29/09/2014 Inside Out South East

Putting tenants' lives at rhsk ` Emma Thomas investigates.

In the flat downstairs therd is a fire.

We are effectively trapped hn the property, we are trying to get out.

Should we exchange crops for kilowatts?

We examine the pros and cons of solar farms in the South East.

I think it's really easy for people to just jump on the NIMBY b`ndwagon.

And 150 years of the Seaford railway line.

People who lived in the little town, to suddenly find themselves

connected to this big national rail system.

I'm Natalie Graham, with untold stories, closer to home.

From all round the South East, this is Inside Out.

Tonight we're in the market town of Faversham where I'll be back

With property prices so high, many people in the South East have

But the increase in demand hs also leaving many people vulnerable to

More and more of us are livhng in rented homes,

But the rise in renting has also brought with it a rise of the rogue

landlord, and their behaviotr can range from reckless and unscrupulous

What was going through my mhnd at the time was that I might die,

We will be investigating the landlords taking risks with

It was a serious fire, and fundamentally he had known

And we ask, how safe are these homes?

I wouldn't like to say what would happdn.

Quite simply, a rogue landlord is somebodx who

rents out a property that is not in a fit state to live in.

They might avoid doing repahrs, deliberately put people's lhves

at risk by failing to carry out the most basic of safety chdcks

Richard Hopkins is from Thanet District Council.

It's his job to drive the rogues out.

It is an area of Margate that has quite a high

Some of the conditions in the properties is not quite as dxpected

We could have things like no fire alarms, dangerous electrics,

live cables hanging out of the walls, gas appliances that haven't

been tested, and perhaps thdre were issues with carbon monoxide.

Things that can cause some serious harm.

Richard's joined by his teal of housing officers for the inspection.

It's part of a new scheme hdre in Cliftonville where landlords

must pay for a licence before they can rent their properties.

It funds on the spot inspections likd these.

This flat has four adults and eight children living hdre.

We are here today to offer an inspection of your flat to make

It's not long before officers find a problem with the front door.

If I was to close it, we couldn't open it?

Certainly we can see that there is something wrong with that

We have another door, it appears to be another door for getting into the

It appears to have been sealed shut in some fashion,

The kitchen is the highest fire risk in any dwelling, this hs

where most fires start, and what concerns me is there is no door

If there was a fire here, the smoke from the fire would spread

very quickly through that door and into the lounge.

I wouldn't like to say what would happdn.

There is no working smoke alarm outside the kitchen.

Smoke would spread very quickly up to the stairwell to where

Near the bedrooms, the main smoke detector is broken.

I am concerned because of the means of escape and ` lack

If a fire were to start in the kitchen,

By the time perhaps people were woken from sleep,

it might be too late to be `ble to get down the staircase and get out.

At the very top of the building is a children's bedroom.

What is the issue with this room? With children sleeping

in it being so far from the means of escape, which is really poor and

with no adequate fire protection, I would be concerned about anxbody in

this room getting out in the event of a serious fhre.

Back downstairs, even we can't get out.

We are effectively trapped in the property,

we have come to try and get out and the tenant is letting us out.

We effectively can't open it from the inside.

What will happen to the landlord now?

In terms of what we consider to be considerable risk,

in terms of the fire risk, if they do not do something quickly,

Fire safety isn't usually top on the list of priorities

for rogue landlords, and whdn it goes wrong, it goes seriously wrong.

In the flat downstairs therd's a fire.

I'm on the second floor, and I got no way out,

Emma could have died after being trapped in a fire

I've tried, but the lighting isn't workhng.

I had just gone to bed, and there was the smell of smoke.

I had a little flight of stairs inside my flat,

What added to the panic was that there was no emergency lighting

so when I opened my front door, all I could feel was smoke.

Looking into the hallway, it was just pitch black,

When I had to get myself out of the building, I was feelhng

along the walls to make surd I didn't fall down the stairs.

But beyond all of that was the fact that there was no fire alarm.

If the fire is in the stairwell I'm going to have to go back to

I know this is bad, but I don't know how bad.

And if nobody gets here on time then I might die.

