Surrey, Kent and Sussex, can Labour win back the
:30:55. > :31:00.voters who abandoned them in 2010? With me today Labour commentators
:31:00. > :31:04.Paul Richards and Professor of politics at Sussex University, Tim
:31:04. > :31:10.Bell. Anyone been to the seaside over the weekend? Not this weekend,
:31:10. > :31:16.the weather wasn't that brilliant. If you drove to Brighton, seafront
:31:16. > :31:19.parking will have given you a shock. The city's green council wants to
:31:19. > :31:24.encourage day-trippers to think about alternatives to the car. Both
:31:24. > :31:28.our guests live in coastal Sussex, we will be in Brighton itself, will
:31:28. > :31:31.you still drive at �20 a day for parking? I wouldn't drive to
:31:31. > :31:34.Brighton at all, it's a difficult place to drive in. That's my view.
:31:34. > :31:39.You would avoid it altogether. Do you think any park something worth
:31:39. > :31:44.�20? It's a disaster. The choice will not be with us to take the car
:31:44. > :31:47.or not, it will be with us to go to Brighton or not, so for the economy,
:31:47. > :31:50.a seaside town and relies on visitors, it's a disaster for
:31:50. > :31:54.traders and people people whose livelihoods depend upon it. It's
:31:54. > :31:58.more expensive than Berlin, parking in Brighton. How much do you pay in
:31:58. > :32:03.east borne. It's cheaper, by the seafront to encourage people to go
:32:03. > :32:07.to the seafront because the council in Eastbourne isn't anti-car like
:32:07. > :32:15.the council in Brighton. We are learning more and more about the
:32:15. > :32:20.tkpwraoerp all the -- Green Party all the time. They're a council
:32:20. > :32:24.under pressure. It's austerity Britain. Parking is often an easy
:32:24. > :32:27.hit. We will talk to their leader in waiting in a moment. The obvious
:32:27. > :32:31.solution if you object to high parking charges is to travel by
:32:31. > :32:35.public transport. But the train doesn't completely take the strain
:32:35. > :32:38.in Brighton. Traffic congestion around the town's main main railway
:32:38. > :32:42.station has got so bad it adds considerable time and stress to a
:32:42. > :32:51.journey, and there are concerns that this could damage tourism and
:32:51. > :32:55.local business. Helen Drew reports.
:32:55. > :33:03.From London to Brighton in around 50 minutes, it's no wonder that
:33:03. > :33:06.Brighton railway station has 14.5 million passengers a year. It's the
:33:06. > :33:13.25th busiers station in the country. The chance of a quick onward
:33:13. > :33:17.journey can go off the rails the moment you walk out of the station.
:33:17. > :33:22.A lack of space at the front of the station can often lead to gridlock
:33:22. > :33:27.with buses and taxis. Sometimes in a taxi, sometimes on a bus. But as
:33:27. > :33:32.you can see here, it's shambolic. It's chaotic. The buses struggle to
:33:32. > :33:36.get in. Taxis struggle to get in and out. It's a mess. There's
:33:36. > :33:39.usually a queue of taxis and it stops the bus. It's an
:33:39. > :33:45.inconvenience to travel to and from and I do a lot of travelling. I
:33:45. > :33:49.find it's poorly laid out and getting into it and away from it is
:33:49. > :33:51.more problematic than it should be. Concerns shared by transport
:33:51. > :33:55.Minister Norman Baker. The traffic flows around the station are very
:33:55. > :33:59.poor. It takes a long time for buses and taxis to exit the area.
:33:59. > :34:04.There are jams down the road. There aren't proper cycle facilities
:34:04. > :34:08.either, which there ought to be. It's not attractive to make your
:34:08. > :34:11.onward journey, even if you can get on a bus or taxi, you don't get far
:34:11. > :34:15.quickly and that lengthens journey time. You have a train journey from
:34:15. > :34:19.London to Brighton about 49 minutes, at best, and you can take quite a
:34:19. > :34:22.long time getting just half a mile down the road. Actually, if we are
:34:22. > :34:26.going to get more people using public transport we have to sort
:34:26. > :34:29.out that last leg in Brighton. the end of last year Brighton and
:34:30. > :34:33.Hove city council held a consultation on how to improve it
:34:33. > :34:37.station and hasn't made a decision yet. One option is to close a
:34:37. > :34:42.nearby road to to private vehicles, many say that's not radical enough
:34:42. > :34:47.and some motor motorists are put off driving by high parking charges.
