:00:46. > :00:48.In the West, the political first as a judge over-rules councillors,
:00:48. > :00:51.telling them they'll be breaking equalities legilslation if they
:00:51. > :00:54.close libraries in Somerset and Gloucestershire. As the campaigners
:00:54. > :01:04.celebrate, the councillors are left counting the costs. All that coming
:01:04. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :40:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2342 seconds
:40:07. > :40:11.Good afternoon and welcome to the part of the programme just for us
:40:11. > :40:17.here in the beautiful West Country. This week, we had a political first,
:40:17. > :40:20.but it wasn't good news for our elected councillors. They lost a
:40:20. > :40:22.high court battle over closing the doors on libraries in Somerset and
:40:22. > :40:25.Gloucestershire, leaving campaigners celebrating.
:40:25. > :40:29.Plus, the council cuts to youth services leaving charities to pick
:40:29. > :40:32.up the tab to save vital services. And the new IT system that farmers
:40:32. > :40:42.say is risking the health of livestock because of delays to
:40:42. > :40:48.
:40:48. > :40:52.It's the essence of democracy. We choose who is in charge, they make
:40:52. > :40:54.the decisions and, if we disapprove, we can kick them out. But this week
:40:54. > :40:57.saw elected politicians over-ruled by an unelected judge. In a
:40:57. > :40:59.significant development, the High Court threw out major cuts which
:40:59. > :41:04.could have seen libraries closing in Gloucestershire and Somerset.
:41:04. > :41:07.Here's Paul Barltrop. Celebrations in Somerset.
:41:07. > :41:17.Campaigners who had fought to save Watchet Library toasted the success
:41:17. > :41:25.
:41:25. > :41:33.of their court battle. Madame! had taken many months. They are
:41:33. > :41:36.ecstatic. It has been going on for such a long time. Theirs had been
:41:36. > :41:39.joined to a similar challenge in Gloucestershire. There had been
:41:39. > :41:43.numerous demonstrations outside council meetings. A firm of lawyers
:41:43. > :41:46.were hired. Injunctions were issued halting closures. They went to the
:41:46. > :41:51.High Court on three occasions, culminating in this week's decisive
:41:51. > :41:55.ruling. They emerged delighted having heard a judge quash the
:41:55. > :42:03.council's library cuts for failing in their equalities' duties. Their
:42:03. > :42:07.victory will have implications across the country. It builds all
:42:08. > :42:10.councils now to look at what the court has said and to examine at
:42:10. > :42:17.the library cuts they are proposing and make sure they are complying
:42:17. > :42:21.with their legal duties. I expect a fundamental change in the shape of
:42:21. > :42:26.the library cuts are being proposed. In fact, the legislation this case
:42:26. > :42:30.turned on could be used to fight all sorts of cuts.
:42:30. > :42:33.The Equality Act 2010 was put into law in the final days of the last
:42:33. > :42:36.Labour government. Much of it only came into force this year. It
:42:36. > :42:38.consolidated and replaced a whole array of existing legislation such
:42:38. > :42:41.as Race Relations rules and the Disability Discrimination act, but
:42:41. > :42:45.also added an extra group who must be given special consideration by
:42:45. > :42:51.Government - the elderly It is only now that the courts are starting to
:42:51. > :42:53.interpret what that actually means in practice. For Gloucestershire
:42:53. > :43:00.County Council, there is great frustration. They thought they had
:43:00. > :43:05.done their homework. It is something that this organisation
:43:06. > :43:10.believes in so much. We undertook three equality impact assessments
:43:10. > :43:18.of this issue, tried to get it right. So we are very disappointed.
:43:18. > :43:20.I think it is a matter of timing where we went wrong on this.
:43:20. > :43:24.Conservative administration had planned to take �2 million a year
:43:24. > :43:30.from their libraries budget. problem is not going to go away. We
:43:30. > :43:37.still need to save �2 million. It is money we cannot afford to throw
:43:37. > :43:41.away. We will be working to see if we can make this decision again and
:43:41. > :43:46.work with those communities to make sure their aspirations are
:43:46. > :43:49.delivered. Back in Watchet, the reprieved
:43:49. > :43:57.library was enjoying one of its busiest days. The campaigners will
:43:57. > :44:07.watch carefully what the council do next. We hope they will not waste
:44:07. > :44:07.
