:01:15. > :01:25.calls for the government to encourage more house-building in its
:01:25. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :36:37.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2112 seconds
:36:37. > :36:42.spending review, but with the is Sunday Politics in the
:36:42. > :36:47.south-east. Are we failing to educate our permit children? Fewer
:36:47. > :36:52.16-year-olds on free school meals achieved good GCSE results than
:36:52. > :36:56.anywhere else in the country, but how can schools in coastal towns and
:36:56. > :36:59.rural amenities turn around that underachievement? Joining us to
:36:59. > :37:04.discuss that and other issues is the Conservative MP for Sittingbourne
:37:04. > :37:08.and Sheppey, Horden Henderson, and the Green party MP Carline Lucas
:37:08. > :37:13.from Brighton Pavilion. We will start with Brighton because you
:37:13. > :37:17.could say it has been a rubbish week for residents of the city and the
:37:17. > :37:21.ruling Green Party. Note bins were collected or street swept for seven
:37:21. > :37:25.days because of a strike by members of the GMB union. Workers have been
:37:25. > :37:30.protesting against changes to their terms and conditions by the council,
:37:30. > :37:34.with some members writing an angry letter demanding the resignation of
:37:34. > :37:40.the council leader Jason Kitcat. Caroline. Would you like to see him
:37:40. > :37:44.go? We need to move forward. We now have a suspension of the strike,
:37:44. > :37:48.which I welcome. It has been a difficult week but I am delighted
:37:48. > :37:53.the council has been able to move forward, and have put an offer to
:37:53. > :37:57.the GMB who will now put that question to their members. We all
:37:57. > :38:02.appreciate now the wonderful work the GMB workers do, and we are glad
:38:03. > :38:08.they are there. But it will be hard to move on and such a damaging wheat
:38:08. > :38:15.has divided your party's opinion beyond Brighton. Surely Jason
:38:15. > :38:21.Kitcat, continue. All parties have considered -- have difficulties. At
:38:21. > :38:24.party has doubled a difficult way and that has made divisions. But the
:38:24. > :38:30.challenges of the council has faced in finding a solution that will be
:38:30. > :38:33.fair to the workers. We have been trying to sort out the mess that
:38:34. > :38:38.previous administrations, not least the Conservative Administration,
:38:38. > :38:44.left for us. It has been difficult and we have done a lot of work. We
:38:44. > :38:50.are now moving forward. Jason Kitcat was re-elected as leader of the
:38:50. > :38:54.council, so he moves forward, and it is going to be a positive story.
:38:54. > :38:59.one stage, you appeared to be supporting the GMB union against the
:38:59. > :39:04.council. Whose side were you on? I publicly gave my support to the
:39:04. > :39:09.strikers because I wanted to make sure we got a positive response for
:39:09. > :39:14.them. These are low paid workers and the idea we would have to face cuts
:39:14. > :39:19.to already low pay was too much. I'm back on eyes difficulties, because
:39:19. > :39:24.this is about equality and it is right that those workers who have
:39:24. > :39:29.not had equal allowances in the past now have them. It was a difficult
:39:29. > :39:33.challenge for the council. I am glad that pressure on all sides has been
:39:33. > :39:39.brought to bear and we will now have a suspension of the strike. Gordon,
:39:39. > :39:45.I do not expect you to be an expert on Brighton bins, but the strike has
:39:45. > :39:48.done damage to the Green Party. Do they have too much power? I cannot
:39:48. > :39:53.comment about my own local authority, let alone Brighton, but
:39:53. > :39:59.it highlights that it is easy for opposition parties, especially the
:39:59. > :40:03.smaller parties, to sit back and criticise what is happening. It is
:40:03. > :40:09.when you get into some sort of power that you realise you have to make
:40:09. > :40:14.difficult decisions, and this bat amongst the Greens has proved that.
:40:14. > :40:18.I know you want to say more, Caroline, but we have to leave it.
:40:18. > :40:23.Business leaders are calling on the government to encourage more home
:40:23. > :40:27.building in next week's spending review. Greenfield sites have been
:40:27. > :40:34.earmarked and are awaiting the go-ahead, but they face opposition.
:40:34. > :40:42.Nobody relishes deciding whether environmental concerns or home needs
:40:42. > :40:49.should come first. The south-east needs nearly 400,000
:40:49. > :40:53.new homes I2026. Our towns and cities are running out of room, it
:40:53. > :40:57.plans to build on open ground are usually met with fierce opposition.
