Browse content similar to 03/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello from Gloucester, where we re on the hunt for affordable homes. | :00:00. | :00:12. | |
Tonight: Demand for social housing is on the rise, so why are | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
developers tearing up their agreements to build more? With the | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
housing market being depressed, the viability has gone down. We've had | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
some sites that have gone down to no affordable housing just to get the | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
site back into use. Also tonight: The clever pilot | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
project helping to get Somerset s old people online. Hello Jean. At | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
first I thought, I will never too it and now I'm glad I tried. | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
And? taking to the sky with Europe's first ever disabled balloon pilot. | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
There is no reason why disabled people shouldn't be able to fly | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
balloons. Once you are in the air, there is no distinction. | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
I'm Alastair McKee and this is Inside Out West. | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
First tonight, recent reports that house prices are creeping up again | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
might be good news to some people. But if you're looking for an | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
affordable home, whether to rent or buy, things just keep getting | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
tougher. Now, to make matters worse, we've discovered house builders and | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
councils across the West ripping up commitments to build cheaper homes. | :01:24. | :01:35. | |
As the after ram cost of a home rose by more than 8% in 2013... The Bank | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
of England is being urged to limit the average increase in house | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
prices... Prices across the country are 3. 8% higher than they were a | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
year ago... House prices are going up again in the West, but they are | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
already 11 times the average salary here, meaning the hope of one day | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
owning your own home remains for many people just a dream. If you | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
can't buy, your only option is to rent, but rents are going up too. In | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
fact private sector rents in the West are expected to rise by 62 in | :02:10. | :02:16. | |
the next decade. For some people the only option is affordable housing. | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
That's accommodation which is sold or rented below the market value, | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
but not enough of this type of housing is being built to satisfy | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
demand. Local authorities have traditionally use Section 106 of the | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
planning laws to try and make developers build more. Take this new | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
development in yejly in Gloucestershire. The `` Quedgely in | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
Gloucestershire. The council made developers sign a legal commitment | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
to make 30% of what they build here affordable. It is something all our | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
councils have been doing for decades as a way of tackling homelessness. | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
But we've discovered house builders and councils across the West are | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
tearing up these Section 106 agreements and failing to comply | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
with their affordable housing targets. There was a time when the | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
Government was firmly committed to building social housing. The first | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
two people's houses are ready for the Minister of housing, Harold | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
Macmillan, to view with the architect. Tens of thousands were | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
constructed in the '40s to house a population devastated by two world | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
wars. By the 1970s a third of Britain's population lived in | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
council properties like these. But in the '`80s under the Thatcher | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
Government's right to buy scheme, local authorities were forced to | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
sell off much of this housing stock, which was not replaced. Successive | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Governments have since failed to build enough social housing to plug | :03:50. | :03:59. | |
the gap. I've come to Higbridge in Somerset to meet a family who are | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
suffering as a result. Hello little guy, what's your name? It is Oscar. | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
How old is little Oscar then? He's eight months today. Eight months | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
today! How many others have you got? I've got two more ` Leah, who is | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
two, and Charlie who is five. The Hectors are squeezed into this | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
two`bedroom council flat. Fiona and Ken both work but can't afford to | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
buy or rent a home on the open market. This looks like your room, | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
but there's another bed there, that looks like Leah's bed. How do you | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
find sharing with your little girl? It is not nice. She really needs to | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
be in her own bedroom. We make do with what we've got. You don't get | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
much sleep? No. No. And you need your sleep when you are a family, a | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
big family. That's pretty tough isn't it? Two beds and a cot in here | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
and cupboards and things. There is no room. I suppose if the bed wasn't | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
there, it would be the perfect space to have extra storage or at least a | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
bedside table or room to get dressed or something. They've been stuck on | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
a waiting list for a more suitable property for a year now. I can see | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
that cocompromise you are struggling with `` to compromise you are | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
struggling with space. What impact does it have on you? Particularly | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
you two? It is difficult. I'm not here most of the time. We have our | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
ups and downs, especially as it took two`and`a`half years to get this | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
