:01:45. > :01:50.In the South: a 5th of primary schools are full of overflowing,
:01:50. > :02:00.and it is getting worse. Do we want our children learning in temporary
:02:00. > :02:00.
:02:00. > :30:26.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1706 seconds
:30:27. > :30:30.Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name is Peter Henley. On today's
:30:30. > :30:33.show: The pitter-patter of tiny feet that is threatening to swamp
:30:33. > :30:42.some councils - why there just aren't enough primary school
:30:42. > :30:46.classrooms to cope with a current baby boom.
:30:46. > :30:56.First to me introduce the politician to will be with me.
:30:56. > :31:01.Nicola Blackwood and Andrew Smith. Andrew, a lot of talk in the papers
:31:01. > :31:05.about gay marriage, marriage rather than civil partnership. Is that
:31:05. > :31:10.something you pleased to see the government introduced? I was very
:31:10. > :31:13.pleased to see the government bring in civil partnerships, but I think
:31:14. > :31:19.if people want to be able to use the term marriage I don't think
:31:19. > :31:24.there's a strong argument against it. I wonder why the government has
:31:24. > :31:29.decided to push this to the top of the agenda right now? Light Andrew,
:31:29. > :31:32.I think civil partnerships for a strong step forward and I am not
:31:32. > :31:37.sure what the legal different is going to be between civil marriage
:31:37. > :31:41.and civil partnership. Could it be a step too far? A I have concerns
:31:41. > :31:45.of what we will end up with as a litigation situation were certain
:31:45. > :31:51.gay couples might decide they want their civil marriage to become a
:31:51. > :31:55.religious marriage and go to a church and take the Church to court.
:31:55. > :32:00.The government has assured us that domestic legislation won't allow
:32:00. > :32:05.religious marriages for gay couples, but if that went all the way to the
:32:06. > :32:14.European courts the UK government would then have to pay attention to
:32:14. > :32:18.that decision. Within the articles of human rights we have competing
:32:18. > :32:21.arguments that. I am concerned about what the outcome of that kind
:32:21. > :32:26.of dispute might be. But that we need to consider that very
:32:26. > :32:30.carefully while we discussed this. At this stage it is a consultation.
:32:31. > :32:38.The views of the religious community need to be taken into
:32:38. > :32:43.account. If it is posturing by the Conservative Party, repositioning
:32:43. > :32:47.maybe in some way, that could backfire? I would welcome the fact
:32:47. > :32:54.that the Conservatives are repositioning on this issue. On the
:32:54. > :33:00.end of the day, I think it is a matter of a quality.
:33:00. > :33:03.repositioning? I do a thing that has anything to do with the issue.
:33:03. > :33:06.It's the Budget on Wednesday, of course, and you might have noticed
:33:06. > :33:09.one or two people queuing up to give the Chancellor George Osborne
:33:09. > :33:12.plenty of advice about what he should and shouldn't do. The South
:33:12. > :33:15.of England is often described as the engine of the economy, so what
:33:15. > :33:18.message would the stokers like to see sent up to the bridge? Martin
:33:18. > :33:21.Dare-Edwards is the Chair of the Oxford Local Enterprise Partnership.
:33:21. > :33:25.It is the engine of the economy, isn't it? Regeneration should be
:33:25. > :33:32.happening in other places in the south of England. Spend it in the
:33:32. > :33:36.places where they need the jobs most. It is also making things that
:33:36. > :33:42.er goods, great and globally competitive. We are delighted by
:33:42. > :33:47.the approval from the government to create an enterprise zone in the
:33:47. > :33:54.south of the country. That gives the opportunity to take some
:33:54. > :33:59.leading technologies, to grow them on an international scale and
:33:59. > :34:03.improve the economy by increasing exports. If that -- is the
:34:03. > :34:08.government investing in our part of the world, is a regeneration,
:34:08. > :34:11.creating jobs? You're not applying to the regional growth fund. We are
:34:11. > :34:17.not. We got clear advice from government departments that the
:34:17. > :34:24.regional growth fund is devoted more for the north and west of the
:34:24. > :34:30.UK. We are pursuing by other means. We need to make compelling cases
:34:30. > :34:35.for investment. And the structure will be a key issue for us in
:34:36. > :34:45.Oxfordshire. Infrastructure to support the enterprise zone and
:34:46. > :34:47.
