Browse content similar to 02/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South West: A new idea to help first-time buyers. Cornwall | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Council says it can provide more affordable homes without spending | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
any taxpayers' money. And should it be made illegal to keep a monkey | :00:40. | :00:50. | |
:00:50. | :00:50. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2193 seconds | :00:50. | :37:24. | |
Plenty of parking and that is open for you. Buying a house for the | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
first time here in the south west can be quite a challenge. | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
average wage is low but house prices are high. To help people | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
onto the housing ladder, the Government has a scheme called | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
First Buy, which Matt Jardine from Redruth is using to buy his first | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
home. Why I am a single man. I have the and child. He lives with his | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
mother. And in the early years I did not think about getting a | :37:45. | :37:52. | |
mortgage but now, I am getting on, I am 27, but it is very difficult | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
to get a mortgage. He is lucky. The buyer purchases the majority share | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
in a house but not the full cost. When they come to sell, the buyer | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
keeps their share and their proportion of profit. He'll | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
purchase the majority share of an affordable home, but not the whole | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
cost. When he comes to sell, he'll keep his share and any profit | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
associated with it. But Cornwall Council says the problem with the | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
Government's scheme is that mortgage lenders are often | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
reluctant to lend on so-called affordable homes because of | :38:18. | :38:20. | |
restrictions attached to them. Also, smaller developers in Cornwall | :38:20. | :38:22. | |
aren't involved because of the large number of houses required to | :38:23. | :38:25. | |
make the scheme work. So, Cornwall Council is looking at its own | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
scheme, which is designed to help more people get mortgages and | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
involve more local developers. are trying to encourage developers | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
across Cornwall to enter the scheme because it is a good way of making | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
sure that we can have house in across Cornwall. We will never be | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
able it with the current rates of building to building of houses for | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
local people say about thinking outside the box, this is a pilot | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
scheme is supported by the committee's agency and it will be | :38:52. | :39:02. | |
the first in Britain to do this. can see the change as being a | :39:02. | :39:09. | |
superb method of getting all the developers in Cornwall are on site. | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
The small developer has been excluded to date but we can now | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
offer products to the first-time buyer. He It's a similar idea, but | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
the council will use the planning system to get a better deal from | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
developers so the homes come with fewer restrictions and won't cost | :39:23. | :39:33. | |
:39:33. | :39:35. | ||
the taxpayer anything. And with less restrictions, the mortgage | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
lenders are very willing to lend because the property maintains its | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
real price. People can still pull on a discounted rates so there will | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
still own the property and when it is sold, they will have their share | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
so if it makes money, it makes money and the council can pass on | :39:54. | :40:01. | |
to the up and market the discounted house to the next buyer. The buyers | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
have to be new builds and you must be local. And that is a problem for | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
someone like Robert from Penzance. He and his family rented home and | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
the Black to take advantage of this scheme but have homes are being | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
built in neighbouring towns and not your own, if there is nothing you | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
can do. It is a good idea because they need housing in different | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
areas with different people and local people should come first. But | :40:27. | :40:35. | |
if they are not building in Penzance, I don't have a connection | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
with other parishes. I do not know anybody who lives there. And that | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
is quite restrictive. Unless you happen to live in the parish would | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
be a building developments... Cornwall scheme is trying to get | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
more people onto the latter but some experts are concerned that the | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
focus should not be on owning property but making sure everyone | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
has somewhere to live. I would like to see landlords being given more | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
incentives and more long-term rights. Look at social housing, | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
about accommodation and lifetime tenancies, these are the ideas the | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
widespread society will benefit from. This is a good initiative but, | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
frankly, it will only get a few hundred people heart. Shelter also | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
welcomes anything that helps. But with around 20,000 people on the | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
