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Apr 7, 2025
Unfiltered with Lewis Cocking: Fighting for Broxbourne
Unfiltered with Lewis Cocking: Fighting for Broxbourne
00:00
35:04
Transcript
0:00
Welcome to another episode of Voices of Our Towns, where we bring you the people shaping the future of our communities. I'm your host, Emeka Ogbonnaya, and today, we are joined by a very special guest.
0:14
He's a recently elected MP for Broxbourne Borough, representing us and making sure our voice is all heard in Westminster, Lewis Cocking.
0:23
In this episode, we will be delving into the issues that matter to him, the concerns he believes are top of mind for our local community, and of course, what the future holds for Broxbourne. Stick around.
0:38
This is one conversation you won't wanna miss. Hello. Pleasure. Thank you for having me. This is my first podcast since I've been a member of Parliament, so honored to be on your podcast series.
0:49
And this is actually an honor for us because we haven't had an MP before, so this is the first as well, and the-- there are diverse needs from housing to public services. Is there anything,
1:02
you know, that you would say are your priorities for improving the lives of the people of Broxbourne, at least over the next year? I mean, I've got lots of local priorities.
1:12
One of my priorities, which drives me mad, and I should imagine drives lots of listeners mad, is sitting in traffic. Like, I can't stand it. It absolutely infuriates me.
1:22
And now, I won't use the language, what I say to myself when I'm in the, the car by myself, annoyed that I'm sitting in the traffic.
1:29
But it seems like everywhere I go, the utility companies dig up roads for what feels like weeks on end, like, under emergency procedure, but you drive past and there's no one working on it.
1:39
And my mind is, if it's an emergency, just get it fixed as quickly as possible, and whether you're trying to get to work, your kids to school, go to the shops or what have you, we do not wanna be sitting in traffic.
1:49
So I'm at war, so to speak, with all the utility companies and the people digging up my-- our roads 'cause it infuriates me, and I get lots of emails about it.
1:58
So I've got a real big challenge at the moment to try and get a banking hub in Cheshunt. We used to have lots of banks.
2:04
They're all of the building societies, and they've all gone, and now it's all online banking, and now you can't speak to anyone face-to-face.
2:11
I think it's really important to make sure people have easy access to their cash. I mean, we all work ha-hard for it, so we should be able to access it and get it as easy as possible.
2:20
Right through to every time it rains now, we've got loads of issues with flooding locally.
2:25
So that's important because obviously we do whatever we can to protect our home, and if suddenly we've got loads of water coming in, it's flooding, affecting where we live, that's really horrific for people to deal with, you know?
2:36
Um, so helping where I can alleviate the flooding issues and get funding around that. So lots of local things that I'm, that I'm currently working on. I can imagine.
2:44
There's a-- It feels like there's a lot happening, and obviously you're chasing every single one of them and trying to do something about it. The-- there's another part that I wanted to catch up on was our local economy.
2:56
Small businesses are often described as the backbone of local economies. How do you plan to support small businesses and entrepreneurs within the borough to help them thrive?
3:06
The most important thing for us in Broxbourne, we have lots of small business owners, lots of people who are in the trade industry, more than other constituencies, and it's really important that we support them.
3:17
And look, when I was leader of the council, I did lots of things for small-- support businesses because it's small businesses that drive economic growth.
3:25
It's not the council, it's not government, it's not civil servants, it's people actually having an idea or learning a trade, going out there and delivering that service for people.
3:35
And I think there is a real big thing around, we need to look at what the education system does and how we get people ready for that world of work in terms of creating the next generation of entrepreneurs.
3:46
For example, I think we can be creative around if you went to that secondary school, and now you've got a business that turns over X amount of hundreds of thousands or a million pound, you going back into that school and us saying, as the state saying, "We can give you a bit of money off your tax if you go and inspire the next generation of children to create their own businesses."
4:07
And you don't need to learn maths to understand it. Well, do your profit and loss. What's your idea for your business? How are you gonna pay your staff?
