Council roughly handled in Coalition ‘copter swoop

17:09 Friday 12th December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Local councillors have held an urgent meeting with the Government about the future of Northstowe, the new town for Cambridgeshire. Last week the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander announced plans for the Coalition to build and sell thousands of the new homes, rather than rely on developers. But South Cambs District Council, which is supposed to be responsible for overseeing development, was left in the the dark about the changes and what it means for the county. In a moment we’ll find out how the meeting went, but first our reporter Tom Horn today was in Oakington, next door to the development, to see what residents there think are the priorities.
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Government Northstowe announcement decried

08:07 Thursday 4th December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: ‘Unfortunate’. That’s the word that’s been used by the Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council to describe the local authority’s surprise at Government plans to take over housebuilding at Northstowe. In this week’s National Infrastructure Plan the Government announced a pilot project to build and sell thousands of new homes at Northstowe itself, rather than rely on developers. Here’s what South Cambridgeshire District Council Leader Ray Manning had to say when I spoke to him earlier on.
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RAY MANNING: I think it was unfortunate that they didn’t choose to tell us beforehand, but I think the announcement has all the hallmarks of being done very quickly at the last minute to get in the Budget Statement.
(LIVE)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Ray Manning also going on to say he doesn’t feel this shake-up is a direct criticism of the Council, because the recession is what slowed progress with the new town.
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RAY MANNING: The truth is that we did have a recession, but there was money was difficult, and developers are not going to build houses unless the market is buoyant and they’ve virtually sold them off-plan. So what Danny Alexander said was quite true, that the Government can afford to build the houses without waiting to sell them first.
(LIVE)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Well the Government does say that with its involvement, development will be twice as fast as conventional routes, and it says it has been discussing Northstowe with the Council for years. Let’s talk to Sebastian Kindersley. He’s the Liberal Democrat councillor for Gamlingay on Cambridgeshire County Council. So Sebastian the Government say that you’ve already known about this. They didn’t surprise you with this announcement. What’s your reaction to that?
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The prosecution of beggars in Cambridge

07:20 Wednesday 3rd December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: How are you this morning? I hope that all is going well in your world. Now there’s been a reported rise in the number of beggars facing prosecution in Cambridgeshire. There were 80 prosecutions last year, compared with 45 the year before. That’s according to a Freedom of Information request of the Central Prosecution Service. We’ll speak to the manager of a Cambridge homeless shelter shortly about what could be driving this rise, but first of all Sue Marchant’s been out into Cambridge to find out more.
(TAPE)
SUE MARCHANT: I’ve come to Fitzroy Street in Cambridge, which is just outside the Grafton Centre. I would imagine quite a busy thoroughfare for anybody who wants to find some money from somewhere, if they are begging. Let’s ask one of the traders here. Excuse me, are there usually beggars along this part of the road?
TRADER: Quite frequently they are, yes. They go up and down the street quite a few times a day. You often see about ten or twelve a day.
SUE MARCHANT: What about recently, say in the last month or so?
TRADER: In the last week I’ve only seen about one, if any at that.
SUE MARCHANT: I did manage to find someone to talk to on the streets of Cambridge to talk about their experience of begging. Have you ever busked,  or been apprehended?
PERSON: Yes I busk more or less nearly every day. I just get money for my food, rent, (INCOHERENT) I actually depend on the generosity of the public give me some money.
SUE MARCHANT: So you tend to busk rather than stand out there begging.
PERSON: Oh no I don’t beg. No no no.
SUE MARCHANT: Have you ever been persecuted at all for busking?
PERSON: Yes. Three times this year I’ve been done for begging. Yes.
SUE MARCHANT: What happened?
PERSON: When I’m sitting busking people come and talk to me. The police has probably seen me talking to someone and they think I’m begging. They showed their card, and I got a letter through the post saying I’d been charged for begging. I’ve tried to pull the police back and say to them look, these people here, I’m only talking to them. I wasn’t asking them for money or nothing yeah? Sometimes when I’m feeling cold and fed up I probably will say to them just a slight chance I might go and (UNCLEAR).
SUE MARCHANT: Have you noticed an increase on police surveillance?
PERSON: I don’t see much police going about. The plain clothes obviously for shoplifters and that they’re still here. Yes.
SUE MARCHANT: Did you have to pay a fine for your begging when you say you were done? How much was that?
PERSON: £50. Last time it was £60 fine and £30 costs.
SUE MARCHANT: How does it make you feel?
PERSON: It’s like being back in the Oliver Twist days. Please sir can I have some more. If I get a target, I need to make a day about £20 or £5 or £4. And once I get that target that’s me gone.
SUE MARCHANT: How long have you been in Cambridge?
PERSON: I’ve been in Cambridge for a number of years now, of and on. If it wasn’t for my friends here, homeless people and people like that, I don’t think I’d be on this earth to be honest with you.
SUE MARCHANT: Have you ever been prosecuted for begging?
PERSON 2: Not so much prosecuted, but once I was trying to settle into a place of mine and I had a couple of stimulant drinks. I don’t think I was on my medicine really. I was outside and I was just picking up some butts, you know, off the floor, just so I could do a roll-up. I asked a couple of people if they had the odd 20p and that. And suddenly this guy’s come down on me like a ton of bricks. I weren’t ready to know that I would get in trouble for such a little thing.
(LIVE)
DOTTY MCLEOD: That’s Sue Marchant reporting in Cambridge. Let’s talk to James Martin. He’s the Service Manager at Wintercomfort, which is a homeless shelter in Cambridge. Now of course James we’re not saying that all people who use your shelter will try begging on the street but presumably it’s fair to say that there is some crossover there.
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John Daugman on Stephen Hawking’s warning

