Browse content similar to 30/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South West: Our rural schools are told they'll get a fair | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
slice of the funding cake, but the Chancellor is yet to respond to | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
:01:24. | :01:24. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1927 seconds | :01:24. | :33:31. | |
calls for the police to get the Hello, I'm Martyn Oates. Coming up | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
on the Sunday Politics in the South West: The sun has got his hat on | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
and he's coming out to play. Ministers plan to give him more | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
solar farms to play with. Others say we're spoiling him with | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
too many toys - and spoiling the countryside as well. And for the | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
next 20 minutes, I'm joined by the Conservative MP Sheryll Murray and | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
the Labour peer Ann Mallalieu. The Chancellor's spending review is, of | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
course, the main event for us this week. But we're beginning with | :33:56. | :33:58. | |
Sheryll Murray's good deeds. According to a political magazine | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
she's one of the most courteous MPs at Westminster and a great one for | :34:02. | :34:12. | |
opening doors for her colleagues. Do you think you are unusual? | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
don't. Everybody I have come across in the House of Commons and the | :34:16. | :34:22. | |
House of Lords are the same as I am. You just automatically behave | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
courteously and sometimes I may not but I don't know. There may be a | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
few people who don't but I am very grateful to this particular group | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
of researchers who wrote to this magazine. But I don't think I | :34:38. | :34:45. | |
behaved unusually. And it is particularly civilised at the Lords | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
end, isn't it? But could you can meet somebody the other way and | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
very often they look straight through you and you are not sure | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
whether they are defective in vision or hearing but within the | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
chamber people are courteous and the staff are unfailingly courteous | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
even in the face of severe provocation. And we will not | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
mention the people who get black marks. | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
On Wednesday the Chancellor announced that the government is | :35:12. | :35:14. | |
finally planning to change the school funding formula to bring | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
more money to pupils in places like the South West. But council leaders | :35:18. | :35:20. | |
and police commissioners were disappointed to find their | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
financial concerns had fallen on deaf ears as Mr Osborne drew up his | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
latest spending review. Jenny Kumah reports. | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
Four years, Devon schools have been amongst the lowest funded in the | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
country. This year, the government will spend �4,000 educating a Devon | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
child but it will spend twice as much schooling a youngster in | :35:43. | :35:50. | |
London. But hope is on the horizon. The lowest funded local authorities | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
in this country will at last received an increase in their per | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
pupil funding as we introduce a national funding formula to ensure | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
no child in any part of our country is discriminated against. The day | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
after this review, the Education Secretary visited them and -- Devon | :36:08. | :36:16. | |
to hammer home the good news. the spring of 2015, the and -- | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
historical unfairness will end. It is really good news that you have a | :36:22. | :36:28. | |
Coalition government determined to recognise the unique needs of | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
students, particularly the poorest students, in a part of the country | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
that has been under Sturt so far. But there was also disappointment | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
that the government has not recognise the unique challenges of | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
the police which is facing a cut. We are in a position which is | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
fragile over policing. If we have to take further cuts, it will drive | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
neighbourhood policing down and will result in further cuts in | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
policing. The force has to cope with high visitor numbers in the | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
holidays and the commissioner argues it is not just rural schools | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
that need a fairer slice of the cake. There may be a political | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
aspect to the reason Brits schools but I am here to look after the | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
effectiveness of our police and I will lobby as hard as education, if | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
not harder. Councils that look after rural areas are also feeling | :37:22. | :37:28. | |
rejected. We are not getting a fair share. If you live on the boundary | :37:28. | :37:35. | |
of our district with premise you are getting 178 - Mar �170 per head | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
worse off and that has not been reflected today. The Conservative | :37:40. | :37:47. | |
leader of Devon once the cut will be more painful here. Our concern | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
as the district council is that we may find the cut is bigger than 10% | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
because the Chancellor has given an undertaking that he will protect | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
the social care budget and that facility is delivered by unitary | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
authorities. To protect them, I suspect he will do something more | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
than 10% reduction. The Coalition MPs have been falling over | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