4:14
And really, we've got to unlock the aspirations because if we don't do that, ultimately we all get poorer.
4:19
Without businesses growing, the whole of society gets poorer because we can only afford to pay for things when we've got a thriving economy and we're supporting local businesses, and it's really tough for businesses out there at the moment.
4:31
Labor are all talk around creating economic growth and all the rest of it, but the number of policies they're introducing are putting significant costs on people and businesses. Yeah.
4:42
I think that's one of the key issues at the moment we've actually encountered.
4:46
Speaking to some of the small businesses, they are constantly referring to some of the policies that have just been introduced that are really making it difficult for them to really thrive, and sometimes making it difficult for them to recruit the, the employees or get maybe more salaries to the people who are already working, and they're finding it very difficult and challenging, which is really difficult.
5:08
But there's one thing you said in the first question. You said something about the banking hub.
5:14
The closure of these high streets, bank branches obviously has left many, especially those in Cheshunt and other local businesses, without easy access to their own money.
5:24
I'm sure you've spoken to about the need for a banking hub to address this gap.
5:29
What specific steps do you think we can take or we have to plan to push for these initiatives, and how soon can residents expect some sort of a progress?
5:38
I, I asked my second, uh, PMQs, a p-prime minister's question, on this specific issue, and I wasn't convinced by the answer that I got from the Deputy Prime Minister.
5:47
But they did promise me a meeting with the government minister, so I could put our case directly to the top of government.
5:53
I was supposed to have a meeting with the government minister, Tulip Siddiq, who had to resign over corruption allegations and what have you.
6:00
So on the day I was supposed to have the meeting with her, I think she resigned the day before that.
6:03
So I'm now waiting at probably the back of the queue to meet the new minister, which I still intend to do, still pushing for, because I will take this to the highest levels of government because it's not acceptable.
6:13
It's not just not acceptable for people wanting to access their cash, but small businesses, they need to be able to go and speak to someone at a bank. They need access to loans to be able to grow.
6:21
They need to be able to go and pay cash in. They need all of those services. And it's not just about accessing your money and being able to get your cash.
6:29
It's all of the other services that banks would give to people- Yeah. -in terms of that face-to-face contact. How do you get a mortgage? What does that mean? What about your pension? What about a small business loan?
6:39
If you've got no one to speak to, no one wants to spend all their life on the end of the telephone, you're number ten in the queue.
6:45
People just wanna go and talk to someone and be human beings.Yeah, I think that obviously brings the concerns of AI taking over and obviously responding to other queries.
6:53
And obviously when people are concerned, they want to speak to normal people and obviously get the interaction going to get to access their money or, or the services that they're looking for.
7:04
There's another question I wanted to ask you just about local issues.
7:08
Although recently I've seen the police go on Facebook Live, and they are, you know, presenting some of the statistics on crime and antisocial behavior in our communities.
7:21
Are there any measures that you are advocating for to address any sort of crime raise or to ensure that we have safer communities in Broxbourne? Look, I work very closely with the police.
7:32
One of my first meetings was with the Chief Constable of Cheshunt Police in terms of all of the local policing command structures, because in the general election campaign, it came up loud and clear about the fear of crime particularly, and social behavior.
7:46
And I think we've really got to crack down hard on this. It goes to having the right policies in place at school, so we can take action there, having the right policies to be able to take action within the home.
7:55
I mean, parents need to take some responsibility, um, when their children are doing antisocial behavior. It's not easy. That's not me blaming parents completely. It's not easy to be a parent- Mm-hmm.
8:05
-um, particularly bringing up children with social media and what have you. But there are loads of strands that need to play their part, so we can protect children as well.
8:13
Um, and I think we've got to come up with policies around... Look, everyone should be nicer in society. Everyone should try and be friendly to their neighbors.
8:21
And if you're not, we've got to come up with concrete actions.
8:25
Like, for example, if you're a persistent person that causes antisocial behavior, should you have the privilege to live in a housing association or a council house home?
8:35
I've got a lot of people on the waiting list locally that would love to move into a nice home and all of the rest of it.
