LibDem Leadership announcement expected today

08:17 Thursday 16th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Big political movement later on this afternoon. The new Leader of the Liberal Democrats is going to be chosen, Nick Clegg’s successor. Voting closed yesterday. There’s been a face-off between the party’s former President Tim Farron and ex-Minister Norman Lamb. I’m joined by our Political Correspondent Paul Rowley. Now Paul I know you’re a football fan. Can I have a score prediction please.
PAUL ROWLEY: Tim Farron three to two majority I would have thought. Three to two victory. I think he should win by about 60% of the vote. 40% to Norman Lamb. Tim Farron popular with the grass roots, what’s left of them after their annihilation at the General Election. His rival Norman Lamb much respected. He was a Minister in the last Government. maybe that’s a problem for him, because that’s possibly one of the reasons they were punished at the ballot box for going into coalition with the Conservatives. At the time Tim Farron was free to vote against his party on things like university tuition fees, which was such a damaging issue for them, and what became known as the bedroom tax. But whereas this is a party Dotty with fifty seven MPs when they entered Government, including when Julian Huppert was the MP for Cambridge. They’re now down to a rump of just eight of them, their lowest total since the Liberal Democrats were formed. Indeed you’ve got to go back to the General Election of 1970, the year Tim Farron was born incidentally, the year the Beatles split up, and I think the year that Cambridge United entered the Football League when it was worse than this. The old Liberal Party had just half a dozen seats under the late Jeremy Thorpe.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So you’ve been following the campaign. What’s it been like?
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Inspector calls Local Plan into question

08:08 Wednesday 15th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: East Cambridgeshire District Council could launch a review of its Local Plan just two months after it was adopted. Any review would cost up to £145,000 over three years, and see a new wave of public consultations. The Local Plan, we’ve spoken about them so much. You might remember what they are, but just in case, it’s a plan for the future development of a local area. So it decides whether or not any planning applications that are submitted can be given the go-ahead. A report is going to be seen by East Cambridgeshire District Council this week. It says the decision of a Government Inspector to override a planning refusal for 120 homes in Witchford has led to the possibility of a review. In allowing the national developers plans, the Inspector said housing supply plans in East Cambridgeshire were already out of date. Richard Kay handles forward planning on East Cambridgeshire District Council, and we will talk to Richard in just a moment, but first let’s have a word with Sebastian Kindersley, who is the South Cambridgeshire District councillor for Gamlingay, because these kinds of cases have occurred in South Cambridgeshire as well, haven’t they Sebastian?
SEBASTIAN KINDERSLEY: Yes good morning Dotty. I’m afraid it has, almost exactly, where a planning inspector has agreed a number of appeals in Waterbeach in March. And the result of that has been an absolute flood of speculative planning applications from pre-application enquiries, which is rapidly transforming South Cambs. in a way that is unplanned, and actually frankly at the moment unwanted.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And these applications, these speculative applications as you are calling them, they hinge on what?
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Shadow Culture Secretary on the future of the BBC 2015

17:16 Tuesday 14th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: What is the future of the BBC? You’ve probably seen the recent headlines, which programes do we want, where could cuts be made, is the licence fee fit for purpose. The Government’s looking at it. They set up a high-profile panel to consider the very future of the BBC. And on Tuesday a Government Green Paper, a consultation, will reportedly ask whether the BBC should stop chasing ratings, and rethink how many popular entertainment programmes it broadcasts. Earlier today the BBC published its Annual Report and Accounts, with the Director General Tony Hall saying it had a duty to inform, educate and entertain. Let’s get the vies from the Shadow Front Bench, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is Chris Bryant, who is concerned about the future of the BBC. He joins me now. Hell.
CHRIS BRYANT: Good evening Chris. Chris and Chris. Two Chrises.
CHRIS MANN: Indeed. A lot to do with the BBC. It’s under attack like never before. What is the future of the BBC as far as you’re concerned?
CHRIS BRYANT: I want a strong BBC, because I think there’s a golden thread that runs through the very concept of the licence fee, which is we all pay in, we all get something out. You might want big sporting events, I might prefer opera. Somebody else might prefer The Voice or Strictly. But it’s got to be inform, educate AND entertain. And my anxiety is that there’s been so much dark briefing from Conservative Ministers, normally to the Murdoch newspapers, to the Sunday Times and the like, saying oh we want to cut the BBC down to size. We want to slim it down. We want to stop it making Strictly and The Voice and things like that. And I just think that that is a terrible shame. The BBC is like our cultural NHS. It’s one of the things we do best in the world.
CHRIS MANN: But it’s a huge organisation worldwide, and it covers so many areas. There are some pretty startling figures in the Annual Report and Accounts. Salaries there and other expenses you’ll have seen. Doesn’t it need cutting down to size?
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Proposal to turn street lights off at night across Cambridgeshire

