17/02/2013 Sunday Politics South West

In the South West... The row over how many new homes

should be built in Cornwall and rural MPs fail in their fight to

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2131 seconds

get more cash for councils. Hello. Coming upon Sunday Politics

in the South West. The Peasants revolt that never was, rural MPs

fail in their fight to get more cash for council services. For the

next 20 minutes I am joined by the Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders

and Labour councillor and Jude Robinson. This week the Health

Secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled proposals to end what he called the

ruinous costs of care for the elderly. It would mean you could

have assets of �123,000 before paying for care and no matter how

well the EU are, the amount you pay would be capped at �75,000. Is this

a good idea? I think it is. It is long overdue. It is something the

Liberal Democrats promised at the last election and that we wanted to

end the practice of people having to sell their homes in order to pay

for care. It will help, something in the region of 100,000 people who

at the moment have to sell assets in order to provide the funding for

their care and I think it is a much fairer way of in the future trying

to decide what contribution that people should pay given at the

threshold is quite high. �75,000 to match? There was a

commission that recommended the cap on spending to be set at �35,000.

There is a difference and I think that is a reflection of what can be

afforded. We mentioned people having it to sell their homes.

45,000 people per year are forced to sell their homes. Is this

something that should have been done it sooner? People having to

sell their homes in their lifetime was something of that the Labour

government did tackle and I do not think that has changed. People will

still have to sell their homes to pay for their care bills but it

will not happen until after they died. I think some of the changes

are welcome in the proposals, but I do have concerns about the cap is

too high and I have concerns about how this will impact on local

authorities. It will allow people to have �100,000 more in assets so

it is a big change. I think it is welcome. I think the proposals that

the Labour Party is coming out with about integrating and not just

health and social care but also mental health services would go

even further towards sorting out the problems that we have got with

the conflict with the NHS and social care. I think we could go

further. We have to move on with our next story which is that

councillors in Cornwall approved plans to build thousands of new

homes. Planning officers have recommended a target of 45,400

homes that members rejected that and voted in favour of just under

38,000. However, three communities came forward and said they could

take more so the final figure approved was 42,250. Some

campaigners say the numbers do not add up. The issue of how many new

homes should be built in Cornwall became clearer this week. The

council outlined its plans agreeing to a figure of 42,250. The debate

over the numbers continues. I am aghast at that figure. I am

surprised. It is about right because it has gone through the

consultation process. Planning officers had proposed to just over

45,000 new homes by 2030. The panel set up by the council proposed a

target of nearly 38,000 holders but three communities came forward to

say that they could take 4,300 more properties and that final number,

42,250 was approved. Were have almost got the same number that was

voted down at the beginning of the session. The 38,001. We need to

have something that is robust enough to withstand any challenge

from government inspectors. The original housing targets proposed

for Cornwall was 68,000 and we have come a long way down from that.

Some say the adjustment of the figure is a clear demonstration of

localism in action, giving communities more power to set and

the priorities for a local development through neighbourhood

planning but others are not so sure. Here in a manner, the parish

council went to judicial review to challenge plans for 25 affordable

homes. They felt only half that number was needed but the challenge

was defeated. And our experience is that localism has failed. The

general experience is that if you conduct a survey or take an action

that accords with what the next level of Tia of local government

has decided, like Cornwall Council, that is fine, but you cannot say no.

That Cornwall Council or for the area says the parish council needs

to accept the decision. Hopefully we will see people in the area

moving in that so that he can be handled to local families and local

people. That is what it is all about. That is the one thing

everyone seems to agree on, the need for affordable homes for local

people. Some may dispute how many of the 26,000 on the council

waiting list are really in need. The housing charity Shelter says of

the truer figure is almost certainly higher. It is great news

that the council is saying there will be new homes. That is

fantastic. The real issue is about whether those homes will be

affordable. If you look at house prices in Cornwall, they are nine

times more than average income, so will those houses be available to

the people who need them? Will lay the affordable? The council says it

hopes to achieve a minimum of 40% on affordable housing. The plan is

now out for consultation and if that proved it could be in place

early next year. Scott Bingham there. Jude Robinson, previous

building targets for Cornwall work for 60,000 homes, are all these

other figures meaningless? It does seem to be getting petty? I think

you are right. It is very difficult to establish what the housing need

is. There is certainly a slow down in a recent years of migration to

Cornwall which was one of the previous issues that as the economy

has slowed down at fewer people are coming here. Because we have got

the university and higher education, more young people are staying in

Cornwall so there is pressure within the county. Are you happy

with the target? I did vote for it. One problem we have got is that

people see houses going up but they do not see houses are that they

will be able to afford or that the children it can living. When you

are losing part of the countryside and part of your heritage and you

do not seem to be gaining much, it is creating a massive armies. We

have to get to the bottom of providing houses that are really

affordable. Will people be able to rent them? Can they buy them?