17:48 Tuesday 2nd December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Cambridge professor Stephen Hawking says that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence. Best known of course for his A Brief History of Time, the iconic scientist is almost completely paralysed, due to a motor neurone-type condition. His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of a technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.
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STEPHEN HAWKING: The primitive forms of artificial intelligence we already have have proved very useful. But I think the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superceded.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: Professor Stephen Hawking there. He was talking to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. So let’s get some reaction. Professor John Daugman is from the Artificial Intelligence Group at the University of Cambridge. What does he think of Professor Hawking’s warning?
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UKIP targets Peterborough

10:41 Monday 1st December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: UKIP have been putting the finishing touches to their list of candidates for the next General Election. The South Cambs branch appointed Deborah Rennie out of a shortlist of four on Saturday night, and in Peterborough Mary Herdman was selected as the candidate to fight for Stewart Jackson’s seat. Peterborough will surely be a target for Nigel Farage’s party. We talked to UKIP last week and we heard Stewart Jackson saying, ‘why stand when my views are almost in line with yours?’. In fact when we spoke to Stewart he was almost begging the party not to field a candidate in Peterborough. Well their candidate joins us now. Mary good morning.
MARY HERDMAN: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Why stand? Why split the vote?
MARY HERDMAN: We won’t be splitting the vote. If you vote for UKIP you will get UKIP.
PAUL STAINTON: You’ll get Miliband they say if you vote for you.
MARY HERDMAN: No no. Definitely not Paul. If we can get MPs in a lot of seats throughout Britain, if you vote UKIP you will get UKIP. And we need UKIP in the Government.
PAUL STAINTON: Alright. Run through a list of policies then Mary that you’re going to be standing on.
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New Foxton streetlights give cause for concern

07:22 Friday 28th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Have you switched to low-energy light bulbs in your house yet? There’s this new generation of bulbs that promise to slash your bills and to last longer than the standard filament bulbs, and even the earlier low-energy type bulbs we were all asked to switch to in recent years to save money and the environment. Now streetlights are being upgraded too to the fancy energy-saving ones. But despite savings being made through this, not everyone in one Cambridgeshire village is welcoming them. Waseem Mirza has the story.
WASEEM MIRZA: I’m in the village of Foxton, and off of the main road, not far from the village shop, there is a brand new streetlight column put up. But what do people here make of it? Let’s find out. Hello. What’s your name?
LOCAL: Kimberley.
WASEEM MIRZA: This is a fairly recent development here, isn’t it? What do you make of it, and what’s experience of these lights so far.
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Icelandic bank debt – Cambridge City Council recovers a very high percentage of the original sum

07:27 Thursday 27th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Nearly £5 million has been restored to the coffers of Cambridge City Council. It’s part of the £9 million that was lost in the collapse of the Icelandic banks in October 2008. The City Council has been working over the past six years to get it back, and has now sold part of the debt. Lewis Herbert is the Labour Leader of Cambridge City Council. So Lewis, explain exactly how this deal has worked to get the money back.
LEWIS HERBERT: Well we’ve been working hard to get money back from the £9 million as you say. 2008, invested because it was getting a high interest rate, an over-big risk by the then council, because that was a large proportion of our reserves. Two halves: half of it is in England, half of it is in Iceland. Increasing risks in Iceland, and all of the local authorities nearly, and all of the Dutch local authorities have basically been doing a deal whereby people who want Icelandic krona, we’ve got very little use for them, and want to have this particular financial opportunity to recover the money themselves, want to pay us a reasonable amount of money for that. So basically they pay us a very high percentage of our original sum, including for the interest that was due on this money, and we get the money back. And then we can invest it much better, because this money basically Dotty has been frozen for six years. In that period of time that money should have returned 40% or 50% return on top of the £9 million.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So why is it that you can’t get back all of the money?
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Lending into retirement – common sense prevails

07:44 Wednesday 26th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: House prices in parts of Cambridgeshire are simply out of reach for many first-time buyers, and now there’s a warning that those who wait too long to try and get a mortgage might find their options limited. A report from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders’ Association warns that fears of a future clampdown by regulators is preventing mortgage lenders from offering loans that stretch into people’s retirement. So could anyone over 40 wanting to take out a standard 25 year mortgage find themselves turned away by lenders? It’s a worrying thought. Vicky Stubbs is Head of Risk at Cambridge Building Society. Vicky, is it harder to offer a mortgage to people who are in their 40s? Are they going to come into trouble?
VICKY STUBBS: I think with everybody, regardless of their age, what we want to make sure is that they can afford their mortgage, and that they can make repayments over the life of the mortgage. What we do, having the advantage of being a small building society, is look at individual circumstances. So if you have people in their 40s, often people are now not retiring at 60, not retiring at 65, so the first thing you do is have a sensible expected retirement age. Somebody at 40 can still be working easily for another 25 years. Similarly up to about 45. And then you want to talk through their retirement plans, talk through what they’ve done in terms of pension planning, what they’ve got set up so far. And just make sure that they have plans to continue to repay the mortgage. We don’t expect somebody at 40 to have a pension that is fully paid up, ready to pay a mortgage at the age of 65, because clearly they can have another 25 years of saving towards the pension. But what you want to make sure is that people have got pension arrangements in play, people have thought about it, and people are thinking about how they’re going to continue to pay for that mortgage once they are retired.
DOTTY MCLEOD: It seems so unfair Vicky, because the reason that people are having to wait longer to try and get a mortgage is because they’re having to save up the deposit for so long, because wages aren’t necessarily that high and house prices are.
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