:34:47. > :34:52.other areas of the county were we foresee growth. The Oxford Show
:34:53. > :34:58.have other key areas there are looking at. We will be seeking
:34:58. > :35:04.support for funding. We talk about housebuilding a lot. Do you think
:35:04. > :35:08.are planning changes will help businesses? Should there be more
:35:08. > :35:16.support from things like housebuilding? Do isn't much of a
:35:16. > :35:20.building in terms of house building in Bicester. I think there is a lot
:35:20. > :35:25.of opportunity in Oxfordshire for houses. Development land is the
:35:25. > :35:28.issue and planning in that regard. This simplified planning
:35:28. > :35:33.arrangement there we have been setting up in the southern part of
:35:33. > :35:40.the county, we are first seen to see that as a template to bring to
:35:40. > :35:46.other parts of the county, using Eric Pickles's term, we will
:35:46. > :35:50.disappear as growth since. Growth because once been the engine room,
:35:51. > :35:53.successful and prosperous, we can create more jobs here and could be
:35:53. > :35:58.greater than other places and people might have become in and do
:35:58. > :36:02.those jobs? Go there was also the opportunity of bringing in
:36:02. > :36:07.investment from abroad, which is important. Investment in businesses
:36:07. > :36:11.that maybe taps into the technology development from a two world-class
:36:11. > :36:15.universities in Oxfordshire, and then generate businesses that
:36:15. > :36:19.create products by designing by technology that are differentiated
:36:19. > :36:26.and can be sold to the rest of the world and make the whole county
:36:26. > :36:33.much more resilient to changes in local economies. Golden future or a
:36:33. > :36:37.gloomy future? Golden. I Andrew Smith, do you think the Chancellor,
:36:37. > :36:41.has he believed -- has he been borrowing enough to get the whole
:36:41. > :36:46.country growing? Our argument has been the while the deficit needs to
:36:46. > :36:50.be tackled, the government has been cutting too far too fast so they
:36:50. > :36:55.have had to borrow �150 billion more than they were planning.
:36:55. > :37:03.Looking at the Budget, infrastructure investment is very
:37:03. > :37:07.important. Investment in science is very important. We do need
:37:07. > :37:12.investment in transport infrastructure. There is always the
:37:12. > :37:18.chance that the government might funnel money to other parts of the
:37:18. > :37:26.country and killed the goose that lays the golden egg. I signed up
:37:26. > :37:30.�263 million to establish a big science investment in Didcot. We
:37:30. > :37:35.need to keep focused on that. The Chancellor has to do something
:37:35. > :37:41.about petrol prices. This is hitting families and businesses in
:37:41. > :37:44.our region and across the country very hard indeed. There has been a
:37:44. > :37:51.report at the centre of economic research which shows that if he
:37:51. > :38:00.holds food -- -- calls to fuel duty or cut it a little, it would
:38:00. > :38:05.generate jobs and pay for itself. Do you agree with that? On fuel
:38:05. > :38:12.issues, I do. I think that would be welcome. There has been a lot of
:38:12. > :38:17.investment in terms of real investment for Oxfordshire. I also
:38:17. > :38:23.think that one of the big challenges for the region is roads
:38:23. > :38:27.investment. The a 34 costs are so many problems. It is a major trade
:38:27. > :38:31.groups and I think it has had so little investment for so long we do
:38:31. > :38:34.need to be looking at how we can start improving that because when
:38:34. > :38:39.something goes wrong and just one part of that road the ripple
:38:39. > :38:41.effects are significant. People sitting in traffic jams cost as an
:38:41. > :38:45.environmental problem and the knock-on effect economically
:38:45. > :38:50.because people are economic the inactive when they're sitting in a
:38:50. > :38:56.traffic jam. The last improvement on a road was the Newbury bypass,
:38:56. > :38:59.which was a huge problem. So it won't happen, would it? I think you
:38:59. > :39:04.can't not make the case for something that needs to be done
:39:04. > :39:12.because the last time something was done it didn't go well. We need to
:39:12. > :39:21.look at this book but it has cost in people's lives a misery. We need
:39:21. > :39:27.to not just look at R&D investment, but we have so many scientists and
:39:27. > :39:33.researchers here, but the proper skills base. The apprenticeship
:39:33. > :39:40.scheme which is working has been very successful. We have had over a
:39:40. > :39:48.36 % increase. I think it should be extended to a younger age group.
:39:48. > :39:51.unified message from the start of the world! -- spark of the world!
:39:51. > :39:54.And just a reminder that tomorrow night you can see a special
:39:54. > :39:57.programme looking at the future for the economy in our region. They
:39:57. > :39:59.will be talking to key players about the pressures on incomes,
:39:59. > :40:02.rising unemployment and the prospects for growth. That's Our
:40:02. > :40:05.Economy, the South Today debate with Sally Taylor tomorrow night at
:40:05. > :40:09.11.05pm. 2008 was a bit of a boom year for
:40:09. > :40:12.babies. All very nice for the mums and dads of course, but it is now
:40:12. > :40:14.becoming a bit of a headache for education planners because all
:40:14. > :40:17.those little ones now need primary school places. There just aren't
:40:17. > :40:23.enough to go round, so, as Tristan Pascoe reports, some councils are
:40:23. > :40:27.having to consider some unusual classrooms.
