Browse content similar to 04/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Financial prosperity or environmental ruin? As plans for a | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
new airport in North Kent gather speed, we ask, is that the | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
political will to make it happen? Clause, the households facing a | :00:57. | :01:07. | |
:01:07. | :01:07. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2020 seconds | :01:07. | :34:47. | |
Hello, welcome. Coming up, food or fuel? The tough choices facing a | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
growing number of households in our region. | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
Sometimes, you feel hungry and you wonder what you are existing four. | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
After all of these years of working. The prospect of a Thames estuary | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
airport takes off. And, can brighten's cream Council | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
deliver on its election promises? It is official, we have just had | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
one of the warmest autumns on record. How long will the mild | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
weather last? Thousands of families will want it to last and right | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
through the winter, with fuel bills a big worry. For 140,000 households | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
here, officially in fuel poverty, but worry is a shop as a winter | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
frost. For them, heating costs will burn up at least one 10th of their | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
income. Some said they are forced to make a choice between keeping | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
warm and having enough to eat. With no real prospect of falling bills | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
in sight and the Government cutting the season will fuel allowances, | :35:47. | :35:53. | |
people here could be facing a heart and harsh winter. What is being | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
done to tackle the fuel poverty problem? | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
By day, this man does voluntary work in this cafe in East Sussex. | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
Helping provide hot meals for pensioners. By night, he goes home | :36:08. | :36:15. | |
to a house he cannot afford to heat. It is difficult. We have to wear | :36:15. | :36:25. | |
:36:25. | :36:25. | ||
extra clothing, myself and my wife, we are both disabled, we are both | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
of retirement age, obviously, and we have to wear extra jumpers, even | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
indoors with the heating on. Every year, you have to turn it down more. | :36:35. | :36:43. | |
It is very difficult. My wife spent nearly a month in hospital in | :36:43. | :36:51. | |
January with pneumonia. Since that, she has constantly had colds and | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
she still has breathing problems. I suffer with asthma. It is | :36:56. | :37:04. | |
imperative that I keep warm. I have got to pay more just to exist. With | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
the bills being so high, the only other weight they can be reduced is | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
the amount of food that we have. Sometimes, you feel very hungry, | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
and you wonder why you are existing. After all of these years of working. | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
He is not alone in struggling. A household is in fuel poverty if it | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
spends more than 10% of its income on fuel to heat the home to a | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
reasonable level. Phil poverty is a rapidly increasing problem, with | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
gas and electricity prices going up and up. Over the last year, the | :37:39. | :37:46. | |
average household's annual energy bill has increased by �224, to | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
nearly �3,000. In the South East, 140,000 households are in fuel | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
poverty. Of those, the highest proportion is in rather, where over | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
80% of the population struggle to pay their energy bills. The MP for | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
the area is Craig Barker, also the minister in charge of fuel poverty. | :38:05. | :38:14. | |
The next worst his Thanet, 16.2%. Followed by Shepway, 15.7%. But | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
whilst the scale of the problem is growing, the government has decided | :38:17. | :38:23. | |
this year's allowance will be less than last year, down by �50, to | :38:23. | :38:30. | |
�200 for people over 60, and by �100, to �300, for the over 80s. | :38:30. | :38:37. | |
Some say this will result in higher healthcare costs. The reductions | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
are very short-sighted. Both of the amounts are going down, by a | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
reasonably substantial amount. The effect will be that people have a | :38:45. | :38:53. | |
choice, they either heat their homes or eat, or maybe not do both. | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
In the long run, it will have an effect on people's Health, because | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
there is a link between well-being and keeping warm in winter. | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
Eventually, they will be a bill picked up by the NHS. It is not | :39:06. | :39:12. | |
just pensioners two struggle. We met this woman, who has lived alone | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
since her husband died of cancer. She has also got the disease. | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
the heating, I am using a hot-water bottle. I cannot afford to put the | :39:21. | :39:28. | |
heating on. I have had four different types of chemotherapy and | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
two types of radiotherapy, but it keeps coming back. And not heating | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
your house properly does not help? No. I suffer with hot flushes and | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
everything, but even so, called his cold, it goes right through to your | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
bones. There are schemes designed to help insulate people's homes, | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
but there are also Kattegat, and they exclude lots of people, such | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
as Andy helping if the house has very little or no installation, or | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
a heating system that does not work. And less money is being made | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
available for it than in previous years. Some people say the least | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
the Government should do is reinstate the winter fuel allowance | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
to last year's level. They should think again, there are many ways | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
this could be funded. It is a modest cost. Those campaigns | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