Affordable has become a bit it devalued. An awful lot of people

who will never be able to afford to buy a house at the prices we have

now. There are plans for thousands of homes in Torbay. Where is the

space for them going to be? I think Torbay has come up with a figure of

up to 10,000. That is part of the consultation. The question is the

type of housing and if they have done the right kind of research

work to find out what sort of homes are needed. We know we have

thousands of people on a waiting list and we know we have a lot of

local families in work who are inadequately housed in a private

sector accommodation, often with absentee landlords. Will it be

mainly green field sites? A great deal can still be found on a

brownfield sites. What about about shops? You see that in places like

Barcelona. It means town centres are maintained. Torbay has done a

bit of that and I am sure the councillors will have plans to do

more. There are quite a few buildings that are empty, that

could be used, sides that could be clear that that had buildings on

them at the moment. Is this likely to be done? The real issue is

making sure that the type of homes that the supply in the future need

local housing need and what we do not want his private developers

coming in, then advertising in national newspapers for people to

come down here for homes that they never thought they wanted in the

first place. Especially when we have so many local people who

cannot afford to get house. Where previous Labour targets wrong?

does seem very high. A lot of the previous housing targets were put

together by a regional Assembly and I think devolving that decision

closer to Cornwall is probably coming up with a better figure. I

agree totally with Adrian. We have got to build the right kind of

houses and make sure we're getting to the people in need and that is

the big question. Moving on. In recent weeks that the region's MPs

have been voicing objections to the government's funding of rural

councils. It is unfair that urban areas get 50% more cash per head

but when it came to the crunch on Wednesday night, not a single

coalition MP from the South West voted against the local government

settlement. Some council leaders are now very concerned about the

future. You pay your council tax and you expect your rubbish to be

collected, but in rural areas, providing essential services like

this costs more than it does in towns and cities. It is twice as

expensive to do a country route because of the travelling around

than it is to do a town Rich. It is a couple of miles and you collect

about five times as much. There are more sheep than people in West

Devon. It is a thinly spread community and if you live here, you

pay �200 more in council tax per year than if you live here, three

miles over the border in Plymouth. People in rural areas pay more in

council tax her head than people living in urban areas and because

of the cost of delivering services in these areas, they get less for

their money so they are hit twice. Countryside campaigners say urban

areas get 50% more funding per head despite recent lobbying, that gap

is not likely to change any time soon. Councils like West Devon are

disappointed with what the government has given them to spend

next year. This week, the leader put up council tax ignoring pleas

from Eric Pickles to freeze bills. We do not want to do this but next

April, we have to find another �720,000 against what will then be

something like a 7.1 million pound budget. We need every single penny

that we can in order to continue to provide a good quality service the

to the residents that we are here to serve. Earlier this month, the

government announced a grant meaning of that Devon councils will

get nearly a million pounds to make savings. That did not stop an angry

backbench debate on Monday, calling for more cash. Both Torridge and

West Devon are small, highly rural councils. Each of them are facing a

threat... In recent weeks there have been strong words from South

West MPs are angry about the lack of government money.

constituents expect to be treated fairly and they expect me to stand

up as their MP and say to government, irrespective of whether

it is my own government, you have got this role. It is unbelievable

after all that work that it can actually get worse. Despite the

strength of feeling, none of the region's coalition MPs have voted

against the local government finance settlement. The government

says it is a fair deal at in West Devon, the council leader disagrees.