:40:57. > :41:03.The planning minister says it is time to face reality. Either we say
:41:03. > :41:09.it is fine, people are working hard, earning normal wages, but may never
:41:09. > :41:13.be able to buy a property, or we will have to lean on the
:41:13. > :41:18.grandparents to give them a deposit, or we grapple this, accept that our
:41:18. > :41:24.population is growing, and build some houses on undeveloped land, and
:41:24. > :41:27.there is lots of it. Across the south-east, plans are being put
:41:27. > :41:35.forward to build thousands of homes in new communities on countryside
:41:35. > :41:37.land. There are plans to build homes on green belt land in Oxted and
:41:37. > :41:42.Brighton and in the Kent area of outstanding natural beauty near
:41:42. > :41:47.Dover. House prices and rents are high. Tina and Phil and their
:41:47. > :41:51.children live in a house in Maidstone. Both parents work that
:41:52. > :41:56.they cannot afford to buy here and there are no larger homes to rent.
:41:56. > :42:00.They don't want to move away from family and friends, so their
:42:00. > :42:06.daughter and two sons share a bedroom. My daughter has to share,
:42:06. > :42:12.so she hasn't got her own space, and I feel that I want them to have
:42:12. > :42:16.their own rooms. You want to keep the village as a village. You don't
:42:17. > :42:22.want it to become a housing estate, but you have to realise that you
:42:22. > :42:27.have to go along with progress. housing association is now building
:42:27. > :42:36.a new homes here, and Tina hopes her family will be able to move into
:42:36. > :42:43.one, but Maidstone needs many more. Maidstone's population is expected
:42:43. > :42:47.to grow by 15% in the next 20 years. That is more than 22,500 extra
:42:47. > :42:52.people, and the council estimates it needs to build nearly 15,000 new
:42:52. > :42:56.homes for them to live in. Councillors are calling on
:42:56. > :43:00.house-building companies to put forward proposals. The most
:43:00. > :43:05.controversial is for 5000 homes on farmland between the villages of
:43:05. > :43:13.Leeds and offered. Councillors say the development plan has outgrown
:43:13. > :43:16.itself. Roughly a quarter of new homes are on brownfield land. We saw
:43:16. > :43:20.efforts to increase that number from the planning system and the house of
:43:20. > :43:24.lords, but you have to accept that there isn't going to be enough
:43:24. > :43:28.brownfield to build all the homes we need. We need to look at some
:43:28. > :43:34.greenfield sites. The local chamber of commerce agrees that of town
:43:34. > :43:39.development is needed to keep Maidstone competitive. You won't get
:43:39. > :43:45.the market to come to Maidstone unless you provide the location for
:43:45. > :43:50.them that the market wants, and that is near the motorway. Then you have
:43:50. > :43:54.to think about housing. How is the housing going to be key to that?
:43:54. > :44:01.That that takes major and bold decisions about how to locate that
:44:01. > :44:05.housing. But convincing residents to support greenfield building is a
:44:05. > :44:09.tricky task. Maidstone's councillor in charge of planning says
:44:09. > :44:13.developments can mean people miss out on government incentives to
:44:13. > :44:22.improve infrastructure. When the decisions coming, they will go to
:44:22. > :44:26.appeal, but if we are proactive and identify sites only when necessary,
:44:26. > :44:30.we can make sure that they are allocated and only that site will be
:44:30. > :44:35.developed, nothing around it. You will get contributions from the
:44:35. > :44:39.developer to the local surgery and local parks, you can control design
:44:39. > :44:45.and make them sustainable. report that tomorrow will call for a
:44:45. > :44:49.new independent body to give better and advice on shaping policy. As the
:44:49. > :44:54.south-east's population outgrows our existing towns, should we sacrifice
:44:54. > :44:59.some greenfield for housing to foster green shoots in our economy.