representing all the people and the community at large, they should | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
press the Government to think again. This is something they could do a | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
U-turn on? We have got to demand they do. There are 6 million people | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
in England in fuel poverty, a large number of pensioners, and single | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
people. The government should be trying to protect and support them. | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
What advice would people give to the government? Lots of people need | :40:48. | :40:54. | |
your help. It is not just people my age. There are lots of youngsters | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
as well. I would urge them to think about this again. Bring it back to | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
what it was, because lots of people are suffering this year. | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
government has made several U-turns in the last 18 months. Many people | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
are arguing that if anything it is worth reversing, the decision to | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
reduce this allowance is it. What should the government refocusing | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
on? They have decided to invest billions in improving transport | :41:20. | :41:25. | |
infrastructure? --. But could a fraction of the money be given to | :41:25. | :41:35. | |
:41:35. | :41:40. | ||
This situation is inescapably awful. What can you do about it? I agree, | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
that was a moving piece. When people talk about choosing between | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
fuel and food, it is enormously difficult. All the people will | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
attract sympathy. One area I would like to do something in is what we | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
are doing in terms of renewables. Every single energy company has to | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
put an extra amount on the bill, and it can easily be �100 a year | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
for a household, which goes to subsidising renewable energy and | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
building wind turbines and infrastructure, even though that | :42:13. | :42:20. | |
has to be backed up with gas supply as well. Why not start off with the | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
basics? The winter fuel allowance. For the last three years, it has | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
been higher than this Government have said it. You have reduced it | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
by �50 for the over-sixties and by �100 for the over 80s. In Medway, | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
13,000 households in fuel poverty. Nationally, Nick Watt of the | :42:38. | :42:45. | |
population. Why did you drop the allowance? It is not fair to say | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
that the coalition government have cut the winter fuel allowance in | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
that way. Last year, the outgoing Labour government brought in for | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
one year... They have had a higher winter fuel allowance for the last | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
three years. It might have gone at headlines, but it was for three | :43:04. | :43:06. | |
years it has been at the higher rate. You could have chosen to | :43:07. | :43:15. | |
stick with that. Those amounts were something that, even in the Labour | :43:15. | :43:25. | |
:43:25. | :43:27. | ||
Party's spending pounds -- plans, they were going to do that. | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
Exchequer had a 200 million pound windfall as a result of the extra | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
VAT on higher gas and a letter to the bills. Nine reputable | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
organisations campaigned for the Chancellor to channel that back to | :43:39. | :43:45. | |
vulnerable people. He did not do that. He gave �250 million to big | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
business. That is the wrong priority at a time like this. | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
we need to do in order to help people struggling to pay the fuel | :43:55. | :44:05. | |
bills is the orientate our help. Instead of making two the energy | :44:05. | :44:15. | |
:44:15. | :44:19. | ||
company's -- instead of making the energy companies more wealthy, it | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
should help people insulate their homes. That has a bigger impact in | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
terms of reducing bills and allowing people to heat their homes | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
and not have as bad problems as some of these people you saw in | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
your clip. But it will also reduce carbon emissions by much more than | :44:34. | :44:41. | |
many of these real projects. you had �200 million. The last | :44:41. | :44:47. | |
round of spending provides people with insulation and people with | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
energy efficient boilers. The last round was �1 billion. This is too | :44:52. | :45:01. | |
rigid and �10 billion. -- �210 billion. We do not have this money. | :45:01. | :45:09. | |
That means we are borrowing to 222 billion of around 222.2 billion. We | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
are borrowing 9% of whatever we earned. If it was to continue, the | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
markets would not lend the money they do to the British government | :45:18. | :45:25. | |
at 2%, and we would pay something like Italy, 7% a year. One idea, | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
you can means-test the winter fuel allowance. Why do you give it to | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
somebody like Helen Mirren, a well paid actress? She does not wanted. | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
If you means tested it, you could give more money to people that need | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
it, and you would not have to pay it to wealthy pensioners. I would | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
encourage Helen Mirren and others to put that money back into the pot | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
or to support charities who are helping people. But the government | :45:52. | :45:59. | |
will not means tested? You means- test child benefit. The order that | :45:59. | :46:07. | |
against it, the more it is done, the less incentive there is to save. | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
I had people coming in... You think pensioners have money to save? | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
you means test every benefit for pensioners, people have no | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
incentive to save and a do not put away money during their working | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
life. I would like to help bring down the fuel bills, help | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
pensioners to insulate their houses properly, and in terms of | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
supporting that, but also taking action on climate change to the | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
