29/09/2014 Inside Out North West

We report on the growing nulber of people in the region becoming

homeless after losing their jobs. This is where I lived. Hedgdhogs

were sleeping on your back. And as Elizabeth Gaskell's home is

restored, we discover some of her famous visitors. We had Charles

Dickens, Charlotte Bronte who hides behind one of the curtains hn this

room when the door bell goes. In this region, we have a problem with

plutonium. Cumbria is currently sitting on 100 tonnes of thd highly

toxic nuclear waste. Instead of continuing to stockpile it, the

government wants to convert plutonium into power to powdr our

homes, but as Chris Jackson found out, some are warning this could be

a very expensive gamble. Today I am off to see a chemical element that

we spent ?80 million a year keeping safely out of the environment and

out of the wrong hands. `` spend. I am one of just a handful of people

who have been allowed into the laboratories here to see thd work

going on today with our plutonium stockpile and if you have ever

wondered what plutonium acttally looks like, it in here, this glass

pile of grey powder. It looks harmless, but this highly

radioactive plutonium is thd product of years of reprocessing at

Sellafield. By 2020, we will have 104 of it, the biggest civilian

stockpile in the world. This is where we do all

of our current plutonium research and development chemistry

and material science. So you are still learning

about this material? Yes,

it is a unique element and there is still a lot to learn about plutonium

and how it behaves in the processes that we have at Sellafield `nd

the new processes that are planned. And it's now time to work ott how

to deal with this deadly legacy Do we reuse it or do we dechde that

we should continue to store it waiting for the world to be

a different place and the economics The government's preference,

the policy preference is to reuse the material and then we have a

number of options for reuse one of The government wants to turn

the plutonium into mix fuel. Of course we had a mix plant

at Sellafield that closed More on that later,

now there's talk of another one And that new MOX plant would most

likely be built here at Sellafield, costing billions of pounds `nd

so the workers are keeping It would be fantastic, it would

maintain the skills we've got now and bring in more highly skhlled

qualified jobs for the area. And hopefully on

the construction side you'rd talking about 6000 jobs just to build

the plant itself and 300 to run it. We want West Cumbria to be

the centre of excellence But before taking a decision that

will cost us billions of potnds is there a lesson to be learned

from what's been going This is South Carolina in Alerica,

where they're already buildhng They say everything

in the US is bigger and when it comes to this nucle`r

question, that's absolutely true. Compared to Sellafield the

Savannah River Site is masshve, The perimeter is so vast and secure,

you cannot get anywhere In 2000,

the US and Russian governments The aim was to make mix fuel

from 34 tonnes of their old Clint Wolfe was involved

in the talks, putting the weapons beyond tse

and turning it into a useful fuel. You have literally and biblhcal

swords to plough shares sittation, we're going to take the weapons

and we're going to turn thel into clean energy for schools

and hospitals and economies. Construction work is now underway

on the MOX plant. Just as in Cumbria the local economy

relies on the nuclear industry. More than 10,000 people

are employed here. I have a daughter who works out

there, a son who works out there, It brings in a lot of revente

and income. All

the other industries have p`cked up and left town so, yeah, the Savannah

River Site is pretty much the I've worked there

about 30 years now. And if you weren't doing th`t,

is there any other work for you So the workers are for the LOX

plant, but in the state caphtal Columbia, I realise how

controversial this project hs. It's hit delays

and costs have spiralled from 1 And a question mark now hangs over

the two thirds built mix pl`nt. Everything you can think

of has gone wrong with the plant, over spending mismanagement

of the schedule, lack of qu`lity control, lack of trained workers

in handling nuclear projects. The design,

there is a long list of problems. In fact it's been so expenshve

and so controversial even, President Obama ordered a h`lt to

construction of the MOX plant. I think if we can get polithcs out

of this and just look at technically how do we accomplish the mission the

mix project is still the wax to go. The UK government seems to be

looking at MOX as a possibility Do you have no more faith that

in Cumbria, at Sellafield wd will I kind of chuckle because it seems

they are not following what is going on in the states with

the MOX plant that is being built here it is almost as if thex are not

aware of all the mass of problems It's very clear going

down this route has been pahnful in South Carolina and even if we choose

to ignore the American experience back home, there are harsh lessons

to learn from and at the very least Remember the original Sellafield MOX

plant I mentioned? The construction of that also went

millions of pounds over budget. When worked stopped three ydars ago

it was described as one of the most embarrassing fahlures

in British industrial history. As you can imagine I wanted to speak

to the Government Minister Baroness Verma about this crucial decision

that will affect the community here for generations

and cost us billions of pounds. For the last three months,

I've been trying to have a word with someone from the Department

of Energy and Climate Changd. And in all that time,

no one has been available to answer The government's left it to

the agency responsible We've been there before

and what spent ?1.3 billion So I'm not going to stand hdre and

say the Sella plant was a stccess it clearly wasn't and we need to learn

the lesson from that project. We went to

the States and a critic described it as a white elephant, he said look

whatever you do, look at wh`t is Yes, work very close with colleagues

in US Department of Energy. We talk regularly and

so we are learning a lot from them. But you are absolutely right recent

history suggests building the plant can be challenging

and we need to fully understand that The Fukishima nuclear disaster was

the final nail in the coffin The Japanese were the main customers

for the original MOX fuel. That all came to an end aftdr

the Tsunami wiped out the plant So far no`one else seems

keen to buy MOX fuel. The other thing is if you m`ke

the fuel, who on earth is going to All the reactors that are bding

built in the UK are capable Whether the operators will want to

take MOX fuel remains to be seen. With the history of cost ovdrruns

can you stand here today and say you think you know what it

will cost and not a penny more? Would that be an unrealistic

expectation of the public? I can't give you

the price tag right now. It is a handful,

it seems wrong to use that expression, a handful of a billion

pounds for any of the options. One thing is certain,

dealing with this radioactive legacy The government said it would make

a decision Meanwhile the Sellafield

plutonium pile continues to grow. Coming up: Why there's more to

Elizabeth Gaskell than her famous book, Cranford.

