:00:48. > :00:52.Financial prosperity or environmental ruin? As plans for a
:00:52. > :00:57.new airport in North Kent gather speed, we ask, is that the
:00:57. > :01:07.political will to make it happen? Clause, the households facing a
:01:07. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :34:47.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2020 seconds
:34:47. > :34:52.Hello, welcome. Coming up, food or fuel? The tough choices facing a
:34:52. > :34:57.growing number of households in our region.
:34:57. > :35:01.Sometimes, you feel hungry and you wonder what you are existing four.
:35:02. > :35:07.After all of these years of working. The prospect of a Thames estuary
:35:07. > :35:12.airport takes off. And, can brighten's cream Council
:35:13. > :35:17.deliver on its election promises? It is official, we have just had
:35:17. > :35:21.one of the warmest autumns on record. How long will the mild
:35:21. > :35:27.weather last? Thousands of families will want it to last and right
:35:27. > :35:31.through the winter, with fuel bills a big worry. For 140,000 households
:35:31. > :35:36.here, officially in fuel poverty, but worry is a shop as a winter
:35:36. > :35:39.frost. For them, heating costs will burn up at least one 10th of their
:35:39. > :35:44.income. Some said they are forced to make a choice between keeping
:35:44. > :35:47.warm and having enough to eat. With no real prospect of falling bills
:35:47. > :35:53.in sight and the Government cutting the season will fuel allowances,
:35:53. > :35:58.people here could be facing a heart and harsh winter. What is being
:35:58. > :36:03.done to tackle the fuel poverty problem?
:36:03. > :36:08.By day, this man does voluntary work in this cafe in East Sussex.
:36:08. > :36:15.Helping provide hot meals for pensioners. By night, he goes home
:36:15. > :36:25.to a house he cannot afford to heat. It is difficult. We have to wear
:36:25. > :36:25.
:36:25. > :36:30.extra clothing, myself and my wife, we are both disabled, we are both
:36:30. > :36:35.of retirement age, obviously, and we have to wear extra jumpers, even
:36:35. > :36:43.indoors with the heating on. Every year, you have to turn it down more.
:36:43. > :36:51.It is very difficult. My wife spent nearly a month in hospital in
:36:51. > :36:56.January with pneumonia. Since that, she has constantly had colds and
:36:56. > :37:04.she still has breathing problems. I suffer with asthma. It is
:37:04. > :37:10.imperative that I keep warm. I have got to pay more just to exist. With
:37:11. > :37:15.the bills being so high, the only other weight they can be reduced is
:37:15. > :37:20.the amount of food that we have. Sometimes, you feel very hungry,
:37:20. > :37:26.and you wonder why you are existing. After all of these years of working.
:37:26. > :37:30.He is not alone in struggling. A household is in fuel poverty if it
:37:30. > :37:35.spends more than 10% of its income on fuel to heat the home to a
:37:35. > :37:39.reasonable level. Phil poverty is a rapidly increasing problem, with
:37:39. > :37:46.gas and electricity prices going up and up. Over the last year, the
:37:46. > :37:51.average household's annual energy bill has increased by �224, to
:37:51. > :37:56.nearly �3,000. In the South East, 140,000 households are in fuel
:37:56. > :38:00.poverty. Of those, the highest proportion is in rather, where over
:38:00. > :38:05.80% of the population struggle to pay their energy bills. The MP for
:38:05. > :38:14.the area is Craig Barker, also the minister in charge of fuel poverty.
:38:14. > :38:17.The next worst his Thanet, 16.2%. Followed by Shepway, 15.7%. But
:38:17. > :38:23.whilst the scale of the problem is growing, the government has decided
:38:23. > :38:30.this year's allowance will be less than last year, down by �50, to
:38:30. > :38:37.�200 for people over 60, and by �100, to �300, for the over 80s.
:38:37. > :38:42.Some say this will result in higher healthcare costs. The reductions
:38:42. > :38:45.are very short-sighted. Both of the amounts are going down, by a
:38:45. > :38:53.reasonably substantial amount. The effect will be that people have a
:38:53. > :38:57.choice, they either heat their homes or eat, or maybe not do both.
:38:57. > :39:01.In the long run, it will have an effect on people's Health, because
:39:01. > :39:06.there is a link between well-being and keeping warm in winter.
:39:06. > :39:12.Eventually, they will be a bill picked up by the NHS. It is not
:39:12. > :39:16.just pensioners two struggle. We met this woman, who has lived alone
:39:16. > :39:21.since her husband died of cancer. She has also got the disease.