8:41
But if you're a persistent person that causes lots of nuisance to your neighbors, lots of nuisance to the police, why should you have that right over someone else that's waiting patiently on that housing list?
8:52
I think we need to look at lots of options to be able to solve that, because it may be low-level antisocial behavior, but if persistently every day and what have you, that can really grind someone down.
9:03
That can be awful to live next to. [lips smack] Thanks very much for that, Lewis. There's another thing I wanted to bring up. I think you have brought this up in one of the parliamentary sittings.
9:15
It's actually regarding immigration policy. You've raised concerns about current immigration levels and their impact on the economy, uh, in the economy and the public services.
9:25
What specific changes would you propose to, to the government on immigration policies to strike a balance between the economic needs and our community cohesion? Well, it came up loud and clear on the doorstep.
9:38
I mean, uh, it was the number one issue when I was out campaigning across the Broxbourne constituency, um, that people had felt that we had too much immigration too quickly, um, and they couldn't necessarily see what was going on or an end in sight to be able to bring those numbers down.
9:54
I think we have got to bring those numbers down because lots of the house building targets that Labour government are now gonna force us to do, lots of that is driven by immigration.
10:03
So if you're a young person in this country at the moment, the more immigration we have, the harder it is for you to be able to save and get on that housing ladder. I think that's wrong.
10:13
Of course, if we've got skilled people, like someone who wants to be a doctor or someone that wants to be a dentist, of course-- and if we're crying out for doctors and dentists, of course they're gonna be a net contributor to society, and of course, we should issue them with a visa.
10:26
But there's got to be that balance between, um, the amount of people coming in and the amount of people leaving, because if we don't, we're all slightly getting a bit annoyed. We're all sitting in lots of traffic.
10:36
It's very difficult to get a doctor's appointment. It's very difficult to get your child into the school we want because we're not being able to build the infrastructure as quickly as possible.
10:44
But there has got to be that balance within the economy between helping everyone that's already here.
10:50
Now, I made the point the other day, I don't think we necessarily need immigration to fill lots of the job vacancies we've got in the job market.
10:58
We need to encourage all of those people that left the job market through the COVID pandemic and what have you, that haven't gone back to work, encourage them to go back to work and be an active participant economically, because that benefits everybody if people get up, uh, and want to do it, and that's good for mental health, it's good for physical health.
11:17
I think it's the best form of welfare, best paid job. So we've really got to look at how we control immigration numbers, because it is starting to have a major effect on all of our lives.
11:27
And lots of people speak to me about it.
11:30
As I said, every door I knocked on within the campaign, they all raised immigration as it fell within their top three or their number one issue, and it's my job as the local MP for Broxbourne to take that on board and make representations to government to kind of counter that and put their opinions across.
11:49
Yeah. Putting that aside, I would just want to make sure I understand whether there is a way of actually balancing the economic need and the community cohesion.
11:59
Because at some point, I understand what you're saying that for at the doorsteps, you can understand what people are saying about how the public services are beginning to be strained as a result of the, the, the immigration levels.
12:11
But then are we also acknowledging the need of some form of immigration, right?
12:17
And, and obviously understanding that, yes, even though there is a need for that, there is also that potential strain that will come as a result of-The, the immigration, even if i-i-it is at a sustained level I, I would point to countries like Australia.
12:33
I think they have a really good immigration system, and I think that's something that we need to replicate in the UK. I think we've handed out visas probably too freely in certain cases.
12:45
Uh, being able to live here and being a British citizen is an immense privilege. Like, it's not an automatic right. It is an absolute immense privilege.
12:53
And like I said, look, if we've got skill gaps that we need doctors or we need dentists, of course, and we've got someone that wants to come in and wants to say, "Look, I wanna come and work in the NHS as a doctor," and what have you, of course, I think most people that I speak to would say, "Do you know what?
13:07
We need more doctors. That's perfectly acceptable."
