Month: March 2012

Waterbeach MBTP

17:40 Friday 30th March 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN:It cost Cambridgeshire County Council £42 million, and it’s called The Terminator. But is it rubbish? The mechanical biological treatment plant, or MBTP, is the first of its kind in the UK. It’s meant to sort and shred the contents of Cambridgeshire’s black bins, so they can be recycled or composted, but 18 months on, The Terminator is still not working to its full capacity, despite the cost of £42 million. Well the Council’s head rubbish expert is Leon Livermore and he joined me a short while ago to explain . Continue reading “Waterbeach MBTP”

Tariq Sadiq on George Galloway

17:20 Friday 30th March 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Gorge Galloway is back in Parliament. The firebrand anti-war campaigner is the new MP for Bradford West, after a shock by-election victory for his Respect Party last night, a very big shock. The win is humiliating for Labour, who just didn’t see it coming. Tariq Sadiq joins me now. He is the Leader of the Labour Group on Cambridgeshire County Council. Tariq, hello to you.
TARIQ SADIQ: Hi.
CHRIS MANN: You didn’t see that one coming. Continue reading “Tariq Sadiq on George Galloway”

Bilbo and the Dragon

“Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know, from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder for as long as they live, and never enjoy a brass ring of it. Indeed, they hardly know a good bit of work from a bad, although they usually have a good notion of the current market value; and they can’t make a thing for themselves, not even mend a little loose scale on their armour”

The Hobbit.

A Good Year for Ladybirds

07:55 Thursday 29th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: As the sun has come out, another little creature seems to have appeared in rather high numbers. Some of us here at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire have noticed that ladybirds are everywhere at the moment. How come? Sarah Henshall is a conservation officer for Buglife, the invertebrate conservation trust, which is based right here in Cambridgeshire. Morning.
SARAH HENSHALL: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: I haven’t seen millions of ladybirds. Have we got loads and loads and loads? Continue reading “A Good Year for Ladybirds”

Fish Rescue at Maxey Cut

08:36 Wednesday 28th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Hundreds of fish in Peterborough have been saved thanks to swift action from the Environment Agency. The group say the drought, which has been the worst in 100 years, is reducing river levels by 75%. Now our reporter Kerry Devine put the waders on and went to meet David Hawley from the Environment Agency on the Maxey Cut, just outside Peakirk. Continue reading “Fish Rescue at Maxey Cut”

Public Funding of Political Parties

07:15 Tuesday 27th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Do you fancy paying towards the running of our political parties? Do you? Well the issue has been revived after the so-called “dinners for donors” scandal which is currently engulfing the Conservatives. Its chief fundraiser of course Peter Cruddas has been forced to quit, and David Cameron has had to unveil all the people he had lunch with and dinner with. And as a consequence, fresh talks are being held this week between Britain’s three main parties. Now the Tories are suggesting an annual cap on donations of fifty grand. Well Michael Fallon is the party’s Deputy Chairman. (TAPE)
MICHAEL FALLON: If you want your politics to be free of state funding, politics costs money. You need to fight elections. You need to raise money. You need to be free. We’ve made an offer to the Labour Party, who take £4 million from one union. We’ve made an offer to the Labour Party. Let’s cap this. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well Labour want a lower cap of £10,000, but believe the large union donations should continue, as they’re funded by millions of individual trade unionists. Tony Blair’s former chief fundraiser, Lord Levy, says now is the time to consider a system of state funding, paid for by, you’ve guessed it, me and you. (TAPE)
LORD LEVY: It’s an additional burden on the public purse, but for the amount it would take to fund political parties, and an election, one is talking about something like 50p per electoral member. I think in the Kelly Report they compared that to the cost of a postage stamp. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well the Liberal Democrats are the only party keen on state funding, but their critics say it’s because they can’t rely on cash support from big business or trade unions. Even their own MPs admit it’s going to be hard to ask voters during difficult economic times to increase public spending on politicians, when the same politicians are cutting public spending elsewhere. Do you fancy paying for political parties? Do you? Have you got a few quid spare?

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

Business Decimated by Queensgate Building Works

07:10 Monday 26th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Work to revamp Cowgate which is supposed to start at the end of March now won’t begin until August. The £800,000 makeover includes the extension for Primark in Queensgate. But businesses in the area are not happy. Simon Baker is from the Sports Lounge in King Street. Morning.
SIMON BAKER: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So the revamp was supposed to start at the end of this week, wasn’t it?
SIMON BAKER: Yes. All the guys from Primark were supposed to be out by the end of February. And I only got informed by the local press on Friday that it had all been put back again. It’s becoming an absolute nightmare for us. Our trade has just plummeted really, because of all the work on Primark. And if you ever walk past King Street, it just looks like a building site. And it has been for the past two or three months now. And it’s really really starting to affect us badly. I didn’t mind putting up with it because I knew it was short term. I’ve got fantastic relationships with all the planning guys. With the Council, it just seems to be I don’t know what’s going on.

08:15
PAUL STAINTON: We did ask the Council to come on this morning and tell us what was going on. They couldn’t. They did send us a statement. They said: “The work on Cowgate is dependent on the progress of Primark. At this stage we’re in discussions with the developers working on the new Primark store, and an exact timeline will be clearer towards the end of the week.” But it’s not clear for local businesses who are suffering at the moment.

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