Spare room subsidy debate at BBC Cambridgeshire

09:22 Friday 7th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’re asking this morning is it time to scrap the so-called bedroom tax. Figures from Cambridge City Council reveal that one in five people in the city have fallen behind with their rent. Only 5% of people have actually managed to downsize their accommodation. And it’s not just in Cambridge. Sally Chicken is from the Rainbow Saver Credit Union in Peterborough. They’ve seen similar problems in the north of the county too.
(TAPE)
SALLY CHICKEN: Well what we’ve seen is members coming in trying to make ends meet because they’ve had their housing benefit cut. And then they’re either not able to move into a smaller property, or there just isn’t a smaller property available for them to move into.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Sally also agrees with Rob who we spoke to, Rob Nixon, a few moments ago. She says it’s been a huge problem, the spare room subsidy, for the disabled.
(TAPE)
SALLY CHICKEN: Especially for disabled people. I don’t know if you know, but if a disabled couple are both disabled, they are still only entitled to a one bedroomed property. And we’ve had several members who have been just devastated because they can’t physical share a bedroom because of the disability, still being told they are not entitled to a two bedroomed property.
(LIVE) ..
PAUL STAINTON: So should one of the Coalition’s most controversial policies be scrapped? We’ve invited three councillors from across the county and the political spectrum. In the blue corner, representing the Conservatives, councillor Mark Howell, Cabinet member for Housing on South Cambridgeshire District Council. Morning.
MARK HOWELL: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: In the red corner from the Labour party, Peterborough Parliamentary Candidate and city councillor Lisa Forbes. Lisa, morning.
LISA FORBES: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: And in the yellow corner for the LibDems, Deputy Group Leader of the Cambridge LibDems Catherine Smart. Catherine, morning.
CATHERINE SMART: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Mark I’m going to start with you, because this is essentially a Conservative policy, isn’t it. Is it right, is it fair, is it just, or should it be scrapped?
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London Stansted Cambridge Consortium – Network Rail underestimate demand

17:17 Thursday 6th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A business group claims Network Rail has missed an opportunity as they announced plans to upgrade the rail line between Cambridge, Stansted Airport and London. They say it doesn’t go far enough, and say the route needs major upgrading, not just modest improvements. Richard Schofield is the Route Managing Director at Network Rail. He says there isn’t the demand in the area for that level of growth.
(TAPE)
RICHARD SCHOFIELD: We welcome views of people that think we’ve got it wrong, but if you look at the needs over the next decade, there isn’t the volume of growth that would justify a business case to do that piece of work. But we welcome the input from Stansted Airport and the businesses and Transport for London around what they think we should be doing, so that we can create a business case that we can send to Government and say look, actually we think there is a greater need.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: However he said if a Government report showed there’s going to be an increase in passenger numbers at Stansted, they would reconsider.
(TAPE)
RICHARD SCHOFIELD: So we would then work with stakeholders and Government to put together a plan that addresses the need to get passengers to Stansted in even greater numbers. But we can’t really second guess the outcome of that report, but we will of course take it into mind as we go through next year.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: That was Network Rail’s Richard Schofield. Let’s bring in councillor Kevin Bentley, the Chair of Infrastructure at the London Stansted Cambridge Consortium. Hello Kevin.
KEVIN BENTLEY: Good evening.
CHRIS MANN: They say there’s not enough demand. What’s your evidence that it’s otherwise?
KEVIN BENTLEY: Well just look at it. Look at the fantastic growth that’s happening in Cambridgeshire, not just in the bio-tech industries, but all industries, plus the great science parks we have in Cambridge as well. Just down the road in Harlow, the Enterprise Zone, the Government’s own Enterprise Zone that we’re working so hard to make happen down there and it’s going to be fantastic. Then you go down the line further into London, plus of course Stansted Airport, which is set to grow in passenger numbers. All the evidence is there. We have presented this before. I just don’t understand what Network Rail’s doing. They’ve missed a golden opportunity. We’re going to prove them wrong.
CHRIS MANN: But they say quite categorically, you heard the man say that there’s no demand. Have you done a survey?
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Environment Secretary announces new Government pollinator strategy

08:53 Tuesday 4th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The Government is setting out its plans for safeguarding the nation’s bees. The insects play a vital role in pollinating many of our crops and wild plants, so a decline in numbers in recent years has led to warnings by scientists that the UK could face a food security catastrophe. Today the Environment Secretary Liz Truss will unveil a national strategy to help our bees and other pollinators in the future. Joining me is Matt Shardlow from Peterborough-based organisation Buglife. Morning Matt.
MATT SHARDLOW: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what are you expecting from this report today, from this strategy?
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Dilemma for Cameron as Merkel appears to reserve free movement

07:26 Monday 3rd November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: It looks like life has just got a bit tougher for David Cameron this morning, when it comes to his plans to try and renegotiate the rules for Britain in the EU. Reports coming from Germany claim its Chancellor Angela Merkel is warning the Prime Minister that his drive to curb immigration is pushing Britain towards leaving the EU. Angela Merkel is quoted as saying she’s prefer the UK to leave the EU completely rather than compromise the free movement of workers. Let’s get more on this from our reporter Gavin Lee. Talk us through Gavin what Angela Merkel appears to be saying here.
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Estover Road playing field preservation campaign petition to sack Fenland Leader