13:10
I think we've got to look at how we can use the workforce that we've got here and making sure we've got the right training in place, making sure we m-make work pay, encourage people to, to rejoin the workforce because people are starting not to see-- they're starting to see their lives being negatively impacted by the fact of they can't access the services because we're not being able to keep pace with the levels of immigration.
13:35
Now, we've had significant levels in a short space of time, and, and I don't think that's been the right approach. Thank you very much. We're gonna move straight into public transport.
13:46
Just remind me, did you vote against the public ownership of rail services? Yes. Good.
13:51
So UK, I think reliable transport links are vital for Broxbourne commuters, and you voted against the public ownership of rail service.
14:00
How do you propose to improve rail services, rail service quality and affordability for commuters while keeping services privately operated?
14:09
Well, firstly, look, I, I, I was on the train, and you saw me this week when it was all- Yeah... canceled and everything was up in the air and what have you.
14:16
So I, I completely share the frustrations because I'm in it as well. I don't think public ownership is the right thing to go by because, look, I've been leader of the local council.
14:25
I started-- even though I ended up in the private sector, I started my career as a civil servant for about eight, eight, nine months. So I've seen sometimes the state isn't the best vehicle to be able to run stuff.
14:37
Sometimes private enterprises is, is better. Um, and we've got to hold the train companies to account more. There's got to be more accountability.
14:45
At the moment, um, so like sometimes I've been on the train, it just stops at Broxbourne. It doesn't go to Hertford East or Rye House or Ware or St. Margarets. It just stops, and they said the train's canceled.
14:56
They've got to do a lot better at their communication and a lot better at the efficient service. I mean, you'll know when, when we get on sometimes in the morning, it'll be rush hour.
15:04
Instead of putting ten coaches on, they put five coaches on. I mean, I've had a meeting, and I've seen the chief executive of Abellio Great Anglian. I've seen all their, their senior representatives, and I went mad.
15:14
I said, "It's not good enough." I mean, you cannot expect people... We want people to go to work. We want them to have a reliable service.
15:21
It's really expensive at the moment, and there are a number of stops where people can't even get on the train because you're not providing the service you should provide. So- And they're paying for it as well.
15:31
completely agree. It's an absolute extortion. So I think we've got to give them targets, and we've got to make them accountable rather than saying, "Well, do you know what? The government's gonna run that."
15:39
Because unless-- I'm not s-so sure the government is best placed to run that. I've seen the government run stuff, and, um, the state and local councils are sometimes not best placed to do that.
15:51
They sometimes move at a real snail's pace. I'm tearing my hair out. I want something done yesterday.
15:56
Look, we'll wait and see, but I'm very skeptical about it's gonna cost loads of money, and I don't think it's gonna see improved services. Fantastic.
16:05
I think just coming onto your own voting track record, I think you've also voted against removing hereditary peers, correct? Yeah. How would you like to see the House of Lords modernized, if at all?
16:21
I think the House of Lords, um, provides a good second chamber in terms of their scrutiny and, um, how they look at legislation.
16:31
There's lots of experts in the House of Lords that have done stuff in industry, been university professors, been senior doctors, and they do provide the House of Commons with a place where we can have some, not necessarily impartial, but lots of advice from lots of different experts from lots of, lots of, um, fields.
16:51
And I think there's something where we've got to look at in terms of let's look at the whole second chamber. I mean, one, for example, I think it's too big. I think there's too many members of the, of the House of Lords.
17:03
Um, I think we can look at the modernization in the whole, whereas Labour are just doing piecemeal. Labour are not looking at it in the whole.
17:11
They had in their manifesto they were gonna get rid of, I think it was if you were over eighty, we're gonna-- you, you can't be in the House of Lords.
17:16
They suddenly decided to put lots of people in there that were close to that age. They've kind of dropped that policy.
17:22
So all they've gone along with is, "I know, we'll look at this specific thing of the hereditary peers."
17:27
But the-- I think there just needs to be a whole root and branch revie-review around what do we want it to look like? What do we want it to do? I think it does perform a really good function.