:39:21. > :39:28.the heating, I am using a hot-water bottle. I cannot afford to put the
:39:28. > :39:33.heating on. I have had four different types of chemotherapy and
:39:33. > :39:39.two types of radiotherapy, but it keeps coming back. And not heating
:39:40. > :39:46.your house properly does not help? No. I suffer with hot flushes and
:39:46. > :39:51.everything, but even so, called his cold, it goes right through to your
:39:51. > :39:55.bones. There are schemes designed to help insulate people's homes,
:39:55. > :39:59.but there are also Kattegat, and they exclude lots of people, such
:39:59. > :40:03.as Andy helping if the house has very little or no installation, or
:40:03. > :40:08.a heating system that does not work. And less money is being made
:40:08. > :40:11.available for it than in previous years. Some people say the least
:40:11. > :40:15.the Government should do is reinstate the winter fuel allowance
:40:15. > :40:21.to last year's level. They should think again, there are many ways
:40:21. > :40:25.this could be funded. It is a modest cost. Those campaigns
:40:25. > :40:29.representing all the people and the community at large, they should
:40:29. > :40:34.press the Government to think again. This is something they could do a
:40:34. > :40:38.U-turn on? We have got to demand they do. There are 6 million people
:40:38. > :40:43.in England in fuel poverty, a large number of pensioners, and single
:40:43. > :40:48.people. The government should be trying to protect and support them.
:40:48. > :40:54.What advice would people give to the government? Lots of people need
:40:54. > :40:59.your help. It is not just people my age. There are lots of youngsters
:40:59. > :41:03.as well. I would urge them to think about this again. Bring it back to
:41:03. > :41:07.what it was, because lots of people are suffering this year.
:41:07. > :41:12.government has made several U-turns in the last 18 months. Many people
:41:12. > :41:16.are arguing that if anything it is worth reversing, the decision to
:41:16. > :41:20.reduce this allowance is it. What should the government refocusing
:41:20. > :41:25.on? They have decided to invest billions in improving transport
:41:25. > :41:35.infrastructure? --. But could a fraction of the money be given to
:41:35. > :41:40.
:41:40. > :41:46.This situation is inescapably awful. What can you do about it? I agree,
:41:46. > :41:50.that was a moving piece. When people talk about choosing between
:41:50. > :41:56.fuel and food, it is enormously difficult. All the people will
:41:56. > :42:01.attract sympathy. One area I would like to do something in is what we
:42:01. > :42:05.are doing in terms of renewables. Every single energy company has to
:42:05. > :42:10.put an extra amount on the bill, and it can easily be �100 a year
:42:10. > :42:13.for a household, which goes to subsidising renewable energy and
:42:13. > :42:20.building wind turbines and infrastructure, even though that
:42:21. > :42:24.has to be backed up with gas supply as well. Why not start off with the
:42:24. > :42:28.basics? The winter fuel allowance. For the last three years, it has
:42:28. > :42:33.been higher than this Government have said it. You have reduced it
:42:34. > :42:38.by �50 for the over-sixties and by �100 for the over 80s. In Medway,
:42:38. > :42:45.13,000 households in fuel poverty. Nationally, Nick Watt of the
:42:45. > :42:48.population. Why did you drop the allowance? It is not fair to say
:42:48. > :42:53.that the coalition government have cut the winter fuel allowance in
:42:53. > :42:58.that way. Last year, the outgoing Labour government brought in for
:42:58. > :43:03.one year... They have had a higher winter fuel allowance for the last
:43:04. > :43:06.three years. It might have gone at headlines, but it was for three
:43:07. > :43:15.years it has been at the higher rate. You could have chosen to
:43:15. > :43:25.stick with that. Those amounts were something that, even in the Labour
:43:25. > :43:27.
:43:27. > :43:31.Party's spending pounds -- plans, they were going to do that.
:43:31. > :43:36.Exchequer had a 200 million pound windfall as a result of the extra
:43:36. > :43:38.VAT on higher gas and a letter to the bills. Nine reputable
:43:39. > :43:45.organisations campaigned for the Chancellor to channel that back to
:43:45. > :43:50.vulnerable people. He did not do that. He gave �250 million to big
:43:50. > :43:55.business. That is the wrong priority at a time like this.