:40:27. > :40:33.The post-war baby boom which sold the population jump by more than
:40:33. > :40:36.half a million. For whatever reason, it is happening again. In 2000 and
:40:36. > :40:40.made the UK experience this greatest population increase in
:40:40. > :40:46.almost half-a-century with the number of people living in the
:40:46. > :40:49.country going above 61 million for the first time. It is not just
:40:49. > :40:53.midwives who are rushed off their feet. In Dorset, as across the
:40:53. > :41:00.country, there aren't enough primary school places to go round.
:41:00. > :41:06.We have got pressure on her reception class intake. We are
:41:06. > :41:10.experiencing increasing demand and it is up to close to 50 %. These
:41:10. > :41:16.baby booms periodically come round. What seems to be incredible is that
:41:16. > :41:21.local authorities never seen to plan for this. The minute the
:41:21. > :41:26.birthrate drops they then start amalgamating schools, closing
:41:26. > :41:30.schools and losing all of the surplus places. His is an issue
:41:30. > :41:35.right across the south. Winchester there is huge opposition
:41:35. > :41:39.to new temporary classrooms, and in Brighton a former police station
:41:39. > :41:44.and the Amex stadium are being lined up as alternative classroom
:41:44. > :41:50.spaces. With the baby boom locally, 420 new Brummies go places are
:41:50. > :41:55.needed in Bournemouth. That will mean more modular buildings,
:41:55. > :41:59.temporary classrooms, only ever a short-term solution are now
:41:59. > :42:04.becoming something of a permanent fixture. This school is well-
:42:04. > :42:08.equipped to deal with the surge in numbers. They have recently added a
:42:08. > :42:14.brand-new hall, kitchen and larger work spaces, but there are
:42:14. > :42:20.drawbacks. This year because we have one spare classroom, we have a
:42:20. > :42:23.library in a proper room, but because we are expecting an
:42:23. > :42:27.additional class inspect -- in September we will lose that
:42:27. > :42:35.facility for four years. The on that we're confident we will regain
:42:35. > :42:41.that space. A short-term struggle or loss and the terms of the
:42:41. > :42:46.library, but you will gain aback. Campaigners fear for their impact
:42:46. > :42:50.of losing facilities like libraries to create extra space. It cannot be
:42:50. > :42:55.all funding to a few desks and chairs and the full on learning of
:42:55. > :43:00.the time. They have got to be able to express themselves, move around.
:43:00. > :43:05.We need to give them the space and I think it any a authority did so
:43:05. > :43:09.school into a position of having to close down a library, a play room,
:43:09. > :43:15.any of those facilities, then they really need to be held to ransom
:43:15. > :43:20.over it. It is not acceptable. years ago this primers: Bournemouth
:43:20. > :43:25.was closed with a loss of more than 60 places. It will now be reopened,
:43:25. > :43:32.so did the Borough Council get it wrong? No, we didn't. Circumstances
:43:32. > :43:38.were very different. It was closed because it was underperforming. We
:43:38. > :43:43.are in a different situation now with numbers with at big cohort
:43:44. > :43:47.coming up. By on a recent visit -- recent visit to this out the
:43:47. > :43:51.schools minister said funds were being made available. We are
:43:51. > :43:58.putting extra money into new provision particularly for primary
:43:58. > :44:02.school places. We have topped it up with an extra �600 million to
:44:02. > :44:06.ensure that local authorities have the capital to build new schools or
:44:06. > :44:09.new classrooms where there is increasing demand. There is
:44:09. > :44:15.increasing demand as the result of the baby boom of the beginning of
:44:15. > :44:20.the century. With highly protected heathland and his seat, its space
:44:20. > :44:25.for new schools as something that Bournemouth doesn't have. Andrew
:44:25. > :44:31.Smith, is it just one of those things, a baby boom, or is there
:44:31. > :44:36.bad planning? Questions have to be asked about the planning. It is a
:44:36. > :44:40.problem in Oxfordshire. A local newspaper did report shown that
:44:40. > :44:44.six-and-a-half 1000 children in our county who are in temporary
:44:44. > :44:48.classrooms. Some of their head teachers said that the temporary
:44:48. > :44:56.classrooms were of as good a quality as their permanent
:44:56. > :44:58.buildings! One of the first things this government did was cancel
:44:58. > :45:02.their Building Schools For The Future programme. Although we had
:45:02. > :45:06.the more money is going in, there is an opportunity for the
:45:06. > :45:12.Chancellor in the Budget. Why not bring forward expenditure that is
:45:12. > :45:16.planned on schools so we can guess -- so we can get the new school
:45:17. > :45:21.spilt and generate jobs. The reason they cancelled that was because the
:45:21. > :45:25.money had run out. Maybe some of those schools in the Midlands and
:45:25. > :45:30.North were too expensive. I would question that. In my own
:45:30. > :45:35.constituency, Wood Farm Primary School is being rebuilt and it is
:45:35. > :45:39.fantastic the transformation that is causing to the whole community.