:44:59. > :45:04.I would say new houses, because it is beneficial for myself, but I like
:45:04. > :45:10.green fields as well. There is a balance to be struck. I think we
:45:10. > :45:14.have a housing shortage. Unfortunately, decisions have to be
:45:14. > :45:20.taken to take the fields in order to achieve the development. You can't
:45:20. > :45:25.do it otherwise. Jasper Gerrard, the Liberal Democrat candidate for
:45:26. > :45:30.Maidstone, is fighting plans to build 15,000 homes there. As you can
:45:31. > :45:35.see, this is a difficult issue, but regardless of the exact numbers, it
:45:35. > :45:40.is right at the council should raise its targets, it is we have a housing
:45:40. > :45:46.crisis. There should be a balance. The problem is they are not
:45:46. > :45:51.following any kind of balance. They have introduced this thing and said
:45:51. > :45:57.to any developer, come forward with proposals and we will consider
:45:57. > :46:01.developing it. 90% of the sides are on green fields, which is shocking
:46:01. > :46:07.as many areas need regeneration. You will have to be some building on
:46:07. > :46:11.greenfield sites, at first used the Brownfield sites, and cancelled the
:46:11. > :46:15.local communities. Don't just impose this from the centre of Maidstone by
:46:15. > :46:21.the council. Let local people decide. If you left it to local
:46:21. > :46:24.people, you may not get any housing. You heard that quote, you won't get
:46:24. > :46:31.the market to come to Maidstone. People want to be near the
:46:31. > :46:37.motorways. You only have to listen to Maryport has. She said you have
:46:37. > :46:41.to regenerate town centres. In towns like Maidstone, shoppers may find
:46:41. > :46:46.its neglected and will cease to go there. Maidstone bar Council have
:46:46. > :46:50.decided to build a retail park near the motorway. All that will do is
:46:50. > :46:55.kill the town centre further and require more infrastructure. Take
:46:55. > :47:01.the fact that in all places, there has been a massive increase in birth
:47:01. > :47:04.rate, an increase in kids coming to school. Kent county council have
:47:04. > :47:12.made no extra provision for school spaces. If you build it in thousands
:47:12. > :47:14.houses, the average household takes six car journeys a day. That's
:47:14. > :47:20.90,000 extra car journeys and date you will be adding to live in
:47:20. > :47:24.Maidstone. Should people not come to Maidstone then? If you involve
:47:24. > :47:30.yourself in the planning process, you could get those schools.
:47:30. > :47:34.Maidstone Borough Council often haven't demanded that developers
:47:34. > :47:40.provide extra facilities. A site in Maidstone was proposed for a school,
:47:40. > :47:44.but they have now decided it will be another housing estate. The are
:47:44. > :47:47.forcing developers to provide the infrastructure, so they will have
:47:47. > :47:51.soulless communities spread further in the countryside. We have seen
:47:51. > :48:01.this outside Ashford, and the danger is that they will do this to the
:48:01. > :48:06.Weald. This was known as the garden of England. Conservatives say that
:48:06. > :48:11.conservative conservators -- conservationists say the
:48:12. > :48:17.Conservatives seem hell-bent on turning into a patio. Is it time to
:48:17. > :48:21.take control back from government? You could say it is not working
:48:21. > :48:27.because we haven't had time to make it work get. But housing targets
:48:27. > :48:32.have gone down since you gave them to local authorities will stop I
:48:32. > :48:37.agree with Bob Jasper said. With housing, you have to ask yourself
:48:37. > :48:41.why you need more housing. You needed to house people in your
:48:41. > :48:47.community, that the problem with major big developments of 5000,
:48:47. > :48:52.10,000, is that you are sucking more people into your area that not
:48:52. > :48:56.solving internal problems. But Tina and fill their are living in a
:48:56. > :49:02.village, but they have not got the housing they need for their family.
:49:02. > :49:08.Why should they move out? That is where we need to have organic
:49:08. > :49:16.growth, so we need villagers and planning rules to be loosened, so
:49:16. > :49:21.you can have a development. We do not need 5000 home developments. You
:49:21. > :49:27.need a balance right. In my constituency, we have sacrificed a
:49:27. > :49:32.lot of our area over the last 20 years for increased housing. I think
:49:32. > :49:39.we have had enough. I don't want to see any more major developments in
:49:39. > :49:46.my area. But people urgently need a home. They do, and we already have
:49:46. > :49:50.planning permission in Sittingbourne and Sheppey for four or 5000 houses.
