Rupert Read on the value of vocational training

10:50 Thursday 14th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDIE HARPER: We’re talking about the alternatives to A Levels today, particularly if youngsters don’t get the grades that they hoped for and expected to get. Well it isn’t the end of the world, but what can they turn to? Well I’m delighted to say now that I can turn to Rupert Read. Rupert was the leading Green candidate in the recent Euro elections. He’s a lecturer at the University of East Anglia, and he actually tweeted on our page that “University is brilliant. I love being a teacher at university, but the UK chronically undervalues vocational training.” Rupert, good morning to you.
RUPERT READ: Good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So obviously things fell into place for you, in terms of getting good A Level results, going to university, and now lecturing at university. So you have nothing to complain about yourself as it were. (LAUGHS)
RUPERT READ: No absolutely. And like I said in my tweet, I love being a university academic. I think it’s great, and great for many students. But it’s not a thing for absolutely everybody. And as I said again in my tweet, I think that we really give people the wrong impression, if we give them the impression that everybody ought to be aiming to go to university. There are lots of great things that people can do obviously, I think it should be obvious, by not going to university, including other forms of education and training.
ANDIE HARPER: We have heard from people today, youngsters and indeed older people, who made decisions not to go to university. And they’ve stuck by them, and they’ve done very well in their chosen employment. But there will be youngsters today who haven’t got the results they expected, and they will feel as if it’s like the end of the world.
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Debt help in St Neots

07:11 Tuesday 12th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: You’ve experienced debt problems yourself, haven’t you? What happened to you?
INTERVIEWEE: I was in the process of losing my house, and I was on my own, and I had nobody there at the side of me to help me through this. But I’m a strong person, so I fought it the best way I could. And fortunately it worked for me.
PAUL STAINTON: How did you fight it?
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Peterborough prepares to incinerate its waste

07:07 Thursday 7th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Our top story this morning, could your household waste soon be used to power your home? Well almost, if you live in Peterborough. The energy from waste plant being built in Fengate is almost ready to start accepting waste and we were given a tour of the facility yesterday. The plant, which is the first of its kind in the UK, will turn our standard household gubbins into energy. Only Peterborough’s waste will be accepted though, and Viridor, the company leading the project, hope that this will provide power for up to 12,000 homes in the area.

07:10
PAUL STAINTON: Not everyone is convinced about the green credibilities of this plant. Richard Olive is from Peterborough Friends of the earth. Richard, good morning.
RICHARD OLIVE: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s not to love? All that waste that’s not going to landfill. It’s going into this incinerator. It’s burnt and then all this electricity is recovered. Surely that’s the very essence of ecology, isn’t it?
RICHARD OLIVE: It sounds good, doesn’t it? Actually getting energy from waste. And Friends of the earth aren’t opposed to energy from waste technology. But we aren’t in favour of this one.
PAUL STAINTON: Why?
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Richard Taylor – the right to report

08:07 Wednesday 6th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: A change in the law will bring local politics into the 21st century. That’s according to Eric Pickles. The Local Government Secretary assigned a Parliamentary Order allowing the press and public to film and digitally report from all public council meetings. It’s hoped this right to report will bring an end to some councils’ resistance to allow filming, blogging and tweeting during meetings. Well earlier the Leader of Hunts District Council Jason Ablewhite gave his reaction to the news.
(TAPE)
JASON ABLEWHITE: We welcome these changes as a council, although we amended our constitution over a year ago now to allow filming, to allow tweeting, and to bring our council well into the 21st century, ahead of this new legislation.
PAUL STAINTON: Does it mean now that all councils have to allow it, without having consultations or anything else?
JASON ABLEWHITE: I think they should. At the end of the day local democracy, local councils, should be able to be transparent, if people want to come along. We live in a whole new era now, where people tweet, social media pages. Most councillors now, regardless of age, have a social media page. Lots tweet on a regular basis to get out to a wider audience, and to glean views. And I think it’s only right that we move into the 21st century and allow this sort of thing to happen.
PAUL STAINTON: One political blogger though from Cambridge once had a bit of trouble filming a district council meeting in Huntingdonshire, didn’t he? Is that a thing of the past then?
JASON ABLEWHITE: (LAUGHS) He certainly did, and I fully support the actions of the Chairman at the time, because it was totally unprecedented for somebody to turn up at a council meeting, plonk a tripod in the middle of the floor and start filming the proceedings. There was nothing in our constitution to allow it. And as a result of that we had debate about it, we had round discussion about whether it was appropriate, and we decided then, well in advance of this legislation, that actually we’ve got to move into the 21st century, and actually this is part and parcel of the modern day.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That was Jason Ablewhite from Hunts District Council talking to me earlier. Well the blogger he was talking about, who set up his tripod and his camera, was Richard Taylor. He’s a citizen journalist who’s reported from council meetings right across Cambridgeshire, and come up against I think it’s fair to say a bit of resistance Richard.
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LibDem Sandford backs Cereste’s solar ambitions