:43:55. > :44:05.we need to do in order to help people struggling to pay the fuel
:44:05. > :44:15.bills is the orientate our help. Instead of making two the energy
:44:15. > :44:19.
:44:19. > :44:23.company's -- instead of making the energy companies more wealthy, it
:44:23. > :44:27.should help people insulate their homes. That has a bigger impact in
:44:27. > :44:31.terms of reducing bills and allowing people to heat their homes
:44:31. > :44:34.and not have as bad problems as some of these people you saw in
:44:34. > :44:41.your clip. But it will also reduce carbon emissions by much more than
:44:41. > :44:47.many of these real projects. you had �200 million. The last
:44:47. > :44:52.round of spending provides people with insulation and people with
:44:52. > :45:01.energy efficient boilers. The last round was �1 billion. This is too
:45:01. > :45:09.rigid and �10 billion. -- �210 billion. We do not have this money.
:45:09. > :45:15.That means we are borrowing to 222 billion of around 222.2 billion. We
:45:15. > :45:18.are borrowing 9% of whatever we earned. If it was to continue, the
:45:18. > :45:25.markets would not lend the money they do to the British government
:45:25. > :45:28.at 2%, and we would pay something like Italy, 7% a year. One idea,
:45:28. > :45:35.you can means-test the winter fuel allowance. Why do you give it to
:45:35. > :45:39.somebody like Helen Mirren, a well paid actress? She does not wanted.
:45:39. > :45:44.If you means tested it, you could give more money to people that need
:45:44. > :45:48.it, and you would not have to pay it to wealthy pensioners. I would
:45:48. > :45:52.encourage Helen Mirren and others to put that money back into the pot
:45:52. > :45:59.or to support charities who are helping people. But the government
:45:59. > :46:07.will not means tested? You means- test child benefit. The order that
:46:07. > :46:12.against it, the more it is done, the less incentive there is to save.
:46:12. > :46:17.I had people coming in... You think pensioners have money to save?
:46:17. > :46:22.you means test every benefit for pensioners, people have no
:46:22. > :46:28.incentive to save and a do not put away money during their working
:46:28. > :46:31.life. I would like to help bring down the fuel bills, help
:46:31. > :46:35.pensioners to insulate their houses properly, and in terms of
:46:35. > :46:39.supporting that, but also taking action on climate change to the
:46:39. > :46:47.extent that there is an issue with admissions, -- emissions, the money
:46:47. > :46:51.should be used, rather than subsidising renewable energy, by
:46:51. > :46:55.putting it into home insulation, by helping people with energy
:46:55. > :47:02.efficiency measures, so that pensioners such as some of those
:47:02. > :47:06.are your clip are able to afford to heat their homes.
:47:06. > :47:10.Controversial plans to build a new airport in Kent came a step closer
:47:10. > :47:15.when the Chancellor said the Government was looking at all the
:47:15. > :47:19.options to improve aviation capacity in the South East. Two
:47:19. > :47:25.proposals for an estuary airport have been put forward, won by Boris
:47:25. > :47:29.Johnson, one by Lord Foster, whose design would accommodate up to 150
:47:29. > :47:33.million passengers a year. Those in favour say it would revitalise the
:47:33. > :47:37.region's economy and bring much- needed jobs, while opponents argue
:47:37. > :47:47.it would be expensive and an environmental disaster. I wonder
:47:47. > :47:48.
:47:48. > :47:53.who you think is right. Let's listen to the arguments. We found
:47:53. > :48:00.it very hard to uncover a political figure in Kent who is unequivocally
:48:00. > :48:06.in favour of a massive new airport for North Kent. Argue that man?
:48:06. > :48:11.definitely. All three political parties have joined up and started
:48:11. > :48:15.to be against something to we have not even considered. The people
:48:15. > :48:21.have not been asked what they think. The three leaders of the political
:48:21. > :48:26.parties have decided that they are against this proposition. You may
:48:26. > :48:30.oust the word rubbish. I am very good at lip-reading. You are not
:48:30. > :48:36.still banging on about a third runway at Heathrow? The do not
:48:36. > :48:40.listen to the Autumn Statement? had a U-turn on winter fuel
:48:40. > :48:43.allowance and promising they would keep it, now we have a U-turn on
:48:43. > :48:49.the promised they would not be an estuary airport. I never heard that
:48:49. > :48:53.promise. It was made in the run-up to the general election. David
:48:53. > :49:00.Cameron has been repeatedly questioned at PMQs. Let's be clear.
