Month: May 2013

And They All Lived Together In A Little Crooked House

07:28 Friday 17th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Interest rates are at historic lows at the moment of course, have been for quite a while. But figures out today show the cost of rent has increased in England and Wales in every region for the first time in eighteen months. The average rent is £736 a month. Adam Kirtley’s here from our Business Unit. Morning Adam.
ADAM KIRTLEY: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: That’s painful, isn’t it? If you’re having to rent that’s a heck of a lot of cash.
ADAM KIRTLEY: It is. And if you live in London its’ even worse at £1110 a month. That’s a 7.6% rise over the year. Now rents have always been quite expensive in some parts of the country, cheaper in others. But until today, for the last 18 months, there has always been somewhere where you see rents go down, especially in some of the harder up areas. But now it would appear the pressure is so great on housing that everywhere in England and Wales rents are going up. And they’re pretty much all going up by more than inflation, which of course in these straightened times is not good.
PAUL STAINTON: No. Why are they going up? What’s going on? Is it just greedy landlords? Continue reading “And They All Lived Together In A Little Crooked House”

Sir Graham Bright Recruits Outreach Worker

08:20 Thursday 16th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A new job has just come up to help tackle local crime and anti-social behaviour problems in Peterborough and The Fens. The position of Outreach Worker for the Police and Crime Commissioner is currently being advertised. Sir Graham Bright is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire of course. Morning Sir Graham
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Morning to you.
PAUL STAINTON: What exactly is this job?
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Well this job keeps us in touch with what concerns people. Legislation requires me to consult with the public, and to represent the public. Indeed, I always keep saying that I am the face of the public, not the police. Now you can only do that if you actually talk to people. But you can’t do this randomly. You need to be systematic. And I’m very concerned in getting down as low as I can, to parish councils, talking to schools, talking to businesses, talking to the voluntary organisations. And it’s a big area. When you look at the size of Cambridgeshire with Peterborough. And the idea is to reflect more on what people are concerned about, dealing with the issues.
PAUL STAINTON: So this job will be effectively doing your job in the North of the County. Is that right? Continue reading “Sir Graham Bright Recruits Outreach Worker”

Cambridge Delegation On Visa Controls

08:07 Thursday 16th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Business leaders and academics in Cambridge are asking the Government for special dispensation when it comes to granting visas to non-EU workers. Businesses are meeting Immigration Minister Mark Harper today, and will explain how restrictions on immigration are restricting their work, Earlier we heard from Tim Hedger, Managing Director of a new school of English in Cambridge. His language school is one of the businesses meeting with Mark Harper. Earlier he told us the message he wanted to get across to the Minister today. (TAPE)
TIM HEDGER: To understand exactly where we’re going, whether we can refine out some of the more illogical aspects of the system, and hopefully he will hear that economically it makes no sense to restrict us. We’re an engine for growth. We’re exporters. We employ people. We’re everything they want to get us out of these difficult times. So I hope that he’ll listen to us, and see the industry as something that’s very positive for the country. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well Professor Jeremy Sanders is the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Institutional Affairs at the University of Cambridge, and he’s hosting two of the meetings today with the Minister. Morning Jeremy.
JEREMY SANDERS: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: And also with us this morning is Liberal Democrat Cambridge MP Julian Huppert, who’s concerned that the rules mean talent is being kept out of Cambridge. Julian’s here. Morning Julian.
JULIAN HUPPERT: Good morning. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: I’m fine, thank you. Obviously there’ll be people listening to this this morning saying talent being kept out, more immigration, more people coming in. Oh no no no no. We don’t want that. Continue reading “Cambridge Delegation On Visa Controls”

£25 Million To Breathe New Life Into Old Huntingdon

08:40 Wednesday 15th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Huntingdon town centre is to be spruced up to the tune of twenty five million big ones. A new town centre multi-storey car park is due to be completed by December, and with Sainsburys moving to a new site, more brand new shop units are planned, as well as a redevelopment of the wider Chequers Court area. Jason Ablewhite of course is the Executive Leader of Hunts District Council. He’s with us. Morning.
JASON ABLEWHITE: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: £25 million! Where’s all this come from then? Continue reading “£25 Million To Breathe New Life Into Old Huntingdon”

