Category: Peterborough

The Peterborough Plan To License Private Landlords

07:07 Friday 1st November 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Our big question this morning, is enough being done to regulate landlords behind houses of multiple occupancy? It’s a problem in Peterborough, in Wisbech and even in the relatively affluent Cambridge. But only just over 400 houses of multiple occupancy in Cambridgeshire have to be automatically licensed. It’s thought the actual amount of HMOs in the county is in the thousands. .. In Peterborough they’re considering going one step further and making all private landlords in specific problem areas get a licence. And on each individual licence will be a people limit specific to that house. .. Peterborough City Council says in a statement:
“We’re currently consulting on selective licensing to raise standards in the private rented sector, and tackle problems including rogue landlords, overcrowding, anti-social behaviour and poor property conditions for tenants. It’s important to note that whilst there are many good landlords, we recognise that poor management practices by others are having a negative effect on the areas. Selective licensing would enable the Council to direct more resource to the area, to bring about significant improvement to properties in the wider community, and give tenants more information about who they rent from. The licence fees would cover the costs of implementing and administrating the scheme.”
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The Light Fantastic

08:20 Tuesday 29th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Peterborough is set to become one of the first Gigabit Cities in the country. That’s the promise of the City Council as they prepare to enter into a new agreement with private company CityFibre. They are set to invest £30 million in the project. We’ll get reaction from the City Council in a moment, but first we’re joined on the line by Mark Collins from CityFibre. Mark, morning.
MARK COLLINS: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Gigabit city. Superfast, superfast, it’s all very confusing. What exactly are you offering, and what will we get?
MARK COLLINS: What we deliver Paul is gigabit speeds, that’s a thousand megabits per second, 100 times faster than the UK average, 40 times faster than so-called superfast broadband. We will be delivering that into all of the businesses and all the homes of Peterborough over the next two to five years as we roll that infrastructure out for the benefit of all in the society there.
PAUL STAINTON: Coming down existing networks, yes?
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Peterborough Solar Farm Setback But A Glimmer Of Hope For North Westgate

07:49 Friday 25th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[D]OTTY MCLEOD: Council plans to build a solar farm on tenants’ farmland in Peterborough have been thrown into doubt, after archeologists discovered a number of artefacts believed to be from the Roman and Saxon eras. The findings were made earlier this week, but have been kept under wraps by the City Council officials. The archeological digs are being undertaken after experts from English Heritage and Cambridge University warned that the three sites being earmarked for the energy project could be riddled with remains. Peterborough City Council archeologists are now conducting tests to find out how old the finds are. Joining me now is Dr Francis Pryor, the man who discovered Flag Fen. Francis, does this surprise you at all?
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Blood From A Stone – Hilary Benn On Taxing The Poorest

[D]OTTIE MCLEOD: Have you been forced to pay council tax for the first time this year? Well if you have, you’re not alone. Labour says that over 150,000 people have received a court summons for non-payment of council tax since the Government changed the welfare system in April. Here in Cambridgeshire the worst affected area was Peterborough. Rather than absorb the Government cuts like many other councils in the county did, Peterborough City Council actually increased the cut, meaning that nearly 9,000 households are paying council tax for the first time. We can now talk to Hilary Benn, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Good morning.
HILARY BENN: Good morning.
DOTTIE MCLEOD: Now we saw long lines outside court in Peterborough because of these changes, outrage from many of those affected. But isn’t it fair enough, if people don’t pay their taxes, that they should be taken to court?
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A Really Hostile Environment

17:23 Thursday 10th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Illegal immigrants are to be denied bank accounts, stripped of driving licences, and stopped from renting, in a crackdown to drive them out of Britain. The Home Secretary Theresa May says it’s about creating a really hostile environment for those who shouldn’t be here. But what impact could it have on everyone else? It’s been said that if people are here illegally, life should be made difficult for them, and they should be forced to leave. Our political reporter Robin Crystal has more.
(TAPE)
ROBIN CRYSTAL: That is certainly the view of the Home Secretary Theresa May, and she thinks this is firmly in line with public opinion.
THERESA MAY: This is about a point of principle. I think if you’re out there and you’re working hard, you’re contributing, you’re paying in to the system, you do question whether people should be able to come into the UK and access the system without paying in. And that’s why most people are saying look it’s not fair. And we need to do something about this.
ROBIN CRYSTAL: And if you look at opinion polls, consistently immigration, concern about immigration, and here of course we’re talking about illegal immigration, comes very high. It’s often second, ahead of concern about housing, health and education. For many people, it’s only the economy which is more of a concern.
CHRIS MANN: So, what’s going to change, according to these proposals?
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TPA Swipe At Council Chiefs