:34:47. > :34:50.Other options are move kwrg the taxi rank to the back of the
:34:50. > :34:54.station or relocating the buses. But tphoert of neither wants to
:34:55. > :34:59.move. The problem with moving the buses is there's nowhere else they
:34:59. > :35:02.can go. The road network won't allow bus routes to go to the
:35:02. > :35:07.northern entrance. Unless the buses stay here they're not going to be
:35:07. > :35:10.here at all. That would go against what is Government policy and local
:35:10. > :35:14.authority policy of trying to get buses and trains to integrate. If
:35:14. > :35:19.anything, I would like to see more room for more buses. Taxi companies
:35:19. > :35:23.are worried that because the council is run by the Green Party,
:35:23. > :35:28.buses may get priority, moving taxis around the back. It's not an
:35:28. > :35:38.option the drivers themselves want or passengers will want to be
:35:38. > :35:44.honest. The rear entrance of the station, the northern entrance, is
:35:44. > :35:48.actually the access roads are very, very complicated. It will add much
:35:48. > :35:55.more to the journey, more money to the journey. We do feel buses get
:35:55. > :35:58.favoured. And cyclists. And the Green Party, it seems to be pushing
:35:58. > :36:03.that way. Hopefully they will come around to our way of thinking and
:36:03. > :36:05.see the value of getting taxis and private hire. As well as there
:36:06. > :36:09.there possibly not space to accommodate all types of transport
:36:09. > :36:13.there's the time-scale. The council is planning to start the work next
:36:13. > :36:17.year, but people are already tired of the long-standing problem.
:36:17. > :36:21.very, very important they do something about this soon, because
:36:21. > :36:27.this situation has goth gone on long skwruf. It's been for years
:36:27. > :36:31.now a great example of trying to get a quart into a pint pot.
:36:31. > :36:34.people are not arriving at that point by public transport is going
:36:34. > :36:38.to increase further and carrying on as we are, I don't think is an
:36:38. > :36:43.option. Could the Green Party use the station revamp to get a step
:36:43. > :36:46.closer to their environmental ideology, ousting taxis and giving
:36:46. > :36:50.preference to buses? And is it acting quickly enough or are the
:36:50. > :36:54.benefits of a Fast Train line getting derailed with every bus and
:36:54. > :36:59.taxi queue? Joining me now from Brighton is the
:36:59. > :37:02.leader in waiting of Brighton and Hove City Council. Let's start with
:37:02. > :37:06.that point at the end of that report, will you oust the taxis
:37:06. > :37:10.from the southern entrance in favour of the buses? It's the
:37:10. > :37:15.suspicions of the drivers that's what you plan to do? We did a
:37:15. > :37:18.survey as the report mentioned of 1,1,200 people who use the station,
:37:18. > :37:23.over 70% access the station on foot and the next highest usage was bus
:37:23. > :37:26.and after that taxi and other forms. So, that's the way the lay of the
:37:27. > :37:30.land already. Just recognising that existing usage means we need to
:37:30. > :37:35.cater for those needs of the people coming on foot. We haven't got any
:37:35. > :37:40.firm plan yet. We will put out in May two or three detailed proposals
:37:40. > :37:43.for consultation so that in August we can decide move forward, and
:37:43. > :37:47.start construction. This is a complicated project. It's not just
:37:47. > :37:51.us, we have southern rail who have over �4 million of Government
:37:51. > :37:56.funding. We have developers for a block behind the station looking to
:37:56. > :38:01.move forward as well. There's an hotel being built, lots of
:38:01. > :38:05.independent things going on. Clearly people want it sorted and
:38:05. > :38:10.quickly. You realise, I assume, this is not the best welcome to
:38:10. > :38:14.Brighton. Absolutely. We have not been in power a year yet and we
:38:14. > :38:18.have made more progress on that than any administration pwr so so -
:38:18. > :38:20.- before we think we are making fast progress. What progress, you
:38:20. > :38:23.haven't done anything, you have asked a few questions? We have
:38:23. > :38:26.brought forward the funding for this and we are working with
:38:26. > :38:30.southern rail who have already got the funding from the Government.
:38:30. > :38:33.They're looking to create a cycle parking hub which is much needed
:38:33. > :38:36.for the area, lots of cycles are chained on railings which add to
:38:36. > :38:41.the unwelcoming nature. It's very difficult project to bring forward,
:38:41. > :38:44.given the fact no one person, no one body owns the whole area.
