:01:10. > :01:14.In the South West: Our rural schools are told they'll get a fair
:01:14. > :01:24.slice of the funding cake, but the Chancellor is yet to respond to
:01:24. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :33:31.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1927 seconds
:33:31. > :33:36.calls for the police to get the Hello, I'm Martyn Oates. Coming up
:33:36. > :33:39.on the Sunday Politics in the South West: The sun has got his hat on
:33:39. > :33:42.and he's coming out to play. Ministers plan to give him more
:33:42. > :33:46.solar farms to play with. Others say we're spoiling him with
:33:46. > :33:49.too many toys - and spoiling the countryside as well. And for the
:33:49. > :33:52.next 20 minutes, I'm joined by the Conservative MP Sheryll Murray and
:33:52. > :33:56.the Labour peer Ann Mallalieu. The Chancellor's spending review is, of
:33:56. > :33:58.course, the main event for us this week. But we're beginning with
:33:58. > :34:02.Sheryll Murray's good deeds. According to a political magazine
:34:02. > :34:12.she's one of the most courteous MPs at Westminster and a great one for
:34:12. > :34:16.opening doors for her colleagues. Do you think you are unusual?
:34:16. > :34:22.don't. Everybody I have come across in the House of Commons and the
:34:23. > :34:29.House of Lords are the same as I am. You just automatically behave
:34:29. > :34:34.courteously and sometimes I may not but I don't know. There may be a
:34:34. > :34:38.few people who don't but I am very grateful to this particular group
:34:38. > :34:45.of researchers who wrote to this magazine. But I don't think I
:34:45. > :34:50.behaved unusually. And it is particularly civilised at the Lords
:34:50. > :34:55.end, isn't it? But could you can meet somebody the other way and
:34:55. > :34:58.very often they look straight through you and you are not sure
:34:58. > :35:02.whether they are defective in vision or hearing but within the
:35:02. > :35:06.chamber people are courteous and the staff are unfailingly courteous
:35:06. > :35:09.even in the face of severe provocation. And we will not
:35:09. > :35:11.mention the people who get black marks.
:35:12. > :35:14.On Wednesday the Chancellor announced that the government is
:35:14. > :35:18.finally planning to change the school funding formula to bring
:35:18. > :35:20.more money to pupils in places like the South West. But council leaders
:35:20. > :35:24.and police commissioners were disappointed to find their
:35:24. > :35:29.financial concerns had fallen on deaf ears as Mr Osborne drew up his
:35:29. > :35:34.latest spending review. Jenny Kumah reports.
:35:34. > :35:39.Four years, Devon schools have been amongst the lowest funded in the
:35:39. > :35:43.country. This year, the government will spend �4,000 educating a Devon
:35:43. > :35:50.child but it will spend twice as much schooling a youngster in
:35:50. > :35:54.London. But hope is on the horizon. The lowest funded local authorities
:35:54. > :35:58.in this country will at last received an increase in their per
:35:58. > :36:04.pupil funding as we introduce a national funding formula to ensure
:36:04. > :36:08.no child in any part of our country is discriminated against. The day
:36:08. > :36:16.after this review, the Education Secretary visited them and -- Devon
:36:16. > :36:22.to hammer home the good news. the spring of 2015, the and --
:36:22. > :36:28.historical unfairness will end. It is really good news that you have a
:36:28. > :36:31.Coalition government determined to recognise the unique needs of
:36:31. > :36:37.students, particularly the poorest students, in a part of the country
:36:37. > :36:40.that has been under Sturt so far. But there was also disappointment
:36:41. > :36:46.that the government has not recognise the unique challenges of
:36:46. > :36:51.the police which is facing a cut. We are in a position which is
:36:51. > :36:54.fragile over policing. If we have to take further cuts, it will drive
:36:54. > :36:59.neighbourhood policing down and will result in further cuts in
:36:59. > :37:03.policing. The force has to cope with high visitor numbers in the
:37:03. > :37:08.holidays and the commissioner argues it is not just rural schools
:37:08. > :37:12.that need a fairer slice of the cake. There may be a political
:37:12. > :37:17.aspect to the reason Brits schools but I am here to look after the
:37:17. > :37:22.effectiveness of our police and I will lobby as hard as education, if
:37:22. > :37:28.not harder. Councils that look after rural areas are also feeling
:37:28. > :37:35.rejected. We are not getting a fair share. If you live on the boundary
:37:35. > :37:40.of our district with premise you are getting 178 - Mar �170 per head
:37:40. > :37:47.worse off and that has not been reflected today. The Conservative
:37:47. > :37:52.leader of Devon once the cut will be more painful here. Our concern
:37:52. > :37:56.as the district council is that we may find the cut is bigger than 10%
:37:56. > :38:01.because the Chancellor has given an undertaking that he will protect
:38:01. > :38:05.the social care budget and that facility is delivered by unitary
:38:05. > :38:10.authorities. To protect them, I suspect he will do something more
:38:10. > :38:14.than 10% reduction. The Coalition MPs have been falling over
:38:14. > :38:19.themselves to celebrate the score funding announcement and some are
:38:19. > :38:27.already asking whether ministers will apply the same logic elsewhere.