extent that there is an issue with admissions, -- emissions, the money | :46:39. | :46:47. | |
should be used, rather than subsidising renewable energy, by | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
putting it into home insulation, by helping people with energy | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
efficiency measures, so that pensioners such as some of those | :46:55. | :47:02. | |
are your clip are able to afford to heat their homes. | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
Controversial plans to build a new airport in Kent came a step closer | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
when the Chancellor said the Government was looking at all the | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
options to improve aviation capacity in the South East. Two | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
proposals for an estuary airport have been put forward, won by Boris | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
Johnson, one by Lord Foster, whose design would accommodate up to 150 | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
million passengers a year. Those in favour say it would revitalise the | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
region's economy and bring much- needed jobs, while opponents argue | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
it would be expensive and an environmental disaster. I wonder | :47:37. | :47:47. | |
:47:47. | :47:48. | ||
who you think is right. Let's listen to the arguments. We found | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
it very hard to uncover a political figure in Kent who is unequivocally | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
in favour of a massive new airport for North Kent. Argue that man? | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
definitely. All three political parties have joined up and started | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
to be against something to we have not even considered. The people | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
have not been asked what they think. The three leaders of the political | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
parties have decided that they are against this proposition. You may | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
oust the word rubbish. I am very good at lip-reading. You are not | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
still banging on about a third runway at Heathrow? The do not | :48:30. | :48:36. | |
listen to the Autumn Statement? had a U-turn on winter fuel | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
allowance and promising they would keep it, now we have a U-turn on | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
the promised they would not be an estuary airport. I never heard that | :48:43. | :48:49. | |
promise. It was made in the run-up to the general election. David | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
Cameron has been repeatedly questioned at PMQs. Let's be clear. | :48:53. | :49:00. | |
He was asked at PMQs last year whether there were any plans, and | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
he said there are no plans. That is not the same as a promise never to | :49:04. | :49:14. | |
:49:14. | :49:15. | ||
build. The promises were made clearly. As soon as the coalition | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
said they would not have expansion at Heathrow or at Stansted or at | :49:20. | :49:25. | |
Gatwick, it meant that they then became a probe -- possibility of a | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
free-for-all to start bidding for other places, because everybody | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
knows that we have to meet the requirements of business, of us as | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
individuals who want to go on holiday, for leisure purposes, to | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
meet their aviation requirements. What is your idea? You know the | :49:42. | :49:52. | |
:49:52. | :49:52. | ||
third runway is off the agenda. What is your idea? We have the | :49:52. | :49:58. | |
position at -- we had the position to have the third runway, but now, | :49:58. | :50:05. | |
I suggest that the leaders in Kent and Medway and Essex should look to | :50:05. | :50:11. | |
what the capacity is at the existing provision. Southend, | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
Manston, look at Gatwick, the new owners of Gatwick have said they | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
have spare capacity for something up to 200,000 passengers per year, | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
without a new runway. And in addition, you have the equation | :50:23. | :50:30. | |
that, after 2019, they could be an additional runway at Gatwick. | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
piecemeal expansion is his best idea. Maud Foster has a plan for a | :50:34. | :50:41. | |
massive airport and railway station. -- Maud Foster. It has a �50 | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
billion price tag. Where is the money going to come from? I am sure | :50:45. | :50:52. | |
the government can raise the money. At the same time, we need | :50:52. | :50:59. | |
regeneration. A big project like this would give a local people jobs, | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
and after the airport has been built, we would have jobs forever. | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
It is a great idea. Boris Johnson is right in looking at all the | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
possibilities. I do not know why people are anti- Boris. He has a | :51:14. | :51:23. | |
brilliant idea, they have got to support this. Interestingly, my | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
experience is that public opinion has shifted. In 2003, the idea of | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
the airport was rejected, people were happy. I spoke to a woman this | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
week, a young mother, she does not want her community to be bulldozed, | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
but even she says she can see the economic arguments that her | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
children need to live in a country that has a vision for jobs and for | :51:43. | :51:52. | |
growth. Absolutely. The argument was knocked out in great detail | :51:52. | :51:58. | |
when there was the idea about this airport, and it still holds true. | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
It is wrong to say it has never been considered. It was considered | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
very thoroughly, along with 200 other sites, for meeting the | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
expansion. But we are in a different economic world now. | :52:14. | :52:20. | |
but the figures that are there in the Foster proposal talk about 150 | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
million passengers per annum, 300,000 people arriving by train | :52:25. | :52:31. | |
every day. I saw figures like that and projections like that in all | :52:31. | :52:37. | |
the detailed work that was done for the proposal in 2003, and the | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
infrastructure will not be there. My record speaks for itself in | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
terms of getting investment and looking for jobs for the Medway | :52:47. | :52:55. | |
towns over the last 13-15 years. Actually, you would not have that | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