:49:00. > :49:04.He was asked at PMQs last year whether there were any plans, and
:49:04. > :49:14.he said there are no plans. That is not the same as a promise never to
:49:14. > :49:15.
:49:15. > :49:20.build. The promises were made clearly. As soon as the coalition
:49:20. > :49:25.said they would not have expansion at Heathrow or at Stansted or at
:49:25. > :49:28.Gatwick, it meant that they then became a probe -- possibility of a
:49:28. > :49:34.free-for-all to start bidding for other places, because everybody
:49:34. > :49:37.knows that we have to meet the requirements of business, of us as
:49:37. > :49:42.individuals who want to go on holiday, for leisure purposes, to
:49:42. > :49:52.meet their aviation requirements. What is your idea? You know the
:49:52. > :49:52.
:49:52. > :49:58.third runway is off the agenda. What is your idea? We have the
:49:58. > :50:05.position at -- we had the position to have the third runway, but now,
:50:05. > :50:11.I suggest that the leaders in Kent and Medway and Essex should look to
:50:11. > :50:14.what the capacity is at the existing provision. Southend,
:50:14. > :50:19.Manston, look at Gatwick, the new owners of Gatwick have said they
:50:19. > :50:23.have spare capacity for something up to 200,000 passengers per year,
:50:23. > :50:30.without a new runway. And in addition, you have the equation
:50:30. > :50:34.that, after 2019, they could be an additional runway at Gatwick.
:50:34. > :50:41.piecemeal expansion is his best idea. Maud Foster has a plan for a
:50:41. > :50:45.massive airport and railway station. -- Maud Foster. It has a �50
:50:45. > :50:52.billion price tag. Where is the money going to come from? I am sure
:50:52. > :50:59.the government can raise the money. At the same time, we need
:50:59. > :51:03.regeneration. A big project like this would give a local people jobs,
:51:03. > :51:09.and after the airport has been built, we would have jobs forever.
:51:09. > :51:14.It is a great idea. Boris Johnson is right in looking at all the
:51:14. > :51:23.possibilities. I do not know why people are anti- Boris. He has a
:51:23. > :51:28.brilliant idea, they have got to support this. Interestingly, my
:51:28. > :51:32.experience is that public opinion has shifted. In 2003, the idea of
:51:32. > :51:37.the airport was rejected, people were happy. I spoke to a woman this
:51:37. > :51:40.week, a young mother, she does not want her community to be bulldozed,
:51:40. > :51:43.but even she says she can see the economic arguments that her
:51:43. > :51:52.children need to live in a country that has a vision for jobs and for
:51:52. > :51:58.growth. Absolutely. The argument was knocked out in great detail
:51:58. > :52:02.when there was the idea about this airport, and it still holds true.
:52:02. > :52:07.It is wrong to say it has never been considered. It was considered
:52:07. > :52:14.very thoroughly, along with 200 other sites, for meeting the
:52:14. > :52:20.expansion. But we are in a different economic world now.
:52:20. > :52:24.but the figures that are there in the Foster proposal talk about 150
:52:25. > :52:31.million passengers per annum, 300,000 people arriving by train
:52:31. > :52:37.every day. I saw figures like that and projections like that in all
:52:37. > :52:41.the detailed work that was done for the proposal in 2003, and the
:52:41. > :52:47.infrastructure will not be there. My record speaks for itself in
:52:47. > :52:55.terms of getting investment and looking for jobs for the Medway
:52:55. > :52:58.towns over the last 13-15 years. Actually, you would not have that
:52:58. > :53:02.ability to be able to expand and meet those requirements, because
:53:02. > :53:08.you would be gridlocked within the network, because the investment
:53:08. > :53:12.would just not happen to the decree that would be required.
:53:12. > :53:15.mentioned Boris Johnson. The politics of this is interesting.
:53:15. > :53:19.The MP for Sheppey and Sittingbourne said to me this week
:53:19. > :53:23.that the Chancellor is making positive noises about a new airport
:53:23. > :53:28.in North Kent to boost Boris Johnson's mayoral re-election
:53:28. > :53:34.campaign next year. It will never really happen. Why not? He will be
:53:34. > :53:39.re-elected comfortably. Also, when the localisation of business rates
:53:39. > :53:44.comes into force, all of the local councils will be want to have an
:53:44. > :53:50.airport in their backyard. You wait and see. Essex will benefit from
:53:50. > :53:53.this at the end of it, not Kent. do not even the tiniest bit excited
:53:53. > :54:00.that the biggest infrastructure projects in this could be for
:54:00. > :54:07.decades could happen here? -- biggest project in decades? We need
:54:07. > :54:17.a system that is that the purpose, but this is �50 billion, estimated
:54:17. > :54:22.today. If you speak to the aviation industry, this money is not going
:54:22. > :54:29.to come for a hub airport of this size and this magnitude. I want to
:54:29. > :54:32.see jobs in the Medway, but let's get them from other ways.
