Month: July 2012

Homelessness Reaching Middle Class Families in South Cambridgeshire

17:40 Tuesday 31st July 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

NICK FAIRBAIRN: There’s been a rise in the number of households needing emergency accommodation in the East of England. Date company SSentif has found that homelessness has risen by around 25% over the last three years, with the highest rise happening in this region.Cllr Mark Howell is the Cabinet Member for Housing at South Cambridgeshire District Council, and joins me in the studio now. Mark, have you seen a rise in homelessness in South Cambridgeshire? Has this been an upward trend? Continue reading “Homelessness Reaching Middle Class Families in South Cambridgeshire”

No Way Back for the High Street

07:26 Monday 30th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’ve all seen the shops closed on the high street. Clinton Cards going, Game going, and plenty of independents as well. Well now not only are they blaming the austere times that we’re living in, Adam Kirtley, they’re blaming the weather, aren’t they?
ADAM KIRTLEY: Well they’re blaming the weather in part. Julian Graves by the way is another one who’s just gone. I think that does, or did, wholefood, and that sort of thing. Now, 426 retailers went into insolvency in the second quarter of this year, and that’s up from 386 in the same period last year, so it’s 40 more, if you like, retailers have gone belly-up. Some of these will be very very small, some will be the big ones like Clinton Cards. Now the wash-out of the summer does appear to have exacerbated the problem, but I think Paul it would be unfair to blame it all on the weather. The bottom line is we’re just not shopping. Continue reading “No Way Back for the High Street”

Sir Roger Tomkys – A Perspective on the Syrian Conflict

17:22 Monday 23rd June 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Syria’s under-pressure government says it will not use chemical weapons against its own people, but would do so against an external attack. The President’s days in power seem to be numbered. The Arab League has called on Bashar al-Assad to step down, offering him safe passage, and rebels say they’re encouraged by assassinations last week. Let’s get some analysis now from a former Uk ambassador to Damascus, Sir Roger Tomkys, now Master of Pembroke College in Cambridge. Continue reading “Sir Roger Tomkys – A Perspective on the Syrian Conflict”

Ed Murphy on Ethical Banking for Peterborough City Council

07:20 Friday 20th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridge

PAUL STAINTON: Does Peterborough City Council have a moral obligation when it comes to who it banks with? It’s recently been revealed the Council, like many others, is a customer of Barclays. Now the bank made the headlines of course after allegations of the rate-rigging scandal, bankers’ bonuses, and Bob Diamond doing this and that. One Labour councillor thinks the Council should review its banking arrangements. Ed Murphy is that councillor,and he’s here this morning. .. Why? Continue reading “Ed Murphy on Ethical Banking for Peterborough City Council”

Terry Rich – An Apology

08:08 Thursday 19th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’ve talked extensively this past week or so about this consultation on closing two care homes. Well, today, a new purpose-built care home should have been built in Peterborough a long-time ago. So says one Independent councillor in the city. The consultation on the possible closure of these two care homes has already begun, and the Independent Party in Peterborough are putting forward quite a few suggestions. Earlier councillor Charlie Swift suggested building a new home that would house residents of both Greenwood and Welland House. He told us there are plenty of sites around the city available to build on. Continue reading “Terry Rich – An Apology”

Longest Serving Councillor on How To Run a Council

07:06 Thursday 19th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

INDEPENDENT CLLR. CHARLES SWIFT: If they’d announced they were going to build a new home for a kick-off, there would have been none of this kerfuffle whatsoever. It’s all totally unnecessary. What they should have done, if, and there’s a big if attached to this, if Greenwood House and Welland were not fit for purpose, they should have got on with announcing that they were going to build a new home, so that everybody’s got security of tenancy, and also the staff have got some job satisfaction, and they’ve got something to look forward to. It’s been very badly handled, and it’s all wrong. Continue reading “Longest Serving Councillor on How To Run a Council”

Paul Bullen UKIP for Police Commissioner

08:35 Wednesday 18th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A magistrate is to stand for election to become the Police and Crime Commissioner in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Paul Bullen, who sits at Huntingdon Magistrates Court, has been announced as the UKIP candidate for the election in November. We can talk to him now. .. Why? Why are you standing?
PAUL BULLEN: We as a party, as you probably know, do not believe that we need Police and Crime Commissioners. We believe in an elected authority, or committee, to oversee the running of the police.
PAUL STAINTON: Well that’s a bit silly then, isn’t it? There’s no point standing. Continue reading “Paul Bullen UKIP for Police Commissioner”

Julian Huppert on G4S and the Cambridgeshire Police Contract

17:07 Tuesday 17th July 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: We start tonight with news about G4S, the company at the centre of the Olympic security shambles, and the same firm inline to take over the admin. of Cambridgeshire Police force. They’ve been named as the preferred bidder by our county’s Police Authority. But tonight, that potential deal is under intense scrutiny. It follows a humiliating appearance in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee by the Chief Executive of G4S, Nick Buckles, who said he was sorry for failing to provide thousands of promised guards for the Olympic Games, bust insisted, to the astonishment of many watching, that he still intended to claim his management fee of £57 million. He was questioned closely by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert, a member of the Committee, on a further failure by his firm, just today, when only 30 security staff turned up for an Olympic task, when 200 were contracted for. Continue reading “Julian Huppert on G4S and the Cambridgeshire Police Contract”