:38:27. > :38:33.So far, the Chancellor's answer has been brief. Yes.
:38:33. > :38:37.The Chancellor ending that report. Isn't this evidence that the
:38:37. > :38:44.Coalition government is delivering for places like the rural south-
:38:44. > :38:47.west? They are promising to deliver and other promises haven't shown
:38:47. > :38:53.results on the banned -- ground and high-speed broadband is one of them.
:38:53. > :38:58.We were told it was all happening and it hasn't. I am encouraged by
:38:58. > :39:04.what Michael Gove had to say and encouraged by what is said about
:39:04. > :39:09.what will happen by 2015 and I hope it does. Everybody is squealing
:39:09. > :39:14.about the cuts and the police obviously ask wheeling. As a former
:39:14. > :39:19.lawyer I am squealing about the effective dismantling of the
:39:19. > :39:24.independent Bar and the legal-aid system. But I hope that caps that
:39:24. > :39:28.have to be made will be made in such a way that front line police
:39:28. > :39:32.are preserved if at all possible. I do not believe there are
:39:32. > :39:36.administrative cuts they could still be made. Looking at the
:39:36. > :39:42.school funding issue, I can see there is an argument that it is
:39:42. > :39:47.rather late in the day, but I am sure some would say it comes after
:39:47. > :39:51.a decade of the Labour government doing nothing. When I am lucky
:39:52. > :40:01.enough to be asked on this programme, you always take an
:40:02. > :40:02.
:40:02. > :40:07.aggressive line... But you are right in that rural areas have been
:40:07. > :40:10.ignored for years. Areas like the south-west have received a poor cut
:40:10. > :40:14.of the cake and I think that particular piece of the
:40:14. > :40:18.announcement yesterday is something we all celebrate and we hope it
:40:18. > :40:22.happens. You must be quite relieved that something is being done on
:40:22. > :40:26.schools because you have all of these other areas where the party
:40:26. > :40:32.of the countryside, as you often present yourself, hasn't done
:40:32. > :40:38.anything? I can remember being elected to Cornwall County Council
:40:38. > :40:43.in 2001 and it was the last Labour government that changed the way the
:40:43. > :40:49.funding was allocated. They took away the rurality payments for a
:40:49. > :40:56.lot of things and looked at ethnicity or population. This is
:40:56. > :41:01.the problem. I think there is broad consensus on that, but your
:41:01. > :41:06.government has dragged its heels, hasn't it? This might squeak in, we
:41:06. > :41:10.are told, before the next election. I fully believe that Michael Gove
:41:10. > :41:19.will do this. We have started with the people premium but you have to
:41:19. > :41:27.be fair to all schools and those having a massive amount of funding
:41:27. > :41:31.for... You have to allow them time to adjust. I am delighted. I know
:41:31. > :41:38.schools will be hard pushed between now and 2015 and I will press to
:41:38. > :41:42.make sure that the pain is lessened. What about the pain for the police?
:41:42. > :41:49.They have not got this sort of bright horizon to look forward to.