:54:32. > :54:35.The Green party in Brighton published its annual budget this
:54:35. > :54:39.week, the first ever set by a green local authority in the UK. They
:54:39. > :54:44.have come under fire for its controversial decision to raise
:54:44. > :54:53.council tax by 3.5% next year, instead of accepting a government
:54:53. > :54:57.sponsored freeze. Their manifesto pledge was to protect the most
:54:57. > :55:02.vulnerable, you have had a close look at their first budget, have
:55:02. > :55:05.they done that? The devil is in the detail with the council budget. At
:55:05. > :55:09.their press conference, they were keen to stress they have protected
:55:09. > :55:14.services for the vulnerable, so we think about old people, children,
:55:14. > :55:17.homeless people, people with HIV, they wanted to stress their
:55:17. > :55:22.protected those people, but if we look at the headline numbers, they
:55:23. > :55:25.have got to save �10 million from adult services over the next 10
:55:26. > :55:31.years and �5 million from children services. They conceded there would
:55:31. > :55:35.be some level of service reduction. But what they will also say it is,
:55:35. > :55:39.look where we have made the savings. Highways, street sweeping, street
:55:39. > :55:44.lighting. If you look at the percentage of the budget cut they
:55:44. > :55:49.have made, tourism, 15% of the total budget has been reduced from
:55:49. > :55:54.last year to next year. If we look at children's and adult services,
:55:54. > :55:58.it is much smaller, 2.5 to 5%. They have gone for the more visible
:55:58. > :56:08.services. They have chosen some ideological budgeting over what
:56:08. > :56:09.
:56:09. > :56:12.might have been politically sensitive ones. Yes, we looked at
:56:13. > :56:17.the council tax increase, they said, if they were being politically
:56:17. > :56:21.sensible, they would invest that increase into all the things they
:56:21. > :56:25.are cutting, the shriek sweeping, the street lighting, the visible
:56:25. > :56:30.things that people get to see. Come election time, it will be
:56:30. > :56:36.interesting to see if they are penalised. It will be interesting
:56:36. > :56:39.to see if they have been naive. The Labour group claimed they could
:56:39. > :56:43.have actually protected vulnerable people more by being more
:56:43. > :56:48.imaginative. What do they mean? There is always a political storm
:56:48. > :56:52.when a budget is published, but Labour and the Conservatives,
:56:52. > :56:56.especially Labour, they have been scathing about their proposed
:56:56. > :57:01.council tax increase. What they say is, this rise was not necessary,
:57:01. > :57:04.they could have found his money from making difficult political
:57:04. > :57:08.decisions and then something to which looks at intelligent
:57:08. > :57:13.commissioning. This is local government speak for looking at a
:57:13. > :57:17.service, looking at how it can be delivered more efficient, could it
:57:17. > :57:22.be played its sector, followed receptor, community sector, and
:57:22. > :57:25.handing out that service. The Labour Party say they are opposed
:57:25. > :57:32.to privatisation and have been dragging their heels on this model,
:57:32. > :57:36.which the council was going hell- for-leather for previously. They
:57:36. > :57:40.have asked all the other political parties, interested groups, people
:57:40. > :57:45.living in the area, to have their say, they are consulting on at the
:57:45. > :57:50.moment. Yes, but I am intrigued about how much room for manoeuvre
:57:50. > :57:53.there is. They want people to get in touch by the internet. But when
:57:53. > :57:57.it comes down to balancing the books, will they be able to take
:57:57. > :58:02.those things into account? Pick out one thing that smacks of a green
:58:02. > :58:05.budget. Something that says it cannot have been any other party.
:58:05. > :58:12.am going to look up parking. They will increase business parking
:58:12. > :58:17.permits. 50% increase on business parking permits, up from �175 to
:58:17. > :58:23.�400. The other parties say it is because they are anti-car. They say
:58:23. > :58:28.they are bringing their prices in line with other authorities. Some