20/05/2012 Sunday Politics South


20/05/2012

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In the south, it is the second largest natural harbour on the

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planet, but could the waters of Poole Bay provide energy to heat

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1795 seconds

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Welcome. Coming up in the next 20 minutes, could tidal power in the

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world's second largest natural harbour, Poole Bay, be used to heat

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homes and businesses in the area? First, we will meet the politicians

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who are going to be with me for this part of the programme. The

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Conservative leader of Poole council. And Lord Stoneman, who has

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a long connection with Portsmouth. Elaine, we have the Police

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Federation meeting in Bournemouth. Theresa May got a rough time. Do

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you think it was an insult to her? I do. She went to hear what was

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being said and that is not the way we be a -- we expect the police to

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behave. I thought it was disrespectful. The police have to

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have public support. They should not do that to a Home Secretary.

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You have brought in cuts that might affect the front line and people

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are worried crime will go up. are a lot of people suffering from

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cuts at the moment. We have to have some form of cut in public spending.

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You do not decide the way forward by yelling at people, you negotiate

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and discuss. People find change challenging. We can remember when

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police support officers came in and people thought it was terrible and

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privatisation of the police force. They have helped to make people

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feel safer because there is a presence on the street. His Surrey

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Police backing away from this, is that a good thing? It is about sub-

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contract in, which is taking over from the police officers' roll.

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have to be careful when the law is concerned and the interface of the

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public. In terms of backroom staff and support operations, I do not

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see an objection, providing you are improving the service. The review

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is still being consulted on. Will this get better or worse? It will

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have to have a period of settling down. I do not think it will get

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worse. People will have to be reassured. There are things coming

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forward that people find unsettling. We need to reassure the public the

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change is not going to have a detrimental impact on them.

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unemployment figures were out this week. Worryingly, the South was

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bucking the national trend. The country as a whole saw unemployment

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drop, but in the South East it went up in the past three months by

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1,000 and in the South West, 10,000. What has happened to the job

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creation the Government is pinning its hopes of economically --

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economic recovery on? William Hague was saying people should work

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harder to bring business in. Is that the answer? Partly the answer.

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Businesses were disappointed with the comment. They are working hard

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to insure the bottom line and give themselves confidence. They look on

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the Government to provide confidence that will get them to

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grow. The Government cannot give confidence out. Businesses have to

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get it for themselves. They do. They are looking up to government

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to free up red tape and to be flexible on lending. Also to force

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the apprenticeship schemes... On Friday I was at a launch for

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another scheme. Are you tired of then? On the contrary. There is in

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need to break myths over the apprenticeships and how businesses

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can get more involved. But the comments were unhelpful. Businesses

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need confidence and they need to know the Government is listening

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and taking action. With regard to banking, that is interesting. The

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banks are saying they are prepared to lend but the criteria is such

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that businesses do not seem to be able to qualify. Wind would you say

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the south-east and South West have not done the same as the rest of

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the country -- why would you? the UK there is a reduction in

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unemployment claimants. Seven people a recently registered as

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unemployed are doing part-time work. The at is the same across the

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country. It is, but they are supplementing their income by

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claiming a different type of benefit. You see the fall in the

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registered numbers, but not generally. In the south, certain

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sectors are doing better than others. We are seeing the figures

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as the aftermath of the public sector cuts. We have fewer public

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sector cuts. We are not as reliant on the public sector as other parts

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of the country. We should be doing better. You have to look at the

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sectors. There are some in the south that are doing well. Export

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is doing well. We have companies with good contracts and have

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business coming in. But it is confidence. If every company in

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Hampshire particularly employed one person, even at new apprentice,

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there would be zero unemployment. There needs to be that confidence

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going through the system. We have 30,000 claimants in Hampshire.

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There is such a sign it is going down. But look at the number of

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males and females. There are differences. This week, in the 16-

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24-year-old sector, that is the critical mass of the unemployment

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figures. He is saying the Government has to help and it is

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not just saying to business were Carter and the private sector will

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pick up the jobs. It is a partnership. You have to have a

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partnership between the Government and business. Business must not

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look at the Government to do everything. What the Government was

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saying is we have to motivate exports particularly, and if you

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look at the job figures, but parts of the country doing well our

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manufacturing in the Midlands and Yorkshire. Down here, where we are

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more dependent on services and construction, we are doing less

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well. It is marginal, but it signifiers the two areas. We need

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confidence in services and retail. The one area government and the

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private sector has to do more is construction. More housebuilding?

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And also looking at infrastructure stop improving the competitiveness

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of the economy whether it is rates, housing or energy. That would mean

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spending more money. One of the things that is apparent is that in

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the company sector there is something like 700 billion of cash

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in the companies. Companies are flush with cash, but they are not

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spending because they do not have the confidence yet. Because of what

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is happening in Europe. That is reality. One thing we have learned

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in the last week, we cannot decide everything on our economy, it

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depends on what is happening abroad. Anybody involved in export at the

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moment sees what's happening in Europe, and they wonder where it

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will end. So close to the Channel, could we be more affected by loss

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of European business? I do not necessarily agreed. We have got a

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buoyant economy as it is here. Everybody is struggling, but we

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need to hear to an -- to hear what businesses want. We have to invest

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in making young people ready for the work force. We have 15% in

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business in Poole it is advanced manufacturing and engineering. We

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are seeing those companies recruiting apprentices into those

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advanced engineering apprenticeships. We have to help

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this age group and to help them be employable and fit to join those

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businesses to grow. That is how we will grow, not on the Government

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based or overseas base. I am encouraged. The critical mass is

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the 18 to 24 year olds. I was interested in the comments on

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infrastructure. Hampshire and Surrey are keen on pushing forward.