Just because she had a bonndt on her doesn't mean she isn't almost

modern woman. There is

a common stereotype that people who have become homeless are either drug

addicts or perhaps alcoholics. In some cases, yes, that is true,

but now, with austerity cuts and a struggling economy, wd are

seeing more people in the rdgion who have become homeless becausd they

have lost their jobs and don't have We have been to

the Wirral to find out more. This is Steve and Jane

from Birkenhead. They spent long periods

being homeless. Two years ago they got

the chance to rebuild their lives and they have taken it, makhng

a home together in a small flat For years before that,

their lives were chaotic. All of a sudden you are homdless

and dossing on the streets. It is not the only dysfuncthonal

part of my life but certainly it Steve used to be a church p`stor who

helped people with drug problems but his life changed forever

when he started taking the drugs he His marriage ended and he moved to

Ireland but eventually returned to accommodation but the company he was

keeping made life unbearabld. I d use to have a flat at the b`ck of

fear. It was the answer to `ll my dreams. It became a very unsafe

place to be. People used to come round to use and abuse. I h`ve

precious stuff stolen, I was stabbed at one point and almost died. I am

not ashamed to hold my hands up and I was glad to get out

and start again somewhere else. The place he found

for them was extraordinary. This is the den

Jane and I lived in two years ago. It is a sad state of affair to

what it was but it was a wonderful I had built it up with all

the polythene and the materhals so we had all straw underne`th,

quilts and everything. Then there was a separate room

divided off was like a kitchen area where I had a stove and occ`sionally

did an open fire to cook on. Then we had a bedroom area for Jane

and myself which was very, I could read until the earlx

hours of the morning and no one We didn't have a choice,

we were homeless and we didn't want to be with everybody cos yot were

either getting into trouble or you It was out of this world `

I felt more safe in there whth Steve than I had anywhere in a long,

long time even in a house. They were just

yards from a busy railway station and lived off food from the adjacent

supermarket's skips ` but Steve It was lovely being

in here with hedgehogs sleeping on the small of your back,

you'd wake up to things likd that. I was pleasantly surprised `s I

arrived. Steve and Jane are living

in this den and I thought Bdar had built this den because ht was

immaculate and well hidden. Jane was un`well at that

particular time as well. It seemed prudent that

she should be moved on. Steve and Jane got help

and were able to make a new start. But those involved in the fhght

against homelessness are facing Wirral Council has spoken

of unprecedented challenges And it's a charity,

The Birkenhead YMCA, which provides a key facility in the process to get

people out of homelessness. We have got 56 beds here whhch are

full ` if one person leaves we can The room we are in

at the moment is for our clhents of the hostel to drink in a safe,

sensible, social environment. The safe drinking room doubles

as a night shelter where up to 3 emergency beds are provided

for urgent cases. 13 people is a lot

of people to be homeless. It may be that they are just here

for one or two nights, but some people may stay

on 15 to 20 nights until thd room becomes available in the hostel

and we will accommodate thel. There's also been a shift

in the profile I think the stereotype, the drug and

alcohol users, that myth has been completely smashed now, bec`use with

the so`called austerity measures, we are seeing people who ard moving

into homelessness who would never have thought of that ` one because

they get made redundant, lose their jobs and therefore they havd no

source of income to sustain them. YMCA residents have included former

members of the Armed Forces, a fully trained chef and another

catering worker, 32`year`old Craig. I unexpectedly lost my job,

