12/05/2013 Sunday Politics South West

flagship government policy which was supposed to solve our housing

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1884 seconds

crisis. One of Devon's new says localism as a myth.

I am joined by the newly elected Labour councillor Candy Atherton,

congratulations to you, and the Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders. Let us start

with something which wasn't in the Queens speech.

Minimum alcohol pricing. Opponents warned that by dropping it, they

risk sending out the wrong message about public health. This goes

towards what this is doing to our communities. We note that there are

studied hundred 5000 children in this country living with a dependent

strength. Not just a hazardous or harmful drinker but someone who is

dependent on alcohol. Why was minimum pricing of alcohol dropped

from the Queen's Speech? Is it anything to do with the threat from

UKIP and needs to bring in new emigration measures? It is to do

with the evidence not being there and there are better ways to tackle

problems. The problem is irresponsible deals offered by

clubs, pubs and supermarkets. are happy to see minimum pricing

getting dropped from the agenda? think minimum pricing as a red

herring. It is not in the interests of any government to increase the

cost of something that most people use quite responsibly. David Davis

says we need to get away from a perception of the government all

being its audience. I think there are better ways of tackling the

problem of alcohol abuse and putting up the price for everyone. Has the

government done the right thing? Absolutely not. They caved in to the

lobbying from the alcohol industry. Our pubs are struggling cause the

competing with supermarkets. Do rerelease want to see all of our

pubs closed down because supermarkets cynically puts out

cheap alcohol which will take out the pubs. The tax would put the

price up for alcohol and pubs as well. You caved in! Do you think

there has been a reaction to UKIP and the need to be seen to be

pushing emigration measures? That might be but there is far more.

There was lobbying to make sure that the government didn't put this

through. Lots of money spent by the big companies.

We have to move on. Localism is one of the government's flagship

policies and we were told it would provide answers to how many houses

to build and where to build them. But one newly elected councillor

feels that localism as a myth. She thinks the disillusionment on the

doorstep goes some way to explaining her thumping majority.

Localism is meant to bring power back to communities but here in East

Devon there is a sense of disillusionment with the Prime

Minister 's flagship policy. I think localism is a myth and when the

Conservatives started talking about it, I was as excited as anybody and

thought how wonderful and how sensible. It seemed like a whole new

era but it seems like things have changed grammatically. Development

is a big issue around here. On the doorstep people were talking about

that because they were saying, whatever we object to, it will

happen anyway. One-man mould his lawn in support of an independent

candidate. There's been no development at all people do not get

listened to. Claire Wright took the Ottery St Mary seat with a massive

74% share. But then any other council in the Devon County

elections. I've knocked on hundreds of doors and I've got a good

response from most people so I hope to be elected but I was completely

staggered by the results. Claire has been fighting plans to build 130

homes on the site. Planning application was submitted over a

year ago and the council rejected it. Everyone agreed that the best

site for housing was on the West, where the links to the A30 were

better. The scheme was approved on appeal because the council couldn't

prove that it had a five-year housing supply. This is a classic

example of supply not working. People have said they want

development on the other side of Ottery St Mary. We are currently

looking at a 40% increase in the size of the village which is

completely unsustainable. Susie Bond is the newly dead work -- newly

elected independent councillor here. I admit that it looks a bit over the

top, saying things like if I can't get you planning then nobody will.

The police investigations into his actions are ongoing. More than half

the village turned out. I don't think it was as much to do but

conservatives as the fact that he ran a planning consultancy. Whether

the two are linked, we are yet to find out. The row over how many

homes should be built in this area is far from being settled.

We are joined by the Conservative leader of East Devonshire Council.

We have some strong comments there. One man said people don't get

listened to. They don't believe that local people are being allowed to

make planning permission is at a local level. What do you say to

that? Localism isn't dead as such. Both those ladies are to be

congratulated on doing so well in the elections. The planning

Inspectorate turned our decision down. It went to appeal and was

taken on. It Mac that is the point then that localism didn't work.

Where does that leave localism, the big flagship Tory policy if these

local decisions and being listened to? I think it is a Westminster

issue rather than one we have done here. We like to work with our local

communities. I have enormous sympathy with the people of then

attend. -- Feniton. This kind of road is not limited to East Devon.

Where do you believe this leaves East Devon. We have top-down housing

targets being brought in by the back door. We haven't got localism yet

and the planning applications you referred to were before the bill

came in. We have local councils putting together their plans...

plans were supposed to be in by March and this has been turned down

postmarks. That is a problem for the council. Can I just ask the

council... They would have been able to turn them down and that is the

point of localism. If you had got your plans on, the planning

Inspectorate wouldn't have been able to turn them down. Why didn't you

get them in by March? We went through a year-long consultation

process and wanted to make sure that it would reflect the wishes of

people. Are you just fighting it? You don't want to be responsible for

building an unpopular areas? There was a considerable amount of

consultation in order to get the best possible reflection of local

interests. Other areas are using it properly by getting the consultation

done in the proper time. There is double protection against the

planning inspector getting involved. What you make of this whole row?

don't want to get involved in the Devon Road because I am representing

Cornwall. You now have the opportunity to make decisions at the

local level, do you believe that? think there are people that feel

that there is a lot of housing going on in that they had not been

involved in the planning of. I would say to the government that this is

not the time to stall all housing. We are now building the same amount

that we did in the 1920s. It has been a cliff face fall of housing.