07:07 Friday 4th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Let’s start though with cuts to council budgets, which will impact on all of us, and in particular on front line services going forward. That’s the warning anyway from a union spokesman for Cambridgeshire. Officials from the GMB Union meet today to decide their response to further budget cuts local authorities are going to have to make over the next few years, as their central government grants are reduced yet again. Here’s Richard O’Leary, the GMB’s Regional Officer for Public Services in Cambridgeshire. Earlier he said there are no more efficiencies savings that can be made .
(TAPE)
RICHARD O’LEARY: Since 2010 the cuts in local government have been absolutely savage. By 2015 there’ll be over 500 jobs lost at the current figures in Cambridgeshire. And a billion pound budget will virtually have been cut in half. There literally is no more cuts to make, and the biggest effect in these cuts as well as on local residents are on the staff.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: As I mentioned, Cambridgeshire County Council has to save £159 million over the next five years. They’ve already made 500 people redundant in the last three and a half years, and the Leader of the Council Martin Curtis has warned that hundreds more jobs might have to go. And he says it’s not really his or the authority’s fault.
(TAPE)
MARTIN CURTIS: We have done everything Government asked of us. We’re the fastest growing county in the country. As successive governments have said that they want councils to invest in growth, we’ve done that, and what we feel is we’re being punished. The level of cuts we’ve got to make in the next couple of years, we’re one of the worst affected county councils. And what we’re saying is actually Government need to revisit this. They actually need to revisit the whole scope of funding cuts to councils in general, and think about whether they can find those savings elsewhere.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: So last week it was firefighters. earlier this week it was teachers. Could it be council staff who are the next group of public sector workers to go on strike? Well Richard O’Leary from the GMB didn’t rule it out.
(TAPE)
RICHARD O’LEARY: It’s difficult to say. We hope not. Strikes are always a last resort. I was talking to somebody yesterday and made the point that I think there’s only actually been four days of industrial action in public services in the last 25 years. That’s the purpose of our meeting in London today, to gauge the views of our local government reps, to see what can be done to work with local authorities. But also obviously our primary role is to protect members’ terms and conditions, and services to the public.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Joining me now is Eleanor McGrath from the Taxpayers Alliance. They think councils could still make savings. Eleanor, where?
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Stewart Jackson Post Conservative Conference 2013

17:22 Wednesday 2nd October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: What does one of our leading local MPs feel about the Conference and how it went? Stewart Jackson joined me, the Conservative MP for Peterborough.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: Well I think what it did was to throw into sharp relief the big battles ahead. Because two or three weeks ago I think the people of this country thought it was going to be a battle about who could manage the country better, in terms of you’re all the same, you promise the same, you all look the same. And I think that that’s been blown out of the water now. We now have the biggest ideological battle I think for the future of our country since 1992. Two very stark competing visions of what Britain will look like after the next General Election, between principally Labour and the Conservatives. And I think that’s good for democracy …
CHRIS MANN: (GRUNTS)
STEWART JACKSON: … and it’s given people a clear choice.
CHRIS MANN: Is it the choice between a party with compassion, that’s Labour, and one, the Conservatives, who don’t really care about people at the bottom of society?
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Lisa Forbes And Stewart Jackson On Ed Miliband

07:38 Wednesday 25th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: We’re talking Ed Miliband as well. Full of promises in his speech at his party’s conference yesterday. He pledged to freeze gas and electricity prices until 2017, build thousands of new homes, 200,000 a year, cut taxes for smaller firms, give younger teenagers the vote, repeal the Government’s change to housing benefit. He went on and on and on. And all of that of course is if his party wins the next General Election. If. But it was his big energy freeze that grabbed the headlines. The energy companies though this morning warned such a freeze could lead to energy blackouts. Labour have rubbished those claims, and will write to the big energy companies to explain the policy in greater detail. But we can talk now to Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Peterborough, councillor Lisa Forbes, who’s with us and enjoying the conference. Morning Lisa.
LISA FORBES: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Did you enjoy yesterday? He certainly knocked out the bullets and the guns, didn’t he? Brought the big guns out yesterday. Continue reading “Lisa Forbes And Stewart Jackson On Ed Miliband”