:41:49. > :41:55.How many officers might we lose? have seen Tony Hogg in place for a
:41:55. > :42:02.year. I am yet to be convinced, and die except that what he might be
:42:02. > :42:09.saying is correct. If he can show me that he has cut every single
:42:09. > :42:15.area of office savings that he has been able to make than I will go to
:42:15. > :42:21.the Home Secretary. Are you sceptical? He has been in post for
:42:22. > :42:26.a year, a short time but I am yet to be convinced there it isn't any
:42:27. > :42:33.more fat that can be trimmed. We are in the middle of an economic
:42:33. > :42:38.situation that is unprecedented. Everybody has to take pain. If Tony
:42:38. > :42:44.Hogg can show me that he really cannot cut anything else I will go
:42:44. > :42:50.to the Home Secretary and say, this is unfair. There is a challenge to
:42:50. > :42:54.him then. I don't want to dwell on Labour's past, I want to look at
:42:54. > :42:58.the future. The Conservatives and Lib Dems are saying what would you
:42:58. > :43:06.do in this situation and stop talking about our record in
:43:06. > :43:10.government? The reality is at the moment that, as the ministers when
:43:10. > :43:14.they left said, There isn't any money and whatever government is in
:43:14. > :43:19.power they will have to make cuts. There will be differences in
:43:19. > :43:24.priorities. Under benefits, some things are happening that are
:43:24. > :43:29.working very badly and wrongly and depriving people who are really in
:43:29. > :43:35.need. But the bulk of these cuts would have been made, in my own
:43:35. > :43:40.view, whoever would have been in power. On the issue of council
:43:40. > :43:46.funding in general. Geoffrey Cox in Torridge and West Devon says he's -
:43:46. > :43:51.- his two district councils are fighting to survive. Does that cut
:43:51. > :43:56.the mustard? Eric Pickles is an expert in local government.
:43:56. > :44:02.knows more about local council than they do themselves. He comes from
:44:02. > :44:06.local government and there are brilliant examples of Conservative-
:44:06. > :44:10.run administrations having made the savings and been a very good. What
:44:11. > :44:15.I would say to people like West Devon, look at partnership working
:44:15. > :44:20.and working with other councils. They already do in the South Hams.
:44:20. > :44:26.These are your fellow Conservatives running councils disagreeing with
:44:26. > :44:31.you and saying, we do that job and there isn't any more fat. I have
:44:31. > :44:36.just spent three or four years with a Conservative lead council in
:44:36. > :44:42.Cornwall and each individual portfolio holder was writing to me
:44:42. > :44:46.saying, government have cut our funding. Actually, one of the
:44:46. > :44:51.biggest problems is councillors have had a Labour government for 12
:44:51. > :44:56.years who dictated to them out to spend their money. They have to get
:44:56. > :45:03.used to working themselves. A let us step out of the time machine
:45:03. > :45:07.finally. The day after the spending The day after the Spending Review
:45:07. > :45:09.the Government tried to cheer us all up by talking about its
:45:09. > :45:12.investment plans. There was good news for the region's renewable
:45:12. > :45:15.energy companies with new guarantees on the price they get
:45:15. > :45:19.for wind and solar electricity. But some, including both my guests,
:45:19. > :45:22.remain sceptical about the impact solar farms are having on the South
:45:22. > :45:28.West's landscape, as Janine Jansen reports.
:45:28. > :45:33.Fields covered in plastic. Or are they? Actually, no. They are solar
:45:33. > :45:38.panels. Solar farms are on the increase, especially in Cornwall.
