Budget forecast 2016

It’s quite a gloomy forecast by our Chancellor, who’s sounding as miserable as Arsene Wenger was last night when Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup.

07:26 Monday 14th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The Chancellor George Osborne warning of further spending cuts in his Budget on Wednesday. He says economies are more uncertain than at any time since the financial crisis of 2008, and Britain must live within its means. I’m joined by our Political Correspondent Paul Rowley. What can we expect then Paul?
PAUL ROWLEY: Not much it seems Dotty. It’s quite a gloomy forecast by our Chancellor, who’s sounding as miserable as Arsene Wenger was last night when Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup. Because only four months ago Boy George was positively buoyant in his Autumn Statement, because he found an extra 27 billion quid down the back of the Treasury’s sofa. Now he’s admitting there is an £18 billion black hole in the finances. Not his fault of course, well he says it’s not his fault. He’s blaming the slow-down in the world economy, China in particular, the fall in oil prices, which may benefit us as motorists but not necessarily help the international economy, and the political crisis and instability in the Middle East. This is going to mean he’s going to have to slash his budget by more than £4 billion, not just for the coming year, but for each of the next four years, if he’s to reach his target of balancing the books and eliminating the deficit by the time of the next election.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So we’re going to have some cuts announced; we know that. Is there going to be some European slant to this though?
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Lewis Herbert and Lucy Nethsingha – reservations around an Eastern Powerhouse devolution deal

“We’re going to take this in a democratic and transparent way to the first possible meeting, which is on 23rd March, and Cambridge will make a decision.”

17:20 Friday 11th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The BBC understands the Government wants to go ahead with an Eastern Powerhouse devolution deal, despite Cambridge City Council announcing it’ll not take part. The Leader of the City Council is with us very shortly. The proposals would give control of transport and planning to a single mayor, with responsibility across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. And the Leader of the LibDems on the County Council also with us in a moment or two. But first of all, political reporter Tom Barton from Look East. Tom, what’s it all about?
TOM BARTON: So this is about effectively Government giving away some power. So decisions that are made at the moment by civil servants and Ministers in Whitehall and Westminster instead being passed to local areas. It’s been going on for a while, trying to find an area that they can give it to effectively. Norfolk and Suffolk had put together proposals which they took to the Government. The Government said, we like what you’re talking about, but we don’t think you’re a big enough area for this to work in. We want you to go and work with Cambridgeshire instead.
CHRIS MANN: Big enough in terms of numbers?
TOM BARTON: in terms of the impact of the economy if you like. So not just population, but economic power.
CHRIS MANN: Because Cambridgeshire is a powerhouse.
TOM BARTON: Exactly. And the Government, this is all going to be announced at the Budget next week. George Osborne the Chancellor wants to stand up in the House of Commons and announce a deal for an Eastern Powerhouse. That’s what he’s talking about. And so this would give a new elected mayor, effectively East of England’s very own version of Boris Johnson, the power ..
CHRIS MANN: Or Alex Salmond.
TOM BARTON: Or Alex Salmond. .. the power to do a range of different things. We don’t know exactly what it’s going to be, but it’ll be around housing, infrastructure like roads, railways, public transport, skills, those sorts of things, across all three counties. So it would wear away the borders between the counties, and see decisions taken across the board.
CHRIS MANN: Where would it be based, this government, this devolved, not parliament, but devolved .. ?
TOM BARTON: The institution if you like of the mayor. We don’t know. That’s one of the things to be decided. They might choose a point somewhere geographically in between Norwich, Ipswich and Cambridge. Who knows? But the crucial thing is the Government has been trying to get this deal signed off. They really wanted the whole of Cambridgeshire on board. But last night, as the deadline approached for the deal to be signed off, Cambridge City Council walked away. They said that they don’t want to be part of it.
CHRIS MANN: OK. And let’s bring in the Leader of Cambridge City Council, who is councillor Lewis Herbert. Lewis.
LEWIS HERBERT: Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Why did you say no?
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Centralisation of hospital services could be on the agenda