housing waiting list, it describes the plan as like putting a sticking | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
plaster on a broken leg. John Ayres reporting. Ed Miliband addressed | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
the issue of affordable housing rather controversially in his | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
conference speech last week. The Labour leader said that when it | :41:38. | :41:40. | |
came to social housing we shouldn't treat people who contribute to | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
society in the same way as those who don't. Our first duty, he said, | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
should be to the person who shows responsibility and he said every | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
council should recognise the contribution that people are making. | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
I asked him exactly what that meant. Was he saying Labour would force | :41:52. | :42:01. | |
councils to prioritise people who had jobs, for instance? What it | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
means is we say, councils should recognise the need and that is | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
important but also the contribution and higher councils to that is a | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
matter for them. We have some councils recognising people who | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
work and are giving them extra points. The problem is that the one | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
thing that has not taken account of his, are you volunteering or making | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
some contribution? That is one part. The other is, we must get more | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
houses built. And one of the things we have said is let's use the bank | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
donor's tax to halt construction, cut VAT and get the industry moving. | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
Those are important ways that we think we can make a difference to | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
the chronic housing shortage. isn't just an issue of | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
differentiating? This idea of the deserving and the undeserving | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
homeless is a little bit Victorian. If people have housing and | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
financial problems, they will be less likely to make any | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
contribution to society? Councils like Manchester have shown | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
practically how this can work. This is part of a bigger argument. | :43:10. | :43:16. | |
Across the economy, the to in the welfare state, we have to have a | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
system that rewards the right values. Something for hard work. | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
That does not happen at the moment. We have to address this and I am | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
determined we address this and that is what I have been talking about. | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
And showing how we can cut tuition fees as well rather than going | :43:32. | :43:38. | |
ahead with tax cuts. The main thing is building more houses. Planning | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
is key to that? The Government has a proposal to make it easier to | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
build houses and they say it's through the planning guidance. You | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
or opposed to that? But the Government could... Labour spent a | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
long time trying to get the plan... You want to force councils to build | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
a certain amount of houses? To take the responsibility, for a certain | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
number of houses in each area. The Government says we will play that | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
off completely and you will see a massive drop in the number of | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
planning permissions granted. We are going backwards on house | :44:12. | :44:20. | |
building and it is very well at the Government... The presumption is | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
tenable development but everybody is setting back the building of | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
affordable housing. They are going the wrong direction. They have | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
massively cut the budget for house building and had made the wrong | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
decisions about planning and I feel what will happen in this country | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
under this Government is that. want businesses to make | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
contributions to society and one to recognise small businesses as the | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
life blood. One of the contributions you want businesses | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
to make is to offer apprenticeships but you would not offer a major | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
government contracts to businesses to did not. That cuts out small | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
businesses? Major government contracts because most small | :45:00. | :45:06. | |
businesses do not get those. What I said about small businesses is they | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
must have a better deal from the banks. A better deal from not just | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
central government but local government and when I talk to small | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
businesses in Britain, we had this that the Q&A session yesterday, | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
there was a sense that they are not being served by the larger interest | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
on the private sector. Warm smile businesses that the banks, let's | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
have more competition so we start to deliver for small business | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
because at the moment, small business is being let down by the | :45:34. | :45:42. | |
actions of the banking system. Thank you very much. Some of the | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
South West's head teachers say they're effectively being bribed | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