:45:38. > :45:43.They are controversial and they are making headlines. This week, the
:45:44. > :45:49.government reiterated its plans to have renewables Paris 30% of that
:45:49. > :45:55.energy by 2020. This Solar farm has sprung up outside weight bridge. It
:45:55. > :46:00.is run by a German company, Belectrice Solar, and they play --
:46:00. > :46:04.pay ground rent to the farmer. He says when it has been seeded he
:46:04. > :46:12.will graze he/she pay. But locals say there has been a lot of
:46:12. > :46:18.opposition to the solar farm. a blight. It is very sad. It is on
:46:18. > :46:26.the ridge line and you can see it for about 10 mind -- 10 miles. It
:46:26. > :46:30.is a terrific shame. It is prime agricultural land. The best to get
:46:30. > :46:36.in Cornwall. So it is what is described as the best and most
:46:36. > :46:41.versatile. The council's own policies were not to use it for
:46:41. > :46:46.renewables but that was over ridden. At the time of need for food and
:46:46. > :46:53.not imported food but locally grown food, it is a waste. I went to meet
:46:53. > :46:57.the farmer who says he has not lost much agricultural land. I have
:46:57. > :47:02.sheep in and under the panel's. It is midsummer now, but in the winter
:47:02. > :47:07.when we are Lamming, the baby lambs are under the panels. It is lovely
:47:07. > :47:13.for them. The baby ones are sheltered. It is all good. I don't
:47:13. > :47:18.agree with the loss of farmland. They could be a very small loss,
:47:18. > :47:24.maybe 5%, because we have a small workings and an electric house. But
:47:24. > :47:29.in the context of loss, that is small. Andrew showed me around his
:47:29. > :47:34.small solar farm at home. It powers or the electricity for his farm
:47:34. > :47:38.cottages, but the new 36 acre site has yet to be grassed over. Land
:47:38. > :47:44.management around the panel's is something scientists are keen to
:47:44. > :47:50.explore. We are interested in looking how animal biodiversity and
:47:50. > :47:55.flowers can be enhanced. You have seen animals crazy underneath some
:47:55. > :48:01.and that is acceptable. But in a larger site, we could look at
:48:01. > :48:05.creating habitat features that might encourage bees or pollinators
:48:05. > :48:12.or floral diversity encouragement at no extra cost to the developers.
:48:13. > :48:19.In the UK, about 75% of Solar panels are located on the rooftops.
:48:19. > :48:23.But the south-west is different. Here, the ratio is closer to 50/50.
:48:24. > :48:29.In the past three years, more than 150 Solar farms have been developed
:48:29. > :48:33.in the UK and just over 100 in the south-west. Scientists say Cornwall
:48:33. > :48:37.is the best place in the world for Solar energy as it has sun and rain,
:48:37. > :48:41.vital to keep the panel's clean and working efficiently.
:48:41. > :48:47.And we're joined by a director from the company which owns the 36 acre
:48:47. > :48:53.solar farm we saw in the film, Toddington Harper.
:48:53. > :48:59.I will begin with you. You are sceptical, to say the least. It is
:48:59. > :49:05.a difficult position for a Cornish MP, isn't it? A lot of poor people
:49:05. > :49:14.in the Cornish county think it has huge potential to improve life.
:49:14. > :49:19.am sceptical of Solar fields. I turned on a Solar a raid at a major
:49:19. > :49:24.employee and retail outlet in my constituency a few weeks ago and it
:49:25. > :49:28.is on the roof of the building. Nobody knows it is there and it
:49:28. > :49:35.produces one-third of its energy consumption. When he needs it
:49:35. > :49:41.during daylight hours, that is and that is ideal. What we shouldn't be
:49:41. > :49:48.doing is to actually cover it green fields with sober panels, unless it
:49:48. > :49:54.has local by Ian. We should introduce the same restrictions as
:49:54. > :49:59.far as planning in -- is concerned as we have seen for wind turbines.
:49:59. > :50:07.Would you accept the best place for them is the rooves of buildings?
:50:07. > :50:12.would agree that putting panels on rooves is a good idea. It is
:50:12. > :50:22.something our company is involved in as well. To briefly correct the
:50:22. > :50:24.
:50:24. > :50:32.comment. I am a UK individual and Belectrice Solar is a company which
:50:32. > :50:37.has a German to parent company. It is important to bring into context
:50:37. > :50:44.why people build solar farms in the UK. The headlines have been clear
:50:44. > :50:49.this week. By 2015, the UK faces blackouts and we have lost 5% of
:50:49. > :50:55.our generating capacity and we are losing a further 20%. By generating
:50:55. > :50:59.capacity, there is almost no margin. Can you understand are planning
:50:59. > :51:05.concern though? In a situation where you have to jump through all
:51:05. > :51:10.kinds of hoops to build a small extension to your house but you can
:51:10. > :51:14.shove these spreads over a huge areas of countryside? It is not as
:51:14. > :51:19.simple as that. It is relatively easy to do it. And that is the
:51:20. > :51:24.point. The committee has to agree they won the solar farm to be given
:51:24. > :51:28.permission. It has been overturned in a number of circumstances around
:51:28. > :51:34.the country so it is not as straightforward as you suggest to
:51:34. > :51:39.get planning permission. Mallalieu you are sceptical as well.