07:26 Friday 11th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridge

DOTTY MCLEOD: Uncertainty this morning over the future of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, and it’s causing upset for patients, according to the local MP. Huntingdon’s MP Jonathan Djanogly has accused two local hospital trusts of using weasel words to try and cover up plans for a merger. There are proposals to extend an agreement for closer working and to merge certain services with Peterborough City Hospital. Jonathan Djanogly wants what he calls a secret document from the health regulator Monitor to be revealed. Dr Nik Johnson is a pediatrician at Hinchingbrooke Hospital. He also stood as the Labour Party candidate at the General Election. Nik, is this paranoia from Jonathan Djanogly, or is he right to be worried?
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Gateway Peterborough – industry cancelled – more houses suggested

“The Roxhill development of warehouses obviously failed, with their admission that they’ve had trouble .. well they can’t sell them. And I’m afraid they’re just trying to recoup their losses.”

08:17 Tuesday 8th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Picture this. Imagine yourself driving up the A1M from Stilton to Peterborough. You’re flanked at the moment aren’t you by fields on both sides. Well it had been hoped that some of this land, around 160 acres or 100 football pitches, at Roxhill would be a business park, meaning more jobs for Peterborough, and the people moving into the 5,000 odd homes on the proposed Great Haddon urban extension would have somewhere to work. Well this afternoon the Peterborough City Council Planning Committee will decide whether 610 homes should be built there instead, Local groups say 1,500 people are effectively just going to be dumped in a field with nothing to do, no jobs and nowhere to send their children to school. Our reporter Dave Webster went to the site.
DAVE WEBSTER: New trees have been planted at the entrance to the site. There’s daffodils and crocuses growing on the roundabout. And at the entrance is the Roxhill Gateway Peterborough, a beautiful new sign saying Plot 110 units of up to 1.2 million sq. ft. And there have been some objections to the development. The villages of Stilton and Folksworth are located to the south west of the site, and Yaxley lies just to the south east. And this abuts the residential area of the Hamptons, and some local people are not happy. They formed the Norman Cross Action Group, which comprises many of the parish councils around here, and also interested individuals. And one of those concerned locals is Olive Main who’s Chairman of Stilton Parish Council. Olive, just explain to me what is the Norman Cross Action Geoup.
OLIVE MAIN: Well it’s a group of representatives of the local parish councils and interested residents. We set up some years ago when the Great Haddon project was first developing.
DAVE WEBSTER: What is your objection to the new development?
OLIVE MAIN: Well originally it was given planning permission to be an industrial and distribution site, and it was going to provide we were told many thousands of jobs. That’s our big objection, that we’re going to lose considerable amounts of employment by the site being half developed as housing. Our other objection, over 600 houses, what, 1,500 people, are going to be dumped in a field on the edge of Peterborough with no facilities except a one-form entry primary school. No medical services, shops, secondary school places, no entertainment, no public transport. That’s our other major objection.
DAVE WEBSTER: There were comments about Hampton when that was first developed, but something similar happened then. It’s taken a good number of years to sort out the problems that were caused because there were no community facilities.
OLIVE MAIN: Well inevitably. And this development rather hinges on the eventual development of Great Haddon, and that looks very much into the future. We don’t know whether it will ever happen. There’s no thought given to the transport in and out of the site. It’s just going to be a mess for everybody that buys a house there or the surrounding villages.
DAVE WEBSTER: So what you’re saying in effect is this has happened before, we haven’t learned our lessons, it’s going to happen again.
OLIVE MAIN: I’m afraid so. The whole business of roads and transport in and out has just not been thought through, and we are particularly concerned about that. The site is edged by the old Great North Road. That is now a rather pleasant country lane. It’s part of the Green Wheel, the national cycle route. It’s going to be turned into an access route to this development, become a rat-run through the hamlet of Haddon. And the big problem is the junction with the A15 near the junction 16 of the A1M. It’s just an accident waiting to happen.
DAVE WEBSTER: What would you say to the City councillors that are at the Planning Committee debating this proposal?
OLIVE MAIN: We would say go back to the drawing board. We would like to see the road system developed first, as in the good old days of the Peterborough development Corporation. They put in the infrastructure, and then they built the houses. In fact we’d like to ask them to wait and to make it part of Great Haddon, where there will then be schools, secondary schools and shops, and all the things that a community needs. The Roxhill development of warehouses obviously failed, with their admission that they’ve had trouble .. well they can’t sell them. And I’m afraid they’re just trying to recoup their losses.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Our reporter David Webster there. Sheila Scott joins me now, the local councillor for the Orton and Hampton area. Morning Sheila.
SHEILA SCOTT: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So back to the drawing board is the recommendation from that local group. Are these plans really that bad?
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Dan Jones on whether carbon emissions cause global warming

