:00:10. > :00:16.Good evening. In the programme tonight, four men from Luton are
:00:16. > :00:26.jailed for a total of more than 30 years after talking about blowing
:00:26. > :00:29.up this Territorial Army base. The price of bread -- bed blocking.
:00:29. > :00:32.This is not about throwing people out of hospital before they are
:00:32. > :00:37.ready. Nobody will leave hospital until they are absolutely ready to
:00:37. > :00:44.go. Say no to new travellers sites. Campaigners gather to make their
:00:44. > :00:54.voices heard. And the Essex man whose record is not broken by
:00:54. > :00:54.
:00:54. > :10:59.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 604 seconds
:10:59. > :11:02.Four men have been jailed for a Hello. First tonight, protesters
:11:02. > :11:07.have turned out for a meeting in central Bedfordshire to voice their
:11:07. > :11:09.anger over plans for seven new travellers' sites in the area.
:11:10. > :11:12.Proposals for the sites will go before full council tonight for
:11:12. > :11:19.approval but campaigners argue the locations have not been properly
:11:19. > :11:24.assessed. Anna Todd is outside the meeting now.
:11:24. > :11:28.Yes, as you can see, there are still a large handful of
:11:28. > :11:33.enthusiastic young protesters. But most people have now gone into the
:11:33. > :11:35.council chamber behind me for yet another meeting in this lengthy and
:11:35. > :11:40.controversial process of finding new travellers' sites for
:11:40. > :11:44.Bedfordshire. They are now seven sites on the shortlist, that has
:11:44. > :11:52.been whittled down from 150 a couple of months ago. Earlier, I
:11:52. > :11:55.spoke to one campaigner who lives near a proposed site. Obviously, we
:11:55. > :11:58.have used on travellers and how they react with the local community
:11:58. > :12:02.but if it is in the right place with the right family, why not have
:12:02. > :12:09.a traveller in your community? But this is the wrong side, wrong
:12:09. > :12:13.village, wrong place. What is the - - what has the council had to say
:12:14. > :12:18.about this? It does have an obligation to provide sites.
:12:18. > :12:22.council received more than 3,000 representations ahead of a meeting
:12:22. > :12:26.in February. Tonight 22 people, members of the public, will speak
:12:26. > :12:30.at the meeting for three minutes each. It will be quite a long
:12:30. > :12:35.evening. The council does have a statutory obligation. They have to
:12:35. > :12:45.provide 66 pitches for travellers in the next 10 years. And up to 180
:12:45. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:57.by 2031. The fact is, in central Bedfordshire, we have a large gypsy
:12:57. > :13:05.and traveller population. Than been the vast majority, there are no
:13:05. > :13:09.problems. But there is a public perception that there might be.
:13:09. > :13:13.the shortlist is given a Yes vote tonight, that will call to public
:13:13. > :13:16.consultation in May. The Dalai Lama will pay his third visit to
:13:16. > :13:20.Cambridge in 40 years. The Tibetan spiritual leader hasn't been to the
:13:20. > :13:25.city since 1993. He'll give a talk at St John's College. Students
:13:25. > :13:33.wrote to him asking him to come to the university.
:13:33. > :13:40.It's just two weeks to go until the local elections. In
:13:40. > :13:43.Northamptonshire the big election issue is of course, the cuts. The
:13:43. > :13:46.Conservative run county council has started a four year programme to
:13:46. > :13:49.slash �170 million from its budgets. Currently the Conservatives hold 54
:13:49. > :13:53.seats, the Lib Dems are in second place with 10 and Labour have just
:13:53. > :14:01.six. But with the number of seats being slashed by 16, how will the
:14:01. > :14:04.council chamber look after May the second? Stuart Ratcliffe reports.
:14:04. > :14:08.Northamptonshire is a county of contrast, rolling countryside of
:14:08. > :14:11.food -- dotted with large centres of population. Traditional
:14:11. > :14:16.industries co-existing alongside motorsport and high-tech
:14:16. > :14:21.Engineering. Like all councils, it has had to make cuts. Street lights
:14:21. > :14:25.have been switched off and lollipop patrols axed and it is these issues
:14:25. > :14:35.which Labour feel will deliver results. People are fed up with
:14:35. > :14:39.this happening in Northamptonshire. If we cannot make gains and take
:14:39. > :14:44.control now, then I don't think we can ever. The Liberal-Democrats
:14:44. > :14:48.also feel that the axe has cut too deeply but they also feel under the
:14:48. > :14:53.stewardship of the Conservatives, standards in the county's children
:14:53. > :14:57.services have dropped to an acceptable levels. We have had
:14:57. > :15:03.disastrous reports. The report into how they look after young children.