:51:39. > :51:44.Do you accept there are a lot of checks and balances? I'm very
:51:44. > :51:50.sceptical about the whole business of the announcement yesterday and I
:51:50. > :51:54.expect it is a sop for Hinckley Point, the nuclear plant that will
:51:54. > :52:01.now get the go-ahead. We are in the mess we are because people did not
:52:01. > :52:06.have the courage to grasp what was essential, they need for... You are
:52:06. > :52:09.concerned about the development of these farms on greenfield areas.
:52:09. > :52:16.You are the President of the Countryside Alliance. It was
:52:16. > :52:20.striking looking at the that report to see sheep grazing under these
:52:20. > :52:24.apparently insubstantial panels. It looks like agriculture and solar
:52:24. > :52:29.energy can work side-by-side, doesn't it? I wonder how long they
:52:29. > :52:39.will stay up when the sheep start rubbing themselves on them. It was
:52:39. > :52:44.interesting to see and I wonder... Clearly, and she can praise below
:52:44. > :52:50.and around. The argument that it is dealing agricultural land doesn't
:52:50. > :52:55.apply. People's perception of the countryside is important in an area
:52:55. > :53:00.where visitors come here for that reason. They complain already about
:53:00. > :53:03.Fields of plastic and I have sympathy with farmers who want to
:53:03. > :53:08.maximise the return of their land in any way they can but I think
:53:08. > :53:12.local communities, because they have to look at it, have to be
:53:12. > :53:18.accepting of it to. You have to listen to them before you do this.
:53:18. > :53:23.What is in it for the farmers? could add another piece as well. I
:53:23. > :53:27.will come back to that. What is in it for them is that farming is a
:53:27. > :53:33.difficult industry, particularly over the last... How much money do
:53:33. > :53:37.they get? They would get a percentage of revenue which would
:53:37. > :53:42.be slightly more than they were typically get from farming.
:53:42. > :53:47.Certainly, not a radical amount more than they would get from
:53:47. > :53:52.farming. In different areas of the country, if it is sunnier you can
:53:52. > :53:56.get more money than at their areas of the country. Coming back to the
:53:56. > :54:02.point on planning, it is important for everyone to be Clear that we
:54:02. > :54:07.are not actually physically taking away any land. Only 3% of the land
:54:07. > :54:14.on a solar farm has anything attached to it. The panels are put
:54:14. > :54:21.on thin pulse. The other percentage of land is used in the same way as
:54:21. > :54:27.before -- they are placed on thin poles. We are running out of time,
:54:27. > :54:35.I'm afraid. I would be interested to know whether Toddington agrees
:54:35. > :54:45.that local people should have a say. OK. We have to go, I'm afraid.
:54:45. > :54:46.
:54:46. > :54:49.Now our regular round-up of the Delight from business leaders as
:54:49. > :54:56.ministers talk about removing one of the region's biggest bottle
:54:56. > :55:01.necks. We think it is great news. The government has been subjected
:55:01. > :55:07.to significant overtures about the importance of a second artery into
:55:07. > :55:12.the far south-west and we think it is a vital to our future economy.
:55:12. > :55:17.But it is just a lot of hot air according to Labour. What is so
:55:17. > :55:21.disappointing is, after the hype, there is no announcement. It is
:55:21. > :55:25.looking at a feasibility study and we have done that before. Calls for
:55:25. > :55:28.a proportion of newly built homes to be reserved for local people.
:55:28. > :55:33.And another demand for second homes to be subject to planning
:55:33. > :55:37.permission. And a last-minute deal is struck between insurers and the
:55:37. > :55:41.government to protect people living with flood risk. Their premiums
:55:41. > :55:48.will be capped and excess charges will be capped. It will be targeted
:55:48. > :55:58.to make sure those least able to pay pay the least.
:55:58. > :56:03.Will we ever see beat A303 duelled. I hope so. Particularly for the
:56:03. > :56:08.Royal Navy, it is brilliant. Take 40 million of the waste of time