one. It is difficult to settle on it being a sense that it is your home, | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
you want your home to be for keeps don't you? What's the point of | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
putting my energy into ago that this a home and then fork out to have to | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
do it again. I think Charlie might be ready for his tea. Are you | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
hungry? In 2011, the number of families in the South West on social | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
housing waiting lists rose by a quarter to nearly 200,000. Bye? . It | :06:06. | :06:15. | |
was the largest increase in the country. The Housing Federation | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
represents the UK's housing associations. It is concerned about | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
the scale of the problem. Everybody now knows somebody, those really | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
struggling with the cost of housing had, whether they are a family who | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
are living in private rented accommodation and want to save for a | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
mortgage, whether they are on a council housing waiting list and are | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
never going to get to the top of that list, or whether they are in an | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
unsuitable property. This issue with affordable housing is right the way | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
across the board and cuts across the social classes. So, affordable | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
housing is everyone's problems, not just families like the Hectors. It | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
has been left to our local authorities to encourage private | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
developers to build them. As guardians of the planning laws, | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
councils were able to use Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
Act to do this. It is obliged developers building 15 or more | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
properties on a site to make a percentage of them affordable, | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
according to local needs. Mr Secretary Pickles... But in 201 , | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
the Government changed the rules, relaxing these constraints. We'll | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
make it easier for developers to change unrealistic Section 106 | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
agreements negotiated at the height of Labour's unsustainable economic | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
boom. The changes were divined to northern regeneration, but `` to | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
encourage regeneration, but critics say they provide a loophole for | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
developers. This part of Gloucester senior badly in need of some of that | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
regeneration, burr with 5,000 people on the council housing waiting list | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
there's also an urgent need for affordable homes. This is the | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
boundary wall of what used to be Gloucester college of arts and | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
technology. Two years ago Lindsay was given `` Linden Homes was given | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
permission to build homes on condition that a quarter of it as | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
affordable. They are build ng 2 0 homes had here. 64 were supposed to | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
be affordable, but that has been halved to 52, as Linden Homes says | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
they can't make enough profit. It sounds as if the developers have got | :08:35. | :08:41. | |
you over a barrel really. We want to build fewer. We do check their | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
costings. We have a team in the City Council that look over them. They | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
make sure that what the developer is saying is true. At the moment with | :08:52. | :09:00. | |
the housing market being depressed, viability has gone down. How typical | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
is the situation here where the amount of affordable housing has | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
been cut by half. Is that reflected across the city? We are seeing it | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
more and more in applications where they are coming back. Whilst we are | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
concerned, we would rather see the city being regenerated than be left | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
with empty, derelict build pension. We've had some sites where we've | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
gone down to no affordable housing to get the site back into use. | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
Linden Homes told us in a statement that the recession had impacted on | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
their predicted revenues. They also said that new building and energy | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
efficiency regulations had made it more costly to build here. What s | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
happened at this site is by no means an isolated case. A we asked local | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
authorities across the West how many of the large last housing | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
developments met their own affordable housing targets. Of those | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
that provided information, the answer was less than half. Bristol | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
had the worst result. Only two of its six largest developments met | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
their affordable housing targets. Bath and North East Somerset was the | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
best performer but still only eight out of ten met their target. I'm not | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
surprised but I am concerned. This is a real problem. A lot of local | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
authorities recently have been missing their targets on the | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
percentage of affordable homes that they want to deliver. There are a | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
lot of reasons for that. One of them being the stagnation of the housing | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
market as a whole. But now we've seen that recovery is starting to | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
come through we would want to see that percentage going up and more | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
affordable houses being built and targets being met and possibly | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
exceeded in some areas. For an increasing number of families like | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
the Hectors the rise in house prices is disastrous. It means that | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
generations will never be able to rent in the private sector, let | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
alone afford to buy their own home. Coming up: The sky's the limit for | :11:00. | :11:10. | |