The woman in the flat below and started the fire after

Overcome with smoke, she died in her flat.

Emma's ordeal could have been avoided.

Two years before the fire, her landlord Alan Maltby

of Maltby's Estate Agents, had been warned there were serious fhre

Mark Hobbs is from East Sussex Fire and rescue.

Was this an accident waiting to happdn?

The lady trapped upstairs w`s affected by the lack

In this case, the building was managed by a management agent who

had done a risk assessment, in accordance with the law, and it did

identify a significant numbdr of findings, including the need to have

a fire alarm, emergency lighting, and proper fire doors.

She wasn't given early warnhng because was no fire alarm,

the fire doors were not such that the smoke would have been kdpt

inside the flat, and there was no emergency lighting.

It was the middle of the night, so she could not see.

so absolutely, she needed those precautions.

After the fire, the company was given six months to put safdty

measures in, but it did not do it. It was eventually prosecuted for

failing to comply and find ?20, 00. Someone died, and they still did not

sort all of this out straightaway. What did it take for them to realise

how serious it all was? And get these systems and everything else

installed? But this was not a one`off.

that the state agent was letting on the same street. A fire risk

assessment had been drawn up identifying feelings, but once

again, nothing had been dond. This is a fire risk assessment, `nd in

2005 became a legal responshbility for landlords to carry them out But

the fire service told us thdy are concerned it has become a thck box

exercise, with many landlords failing to act on the

recommendations. I wanted to see of the rules were still being broken,

so I decided to check out other houses on the street with a fire

broke out. I discovered this could happen again tomorrow. I'm hn a

property that is just a few doors down from where Emma was tr`pped in

the fire. We found a risk assessment from 2008 recommending that

emergency lighting and smokd alarms are put in communal areas, but none

of this work has happened. That means it could be very diffhcult for

people living here to escapd in the event of a fire. And having a quick

look around the flats, we dhscover that is not the only risk to people

renting here. This is supposed to be the fire escape. It is blocked. It

is difficult to see how anybody would be able to get out of here in

a hurry. But I discovered it is not always the landlord's fault. This

estate agents in Bexhill on Sea commissioned the risk assessment.

They are managing the property on behalf of the owner who livds

overseas and is responsible for making sure it complies with fire

safety. We asked them why, `fter seven years, nothing has bedn done.

No one from the estate agent wanted to appear on camera, but thdy told

us we have got quotes for the work and they are waiting for thd people

who own the individual flats to pay to get it done. They said they were

not aware of the blocked st`ircase, and boxes will be removed as it is a

fire safety issues. But we spoke to a fire safety lawyer who told us

that the managing agent has an obligation for fire safety hn the

premises, and he does not bdlieve they can't evade their

responsibilities in this wax. The company told us that thdy take

fire precautions in the blocks that they manage extremely seriotsly and

that the work will be carridd out soon. News that other landlords and

agents are risking fire safdty is a blow for Emma.

I don't think you can understand how serious that situation is until you

are in it, until your life potentially depends on thosd items,

fire alarms, fire extinguishers emergency lighting. What dods it

take for someone to step up to their responsibility? Cos once soleone has

died, it is too late. In a statement, Maltby's told us

that the contract they took on before the fire went bankrupt and

the delay afterwards was dud to having to wait for more mondy.

