:01:26. > :01:36.using the localism thanks to decide where development is going. They
:01:36. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :39:44.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2288 seconds
:39:44. > :39:50.have got the plan but will they get my name is Peter Henley. Coming up -
:39:50. > :39:53.The town that is hoping to take planning into its own hands. Thame
:39:53. > :39:56.in Oxfordshire is holding a referendum on its neighbourhood plan
:39:56. > :40:05.that will set the framework for planning in the community - and it
:40:05. > :40:11.is all their own work. More on that shortly. First, we will meet the
:40:11. > :40:18.politicians joining me for the next 20 minutes. The Conservative leader
:40:18. > :40:22.of the... We have got a local authority hats on. Southampton
:40:22. > :40:27.Council, the Labour leader Richard Williams resigned suddenly at the
:40:27. > :40:31.end of the week. It is tough being a councillor and some of it is to do
:40:31. > :40:38.with the report and differences within his party. It is difficult
:40:38. > :40:42.work, is it not? It is not recognised by the public. For
:40:42. > :40:44.somebody that wants to become a counsellor they have got to the
:40:44. > :40:48.intelligent and articulate and wants to do that. That can be quite
:40:49. > :40:56.difficult, especially if you are used to being heard and councillors
:40:56. > :41:04.are not used to that. And running a large organisation with the counties
:41:04. > :41:07.that we will be voting on next week. They are employed to do a lot of the
:41:07. > :41:12.work but large authorities like ourselves require a lot of clinical
:41:12. > :41:17.direction and that is what local democracy is all about. I know
:41:17. > :41:25.Richard very well. It is sad that he has stood down. As a counsellor as
:41:25. > :41:31.well as everything else. It is a sad loss to local government, regardless
:41:31. > :41:35.of the circumstances surrounding the immediate resignation.
:41:35. > :41:38.Bournemouth and Poole, with this campaign, they have targeted
:41:38. > :41:45.individual houses and millionaires, as they have said, describing them
:41:45. > :41:48.as a crime scene with things posted through the letterbox. It is an
:41:48. > :41:53.awful attack on local democracy. Councillors are ordinary people
:41:53. > :41:57.giving up their time to do their job to help local communities. And
:41:57. > :42:07.frankly Bournemouth uncut, they are intelligent and articulate and
:42:07. > :42:09.
:42:09. > :42:12.Minister was giving his almost weekly round of praise to the work
:42:12. > :42:15.done by food banks. It came on the same day as the Salisbury-based
:42:15. > :42:25.Trussell Trust revealed that the number of people using its food
:42:25. > :42:27.banks over the last year had tripled banks are increasingly being used by
:42:27. > :42:34.councils rather than handing out emergency cash loans when benefits
:42:34. > :42:41.payments are delayed. I am joined by Mark Ward from company-macro. The
:42:41. > :42:51.end of crisis loans and community care grants. -- the trust will
:42:51. > :42:52.
:42:52. > :42:58.trust. Is this going to work? Is it something you approve of? This is a
:42:58. > :43:04.problem and it is going to vary. Food banks are going to have two
:43:04. > :43:09.work with different authorities and work out what to do. It is a variety
:43:09. > :43:13.of different approaches, is it? not think we have got a complete set
:43:13. > :43:15.of approaches yet which is probably more worrying, that every councillor
:43:15. > :43:22.has got themselves into a position where they know where they are going
:43:22. > :43:27.to the. We are already getting calls from people that expect us to the
:43:27. > :43:31.dealing with their crisis loan payments. And that is an issue that
:43:31. > :43:36.we are having to deal with and say to people that is not what we do. We
:43:36. > :43:40.deal with food. We can possibly help stop but we are not here to resolve
:43:40. > :43:47.that problem. With all of these things we are going to have a
:43:47. > :43:52.transition period. But within that, we are going to have more people
:43:52. > :43:55.that are falling foul of regulations. You are expanding
:43:55. > :44:01.because demand is growing and it has in fact outstripped supply in some
:44:01. > :44:05.places. This week we have learned Stoke on Trent are having to
:44:05. > :44:10.restrict the people that they are helping to families with children
:44:10. > :44:16.because they do not have sufficient supplies. Can they not get it from
:44:16. > :44:23.other places? I am sure we can deal with that but it is the first time
:44:23. > :44:30.we have had a crisis like that. general public are immensely helpful
:44:30. > :44:35.and generous to local communities. But there comes a point with
:44:35. > :44:41.everything that is happening in terms of their own incomes, that
:44:41. > :44:45.maybe we have got a point where people say that it is not going to
:44:45. > :44:51.sort out the deficit. That is an interesting situation we will try to
:44:51. > :44:54.resolve but I hope it does not happen in too many places. Is it
:44:54. > :44:57.partly that you are creating some of this demand because people are
:44:57. > :45:07.knowing about food banks? Or are people needing it more than they
:45:07. > :45:10.