Europe's first ever disabled balloon pilot. | :11:11. | :11:22. | |
. Social media sites like Facebook, | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
Skype and Twitter have already revolutionised many of our lives. | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
But what about those who might benefit from it most ` older people | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
isolated from their friends and family? We've been to meet some of | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
them trying it out for very the first time. `` for the very first | :11:39. | :11:49. | |
time. The Val Nash has lived in a care home in Shepton Mallet for | :11:50. | :11:51. | |
three`and`a`half years since she became unable to take care of | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
herself. Sometimes I wake up ten o'clock in the morning and have a | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
late breakfast. Then they get me tressed and I sit in my chair and | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
wait for the coffee trolley to come round. Then there's lunch and in the | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
afternoon I sometimes have a nap. The South West is home to the | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
highest proportion of over 65s in the country. And the numbers are | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
rising. We care for the type of people that the rest of the | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
country's going to see in about 15`20, 50 years, depending on which | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
area you compare us with. A lot of the rest of the country is looking | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
to us to see what some of the future solutions will be to make care | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
needs. Up to a fifth of over 75s describe themselves as isolated Cut | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
off from family and friends. All human beings need to feel included, | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
to feel a part of a group. We all have this desire. It is really | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
important for all of us to feel that we are part of our family networks. | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
Because older people tend to not be able to leave their house, maybe | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
can't drive any more, it can really have negative impacts on their | :13:04. | :13:11. | |
general wellbeing and happiness Val's lucky. Her husband lives judge | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
US a few minutes drive from her care home. Alright? Lovely. I come in | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
twice a day. Val can't feed herself. If she had a knife and fork, her | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
fork would be over here and her mouth's over here, so I come in and | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
feed her. I feel very blessed. I've got two lovely sons. And a lovely | :13:35. | :13:42. | |
husband. But she sees a lot less of the rest of her family. I like to be | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
in touch with my sister of course, and my brother, who lives in Ascot. | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
This is where it is hoped social media could help. From her room in | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
Somerset, Val could make video calls to friends and family around the | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
world. But getting online can be a bewildering experience for anyone | :14:02. | :14:09. | |
not used to using computers. I've forgotten, I used to do our accounts | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
on them, so it will come back. I've got to make this work. She's been | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
selected to take part in a research project set up to find out if some | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
older people might benefit from being trained to use social media. | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
It is a European`funded project to see if using technology can improve | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
someone's quality of life, by connecting them via Skype and | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
e`mail. Rosemary Hodgson has already taken part in the research. She | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
moved no a care home in Wells to be with her husband. He died last year, | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
leaving Rosemary isolated from many of her family and friends. I kept in | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
touch with my relatives by postcard, birthday card, Christmas card, that | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
sort of thing. But you don't have a lot of room to say what you want to | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
say and all the thoughts that come into your mind, they don't get put | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
down on paper. Rosemary was given three months training to find her | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
way around Facebook, e`mail and sore social media. I hadn't even heard of | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
the word Skype, so that was an I opener. I realised I would be able | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
to see people while I talked to them. I thought that the would | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
probably make it more intimate and fun, and it has done. Rosemary, I'm | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
going to ask you a few questions about how you file generally. Once | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
somebody signs up to be part of this they go through an initial interview | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
process. This is us collecting data about a range of things, so we look | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
at how their mind works, different areas of cognitive function, and we | :15:48. | :15:50. | |
ask about their general wellbeing and how they feel about computers | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
and their attitudes to computers,s and their feelings in that way. | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
How often would you say you feel left out of things? Would you say | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
never, rarely... Never. We interview them again after their training is | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
over. We are interested if there've been any changes, and her general | :16:12. | :16:14. | |
wellbeing and how she feels. How often do you feel you can find | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
companionship when you wanted? When you are in the mood for someone to | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
be around... I would say always That Everyone taking part in the | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
research is given their own modified computer to learn on. All we've done | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
is simplified the front screen and arranged the icons to make it look | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
like they are but thetons. When someone turns a PC on, if they | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
wanted to get to the internet, they know straight away where to go. Back | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
in Shepton Mallet Val is about to get her first training session on | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
her computer, joined by husband Keith. I'm going to teach both of | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
