:01:35. > :01:38.And in the North East and Cumbria - one third of shops are empty in
:01:38. > :01:40.some of our town centres. Are they in terminal decline or can
:01:41. > :01:50.we breathe new life into our neglected High Streets? That's at
:01:51. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :35:38.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2027 seconds
:35:38. > :35:42.Hello and a warm welcome to your local part of the show.
:35:42. > :35:48.Coming up - 46,000 houses and flats in the North East and Cumbria are
:35:48. > :35:51.standing empty. What will it take to bring them back into use?
:35:51. > :35:54.And here in the studio, talking housing, High Streets and the
:35:54. > :36:00.latest council cuts are my guests, the Easington MP Grahame Morris and
:36:00. > :36:04.Yorkshire Euro-MP Timothy Kirkhope. Firstly. Are our High Streets in
:36:04. > :36:06.terminal decline? Well, walk around Stockton and you will find one
:36:06. > :36:08.quarter of all the shops there are empty.
:36:08. > :36:11.It is not much better in Hartlepool or Sunderland.
:36:11. > :36:13.Retail expert Mary Portas says our High Streets are failing. But she
:36:14. > :36:16.believes there is potential to reinvent them with cheaper town
:36:16. > :36:19.centre parking, more open-air markets and fewer regulations on
:36:19. > :36:22.traders. Now the government is offering a
:36:22. > :36:32.share of �1 million for towns that want to transform their high
:36:32. > :36:34.
:36:34. > :36:38.streets. They bought in West Cumbria. With its heritage, the
:36:38. > :36:47.town has plenty of tourist attractions, but the town has seen
:36:47. > :36:52.better days. Below it rather run- down and tired. We used to have a
:36:52. > :37:00.gentleman's outfitters, a dress shop a hat shop and a lot of little
:37:00. > :37:03.bakers and things like that. There used to be a Woolworths. They were
:37:03. > :37:12.roll replaced by pounds shops and charity shops or are now lying
:37:12. > :37:18.empty. The local Bowl shop has been trading in the same location for 60
:37:18. > :37:28.years and she thinks it will take more than any Cover to save the
:37:28. > :37:31.
:37:31. > :37:37.highest rate. It is all about boosting up the local economy. He
:37:37. > :37:47.need to have jobs in the area, so that people have money to spend.
:37:47. > :37:48.
:37:48. > :37:56.But town is hoping to get a part of this grant from the retail scheme
:37:56. > :38:01.suggested by a Mary Porter us. It would be absolutely fantastic for
:38:01. > :38:09.the town to win this bed. It would really work. If people would listen
:38:09. > :38:14.and take not and do what we're told, basically. The figure as making
:38:14. > :38:19.clear something has to be done. Nearly one-third of the shops here
:38:19. > :38:23.are empty, making it one of the worst places in Cumbria. Stockton
:38:23. > :38:32.has a quarter of the shops lying empty and the pictures only
:38:32. > :38:36.slightly better in Sunderland and Gateshead. For a many, they keep
:38:36. > :38:43.reason the highest rate is feeling is the unstoppable rise of out-of-
:38:43. > :38:52.town shopping. They believe the massive supermarkets, with their
:38:52. > :38:56.free parking and cheaper prices are simply unstoppable. You simply have
:38:56. > :38:59.to stop out-of-town developments happening it unless there is
:38:59. > :39:06.special developments, you have to make sure there is local parking
:39:06. > :39:16.available and you have to simply have to do it. There is not when
:39:16. > :39:16.
:39:16. > :39:21.just saying that the market will simply gawp. Day be feels there is
:39:21. > :39:24.a future, but feels a winning the bed would be a big boost for the
:39:24. > :39:27.town. Well, it is not just traders who
:39:27. > :39:29.are losing out. Many of our local authorities own shops and shopping
:39:29. > :39:32.centres which they rent out. In Newcastle, for example, the council
:39:32. > :39:35.owns some 250 retail premises. While in Carlisle, the city council
:39:35. > :39:44.owns the Lanes Shopping Centre. Income is down �277,000 pounds a
:39:44. > :39:49.year. It is not meeting the expectations, but I think in coming
:39:49. > :39:54.years at will. We have a duty of care to the customers of Carlisle
:39:54. > :40:04.and tourists to make sure that this place can continues as it is and
:40:04. > :40:11.
