19/06/2011 The Politics Show South West


19/06/2011

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Hello and welcome to the Politics Show in the South West. The row

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over making weekly rubbish collections compulsory created a

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bit of a stink in Westminster this week. Local Government Secretary

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Eric Pickles had previously championed the cause. But when the

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Government published its Waste Review on Tuesday, the idea had

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been chucked into the dustcart. The Waste Review talks about advising

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local authorities to carry out more frequent collections but Ministers

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accept they can't force them to do so. At the same time the Government

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wants to encourage businesses as well as households to recycle more.

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John Danks reports. For any government trying to become

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the greenest, landfill is that dirty word they all try to avoid.

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Keeping rubbish out of the ground is foremost in DEFRA's Waste Review.

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Getting businesses to buy into this ethos isn't difficult because the

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more they throw away the more they pay in landfill tax. Darts Farm in

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Topsham has made great strides in reducing the waste it throws out.

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They separate plastics and cardboard for recycling. With the

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cost of waste collection constantly rising, they've found it pays to

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recycle. The cardboard is bulky stuff and we spend a lot of money

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every month paying to get our general waste taken off side. The

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more we can get recycled, we get an income from that cardboard so we

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are turning what would be a cost into where revenue. The price of

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recyclable materials fluctuates but a lorry load of cardboard can fetch

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around �1,500. No surprise maybe then that a DEFRA survey of

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commercial waste last year revealed a recycling rate of 52%. But for

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some small businesses access to waste and recycling services is a

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problem. For a start not all local authorities collect trade waste. Of

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the various disposal authorities throughout Devon and Cornwall just

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over 60% offer commercial waste and recycling services. It was

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announced in the Waste Review that the Landfill Allowance Trading

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Scheme would be abolished. This set a limit on how much authorities

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could send to landfill. It takes away one of the incentives for

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local-authority is not to deal with trade waste collection and

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recycling because that tended to count against our allocations.

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Because we might have had to buy permits to cover that, it should

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make it much cheaper and efficient for small and medium-sized

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businesses to do far more recycling of the materials that they haven't

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their waste bins. -- that they have in their waste bins. The review

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also proposed that Household Waste Recycling Centres might be adapted

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to accept business waste. An idea which Plymouth City Council and

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Cornwall Council will consider if cost effective. Devon County

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Council has it's doubts. difficulty is that we have sized

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than for the household waste streams and if you start taking in

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large chunks of extra waste, you end up with queues and delays

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because the units are generally pretty small. They are constrained

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by the size of the site. Councils will said about providing the right

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service that ratepayers once and the best service. This is a local

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issue and must be decided at a local level. What we want in our

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waste review is to make it easier for people to reduce waste, recycle,

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see their waste go to other uses and so on. We want to get it all

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out of landfill. But the review has been slammed by critics for lacking

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ambition and detail. Labour's shadow environment secretary said

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the government's policies on rubbish were in chaos. Meanwhile

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the government claim they're still on track for achieving a zero waste

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economy. But to reach that goal it seems local authorities have been

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left to do much of the dirty work. I'm joined by a waste expert from

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the University of Plymouth. He has also stirred as a Green Party

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candidate. We have a government that wants to be the greenest ever

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and zero waste. In your view, is this report doing anything to

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advance those goals? It is full of good intentions. It is a fairly

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smooth continuation of a long process that has been going on for

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several decades but it very much prefers to consider incentives and

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it is moving away from targets, particularly forcing people to do

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things. That is at the heart of this Government's philosophy all

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round. It is an idea that is being tested in all kinds of areas. Some

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people would suggest there is a conflict between on the one hand

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encouragingly weekly rubbish collections and encouraging more

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recycling. Is that your view? a matter of emphasis. I can see for

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political reasons why they wanted to make an effort to go back to

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weekly collection but the real emphasis, they know, is the better

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management of our resources as a country. Just simply stopping

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throwing things away in a hole in the ground. They have kept with

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that commitment. They are attempting to rationalise and

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improve recycling. They then are trying to ensure the best energy

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recovery. Do you think they largely incentive based policy can work on

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its own? Do we need more of the stick that the Labour government

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introduced? I think that some of the freeing up of opportunities is

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a good thing. It is difficult to say with the land full allowance

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trading scheme, which is being scrapped, that set targets for the

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total amount of waste being generated by councils. They are

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arguing that in fact the landfill tax, which is now moving up to that

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�80 per tonne target, is sufficient in itself. Maybe that is the case

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but I have been pleased to see that they are already encouraging

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anaerobic digestion and they have made some intelligent pointers to

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the way things that things could go for it, albeit they are not taking

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a front seat in forcing it to happen. Arabic the suggestion of

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course deals with food waste, which is a big component of domestic

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waste. -- and a row brick by gesture. The government is also

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looking at excluding VAT from landfill. How do you see that

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working at? In Plymouth for instance, they are committed to an