you how to use Skype by doing a test call to Jason. This is the screen | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
you will see when the computer comes up. You've only got six options to | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
worry about. There's not lots of small icons. So if I want to open | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
science, I just touch it. It is a tap with your finger. `` if I want | :17:16. | :17:24. | |
to open Skype we tap it with your finger. For contacts you have your | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
friend Jean, and Field House, the care home. To call Field House we | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
click on Field House. There we go. Hi Keith. Hi Jason. How are you We | :17:37. | :17:47. | |
are fine. We've got a clear picture of you. Are you with it so far, | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
dear? Yes. There is a worry that video calls might replace a visit. | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
Thank God that hasn't happened. We found the technology drawing people | :17:58. | :18:00. | |
in. It gives people something to share when they are here, so they | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
are bringing their iPads and laptops and it is a conservation piece with | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
their relatives. And there are other potential health benefits arising | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
from older people using social media. We'll be able to look at how | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
we can use it to prompt people, so there's evidence there's evidence | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
about what we call medicines optimisation, so that means people | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
take their when they need to, and compliant, another word we use, and | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
that they are enabled to take their medication on time. At first I | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
thought, I will never do it. Now I'm glad I tried. I would advise people, | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
however worried they might be about not catching on, you can try it and | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
it is not as difficult as you think it is. It is the moment of truth for | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
Val, as she and Keith attempt to make their very first video call, to | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
a relative in America. And I press that? Yes. And now it is dialling. | :19:01. | :19:16. | |
." Hello?" Hello Jean. Hello Bernie. Good to see you, you're looking | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
great. And you. Thank you. Val is at the beginning of her training. But | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
already she has seen how she can keep in touch with friend and family | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
from the comfort of her own room. You will be able to see if I'm | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
online and you can just press your video call button and I can see it | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
and answer and then you can see me. Yes! OK. God bless, Jean. God bless, | :19:43. | :19:56. | |
Bernie. Bye! That was brilliant Absolutely brilliant! And to see her | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
blowing a kiss and she blew one back. Unbelievable all this sky and | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
stuff between us. Wonderful. He's famous for being the first ever | :20:06. | :20:13. | |
balloonist to fly non`stop around the world. But now Somerset's Brian | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
Jones has been on a new mission to teach Europe's first disabled | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
balloon pilot how to fly. Will Glennon followed him to Italy. | :20:22. | :20:33. | |
This is Monday Monday in Mondovi in northern Italy, surrounded by the | :20:34. | :20:45. | |
drama of the Alps. The mountains protect the area from extreme | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
weather. It is a perfect place to fly hot`air balloons. You can get | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
airborne all year round and all day in winter. So where better for | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
Europe's first disable pilot to get his wings? With the sun just up we | :21:03. | :21:13. | |
arrived on the outskirts of town. Balloon pilot and instructor Brian | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
Jones has made the long journey from Somerset. With the help of local | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
Italian balloonists he will be training pilot Tim Ellison. Wind | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
direction this morning is crucial. A trainee needs a minimum of 16 hours | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
flying in order to qualify, so they need to get airborne. Conditions are | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
really nice actually. Hardly any wind. From a training point of view | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
it is great. Tim's a fast learner and is already picking up the | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
basics. So we turn the bottle on to the side you are going to light | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
initially. One it is on you have a listen. He is Brian's first ever | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
disabled student. This is a new experience, and completely different | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
to any type of flying I've done before. Burning. Brian was born in | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
Bristol and has flown balloons for decades. He's best known for his | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
record`breaking nonstop round the world flight in the Breitling | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
orbiter three. Ed a he and co`pilot Bertrand Pickard made headlines | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
everywhere. Now an instructor and examiner it was Brian's idea to get | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
disabled pilots into the sport. There is no reason why disabled | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
people shouldn't be able to fly balloons. They fly aeroplanes and | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
other things. I thought, why aren't there more people? I thought, it is | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
a nice project. The first hurtle was creating the right accessible | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
equipment. A twishl wicker basket can fly disailed passengers but | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
pilots need to reach all the controls and see where they are | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
going. This double chair is a specially adapted design. If Tim is | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
to be a pilot, it is essential he can inflate the balloon on his own. | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
It is a tricky manoeuvre but he s got it. They are almost ready to go. | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
It is all about burner control. The aim is to take off and stay low | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
Then we'll climb and do practise emergencies and do some practise | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
approaches. I would think that's probably enough for one day. It is a | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
fairly reasonable day in terms of the weather and I think we'll have a | :23:30. | :23:31. | |