with cash incentives to turn their schools into academies. One of | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
Somerset's highest performing state schools says it won't give into | :45:50. | :45:52. | |
pressure to follow the government's flagship policy, as Ruth Bradley | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
reports. This is Heathfield Community School in Taunton. The | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
best performing school in Somerset. 93% of Heathfield's students got | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
five good GCSEs this year. But while most of Somerset's secondary | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
schools have become academies in the last year, Heathfield won't be | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
one of them. Because of this man. Elliott Furneax is a big believer | :46:14. | :46:16. | |
in state education and says the Coalition's academies programme is | :46:16. | :46:26. | |
:46:26. | :46:30. | ||
immoral. I cannot stand up in an assembly and talk about being a and | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
decent citizen and then take the decision of which massively | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
advantages us as an already outstanding school against schools | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
and families and Young people who will be very disadvantaged. Even | :46:44. | :46:50. | |
though I do not think for sure that is what the Government intends. | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
Unfortunately, the outcome will be very different to what they hope. | :46:55. | :47:02. | |
He says if the school became an academy, he'd resign. Difficult to | :47:02. | :47:08. | |
the point where in three years we were not the leading school, I hope | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
that long before that, if I had anything to do with Academy funding, | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
but I would have gone. If we get to the point when it is necessary, you | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
won't have to come with men in white coats and take me. I will say, | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
I cannot leave this because I do not agree with that. Academies get | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
all their money straight from the Government, including the cash the | :47:30. | :47:35. | |
council would have spent on things like IT and special needs. The head | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
says this school would have been an extra half a million pounds better | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
off, on top of their money from the council, by becoming an academy | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
this September. These students can do the sums. That's �416 more for | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
each of them. The government says schools shouldn't convert just | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
because of the money. But head teachers are saying they've got no | :47:57. | :48:05. | |
choice. I think that the vast majority of schools, if not all of | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
them, in Somerset in the secondary sector who have become academies | :48:09. | :48:15. | |
have done so for financial reasons. The sense in which we wish to work | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
in partnership with each other remains as strong as it ever has | :48:18. | :48:25. | |
done. The vast majority of Somerset secondaries are now academies or on | :48:25. | :48:27. | |
their way. At this rate, Heathfield Community could become the last | :48:27. | :48:35. | |
school standing. Ruth Bradley reporting. Our request for an | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
interview with a Schools Minister was declined, but in a statement, | :48:38. | :48:48. | |
:48:48. | :48:49. | ||
the Department for Education told Our long-term ambition is that | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
academies will be the norm in the schools system. And it insists: No | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
one is putting a gun against any school's head to convert to | :48:56. | :49:05. | |
academies. A Cornish MP is stepping up her campaign to make it illegal | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
to keep monkeys as pets. Sheryll Murray, the MP for South East | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
Cornwall, is calling for a ban after being inspired by a monkey | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
sanctuary in her constituency. But the Government says existing animal | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
welfare legislation is sufficient. We'll be hearing from Sheryll | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
Murray after this report from Tamsin Melville. This is the | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
Plymouth home of Tay2 and Rattler, cotton-eared marmoset monkeys. | :49:28. | :49:30. | |
There's growing pressure on the Government to tighten up the law | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
governing primates as pets. But at the moment this kind of thing is | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
legal and the owner of this pair says he's doing nothing wrong. | :49:40. | :49:46. | |
feel I have given I have given quality of life. They have a gin | :49:46. | :49:52. | |
Mary and built on the ceiling. -- gymnasium. I feel I am the | :49:52. | :49:58. | |
custodian of these for the future generation. And they trust me | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
enough to share MySpace. Under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, certain | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
species of primate need a licence. But marmosets like Tay2 are not | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
included. It's just this sort of set-up campaigners want to see | :50:09. | :50:18. | |
stopped. Primates are wild animals. They have never been domesticated | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
and they struggle with captive environments and it to provide | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
anything, it must be highly specialised. And somebody's back | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
garden will never do that. No matter how much they care for that | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
animal. Campaigners like Rachel say it's nothing short of a total ban | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
on keeping primates as pets that will prevent a story like that of | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
Grips, now happily living at the Wild Futures Sanctuary, but with a | :50:40. | :50:47. | |
troubled past. The monkey enclosure was dilapidated and it was stripped | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