themselves to celebrate the score funding announcement and some are | :38:14. | :38:19. | |
already asking whether ministers will apply the same logic elsewhere. | :38:19. | :38:27. | |
So far, the Chancellor's answer has been brief. Yes. | :38:27. | :38:33. | |
The Chancellor ending that report. Isn't this evidence that the | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
Coalition government is delivering for places like the rural south- | :38:37. | :38:44. | |
west? They are promising to deliver and other promises haven't shown | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
results on the banned -- ground and high-speed broadband is one of them. | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
We were told it was all happening and it hasn't. I am encouraged by | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
what Michael Gove had to say and encouraged by what is said about | :38:58. | :39:04. | |
what will happen by 2015 and I hope it does. Everybody is squealing | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
about the cuts and the police obviously ask wheeling. As a former | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
lawyer I am squealing about the effective dismantling of the | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
independent Bar and the legal-aid system. But I hope that caps that | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
have to be made will be made in such a way that front line police | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
are preserved if at all possible. I do not believe there are | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
administrative cuts they could still be made. Looking at the | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
school funding issue, I can see there is an argument that it is | :39:36. | :39:42. | |
rather late in the day, but I am sure some would say it comes after | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
a decade of the Labour government doing nothing. When I am lucky | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
enough to be asked on this programme, you always take an | :39:52. | :40:01. | |
:40:02. | :40:02. | ||
aggressive line... But you are right in that rural areas have been | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
ignored for years. Areas like the south-west have received a poor cut | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
of the cake and I think that particular piece of the | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
announcement yesterday is something we all celebrate and we hope it | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
happens. You must be quite relieved that something is being done on | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
schools because you have all of these other areas where the party | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
of the countryside, as you often present yourself, hasn't done | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
anything? I can remember being elected to Cornwall County Council | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
in 2001 and it was the last Labour government that changed the way the | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
funding was allocated. They took away the rurality payments for a | :40:43. | :40:49. | |
lot of things and looked at ethnicity or population. This is | :40:49. | :40:56. | |
the problem. I think there is broad consensus on that, but your | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
government has dragged its heels, hasn't it? This might squeak in, we | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
are told, before the next election. I fully believe that Michael Gove | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
will do this. We have started with the people premium but you have to | :41:10. | :41:19. | |
be fair to all schools and those having a massive amount of funding | :41:19. | :41:27. | |
for... You have to allow them time to adjust. I am delighted. I know | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
schools will be hard pushed between now and 2015 and I will press to | :41:31. | :41:38. | |
make sure that the pain is lessened. What about the pain for the police? | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
They have not got this sort of bright horizon to look forward to. | :41:42. | :41:49. | |
How many officers might we lose? have seen Tony Hogg in place for a | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
year. I am yet to be convinced, and die except that what he might be | :41:55. | :42:02. | |
saying is correct. If he can show me that he has cut every single | :42:02. | :42:09. | |
area of office savings that he has been able to make than I will go to | :42:09. | :42:15. | |
the Home Secretary. Are you sceptical? He has been in post for | :42:15. | :42:21. | |
a year, a short time but I am yet to be convinced there it isn't any | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
more fat that can be trimmed. We are in the middle of an economic | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
situation that is unprecedented. Everybody has to take pain. If Tony | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
Hogg can show me that he really cannot cut anything else I will go | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
to the Home Secretary and say, this is unfair. There is a challenge to | :42:44. | :42:50. | |
him then. I don't want to dwell on Labour's past, I want to look at | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
the future. The Conservatives and Lib Dems are saying what would you | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
do in this situation and stop talking about our record in | :42:58. | :43:06. | |
government? The reality is at the moment that, as the ministers when | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
they left said, There isn't any money and whatever government is in | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
power they will have to make cuts. There will be differences in | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
priorities. Under benefits, some things are happening that are | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
working very badly and wrongly and depriving people who are really in | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
need. But the bulk of these cuts would have been made, in my own | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
view, whoever would have been in power. On the issue of council | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
funding in general. Geoffrey Cox in Torridge and West Devon says he's - | :43:40. | :43:46. | |
- his two district councils are fighting to survive. Does that cut | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
the mustard? Eric Pickles is an expert in local government. | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
knows more about local council than they do themselves. He comes from | :43:56. | :44:02. | |
local government and there are brilliant examples of Conservative- | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
run administrations having made the savings and been a very good. What | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