:40:11. > :40:18.improves. Let us talk about this plan to rate regenerate the high
:40:18. > :40:24.streets. When I very much welcome the report and the recommendations
:40:24. > :40:30.and it, I do think that in this sense it is the sticking plaster on
:40:30. > :40:40.a major heart attack, because the real problem is the general
:40:40. > :40:41.
:40:41. > :40:50.economic conditions. In Seaforth for example, there was 1,000 job
:40:50. > :40:58.losses and the increase in value added tax also counts. But a cannot
:40:58. > :41:03.surely be recent economic conditions solely to blame? I think
:41:03. > :41:07.the coalition government has the obligation here. They said they
:41:07. > :41:13.were going to bring any level playing field between the larger
:41:13. > :41:16.retailers and the smaller retailers. The general economic policy, not
:41:17. > :41:25.least the increase in value added tax, has had a catastrophic effect
:41:25. > :41:33.on purchasing power by highest rate shops. Now, we heard about out of
:41:33. > :41:37.town shopping centres, supermarkets. Well, there is our between
:41:37. > :41:47.retailers, and that does not matter whether they are big or small. We
:41:47. > :41:51.
:41:51. > :41:59.do want to take on some of the recommendations. In any town centre,
:41:59. > :42:04.�100,000 a surely not small beer? My will, not a tall, but what I
:42:04. > :42:11.would like to see is an extension of this, we need to look at
:42:11. > :42:19.planning laws. If you want to build a supermarket somewhere, perhaps
:42:19. > :42:25.you need to be doing something to do something back into the local
:42:25. > :42:35.town. One of the critics of the planning policy would say that
:42:35. > :42:42.you're making it harder to fight out of town shopping developments?
:42:42. > :42:46.My all, not at all. When you're involved in doing this, we all of
:42:46. > :42:51.us have a responsibility for this, it is not simply that government
:42:51. > :42:57.has to say this, we have to make it attractive for people to actually
:42:57. > :43:04.stay within towns, with an their main streets, within the rural area
:43:04. > :43:10.as well as the supermarkets. We or this they cannot recreate the high
:43:10. > :43:16.streets of the 1960s, but is it simply money getting pushed at this
:43:16. > :43:26.that will solve the problem? Labour Party has come up with the
:43:26. > :43:27.
:43:27. > :43:37.four-point plan and an initiative for empty shops, where by these
:43:37. > :43:39.
:43:39. > :43:47.decrepit looking France would not be seen. Is that not a bit like the
:43:47. > :43:55.sticking plaster? No, we're talking about using these premises for
:43:55. > :43:59.other uses, such as learning centres and the likes of that.
:43:59. > :44:05.certainly think keeping shops open is very important and we are
:44:05. > :44:09.certainly looking at rates and things like that to give breaks for
:44:09. > :44:12.places that are in difficulties. More than 100,000 people are stuck
:44:12. > :44:15.on the waiting list for social housing in the North East and
:44:15. > :44:18.Cumbria. And the government wants to do something about it with its
:44:18. > :44:21.new Affordable Homes Programme. Yet critics say the level of funding
:44:21. > :44:24.falls well short of what is needed. We will be talking about that in a
:44:24. > :44:31.moment. But first, what about another solution - filling some of
:44:31. > :44:38.the thousands of homes standing empty? They read decade, derelict
:44:38. > :44:47.and abandoned this is part of Newcastle's Byker estate. Now it is
:44:47. > :44:52.home again, with people moving in again a few weeks ago. I was just
:44:52. > :45:02.laughing all the time. People were staring at me! I just love the
:45:02. > :45:06.place. Some under his police to get a home at a price she can afford.