:45:10. > :45:14.used to Western Mark I do not believe we have --? I do not believe
:45:14. > :45:20.that is the case. We have got to have the right professional people
:45:20. > :45:26.in the loop to make that referral. You cannot turn up and say, " I need
:45:26. > :45:33.some food and I have not got any money. " the numbers are bound to
:45:33. > :45:37.rise up to a point because they are opening in more places. But the
:45:37. > :45:43.members in places where we have been for a number of years continued to
:45:43. > :45:50.rise year upon year. We will turn to our politicians. GDP figures suggest
:45:50. > :45:57.things are getting better. Somewhere like pool and Redding is pretty
:45:57. > :46:07.prosperous but yet we have got these problems. -- Poole in Dorset and
:46:07. > :46:08.
:46:08. > :46:14.reading macro. The people that turn up by and in employment. We would
:46:15. > :46:18.like to try and get people to think about this. Many people are in
:46:18. > :46:22.full-time and many in part-time employment. Wages have been held
:46:22. > :46:28.down and cost of living has increased and real pressure. We are
:46:28. > :46:31.working closely with agencies like this trust and the voluntary sector
:46:31. > :46:37.and faith organisations to make the most out of the money that we have
:46:37. > :46:47.been given. But it is not ring fenced all stop the way we played
:46:47. > :46:47.
:46:47. > :46:54.locally is how we will have two look at in the next few months.
:46:54. > :47:01.demand is growing. And everything connected with welfare is being
:47:01. > :47:10.refined and cut down. We have actually meant taint social funding.
:47:10. > :47:16.Despite the cut in social funding. -- retained social funding. We tend
:47:16. > :47:19.to know local situations. If somebody has got a house that has
:47:19. > :47:28.flooded we are likely to know about that well and we can respond
:47:28. > :47:34.quickly. As a Conservative, how do you defend that reduction? Because
:47:34. > :47:41.it has gone up and up. The social funding is a crisis fund for
:47:41. > :47:46.somebody actually in a crisis. It is not all about food banks and
:47:46. > :47:53.furniture reclamation. It is about helping people through the crisis.
:47:53. > :47:58.It does not help people on welfare. Change it so that you have got less
:47:58. > :48:01.of a dependency but surely do not cut money at the same time.
:48:01. > :48:09.Everybody has got to face up to austerity and where we need to the
:48:09. > :48:15.going. The millionaires are getting a big handout. That is a choice the
:48:15. > :48:25.governance need not have taken. That could have maintained funding.
:48:25. > :48:28.not agree. We will come back to that, I am sure. Polling day on
:48:28. > :48:31.Thursday of course and many of us will be choosing our county
:48:31. > :48:34.councillors. But one Oxfordshire town has another item on the ballot
:48:34. > :48:37.paper - a referendum on its neighbourhood plan. It is only the
:48:37. > :48:43.second time one of these has been held - and as Tristan Pascoe
:48:43. > :48:48.reports, it is all about local planning for local folk. This is an
:48:48. > :48:57.ancient and historic market town. Notable residents include the Irish
:48:57. > :49:01.poet WB Yeats and the late Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees. For many
:49:01. > :49:11.years, planning in village-macro has been the responsibility of the South
:49:11. > :49:15.
:49:15. > :49:19.Oxfordshire district Council. -- Mac came in Oxford. -- tame in Oxford.
:49:19. > :49:24.Under the district council core strategy, the bulk of 775 homes
:49:24. > :49:29.required would go here, the Greenfield on the edge of town. But
:49:29. > :49:33.the council have said that is too many new homes concentrated on one
:49:33. > :49:39.greenfield site. They are using localism powers to trigger a
:49:39. > :49:46.referendum to have a greater say on where the homes will be cited. The
:49:46. > :49:50.campaign said it is what localism is all about. It is an opportunity for
:49:50. > :49:52.asked to determine our future. We get the opportunity to look at sites
:49:52. > :50:00.in the community. The whole community will be involved in
:50:00. > :50:06.consultation. Self-determination? Absolutely. It should be taken as
:50:06. > :50:11.closely as possible to the people affected. The number of houses
:50:11. > :50:17.needed was dictated by the South East of England development agency,
:50:17. > :50:22.now-defunct. Opponents say the strategy should be examined again.
:50:22. > :50:26.The figures that came out of the organisation were predicated on the
:50:26. > :50:31.assumption of things which are against government policy. They said
:50:31. > :50:36.that they are going to reduce immigration. Why have the figures
:50:36. > :50:41.which have been put in train by this organisation still been used?