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incinerator and it is the cheapest, dirtiest way of dealing with it but

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it does deal with it. It avoids expensive separate food waste

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collection which I would like to see. I think that the big plus that

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you can get from separate food waste collection is you can put it

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through digestion and can recover gas. And what this report for the

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first time says, is we could be supplying up to one-fifth of

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domestic gas from the digestion of this kind of waste. That is

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incredibly important when we are seeing the rising price of gas from

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natural... From the road non- renewable resources, to move

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towards a situation where we are supplying our gas these from away

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waste food, that is good stuff. we are now going to have an

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incinerator in Plymouth. I think that is right and it is a problem

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certainly. But at least it avoids it going to landfill. At the moment,

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we've got a huge amount of her mother's waist, which cannot be

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recycled, and after all they are below 40 % in their current

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recycling, so that means that more than 60 % of the waste from

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Plymouth is trundling in trucks, 15 or 20 miles down the road every day.

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We are going to have to leave it there. Thank you very much. A South

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West MP wants the Government to help a taxi driver from Cornwall

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who's been in an African prison for the last three years. Whilst living

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in Gambia, where he was building a retirement home, Stephen Scarlett

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drove three men over the border into Senegal. When they arrived all

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four were convicted of visa fraud and Mr Scarlett's been in prison

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there ever since. Tamsin Melville has been talking to his wife who

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lives near Redruth. Jackie Scarlett's hopes have been

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raised and dashed many times during her fight to get husband Stephen

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released from a Senegal jail. His sentence ended in February but he's

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still behind bars. The latest court hearing was earlier this week.

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During our interview at her home near Redruth, Jackie took a call

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from the Foreign Office with some news. Yeah, yeah. All right, I will

:47:12.:47:22.
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talk to you again soon. Goodbye. It has been rejected again. I'm sorry.

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For the family, various holidays to the Gambia had been very happy

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which is why Stephen decided to build a retirement home there. Now

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the dream has turned into a nightmare. I have had no help at

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all apart from I just keep ringing places and hope to be heard. There

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have been doing it for three years, tried to get somewhere. The three

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men also jailed have already been released but one is said to be

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claiming he was a victim and is paying the Senegalese authorities

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to keep Stephen imprisoned. He's asking for compensation, which

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Jackie simply cannot afford. She hasn't spoken to her husband for

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two years and has received only three letters, the last of which

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It is just not Steve. He is very cold, I'm alright, I'm fine. Don't

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worry about me, look after yourself. That is all he says. What his state

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of mind is, I don't know. I have no idea what kind of man is going to

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come back home. It will certainly not Biedermann but went. Jackie's

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MP took her fight to the Commons this week, calling for financial

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assistance in cases like this, prompting this Government response.

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I understand the distress felt by Mr Scarlett and his family, and the

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length of time his cases taken to resolve. He has been assisted by

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the British Embassy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a whole.

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The responsibility of assuring Mr Scarlett receives his best possible

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outcome rests with his lawyer. The Foreign Office supports and part

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funds three groups, Prisoners abroad, reprieve and fair trials

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International, all of which assist British citizens. We are aware that

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Fair trials International have offered their services to Mr

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scarlets family. But Jackie says they couldn't even find an English

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speaking lawyer from a list they were given and Fair Trials

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International haven't been able to help. There's a reason for this

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says their man at the top. government has offices, staff,

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consulates all over the world. A charity like Fair trials

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International has received only �15,000 from the government in the

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last year. It is nowhere near enough money to provide the kind of

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support that is needed. And he says they're reliant on Foreign office

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assistance. It is difficult to understand why he is continuing to

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be held and what the Basic Law is in Senegal on this point. We've

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asked the British government to gather that information so we can

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provide some answers to Mr Scarlett and his family in Cornwall and to

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consider whether we can challenge his treatment at the UN or other

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international fora, but that have has not been forthcoming from the

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British government. And the Government's answers aren't enough

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for others either, with calls for legal aid rights at home to cross

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borders in cases like Stephen's.? In extreme cases, we should offer

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financial assistance because there is a big difference between fact

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and somebody who is going on holiday, gets in a brawl and ends

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up in trouble with the local police. There are distinctions between

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those kinds of cases. There are only two British citizens in prison

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in Senegal and in these countries they have a very different legal

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system two hours. I don't think it would break the bank because the

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numbers in these situations is small. Back in Cornwall it's a

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struggle to keep the hope alive. feel dead inside because I just

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don't know what door and going to knock on next. I just don't know

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what I'm going to do. Jackie Scarlett ending that report

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from Tamsin Melville. We did request an interview with the

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Foreign Office Minister and Taunton Deane MP, Jeremy Browne, but he

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declined. The MP for South East Cornwall has

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once again called on the Government to abandon its plans to close

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coastguard stations. Sheryll Murray's husband died in a fishing

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accident earlier this year, and she made an emotional plea in the

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Commons this week. No one knows more than me how dangerous the sea

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is and how important it is to co- ordinate all rescue services

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locally, when an incident occurs at sea. If these -- in these proposals,

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I'm reminded of 1994, when two fishermen lost their lives of the

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Cornish coast. It was below a recently closed... In reply, the

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Shipping Minister Mike Penning insisted change is essential.