ability to be able to expand and meet those requirements, because | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
you would be gridlocked within the network, because the investment | :53:02. | :53:08. | |
would just not happen to the decree that would be required. | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
mentioned Boris Johnson. The politics of this is interesting. | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
The MP for Sheppey and Sittingbourne said to me this week | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
that the Chancellor is making positive noises about a new airport | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
in North Kent to boost Boris Johnson's mayoral re-election | :53:23. | :53:28. | |
campaign next year. It will never really happen. Why not? He will be | :53:28. | :53:34. | |
re-elected comfortably. Also, when the localisation of business rates | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
comes into force, all of the local councils will be want to have an | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
airport in their backyard. You wait and see. Essex will benefit from | :53:44. | :53:50. | |
this at the end of it, not Kent. do not even the tiniest bit excited | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
that the biggest infrastructure projects in this could be for | :53:53. | :54:00. | |
decades could happen here? -- biggest project in decades? We need | :54:00. | :54:07. | |
a system that is that the purpose, but this is �50 billion, estimated | :54:07. | :54:17. | |
today. If you speak to the aviation industry, this money is not going | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
to come for a hub airport of this size and this magnitude. I want to | :54:22. | :54:29. | |
see jobs in the Medway, but let's get them from other ways. | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
The Green party in Brighton published its annual budget this | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
week, the first ever set by a green local authority in the UK. They | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
have come under fire for its controversial decision to raise | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
council tax by 3.5% next year, instead of accepting a government | :54:44. | :54:53. | |
sponsored freeze. Their manifesto pledge was to protect the most | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
vulnerable, you have had a close look at their first budget, have | :54:57. | :55:02. | |
they done that? The devil is in the detail with the council budget. At | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
their press conference, they were keen to stress they have protected | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
services for the vulnerable, so we think about old people, children, | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
homeless people, people with HIV, they wanted to stress their | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
protected those people, but if we look at the headline numbers, they | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
have got to save �10 million from adult services over the next 10 | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
years and �5 million from children services. They conceded there would | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
be some level of service reduction. But what they will also say it is, | :55:31. | :55:35. | |
look where we have made the savings. Highways, street sweeping, street | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
lighting. If you look at the percentage of the budget cut they | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
have made, tourism, 15% of the total budget has been reduced from | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
last year to next year. If we look at children's and adult services, | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
it is much smaller, 2.5 to 5%. They have gone for the more visible | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
services. They have chosen some ideological budgeting over what | :55:58. | :56:08. | |
:56:08. | :56:09. | ||
might have been politically sensitive ones. Yes, we looked at | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
the council tax increase, they said, if they were being politically | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
sensible, they would invest that increase into all the things they | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
are cutting, the shriek sweeping, the street lighting, the visible | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
things that people get to see. Come election time, it will be | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
interesting to see if they are penalised. It will be interesting | :56:30. | :56:36. | |
to see if they have been naive. The Labour group claimed they could | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
have actually protected vulnerable people more by being more | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
imaginative. What do they mean? There is always a political storm | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
when a budget is published, but Labour and the Conservatives, | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
especially Labour, they have been scathing about their proposed | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
council tax increase. What they say is, this rise was not necessary, | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
they could have found his money from making difficult political | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
decisions and then something to which looks at intelligent | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
commissioning. This is local government speak for looking at a | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
service, looking at how it can be delivered more efficient, could it | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
be played its sector, followed receptor, community sector, and | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
handing out that service. The Labour Party say they are opposed | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
to privatisation and have been dragging their heels on this model, | :57:25. | :57:32. | |
which the council was going hell- for-leather for previously. They | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
have asked all the other political parties, interested groups, people | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
living in the area, to have their say, they are consulting on at the | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
moment. Yes, but I am intrigued about how much room for manoeuvre | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
there is. They want people to get in touch by the internet. But when | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
it comes down to balancing the books, will they be able to take | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
those things into account? Pick out one thing that smacks of a green | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
budget. Something that says it cannot have been any other party. | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
am going to look up parking. They will increase business parking | :58:05. | :58:12. | |
permits. 50% increase on business parking permits, up from �175 to | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
�400. The other parties say it is because they are anti-car. They say | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
they are bringing their prices in line with other authorities. Some | :58:23. | :58:28. |