cannot really afford my rent and like I say, you are a p`ycheque

away from being homeless. My parents, they live in Sp`in,

they are retired, My sister, she is married,

she has a little daughter. You do not want to put your drama

on top of people. Luckily enough, I got the room after

two nights in a night sheltdr. People can have everything, then it

takes one thing to kick it `ll off. It could happen

at any time to anybody. According to official figurds, this

time last year, there were just We have three main hostels

on the Wirral. The individuals who are

in those hostels, equating to about 100 people, they would be considered

as not being homeless, becatse they The irony of it is,

they would not need to live in a hostel if they were not

homeless in the first place. For me, homelessness is much more

than not having a roof over your head, it is one product, it is

about having a social structure in place, having good relathonships

with family and friends. For Stephen and Jane,

rebuilding family ties is crucial. She was seriously ill at ond stage,

but is now battling back. On a rare trip out, she rec`lls

her life on the streets. I used to sleep, live,

doss wherever around here. Sometimes the benches were one

of your beds. Me and my friend Kenny actu`lly

stayed under the steps therd. We had no option,

nowhere else to go. Steve has now returned to

his faith with the help of the Life Church near his old den

in Bebington and through thd Wirral Christian Centre in Birkenhdad where

he and Jane are regular vishtors. My faith has got me through this, I

could not have done it without that. Whilst I know God forgives,

people remember and yet thex have accepted me with open arms, but I am

sure that they still look at me It was

like the prodigal son coming home. It has been an amazing journey,

but the real Steve got lost, Jane and Steve at last feel settled

and are building for the future We hope

and pray to get our families back. When we look back, 10 years ago

this is a palace, isn't it, really? Once that door closes, that is it,

who can hurt us in here? Fans of Elizabeth Gaskell h`ve

flocked here to visit this, the childhood home

of the famous Victorian author. The town was the inspiration

for her most famous novel, Cranford, but in fact, most of the work was

written in Manchester, in a house that has just recently been restored

to its original beauty and H have Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford has

captured the imagination of millions Elegant economy,

as they say in Cranford. Now, following a ?2.5 million

restoration, fans of the Victorian writer will be able to visit

the house on Plymouth Grove in Manchester where she lived with her

husband William and four datghters Work to restore the house h`s taken

over five years, back in thd spring, the final phase of the restoration

got underway and in May, I went to see how it was going and to meet

the man overseeing the projdct. It is not what you expect

in the middle of Ardwick. What a building

and with all the development around, It was quite

an astonishing thing and I think it I think people simply did not have

enough money, the owners of it, to It was kind of left and if xou

remember it, from a few years ago, it was actually pink and thhs house

is still known by a lot of people Even though we have spent a lot

of money making it not pink. First impressions, though,

what a grand property. This is not a grand house

for the period. This is the family home

of the Gaskells. Well, it is very typical

for a mid`19th century housd. It was built in 1830, the G`skells

moved in in 1850 and believd it or not, even though there are four

daughters, two parents and five live`in servants, Elizabeth herself

describes it as a small household. Who would be received

in the drawing`room? Friends and people they knew

who they wanted to entertain. Who would their friends be,

who came to the house? Because she is a writer, shd has

some particularly interesting friends and some of those pdople

come here, so we have Charlds Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe,

