18/09/2011 The Politics Show South West


18/09/2011

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And saving local pubs - ministers consider scrapping the law which

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2133 seconds

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Hello and welcome back to the Politics Show in the South West.

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Hopes for an 11th-hour reprieve for two key parts of the region's

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marine safety network were dealt a severe blow this week. On Friday,

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the Transport Select Committee published the Government's response

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to its concerns about the proposals. While the government has backed

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down on some of its plans to reduce coastguard stations and manpower,

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it's clear minsters are determined to press ahead with cuts to

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emergency towing vessels and specialist firefighters. In a

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moment, we'll hear from the chair of the Transport Committee who says

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the government is making a short- sighted decision which will put

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lives a risk. But first, Tamsin Melville has this report. It has

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been described as having the potential for creating a perfect

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storm off the Cornish coast. Government plans to radically

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restructure the coastguard service, cut funding for firefighters that

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see an end to the contract for up emergency towing vessels. While the

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close card proposal Robin revised, time is fast running out for the

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others, prompting concerns of their worst case scenario. They could

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have collisions with a tanker. Why hope we're not here saying, I told

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you so it after an oil spill. Anglian Princess is a very familiar

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sight in these waters around Falmouth. She is one of four

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stations tucked around the UK. But it is not for much longer. The

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funding which keeps her he is said to be scrapped at the end of the

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month. These vessels were introduced after the 1993 it oil

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spill disaster off the Shetland Islands. But the Department for

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Transport now says it wants private operators to stepping in, telling

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MPs that responsibility for ensuring operational safety it of

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chips is a matter for the Contracts will expire at the end of

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the month, saving �32.5 million over the spending review period.

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MPs on the transport select committee say the government's

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hardline is inviting disaster. A view shared by enable Union which

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is considering action. If you don't provide that service in times of

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need, it will not be there when you need it. Who wants to gamble with

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that? Who wants a billion pounds worth of clean-up costs? Who wants

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to have it on their conscience that communities with devastated fishing

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industries, tourist industries? bid to save money is also part of

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the decision to cut funding for specialist firefighters who tackle

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incidents at sea, again by the end of this month. The incident

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Response Group is one of 15 around the UK set up in 2006. It has been

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deployed twice off Cornwall, most recently involving efficient

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factory vessel in Barmouth in 2010. But ministers say it they have

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rarely been used on several occasions. It is a short-sighted

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move for some. To be unkind, it is the bean counters looking at the

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beans. I have a degree of empathy in the current climate, but let's

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be serious about this. There is a potential to lose people's lives.

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Terrorism has not gone away, who will deal with the aftermath of a

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terrorist incident on the ship? It is not going to go away. It is very

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short-sighted and nothing we have got to wait to see what the

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outcomes are. Core will fire and rescue Service say without the

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central funding, they are left with no choice but to remove the 7th --

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Cornwall. One local MP whose husband died while at sea still

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hopes to change Minister's mind. -- ministers' minds. I'm urging them

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to have those coastguards put in place. They have unique knowledge

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of both the changes in the sea conditions, when the weather

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changes so quickly, and also to be able to use the other local

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emergency services in the area when we have an emergency. I'm yet to be

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condensed that a station based at Dover or Falmouth would be able to

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pick up the slack left. It is looking almost certain the

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capability will be gone and just a few weeks. -- in just a few weeks.

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Tamsin Melville reporting. Well, we did request an interview with the

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Shipping Minister, Mike Penning. He wasn't available, but earlier I

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spoke to the chair of the Transport Select Committee, the Labour MP

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Louise Ellman. I asked her if she was at least happy with the

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Government's revised plans for the Coastguard service, which include

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fewer station closures and a guarantee of 24-hour cover in those

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that remain. I am pleased that there will be fewer closures and

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that the government has dropped its plan for daylight early stations.

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But there are still concerns about the closures that by going ahead.

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There is a new consultation and I hope that the Government listens

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carefully to the responses. If the government accepts the importance

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of local knowledge, it is -- it must show how it can do this.