:45:06. > :45:14.To be able to get a new place at the price we are renting is
:45:14. > :45:22.virtually impossible. The says the success story of a empty house been
:45:22. > :45:27.restored and put to use. But it is in the minority. There are 46,000
:45:27. > :45:37.empty private premises in the North East. Bringing them back into use
:45:37. > :45:42.is the priority. There are virtually no empty council houses.
:45:42. > :45:49.That is a real challenge. We have got 9,000 people on our waiting
:45:49. > :45:51.list, 300 of these on priority need. But we want to bring back empty
:45:52. > :45:57.properties into use in this is an ideal example found we have been
:45:57. > :46:00.able to G do that. Well, let us talk now to Monica
:46:00. > :46:02.Burns from the National Housing Federation in the North East, which
:46:02. > :46:12.represents housing associations. Now, what else has been going on
:46:12. > :46:12.
:46:12. > :46:20.As you said in your report, a lot of these houses are privately
:46:20. > :46:25.warned that summer and in any area where there is little demand for
:46:25. > :46:31.housing, others have been handed down to children, who have decided
:46:31. > :46:37.not to sell. There is an array of different reasons as to why the RMT.
:46:37. > :46:45.So what can be done about this, particularly the house is in
:46:45. > :46:53.private hands? Well, the local authorities are doing a lot to see
:46:53. > :47:00.if they can pick these houses back into use. It is a matter of looking
:47:00. > :47:04.at each individual case and seen what can be done. The alternative
:47:04. > :47:13.is of course building new affordable housing. They have set
:47:13. > :47:19.very ambitious targets - are they going to happen? We are doing well,
:47:19. > :47:25.but we have had the huge decrease in the grant allowance. It has been
:47:26. > :47:35.cut by nearly two thirds and a one allocation for the next four years
:47:35. > :47:39.is �45 million and with that we're meant to build 3,000 homes. They
:47:39. > :47:49.have said you can go up the 80 % of the rent and value? Will that be
:47:49. > :47:55.
:47:55. > :48:03.helpful? Not particularly. The Raleigh in some areas we can do
:48:03. > :48:09.that. We would like to see a lot of different ideas Brotton. Timothy,
:48:09. > :48:13.the government talks a good game about this. But the figures say
:48:13. > :48:22.that this is the lowest number of homes actually built since the
:48:22. > :48:29.second world war. A I do think you build houses are very important. So
:48:29. > :48:39.why are they not happening? We will, we have a lot of economic problems
:48:39. > :48:41.
:48:41. > :48:47.at the moment. But what about these budget cuts? The empty properties
:48:47. > :48:53.in England, that is an awful lot of properties. They are being built,
:48:53. > :48:58.but not being properly utilised. I think that is the priority. Apart
:48:58. > :49:04.from you build houses, it is important that these houses get
:49:04. > :49:09.renovated and occupied. As it said, where they are located is often
:49:09. > :49:15.important. The trouble is that there are often in places where
:49:15. > :49:22.people do not want to live, which is part of the problem. But surely
:49:22. > :49:29.cutting the funding is not going to help? He yes, I appreciate that. We
:49:29. > :49:32.know what we could not pay as much as we used to. Bobby a pity a lot
:49:33. > :49:36.of money into the new homes bonus. We are going to try and help local
:49:36. > :49:44.government in particular to bring housing stock back into use and I
:49:44. > :49:53.think that is the sensible approach. The Labour Party record on this it
:49:53. > :49:58.was very poor at as well? Yes, the labours record on this left a lot
:49:58. > :50:06.to be desired, but the coalition government have not dealt with us
:50:06. > :50:13.at all. There is a growing crisis in the lack of affordable housing
:50:13. > :50:23.or houses to rent. In our region, there are 90,000 families on a or
:50:23. > :50:26.
:50:26. > :50:30.waiting list. What is the solution? Park of the solution is, for
:50:30. > :50:34.example, the Sunderland local housing association has come up
:50:34. > :50:37.with a model which they have presented to the Housing Minister,
:50:37. > :50:47.providing the king get the funding from the banks and financial
:50:47. > :50:53.institutions, to provide low-cost housing for people to buy from rent.