I would say to people like West Devon, look at partnership working | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
and working with other councils. They already do in the South Hams. | :44:15. | :44:20. | |
These are your fellow Conservatives running councils disagreeing with | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
you and saying, we do that job and there isn't any more fat. I have | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
just spent three or four years with a Conservative lead council in | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
Cornwall and each individual portfolio holder was writing to me | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
saying, government have cut our funding. Actually, one of the | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
biggest problems is councillors have had a Labour government for 12 | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
years who dictated to them out to spend their money. They have to get | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
used to working themselves. A let us step out of the time machine | :44:56. | :45:03. | |
finally. The day after the spending The day after the Spending Review | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
the Government tried to cheer us all up by talking about its | :45:07. | :45:09. | |
investment plans. There was good news for the region's renewable | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
energy companies with new guarantees on the price they get | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
for wind and solar electricity. But some, including both my guests, | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
remain sceptical about the impact solar farms are having on the South | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
West's landscape, as Janine Jansen reports. | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
Fields covered in plastic. Or are they? Actually, no. They are solar | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
panels. Solar farms are on the increase, especially in Cornwall. | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
They are controversial and they are making headlines. This week, the | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
government reiterated its plans to have renewables Paris 30% of that | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
energy by 2020. This Solar farm has sprung up outside weight bridge. It | :45:49. | :45:55. | |
is run by a German company, Belectrice Solar, and they play -- | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
pay ground rent to the farmer. He says when it has been seeded he | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
will graze he/she pay. But locals say there has been a lot of | :46:04. | :46:12. | |
opposition to the solar farm. a blight. It is very sad. It is on | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
the ridge line and you can see it for about 10 mind -- 10 miles. It | :46:18. | :46:26. | |
is a terrific shame. It is prime agricultural land. The best to get | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
in Cornwall. So it is what is described as the best and most | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
versatile. The council's own policies were not to use it for | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
renewables but that was over ridden. At the time of need for food and | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
not imported food but locally grown food, it is a waste. I went to meet | :46:46. | :46:53. | |
the farmer who says he has not lost much agricultural land. I have | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
sheep in and under the panel's. It is midsummer now, but in the winter | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
when we are Lamming, the baby lambs are under the panels. It is lovely | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
for them. The baby ones are sheltered. It is all good. I don't | :47:07. | :47:13. | |
agree with the loss of farmland. They could be a very small loss, | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
maybe 5%, because we have a small workings and an electric house. But | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
in the context of loss, that is small. Andrew showed me around his | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
small solar farm at home. It powers or the electricity for his farm | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
cottages, but the new 36 acre site has yet to be grassed over. Land | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
management around the panel's is something scientists are keen to | :47:38. | :47:44. | |
explore. We are interested in looking how animal biodiversity and | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
flowers can be enhanced. You have seen animals crazy underneath some | :47:50. | :47:55. | |
and that is acceptable. But in a larger site, we could look at | :47:55. | :48:01. | |
creating habitat features that might encourage bees or pollinators | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
or floral diversity encouragement at no extra cost to the developers. | :48:05. | :48:12. | |
In the UK, about 75% of Solar panels are located on the rooftops. | :48:13. | :48:19. | |
But the south-west is different. Here, the ratio is closer to 50/50. | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
In the past three years, more than 150 Solar farms have been developed | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
in the UK and just over 100 in the south-west. Scientists say Cornwall | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
is the best place in the world for Solar energy as it has sun and rain, | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
vital to keep the panel's clean and working efficiently. | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
And we're joined by a director from the company which owns the 36 acre | :48:41. | :48:47. | |
solar farm we saw in the film, Toddington Harper. | :48:47. | :48:53. | |
I will begin with you. You are sceptical, to say the least. It is | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
a difficult position for a Cornish MP, isn't it? A lot of poor people | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
in the Cornish county think it has huge potential to improve life. | :49:05. | :49:14. | |
am sceptical of Solar fields. I turned on a Solar a raid at a major | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
employee and retail outlet in my constituency a few weeks ago and it | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
is on the roof of the building. Nobody knows it is there and it | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
produces one-third of its energy consumption. When he needs it | :49:28. | :49:35. | |
during daylight hours, that is and that is ideal. What we shouldn't be | :49:35. | :49:41. | |
doing is to actually cover it green fields with sober panels, unless it | :49:41. | :49:48. | |
has local by Ian. We should introduce the same restrictions as | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
far as planning in -- is concerned as we have seen for wind turbines. | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