bare of any enrichment. Localised and largely ineffective heating | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
meant the monkeys were extremely cold and most worryingly, on | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
monkeys were showing physical signs that they might have suffered from | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
diabetes. This campaign video shows Grips' rescue from a private home | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
in Essex. Of the 28 monkeys being looked after at this sanctuary in | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
south east Cornwall, most of them came from private homes. And | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
experts think across the UK there are around 5000 primates being kept | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
essentially as pets. Under the current regulations it is down to | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
local authorities to issue licences where needed and critics say many | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
are unable to do the job properly. Campaigners estimate there's up to | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
a 90% non-compliance rate, with only two licences known of at the | :51:28. | :51:36. | |
moment across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. Meanwhile, | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
there are calls for a Code of Practice introduced in 2006 to be | :51:40. | :51:47. | |
toughened up. With no enforcement, there is little purpose to it. At | :51:47. | :51:52. | |
the moment, the Government says it is a voluntary code but if it isn't | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
being enforced, it isn't being used, then people are being left to their | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
own devices up and through neglect and mostly through lack of | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
understanding and ignorance, there is a lot of suffering going on. | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
Back in Plymouth, Pete Powell insists his monkeys are leading | :52:08. | :52:17. | |
happy lives. I cannot see why there should be a total band. I can | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
understand with larger monkeys because they can be aggressive. | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
What the right care, these can be lovable, like children. DEFRA says | :52:26. | :52:28. | |
the existing legislation is adequate and also says anyone | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
owning a primate should comply with the Animal Welfare Act. Campaigners | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
say they remain optimistic and are hopeful this Government will | :52:33. | :52:39. | |
address the issue. Tamsin Melville reporting. Earlier, I spoke to the | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
MP for South East Cornwall, Sheryll Murray, who wants to make it | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
illegal to keep a monkey at home. I asked her if she had any sympathy | :52:47. | :52:54. | |
for Mr Powell, who we saw in the film with his pet monkeys. Clearly, | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
he does not realise the that he could be making those monkeys | :52:59. | :53:06. | |
suffer. Is he? You could argue that form queues that smile, he is | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
providing similar facilities to those that the century provides for | :53:11. | :53:19. | |
bigger monkeys? Well, those monkeys are in a home environment and | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
didn't really know what diet they are being given. It isn't just | :53:24. | :53:32. | |
where you keep them, it is the diet they're fed. You heard at Wild | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
Futures, some of the animals go on to develop diabetes because they | :53:36. | :53:43. | |
are being fed the wrong things. I just feel that if somebody really, | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
really cares for the Primate, they should let them live in an | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
environment where it is like their natural environment. It isn't right | :53:54. | :54:01. | |
to keep them in a home. No matter how many ropes they have got and | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
feed them on things that perhaps isn't their natural diet. The only | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
way that we can overcome this is by introducing a total band because | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
clearly, we... A you could not just tighten the regulations? They have | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
not worked because it is up to local authorities to enforce them. | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
He could make sure that they do? There are a lot of local animal | :54:25. | :54:32. | |
welfare officers who have no idea how to look after primates. They | :54:32. | :54:40. | |
have no idea how to conduct the proper checks. And it is an area of | :54:40. | :54:46. | |
expertise that would take a lot of money and education in all the | :54:46. | :54:52. | |
authorities throughout the country for us to get right. And it has | :54:52. | :54:59. | |
been going on for a very long time. He if you could see Joely, at the | :54:59. | :55:05. | |
Wild Futures Sanctuary, he was kept in a cage and he was continually | :55:05. | :55:12. | |
rocking from side to side. All day. This was a real sign that he was | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
psychologically damaged. In terms of higher domesticated you might be, | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
Wild Futures said that the Prime Minister said they had a strong | :55:20. | :55:27. | |
case but that does not seem to be filtering through? If he does? | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
need to keep on. The Member of Parliament who introduced the wild | :55:32. | :55:38. | |
animals in circuses debate recently put forward a private member's bill | :55:38. | :55:46. | |
during the last session to and it did not get anywhere. They say it | :55:46. | :55:52. | |
will strengthen regulations? It is only through education. I but like | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
to see it every MP speaking to the experts at Wild Futures to learn | :55:56. | :56:02. | |
about this because I am absolutely certain that if a Minister for and | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
the Members of Parliament realise the psychological damage that was | :56:06. | :56:11. | |
being imposed on keeping these animals in captivity and feeding | :56:11. | :56:16. | |
them on the wrong things, there would certainly be a big change of | :56:16. | :56:21. |