:44:07. > :44:12.more public money by going to appeal. We are very happy and
:44:12. > :44:17.placed and will sit down and discuss how to keep libraries open.
:44:17. > :44:20.We are determined not to let libraries close.
:44:20. > :44:22.It was last December that this library learnt it was under threat.
:44:22. > :44:25.Nearly a year on, these controversial cuts in both Somerset
:44:25. > :44:30.and Gloucestershire have got nowhere and it has cost taxpayers
:44:30. > :44:33.possibly hundreds of thousands of pounds.
:44:33. > :44:41.Joining us today is the leader of Somerset County Council
:44:41. > :44:46.Conservative Councillor Ken Maddock. So what are you going to do now?
:44:46. > :44:50.is a very long and complex judgement and I am not sure whether
:44:50. > :44:54.the peace preceding this are made entirely clear that we were
:44:55. > :45:01.challenged on three grounds. Firstly, were the complying with
:45:01. > :45:06.the 1964 Act? And the judges' opinion was that we wear. Secondly,
:45:06. > :45:12.did the consult widely enough? The judgment was that we had to.
:45:12. > :45:20.Thirdly, did we take due account of the new equalities legislation?
:45:20. > :45:30.That is where we fell short. I except everything the judge said.
:45:30. > :45:32.
:45:32. > :45:38.Did you under estimate that piece of the legislation? I believe think
:45:38. > :45:45.the key point now is where do we go from here? -- I really think.
:45:45. > :45:50.you and -- it did you under estimate what the Act was all
:45:50. > :45:57.about? Apparently, we were founded to be wanting in that area. But it
:45:57. > :46:03.is a part of the legislation that we take very serious lead. -- very
:46:03. > :46:06.seriously. I cannot tell you what is going to happen next, but I can
:46:06. > :46:16.tell you my thoughts of from the judgement. The quickest thing we
:46:16. > :46:23.can do is to live to the threat from the 11 libraries. -- we can
:46:23. > :46:32.lift the threat. So those libraries are now it saved because there is
:46:32. > :46:37.no appeal? There is no leave to appeal. We can have a look at
:46:37. > :46:43.reduced opening hours for the other libraries. That would take a little
:46:43. > :46:53.bit longer because some people have left our employment and we might
:46:53. > :46:56.
:46:56. > :47:01.need it to be engage people. -- we might lead to take people on again.
:47:01. > :47:06.So there is a lot of bats and balls about the libraries. But there is
:47:06. > :47:15.also there more pressing matter of the money they had to be saved.
:47:15. > :47:25.That is really important. We still have to save 1.3 million frowns. --
:47:25. > :47:29.
:47:29. > :47:33.We can do that by introducing a new processes, such as barcode readers.
:47:33. > :47:40.How much of a disaster is this legislation as far as you are
:47:40. > :47:49.concerned? Should do not have been bringing end barcode readers
:47:49. > :47:57.anyway? They were going to do that any be yes, but this is just one
:47:57. > :48:01.way to help. I am completely sympathetic with this legislation.
:48:01. > :48:04.We have a big change a programme coming up and the future of the
:48:04. > :48:14.library's will be to be a part of that programme. Thank you very much
:48:14. > :48:18.
:48:18. > :48:21.Thousands of us across the West did our bit to help raise money for the
:48:21. > :48:24.BBC's Children In Need appeal this year. But set against a backdrop of
:48:24. > :48:27.the toughest economic climate for many years, local youth groups have
:48:27. > :48:30.told us they are left relying on money from Pudsey and other local
:48:30. > :48:33.charitable organisations just to stay open. In some cases, as many
:48:33. > :48:35.as 50% more applications are being made for help with funding in just
:48:35. > :48:39.one year. In North Somerset, councillors announced this week
:48:39. > :48:48.they are cutting the youth services budget by 72% which will leave many
:48:48. > :48:50.more groups uncertain of their The Xtend after-school club is a
:48:50. > :48:53.lifeline for these children from the Bournville Estate in Weston-
:48:53. > :48:58.super-Mare. With the highest rates of child poverty in the South West,
:48:58. > :49:04.these children love coming here. I was at home, I would not be doing
:49:04. > :49:14.things like this. But the funding had dried up, meaning they would
:49:14. > :49:15.