:49:50. > :49:58.Let's get them built, most of them on Brownfield sites, before we look
:49:58. > :50:03.at greenfield sites. The point I wanted to make is that it is not
:50:03. > :50:07.just the total number of houses that is important, it is whether they are
:50:07. > :50:11.affordable housing, and under the coalition government, they have
:50:11. > :50:16.created only so far a fifth of the houses they promised to build in
:50:16. > :50:21.terms of affordable housing. We have to make sure the people who need it,
:50:21. > :50:24.the people on the waiting lists, have somewhere to live. The Green
:50:24. > :50:28.party has given permission for a housing developer and on a
:50:29. > :50:34.greenfield site, which no other party has allowed. Nick Boles, the
:50:34. > :50:40.planning Minister, says Holmes make people happier than Greenfields. Do
:50:40. > :50:46.you agree with that? That is too simplistic. Writing has the sea on
:50:46. > :50:49.one side and a pat on the other, so we have nowhere else to go. This
:50:49. > :50:55.land was privately owned, so at any moment the person who owned it could
:50:55. > :51:00.sell it and we would have no control, so we have a proposal for a
:51:00. > :51:03.sustainable to 90. We have zero carbon homes and a showcase for
:51:03. > :51:08.sustainable building. That is exciting, it will have good
:51:09. > :51:13.transport links to the city, so when it is sustainable, I think although
:51:13. > :51:17.Brownfield sites are your first option, when it doesn't exist, if
:51:17. > :51:23.you have to move to greenfield sites, do it in a sustainable way.
:51:23. > :51:27.We will have to leave it there. Now, disadvantaged children in rural
:51:27. > :51:31.communities and coastal towns in the South East of England are being let
:51:32. > :51:35.down by the education system, according to the Chief Inspector of
:51:35. > :51:38.Schools. Official figures show schools are failing to support the
:51:38. > :51:44.poorest children in towns like tasting, Hertford, Lewes and
:51:44. > :51:47.Ashford. The council is rolling out plans for specific partnerships with
:51:47. > :51:54.more successful schools, but will this be enough to turn things
:51:54. > :51:59.around? I'm joined by the Southeast regional director of Ofsted. As I
:51:59. > :52:02.understand it, the problem has being that apparently good schools are
:52:02. > :52:09.filling a minority of pupils and you're in spectres haven't been
:52:09. > :52:12.picking up on that. You are right, and that is one of Sir Michael
:52:12. > :52:17.Wilshaw's first recommendations in his lecture this week. The first
:52:17. > :52:21.recommendation is for Ofsted and they need to be more challenging,
:52:21. > :52:27.more critical when reviewing the achievement of a school. It is here
:52:27. > :52:31.we see some of the greatest problems, because we have smaller
:52:31. > :52:37.numbers of disadvantaged pupils that get hidden away in the much larger
:52:37. > :52:41.institution of a school, so the overall attainment figures will be
:52:41. > :52:45.hiding the poorer performance of those disadvantaged children.
:52:45. > :52:50.will you now down grade schools who are filling those pupils?
:52:50. > :52:55.Michael has made it very clear in his report that for those schools
:52:55. > :53:00.that have previously been judged to be outstanding, where there is a
:53:00. > :53:06.very large and growing gap, we will re-enter them. As the regional
:53:06. > :53:11.director for the Southeast, I have put the local authorities on high
:53:11. > :53:16.alert over this issue for the last two or three months. I have met with
:53:16. > :53:21.them all, written to them twice, once in broad terms but the second
:53:21. > :53:26.time specifically identifying those of disadvantaged children in their
:53:26. > :53:31.local authority areas. I've followed that up to see what action they are
:53:31. > :53:35.taking. Let's talk about the London challenge. It worked well, are
:53:35. > :53:38.shooting good teachers into less good schools. Michael will Short
:53:38. > :53:44.wants to do that in the South East but there are problems with that,
:53:44. > :53:48.not least the practicalities, the geography of getting a teacher in
:53:48. > :53:54.one part of the Southeast to another. There are challenges with
:53:54. > :53:57.all of these issues, but it is not a reason not to press forward with it.
