Tag: Stewart Jackson

Marco Cereste on the abandoned renewable energy schemes

10:10 Wednesday 8th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: There’s concern this morning about the £3 million that’s been invested in the three solar park energy projects in Peterborough. Now two of them have been scrapped. Your comments this morning range from “a victory for Nimbyism” to ” has common sense prevailed over a poorly consulted project?“. Some people have called for a full-scale investigation into the actions of Peterborough City Council, and the way monies have been spent. So, has he been negligent or was he wise? Was he thinking outside of the box? Well let’s speak to the man who trumpeted this venture from the very start. let’s speak to Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council. Marco, good morning.
MARCO CERESTE: Hello Paul. How are you doing?
PAUL STAINTON: Thank you for coming on. I’m fine. How are you this morning, and where does this leave Peterborough City Council and this £22 million black hole?
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Marco Cereste – The Big Conversation with Paul Stainton

10:09 Monday 15th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The big interview on Ask the Boss is with Marco Cereste. Some call him a dictator. Some say he’s a man of the people. He’s the man who leads Peterborough City Council, and has done for a few years now. Contentious; polarises opinion; but who is he? What makes him tick? And what does he really stand for? Well he’s here. Let’s ask him. Morning Marco.
MARCO CERESTE: Hello Paul. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: Is that a fair intro.?
MARCO CERESTE: Well I don’t know about that. One accepts what it is. (THEY LAUGH)
PAUL STAINTON: Your questions for Marco this morning in what is an interesting time for Peterborough and cities right across the country – if you’ve got something you’d like to ask him, 08459 252000. I suppose let’s start with that, that question. There are those who have been unkind and called you a dictator in the past, and said you don’t listen to people. And yet there are others out there who say actually you’re the most democratic Leader Peterborough City Council has ever had. So who are you?
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Council dithering behind Peterborough’s traveller issue

08:08 Friday 1st August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: So is Peterborough getting neglected by Cambridgeshire’s police force? Well the city’s MP certainly thinks so. Stewart Jackson told this programme earlier that the Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright needs a kick up the backside, and a tougher stance when it comes to dealing with illegal camped travellers. Here are just some of Stewart’s comments.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: I’m sorry. Graham Bright is paid over £90,000 a year. He needs a good kick up the backside. He very rarely comes to Peterborough. In fact he insults Peterborough by appointing what he calls an outreach worker, as if Peterborough’s a sort of special social case. He needs to come to Peterborough a bit more and talk to people that are affected by this issue.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well the row started when Stewart Jackson criticised Peterborough City Council for not setting up a site for travellers to use. Now a Cross-Party group has been looking into the possible locations where sites could be erected. But after two years, no locations have been made public as yet, although an announcement could be made in the next few weeks. Stewart Jackson says his constituents don’t want more traveller sites. They just want the travellers evicted and punished. Well the man in charge of policing Peterborough Tony Ixer told me earlier that the police can’t evict travellers until they have somewhere to take them.
(TAPE)
TONY IXER: We actually do have a very robust strategy across Cambridgeshire, but it is a fact that it doesn’t cover Peterborough. And the real reason it doesn’t cover Peterborough and hasn’t done for many years is because there are no designated stopping places.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: So in short, nothing can be done in Peterborough until Peterborough City Council sort themselves out. Needless to say, Sir Graham Bright and Peterborough City Council refused to speak to this programme this morning, but we can speak to Independent councillor John Fox. He chaired the Working Group looking at sites for emergency stopping places in the city. The Group’s recommendations will be considered at the next Peterborough City Council Cabinet meeting. John, good morning.
JOHN FOX: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s your fault that we’re getting these illegal encampments. You’ve been too slow, dragging your feet.
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Cambridge Housing Crisis a Test for Labour

08:08 Tuesday 1st July 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: The cost and quality of homes is the single most important issue for people in Cambridge. That’s the claim of Labour’s new executive councillor for housing. And given what we’ve heard this morning about just how difficult it is to actually find a place to live in the city, it’s no surprise, is it? Earlier we met Jenny Norman. She and her partner are looking to buy a three bedroomed house in Cambridge. They’re both earning and earning well, and have a thirty per cent deposit, and you’d think they’d be in a strong position.
(TAPE)
JENNY NORMAN: We’ve been looking for six months. We’ve viewed thirty one houses. We’ve put offers in on six, and we’re still unsuccessful. Last weekend we went and saw a property that was open for forty five minutes only, and that was it. They had fifteen parties through in that forty five minutes, and they needed best offers on Monday. And there are ten parties offering on that property including us, and it’s already twenty per cent over the asking price before they went to best and final offers.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s amazing, isn’t it? And according to Jenny, the reason behind all of this, very simple.
(TAPE)
JENNY NORMAN: It’s just lack of supply. And do you know what it is? Cambridge is an awesome city. It’s beautiful. It’s a very desirable place to live and to raise a family and to work. And more people want to live here than what the city can currently house.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well the lack of housing is a problem every council in Cambridgeshire is facing of course. In Peterborough local MP Stewart Jackson suggested fining developers if they don’t build houses fast enough. In South Cambridgeshire the District Council has set up their own property company to build and sell houses. So what ideas does the new Labour administration of Cambridge City Council have? Well Kevin Price is their Executive councillor for Housing. Morning Kevin.
KEVIN PRICE: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So, a bit of blue sky thinking. What are we going to be doing ?
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Stewart Jackson on the Newark Result

