Our reporters hit the streets to talk to the public in our major cities across the UK about the news making the headlines this week. In this episode, we discuss the tourism row in Spain, speed limiters on new cars and whether the energy price cap will help homeowners.
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00:00Welcome to The Verdict on the Street, the show that listens to its audience.
00:06We're going to take some of the hottest topics out onto the streets of Britain
00:10to ask you what you think of them.
00:13In a world that seems full of experts,
00:15sometimes it's the opinions of the people on the street that really matter.
00:19So, great British public, it's over to you.
00:22We send our reporters out into a number of cities across the UK
00:26armed only with a camera and a microphone to ask simply
00:29what do you think?
00:31This week, we ask you
00:34do you support anti-tourism protests in Spain?
00:38What do you think about speed limiters in new cars?
00:42And will new energy price caps make a difference?
00:46For some time now, thousands of Spanish residents have been protesting against mass tourism.
00:52In fact, it was reported that thousands more residents
00:56marched to the streets of Malaga on June 29 to protest the tourism model,
01:01which has been referred to as excessive.
01:04There, demonstrators gathered with Spanish banners
01:07reading Malaga for Living, Not Surviving.
01:11The number of visitors to Spain is expected to top 100 million this year,
01:15more than double the country's actual population.
01:19As a result, residents complain about the saturation of public spaces
01:23and facilities such as public transport, as well as the issue of housing.
01:28I think with the high demands, I can see why they want to protest and everything,
01:33but I think that Spanish government maybe should look into implementing stuff
01:38locally, really, and deal with it.
01:41It's not for us as a tourist to worry about,
01:44but I'm happy to go on holiday, it's not going to put me off.
01:47Apart from the problems for locals, it's actually quite unpleasant
01:51because there clearly is too much tourism in places like Barcelona and Amsterdam,
01:56which makes life pretty unpleasant for locals.
01:59The obvious way to limit tourism is to rise the prices,
02:02and then you say you can only come to Spain if you pay a big tax,
02:05and then it means the only people who can afford to go are people who are rich,
02:08which is also not ideal.
02:10I totally understand that they might have problems because it is their local town.
02:14I know that, you know, night times, party times, people can get a bit rowdy.
02:19However, I think maybe if some rules are placed that can benefit both sides,
02:25the locals and the tourists, it would be great.
02:28Yes, I do, because in a way it's their home at the end of the day.
02:34If they're not able to get places themselves because of tourists,
02:40I do appreciate that and I will not be visiting Spain.
02:44Why should people be bothered about going to another country or going abroad?
02:47If they want to go, they're going to go, nothing's going to stop them.
02:49Look at the queues in Birmingham airport at the moment, you know what I mean?
02:52Two and a half hours, three hours long just to get on a plane.
02:54No, you're all right.
02:55I can understand why, because you've got a lot of Airbnb here,
02:59and you've got people who are in need of a home.
03:03Yes, you know, you can buy your properties, do your investing and everything,
03:07but the knock-on effect is people have got nowhere to live.
03:11The infrastructure to support people going abroad,
03:19if it's not there, then it's a genuine concern.
03:23If it's impacting their day-to-day lives, it's a genuine concern.
03:27Not necessarily Spain, but obviously you still want holidays.
03:31I sympathise with the people, but really we have a similar problem here
03:35in Devon and Cornwall and places, holiday places,
03:38where a lot of people are buying second homes,
03:40and again, it has a knock-on effect to the younger people who would like to buy them.
03:46It's got to be, yeah, it's got to be an issue, hasn't it, really?
03:50If they're local and it's, you know,
03:53they're being sort of overtaken by outside concerns, then, yeah.
03:57Thousands of people in Spain have been protesting about the number of tourists
04:02because they've been priced out of their houses.
04:05Have these protests made you not want to go to Spain on holiday?
04:11I don't go to Spain. Well, it would do, yes, I'm afraid it would.
04:14It would put me right off because, yeah, it would put me off.
04:19Do you think it's fair that tourists are pricing locals out of their homes?
04:22Yes, it is. It happens here, doesn't it?
04:25Yeah, I mean, do it in Cornwall here, don't they?
04:28From 7th July, any new vehicle purchased will be fitted with a speed limiter
04:32after new EU rules have made them mandatory.
04:35From this month, car manufacturers are required by law
04:39to fit new vehicles with ISA, or Intelligent Speed Assist.
04:44It works by using GPS data and or traffic sign recognition cameras
04:49to work out what the speed limit is and then prevent you from exceeding it.
04:53Government stats show that 50% of cars exceed the speed limit in 30 zones
04:59and a third of all road deaths occur because of excessive speed.
05:04And so it's hoped the rule will reduce the number of accidents,
05:07injuries and fatalities on our road network.
05:13To be honest, I don't really think it matters in Birmingham.
05:15I think people just do what they want with cars.
05:17You know, they go around racing around all day, all night.
05:19I don't think it really matters.
05:20You know, if you're going to change your car, now everyone's got electric,
05:22then what's it going to be in a couple of months' time?
05:24Are they going to take electric off and go back to, you know what I mean,
05:26go back to diesel?
05:28So to be honest, in my eyes, it doesn't matter.
05:33It'll have a lot of impact with the road safety sort of things
05:36because we'll have less speeders,
05:38less people that want to exceed the limit or whatever.