:38:44. > :38:49.clue is in the title, you are the Green Party and the greenest thing
:38:49. > :38:52.to do would be to favour buses over taxis, wouldn't it? Taxis play a
:38:52. > :38:56.part in transport and it's not about pitting one form against the
:38:56. > :39:02.other. They've all a part to play. It is a bit about that once you
:39:02. > :39:05.have a Tyne aoeu amount -- tiny amount of space of a station built
:39:05. > :39:09.in 1840s, you must wish sometimes you could put the station somewhere
:39:09. > :39:13.else? We have to deal with the city we have got and it's wonderful
:39:13. > :39:18.history. The taxi rank is on the private land controlled by the
:39:18. > :39:22.railway, it's not a council rank. This is part of the complexity, the
:39:22. > :39:26.railway company charge a fee for taxis to access that. So it's a
:39:26. > :39:30.real mix of issues going on. Stay with us, let's bring our guests in.
:39:30. > :39:34.Paul Richards, how bad is it as a first impression? It's really bad.
:39:34. > :39:39.Again it's a city that relies on visitors, holiday-makers and day-
:39:39. > :39:43.tripers, they come to the station and what do they see? A strategic
:39:43. > :39:47.nightmare. It's already saying it's been a year and we are making
:39:47. > :39:52.progress, there's no progress. There's pollution and so on. What
:39:52. > :39:55.would you do then. You can not cow- to you to developers and say there
:39:55. > :39:58.should be more shops which is one of the proposals, there should be
:39:58. > :40:02.space for the taxis. You wouldn't put it around the back, I don't
:40:02. > :40:06.think that helps. Drivers have to make a living and you want to see a
:40:06. > :40:09.taxi at the front of the station. He wants us all to walk or get
:40:09. > :40:14.bikes, that was the subtext of what he was saying. He doesn't want us
:40:14. > :40:17.to get on the bus or taxi. Let's bring in Tim for a second. You use
:40:17. > :40:23.this station regularly, you are a Professor at the University. It is
:40:23. > :40:27.a legacy obviously of a railway station built in 1840, it's 21st
:40:27. > :40:31.century thriving city, is there an answer? I think, if you know the
:40:31. > :40:36.station well it's in the middle of a hill. Very difficult to do much
:40:36. > :40:39.about. Unless you take a very, very expensive option. I can see why no
:40:39. > :40:41.council's grasped nettle on this for years. In some ways you have to
:40:41. > :40:46.admire the current council for trying to do something about it and
:40:46. > :40:49.push this on. Admiration there from Tim, not so much from Paul Richards
:40:49. > :40:53.who says you really aren't interested in anyone who doesn't
:40:53. > :40:58.either walk or cycle? That's untrue. We are looking to support everyone
:40:58. > :41:02.who needs to get to the station and make use of facilities. We know how
:41:02. > :41:06.critical that that link is to the success of Brighton's economy.
:41:06. > :41:09.taxi driver issue again for a second. Is there some sort of
:41:09. > :41:14.compromise, is it so terrible to ask drivers to go around the back
:41:14. > :41:17.to the other entrans. That would create more congestion around the
:41:17. > :41:21.back, that's sweeping it under the carpet. The basic rule in politics,
:41:21. > :41:24.if you take on taxi drivers, you rue the day. You sound like you are
:41:24. > :41:29.speaking from experience. They're a powerful lobby, they live in the
:41:29. > :41:33.city and have families and a lot of people listen to them driving
:41:34. > :41:39.around the city. Listen to the tkraoeurs. -- drivers. Nobody's
:41:39. > :41:43.talking about taking on the taxi lobby. It's not a lobby, it's hard
:41:43. > :41:47.working Brighton ians who want to earn a living. We are talking to
:41:47. > :41:50.them and the bus company and the pedestrians, cyclists, railway
:41:50. > :41:54.companies and we are trying to come to a resolution to meet the needs
:41:54. > :41:57.of the many, many different groups who depend on the station and the
:41:57. > :42:00.area around it. It's very challenging but this is not about
:42:00. > :42:06.picking on taxi drivers, we recognise they're an important part
:42:06. > :42:09.of the city. Thank you for joining Now, if you live in Hastings,
:42:09. > :42:12.Maidstone, objection instead, Lingfield, Crawley or Tunbridge
:42:12. > :42:17.wells, what, if anything, has Labour done to make you vote for
:42:17. > :42:21.them in your local elections on May 3rd? Currently, there are only two
:42:21. > :42:25.Labour-held councils in the south- east. Of course, at a parliamentary
:42:25. > :42:30.level Labour was wiped out at the last general election. The leader
:42:30. > :42:33.made much of the party's success in taking control of Gravesham council
:42:33. > :42:38.last year but was it really the start of a Labour comeback in the
:42:38. > :42:41.south-east as he suggested? Let's ask our guests what they're
:42:41. > :42:45.expecting to happen and what it will mean in a couple of weeks?