10:21 Friday 6th June 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: The Conservatives secured their seat in Newark last night with a majority of more than seven thousand. The resignation of their former Conservative MP Patrick Mercer had raised expectations in UKIP that they could cause a major upset by winning their first Westminster seat. But the Conservatives flooded the seat with MPs and activists in the run up to polling day, with David Cameron visiting the Nottinghamshire market town four times, this in their bid to retain what was in theory a safe seat. So, is it a victory to celebrate, or are the parties terrified, as Paul Bullen has .. suggested? Let’s talk now to Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough. Stewart, good morning to you.
STEWART JACKSON: Good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: You had a very late night, but here you are bright and early. And was it something to celebrate?
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Stewart Jackson – a Message to Marco Cereste

07:20 Thursday 29th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Arrogant aggressive and bombastic. Words used by the Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson to describe the Leader of the Council there Marco Cereste. It follows an interview councillor Cereste did on the Bigger Breakfast Show yesterday with me where he insisted he would stay as Leader, despite the fact his party lost overall control in last week’s local election. I asked him whether the results meant he should question his position as Leader.
(TAPE)
MARCO CERESTE: No. Absolutely not. What it is is a message that we’ve got to understand, and we as a Conservative Group understand it very very well. Because we are the only party in the country that is offering a referendum on Europe. We understand the message very well. We respect the voters’ views. And we will be working .. we will be working to make sure that we listen ..
CHRIS MANN: We’re talking about Peterborough City Council, not what’s happening in Europe, and the fact that you’ve lost overall control.
MARCO CERESTE: No. No. I disagree. No. No. No.
CHRIS MANN: Is that not a vote about you Marco?
MARCO CERESTE: Listen. Listen. If you want me to continue speaking to you, then you must let me speak. If you want to listen to yourself, you don’t need me on the other end of the telephone.
CHRIS MANN: Do you not agree that this vote was about matters to do with Peterborough City Council?
MARCO CERESTE: What I’m saying to you is that whilst the vote elected local authority councillors, throughout the entire country the same thing repeated itself. So it’s a national issue. That doesn’t mean that we locally don’t need to listen to the voters, because we absolutely do need to listen to the voters. And we as a party will listen to the voters.
CHRIS MANN: So how will you be doing that? What are you going to change?
MARCO CERESTE: Well what we will do is we will continue to do what is necessary for Peterborough, and that is to deliver good services efficiently, effectively, keep the council taxes low .. as low as we possibly can, and work within our budget, which is what we’ve been doing all along. And if you look at the record of our Conservative administration, it is phenomenal. We are outperforming most of the cities in the entire country.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: So that’s what Marco Cereste had to say live on this programme yesterday morning to me. Listening to that was Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson, a fellow Conservative of course, and he joins me now. Morning Stewart.
STEWART JACKSON: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: What did you think of Marco Cereste’s attitude to what happened at the polls?
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Papworth Transfer Concerns Raised

10:24 Friday 2nd May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: The planned move of Papworth Hospital to the Addenbrookes site was given the final approval yesterday, after over a decade of planning and deliberation. The plans looked uncertain earlier this year when it was proposed that it be moved to Peterborough City Hospital site instead. Peterborough’s MP Stewart Jackson gave his views on the move to the Bigger Breakfast Show.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: I generally support the proposals, and I can understand why people like the local MP and others in the South of the county are very pleased with it. My problem comes back to under-utilisation of the facilities at Peterborough, particularly the fourth floor of Peterborough City Hospital. How are we going to continue to scrub our face financially and keep clinical services going at Peterborough City Hospital? That’s an ongoing issue which the Department of Health and the Treasury obviously need to keep addressing.
(LIVE)
ANDIE HARPER: But what does this move mean for people living near the Hospital now? Geoff Heathcock, the former Cambridgeshire county councillor lives in the area, and he’s on the line. Geoff, good morning to you.
GEOFF HEATHCOCK: Good morning to you Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So, most people would agree that Papworth needed updating, if not completely rebuilding. There were a choice of sites, but Addenbrookes it is, as we all suspected when we first talked about it eleven years ago. What about the area? What impact is this going to have?
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Stewart Jackson and Christopher Davies on Politics and Religion

17:17 Tuesday 22nd April 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Leading public figures have said the Prime Minister’s claim that Britain is a Christian country risks sowing alienation and division in society. It follows an article from the Church Times by Mr. Cameron in which he wrote of his own faith, and his desire to infuse politics with Christian ideals and values.
(VOXPOP)
CHRIS MANN: Let’s welcome first of all Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough. Hello Stewart.
STEWART JACKSON: Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: And also Dr Christopher Davies. Hello Chris.
CHRISTOPHER DAVIES: Hi Chris. I’m here too.
CHRIS MANN: A member of the Cambridge Humanist group. So what’s wrong with the Prime Minister’s comments?
CHRISTOPHER DAVIES: Would you like me to take that first?
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