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Parties can play politics with this but we will come out of this with

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an emergency service which has the resilience nationally that it

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deserves and the pay and training infrastructure that the service

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needs as well. I hope that everybody understands that. The

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government is doing this for the right reasons, not just about cuts,

:52:51.:53:01.
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it is because... What we need is a 24/7 -- a 21st century service.

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Transport Select Committee will deliver a report on the proposals

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this Thursday. When the Government came to power

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last year it promised to cut red tape for business. Here in the

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South West there are few bigger businesses than tourism. But people

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working in the self catering sector fear they're now facing more

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expensive and complicated regulation. John Ayres reports.

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Flick through a holiday cottage brochure and what are you looking

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for? Nice accommodation, good location that's quite and peaceful,

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maybe near to a town or a beach, maybe you want to take a dog? But

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energy efficiency? Here's the thing. Apparently the Government hasn't

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been correctly applying its own laws on holiday lets, to brings it

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in line with Europe and now they're putting it right. From the end of

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this month, a Energy Performance Certificate which is one of those

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things you have to get when you sell your house, will have to be

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produced, and its details made available to propective customers.

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Ian Sturt carrys out energy assements. The information he

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collects will be made availaible to anyone wanting to take a holiday in

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this property. They are aware of how energy efficient the building

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is and then they can make a statement in terms of choosing to

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rent properties that are more environmentally friendly. It is

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freedom of choice and giving them the information to make that.

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Possibly more significant is the fact the energy performances have

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occurred produce for the owner of the property is going to indicate

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to them how they can improve the efficiency and reduce the energy

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waste. The EPC certificate costs between �50 and �80. So what's the

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problem? Well Moray Bowater runs a agency marketing properties like

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this and he's concerned about putting all this information in

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their literature. It may well increase the size of the brochure,

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maybe 10 or more pages. That will cost be up to �50,000 to increase

:54:51.:54:55.

the pressure by that amount. The mailing cost of the extra paper

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could cost us may be �70 -- �70,000 to �80,000 a year. We estimated

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will cost us in the region of �100,000 a year to add these

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details to our brochure and to the details that we send out to

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prospective ranters. Now the Government promised it would cut

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red tape for business. This week, the Conservative MP Andrew

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Stephenson, who represents Pendle in Lancashire raised the issue in

:55:17.:55:23.

the commons, and was supported by Anne Marie Morris from Newton Abbot.

:55:23.:55:28.

This is a classic case of the UK gold plating EU rate elation,

:55:28.:55:32.

something which ministers have promised to stop. For the avoidance

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of any confusion, I understand that the details state that all

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buildings are subjected to these regulations unless specifically

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excluded. As holiday lets have been -- not been excluded, it must apply

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to them. Effectively, this is going to become a tax on tourism and it

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will be harder to enforce because a lot of these lettings are not done

:55:53.:55:58.

through agencies. That, combined with the Finance Bill changes which

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changes the categorisation for relief, is going to give holiday

:56:02.:56:06.

lettings, small businesses a real problem. An important part of what

:56:06.:56:10.

my department attempts to do is to bust barriers and barrier busting

:56:10.:56:16.

is one of the things on which we you wax very eloquently. But it has

:56:16.:56:20.

to be the case that United Kingdom government must comply with EU

:56:20.:56:25.

legislation correctly interpreted, and it also has to be the case that

:56:25.:56:29.

it is extremely important to reduce the carbon output of the United

:56:29.:56:32.

Kingdom. But while the MInister talks about barrier busting, the

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industry is still to be convinved. It is a first test of whether this

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government is serious about supporting business and driving out

:56:42.:56:47.

red tape. It is the symbolism of a government helping business because

:56:47.:56:51.

if they look at this, they will realise it is not needed. Under the

:56:51.:56:54.

Government's own statements it should not happen. There's another

:56:54.:56:59.

issue here too. The EPC legislation is designed for tenancies but will

:56:59.:57:02.

now be applied to holiday lets. The industry fears this could be the

:57:02.:57:10.

thin end of the wedge. There are different rules, regulations and

:57:10.:57:14.

laws associated with shorthold or longer tenancies and those rules do

:57:14.:57:17.

not apply to holiday lets. Of course, holiday lets could not go

:57:17.:57:23.

ahead if the tenancy rules applied. Applying for work tenancy to

:57:23.:57:26.

holiday next undermines the whole basis of a holiday letting industry.

:57:26.:57:29.

The deadline to comply with the new application of the law is the 30th

:57:29.:57:33.

June, and applies to any property rented out for more than 20 weeks a

:57:33.:57:38.

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