good morning's flying. Conditions today may not have looked | :23:32. | :23:47. | |
that great. It is overcast and pretty cold, but it is OK for | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
balloon flying. The winds are light. That's the main thing. It has given | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
Tim and Brian the chance to cram in the hours they need. Tim may look | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
relaxed in the air, but it was a serious flying accident in 199 `` in | :24:01. | :24:09. | |
1992 when an RAF pilot that put him in a wheelchair. I was bringing a | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
Harrier into land vertically. You hover over a concrete pad and just | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
as I stabilised the engine failed catastrophically. It exploded. With | :24:24. | :24:31. | |
no thrust you drop like a brick Anything perpendicular to the ground | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
was broken, so my lower legs and ankles and spine. The impact was so | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
hard it broke my ribs and burst both lungs. At the time in my hospital | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
bed it seemed a minor thing that I wouldn't walk again. Itch was happy | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
to be alive and I still had the things that were precious to me | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
Doctors said he would never fly again, but two years later he was | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
airborne and has never looked back. For Tim and all disabled pilots the | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
biggest danger is landing. As well as the usual hazards, he has to | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
avoid tipping over and potentially getting trapped. At good ground crew | :25:11. | :25:17. | |
has to be on hand. Another safe landing a. They made it down in one | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
piece. Hopping the balloon to the corner of the field so Tim can get | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
out. That was really good. There were lots of different wind | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
conditions. It is not fast, so it is not incredibly challenging but it | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
does make you think a bit. A great flight this morning. A bit cold but | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
Tim is extraordinary. I've never had a student who got it quite this | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
quickly. It is not all flying though. With five exams to pass | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
there's also classroom time. Airman Tim breezes through. But news of his | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
challenge has got around. Hello Tim? Hi Stefano. Welcome. The whole town | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
is excited and the Mayor of Mondovi came to give his personal backing. | :26:04. | :26:11. | |
Tim is special. He is someone who has managed to get over his | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
disability and has shown you can have a full life and practising what | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
you really love. We are so happy to have the first European to become an | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
air balloon pilot as a disabled On the launch field it is a crucial | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
day. Tim's only got an hour or so of flying left to do before he gets the | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
chance to go solo. Very important. Luckily for him conditions today are | :26:35. | :26:42. | |
great. Once you are in the chair sitting | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
next to an able`bodied person purr exactly, that gives you a great | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
feeling of freedom. You don't get that feeling of freedom every day | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
when you are on the ground. Airborne gives you a fantastic sense of | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
achievement. With everything looking good it is the last big challenge. | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
Tim is just one flight away from his licence. This time he's on his own. | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
OK Tim, that's your flight check done. Well done, it was brilliant. | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
Thank you. I have no problem sending you solo. Thanks. You need to fly | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
for 30 minutes. Are you happy? Great. | :27:19. | :27:36. | |
He's done it! Back on terra firma, safe, sound and successful. Thank | :27:37. | :27:46. | |
you. I made it. It was really good. A beautiful day. A beautiful flight. | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
I enjoyed it. It is a special moment for any pilot to do their first solo | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
and Tim was perfect. I'm proud of him. My first disabled student. Who | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
wouldn't be? And the first qualified disabled balloon pilot. In the | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
tradition of the great balloon flights, it is all finished with a | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
glass of champagne. CHEERING | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
Cheers, Tim. That's just about it for this week, | :28:20. | :28:27. | |
but if you'd like to keep in touch with what we're up to, you can find | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
us on Twitter. Or you can email us at: [email protected]. But | :28:33. | :28:34. | |
from all of us here in Gloucester, thanks for watching. Goodnight. | :28:35. | :28:45. | |
Next week, with much of the Somerset levels still underwater, we go to | :28:46. | :28:52. | |
Holland to look at more radical solutions to the problem. | :28:53. | :29:10. | |
A longer day, more exams and tougher discipline. That is what the | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
government wants for pupils in England's state schools. Ministers | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
believe it would bring standards closer to those in private schools. | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
There is a warning over a social network raise after it was linked to | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
guess in Ireland. It involves drinking and filming a stun. The | :29:30. | :29:32. | |
body of the young man was found in the River. Tributes have poured in | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
for the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is thought he died from | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
a heroin overdose. More of us are undergoing plastic | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
surgery. The number of operations jumped 17% last year. Most were for | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
breast implants, but the biggest rise was for liposuction. | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
Imagine parking your car outside your house and waking up to this | :29:55. | :29:56. | |
dash a Hello, I'm Will Glennon, the latest | :29:57. | :30:02. | |
in the West. A man from the Forest of Dean's been | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
jailed for two and a half years after taking police on two high | :30:07. | :30:09. | |
speed chases in a few months. A judge told Christopher Wright it was | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
pure luck no`one was killed. A landslip has left a house near | :30:15. | :30:15. |