08:25 Monday 13th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Cambridgeshire County Council has come up with another way of saving energy, turning street lights off at nights. Of course it will also save money, which is in short supply for all our councils at the moment. Those are the positives. Not everyone though thinks this is a brilliant idea, Cambridge City Council worried it could be unsafe and could also hit businesses who function at nighttime. We’re going to be talking very shortly to Lewis Herbert who’s the Leader of Cambridge City Council. First though let’s speak with Tom Blackburne-Maze who is from the County Council. So Tom this is to save money. Is that about the top and bottom of it?
TOM BLACKBURNE-MAZE: Yes that’s part of it. Good morning Dotty. As you are aware the County Council must make considerable savings resulting from the reduction in central government funding that we receive. And to meet this huge challenge, we must make some very difficult decisions to ensure our remaining funds are used where they are most effective.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what’s the plan? What hours would you be switching the lights off?
TOM BLACKBURNE-MAZE: Well we’re currently proposing to switch street lights off in residential areas that are covered by our central management system between the hours of midnight and six am. And we’re currently consulting on those proposals with local councils, to understand their comments and any concerns that they might have around that proposal.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And so this is residential streets. So not the main thoroughfares.
TOM BLACKBURNE-MAZE: That’s correct.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. And you have presumably considered the type of things that Louis Herbert is worried about, the impact on safety.What have you decided on that?
TOM BLACKBURNE-MAZE: We haven’t made any firm decisions at this moment in time. We’re currently consulting with all the local councils which this affects, and once we’ve received all of their comments we’ll be taking those into consideration before any firm decisions are made.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. Well let’s talk to Lewis Herbert, who is the Leader of Cambridge City Council. Morning Lewis.
LEWIS HERBERT: Morning Dotty.
DOTTY MCLEOD: What are your worries then?
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Lucy Frazer and Daniel Zeichner on Budget 2015

17:19 Wednesday 8th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Let’s get reaction to what the Chancellor had to say in that Emergency Budget from a couple of people. We’ve got Lucy Frazer the Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire. Lucy hello.
LUCY FRAZER: Hello. Hi. Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: And also the Labour MP for Cambridge Daniel Zeichner. Hello Daniel.
DANIEL ZEICHNER: Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: First Budget as MPs for both of them of course. Daniel, your reaction.
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Locals disturbed by Witchford gathering

17: 22 Tuesday 7th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Hundreds of caravans have descended onto an East Cambridge village for a religious convention. Residents in Witchford claim they weren’t given any warning about the event. Our reporter Dave Webster has been along to Witchford to take a look.
DAVE WEBSTER: There are over 200 caravans and associated vehicles which are all piled onto grassland, let for the duration by Griffiths Equestrian, just outside the village of Witchford. Speaking to one of the pastors Abraham Howard, he says they’re a very peaceful camp. They convert people who maybe have lost their way or got trouble with drink. And they’ve saved them, as part of the church. Some local residents have complained about noise, but one has said they’ve been coming here every year for a number of years, and they actually bring some life to the village. And they have no problem with them. The LIfe and Light Gypsy Church are due to depart by the end of the week.
CHRIS MANN: Well Steve Barker runs the hairdressers in Witchford, and he’s been speaking to Dave Webster.
STEVE BARKER: From a personal experience, it’s a bit of a shock for people. There’s a lot of them there. I’m not sure how many people, but there’s about 300 caravans I would say. So yes, I’ve got no problem with them being there per se. A lot of the younger ones are driving quite erratically around the village, which is obviously causing concern. And quite a lot of rubbish appearing down actually on the lane where they are, and I walk my dogs down there, and there has been a lot more rubbish there.
DAVE WEBSTER: And it’s not just rubbish.
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Sunday hours voxpop

09:10 Tuesday 7th July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Shops in England and Wales could open for longer on Sundays, under plans to be set out by George Osborne tomorrow. In the Budget the Chancellor will propose giving local councils and elected mayors the power to decide how long shops in their areas should remain open. So he’s putting the power in the hands of local councils and elected mayors. Is that a good idea? Do you think longer shopping hours on Sunday will work? Or should we keep Sunday special? And does anybody keep it special anymore? We’ve got 24 hour internet, haven’t we? We’re all shopping all the time, aren’t we? Will Fyfe has been on the streets of Peterborough, asking opinions.
PERSON 1: Actually I think there’s two sides to the coin. The shops should be allowed to do what they want. Equally .. I mean nobody has to go out shopping on a Sunday if they don’t choose to. But equally I think there is something special about Sunday. And yes, I mean we’ve got the rest of the week to shop, so I .. you have to think of the shop workers really, and their families, and their right to a day off. Really if they open both days on the weekend then they’re going to probably be working both days of the weekend a lot. So it doesn’t seem fair in that way. It benefits the employers and not the employees. It benefits the companies and not the public, the society.
WILL FYFE: Well you could argue they could have another day off in the week. Any day in the middle of the week.
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Cambridgeshire councils aim to share more services

07:26 Friday 3rd July 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: For some councils in Cambridgeshire. sharing could be a £1.1 million saving. The neighbouring councils in South Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridge City are planning to join together some of their services in an effort to save money. Joining me now are not one, but all three of the council Leaders in question, so let’s see how well they do at sharing the airwaves. First of all we’ve got Jason Ablewhite, Executive Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council. Morning Jason.
JASON ABLEWHITE: Good morning. How are you?
DOTTY MCLEOD: Very good thank you. Ray Manning, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council. Hello Ray.
RAY MANNING: Hello there.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And Lewis Herbert, who is the Leader of Cambridge City Council. Hello Lewis.
LEWIS HERBERT: Greetings.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So we will start with Jason this morning. Tell us which services you’re looking at sharing.
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