05:43But yeah, I definitely think this is a good idea
05:46and it will have an impact on the speeding community.
05:52Well, anything that will, you know, let people keep to the speed limit
05:58is, I suppose, OK, saving lives and everything.
06:02That's what we want.
06:04But, I don't know, I'm not convinced.
06:07We'll just have to see it in action.
06:09I've got a friend who's a motorcycle instructor
06:12and he says there are occasions when, as a good driver,
06:15you do need to briefly pass perhaps the speed limit on a motorway.
06:20I think it might be different on the urban cycle.
06:22Many people I know really suffer from speeding
06:26in areas where I feel there ought to be, you know,
06:30much greater speed restrictions and we don't have them.
06:33So, generally, I think I'm in favour of stronger
06:36but kind of sensible speed restrictions.
06:39I think it's got a good and a bad, there's two sides to the story.
06:42It could be safe, it could be good, it could be bad.
06:45But, in my opinion, I think it's bad
06:47because I think it limits our freedom as drivers.
06:50If the technology can't cope with that and can't get the limits right,
06:54that would be a problem when you have a situation
06:56where the car's been limited to driving at 20
06:58and the other cars are driving at the speed limit of 40.
07:01On balance, it sounds like a good idea to stop the reckless speeding.
07:04You might get outside schools and things like that,
07:06but I would have questions about how thoroughly it's been tested.
07:10Very, very strongly.
07:12I live in a village not far from here called Hallon.
07:16Not that many residents, around 300,
07:19but we are on one of the main routes through to Avonmouth.
07:22Because that has built up so much more,
07:25we have a real problem with speeding.
07:28To get to the village, you have to come down a hill either side,
07:31which obviously increases their speed
07:33and they don't reduce at all as they come through.
07:36So, this week, we are putting a petition to South Gloucester Council
07:40asking for traffic calming.
07:42It's very important to us, very.
07:45I think it's...
07:47If it improves safety aspect, then great.
07:50Yeah, I'd be all for it.
07:52You know, I mean...
07:55You know, we've got a 70-mile-an-hour limit in this country anyway.
07:59I mean, hands up.
08:01I go fast without... I've done it myself, you know,
08:04and lots of people do.
08:06But anything that sort of improves safety, then, yeah.
08:11The Ofgem energy price cap is set to come into effect from July 1st.
08:16But how is it set to impact your bills?
08:19Well, the new price cap covers 28 million households
08:22in England, Scotland and Wales,
08:24fixing the maximum price that can be charged for each unit of energy
08:28on a standard tariff, which pays by direct debit.
08:32With this new cap, the typical household energy bill
08:35is thought to fall by around £122 a year.
08:39Some people might argue that it's not enough.
08:41However, I feel it's little steps towards a bigger target
08:45that targets this price cap.
08:47So I think it's... I think it's a positive approach.
08:51I haven't actually been as badly affected by the energy prices as most
08:56because I was on a very low fixed-rate deal, which was very lucky.
09:00But that won't go on forever, so any drop is good.
09:03I think energy cap is good, but I think surely we could do more,
09:07have more support and the cap at even lower and lower.
09:10Because I personally know a lot of people have a struggle
09:13with energy prices, they can't afford it.
09:16It does seem to ease quite a lot.
09:18We are relatively economical with our use anyway, so...
09:22I haven't necessarily noticed it falling particularly,
09:25but it hasn't been... It obviously hasn't seemed as sharp lately.
09:29It's definitely noticeably come down, hasn't it?
09:31It's stabilised or reduced.
09:34And it's obviously easing with the easing of the inflation generally.
09:44It's not enough to make a difference.
09:46Not enough to make a difference, really.
09:507% won't mean we're putting 18 back on like we always do, will it?
09:57I'd say I would like to see 10% in the energy bills.
10:02Tell me, will this reduction impact you?
10:04Will you see a reduction in your bills, you think?
10:07No. No, definitely not.
10:10You know, we're lucky that we're not struggling.
10:15We're cut down on certain things, but we're not really struggling.
10:19I think it's the gas.
10:21I haven't got over the gas going up so much, really.
10:24Just a general... On your shopping bills,
10:30I can't believe on...
10:32Even now it's supposed to have stabilised.
10:37I don't think it has.
10:39Do you believe it's sufficient to help those
10:41who are struggling with their energy bills?
10:44I think there's a lot of people that are in a lot of poverty,
10:48so obviously it's a step in the right direction, but whether it's enough.
10:52How do you think this reduction will impact your household finances?
10:56I live on my own, so not a lot,
10:58but it would be nice to be able to put my gas on and not worry about it.
11:02Not that I do, come to think of it.
11:04Do you think it's enough to support people
11:06who are struggling financially?
11:08Well, it'll help. Of course it'll help.
11:11So that's all you can say, it'll help.
11:15It's going to help, isn't it?
11:17Every little helps, I think, at the moment.
11:19That would be my attitude, I think, really.
11:22Cost of living is, as we know, pretty dear,
11:25so I think any good news is welcome, yeah.
11:29Do you think it's sufficient to help those
11:31who are struggling with energy bills?
11:34A 7% cap? Possibly not, no, not really.
11:52Find out more.
11:54www.cdc.gov.au