Would you accept the best place for them is the rooves of buildings? | :49:59. | :50:07. | |
would agree that putting panels on rooves is a good idea. It is | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
something our company is involved in as well. To briefly correct the | :50:12. | :50:22. | |
:50:22. | :50:24. | ||
comment. I am a UK individual and Belectrice Solar is a company which | :50:24. | :50:32. | |
has a German to parent company. It is important to bring into context | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
why people build solar farms in the UK. The headlines have been clear | :50:37. | :50:44. | |
this week. By 2015, the UK faces blackouts and we have lost 5% of | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
our generating capacity and we are losing a further 20%. By generating | :50:49. | :50:55. | |
capacity, there is almost no margin. Can you understand are planning | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
concern though? In a situation where you have to jump through all | :50:59. | :51:05. | |
kinds of hoops to build a small extension to your house but you can | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
shove these spreads over a huge areas of countryside? It is not as | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
simple as that. It is relatively easy to do it. And that is the | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
point. The committee has to agree they won the solar farm to be given | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
permission. It has been overturned in a number of circumstances around | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
the country so it is not as straightforward as you suggest to | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
get planning permission. Mallalieu you are sceptical as well. | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
Do you accept there are a lot of checks and balances? I'm very | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
sceptical about the whole business of the announcement yesterday and I | :51:44. | :51:50. | |
expect it is a sop for Hinckley Point, the nuclear plant that will | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
now get the go-ahead. We are in the mess we are because people did not | :51:54. | :52:01. | |
have the courage to grasp what was essential, they need for... You are | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
concerned about the development of these farms on greenfield areas. | :52:06. | :52:09. | |
You are the President of the Countryside Alliance. It was | :52:09. | :52:16. | |
striking looking at the that report to see sheep grazing under these | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
apparently insubstantial panels. It looks like agriculture and solar | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
energy can work side-by-side, doesn't it? I wonder how long they | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
will stay up when the sheep start rubbing themselves on them. It was | :52:29. | :52:39. | |
interesting to see and I wonder... Clearly, and she can praise below | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
and around. The argument that it is dealing agricultural land doesn't | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
apply. People's perception of the countryside is important in an area | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
where visitors come here for that reason. They complain already about | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
Fields of plastic and I have sympathy with farmers who want to | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
maximise the return of their land in any way they can but I think | :53:03. | :53:08. | |
local communities, because they have to look at it, have to be | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
accepting of it to. You have to listen to them before you do this. | :53:12. | :53:18. | |
What is in it for the farmers? could add another piece as well. I | :53:18. | :53:23. | |
will come back to that. What is in it for them is that farming is a | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
difficult industry, particularly over the last... How much money do | :53:27. | :53:33. | |
they get? They would get a percentage of revenue which would | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
be slightly more than they were typically get from farming. | :53:37. | :53:42. | |
Certainly, not a radical amount more than they would get from | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
farming. In different areas of the country, if it is sunnier you can | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
get more money than at their areas of the country. Coming back to the | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
point on planning, it is important for everyone to be Clear that we | :53:56. | :54:02. | |
are not actually physically taking away any land. Only 3% of the land | :54:02. | :54:07. | |
on a solar farm has anything attached to it. The panels are put | :54:07. | :54:14. | |
on thin pulse. The other percentage of land is used in the same way as | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
before -- they are placed on thin poles. We are running out of time, | :54:21. | :54:27. | |
I'm afraid. I would be interested to know whether Toddington agrees | :54:27. | :54:35. | |
that local people should have a say. OK. We have to go, I'm afraid. | :54:35. | :54:45. | |
:54:45. | :54:46. | ||
Now our regular round-up of the Delight from business leaders as | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
ministers talk about removing one of the region's biggest bottle | :54:49. | :54:56. | |
necks. We think it is great news. The government has been subjected | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
to significant overtures about the importance of a second artery into | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
the far south-west and we think it is a vital to our future economy. | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
But it is just a lot of hot air according to Labour. What is so | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
disappointing is, after the hype, there is no announcement. It is | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
looking at a feasibility study and we have done that before. Calls for | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
a proportion of newly built homes to be reserved for local people. | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
And another demand for second homes to be subject to planning | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
permission. And a last-minute deal is struck between insurers and the | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
government to protect people living with flood risk. Their premiums | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
will be capped and excess charges will be capped. It will be targeted | :55:41. | :55:48. | |
to make sure those least able to pay pay the least. | :55:48. | :55:58. | |
Will we ever see beat A303 duelled. I hope so. Particularly for the | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
Royal Navy, it is brilliant. Take 40 million of the waste of time | :56:03. | :56:08. |