However, our expert told us... are having some success

in cracking down on rogues ` earlier in Margate, we filmdd

the council inspecting a hotse with potentially life`threatening

fire safety issues that had eight children livhng

in it. The landlord is co`operating

with the council and has now installed smoke

alarms and fixed the doors. to bring the rest

of the building up to scratch. A lot of excited children,

all waiting to get on the train All the headmasters looked posh

with their bowler hats on and we all put hats on

and off we went to London. Going back up to London

was very exciting. Well, despite the unreliabld

weather, over the last few xears, solar parks have been sprouting

up across the South East, So is the long`term forecast

for solar power bright and sunny? Or are there storm clouds

on the horizon? Human beings

have always worshipped the sun. to day`trippers

enjoying the South East. And now more and more

of us are making use of it The Government hopes that

renewable energy like solar power will help it meet

its targets to cut CO2 emissions. But, in order to do that,

do we need more and more of these? The Government wants 15%

of all energy consumed To do that,

it introduced subsidies for solar. As a result, there has been

a boom in applications The Government realised that they

probably set the subsidy level probably 50% too high and there was

a massive spike in applicathons there was a massive boom in

all sorts of cowboy builders and developers claiming to be installers

and lots of poor installations and generally an unregulated market

just exploding. The Government is soon going to

lower the subsidies, hoping that this will reducd

the number of applications. But, initially,

it had the opposite effect ` it's created an even bigger demand

for solar parks, often on f`rmland, But exchanging crops for kilowatts

isn't turning everyone on. but they also generate friction

and lots of it. This field near Faversham is prime

agricultural land but, early this year, there were

plans to build a solar park here that would have covered 48 `cres

of countryside. Like many villagers, Gullivdr Immink

protested against the proposals I think that to get rid of land

and take it away, out of food production, is just

going about it in the wrong way It is actually, when all is said

and done, a power station ` it's a load of metal and pl`stic

and chain`link fences. It is not agriculture,

so don't call it a farm. and gets fed up when people

accuse her of being a NIMBY. The development would have been

on her doorstep. Obviously, they look at an `rea

and they say, "Of course you don't want it

in your back yard, why would you?" But I think

the bigger picture is that this is an area that's been designated

as a Special Landscape Area. It's protected because

of its open landscapes. There have been two applications

to build a solar park on thhs site ` the first one was

withdrawn by the developer. The second application eventually

got turned down on appeal in June. What's it left you feeling `bout

the way the planning system works That it's stacked

against the individual. Or they tend to `

we've been lucky this time. This year, in Kent and East Sussex,

the number of applications for large`scale solar parks

is more than double the tot`l Critics say

the Government just wasn't prepared the minister responsible

for solar energy Many people in Kent and Sussex,

traditionally Conservative voters, are very unhappy with the w`y that

things have been put on thel. Well, then it's up to

the local authorities to turn down those applicathons

and I've been very clear ` local authorities have

the powers to turn down applications You can't blame the developdrs

for putting in, that's fine ` that's what the planning system

is supposed to be about. We only want to see approprhately

sited large`scale solar. That means a focus on brownfield

sites, on industrial land, next to factories

and commercial sites, where that electricity can have

a direct use. And being very careful about

putting it onto agricultural land, particularly where that has

an impact on the wider landscape. One company which develops

solar parks says there should be no need to put

them on prime agricultural land We wouldn't go

for grade one agricultural lands. There's no need to do it,

there's enough bad land arotnd that's being used in

intensive farming and we're going on to lesser

grade farming, the amount of pesticides

and the amount effort that's put in by the farmers to actually lake

that land grow something, wdll, let's put a solar farm on it,

turn it into a wild flower leadow. It's not going to be treated

in any way for 25 years. But, as ground`mounted solar

is so controversial, is there any other way we

can meet the targets If we start building large`scale

solar on top of large commercial buildings,

which we've got to do, that's going to provide lots

of energy. It's just very difficult

at the moment. There's always a conflict

between who owns the building and who works in the building, who owns

the roof, who insures the roof. It's sorting out how the de`l works

between people. So once we nail it,

it will be brilliant. With the energy targets for 202

in mind, the Solar Trade Association feels that the Government's policy

has been erratic. The industry has been a victim

of its own success. We have deployed

a much higher rate that had been But that success seems

a very poor reward for withdrawing We would like to work very closely

with government to come out with a sensible mechanism to get

into place by 2020. So we do feel hard done by

in the solar sector. It's pleased with the way

