27/11/2011 The Politics Show East Midlands

Hello, I'm Marie Ashby and there's plenty to choose on our menu.

We'll be talking about next week's public sector strike with

Conservative MP Heather Wheeler and Labour's Chris Williamson.

And we'll be asking them if local authorities should take up a

financial incentive from the Government to freeze next year's

council tax. Plus a special report on the

Council leader facing a crucial election court hearing. An expert

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2008 seconds

says the case could set alarm bells Hello. There is plenty to choose on

our menu. We will be talking about next week's public sector strike

with Conservative MP, Heather Wheeler and Labour's Chris

Williamson. And we will be asking them if local authorities should

take up a financial incentive from the Government to freeze next

year's council tax. Plus a special report on the

council leader facing a crucial election court hearing. An expert

says the case could set alarm bells ringing nationally.

First, after years of campaigning, democracy may finally be coming to

the Peak Park. The Park Authority will meet government

representatives next month to discuss proposals under which 70 %

of its members would be elected by people who live there.

It took a foreign invasion and nearly three years of bloodshed to

bring about democratic elections in Iraq. It was a similar timescale in

Afghanistan. Now, after 60 years, Britain's oldest National Park, the

Peak District, is about to embrace democracy as well.

Of the 30 members, 16 are appointed by local authorities within the

park area. Eight are appointed by the Secretary of State for their

expertise. Only the remaining six are elected and they are elected by

parish councils, not directly by members of a republic. -- of the

public. For some, democracy for the Peak

District cannot come soon enough. Consultant paediatrician and Peak

Park resident Professor Mark Everard has long campaigned for it.

In the past, there has been a cosying up of members who have been

allowed -- allowing the officers to run the show and I am pleased to

see that is now changing. Councillor David Chapman is a

relatively new member of the Peak District National Park Authority.

He agrees Professor Everard does have a point. We are all directly

elected to the council whereas in the national park we just put those

representatives in various bodies. I think that does have some effect

on the attitudes of the officers towards members.

In the Peaks, as in all National Parks, the most contentious issue

is planning. John Youatt, himself a former planning officer with the

Authority, now helps sustainable energy companies with planning

applications. He says the tough line Peak Park

planners take on solar panels contravenes government policy and

shows just out of touch some officers have become.

I think they have been too strict on some occasions and have not

taking a balanced view and have threatened to refuse aren't too

many occasions. -- on too many occasions.

Steve Hardwick, who has had planning applications turned down

but then approved on appeal, has set up a pressure group called Peak

Park Watch. He points to a catalogue of what he

claims were poor decisions. One of them was to allow a static

caravan site outside the picture postcard village of Foolow.

government inspectors said that the kindest way to describe the affair

was that it was a serious error of judgment on behalf of the authority.

The authority wish to include in the judgment that it had been

written on the back of a fag packet. The irony, says Peak Park Watch, is

that over the road is a 17th century barn which the owner wanted

to convert but was refused permission for. The authority

apparently advised him to demolish it and sell the stone. I do not

know much about this Organisation. I have watched their website very

carefully. They have not been very transparent about some of their

decisions. I am a little concerned about some of the motor vacation --

motivations of some of the people involved. We respect the fact that

the Community can come together and organise themselves and take

whatever position they want to take. The government says this is all

part of the big society agenda. The idea is to give local people more

of a say in how the parks are managed. But a proportion of

authority members will continue to be appointed and the park is

sceptical about whether democracy will make a significant difference.

So what do the people of Hartington make of direct elections to the

National Park Authority? If they were collecting them by the people

for the people, yes. It has to be a better way. It would be an

interesting experiment. There are already direct elections

to National Park Authorities in Scotland including this one, Loch

Lomond and the Trossachs. The Peak District is one of two

National Parks in England where elections are being piloted, the

other being the New Forest. The pilot will begin in 2013. The

Park Authority is due to meet the Rural Affairs Minister in London a

week on Tuesday to discuss the details.

Do our MPs will come the proposals? 70 % of members would be elected.

