01/04/2012 Sunday Politics West

In the West: From 1,000 pages down to about 50,

what will the new planning rules mean for councils, campaigners and

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2302 seconds

conservationists? Join me later to It demonstrates they are out of

touch with what people consider the priorities right now it with

economics, the environment and social policy. Back to our top

story. The changes in the planning rules. The system has been

simplified to try to remove some of the hassle with getting anything

built. Is that good for us here in the West Country where the scenery

is so beautiful? Are radical streamlining of the regulations.

But one controversial phrase was still there.

The presumption in terms of sustainable development where hell

-- holding up sustainable development dock many of the people

believe their original proposals were slot.

Westcountry MPs wanted to know more. Studying the new rules is the

director of planning at Stroud As a top-level document is is very

good. It sets out what planning should be about. It should be about

the environment, people and the economy. From there on, we lose

quite a bit of the detail which we have relied upon in the past.

Effectively we have a game of Monopoly when nobody knows what the

original rules were and we are making them up as we go along.

Near by he shows me a major new development. There are 90 houses

going on there. There is a doctor's surgery.

The project was slowed by the economic downturn and the planning

process. This site has taken seven years to come forward. His analysis

is that the new rules may favour builders. In the initial stages

they will be more relaxed to allow more development to occur. As all

the parties come together and start to negotiate new rules to be game,

it will slow up again. It's certainly will not go to a

standstill. Those who fight to keep England Green have found few faults

with the reforms but it is early days. It may be some time before we

know the full consequences for the beautiful countryside, reducing

more than 1,000 pages to about 50 means there is nothing like the

detail there was before and any ambiguities could end up being are

due out in the courts. Sustainable development, any idea

what that means? I am not sure if anybody is too sure what it means

that the moment. As it said on the peace, we will have to wait and see

what happens. What concerns me is that we have a housing crisis and

we need jobs and homes and we need developments for those things that.

The concerning thing was that the proposition that we start out by

assuming that development will happen and we then work backwards.

You would prefer to start by saying development should that happen...

prefer a system that ordinary people can understand and take part

in. That is what is concerning me. I have tried to grapple with the

regulations myself and I know many people are interested in planning

and are concerned about what is going to happen in a neighbour put

but they will not have timed to get involved. You have lived in Bristol

for a long time, as have by, and it takes an age of things to happen.

Yes, we have seen that with the football club and it is a problem.

Nobody wants planning decisions to go on interminably but what happens

is the reason southern was going to be built has been disappeared. The

concern to me is that the default is towards development rather than

preserving the countryside. People say this could lead to more Green

development, which is something you would be of April. We do not want

excessive development on greenfield sites. If you want Green

development, why are you a posing a windmill on land in your

constituency? Actually, there is one windmill that I have come --

supporting and it will go ahead because it is exactly the right

place. There are two schemes, one in sharpness which I think should

be supported and there is another one which I think is questionable

because it is too close to an area of outstanding natural beauty. It

is simply getting them in the right place. The right place the you

think his up in Northumberland where you were building four.

think the right place for windmills is in areas where they are actually

going to get the right kind of wind and they do not offend too many

people. He won them build on your land in Northumberland. You are a

pose in the one in your constituency. I put an application

in for that but it was not successful. That is not really the

point. The point is that we want to see wind farms and renewable energy

being promoted. It is necessary to do that. But you're not supporting

the one on your doorstep. I have just said I am supporting the one

in shop mess because it is a good side and it should be supported.

But locals up in the Northumberland say your farm is not the right

place to have it. They might be right about that in certain terms

of the current application but be that as it may. The fact is that we

need to put windmills in the right kind of places. You can argue about

where those places are and that is what the planning system should do

but it should not say we are against wind power.. Local

elections are coming up in May and hundreds of candidates will fight

for the privilege of representing us ungrateful lot. There is very

little pay and almost no appreciation of long hours. For

years people have been encouraged to take part in the system but most

councillors tend to be white men of a certain age.

Take two contrasting councillors. Jackie Fletcher has been one for

nearly two decades and Joe Harris is one of the youngest councillors

in the West. He is the odd one out. Let us look at the make-up of our

councillors. We will stop with age. The National age is quite high but

in the west it is even higher. On the issue of gender, males dominate.

In the West, it is even higher. With the issue of ethnicity, the

majority of white. In the West Country it is even higher. She has

been coming to meetings he at Cheltenham Borough Council since

the 1980s. As well as being ward councillor, grand mother Jackie has

been mayor and chair committees. For those who may follow in her

footsteps, she warns it is not an easy kick. It is many hours. You

have to come in for different things. There may be just a minute..

In her time in the chamber she has seen young counsellors come and go.

I remember when he said they would love to do it and did it and got

involved for a while and then said, my children are growing up and I

want to go out with them. It does take a lot of time so you have to

think very carefully before you take that step. One who stepped

into the local government Arena last year it is Joe. He is not your

average teenager. He has not yet decided which career path to follow

and in the meantime, while juggling council meetings, he is

supplementing his income working in a local bar. I have always

maintained that people who make decisions for the Community should

be representative of the people that they serve. Attracting a wider

range of people to stand for election seems to be a common aim.