:42:45. > :42:49.First of all, how hungry is Labour for success? The south-east.
:42:49. > :42:54.Desperate, we know without winning in the sees we can't be in contepgs
:42:54. > :42:59.to form a Government tpepb. -- again. I take heart we have done it
:42:59. > :43:04.before. But it's hard and the party has to already talk to people who
:43:04. > :43:08.own their own cars, homes, go on holidays, feeling reason flee
:43:08. > :43:12.affluent and say vote Labour, that's a hard ask. Hungry, but
:43:12. > :43:17.deserving, are they? I don't think this election is going to be very
:43:17. > :43:20.much to do with what Labour to be honest,,, it's going to be with
:43:20. > :43:24.people's disaffection with the current Government and people use
:43:24. > :43:29.local elections to punish than reward, if you like, the opposition.
:43:29. > :43:34.Let's look at recent issues, granny tax, pasties, charitable donations,
:43:34. > :43:38.dinners in Downing Street and cuts, cuts on a local hrefpl. Level level.
:43:39. > :43:42.If Labour can't make inroads now, it's game over. They're going to
:43:42. > :43:44.need to make gains here, not just actually to give them heart, but
:43:44. > :43:48.also for the general election. It's important you have boots on the
:43:48. > :43:51.ground and boots on the ground is often councillors and friends and
:43:52. > :43:58.their relations actually, getting people in there is very important.
:43:58. > :44:01.Let's look on a micro local level at what might constitute success.
:44:01. > :44:05.Crawley council, if Labour could steal six seats from the
:44:05. > :44:09.Conservatives they would take overall control, is that sort of
:44:09. > :44:13.movement within their grasp? It is within the grasp. But it's going to
:44:13. > :44:17.be very hard. Don't forget what a low base we are coming from.
:44:17. > :44:21.Historically all the things you mentioned were to go to the arms of
:44:21. > :44:24.a protest party like the Lib Dems of course they're now the party
:44:24. > :44:28.doing these things. That's out of the equation, we hope that vote
:44:28. > :44:33.comes to Labour, of course. We have heard these councils in the past
:44:33. > :44:36.but we are at a low ebb. I think share of the vote needs to be
:44:36. > :44:40.significant, but also picking up a few councils here and there and
:44:40. > :44:44.more councillors across the south- east will be a strong sign that Ed
:44:44. > :44:48.is on his way to Downing Street. Some councils where Labour is
:44:48. > :44:52.completely unrepresented. On two that are have elections, tan Trent
:44:52. > :44:55.Bridge and Maidstone, they are never going to win those councils,
:44:56. > :45:00.so does it matter what happens there. I think what happens there
:45:00. > :45:03.matters in terms of the vote share. If you see a marginal increase in
:45:03. > :45:05.the Labour vote that's not brilliant. If you see a reasonable
:45:05. > :45:10.increase that's good. I don't think they'll be interested in seats in
:45:10. > :45:14.those places, they're going to be interested across the south-east
:45:14. > :45:19.generally. Hastings is one to watch. It's close, Labour holds the
:45:19. > :45:23.council 17 to Conservatives 14. Half the seats here are up for
:45:23. > :45:26.election. There is a new Tory MP who is clearly smart, passionate
:45:26. > :45:30.about her constituency. Labour could lose here, couldn't they?
:45:30. > :45:35.This would be a disaster. I think the people in the councillors in
:45:35. > :45:39.Hastings actually are fighting on local issues. What issues? Social
:45:39. > :45:42.behaviour, crime, regeneration of the town. We are talking about the
:45:42. > :45:47.National Health Service in this election which may seem
:45:47. > :45:51.counterintuitive but authorities have a public health role too and
:45:51. > :45:55.the Bill and those issues, that's generating support for Labour.
:45:55. > :45:58.do you think about happen in Hastings? If things go to plan, and
:45:58. > :46:01.they should do, this is the mid- term after all, it's an unpopular
:46:01. > :46:03.Government at the moment. Labour should do well. They will be
:46:03. > :46:06.looking to do well and if they don't they're going to be
:46:06. > :46:11.disappointed. Ed Miliband did make a lot out of Gravesham and the
:46:11. > :46:15.success of winning. Did he make too much of it? This week it's been
:46:15. > :46:19.about underpromising and overachieving. He seemed to think
:46:19. > :46:22.this was beginning a march in the south-east. If you are Ed Miliband,
:46:22. > :46:25.look at Bradford, you are doing reasonably well but not well enough
:46:25. > :46:28.to get into Downing Street. You are going to grab on to anything that
:46:28. > :46:31.you can get and Hastings could be one of those things. Is he ever
:46:31. > :46:35.going to reasonate in the south- east in the way Tony Blair did?