07:18 Friday 31st October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A petition has been launched calling for the Estover playing fields in March to be protected from development. It also calls on the Leader of Fenland District Council John Clark to resign over what it says is an ‘unprecedented breakdown in trust‘ between him and the people of March and Fenland. There are proposals to build on the former grammar school fields, but with Cambridgeshire County Council highlighting the town has a lack of green spaces, some local residents are calling for the plans to be put on hold. Our reporter Johnny D. has been on the fields this morning.
(OB)(Tape)
JOHN DEVINE: Dotty I’ve come down to the Estover playing fields, and I’ve got with me Trevor Watson. He’s a resident and one of the organisers of the petition. So just to put us in the picture, paint a little picture of what we can see in front of us Trevor.
TREVOR WATSON: Well at the moment we’re standing in front of a long-established playing field, going back many decades, probably seventy, eighty years. It’s been used by previous schools. It’s now used by the public and for football matches for the last fifteen years. As you can see it’s a beautiful field. It’s got about fifty very mature trees, some about a hundred years old, they’re all covered by tree preservation orders. And it’s more than just a playing field. It’s like a small town park.
JOHN DEVINE: And we’ve got some residential housing just over the road, so it’s quite close to people as well.
TREVOR WATSON: Indeed. Yes. It’s being increasingly used by people as the population grows around this area. They’re using it as a very pleasant place to walk the dog, and for children to play in in the evenings and at weekends during the summer. So it’s a very well used playing field.
JOHN DEVINE: So why have you set up the petition then Trevor?
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The value of wetland in Cambridgeshire

07:18 Thursday 30th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A study conducted at Wicken Fen near Ely has found the value of wetland is greater per hectare than farmland. Compared to use as intensely farmed arable land, restored wetland could be worth nearly £130 more per hectare, in part because of its ability to reduce flooding and carbon emissions. It also provides grazing and can be used for recreation and tourism. Dr Francine Hughes is a Reader in Wetland Ecology and Conservation at Anglia Ruskin University, and is an author of the research. Now this came as a surprise to me Francine, because we hear so often that arable farmland in Cambridgeshire is more valuable than land in the middle of London, but wetland you say is even more valuable.
FRANCINE HUGHES: Yes. Well you have to look at it in terms of both the cost and the benefits of the two land uses that we’re talking about here. So arable crops are very very valuable, and especially in the Fens, where the soils are wonderfully fertile. But the cost of producing those crops is also very high. On the other hand, the wetland’s overall value is actually a little lower, but the cost is much lower. So when you look at the net difference, then we find that the value of the wetland per hectare is higher. So it is important that you look at the costs and the benefits of both types of land use.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So who gains from wetland?
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Tony Hey on the origins and future of computing

17:36 Wednesday 29th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Festival of Ideas at Cambridge University continues tonight with a talk by one of the most senior executives of Microsoft on the future of the computer. Originally from Birmingham, Tony Hey CBE, Professor, is Vice President of Research. His talk will trace the origins and history of computers. He’s written a new book to try and get more young people to understand the origins of computing. He joined me earlier to explain why.
(TAPE)
TONY HEY: First of all the inspiration: I used to be a physicist, and I see wonderful popular physics books around. I see almost no popular computer science books, and when I was running a programme in the UK called the e-Science programme, which was trying to get computer scientists to collaborate with scientists, it was quite clear that the scientists, even the scientists at universities, had very little idea what computer science was about. So the idea was to do a popular book on computer science.
CHRIS MANN: And it’s very fitting that your talk tonight is in Cambridge, because this city, this university, has played such a huge part in what you’ve written about.
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Bewick’s swan under threat from human activity

07:50 Tuesday 28th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Swan numbers are swan diving. That’s right. A rare type of swan that travels over 4,000 miles to spend its winters in Cambridgeshire has seen a huge drop in its population. Bewick’s swans are the smallest are rarest type of swan in the UK, and according to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust they have been affected by power lines, hunting, windfarms and lead poisoning. We can now speak to Emma Brand from the Welney Wetland Centre. How bad is the fall in numbers Emma?
EMMA BRAND: It’s quite a dramatic fall in our Bewick’s swans. We do an international swan count across the whole of their fly-ways, so that’s not only in the UK, but also over continental Europe and Russia, every five years. And we’ve found that more than a third of Bewick’s swans disappeared since 1995 when we then recounted in 2000. So dropped from about 29,000 to 18,000. And our next count is due in January, and we’re a bit worried about what we might find out at that time.
DOTTY MCLEOD: I know that there’s different types of swans that come to Welney. How would we recognise a Bewick’s swan?
EMMA BRAND: Well the Bewick’s swans are the smallest swans. We’ve got three types of swan that are here in the UK. The Mute swans are here all the year round, a nice orange bill. Hooper and Bewick’s swans have yellow and black bills. The Hooper swan, how we tell our visitors is to look for a wedge of yellow. So a triangular wedge of yellow like a wedge of cheese for a Hooper swan, and the Bewick’s have more of a rounded blob of yellow, so like a blob of butter, just at the base of the bill. And then there’s a lot more black on the bill. But they’ve also got the size difference as well.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And this list of things that you think is harming the swan population. Power lines, I can see that. Hunting? Not here in the UK surely.
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