Month: February 2012

Leap Day Volunteering

17:55 Wednesday 29th February 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: In 2008 The National Trust started a new tradition. It’s been encouraging companies to pay their staff for a day off, as long as they spend it doing something to help the environment. Well Rachel Huxley is the Chief Executive of the Peterborough Environment City Trust, and she’s been at the Langdyke Trust today, and joins me on the line now. Rachel, Hello.
RACHEL HUXLEY: Hello. Good afternoon.
CHRIS MANN: All of the above. And so, what have you been doing today? Continue reading “Leap Day Volunteering”

Radical Sportscars of Peterborough Enters the Russian Market

08:18 Tuesday 28th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Gentlemen, start your engines. A Peterborough car manufacturer is expanding its business to Russia. Radical Sportscars, based in Westwood, signed a deal yesterday that will see its cars sold in the country, and may well see a race series set up in the coming years.  Radical Sportscars, going to Russia? We can speak to Will Brown. He’s the Marketing Officer at Radical, and has been celebrating.
WILL BROWN: Yes. Absolutely Paul. Yes, it’s a great thing, and a really exciting time for us. We’re growing all the time. This year is set to be another record year for us, so entering the Russian market is quite timely really.
PAUL STAINTON: How did it all come about? Continue reading “Radical Sportscars of Peterborough Enters the Russian Market”

Fairtrade Fortnight Cornershop Campaign

17:53 Monday 27th February 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Fairtrade Fortnight began today with the news that trade figures for Fairtrade businesses are booming, bucking the overall commercial trend, the fair trade in cocoa is up by a third on last year, sugar up by a fifth, and bananas coffee and tea all showing significant growth. People are turning to Fairtrade. To tell us more, I’m joined live in the studio now by Pat Heap of Fairtrade Cambridge. Pat, good evening.
PAT HEAP: Good evening.
CHRIS MANN: What exactly is Fairtrade. first of all, for those who haven’t heard of it?
PAT HEAP: It’s a way of providing a sustainable livelihood to farmers and workers, mainly in developing countries, who are very vulnerable to the markets of the west. And it’s a way of making sure that they get a fair income for the work that they do, the crops they produce, and that they are able to plan for the future. It’s about caring for the environment, producing things sustainably. Continue reading “Fairtrade Fortnight Cornershop Campaign”

Peterborough – This Broken City

Monday 27th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

07:07
IAN DAVIES PETERBOROUGH SOUP KITCHEN: At the moment, with the economic situation as it is, there are more and more homeless people. In Peterborough, we have the third largest number of homeless in the UK, outside of London. .. In some ways we are part of the problem, because we offer food nearby.
KERRY DEVINE BBC: Sometimes you will see groups of people .. sat here, drinking. You walk back after work and there’s litter everywhere.
BRIAN PEARCE RAILWORLD: We did think about putting a picnic table here to encourage people to sit down here, because it’s so fabulous. But what happens when these people have been here, nothing but rubbish. It does your head in really. You go to the archways, and I can assure you you’ll find probably 200 empty bottles of cider, cans, we’ve got a real big drink problem.
KERRY DEVINE BBC: Peterborough Environment City Trust .. they have a litter pick here once a month.

08:07:
FIONA RADIC GREEN PARTY: I’m not sure we should conflate the migration issue with the homeless issue.  People are not uniquely immigrants who are homeless. We’ve got an increasing number of people who are homeless, wherever they’re coming from, and however long they’ve been here.
PAUL STAINTON BBC: But it does add to the problem.
FIONA RADIC GREEN PARTY: I’m not convinced. .. I think the problem is there anyway. Peterborough has apparently very high figures of homelessness. That doesn’t make sense, because we have empty accommodation. .. I live very near a block of flats which at one point was only one third occupied. So then you have to ask, well why aren’t people living in the accommodation. And I think there’s an element where people are actually opting right out of the system. They’ve had it. They’re seeing through the help agencies, to something which is broken as far as they’re concerned. And if that’s happening, then it doesn’t really matter where they’re from.
PAUL STAINTON: We did ask the Council to come on this morning and talk to us about what is happening down on the Embankment, and they sent us a statement. “We have visited the site in the past few weeks, and although there was evidence to suggest someone had been sleeping rough there, we don’t believe they are currently. We urge anyone who is aware of someone sleeping rough to contact the Council .. so that we can make contact with these people and help them.”