:15:03. > :15:07.We have been warning for years that these were cut too far. And here we
:15:07. > :15:11.are, we have the county council inadequate in all four categories.
:15:11. > :15:15.That is disgraceful. But the Conservatives say overall they have
:15:15. > :15:18.a record to be proud of. The county was recently voted the most
:15:18. > :15:22.enterprising in England. And despite having to make cuts, they
:15:22. > :15:29.say they have done all they can to limit the impact. As a result of
:15:29. > :15:33.that, we have had for eight years the lowest council tax in England.
:15:33. > :15:38.We have not increased the county council tax for the last four years
:15:38. > :15:42.at all. Although certain -- sort of things weigh on people thinking
:15:42. > :15:44.about their own livelihood and their own housekeeping. But this
:15:44. > :15:48.year's elections will be very different because of boundary
:15:48. > :15:52.changes, the number and it -- the number of councils Elek --
:15:52. > :15:55.councillors elected will be reduced. Predicting the outcome will be
:15:55. > :16:00.harder than ever. To some extent, these changes are dictating the way
:16:00. > :16:06.the parties are fighting these elections. Labour will be targeting
:16:06. > :16:09.Northampton, Kettering and Corby. In the rural areas, both the
:16:09. > :16:14.Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will be working hard to
:16:14. > :16:19.maintain support as well as in some urban strongholds. But the real
:16:19. > :16:25.challenge to all three parties is managing the potential impact of
:16:25. > :16:28.the UK Independence Party. Voter apathy could also throw up some
:16:28. > :16:35.surprising results. For more information on the local elections
:16:35. > :16:37.and a full list of the candidates in your area: And a reminder that
:16:37. > :16:43.this week's Sunday Politics featuring the leader of the Green
:16:43. > :16:47.Party will be on at the later time of 2pm on BBC1.
:16:47. > :16:53.Retail expert Mary Portas chose it as one of 12 towns to take part in
:16:53. > :16:56.her high street revolution. Now almost a year on more money is
:16:56. > :16:59.being ploughed into regenerating Bedford's High Street. The �3
:16:59. > :17:08.million investment by the council, lottery and local firms aims to
:17:08. > :17:12.boost local business. Hidden behind scaffolding, this building dates
:17:12. > :17:17.back to around 1,800. It used to be almshouses known as Duke's role.
:17:17. > :17:21.Today the shopfront is damaged and in need of repair but it is being
:17:21. > :17:26.restored with the help of an old photograph. When it is finished, it
:17:26. > :17:32.will be very good. It will enhance the High Street as well. It will
:17:32. > :17:36.bring in more customers. It will be better for the tenants. Upstairs,
:17:36. > :17:41.the vacant first floor is also being transformed into a flat. It
:17:41. > :17:44.is part of a �3 million heritage initiative funded jointly by the
:17:44. > :17:49.council, the lottery and local businesses. That is good because
:17:49. > :17:53.the town is dying. We do have retail parks. I think that has
:17:53. > :17:56.taken away business. I suppose anything that can help with the
:17:56. > :18:02.town is good. There are a lot more things they could be doing far
:18:02. > :18:06.better than that, like something to draw tourists in. Not just make the
:18:06. > :18:10.place look pretty. Recently, Bedford was picked as one of 12
:18:10. > :18:15.pilot errors in the Mary Portas project, a scheme to boost high
:18:15. > :18:21.street trade. Shopkeepers are now lose -- using the internet to boost
:18:21. > :18:25.sales. But so far, only �13,000 has been spent. It is important it has
:18:25. > :18:32.been allocated correctly. We need the shopkeepers to undergo
:18:33. > :18:36.retraining. That -- -- that has to be at a suitable time for them.
:18:36. > :18:41.These things take longer than we want but I am pleased it has
:18:41. > :18:44.started. A further nine properties will be refurbished. A spelling
:18:44. > :18:47.mistake on a war memorial in Cambridgeshire is finally going to
:18:47. > :18:51.be corrected, more than 90 years after it was made. When the
:18:51. > :18:55.memorial was put up in the village of Shepreth, the name of George