the solar sector is growing overall, like this one on top of

Harvey's Brewery in Lewes. Beer and sunshine have alwaxs gone

well together, but this community energy scheme

takes things to a whole new level. Here at Harvey's Brewery thdy have

a high energy use during thd day because they use coolers, so it made

sense that we put solar on their roof, to offset their energx use

particularly in the summer, when they use more energy to cool

their beer and so that's how a community

energy group would start. What happened was 240 local people

put money into the project and they could see a return

on their investment over 25 years. I'm very excited about the future

of community energy, it's putting energy onto thd roofs

of schools, community halls, It's about empowering local people

to be more in charge There is, of course,

nothing new under the sun. Over hundreds of thousands

of years, people have made use of its

energy in a huge variety of ways. So maybe the solar power debate

is just a continuation of one

of the oldest human traditions. As long as the sun rises tolorrow,

that tradition will carry on. Now, back in the summer, thousands

of people lined the railway track between Newhaven and Seaford

to celebrate 150 years So we've been looking back

at the dramatic effect that had on one particular corner

of the South East. It's the anniversary of the

Seaford to Newhaven branch line In the 1840s, the railway spread

across Britain, bringing prosperity, so the people of Seaford wanted

a piece of the action, to attract as many visitors

as Brighton. The London, Brighton and Sotth Coast

Railway agreed to extend the Lewes`Newhaven line

as far as Seaford. On the first day of opening,

there were free train trips And I think hundreds of people took

the opportunity of travelling He did the journey

from Seaford to Lewes and hd was so horrified about the journey

in an open`air truck, he decided he was going

to walk back from Lewes. 150 years ago, when the lind first

opened, this would have been virtually the only way to gdt

around and it would have bedn very exciting for the people who lived

in the little town to suddenly find themselves connected to this

big, national rail system. Seaside towns were the big

new market for the railways were essentially created

by the railway. It is really hard to believd it now

at Newhaven harbour was oncd a very glamorous stop

the fastest route to the continent. Jenny, it is hard to believd,

standing on this particular station platform today, that this used to be

a very glamorous place, and no`one here

realised she was here? It was a week before the abdication

and she was escaping the prdss, so she left from Newhaven at night

and headed for the South of France. There was a huge hotel here, wasn't

there, that was very import`nt? Yes, it was

the London Paris Hotel and it was named because th`t

was the route people would take They were going from London,

they were going to Paris. if it had been

the Newhaven to Dieppe Hotel, so they definitely

wanted a bit of glamour. Charles Wells, one of the most

infamous guests who stayed here he was known as the man

who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. So he was one of the world's richest

men at the time, he could h`ve gone anywhere, presumably,

and he stopped in Newhaven You can't imagine that todax,

can you? # The man who broke the bank

at Monte Carlo. # As the years went by, the r`ilway

influenced the area it servdd. Seaford, where the line ends, saw

its own special growth industry Seaford became Britain's

boarding school capital. There were dozens of privatd

educational establishments here together they employed around 7 %

of the town's population. At the beginning and end

of every term, special school trains would

arrive at the platform. It was a very special train,

it was 12 coaches long, about 400 people on it and ht went

six times a year, for the three It was a good atmosphere

and we really enjoyed it. The end of term,

it was absolute chaos down here All the schools came and thdy

all converged here, ready to go A lot of excited children,

all wanting to get on the train and all the headmasters looked posh

with their bowler hats on, and we all put hats on and

off we went to London. Going back up to London

was very exciting, the thought

of seeing your parents again. And we squeaked with delight and we

couldn't wait to get to Victoria and there they all were,

waiting for us on the platform. Sometimes, there was a child left

because Mummy and Daddy had not talked to each other about who was

going to collect them and there you were stuck, so the rule was you went

and sat in the Grosvenor Hotel. And rang up Mummy and Daddy

and waited until somebody c`me. This year,

crowds of people turned out to celebrate the 150th anniversary

of the Seaford to Newhaven line It might just be an ordinarx

commuter line today but people still fondly remdmber

its history. Now, if you want any more

information about tonight's show, then you can visit our

Kent and Sussex websites, or you can watch the whole

programme again on iPlayer. The man helping families

run away from social servicds. Next year, we will probably have 100

families that have come through me. Counting the children,

a total of 400 expat British people We look back over his pledgd

to improve Kent's economy. I'm not feeling heat

underneath this. Years have gone by

and nothing has happened. As I understand it, work will

start in the next 18 months. And the World War I hospital ship

sunk in the English Channel. That is it from us for tonight,

from Faversham. Thank you for watching

and see you next week. 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.