==========

Democracy the Victim of a Council in Chaos

07:10 Thursday 23rd February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON:The Mayor kept overruling herself, didn’t she, at various points?
DARREN FOWER LIBDEM CLLR: It’s laughable that you’ve got people in positions, and they don’t know their elbow from other parts of their body. It doesn’t help with the meeting. It’s not smooth and there’s confusion and misiniformation. Some of the councillors don’t know the constitution, and what they can do. There’s also this issue of when an opposition councillor stands up and makes a point, they get shouted down, and told to sit down. And the ruling Conservative administration stand up and they’re entitled or given almost complete carte blanche to make their points. It’s not right, and it’s not fair. I just urge more people to go along to these meetings, because they are free and they are public, and you do have the benefit of leaving when you want, unlike the councillors.
PAUL STAINTON: Well if you were watching the Twitter feed from Matthew Reville from the Evening Telegraph last night, ..
DARREN FOWER LIBDEM CLLR: I was. Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: .. we all got the gist of how ridiculous the meeting was at times.

=================

Stewart Jackson on DVLA, Royal Mail, and Jobs for Peterborough

17:08 Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Royal Mail have confirmed to us that they’re considering closing the Cambridge Sorting Office, where 196 people are based. They’ve begun a 6 month consultation, but the likelihood is the work will be switched to other centres, such as Peterborough, by 2014. Royal Mail have declined to appear on this programme, but have told us there will be no compulsory redundancies. .. Meanwhile in Peterborough, there is a fight to save the jobs at the DVLA. Stewart Jackson joins me now, live from our Millbank studios at Westminster. He’s the MP for Peterborough of course. Stewart, good evening.
STEWART JACKSON: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: The jobs there are threatened because the Department of Transport wants to close the DVLA. Now you’ve made a bid today to get Mike Penning. the Undersecretary of State, to change the consultation on this . Please explain to us. Continue reading “Stewart Jackson on DVLA, Royal Mail, and Jobs for Peterborough”

North Westgate – Currently A Barnacle

08:08 Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: .. plans have been approved for the redevelopment of the old Royal Mail sorting office. At the moment it’s just a massive car park. Well included in the plans is a block of offices, a supermarket, a landscaped area for the public, and the potential creation of around 600 jobs. Now the site on Bourges Boulevard is set to be part of that railway station regeneration. It will improve the look of the whole area, as you come into Peterborough from the railway. Earlier, Councillor Lucia Serluca, who chaired the meeting last night, approved the plans, because she thinks it’s vital to revitalising the city. (TAPE)
LUCIA SERLUCA: They are going to put a 4,300 square metre food store, and an 805 square metre for other shops and offices. And obviously it will create over 600 jobs over there. It will just .. it will be a great gateway into the city really from the train station, and the development and the regeneration there can only aid in the way Peterborough is moving forward. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well if you were listening yesterday you know we discussed the plans, and MP Stewart Jackson voiced concerns that he thought the North Westgate development was still being neglected, and needed to be brought back to the table. But when we asked Council Leader Marco Cereste if work to regenerate North Westgate was a possibility, he didn’t seem very keen. Continue reading “North Westgate – Currently A Barnacle”

Secrets and Lies

Tuesday 21st February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Peterborough Tories fall out in deselection row.

CLLR.RAY DOBBS: I think there’s been a witchhunt. There is a divide in the Conservative Party, and there’s those who support Marco, and those who don’t. I’m seen as being a Marco man, and seeing as how the selection committee is made up five members who don’t support Marco in any way, what chance have you got? .. South of the river are predominately Marco’s men. And anything north of the river, they would prefer another Leader. .. They never stop bickering, and trying to score silly political points, although we are one Party. And we should act as one Party. .. It’s not a case of sour grapes. It’s reality.

CLLR. MIKE FLETCHER: There’s definitely a split. And I know, the decision to oust Pat Nash was made at least six months ago. And for Wayne Fitzgerald to claim she has not been deselected is just a play on words. Of course she’s been deselected. They knew they were going to deselect her. And what’s more, Pat herself had already been told or heard of rumours, that she was going to be deselected, several weeks ago. .. John Peach and Wayne Firzgerald persuaded me to stand as a Conservative, because I told them then I was going to stand as an Independent. They wanted me to stand as a Conservative to form an alliance to get rid of Marco Cereste. They know that’s the truth. I know it’s the truth. Everybody else knows it’s the truth. And then they found they couldn’t do that. They hadn’t got quite enough votes. And so, in the end, I’m so disillusioned with them, I decided to take the bull by the horns and go where I can vote to my own conscience, and for the benefit of the people of South Bretton, who elected me. With the Conservative Party, it’s more like a dictatorship. They sit round like a bunch of nodding donkeys, and they’re told what to do by two or three people. And they follow that line.

=========