Do you think that will go far enough? The important thing for any

reform is that the character of Peak Park is protected. It is a

jewel in the nation's crown and is the second-most visited park

anywhere in the world. It is important to ensure that people who

live in Peak Park have their interests looked after as well. It

is an interesting experiment. Whether or not it will make a huge

difference remains to be seen. We need to wait to see the full

details of how it is planned to roll out. They are saying it could

cost �50,000. Surely it is only fair that the government picks up

the tab. In be elections the government to pick up the tab. I

think that will be one of the highlights on Tuesday at the

meeting. In all of the years I have lived in Derbyshire, I have always

heard complaints about how Peak Park is at Rand -- run and are

governed. People just feel there is a disconnect between what they feel

they want and how it is being governed. This has come to a

crescendo. I am glad there will be a nation wide palette. The PPS to

the Prime Minister has that a seat. She did government pay for this

election? What is �50,000 to the nice people in London? Quite a lot,

I would say. Let's move on to the strike. Tens

of thousands of trade unionists, many schools will have to close,

and yet the Government insists that the negotiations have not run their

course. I think the Government's position on this is shameful. They

have singled out public sector workers for harsh treatment. This

is a tax on a group of people who provide the nation's most essential

public services. Public services are actually what define our

society and what make us a decent and civilised place to live. The

whole narrative of this government has been, whenever they talk about

public sector workers, it is talked about in a way that has a

pejorative tone to it as if they are a drain on the tax payers.

There is no recognition of the huge contribution they make to our

society. To single out predominantly low paid women

workers in this way for this very harsh treatment when the pension

funds are in surplus and this money will not actually go to the pension

fund is absolutely disgraceful. There is no justification for the

Government's position. They pushed a group of generally at moderate

workers... I am afraid he does not live in the real world. Anyone who

looks at their council tax bills understands how great chunks of it

go to help pay for the local council pension fund. If you are

lucky it is 17 %. That is not acceptable. Yesterday I had a

brilliant day at Toyota. Those guys who are working their bits of had a

two year pay freeze and took a temper seemed -- 10 % pay cut. This

country is in a huge financial mess and I am afraid everyone has to

take their share. The contribution that has been made by the employers

in a new scheme is just over 17 %. The are saying there's higher

contributions are being used to pay down the shop where they are saying

those higher contributions are being used to pay down the deficit.

I think there has to be complete realism into what the country can

afford. The is not much time left for the negotiations. -- There is

not much time. I think it is the wrong time this -- I think it is

the wrong thing to do. How many people actually voted? Less than 30

% actually voted. That is incredible. That is not democracy.

We just heard that the people in the Peak Park will get a vote.

on a minute. What was the Conservative Party it share of the

vote in the last election? It was put to present, 36 % of the vote. -

- it was 30 %, 36 %. This is why we have ended up with a coalition

government. The level of support that has been achieved by the

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats is of that magnitude but that is a

side issue. Had there is being complacent here. We are talking

about a group of moderate workers who are being forced into taking

this action. Is it really worth a lot of poorly-paid workers losing

another day's pay? They do not take this action lightly. It is the low-

paid public-sector workers who are providing these essential services

who are being singled out for harsh treatment. This is a responsibility

of the bankers. The Government is basically saying they will not give

in no matter what the action. They will not change their view. What

will it achieve? They have already come back with another offer.

Anybody who is earning less than �15,000 a year will not lose out.

Low-paid workers will not lose out. Can you dial back on the union

rhetoric? How can you justify the singling out of one group of

workers in society and say that they will have to pay down the

deficit at an increase of 3.5 % and then ask it as if it has something

to do with pension contributions? The pension fund is in surplus. The

teachers' pensions are in surplus. Huge surpluses. The most important

thing of the government is doing is saying the bankers have to pay

their way. We are not letting them off with a one off tax. Massive

bonuses and you are refusing to impose a banker's bonus... Your

party, your government... Leg to talk about tax if we can. -- let's

talk about tax. The are taxing the rich and we are giving... E you are

giving a tax break to the bankers. Why the union will not admit that

local government workers and estate workers, who are earning less than

�15,000 a year, will have a better pension... Per that is not true for

part-time workers. They will lose out. No they will not.