:45:39. > :45:43.Money has to be spent effectively but it should not be an excuse for
:45:43. > :45:47.abandoning meeting the basic needs of children where they are in
:45:47. > :45:51.overcrowded or inadequate accommodation. A Nicola Blackwood,
:45:51. > :45:58.in Oxfordshire 92 schools are turning away some parents because
:45:58. > :46:01.they have chosen it as their place. That is nearly 50 % of the primary
:46:01. > :46:05.schools in Oxfordshire where they are getting full up. It is a
:46:05. > :46:09.problem. We can always improve planning and we need to look at how
:46:09. > :46:13.we can do that and anticipate birth rates. People move between areas,
:46:13. > :46:18.so even if you know what people have been born do don't necessarily
:46:18. > :46:24.know where they will go to Burmese school. We can improve our
:46:24. > :46:28.admissions code and the way we do admissions to primary schools. But
:46:28. > :46:32.secondary level there is one day on which all the offers for secondary
:46:32. > :46:38.schools come out, but that is not that thing for primary schools,
:46:38. > :46:43.which makes it very difficult. about just providing more spaces?
:46:43. > :46:46.An awful lot of money had been spent on bureaucracy and was not
:46:46. > :46:52.being built on the schools themselves. But was not a good
:46:52. > :47:02.programme. We eat got real benefit from it in my constituency and
:47:02. > :47:06.schools which suffered, that was a real blow. I'm really worry about
:47:06. > :47:14.the pace of the forced Academy's programme that the government is
:47:14. > :47:22.driving through. This is destroying local educational bomb macro is is
:47:22. > :47:27.not a forced Academy programme. school is forced to apply. Schools
:47:27. > :47:32.have ultimatums from the government through the Local Education
:47:33. > :47:37.Authority bomb macro they have to choose. They don't have any choice.
:47:37. > :47:41.It is causing turmoil and that is bound to damage the planning and
:47:41. > :47:46.provision of the places that we need. Academy schools are improving
:47:46. > :47:50.their quality of the Kade -- quality of education as none
:47:50. > :47:54.Academy Schools. Where you have Academy Schools the children are
:47:54. > :47:59.getting better quality of teachers and there are also able to expand
:47:59. > :48:06.the number of places. This is what parents are calling for. I think
:48:06. > :48:16.that is the government listening. Now our regular round-up of the
:48:16. > :48:19.
:48:19. > :48:25.political week in the South in 60 The despite spring showers it seems
:48:25. > :48:31.to have it right. 25 inches more than the 30 we need to keep the
:48:31. > :48:37.reservoirs topped up, so had no hosepipe bans. Thames Water staff
:48:37. > :48:41.got involved in cleaning up the River Thames at the weekend. This
:48:41. > :48:44.counts, Thames 21, all sorts of different groups come together
:48:44. > :48:51.because they care about breading. Bad news for the time when it
:48:51. > :48:55.failed to win the Diamond Jubilee competition to become a city.
:48:55. > :49:00.Clearly I am disappointed, but congratulations to the Downs the
:49:00. > :49:04.did become cities. Here is what will Council called an icon of
:49:04. > :49:11.their town success. This week the surface was falling apart on the
:49:11. > :49:15.bridge. Is that along we are saying you don't know yet? Yes. Some said
:49:15. > :49:25.the occupier protests would fall apart, but they moved on to the
:49:25. > :49:25.
:49:25. > :49:33.university. The protest continues. Hard luck Reading. And I think it
:49:33. > :49:43.is a great pity it has not been made a city. Why not give them the
:49:43. > :49:51.status? I think they have was a very good bid. -- they put forward
:49:51. > :49:57.a very good bid. I think Reading would have been an excellent choice.
:49:57. > :50:02.They remain as a London suburb, I suppose, which is not what we want.
:50:02. > :50:08.In it is not a London suburb! It is a very successful part of our
:50:08. > :50:11.economy. He might get some letters after that, Peter! Thank you so
:50:11. > :50:14.much. That's the Sunday Politics in the South. Thanks to my guests,