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We have an enterprise science -- enterprise zone in Hampshire which

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will create jobs and opportunities. Just around the corner, or a couple

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of years a grey? Economic the around the corner. To smack away. -

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- a couple of years away. infrastructure traditionally has

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been highways and roads, but it includes super-fast broadband,

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because we are seeing changes in work patterns. Hampshire are making

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those changes. We have heard plenty recently about harnessing wind

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power of four and onshore. This is an idea, what about getting energy

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from the sea itself? We are an island and not stuck for a wave or

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two. They could be better sources of clean energy.

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Poole Bay in Dorset. The second largest natural harbour anywhere in

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the world. It's double tide means twice a day between 30 and 45,000

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cubic metres of water flow in and out of the harbour. There are plans

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to turn some of the tidal flow into energy. The cost of energy is

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increasing. And the impact on the planet on what we do to extract

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energy, so we have to find renewable sources and look on our

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own doorstep before we look elsewhere. You stick to pipes in

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and it works in the same way as a domestic fridge, but in reverse.

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I am not an expert. Think of me like Winnie-the-Pooh, a bear of

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little brain, I cannot understand how cold water from the sea can be

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turned into warm air to heat homes and businesses. This is the science.

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Seawater holds a lot of heat. Over the course of summer, the sunshine

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hits the sea and Asian for many months and it holds a lot of the

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heat in. -- it hits the seam and holds it in. This is clean, green

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energy we are talking about? It is relatively clean. You have to pump

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seawater to a heat exchanger. It is a low carbon way of providing heat.

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The plans for Poole Bay are based on the heating system in Sweden. So

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advanced and successful is the technology there it is used to heat

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more than 90% of homes in one area. It is hoped that schools,

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businesses and the housing stock in Poole can feel the benefit.

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council has wondered whether there is any energy that could be

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utilised from the harbour. They are behind the project. Would it be

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millions of pounds required? We are talking thousands of pounds rather

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than millions. We know what the demand is in the local area. What

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we do not know is the energy that is capable of being produced from

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the technology. Experts say it is the sort of low carbon scheme the

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Government should invest in. demonstrates reliable levels of

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electricity at times when we know it will work, which is not the case

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with wind. It is reliable. It is invisible. There is no

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environmental impact naturally. So long as it does not impact on the

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marine industry, it can only be a good thing. The council had spent

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one third of a million pounds on a carbon reduction audit and say with

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more research they are hopeful of attracting public and private

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investment. When they progress, they will know the types of

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technology we can utilise. When we have at foundation we could have

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found further confidence to bid for future funding. We have not done

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all of the mathematics and technical assessments yet, but I am

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confident there is power in a harbour we can extract without an

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impact on the environment or users of the harbour. But how committed

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on local and national governments to investing in the technology?

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You have to put the money up front to get the ball rolling on these

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things. Potentially it could help the whole of the south coast.

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could help the whole of the nation. We are an island and it could help

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everybody. Are you getting the sort of support in looking for these

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things from central government you would like to see? We are in at the

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beginning of a bidding process that looks quite exciting. Often we have

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to be cautious with things like that. We have received government

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funding, 20,000 to do investigations. We are working in

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partnership with the committee sector and university and putting

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forward a bid from a pot of money that is worth about 200 million.

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200 million is a bit like it. That sounds promising. Is the Government

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doing enough with that sort of green economic development? It is

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one of the main platforms of the coalition to do more in the green

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area. We have Ed Davey there. This is one of many schemes the

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Government, using the green energy bank as well, to finance these

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projects, but the key thing is to do the research. The partnership

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between business, university and local authorities is a good basis

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to start. We have to turn that into a business proposition that could

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be used not many in this country but abroad. This is more than

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lagging people's lofts. The that is also important. That's not

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downgrade that. That is one of the most important ways of improving

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our green performance. This is a way to find an alternative source

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of energy that is green, which has another benefit. We know there is a

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big expansion -- big expansion of wind farms, people are happy with

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those as long as they are not in their area, which is the problem.

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But this is something that most of the time people will not know is

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there. It would be nice if it was Bournemouth. It certainly would.

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Poole Bay brings in up to 50,000 cubic metres of water twice a day,

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which is powerful. It sounds like a lot. 50,000 cubic metres into the

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harbour twice a day. If you could harness the energy from that, you

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are talking about something significant. Now the regular round-

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up of the political week in the south in 60 seconds.

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A strange sight on Monday with the leader of a political party

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stepping down because things were going so well. Green MP Caroline

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Lucas thing somebody else should have a chance. The green in Oxford

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where they have more plug-in points than any way in Europe but only 30

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electric drivers. The ministers said demand will grow. We will see

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when critical mass kicks in, the price will come down. What car do

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you drive? I have a Rover. Bournemouth, the Police Federation

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felt the, of Theresa May and the MP Nick Herbert. Well... I... Labour

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felt the heat of protest this week. New Southampton councillors met by

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trade unionists as they tried to find money to restore staff pay.

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A lot of any council leaders. It is difficult the Liberal Democrats in

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particular? We did well down here. They across the country. It is

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always a problem when you are in government, which is one of the sad

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things about political elections way you have a low turnout and it

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ends in a swing against the Government, not on the basis of

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what people are cheap locally, but based on her feelings against the

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national government -- the feelings. The what about low turnout?

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should have a strategy to get younger people involved and

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interested in local democracy. We need to have featured democratic

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resources coming forward and we do not have that. -- -- future. Let's

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hope there will be more good ideas. That is here -- it from the south.

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