Sugar Beet Issues Of Emergence And Vigour In The East Of England

07:58 Wednesday 15th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

(MUSIC: PINK PANTHER THEME)
PAUL STAINTON: Right now ladies and gentlemen, we have a mystery. The Bigger Breakfast Show Mystery. Cambridgeshire’s sugar beet crop has been affected by a mysterious problem, which prevents up to 50% of seeds from growing. Fields affected have very low plant populations, and those plants which do grow have very little root growth. And no-one knows why. John Goodchild is the farm manager at Cambridgeshire’s Bartlow Estate, and a member of the NFU Sugar Board. Morning John.
JOHN GOODCHILD: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s going on here?
JOHN GOODCHILD: Well, the crux of the matter is we don’t really know. As I say, significant numbers of seeds that have been sowed have failed to make it above the ground.
PAUL STAINTON: Is this the first time it’s ever happened? Continue reading “Sugar Beet Issues Of Emergence And Vigour In The East Of England”

Big Men In Big Hats

07:27 Wednesday 15th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Have we been ripped off for years by rigged oil prices? I can hear the reply now Adam Kirtley, coming right across Cambridgeshire.
ADAM KIRTLEY: Yes!
PAUL STAINTON: We may have though. The European Commission are now investigating, aren’t they?
ADAM KIRTLEY: Yes they are. And there’s been a long rumour hasn’t there that there’s something fisjy about oil prices. Why are they so high. It’s not actually supply and demand. It’s the wholesale market. It’s the oil companies themselves, ensuring that it’s high by fixing the price. And finally the European Commission has thought right, we’d better go in and investigate it. So yesterday it literally raided the offices of BP, of Shell, StatOil which is the Norwegian company, and also a company called Platts, which isn’t an oil company, but Platts is actually a price comparison site, if you like, in the wholesale market. So it goes and spots, looks at, spot checks if you like the prices the various oil companies and people are quoting. Then it passes those on to oil traders, who then get a vague idea of what the prices should be.
PAUL STAINTON: Right. So the accusation would be perhaps that the oil companies all decide on a price. They go to those oil companies and they see what the price is and then they pass that on. Continue reading “Big Men In Big Hats”

The Stephen Perse Foundation School For Girls And Boys

17:40 Tuesday 14th May 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Cambridge girls’ school that was the inspiration for the iconic St Trinians is to .. wait for it .. admit boys. Yes. The Stephen Perse Foundation is a group of private schools in Cambridge. It includes Perse Girls. It’s been girls only for a mere 132 years. But all that will change from September 2014. Tricia Kelleher is Primcipal of the Foundation and joins me in the studio. Tricia, hello to you.
TRICIA KELLEHER: Hello Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Thanks for joining us. before we talk about you admitting boys, let’s talk about the stadium if you will, because you’ve got fabulous facilities at The Perse, haven’t you? But still, you would have welcomed this? Or not?
TRICIA KELLEHER:I believe we would actually, because Cambridge is growing, and it strikes me that as a growing city, we need to have the right kind of facilities. I don’t know the details of it, but it just seeems a shame that we haven’t got a first rate stadium that can be used for lots of different sports by the community. Continue reading “The Stephen Perse Foundation School For Girls And Boys”

Peterborough DNA – Future Cities Demonstrator – Questions Arising

Note: this post is a mixture of  items written originally and items edited later when new information emerged.

Via a private arm of the City Council, Peterborough recently bid for £20 million funding from the Technology Strategy Board to develop a Future Cities project. As a runner up to Glasgow Peterborough was given £3 million to develop their ideas.

Their original bid document is here:

Feasibility Study Peterborough City Council.
Continue reading “Peterborough DNA – Future Cities Demonstrator – Questions Arising”