Charlotte Bronte, who hides behind one of the curtains

in this room apparently when the doorbell goes, because she was kind

of a bit scared of lots of company. We have got Charles Halley coming

into this room to teach the girls how to play the phano

on the piano that Elizabeth bought and which you can see in thhs 1 90s

photograph of the drawing`room. This is where William would have

stood, like this, very unlikely you would have stood like this, because

your make`up would have melted. You would have stood with

your crinoline here. She was very socially aware, she was

active in her community, shd was She was also an author,

but you still had to adhere to all One of the interesting things

about her work is that she does in fact address issues

which were not socially accdptable, She was not always flattering

about the big factory owners in Manchester, she was symp`thetic

with the plight of She also deals with the sochal

issues which people did not really She is, in every aspect, soleone,

who if you come across them today, Just because she is in a crhnoline

with a bonnet on, it does not mean Growing up in Knutsford helped to

inspire Elizabeth Gaskell's wonderful portrayal of rural society

in her novel Cranford. It was

the experiences that she had living in industrialised Manchester, the

suffering of the poor that shaped Manchester is still home to some

of her original writings, kdpt here This is the only surviving

manuscript of a novel by Elhzabeth Gaskell, it is Wives and Datghters,

the final novel that she wrote. She was not very well

while she was writing this book so there were times when shd found

it very difficult to write, but when she had the energy, shd wrote

it quickly, but you can see on this She almost writes as

if she has a story in her hdad The sadness about this manuscript

is that it is unfinished. It is unfinished, so if we turn to

the final page here, you can see how the writing simply finishes

mid`paragraph, so to speak, she put pen down, left the house to go

on a trip and she never camd back, The book was virtually finished but

not completely and it was fhnished And if I had neither conscidnce or

prudence, I should be delighted It is not very far from herd

in Plymouth Grove. You must come and see us in it,

dearest Tottie, and make me see it is right to spend

so much on ourselves, on so purely It was nearly four months

since we were here last and John and the team had

a massive amount of work lahd out, Come on into the drawing`room

and have a look This is Elizabeth's passport,

the actual passport that shd took when she went travelling

and it is lovely, because it says Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell,

British subject, accompanied by four daughters travelling on the

continent with her maid servant It was somewhere where people came

and sat down, the girls would have played in this room, Elizabdth would

have been entertaining people with it is very much

like a family home today. The members of the

Manchester Historic Buildings Trust, the restoration of the Gaskdlls

house is the culmination of years of fundraising to save

the Grade 2 listed property. People will be coming here

from all over the world to see this Our hopes are that it will be

a centre for the study of Also, not only the study of her

but all the things that she and It is not only writing,

it is education, it is art, it is music, it is all thosd other

things, it is basic education. That is what the Gaskells

and Unitarians were very involved with in the mid`19th centurx

and we still need that todax. I will not listen to reason,

reason always means what soleone I think that must be

an hereditary quality, for ly father And the Elizabeth Gaskell house

opens to the public on Sund`y. We are back next Monday, until then,

goodbye. Next week, we discover the `mazing

range of wildlife making thdir I bet it becomes

completely addictive. Hello, I'm Sophie Long with

your 90 second update. A freeze on working-age benefits

for two years. That's among the Chancellor's plans

to cut welfare and the nation's debt if the Tories

win next year's general election. Pensions,

disability and maternity pay wouldn't be affected but Jobseekers

Allowance and child benefit would. Ann Maguire was stabbed to death

at a Leeds school in April. Today thousands attended

a memorial service for the teacher. Her family say they've been

comforted by the community. Jailed for sending

abusive tweets to an MP.