17:37
But I mean, all I would say is no one has ever raised to me on the doorsteps in Broxbourne, "Do you know what I think is a real priority, Lewis? Is I think we should be looking at House of Lords reform."
17:47
They will raise immigration. They will raise the fact they want a well-paid job.
17:51
They will raise the fact they can't get a, an NHS appointment or, or a particular issue they've had with a local service or, or for example, buses and transport. They never raise to me, "We want the government.
18:02
We think this is so important. We want the government within their first a hundred days of taking office, we want them to look at this issue, and we want them to, to make a change." No one's ever done that.
18:11
No one's ever raised that with me. That is really good. [gentle music] Hey there. Just a quick break. If you're a business looking to connect with a local, loyal and growing audience, this is your moment.
18:24
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18:39
All rightBack to the episode. Well, firstly, thank you for having me. Um, I love everything, uh, what Brox Town, uh, does, so really good pleasure to be here.
18:48
I mean, some of the national policies that are, are coming forward, particularly what concerns me is that business increases in national insurance, because I speak to businesses, uh, night and day across Broxbourne, uh, and they're all really worried about the state of the economy.
19:02
Lots of them are putting off making investments locally within their business.
19:06
Um, that coupled with the employment regulations that labor are bringing in, lots of them are putting off, uh, recruiting staff, um, thinking about how they're gonna give their staff their bonuses, their pay rises and what have you.
19:18
So I'm really concerned, um, that the policies they're bringing in are just not business friendly. You don't create more tax revenue for the Exchequer if you're not a pro-business, uh, government.
19:29
And I think what we've tried to do locally, uh, particularly when I was leader of the council, we've always tried to be pro-business.
19:35
We've always tried to create the right environment here in Broxbourne so that businesses can thrive, because it's those people that go out day in, day out, the hard workers, the grafters, um, that go out that means we have got money to pay for public services.
19:49
We have got money to support people that desperately need our support. Um, and it's only getting worse. I mean, we had a, a emergency mini budget, uh, the other day that I sat through in Parliament on.
20:00
It wasn't good news, uh, for the, for the British economy, and they just are not s- showing me that they've got any nous at all about how to create growth.
20:09
They keep using the words, "We're pro-growth, we want growth, we want, we want the UK to be the fastest growing economy," and their actions are, are far from that.
20:19
So at the moment you're basically saying that there are... the economic policies at the moment are not, uh, favorable to local businesses and potential employments within, within the local area? No. They're...
20:31
Well, they're not... The policies that they're implementing are not policies that are gonna kickstart the UK economy, that are gonna get growth and are gonna get more money to the Exchequer.
20:39
I mean, look at their, look at the non-dom tax status that they've changed and what have you.
20:44
We've had a mass exodus of millionaires from the country, so that means overall the tax revenue from people paying the higher rates of tax is gonna go down. Yeah. So who then picks up the bill for that?
20:54
It's us working class, the squeezed middle, that are gonna be paying more. And look, when I speak to residents and constituents all the time, we all think, "Well, hang on a minute.
21:02
We're paying more in tax, but we're not necessarily getting better services." And that, and that's what I'm fighting to change. Yeah.
21:08
I think, I think that is echoed across when I interview local residents, they are also seeing how the squeeze is impacting their wallet.
21:17
Um, what are your thoughts on the upcoming dilution of powers in the local government reforms, and how do you think that could potentially impact Broxbourne and Hertfordshire?
21:28
Well, I, I personally think it's gonna really badly negatively impact, um, Broxbourne, um, and these towns because I just think that this whole idea about creating a super council with half a million people, so it's gonna put Broxbourne, um, essentially in the same council area as, as Buntingford, the same council area as Royston, the same council area as Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield.
21:51
I mean, we're just talking about a massive geographical area with half a million people, so it means residents in Broxbourne have less of a say over what, um, who, who, uh, governs their council, what that council does, how much council tax they pay.
22:05
We've got the lowest, um, parish council tax in the country.
22:07
That will go out the window because we'll go up to the highest one that we're then putting together with in the new authority, and our residents are really concerned about this.