:46:35. > :46:38.not? If the policies are right, and if the campaigning is there, which
:46:38. > :46:42.it is on the ground, then why not? It wasn't all about Tony Blair and
:46:42. > :46:46.by the end of course he was not necessarily an asset either, he was
:46:46. > :46:52.at the beginning. So, yes, why not? He is a family man. He is southern.
:46:52. > :46:57.He is middle-class, what's not to like? Do you like him? Yes. Is the
:46:57. > :47:01.person you want to lead the party? I put some money on. It's not the
:47:01. > :47:05.same as wanting him to win. We are fully behind him. If it was a
:47:05. > :47:10.general election in a couple of weeks what would we see happen?
:47:10. > :47:14.General election, I still think... Here in the south-east? I think we
:47:14. > :47:18.would still see a coalition Government. Still see the
:47:18. > :47:21.Government doing reasonably well and Labour stand no chance because
:47:21. > :47:24.this isn't generally fertile territory for the Labour Party.
:47:24. > :47:27.They can pick up a few seats perhaps in 2015 and that could be
:47:27. > :47:31.enough to get them into Government, maybe as a coalition, maybe on
:47:31. > :47:37.their own. Brighton, Crawley, those kind of places should come our way.
:47:37. > :47:47.We will be be rounding up the results on May 6th. Now a roundup
:47:47. > :47:47.
:47:47. > :47:51.of the week's events. The Home Office should take control
:47:51. > :47:55.of the borders agency, that's what members of the Home Affairs Select
:47:55. > :47:58.Committee, including the MP for Rochester and straou, are calling
:47:58. > :48:01.for. We have to get in it right, particularly with the Olympics this
:48:01. > :48:05.summer, large numbers of people coming to this country. It's a real
:48:05. > :48:09.opportunity to show Britain at its best.
:48:09. > :48:14.Businesses moving to discovery park in sandwich will get tax breaks
:48:14. > :48:19.from this week. An enterprise zone announced last summer comes into
:48:19. > :48:23.force. Surrey County Council is urging the the Transport Secretary
:48:23. > :48:28.to invest in more trains, longer station platforms, and upgraded
:48:28. > :48:33.infrastructure to get the economy moving. Muir ral Matters,
:48:33. > :48:35.originally from Australia but lived in Hastings for many years, once
:48:35. > :48:40.chained herself to a grill in the House of Commons campaigning for
:48:40. > :48:49.votes for women. Now politicians down under want to gift a statue in
:48:49. > :48:53.her honour to the town because she still matters.
:48:53. > :48:57.Does Muriel still matter? You have been doing your homework on Muriel.
:48:57. > :49:03.She is a wonderful woman and she was in Hastings until 1969 but
:49:03. > :49:07.stood for parliament in 1924. Thanks to women like her winning
:49:07. > :49:10.votes for women in the first place. She deserves a statue. Does that
:49:10. > :49:15.still reasonate with women voters? Will women turn out on May 3rd
:49:15. > :49:19.because of people like Muriel? reason they have the vote is
:49:19. > :49:21.because of women like her, and across the world you are seeing
:49:21. > :49:25.similar struggles, so of course they should be reminded of that
:49:25. > :49:28.same struggle took place here, thanks to women like Muriel.
:49:28. > :49:33.would welcome a statue? Definitely, I hope they welcome it with open
:49:33. > :49:37.arms. Does she still matter to you and those like you who study
:49:37. > :49:41.politics? You have to remind people about history and about the people
:49:41. > :49:46.who struggle for things we take for granted now. There's certainly
:49:46. > :49:51.nothing wrong with actually putting up a statue if that jogs a few
:49:51. > :49:59.people's memories and makes them realise how lucky we have-to--- we
:49:59. > :50:06.are to have a vote. My vote is in the 1800s, Karl Marx and Frederick
:50:06. > :50:09.Inkles used to use east borne as their holiday of choice. And he was
:50:09. > :50:13.buried at sea. There is no commemoration to that fact at all.
:50:13. > :50:18.Historical figures deserve a statue. We have learned something new on
:50:18. > :50:20.the show. Quickly, who would you have a statue for? Probably the
:50:20. > :50:25.Conservative Education Secretary, to go to the University of Sussex,