07:12 Wednesday 6th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A working group of Peterborough councillors has met once again to discuss the financial risks of a proposed solar farm in the city. The cross-party group had previously pooh poohed the scheme, saying the risks were too high, and too much public money had been invested already. But fellow councillors deemed their report as light on detail, hence why they’ve been asked to meet again. Meanwhile Cambridgeshire County Council has submitted its own plans for a 50,000 solar panel farm near Soham. Well let’s speak to Nick Sandford. He’s the Leader of Peterborough LibDems, and on the working group looking into whether the expense of a huge solar farm at America Farm near Peterborough might be worth it. Nick, good morning.
NICK SANDFORD: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Why are you having to meet again?
NICK SANDFORD: Well I wasn’t actually at the original meeting that took place, but I was actually at the Scrutiny Meeting when they presented their report, and they were recommending that the project be discontinued..
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Sitting on a fortune- local authority farm estates rise in value

07:11 Monday 4th August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Let’s move to farmland and the cost of it in Cambridgeshire. Apparently it costs more than ever before. The price of an acre of English farmland has risen past £10,000 for the first time ever, according to research from a national property consultancy. So is this good news for farmers, or does it limit those who want to expand? And what does it mean for those who want to enter the farm industry? Is the rising cost of land pricing out the next generation of farmers? Well Jason Beedell is Head of Research at Smiths Gore, who are rural property advisers. They have offices in Peterborough and Newmarket and elsewhere. Jason, good morning. What’s happening then to the price of farmland in Cambridgeshire? Why is it rising so steeply?
JASON BEEDELL: It’s been rising steeply all across the country, and for quite a while now.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s not just here?
JASON BEEDELL: No no. No. For the last ten years it’s been going up, so it’s really gone up 100% over the last ten years. And that’s purely because of the demand. It’s been a relatively profitable period for farming, and so those farmers who’ve got farms and land already want to expand their businesses, so they’ve been buying.
PAUL STAINTON: We keep being told it’s difficult for farmers out there.
JASON BEEDELL: It is for some, and for some sectors it’s terribly difficult. So if you’re a dairy farmer for example, and I know there are not too many Cambridgeshire dairy farmers, but if you’re a dairy farmer, only the top 25/30% are making a profit. But for arable farmers so much more important here, it has been a good decade.
PAUL STAINTON: Right. So it’s just farmers that are wanting to expand. Is that what’s causing the spike?
JASON BEEDELL: Well most land is bought by existing farmers, and like you say it’s very difficult, very expensive for new people to buy land. But it’s also bought by investors, people who want to put their money somewhere safe. And farm land is really seen as a safe investment. And it’s also bought by just normal people like you and me, who’ve got a little bit of money, and want their patch of England. So there are three types of buyers really.
PAUL STAINTON: It could be a good investment.
JASON BEEDELL: It’s a very good investment. hardly any investments have done better during the recession, over the past ten years.
PAUL STAINTON: Well I can’t think of anywhere where you’ve got 100% return on your money.
JASON BEEDELL: In ten years?
PAUL STAINTON: Yes.
JASON BEEDELL: No no. And there are some really good inheritance tax benefits as well, if you’re an individual. So there are lots of good things about it. And people seem to love farming, not just the people who do it at the moment, but a lot of people want to get into it.
PAUL STAINTON: And Bob Lawrence is with us as well, from the Cambridgeshire National Farmers Union. Bob, morning.
BOB LAWRENCE: Good morning to you.
PAUL STAINTON: So you’ve never had it so good.
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Council dithering behind Peterborough’s traveller issue

08:08 Friday 1st August 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: So is Peterborough getting neglected by Cambridgeshire’s police force? Well the city’s MP certainly thinks so. Stewart Jackson told this programme earlier that the Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright needs a kick up the backside, and a tougher stance when it comes to dealing with illegal camped travellers. Here are just some of Stewart’s comments.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: I’m sorry. Graham Bright is paid over £90,000 a year. He needs a good kick up the backside. He very rarely comes to Peterborough. In fact he insults Peterborough by appointing what he calls an outreach worker, as if Peterborough’s a sort of special social case. He needs to come to Peterborough a bit more and talk to people that are affected by this issue.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well the row started when Stewart Jackson criticised Peterborough City Council for not setting up a site for travellers to use. Now a Cross-Party group has been looking into the possible locations where sites could be erected. But after two years, no locations have been made public as yet, although an announcement could be made in the next few weeks. Stewart Jackson says his constituents don’t want more traveller sites. They just want the travellers evicted and punished. Well the man in charge of policing Peterborough Tony Ixer told me earlier that the police can’t evict travellers until they have somewhere to take them.
(TAPE)
TONY IXER: We actually do have a very robust strategy across Cambridgeshire, but it is a fact that it doesn’t cover Peterborough. And the real reason it doesn’t cover Peterborough and hasn’t done for many years is because there are no designated stopping places.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: So in short, nothing can be done in Peterborough until Peterborough City Council sort themselves out. Needless to say, Sir Graham Bright and Peterborough City Council refused to speak to this programme this morning, but we can speak to Independent councillor John Fox. He chaired the Working Group looking at sites for emergency stopping places in the city. The Group’s recommendations will be considered at the next Peterborough City Council Cabinet meeting. John, good morning.
JOHN FOX: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s your fault that we’re getting these illegal encampments. You’ve been too slow, dragging your feet.
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Excessive profit margins in the UK energy market

17:36 Thursday 31st July 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Ofgem says energy companies will double the profit per customer over the next year versus last year, despite energy prices falling. Ofgem has revealed the forecast profit margins for the Big Six energy companies are expected to reach £106 per customer over the next twelve months. Well I got reaction earlier on from Ann Robinson. She’s the Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com.
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