22:16
I mean, look, don't get me wrong, Broxbourne Council doesn't get everything right. I absolutely know that. I think it is a well-trusted council and I think people do respect Broxbourne Council.
22:26
So my view is if it's not broken, why, why get rid of it and why make people go through all of that pain at creating a large super council when it's unnecessary? Yeah.
22:36
I think it's all the people who've been complaining about what impact it, it might have on their council tax.
22:41
At the moment obviously a slight increase, but then they're also thinking if this was to change, what that impact would be on their council tax, maybe refuse collection, impact on highways, et cetera, et cetera.
22:55
We don't know how that is gonna pan out. Completely agree.
22:57
And look, just look at what Keir Starmer, when he launched his Labour local election campaign last year, he made a promise that everybody's council tax was gonna be frozen.
23:06
Another broken promise from this Labour government. And when we go through this unitization, they automatically reissue the council tax in terms of they bring you up to the council that charges the most.
23:16
Well, we already charge the least in Hertfordshire by a country mile, so even if we go up to the next person, we're still paying about £60 more a year. Whoa. And it's only gonna...
23:27
it's gonna hit h- working people, uh, and that is why I'm not in favor of this, uh, massive reorganization of local government. Yeah.
23:34
I think at the moment, in the response to the government, uh, request for, uh, a proposal, we saw from the council, we saw about four options that was, you know, put forward.
23:47
But in, in any of those options, there's always going to be that major potential impact in our services that we, the local people pay for.
23:59
Just looking at, obviously everybody is looking at, for the, the next local elections coming up, the county elections, what
24:08
are the key issues you believe the constituents should be prioritizing at the moment or focusing on, uh, in these elections? Well, I, I've been out already on the campaign trail.
24:17
I mean, I love getting out and speaking to constituents. It's the best part of-Best part of my job, and it, it keeps you grounded. Like, you, you can understand the issues.
24:24
People tell it how it is in Broxbourne, which I really admire, and, and people tell me when I'm getting it right and when I'm getting it wrong, which is, which is important.
24:32
I mean, look, we've got, um, m- I've got a big campaign at the moment about taking on the utility companies that dig up the roads endlessly under emergency powers, so they don't have to notify the highways authority.
24:43
They don't notify me as the MP. Don't have to notify the local council. And you drive past, and there's no one working on it. There's no hole dug in the road.
24:50
But if it's an emergency, someone should be working around the clock to fix that, and we're just at loggerheads with the amount of cars on the road and the traffic that we all sit in.
24:59
So I definitely think people should be thinking about who's best to deal with that campaign and work with me on my mission to take on the utility companies and really get Broxbourne moving.
25:10
I think we need to do some work around SEND as well. I'm contacted by loads and loads of heartbreaking stories- Yeah...
25:17
of parents fighting for their children, quite rightly, in my post bag and in my inbox, and I think that's a really critical area that we've got to see some focus on moving forward. Yeah.
25:28
I was just thinking about, uh, these utilities. Do you think they're really abusing this emergency, uh, uh, uh, rules or emergency, I guess, policies- Yeah... in order to- Yeah, absolutely.
25:41
I asked the transport minister in the House a, a question specifically on this, and she... her reply was essentially there's no data to support that.
25:49
But you haven't gotta be, you haven't gotta be civil servants to work that out. Just drive around Broxbourne. You c- we can see it. So they dig up the same stretch of road time and time again.
25:58
It's not the efficient use of our money, and when we think about Thames Water, I've just had a letter out to say my bill's going up, but they're not efficient in the way that they deal with all of these roadworks and what have you.
26:08
Because they should be talking. If someone else is digging up the road- Sure... why can't they have a conversation and say, "Look, let's do this at the same time." Because it causes us umpteen of issues.
26:16
You can't get your school, your kids to school on time. You can't get to the doctor's on time, when you can get a doctor's appointment, that is.
26:23
We all spend our lives sitting in traffic, and I won't repeat to you what I say to myself in the car when I'm sitting in traffic because it's not very polite for your listeners. Yeah.