The East say it is their. I disagree. I cannot comment on the

divide, I do not know enough about it. It is not fair in my opinion,

it is not fair on the electors and the council tax payers, the

residents of West Devon and other rural areas. It is not fair. The

figures prove it is not fair. Earlier I spoke to the Conservative

MP Neil Parish and asked him why, despite his serious concerns, he

decided to vote for at the local government settlement. Because I

believe the government is going to do something about it. I did say in

the House of Commons that I can mobilise the local people in I need

to and I have taken and the government at their word that they

will look at it. If they do not, they will have trouble in the

future, because many of us who represent rural constituencies are

not happy, we're not getting our fair share. You did it promises us

that there would be a Peasants revolt and it has not amounted to

that? We did get a little bit more money, not enough, and we did get

promises. I have said it to the Minister that you cannot but the

promise in a pocket, you want money and he is very aware that there is

quite a gang of us. Do you believe there will be more money? How much

more are you likely to get? There will be a little bit of funding

around the edges for particular projects. What we are very

interested to see is that they have not close the that son following

years. The problem with this settlement, if it is set in stone

and this year, the following years when we move towards district

council keeping it more, it will have a real effect on their future

funding. Why should authorities like East Devon and made it Devon

have a cat of 6% and Greenwich a cut of 3%? This is not sustainable.

This makes people cynical about politics I have rebelled in the

past. Ice especially rebelled over the referendum in the Europe. I am

not adverse to rebelling that there are times, when it you can do a lot

of work behind the scenes and sometimes a threat of a rebellion

can be better than an actual rebellion. If you will not defeat

the government, then they have got away with it. If you threaten a

rebellion, perhaps they will look again and that way you get more in

the way of a negotiation. Thank you very much. Jude Robinson, what does

this boat mean for rural councils? Are they facing disaster? Yes. It

is difficult to see how councils will cope in the coming years

because not only have they faced the huge cuts in the past four

years but it looks as though the next funding round will be worse.

Cornwall Council has saved �170 million, it is still having to put

money from reserves into the budget next year. Councils are at the

front line of service delivery, whether it is libraries, care for

the elderly... That is the equation we need to be looking at, what is

the need out there? What other services we are trying to deliver

and what funding do we need? voted for this. Have you got any

sympathy? The bottom line is that the money is not there and

everything is having to be tightened up, whether it is a

government department or a local government a authority. Some of the

cuts include things that could affect beaches, funding for beaches,

tourist information centres also the safety alarms and that people

wear around and their next. mayor of Torre Abbey spoke before

Christmas asking MPs if we can approach government so that he

could pay back �50 million that the previous Conservative mayor had

taken out for projects that they have not spent. The idea that this

is an impoverished council is not true. You have now got �50 million

to spend. If that money was invested in an income stream, it

were bring in money that could be used. How should it be spent?

not that clear cut, but certainly investing in social housing to

ensure a rentable income, investing in Workspace it to build on the

good news of the bypass so that we can find premises as -- premises

for businesses. This would bring in income that would be greater than

what the council is having to pay in interest on those loans. Is it

unfair the balance between rural and urban areas? There are a lot of

increased costs in rural areas. In Cornwall, you have urban areas as

well that have the additional costs on top of that. The are in a

difficult position because the labour wants to give urban areas

are more money but yet you are in a rural council. Labour's decision is

to try and match the funding with the needs and there is a whole

range. For too long we have had this argument while it Labour was

in power. We need a funding mechanism that that is fair to all

areas that is based on local need and we need to allow councils to be

freed at to have income streams in themselves. They have more freedom,

fiscally in order to look after their own areas. Perhaps that is

where the coalition is coming in. Now our regular round-up of the

political wing in 60 seconds. -- The Week in 60 Seconds. Seven

seaside towns were promised cash to revive their weaker economies. In

Torbay, the mayor said the money could mean a 350 new jobs. We are

delighted to have won at this ground. The Prime Minister said in

Devon it would get a chunk of European funding, news which

delighted in the county council leader. We're getting back some of

the money we are putting in. Almost half the region's GPs say they

might quit because of NHS reform according to a survey. Here,

councillors rejected plans to build wind turbines. We are confident

that any objection to this application will give us the right

result. David Cameron was pressed on horsemeat. It is the still

eating are processed beef? Horse rugs may have entered the food

chain via a Taunton abattoir. Let us look at horsemeat. Who is to

blame in this? Is the government, is that the supermarkets or

consumers were being it too demanding for a cheap goods? The it

is probably a bit of all of that. We need to discover if the food is

safe. That is crucial. The secondary element is we want to be

sure that when we buy something that says it is beef is that it

actually is the. Should meet at like this at the taken off the

shelves? Take it off the shelves and people should go to their local

butchers. We are looking forward to a revival in Cornwall. Do you think

that is likely? Yes. The last time someone said to me that they went

to the local picture, it was below. There was a queue. Processed meat

is the problem and we do not necessarily have local processed