East Coast Trains – petition calls for continued public ownership

07:20 Tuesday 28th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The future of the East Coast Main Line is going to be discussed in the House of Lords today. A petition has been created asking for the line to remain in public hands, and not to be run by a private company. Over the past ten years the line has been passed around between private and public hands like a hot potato. Currently run by a public group, but the Government will soon announce which private company will take over the line. So which would be better for us, for us who actually ride on the trains, staying public or going back to private? Joining me now is Phil Haigh. He’s a railway journalist who has covered this story for many years. Phil, this old chestnut again. Remind us of the history of East Coast Main Line.
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Cambridge Live seeks to appoint trustees

17:53 Monday 27th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PETER SWAN: Now we’re going to talk about Cambridge Live, the new organisation that’s going to run City Council’s cultural events and services. It’s a not-for-profit organisation. It’s going to run cultural venues and events like the Cambridge Folk Festival as well. Sara Garnham is the Founding Chair of Cambridge Live and joins us on the show now. So I guess we ought to start with: what was the system that Cambridge Live has replaced?
SARA GARNHAM: Peter, Cambridge Live has replaced services that were directly provided by Cambridge City Council. With the budget cuts at the moment, the Council were very concerned that their excellent provision, which includes everything from free events like the Fireworks next week through to international events like the Folk Festival, and then lots of things at the Corn Exchange and the Guildhall, were going to come under pressure, because obviously there were lots of calls on their money these days. And they wanted to make sure that there was a sustainable future for all of that development. The team delivered the amazing Tour de France weekend this year. They do the Big Weekend Out, tea dances in the Guildhall, lots and lots of ways that 300,000 get involved with events in the course of the year. And it was very important to them that that carried on.
PETER SWAN: And Cambridge Live is seen as the best possible way of making use of the resources that you’ve got?
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A county divided on Europe

09:24 Friday 24th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Many comments from you as you can probably imagine this morning on the subject of Europe, and this survey that says that 56% of us now want to stay in. It’s the highest number for 23 years, according to this new poll, although the news today may impact on that I would think, the fact that we’ve got to give this £1.7 billion extra to Europe, because our economy has been doing so well. Yvonne says “How dare they! We’ve taken pension cuts, wage freezes, university fees doubling and so many cuts to get where we are. Let France, Germany and Greece take the punishment. They’re not taking away any more money from us.” Andy says, ” If I do well in my pub Paul, does that mean I have to give some of my profits to the pub in the next village because they’re having a bad time? No. So we shouldn’t give our money to the rest of the EU.” Gary says, ” Paul, didn’t Margaret Thatcher negotiate a rebate in 1984 because the UK economy was performing so badly which all of the other member states had to pay for and have continued to do so?” We’re in the club, we’ve got to pay I think is what Gary is saying. If we do better, then we help those that don’t. Paul Bullen is Leader of the UKIP group on Cambridgeshire County Council. Morning Paul.
PAUL BULLEN: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So, we’re part of the club, we’ve got to chip in when others are not doing so well. It’s a good idea, isn’t it?
PAUL BULLEN: Ah of course it’s a good idea. It’s absolutely ludicrous. Where do they get these figures from? This is a recalculated growth figure apparently. What they’re not saying is it also includes income from the black economy. It’s got nothing to do with the British economy. It’s Europe after more and more money. They’re saying that they’re going to take more money from Holland and Italy, Italy is almost on its knees, and from Greece which is on its knees. And yet we’re going to give a £1 billion rebate to France, and almost as much to Germany. What the EU is telling the UK taxpayer is that it’s got to pay £1.7 billion to Germany and France. That is absolutely ludicrous when we have old age pensioners currently going to food banks and who are going to be in fuel poverty in a couple of months time.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes, if we believe this poll out in the last 24 hours, more and more of us are actually warming to the idea of Europe, warming to the idea that we all look after each other. 56% of us now want to stay in Europe. That’s not good news for you, is it?
PAUL BULLEN: Well I don’t believe .. I believe that that poll was of the members of the Liberal Democrat Conservative and Labour parties. So what it’s saying is that fifty ..
PAUL STAINTON: (LAUGHS) It’s not is it, obviously. It was carried out by Ipsos Mori.
PAUL BULLEN: .. six per cent of the members of those parties wish to stay in Europe, which proves categorically that the old parties are all pro-Europe. And that’s why UKIP’s popularity is growing at such an unusual rate.
PAUL STAINTON: So the poll’s wrong.
PAUL BULLEN: The poll is of members of the old parties. Not of the British population as a whole.
PAUL STAINTON: Huw Jones is with us as well. He’s the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire. Huw, morning.
HUW JONES: Good morning. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: I’m alright. Welcome to the Big Conversation my friend. So, what are your thoughts, first of all, on this poll? 56% of us, more than ever in the last 23 years, are now cosying up to Europe. We all want to be part of the big gang. What do you think?
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Peter Kellner YouGov looking forward to the 2015 General Election