Jo believes there are a number of factors that deter people. The key

issue, especially with our district council, the meetings are in the

morning. That does not just affect people who want to run for council

but people who want to raise a legitimate concern or if they want

was a question about something like recycling, if it is on a Tuesday

morning, they cannot make it. It seems ludicrous that the majority

of people cannot make our meetings because they are working.

Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, and Swindon, or have elections coming

up but there are not a lot of people who want to become

councillors. I do not know enough about politics. This is not

something that really appeals to me. I work about 68 hours a week so I

would not do it because I do not have the time and I have a young

family. Definitely not. I do not have the time. It does not interest

me whatsoever. So, a typical council is a white middle-class

male over 60. Is that truly representative of people like this?

We should salute everyone who steps up to the plate and serves in

public office. Tom runs a Bristol- based firm in H R and knows a lot

about of what jobs are worth. Councillors get anything from

nothing up to �30,000. Is that a fair return? Perhaps not. It is

very difficult to compare it to a private sector organisation.

Perhaps if that type of role and duties were out within the private

sector business they could expect a bit more. What sort of figure might

attract a range of candidates with the skills necessary? That is the

thing. It is about the skills. You have the example on the previous

take about a young gentleman, through to the average age of

people being over 60. The reality is probably that if that was in a

different circumstances and a private sector business, it would

attract the range of up to �40,000. Is it a bad thing that most people

are -- councillors are white men? It does not represent what Bristol

is about. It is issued multicultural society in Bristol

and it should be part of what we all embrace. We should have members

of the community actively representing those interests.

private business would the boss's be tried to alter that? Probably

not, on the basis that at the end of the day you also have to make

sure that you have the right people for the right roles. The issue

around trying to get more people involved as councillors is

something that has been a problem for a while and there are quality

legislation that make sure everyone is treated fairly. Used it last

year and were not successful and you are trying to stand again for

Labour. Why? Long hours, no paid and abuse from the electorate.

Absolutely. Fairly simply, somebody has got to. Tom was mentioning

their whether a private firm would want to open up its doors to a wide

spectrum of people, I think the smart private firms, like the smart

council, once a wide diversity of people or you were not taking your

talent from the old ball. The problem is that most local

authority politics is not just about the money, it is about the

conditions and as you saw on the film, people feel they do not have

the time. Most people do not realise just how much hard work it

is to be a councillor and how it interferes with your ability to

hold down a job which you would need to on a comparatively low

remuneration. You have to do that too. I think there is a case for

paying people in local government. I think we should have a fewer

councillors and that is why in Stroud we are promoting a reduction

in numbers. The important thing is to focus on skills. That is where

we really do have a deficit. If we are asking local people to make

decisions them we want councillors who were able to challenge officers

and say... In that case do you not want people who have been around

for a bit and perhaps run their own companies and perhaps worked in

medicine or whatever and can come and offer some expertise. Yes, you

want better as well but you need a representative cross section of the

public if you are to represent the needs of the people you are serving.

I am proud that in the Labour Party in Bristol we will have a majority

of women candidates... That is the case for Stroud as well,

incidentally. The what do women bring that men can't? It is not

about having a different personality it is that if you do

not have women involved, you are being run by people who do not have

the same understanding of things that affect women. At the moment

the cuts that are being imposed by the coalition government affect

women and children worst. They are losing services and tax credits.

You still have to make cuts. You do still have to make cuts. One of the

thing their local council has to do is cope with the things that are

rising because of the strain people are under. That makes important

that we have a representative selection of people serving on the

council who understand those things and know what is needed to fix it,

not to spend more money but Spender Spain money more wisely. We must

have people at the local level who are really aware of what is going

on and can make the bold and necessary decisions which a lot of

people are crying out for, like in the planning system but we were

talking about earlier on, the slowness of it, we need people who

can do it. Thank you very much for coming in. I understand you are

planning a wedding as well. Romance is all over the studio!

Let us change the tempo for a quick canter through the other political

news in just 60 seconds. Plans to build a new nuclear power

station on the banks of the River Severn have been mothballed. The

two companies who were in the running has pulled out. What is

proposed is much bigger, it is for calling towers and a blot on the

landscape. A year since charges were introduced at some recycling

centres in Somerset there is a warning further charges could be on

the way. It annoys me a bit so why do not come to offer. Home care

workers fighting for their jobs have won a small victory. The

council has put -- postponed making a decision on whether to privatise

the service. A Liam Fox's agent is in hot water

because I another councillor did not pay his council tax. He was

taken to court. The Chief Constable of the police

gave evidence at the Leveson Inquiry. He denied of the record

briefings were given by his force during the Jo Yeates investigation.

What a week! Let us pick couple one of those

stories before we go. Nuclear power and the decision by the two big

companies not to get involved. It means we may not get a new nuclear

power station after all. Has the boat sailed for nuclear power?

has not sailed away because first of all, if we are going to have

enough energy for the future we have got to have a base load and

that will really be provided by nuclear power. It is important that

dot who will be it -- who will build it? No subsidies? We will

have to look for more investors. We have to upscale our workforce.

this the end of nuclear power, the beginning of the end? We need to be

looking at how we will manage over the next 30 or more years and one

of the things that has happened is that under Neale's government, the

subsidies for Green power and alternative forms of energy have

been moved and instead of being like India and China... You know

perfectly well the feat in tariff of abolished and people have

withdrawn from that market -- feet in its tariffs. We are now flagging

behind. Thank you very much. The Sunday politics continues with