:50:53. > :51:01.We were due see one-off tax on bankers bonuses to build 25,000
:51:01. > :51:05.euros and put 100,000 people back to work. Bill, the bank bonuses
:51:05. > :51:10.going to go everywhere isn't it? The reality is that we do want to
:51:10. > :51:16.work together responsibly. If I have no problem with new-build or
:51:16. > :51:19.some of the points about having gradual purchases of one kind of
:51:19. > :51:25.another and getting financial institutions involved is very
:51:25. > :51:31.important. But at the end of the day, the empty properties - 300,000
:51:31. > :51:37.- we really have to bring them back into use. Now, what else has been
:51:37. > :51:45.going on this week Hmm. I know let us get that nice Mark Denten to
:51:45. > :51:49.tell us. Here he is with the Week in 60 Seconds. Do it and County
:51:49. > :51:53.Council will decide next week whether to close 14 village halls
:51:53. > :51:57.and community centres any cost- saving move and persuade local
:51:57. > :52:03.people to take over 100 others. Teenagers without a job will get
:52:03. > :52:08.extra help from the Government's Youth contract. More than �8
:52:08. > :52:17.million will be spent in the North East. Jarrow MP has classed with
:52:17. > :52:21.the government in the Commons over the NHS shake-up. People who work
:52:21. > :52:29.in the National Health sell this see this for what it is - if a
:52:29. > :52:33.Conservative plan for privatisation. Annie sports centre has opened at
:52:33. > :52:38.University of Durham. And the campaign to bring back the name of
:52:38. > :52:42.St James' Park. The Parliament motion was put forward by the
:52:42. > :52:50.Gateshead N P asked Newcastle's owners to think again about calling
:52:50. > :53:00.it the sports director arena. We are not changing the name of our
:53:00. > :53:08.were short! No, all this about cuts in police. The impact of this is
:53:08. > :53:15.going to come for years to come? yes, this is going to be a hard
:53:15. > :53:24.time for the police force and local authorities. Some can say they can
:53:24. > :53:34.manage. She surely she has to say something like that? Well, not
:53:34. > :53:35.
:53:35. > :53:44.necessarily. I mean, Durham has just built a bus shelter at great
:53:44. > :53:54.expense for a writ which has not been used for years. Look at the
:53:54. > :53:54.
:53:54. > :54:00.community centres mentioned there. It says it is going to use the
:54:00. > :54:05.money for absolute priority projects. He is, they are
:54:05. > :54:12.projecting that between now and 2017 they will lose 40 % of their
:54:12. > :54:16.spending power. It is this North- South divide. Is the Government's
:54:16. > :54:20.support for local government expenditure fair? It seems as if
:54:20. > :54:25.the authorities in the North East, particularly mind which have the
:54:25. > :54:30.biggest problems with deprivation, are shouldering the biggest of the
:54:31. > :54:40.burden when it comes to cuts. The figure as to suggest that these
:54:40. > :54:44.other councils to set do it better. It is appalling to suggest there is
:54:44. > :54:49.anything political and this. Life does not work like that. What has
:54:49. > :54:53.to happen is that there has to be more efficiency. There has to be
:54:53. > :54:58.cost cutting because we're in a difficult economic situation and I
:54:59. > :55:02.am afraid this has been borne by everybody. I do not agree that
:55:02. > :55:08.we're taking a major burden there. Everyone in the country is
:55:08. > :55:12.suffering from the last government. I am sure will disagree.
:55:12. > :55:16.Unfortunately, we do not have time to talk to him about that!
:55:16. > :55:19.And that is about it from us. We are back half and hour earlier next
:55:19. > :55:22.Sunday, at 11.30am, when my guests will be the MP for Redcar Ian
:55:22. > :55:24.Swales and Newcastle's Chi Onwurah. In the meantime, do not forget my
:55:24. > :55:26.blog. That is at bbc.co.uk/richardmoss. There is
:55:26. > :55:29.more on Mary Portas and Maryport there.