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Emergency towing vessels, the government has not given any ground

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on this at all. You said in your report they should be continued to

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be provided by the state, but not to do so it is quite literally

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inviting disaster and we were not convinced there was a commercial

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alternative. The government is saying that they think the

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commercial shipping industry should pay for this kind of thing, not the

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taxpayer. The emergency towing vehicles are there to prevent major

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pollution incidents which cost the taxpayer millions of pounds. They

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decided to rid -- withdraw funding from his Brussels without any kind

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of risk assessment and without any consultation. We saw no evidence at

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all that the private sector was ready to step in and I hope the

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government even at this hour revises its plans. Another area of

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be concerned few if they government's decision to remove

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funding from the Maritime incident Response Group. You said this is

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very important and that they must go away and come back with a more

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cost-effective way of running it. The government said they have

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looked at this now and it is not possible to provide the level of

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service needed for less money? thought there was a case for

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reducing the cost of the specialist fire-fighting force and the

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maritime incident Response Group. I'm very disappointed that the

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government have not looked said it in that way and are withdrawing

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their funding. -- looked at it. you don't accept it is not possible

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to provide the level of service required for less resourcing?

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accept that there is a need to reduce funding, but I don't accept

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it is impossible to produce a good service for less money. To turn to

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another issue, you were very concerned at during the process of

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your inquiry into this that coastguards were prevented from

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giving oral evidence to the committee. The government in its

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response has stuck to its insistence that postcards are

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junior civil servants and it would be inappropriate to give oral

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evidence -- postcards. The minister did give us an assurance that the

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coastguards would be able to talk directly to the committee and that

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that was subsequently changed. I'm not convinced by the government's

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response. We did find a way of talking to the coastguard officers

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by going to the stations, but that would have been better if they had

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been able to give us evidence directly at our committee. There is,

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as you say, a further consultation, but it is pretty limited, it isn't

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it? In particular, these issues are of huge consent to, the emergency

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towing vessels, they are not within the town so that consultation. For

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a lot of your concerns, is this the end of the story? The consultation

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is limited but I hope the Government listens to the responses.

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The government seems to be determined on its decision to

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withdraw funding for the emergency towing vessels and for the

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emergency fire-fighting service. There is not any more consultation

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on that. These are very serious issues and a head the government is

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still considering the position. you think that is likely's it

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doesn't look likely, but I hope that they are.

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In Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday, a Devon MP said David

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Cameron needed to take tougher action against the sale of cheap

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alcohol. The government's promised to ban shops and bars from selling

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drinks for less than the tax paid on them. But the Conservative MP

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for Totnes, Sarah Wollaston, who of course used to be a GP, says that's

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not enough. I know they have Prime Minister is serious about tackling

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violent crime and anti-social behaviour. Would he make of me to

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discuss the evidence that we need to go further on minimum pricing,

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availability and particularly the marketing of alcohol to young

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people? David Cameron praised her work on the issue of alcohol abuse

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but said he disagreed on this particular point. I'm very happy to

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meet with the honourable lady who has written a lot of articles about

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this issue, and I think she's right in many ways, that actually, there

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is a problem of binge drinking are now country. A lot is related to

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very low cost alcohol, particularly in supermarkets. I want see an end

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to that deep discounting of a rather than the way forward that

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she suggests. But I'm very important to discuss this vital

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issue. Over the summer, the Government announced a review of

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the legislation governing the sale of failing pubs. Ministers say

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they're looking for ways to help communities who want to buy their

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local and keep it open. At the moment, if you're selling a pub you

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can impose a covenant which stops the building being re-opened as a

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public house. Campaigners say the market should be left to decide

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whether a pub is viable or not. Emma Ruminski reports.

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committee of Stoke Canon no longer have to walk miles for a pint.

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Beginning to said they had lost a valuable social resource and so

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banded together to reopen it. The Stoke Canon in was bought by its

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private landlord and the community it all bought shares to rent it

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back off him. It is now a free house run by volunteers. It was

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like Kevin Costner's Field of dreams. People started pouring out

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of every alleyway. It was wonderful talking to people. We got through

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it very quickly. We got together in about March and reopened in June.