Government is offering to absorb the equivalent of 2.5 % increase if

local authorities freeze council- tax next year. With inflation, that

is delaying the day of reckoning for council tax payers. This is a

gimmick. The Government has imposed cuts and now they are coming

forward saying that they will find a council tax freeze for one year.

What are the local authorities supposed to do after that? The

Government is ignoring the huge economic driver that of local

authorities and the public sector actually provide. So it is just a

gimmick? I am so sorry for the taxpayers that actually have the

duty to the vote because they would not really understand. Why would

they want politicians who will not stand up for them? Freezing the

council tax for the last two years has been one of the best things

that people on the doorstep have said to me. This is a huge amount

of money. It is a huge amount of the monthly amount. They are very

happy they are doing it. Many councils have said they would take

up the Government's offer. They are Conservative-controlled councils.

Don't Labour risk incurring the wrath of the electorate if they

don't follow suit? They are stirring up a problem into the

future. This grant that the Government is proposing will be for

one year only and they are ignoring these massive cuts that have been

imposed which are not just affecting public sector workers but

also the wider economy. Thank you very much for her joining us in the

Next, when politicians fall out, things can get ugly. We report on a

row that will end in court. He is passionate about restoration

but it is politics that take up much of Richard Blunt's time these

days. He is currently leader of North

West Leicestershire District council. He is a Cabinet member of

Leicestershire County Council as well.

But this man claims Richard Blunt is not eligible to be a district

councillor. Independent candidate Colin Roberts,

once a Conservative himself, stood against Mr Blunt in the ward of

Appleby in May and came second. is just a principle, really. You

fill out your forms and everyone does it and I looked at this and I

saw that he had put down his qualifications and I thought that

they were lies. To be eligible to stand in a local

election you have to live or work in the area or occupy property. And

it is that third qualification that's at issue here.

Welcome to Clifton Hall. This is where Richard Blunt lives. It is

just north of Tamworth. That is in Staffordshire not Leicestershire.

But Mr Blunt has always been open about the fact he doesn't live in

the area he represents. Welcome to Ashby de la Zouch. This

is in Leicestershire. Richard Blunt grew up here. His

family owns 2,000 acres of land and dozens on properties in the area.

So in theory that means he is eligible to stand as a candidate in

the local elections. On his nomination form, Mr Blunt

described this house behind me on the corner in Ashby de la Zouch as

a premises he owned and occupied. He certainly owns it but according

to the Electoral Register he rents it out and there is the rub.

Guidelines from the Electoral Commission say, if you have sub-let

your land or premises to another person, this will point against you

having occupied it yourself. Hence the challenge from Mr Roberts. Is

this vindictive on your part? Absolutely not. I have known

Richard for years and he is a nice enough lad but if you stand for

election you have to abide by the rules and I do not think he has.

The case against Mr Blunt will be heard at an Election Court in

Coalville in January. An additional allegation that he deliberately

gave misleading information has been dropped. He declined to do an

interview but issued a statement A local politics expert says this

case could have national repercussions.

If the challenge is successful it could well be that many

Conservative councillors across the country are looking very carefully

at the qualifications that they used to stand for council in the

first place. That is not to say the Conservative Party today is packed

full of the aristocracy but small business people and land owners are

likely to be joining the Conservative Party. They will be

more likely to be concerned about that particular qualification.

Judges have been ruling on contested elections for the last

240 years. They took over from politicians who proved unreliable

when it came to impartiality. These days there are about six

cases a year on average. The most high profile case recently

involved the former Labour MP Phil Woolas. He lost his seat in Oldham

East and Saddleworth last year after an Election Court ruled he'd

lied about his Lib Dem rival. If Mr Roberts wins this case there

will have to be a by-election. If he loses he will have to pay costs