:49:16. > :49:19.have to close - until Children in Need stepped in. Then they have
:49:19. > :49:27.received a phone call, we were ecstatic. We thought we would not
:49:27. > :49:31.be here after Christmas. Are they did a dance round the office. Lots
:49:31. > :49:34.of parents and reception saw it. It was a fantastic relief, we were so
:49:34. > :49:37.scared that they were going to lose this.
:49:37. > :49:40.Pudsey Bear was padding the streets of the West Country, raising money
:49:40. > :49:43.to help vulnerable children. And this year, local children's
:49:43. > :49:47.charities and groups like Xtend say the money is needed more than ever
:49:47. > :49:48.to plug the holes opening up from councils ever shrinking budgets. In
:49:48. > :49:50.North Somerset, campaigners demonstrated against the
:49:50. > :50:00.Conservative administration's plans to slash their youth services
:50:00. > :50:04.
:50:04. > :50:08.budget by 75%. The money is used to pay for youth centres like this one
:50:08. > :50:17.in Portishead where jobs will go. The hope from the council is that
:50:17. > :50:24.voulunteers or charities will step in to run them. They will step back
:50:24. > :50:27.if we have no alternative, but they have improvement strategies. The
:50:27. > :50:33.mean that the authority and the schools will work together with
:50:33. > :50:35.other partners to maintain these facilities.
:50:35. > :50:42.They claim they're not leaving vulnerable children in need. But
:50:42. > :50:45.others disagree. We want to see a good partnership relationship
:50:45. > :50:50.between the state, central government and local government,
:50:50. > :50:53.rather than the idea that the state can withdraw from services and
:50:53. > :50:56.charities takeover. And it's not just here in North
:50:56. > :50:59.Somerset where they're making big cuts to youth services. Many of our
:50:59. > :51:01.other councils are having to do the same as their budgets become
:51:01. > :51:04.squeezed. The leader of Somerset County
:51:04. > :51:07.Council Ken Maddock is still here and we are also joined by Denis
:51:07. > :51:17.Stinchcombe MBE who has been a youth worker in Bristol for 35
:51:17. > :51:27.
:51:27. > :51:35.years. As far as they used cuts -- the youth cuts are concerned, what
:51:35. > :51:39.are your thoughts? We have to find a lot of what we do -- we have to
:51:39. > :51:44.fund a lot of what we do from the public sector and the private
:51:44. > :51:51.sector doorstep if you lose the public sector funding, you lose
:51:51. > :52:00.staff. If you lose staff, the resources are cut. So that little
:52:00. > :52:08.bit coming from the local authority, 20%, how do you survive without it?
:52:08. > :52:14.The local authority grant I get for youth work is about �11,000 a year,
:52:14. > :52:19.that is not a lot. With that, I ran about sex sessions for a young
:52:19. > :52:24.people. Take That away and lose staff, in effect, I cannot deliver
:52:24. > :52:30.the service. If I cannot deliver the service, those young people are
:52:30. > :52:40.out of the streets. These are swingeing cuts. Surely, these are
:52:40. > :52:41.
:52:41. > :52:49.fronts -- frontline services? two out of every �3 that we spend
:52:49. > :52:53.is spent on caring for people who cannot care for themselves. Someone
:52:53. > :53:03.with learning difficulties, it cost about �1,200 a week to look after
:53:03. > :53:06.
:53:06. > :53:13.them. You have to plan for that expenditure long term. We have
:53:13. > :53:20.about 250 such people to care for. We have to deliver services for
:53:20. > :53:26.them. But you government is making these cuts. And you are making the
:53:26. > :53:36.case for not doing that. We have to work more efficiently and bring in
:53:36. > :53:44.
:53:44. > :53:49.more voluntary work and private sector help. I am on the front line,
:53:49. > :53:59.I deal with the body, if you like. I do not have to deal with the
:53:59. > :54:00.
:54:00. > :54:06.finance side of it. In Bristol alone, there are over 8000 young
:54:06. > :54:11.people unemployed. Start closing down it that you centres and it
:54:11. > :54:20.will add to the number of them out on the street. It was not long ago
:54:20. > :54:24.that there were riots, caused by disaffected young people. I did not
:54:24. > :54:31.come into politics to start closing things down. But we are so short of
:54:31. > :54:33.money, we have to find new ways of doing it. We have got similar
:54:33. > :54:40.problems and we have to talk together and work together to get
:54:40. > :54:43.the best. Is it fair to expect charities and voluntary
:54:43. > :54:49.organisations to pick up the bill? People are generous, but they
:54:49. > :54:55.cannot keep doing it. I am constantly amazed by the way the
:54:55. > :55:00.people rise to the occasion. �26 million raised on Friday for
:55:00. > :55:06.children indeed. But is it fear that they have to pick up the tab?