12:30 Monday 7th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

JEREMY SALLIS: Let’s welcome onto the programme our first hour feature guest this afternoon, as we will be marking throughout the day and throughout the week the Cambridge Science Festival that has kicked off. My guest this afternoon is Dan Jones from the British Antarctic Survey, ahead of a special talk entitled ‘Everything you always wanted to know about climate science‘. Good afternoon to you Dan.
DAN JONES: Hello Jeremy. Thank you for having me.
JEREMY SALLIS: And just to clarify, is it the oceans? Is that your baby? Is that your sphere of expertise particularly?
DAN JONES: Yes, that’s the heart of the whole earth system that I’m interested in and involved with in terms of what I study.
JEREMY SALLIS: And in terms of climate change then, what are you looking at in relation to the oceans?
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Lewis Herbert on housing asylum seekers in Cambridge

08:17 Friday 4th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: One of the other big issues this morning, MPs warning Britain faces an impending shortage of housing for asylum seekers, with an allocation system that’s unfair. The Home Affairs Committee claims most are moved into urban areas, while whole swathes of the country don’t receive any. Let’s bring in Keith Vaz MP, who’s Chair of that Committee. Keith morning to you.
KEITH VAZ: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: So what’s your view? How do you distribute so many people?
KEITH VAZ: Well better than we’re doing at present, because as we know, there are certain parts of the country where there are many asylum seekers in dispersed accommodation, and some parts of the country, sadly Chris Cambridge being one of them, where there are no asylum seekers in accommodation in the whole of Cambridge. If you take Bolton for example, they have 1,023. And a city like my own in Leicester, which has over 875. Now this is not something that’s just happened under this Government. This has been the case for the last ten years.
CHRIS MANN: OK Keith.
KEITH VAZ: But the situation has become more acute.
CHRIS MANN: OK. Peterborough, also in Cambridgeshire as you know, Stewart Jackson the MP says we’re not taking any more because we’re full. We’ve done our share. Do you agree with him?
KEITH VAZ: Well I don’t know what his share is, but we’re not .. you know .. since I’m talking to Radio Cambridge I mention Cambridge. At the end of the day, this is something that needs to be negotiated between the local authorities and the Government. Peterborough actually have taken 146 in dispersed accommodation.
CHRIS MANN: Recently. Yes.
KEITH VAZ: Yes. Which In think is a reasonable number.
CHRIS MANN: OK.
KEITH VAZ: And they support 153 in terms of Section 95 help.
CHRIS MANN: OK.
KEITH VAZ: So Stewart is making the point that he’s taken 146, but next door .. you know .. other local authorities have taken none. So he’s right to that extent. I’m not prescribing a number here. I’m just saying that it should be much more fairer than it is.
CHRIS MANN: What is your number for Cambridge? How many should the city take?
KEITH VAZ: Well I don’t think that I should negotiate necessarily with you Chris, though we’re both people I’m sure capable of doing this. This is something that should be done between the Government and Cambridgeshire City Council .. Cambridge City Council. They should be having this discussion, because we have international obligations which the Prime Minister has committed us to, the 20,000.
CHRIS MANN: OK.
KEITH VAZ: Plus all those waiting in the queue.
CHRIS MANN: It’s your own Party ..
KEITH VAZ: They really need to be accommodated.
CHRIS MANN: It’s a Labour City Council, you might know. Are you disappointed at that.
KEITH VAZ: (LAUGHS) I’m not making a party political point on this. And the previous Government was a Labour government before the Coalition. So this is about the system Chris. This is about a system that leaves some cities and some urban areas with a lot of asylum seekers, and other parts of the country with none.
CHRIS MANN: But of course ..
KEITH VAZ: And we need to put this right.
CHRIS MANN: As you know, Cambridge is quite unique as a city in that it’s under huge pressure in terms of housing for the people that are already here and working here and living here. There’s a massive problem with not enough accommodation . So where do we find these places?
KEITH VAZ: Sure. You’re absolutely right. I studied in Cambridge for three years. I was there on Wednesday night. I know all the good work that is being done by the City Council. But the fact is, if we share this challenge and this burden equally throughout the country, then it’s much easier for all local authorities. Cambridge is no different from Peterborough or Leicester or any of these other areas. There is enormous pressure. But if you sign a treaty saying that you’re going to let asylum seekers come into this country, and you say you’re going to get 20,000 Syrian refugees coming to the United Kingdom in five years, we need to put them somewhere. Now what we’ve suggested is there’s been offers from people including the Archbishop of Canterbury, who’ve said why not come and house asylum seekers in our house, in our establishment …
CHRIS MANN: OK.
KEITH VAZ: .. you should look at that again.
CHRIS MANN: I know you’ve got to go in a second or two, but I’m going to get a response from Lewis Herbert, the Leader of Cambridge City Council, just after you’ve gone. But your message to him now Keith is ..?
KEITH VAZ: Keep talking to the Government. A city like Cambridge can’t just take on responsibility without the funding, and they need to get the funding to support what they’re doing. And they should continue to keep negotiating to see what can be done to help. Cambridge is a great city, and it’s important that all cities and towns and counties in the country share this burden. That’s what we’re saying.
CHRIS MANN: Keith Vaz MP, thank you so much. Chair of the Home Affairs Committee there. The warning that Britain faces an impending shortage of housing for asylum seekers. The allocation system is unfair, and he says Cambridge has got to take more. Got to take some he says. Well Lewis Herbert is the Leader of Cambridge City Council, and he joins us now. Lewis, good morning to you.
LEWIS HERBERT: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: What’s your response?
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Bassingbourn councillor defects to UKIP