:50:41. > :50:46.might say forcing a referendum is just legitimised not in my backyard
:50:46. > :50:52.approaches. By engaging in the process we can say no to
:50:52. > :50:57.development. But we did not want houses in our backyard. The whole
:50:57. > :51:00.community is sharing the load and taking it on board. They have got
:51:00. > :51:04.together and looked at the good of the town has a whole and we think it
:51:04. > :51:10.is easier to integrate newcomers if they are in the smaller pockets of
:51:10. > :51:14.new developments instead of one big estate. At a similar referendum in
:51:14. > :51:21.Cumbria last month, 90% were in favour of a plan drawn up by parish
:51:21. > :51:26.council. Will people go with the South Oxfordshire district Council
:51:26. > :51:32.strategy, or should local people have the final say? People in the
:51:32. > :51:36.local area must have a say. They are not going to the living here forever
:51:36. > :51:41.perhaps but of course they should have a say. I think they should in
:51:41. > :51:48.time. Will you support the referendum? Yes, I think so, in
:51:48. > :51:55.time. I think they take more notice of what people say in the town but
:51:55. > :52:05.what people have two say is not always sensible. I would rather that
:52:05. > :52:06.
:52:06. > :52:08.the council decided. You would be voting no? Yes.If approved in the
:52:08. > :52:14.referendum, the district council will be legally obliged to accept
:52:14. > :52:20.the town 's neighbourhood plan has policy. Remember that although it
:52:20. > :52:25.has been called a plan it is not a plan but a series of objectives.
:52:25. > :52:31.They are often very vague. We have said it is punching above its
:52:31. > :52:36.weight. Community groups up and down the country will be watching this
:52:36. > :52:41.vote very closely indeed. One Dorset Parish confirms it is considering a
:52:41. > :52:51.referendum and the battle against new housing on greenbelt land will
:52:51. > :52:54.
:52:54. > :53:02.the blue skies. We will talk about the Oxfordshire town punching its
:53:02. > :53:09.weight. It is a charter of not in my backyard in its way. What are you
:53:09. > :53:15.doing here and what are you doing next door? Have we started? !Are
:53:15. > :53:20.they punching above their weight? What they are doing is using The
:53:20. > :53:25.Localism Act and they are changing the details of where development
:53:25. > :53:31.should be in the borough. But what they cannot do is actually address
:53:31. > :53:35.the strategic issues about what is happening in that borough. But I
:53:35. > :53:45.think the Green party has always favoured giving people a greater
:53:45. > :53:45.
:53:45. > :53:55.local say. But if everybody has their say, does it not become
:53:55. > :54:01.
:54:01. > :54:07.panicky? Well, heaven forbid. -- an archaic. -- anarchy. It is looking
:54:07. > :54:10.at economic growth as the holy Grail. And if you have got a
:54:10. > :54:14.planning application, that is growth and that is good and you must give
:54:14. > :54:20.it permission. That is the reality of the planning system the
:54:20. > :54:28.Government wants. If we have got a chance to give the communities some
:54:28. > :54:31.voice back, I think we should take it. But please, do not let the
:54:31. > :54:36.thought go that it is going to the everything that the community once.
:54:36. > :54:43.Because the Government and the developers will actually be calling
:54:43. > :54:47.the shots. That is the issue, isn't it? We are going to get a lot of
:54:47. > :54:52.development and we are likely to get a knot of house-building. We have
:54:52. > :55:02.got to see Morehouse holding and it has got to the affordable housing.
:55:02. > :55:03.
:55:03. > :55:06.Not the latest gimmick. -- more house building. There will always be
:55:06. > :55:11.a need for central government to have a role in planning the
:55:11. > :55:19.development of a very compacted and densely populated area. This is what
:55:19. > :55:24.you call a gimmick... The important thing is transparency. The final --
:55:24. > :55:27.the final point that he did not make is for the Secretary of State to
:55:27. > :55:34.impose his or her wheel is down to the planning Inspectorate. That is
:55:34. > :55:38.behind all of this. At the end of the day it does not matter what
:55:38. > :55:47.South oxygen district Council one. The will of national government will
:55:47. > :55:54.be enforced. -- South Oxfordshire Council want. That has not been made
:55:54. > :56:00.clear to local communities. I think it is important that people have a
:56:00. > :56:09.local voice and that they can say what they want. If we are ever to
:56:09. > :56:15.get out of this recession, we need growth. We have got local
:56:15. > :56:19.Conservatives saying, yes, but not here. I am not saying that. I am
:56:19. > :56:27.saying bring it on in Poole in Dorset. We have got a massive
:56:27. > :56:33.regeneration site and we want better jobs and homes for our children.
:56:33. > :56:40.am not sure about bring it on as a headline for the Green party!