We are desperate for houses that we can afford. What would you say to

that point, that we shouldn't have abandoned national housing targets?

I think the point is that people cannot afford to buy cause wages are

low. We are certainly trying to get the housing market moving again but

were candy is right and I have been on this programme many times before

and said, is that we should be building for local needs, not for

local developers in order to market outside the area. So why in the

budget at the core Lycian put forward a ban on to people who want

to buy a second home? It is nonsense. It is not for people but

wants to buy a second home. It is so that all of us who want to own our

own home get help. The minister said he would not want to see this

happen. Have you any examples of people using money that smacked

using the scheme to buy a second home? You have made a decision in

Cornwall that 45,000 homes will be built in the next few years. Well

that's all the housing crisis? Not necessarily. If we're going to have

executive -style homes rather than homes that may be smaller to reflect

the changing lifestyles were saying, then it won't be. It has got to be a

mixture. I'll go back to Paul briefly. Rather than see 130 homes

to be slapped on the edge of Exeter, got even more local, 20

homes in a very small locality where people agree where to put them.

terms of the local plan, people don't want to see any development

beyond five. There are one or two exceptions to that. We haven't quite

got time to go any further but thank you very much for joining us.

It is more than one week since the local elections but we still do not

know all which party or parties will run Cornwall. There is talk of the

rainbow alliance between all the political groups but the recent

massive row about whether to put up council tax or cut services is fresh

in many peoples minds and awkward compromises seem on the cards.

There were shocks, surprises... insured. And celebrations. Last

weeks local elections in Cornwall delivered them all. But as the dust

settles, it is time to get down to business. The biggest players in

County Hall or no the Lib Dems with 36 seats. This means that the

council is under no overall control and that means that the deal needs

to be done. Earlier this week, the leader of the Lib Dem group

announced they were seeking an alliance made up of all the parties.

I think it is a case of us having to find a way to work together and I am

pretty optimistic about it. We have had constructive conversations.

would have thought that the established parties might have ended

up courting UKIP? There have been some informal approaches. We are all

here for the same reason so it won't heart well it, a bit of Corporation.

She seems to be hedging her bets when she spoke to me. It may need to

be done but we will be looking at what is the best thing we can do for

Cornwall. Independents say that they have collectively agreed to derail

bore alliance. The main parties have yet to decide their position so we

have been speaking to the groups and finding out how they feel. But it

wasn't so long ago that there were deep divisions between the groups.

Most of the independents refused to back the budget measures. It sort

big cuts to adult and children's services. It is an insult.The horse

trading at County Hall should be over by the 1st of May. That is when

a new leader will be elected. We are now joined by former Cornwall

Council member who left the Conservatives because of what he

called the cynical party politics in the budget. He lost his seat in the

recent election. Welcome to the programme. A rainbow alliance sounds

like quite a good solution, doesn't it? It is an excellent idea. It was

first proposed in 2009 and was rejected by the Liberal Democrats.

We come back to talking about integrity in party politics.

likely is it that the coalition will be formed? I think if no coalition

is formed then we might as well have another election because the council

will be unmanageable. There would be no guaranteed policy. There is a lot

of antagonism within the different groups so could it even work?

is a lot of history, not just for this particular council but for

previous councils. But I would call on any political party to put the

candidates -- the people first. would rather the money was spent on

adult social care than on an election. Had he been approached to

take part in the alliance? We all had an e-mail which looked like

something that was written on the back of an envelope. It was

regrettable. This is about Cornwall Council is coming up with a

solution. Having been told by the electorate that they didn't want any

particular party. We did well by going from zero to eight right

across the country -- Co. Decisions have been made and the budget has

been cut so will you now see cuts to services? There have already been

cuts. Which services makes no supper? Adult care will be cut and a

number of areas. Background staff will be cut. I am a new counsellor

so I need to go through everything with a fine tooth comb. What about

scrutiny? If all members are taking part in a rainbow alliance, there

will be no opposition, will there? Who will scrutinise from within?

have no doubt that anyone who is not any position executive power will

scrutinise those who are. Local government is fixed term and if you

don't agree then things will go on for ever. The danger is handing

council control to the officers. will probably come back to that any

different programme. It is time for our round-up of the

political week. Protesters gathered at Cornwall

Council angry at the re-elections of Colin Brewer, the councillor who

said that disabled children should be put down. I think Colin Brewer's

column names -- comments were disgusting and he's now trying to

make a joke out of it. New figures show a big rise in the number of

children in care since the Baby P scandal.

And Dorset it is up by almost 500%. The National Union of Teachers spoke

out against the rising number of academies in the region. They are

still unproven. Our finding an increasing number of areas are still

having difficulties. When they go into those that are called these,

they don't have the structure that local authorities have to help them

get out of it. I want to ask you briefly about the

re-election of Colin Brewer, the councillor who made headlines by

saying that disabled children should be put down. People voted him back

in, that's the Democratic process, should the witchhunt continue?

think it would be very difficult for him to continue as a counsellor but

I do not agree with our witchhunt. Why did he get back in? It is not

the products you can take back to the shop. Whoever is elected is

there for their term of office and it is better to find out more about