:55:06. > :55:10.-- is it right that they have to pick up the tab? Should I abandon
:55:10. > :55:20.the people that cannot look after themselves and do not have a family
:55:20. > :55:22.
:55:22. > :55:25.to care for them? That is how I have to look at it. Thank you both
:55:25. > :55:27.very much indeed. Farmers in the West say a new
:55:27. > :55:30.computer system is putting livestock at risk as it is
:55:30. > :55:33.preventing them from getting TB infected cattle off their farms. In
:55:33. > :55:36.some cases, they have been unable to take them to slaughter for more
:55:36. > :55:39.than a month. There's a backlog of more than 1,000 cases that are
:55:39. > :55:40.waiting to be processed due to the computer problems. Luke Hanrahan
:55:40. > :55:43.reports. Bovine tuberculosis cost of the
:55:43. > :55:50.economy around �100 million a year. It affects farmers across the South
:55:50. > :55:58.West. Tens of thousands of cattle are killed. Herds are regularly
:55:58. > :56:03.tested for the disease and it is common to find a few cattle have
:56:03. > :56:08.got it. In the past, the process of sending sick cattle to slaughter
:56:08. > :56:17.was relatively simple. But an error with a new IT system means there is
:56:17. > :56:21.a new problem to contend with. This power has of bovine TB. Before
:56:21. > :56:30.October 1st, it would have been on the farm for no more than a week.
:56:30. > :56:40.But since then, for almost have been keeping them -- farms have had
:56:40. > :56:42.
:56:42. > :56:49.to keep them on site for longer. Timmy, once a reactor is a reactor,
:56:49. > :56:53.the sooner it leaves a farm, the better for all concerned.
:56:53. > :56:59.Animal Health Agency, a subsidiary of Defra, has brought in an IT
:56:59. > :57:08.system which it describes as a cost-cutting measure. It took 17
:57:08. > :57:17.days to take the reactor's of. -- take the reactors of a. I am afraid
:57:17. > :57:27.that I lost my cool with that agency. He cannot explain how his
:57:27. > :57:28.
:57:28. > :57:36.cattle catch tuberculosis. They heard is isolated, surrounded by
:57:36. > :57:40.thousands of acre of -- of thousands of acres of open field.
:57:40. > :57:45.But one of his cattle has TB. just thought that she goes soon.
:57:45. > :57:50.She could infect other cattle. sick cow needs to be removed as
:57:50. > :57:54.quickly as possible so that the farm can press on with winter
:57:54. > :58:04.preparations. But it is taking a lot longer than before, which is
:58:04. > :58:06.
:58:07. > :58:13.costing all over money. There is cost-cutting across the board. But
:58:13. > :58:19.if it is not working, they should not do it. For some MPs, the change
:58:19. > :58:23.in the system has not been properly thought through. It is cost-cutting
:58:23. > :58:28.without using common sense. There could be a number of ways of
:58:28. > :58:38.improving the system. But it is feeling at the moment. In a
:58:38. > :58:46.
:58:46. > :58:53.They say they are prioritising of work and extra staff has been
:58:53. > :58:57.brought in to assist. For the minister now, we are working hard
:58:57. > :59:01.on this at to make sure we can get the paperwork out to farmers.
:59:01. > :59:06.have to do it under a different system, we will put it in place
:59:06. > :59:10.until such time as this computer system either works or there is a
:59:10. > :59:16.different system or go back to the old one. But we cannot allow
:59:16. > :59:21.farmers, under huge stress already, to have these huge problems.
:59:21. > :59:30.seems that the estimated 1200 cattle farmers in the South West
:59:30. > :59:36.will have to grin and bear it. In the meantime, this power is stuck
:59:36. > :59:39.on a farm, increasing the chances that bovine TB will be passed on.
:59:39. > :59:43.And that's it from the West this week. The Politics Show continues
:59:43. > :59:46.with Jon Sopel in London. If you want to get in touch with your