26:30
We've got some, uh, uh- But I do use some- Yeah... colorful language. We can imagine.
26:34
You're probably not the only one who's actually frustrated on the roads when they see roads being picked, dug up, cones being put out, but there's no one there.
26:42
And obviously we are all just there in the car sitting around waiting, and traffic's not moving.
26:48
One of the key things you mentioned was the SEND, uh, and I think there are, there are reports that Hertfordshire is doing very well with SEND.
26:57
Uh, uh, y- you still think that there's, there's more to be done, or there are people who have not yet received the, the level of service that they would like to see?
27:07
Well, I think in terms of Hertfordshire SEND, it is making improvements, um, and it's made some baby steps in the right direction.
27:14
There's still masses amounts that need to be done, um, but it all comes down to the levels of funding that we get.
27:21
We are the third lowest funding authority in the whole country in terms of how much money Hertfordshire County Council gets for SEND.
27:28
When you look at some of the inner London boroughs, or you look at some of the counties around us, they get millions of pounds more than what we do, and it shouldn't matter where you're born in the United Kingdom, every child should have the best start in life and the right funding to help them through their education.
27:44
And I've asked, uh, a number of times, and I think it was one of the first things I spoke on in Parliament, um, 'cause I'm very passionate about, um, making sure, uh, children with special educational needs get the support they deserve.
27:56
Um, I've asked the government a number of times whether they're gonna look at the funding to make sure every local authority gets the same, and they've just not committed, they've just not committed to do that, and I won't stop fighting for the children in my constituency until that happens.
28:11
Yeah. That would be, that would be very good. I think some of our, our readers and our listeners, they've all got...
28:16
some of them have got SEND kids, and they want to know exactly what our leaders are doing to make sure that their service- I do understand more than...
28:23
my brother and sister have special educational needs, so I do understand more than most about what it's like to live in a family with children with special educational needs.
28:31
Because I share parents' frustrations when you get people that haven't had that lived experience of it telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing and all of the rest of it. So I really do get that.
28:41
That is why I'm passionate about it, and I don't stop going on about it and fighting for it. No, that's very good. They're very commendable of you. Thanks.
28:49
What I wanted to find out a bit more was, I haven't heard more from you on climate initiatives, environmental initiatives. Is it something that you are interested in or something you care about?
29:03
So I'm a geographer by background. That's what I did- Mm... at university, so I do like the environment. I, I think we should plant more trees.
29:10
I mean, when I was leader of Broxbourne Council, we didn't, we didn't declare a climate emergency, not because I don't think we need to protect the environment, but what does that, what does that even mean, that climate emergency?
29:20
Um, we need to have a concrete plan about how we're going to take people on a journey.
29:25
Um, I think all of these targets around net zero, I think it's all farcical in terms of can it-- nothing in my mind can ever be net zero.
29:34
Of course, we've got to do things that support the environment and all of the rest of it, but we've got to take people on a journey with us. And it...
29:41
there's no point us rushing ourselves to beat targets and meet these arbitrary figures when the rest of the world in places like China, who are pump- building more coal-fired power stations, pumping out all of that CO2, if we don't take them with us, we have done the most in this country in terms of halving our figures and getting our carbon down in the Western world.
30:01
Of course, we've still got more to do, but we've got to allow people, we've got to make sure it doesn't hit the pockets of working people. We've got to do it sensibly and in the right approach.
30:11
And look, who doesn't wanna look at a nice landscape? Who doesn't wanna plant trees and what have you?
30:15
So there are things we can do, but we cannot have these figures where we've got to say, "We can't have any gas boilers past X date," because we've got to take people with us, and we've got to make sure supply chains are with us.
30:27
I mean, I spoke in a debate in Parliament the other day, um, so with the government's targets on net zero and what have you, well, all the solar panels are made in China.
30:36
There's lots of slave labor in China, so the government doesn't care about slave labor when it wants to meet its arbitrary, uh, net zero figures, and I, I think that's, I think that's wrong.