17:18 Thursday 23rd October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The President of market research firm YouGov has been speaking in Cambridge today about the forthcoming General Election. Of course it’s in May, just under six months to go. Peter Kellner has been trying to answer the question, who and what will decide the election. A star-studded line-up today at a special conference. Harriet Harman was there, Matthew Parris, John Snow from Channel 4, Adam Boulton from Sky News, David Willetts MP, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, lots of others. But let’s bring in Peter Kellner now and find out what’s been going on. Hello Peter.
PETER KELLNER: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Welcome to Cambridge. Just counting down we are now to the General Election. It’s come up quite quickly, hasn’t it?
PETER KELLNER: It has, and you know Chris, normally six months before an election, one has a broad idea what’s likely to happen. In 1997 it was obvious that Labour was going to win. In 2010 it was pretty obvious that Labour was going to be thrown out of office. This time I’ve never gone into an election more uncertain as to what[‘s going to happen. It’s going to be a really tense, and for those who like these things , an exciting few months.
CHRIS MANN: I saw there was a blog today by our local Green candidate, saying that it’s now a five party system in Britain. Of course there’s a little bit of exaggeration there you might say, but things are complicated because the smaller parties are doing better.
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RSA City Growth Commission

08:22 Wednesday 22nd October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The Scottish referendum might seem like a long way away now, but according to a new report, Cambridge could be one of the big beneficiaries of the legacy of that referendum. The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce has looked at how increased devolution of powers would benefit the UK’s fifteen largest cities, and that includes Cambridge. According to their math, the economies of these cities would benefit by a whopping £79 billion.  Let’s speak to Ben Lucas who is one of the commissioners behind the report. So Ben tell us more what you looked into. What did you find out in this report?
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Godmanchester nature reserve under pressure from scheduled development

17:22 Tuesday 21st October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Almost 1,400 people have signed a petition saying they don’t want a road to be built through a nature reserve in Godmanchester. There’s no plan on the table to do this yet, but with over 10,000 homes planned for the area in the next twenty years or so, a new link road and bridge is needed somewhere in the area of Godmanchester. The Wildlife Trust which runs Ouse Valley Living Landscape, wants to make sure it doesn’t go through the reserve. Martin Baker is the Wildlife Trust Conservation Manager for Cambridgeshire. He presented that petition to Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment and Economic Committee today. I’ll be talking to the chairman of that in just a moment or two, but Martin earlier on gave me his view of how it had gone.
(TAPE)
MARTIN BAKER: … proposal is road east of Huntingdon, between Huntingdon and Hemingford Abbotts, to link Hertford and Godmanchester, but mainly to serve a proposed massive new development at RAF Wyton. And the route shown by the County Council on their plan going between Huntingon and Hemingford Abbotts will have to pass through historic river valley landscape, which has the Wildlife Trust’s nearest nature reserve at Godmanchester, but also the ancient flower-rich meadows and a Site of Special Scientific Interest at (UNCLEAR) Common. And overall a very peaceful tranquil and one of the best bits and highest environment quality areas of the Ouse Valley.
CHRIS MANN: So tell us how the meeting went.
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Cheap clothing and sweated labour – Martin Gemzell from War on Want

10:18 Tuesday 21st October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We were talking earlier this morning about the EU wanting to ban some of the pesticides that our farmers use, which would make probably some of our produce a lot dearer, although one farmer said no, the supermarkets will just import it from elsewhere where they’re still using it. But it might make some of our produce dearer. Vivienne Westwood, British fashion designer of course, got a shop in Wansford, says she believes the clothes in Britain that we wear are too cheap as well, and we ought to think about where they’re coming from. Stop buying cheap clothes, then people wouldn’t have to work in sweat shops around the world. Well let’s talk to Martin Gemzell from War on Want who’s over in Hong Kong as we speak this morning. Martin, good morning.
MARTIN GEMZELL: Good morning. Or good afternoon.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes, good afternoon for you of course. You’re way ahead of the game. If we pay more money for our clothes, would it really make any difference to those working in sweat shops? Would it really? Or would it just put them out of a job?
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Cambridgeshire waste merger has union support

08:20 Friday 17th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: There are plans for a shared bin collection service for Cambridge and the surrounding South Cambridgeshire villages. Councillors have been told that annual savings of around £350,000 could be achieved in the next twelve months by sharing services, increasing to around £700,000 within three years. That saving would be shared between South Cambridgeshire District and Cambridge City Councils. Mick Martin is the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services at South Cambridgeshire District Council. Mick, what stage are we at? Has this been decided yet?
MICK MARTIN: No it hasn’t. And I say no it hasn’t hesitatingly. The situation is that South Cambs Cabinet reviewed the proposal yesterday evening and unanimously agreed to move forward with it. But the City Council doesn’t have their review meeting until 5 o’clock this evening.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. So it’s still in the pipeline at the moment. The main question for anyone living in either of these areas of Cambridgeshire is what is this going to mean for my bin.
MICK MARTIN: Your bin will be as wonderfully cared for as it has been up until now. The two founding principles of the process that we’re going through are first of all to reduce the operational costs, particularly in the area of premises management administration and fleet and equipment costs.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Is it going to mean fewer binmen? Are we going to see job losses?
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