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had never done any work like this before. It is a chance to meet more

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people, rekindle some friendships. The villagers claim rent in the pub

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has put the heart back in the community. -- renting the pub. Most

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of the drinkers have a �50 at stake in the scheme say it has made the

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pub by a bull. It has only been open to month. -- two months.

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couldn't bear to think of it not been a pub anymore. Redecorated,

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painted, cleaned and opened it. The community spirit was fantastic.

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not for committees are as fortunate as the Stoke Canon. This pub closed

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last year and will be -- will be demolished. The Campaign for Real

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Ale fate many pubs have Covenant on them. Buyers have to enter into an

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agreement, promising not to reopen them as a pub. Claims have been

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made it has been used by larger companies to limit competition.

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have been licking to doing away with restrictive covenants --

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looking at doing away. Over the summer, the government announced it

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was reviewing legislation to help communities that want to try and

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revive his closing cubs. -- closing pubs. We have got these ageing by-

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laws were a proper has got to be proven to be trading at a loss

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before it can go and how many pubs are they in the village except her,

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let it go and let people make the pub the centre of the community

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again. But the British beer and pub Association says there are bigger

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issues facing pubs, where restrictive covenants are not

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regularly applied. It is still early days for the Stoke Canon in,

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but they have big plans. They are now looking for a chef to provide

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food here on a franchise basis. The aim here is to keep the proper live

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for the community to socialise and support each other. Earlier, I

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spoke to the East Devon MP Hugo Swire who's backing the review. I

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asked him how much of a problem restrictive covenants are. Between

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2004 and 2009, five under and 70 pubs were lost to their communities

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because of restrictive covenants -- a 570. The pub companies have told

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us that they don't intend to impose many of the covenant for any more.

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There were five in Lancashire, somebody who had a petrol station

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and a shop and he sold it and put a covenant so that he could open up a

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pub round the corner. That is a thriving organisation. I think it

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is important that people actually do look at it on line and make

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their views known to the department. So your mind is not entirely made

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up? When slightly prejudiced. Bearing in mind what icy around the

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place, I believe the part that is central to the local community --

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what I see. From my own experience, I go to my local pub when I see

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that are fewer people are there. It would be a great loss to the

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communities. Beer is very expensive at the moment. That must be one of

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the reasons why people just don't go to the pub. The pub companies

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have said, and indeed your neighbour in south Dorset, the

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Conservative MP, seems to agree, that the government puts up duty

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all the time, which is a big problem. It is incumbent on us to

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try and rebalance the economy to stop it going in the same direction

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of many other countries within Europe. Unfortunately, people have

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to be taxed. There are other factors involved, like the low

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price of alcohol in supermarkets and the offers they come up with.

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That is also effective. But if you look at tax, 10 pence on a pint

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this year, it is a lot of money very quickly. It is a lot of money,

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but there are also other factors, not least in certain parts.A better

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position if you're in a free pub, but at a worse position if you're

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in a local community with no pub at all. The Conservative government in

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the 1980s tried to break the monopoly which the big breweries

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had. People like David Cameron would say that clever businessman

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got round that a run-out in a situation where if you pick pub

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companies have a large number of pubs. Could do nothing fundamental

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be done? Things are shifting, behaviour is changing. Some people

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are saying they would radically we do all the pubs owned by a certain

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groups and make them more American to reflect people's changing habits.

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I don't think we are saying anything should be an aspect. Some

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of the pops, -- at some of the pubs, people come together and buy their

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pubs. They have got a pub, internet access. That is the kind of new

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thinking we need. When you go to remote villages, there is also a

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post office and a shop, it becomes the thriving centre of overall

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community. I would like to see more of that.

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The prospect of a fuel duty reduction on the Isles of Scilly

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took a step forward this week. The European Commission approved the

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five pence per litre cut in principle. But before the UK

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Treasury can confirm the discount it must now seek approval from

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member states. Of course, if it is successful, there is the

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