30:44
We've got to take a sensible, pragmatic approach, um, to helping the environment without stifling economic growth and, and the lives of people in my constituency. Yeah.
30:54
You gotta give it to them, initiating the solar panels across the entire Broxbourne and potentially I think the, even Hertfordshire is basically dishing out these solar panels and en- enabling residents to actually s-Switch from- Oh, yeah.
31:09
The Solar Together scheme's really positive. When people drive past, um, uh, Highleigh in Hoddesdon, the new development we've got there, you can see the solar panels on the building. So when I was...
31:18
I negotiated behind the scenes, of course, houses should be built to the highest environmental standard. Of course, we should have solar panels, uh, where we can and where it's sensible to do so.
31:27
Um, I don't think solar panels necessarily look that bad on a house. I think they've become more, uh, more modern in terms of their look and their design and what have you.
31:35
Of course, we've got to do that, and we've got to give people a range of options, but setting arbitrary figures and arbitrary targets with no plan is not sensible, and it will just harm economic growth.
31:46
And as I said, look, if we don't have the economic growth, people haven't got good jobs to go to, doesn't matter about anything else because there, there is no money to do everything else.
31:53
That should be the number one mission that we should all be striving for. No, fair, fair at all. Thanks very much. I want just to switch slightly to infrastructure and I think, uh, developments within the borough.
32:08
And, uh, I think there was announcement not long ago about the Sunset Studios, you know, not, I guess, the project they're halting.
32:16
We don't know whether it's permanently, but, uh, it seems like there's going to be a permanent halt of that project.
32:22
Do you have an idea of what led to that, or maybe what you think is gonna happen to the land that was supposed to be there for the Sunset Studio project? Extremely disappointed, obviously.
32:33
The land is allocated within Broxbourne local plan for employment, so as it stands, it can't go for housing.
32:38
I know there's been some comments on social media about, "Oh, it's gonna be all housing there," and what have you. All I can say is, over my dead body.
32:44
We need good jobs, people, uh, for people locally, and I will fight to make sure we've got good jobs on that site.
32:50
They're a multinational company, and obviously they're-- they've obviously waited for the Labour government to come in to see what they've done.
32:57
The employment regulations and the increase in national insurance won't have helped that.
33:01
Um, obviously the global economy with, uh, tariffs being put on by different players throughout the world, that wouldn't have helped that. The actors' strike in America wouldn't have helped the business case.
33:12
There have been lots of global factors, um, that have obviously led to this very sad decision.
33:17
But ultimately, they are a private company, so they don't have to give any reason as to why they're doing it or why they're not doing it.
33:24
I mean, me as the local MP or Broxbourne Council as the local council don't really have a say.
33:30
We can encourage and try our best, um, to get them to restart it and what have you, but ultimately they're a private company, and they, they will do what serves interest for that company.
33:40
Well, that brings us to the end of the interview. Is there anything else you would like to share, uh, with the constituents? Anything important you're doing that you might want to give us an exclusive? Yeah, if...
33:51
I'm always out and about, so please, if you see me out and about, always say hello to me. I'm always up for a chat, and just next Friday, the 4th of April, I've got an older person's fair at 10 till 2 at Halsey Hall.
34:02
So if you're an older person or care for an older person or have got friends who are older people, I've got 25 exhibitors coming from the council to charity groups and what have you, so you can find out all of the services we've got locally for older people within our community.
34:16
Thank you very much, MP Lewis Cocking. You've been absolutely great with the Broxbourne-- Broxtown team. You have actually given us your time, and you've always been available when we called you.
34:27
Thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much. Cheers. [outro music] And that's a wrap for this episode.
34:34
We just heard straight from the MP of Broxbourne Borough, Lewis Cocking, his bold vision for the area, and how national policies could shape life right here in our community.
34:45
If you want more real talk, fresh perspectives, and the voices that matter most in Broxbourne, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Thanks for tuning in, and stay curious, Broxbourne.
34:58
Take care. Bye-bye. [outro music]
Voices of Our Towns
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