:53:57. > :54:01.One reason why London challenge was so successful and ruled out into
:54:01. > :54:06.city challenges was a tremendous amount of political will and
:54:06. > :54:13.support, and general support across the board. For that reason, I have
:54:13. > :54:18.written in May to all of the MPs across the Southeast, urging them to
:54:18. > :54:22.come and talk to me about the challenges. I have laid out that my
:54:22. > :54:26.biggest priority across the South East is the challenge of the
:54:26. > :54:32.achievement of free school meal pupils. But at it is such an urgent
:54:33. > :54:36.issue for us. Thank you very much for joining us. Caroline, what do
:54:36. > :54:43.you think of this idea of taking a teacher in a good school and putting
:54:43. > :54:48.them into an area of need? I welcome his focus on those students who are
:54:48. > :54:52.not doing as well as they should. The idea you do it by parachuting
:54:52. > :54:57.individual teachers into the schools, I am not sure about. This
:54:57. > :55:01.city challenge was more about schools working in partnerships or
:55:01. > :55:06.one school working in partnership with another school, and that seems
:55:06. > :55:11.a more collaborative approach than parachuting individual teachers in
:55:11. > :55:14.and then having their own personal circumstances. I would have thought
:55:14. > :55:19.a more long-term solution would be to build on what really worked out
:55:19. > :55:22.of city challenge which was that partnership approach, not this
:55:22. > :55:28.fragmented approach that we get in academies and free schools, not
:55:28. > :55:32.working together. Gordon, what Michael Wilshaw is saying goes
:55:32. > :55:39.against the government educational strategy. He is saying we need to
:55:39. > :55:42.take charge of this and we will decide where teachers go. There is a
:55:42. > :55:47.rule for putting in good experienced head teachers into schools, but the
:55:47. > :55:53.question goes further. One problem is, how does Ofsted assess whether a
:55:53. > :55:59.school is failing? One problem we had is that the system is geared
:55:59. > :56:04.towards ensuring a percentage of the pupils attain a certain standard.
:56:04. > :56:08.said that has been a problem. written to Michael Gove asking him
:56:08. > :56:14.to change the system, so it assesses the advance at child has made
:56:14. > :56:18.between the age of five and 11. big problem is parents, and that
:56:18. > :56:23.they are not engaged, how do you make sure a school or local
:56:23. > :56:29.authority does the right thing by a child whose parents don't care?
:56:29. > :56:33.just shows education is part of a wider hole, and you have to look at
:56:33. > :56:36.everything from housing to security, and within the content -- within the
:56:36. > :56:40.context of the government 's overall policies, especially for families on
:56:41. > :56:47.low incomes, it is perhaps not surprising that families have
:56:47. > :56:51.worries about tax and putting enough food on the table. Do you melt that
:56:51. > :56:56.I can do you welcomed the proposals? Michael Wilshaw is right
:56:56. > :57:02.to focus on development but saying education on it own can solve it
:57:02. > :57:07.isn't enough. You are taking housing benefit away, you are taxing
:57:07. > :57:12.families. It is rubbish and patronising too many poor people to
:57:12. > :57:22.say they don't care for their children. You cannot equalise -- you
:57:22. > :57:23.
:57:23. > :57:33.cannot equate. It is time to move on. We need a round-up of other
:57:33. > :57:38.political events. Kent police have been pursuing easy
:57:38. > :57:41.to solve crimes rather than focusing on victims, according to a report by
:57:41. > :57:48.her Majesty 's Inspectorate of Constabulary, around a 10th of
:57:48. > :57:53.primes of crimes or in accurately reported. I can give you that
:57:53. > :57:58.insurance. Victims are at the heart of everything we do. Fans to build a
:57:58. > :58:05.Tesco on the seafront have been criticised by Mary Portis. She says
:58:05. > :58:10.it shows the government are not serious about regeneration. The
:58:10. > :58:17.Brighton MP asked Caroline Lucas if she would support a ban on the
:58:17. > :58:22.paper. I do not agree with her. It is important we can read all
:58:22. > :58:28.newspapers on the estate, including the Sun newspaper. And the city of
:58:28. > :58:38.culture 2017 won't be in the South East. Neither Hastings nor East Kent
:58:38. > :58:39.
:58:39. > :58:45.made the cut this time around. Caroline, is it the most pressing
:58:45. > :58:48.issue to stop MPs reading the Sun or page three? I was talking about
:58:48. > :58:53.media sexism, making the link between sexes and violence against
:58:53. > :59:03.women, and within that context, it is right to say that if kids can get
:59:03. > :59:08.hold of page three in buses and house of commons. But it is a
:59:08. > :59:14.symbolic way of saying get our own house in order. You don't think