:56:40. > :56:45.is a loss. If we look at these housing figures which Eric pickles
:56:45. > :56:50.has said do not exist, by the time it gets to the planning
:56:50. > :56:57.Inspectorate, they will say that they are the last regional housing
:56:57. > :57:05.statistics we have got. That is what they are going to work on. Really,
:57:05. > :57:13.you can ask for... You can ask for more housing but you cannot ask for
:57:13. > :57:17.less. You cannot, and why should you when we know what the figures are? I
:57:17. > :57:22.have got a son and I want him to have somewhere to live and to have
:57:22. > :57:30.an affordable home and I want him to stay living close to me and where he
:57:30. > :57:35.can afford to do a job. We have talked about this idea of being a
:57:35. > :57:42.figleaf. What they are actually doing is preventing house-building.
:57:42. > :57:46.It is not the planning inspector. The community do not say that. They
:57:46. > :57:54.have said that he will have a say and you can influence but they do
:57:54. > :57:58.not say that you cannot have it. It is not a charter. It cannot be
:57:58. > :58:04.dismissed. It is a well researched and well constructive document and I
:58:04. > :58:08.congratulate them on their work. But the important thing will be, will
:58:08. > :58:18.developers take it seriously and work with their community? Is the
:58:18. > :58:20.
:58:20. > :58:28.plan commends it? Not mean every detail... They will go straight to
:58:28. > :58:37.the inspector... What about the Green party buying houses for Elaine
:58:37. > :58:43.'s macro children? We want more money allocated to affordable
:58:43. > :58:51.housing but on a slightly different point, the Green party are looking
:58:51. > :58:55.to see how this message of supermarkets in village centres, how
:58:55. > :59:05.that is actually received. Will we get Sainsbury's and Tesco is
:59:05. > :59:07.
:59:07. > :59:17.contesting it? Thank you very much. Now, the regular round-up of the
:59:17. > :59:21.
:59:21. > :59:24.political week in the South in 60 all of the newspapers at the start
:59:24. > :59:28.of the week apologising for racist comments about inner-city pupils
:59:28. > :59:32.coming to a controversial boarding school in the South Downs. He
:59:32. > :59:39.resigned from the Conservative party but is still on the ballot paper. A
:59:39. > :59:43.second row with David laws, accusing councils in affluent parts of the
:59:43. > :59:48.South for wasting the pupil premium. Wokingham say they are trying to
:59:48. > :59:53.reduce the attainment gap. We are talking about housing and what the
:59:53. > :59:57.children are accessing. Wednesday, veterans from Redding
:59:57. > :00:07.protesting at Westminster and hunger strikes in a fight for better
:00:07. > :00:07.
:00:07. > :00:14.pensions. Why can we not provide for ourselves? And Ed Miliband made what
:00:14. > :00:20.some people called a daring raid to the Prime Minister's constituency.
:00:20. > :00:24.Rising living costs, even in wealthier parts of the country. They
:00:24. > :00:29.will come a stage where a lot of these things, we are talking about
:00:29. > :00:33.hidden poverty and we have talked about the trust, that even in the
:00:33. > :00:40.Prime Minister's constituency, we have got a Labour district
:00:40. > :00:46.councillor. And while the Gurkhas are wealthy in their own country, in
:00:46. > :00:51.this country, they are poor. Is it about the gap between rich and poor?
:00:51. > :00:58.I tend not to look at gaps. We have two make sure that everybody can men
:00:58. > :01:02.train a lifestyle. If you are affluent, you are talking about a
:01:02. > :01:06.wealthy councillor that has said that all housing is affordable and I
:01:06. > :01:11.can afford mind that actually know that the else could. We have got to
:01:11. > :01:16.make sure we have got a safety net. Whether that is the Gurkhas, or
:01:16. > :01:21.somebody that is sleeping rough. We have got to have something in
:01:21. > :01:26.society to help and support them. But I cannot differentiate between
:01:26. > :01:31.affluent and not. But that is not to say we have not got deprivation in
:01:31. > :01:39.affluent areas. I am trying to get that message to the Minister.
:01:39. > :01:42.have you failed? I think I got a good hearing. You are still trying.
:01:42. > :01:47.I support the message of the Gurkhas. They have been organised
:01:47. > :01:53.and they have got a case. But they are better off than many people in
:01:53. > :01:57.Nepal and they knew that when they joined out. They have been given
:01:57. > :02:02.rights in Britain and they think that they are entitled to parity.
:02:02. > :02:06.And I think the majority of people support that as well. The judgement
:02:06. > :02:11.about poverty and affluence, that is much more subjective and we have got
:02:11. > :02:17.a lot of stereotyping happening. But living costs in any area must be
:02:17. > :02:22.assessed. It is not just a case of how much you earn but what you have
:02:22. > :02:28.got to support. Housing costs in the South are much higher. Both of you,
:02:28. > :02:32.thank you for coming in and being my guests today. We will see you after