It’s a personal choice. Nothing against the people who are in the Conservatives, but it doesn’t fit with my personality.

08:07 Monday 29th February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A Cambridgeshire Conservative councillor is the latest to switch parties and join UKIP. Adrian Dent says he’s disillusioned with the party at Cambridgeshire County Council. And he’s the county councillor for Bassingbourn. He joins me in the studio now. Morning to you.
ADRIAN DENT: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: How long have you been a Conservative?
ADRIAN DENT: Since I could vote, and that was eighteen. An awfully long time now, thirty seven years.
CHRIS MANN: And you’ve been an elected councillor for the last three years, for Bassingbourn on the County Council.
ADRIAN DENT: I have. Yes.
CHRIS MANN: So why are you leaving the Conservatives, and perhaps more importantly why are you joining UKIP?
ADRIAN DENT: It’s a personal choice. I lecture in change and change management and lean manufacturing, and I’m used to seeing change happen quickly. And I’m not happy in the role that I am as a Conservative county councillor, and I want to make change happen quicker. That’s why I became elected. I wanted to make a change for the people who voted for me.
CHRIS MANN: And how are you going to do that by joining UKIP? What will the difference be? Because you’re not going to change the situation on the County Council, are you?
ADRIAN DENT: No, but I can have more of my say. I’m allowed to say what I want. There is no whip in UKIP, and that’s the bit that I find that I couldn’t .. I’ve thought about this long and hard for fourteen months before I’ve done this, and you can’t say that’s a fast decision. It’s not. I have just become more and more increasingly frustrated with the whip situation, and I just wanted to move. It’s a personal choice. Nothing against the people who are in the Conservatives, but it doesn’t fit with my personality.
CHRIS MANN: Well let’s bring in the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives on Cambridgeshire County Council. The Leader is on holiday at the moment, but Mac McGuire. Morning to you sir.
MAC MCGUIRE: Morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: So, too much whipping. not enough freedom in the Conservatives.
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CAB call for volunteers as Universal Credit rollout begins

Payment monthly in arrears is a real change for a lot of people, and this is one major concern of the new benefit being introduced.

17:22 Friday 28th February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Universal Credit comes into force on Monday. It is a means-tested benefit for people of working age who are on a low income, and replaces six existing means-tested benefits. There are widespread concerns that many will lose out because they are confused about the changes. Here to tell us more is Helen Crowther from Cambridge and District Citizens Advice Bureau. Helen hello
HELEN CROWTHER: Hello.
CHRIS MANN: So when change happens, people do get confused, don’t they? Because these things can be quite complex.
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