01/07/2012 Sunday Politics South

In the South: With councils struggling to provide enough

affordable housing, we hear about one that's actually knocking down

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1682 seconds

substandard flats. They reckon Welcome to Sunday Politics South.

My name's Peter Henley. On today's show: The flats that the council

wants to knock down and replace with a mix of brand new social

housing and self-build homes. They're willing to hand over the

land at reduced prices to make building your own more affordable.

More on that a little bit later. First let's meet the two

politicians who will be with me for the next 20 minutes. Zoe Patrick is

the Lib Dem leader of the opposition on Oxfordshire County

Council and George Hollingbery is the Conservative MP for MeonValley.

Lot in the news this week about banks. How do people, why do people

say to you about getting tough with banks? What people see is that they

have been part of some of the economic problems we are having.

More than that, of what they have been angry about is the issue with

RBS and NatWest when they haven't been able to access payments. I

have mentioned before they have been people who have mentioned they

have had problems with this. When it hits them at home it makes them

think, what is the government doing about the bank's? Should we be

paying bonuses to people who are not performing? It has become a bit

of a witch-hunt. People do generally want to see something

done. RBS is in public ownership and it feels like Fairbank. We

should be doing something about it. You have lots of experience

developing different companies but you started in the city. I had

quite enough of that and moved on. It is a serious... They create

wealth for the country. 11% of all tax take comes from financial

businesses. There is no doubt that the casino side of banking, the

investment side, has been a real problem. It needs dealing with. A

report is going to see the casinos side of banking been separated away

from regular banking. That is blameless. Les not blame all the

bankers. From the people who earn most to some of those who have the

least. This weekend hundred of young carers from all of the

country have been at the Young Carers Festival. It is a chance for

some fun and a bit of respite from their very adult responsibilities.

According to the 2001 census, there were 175,000 carers aged 5-18 in

the UK but the real figure could now be several times that. Joining

me now are Ellen Broome from The Children's Society which is one of

the organisers of the festival, and Abbey Bartley, who is a young carer.

I used 17? Yes. My mother had a brain haemorrhage followed by a

stroke. A very sudden for you and your family. She had been

complaining for headaches and then suddenly one morning at 3am she

woke up screaming. It was horrible. You were the oldest at 13. My older

sister wasn't around at that time because we were on holiday.

have been left to cope over the last few years. Do you mind doing

it? In some ways it made me a better person, I have become more

mature and confident. But I have missed out on some things like

normal teenage things like sleep covers and things. If I leave my

mum, something is going to happen but if you young carers think if

they're going to go away something will happen. You have been brave to

come on television and talk to us about it but not everybody wants to

talk about it. That is good about this festival. There are about

1,800 people there. The you can all talk about your shared experiences.

Why don't people want to come forward? I think people are afraid

to say they are not normal, they don't have the normal set-up. They

have to care for a parent for such a stigma can be attached. I think

it is the way ever appears a few areas, they might think it is

strange. There is a lot of pressure on children at school anyway. I

have mentioned maybe we don't know how many people are young carers.

You mention that figure but the BBC has done some research which shows

700,000 children might be young carers. That might be one in eight

of secondary school age children. There are many reasons why children

don't disclose they are young carers. There is stigma attached.

Children don't necessarily tell at school they are a young carers.

That means they were not be getting the support they need. The teachers

need to find out. Teachers need to find out that schools need to be

better at identifying and picking up the signs that someone is a

young carer. Do you hear that sort of thing? I have heard from some

people that schools are not great at identifying and supporting young

carers. If they need to be a identify so they Ken carry on doing

their role. The government will be paying for carers. You are doing a

lot of work. What would you like to be seen Dan? We would like to see a

number of things done. we need to look at the whole family structure.

I would like to see they knew benefit system supporting disabled

adults with children been restructured. We would like to see

the government looking at that against a young carers and their

families are supported. We need to look at the whole family structure.

Looking across at our politicians here? You are on the Welfare Reform

Committee. You need to make sure that the people who need help get

it was up you don't want a bog them down with bureaucracy. It clears up

the huge number of benefits and put them into one pot. It makes the

whole house sold assessed and the tame -- the same time. It is a

multi-agency approach and a whole family approach, what I was talking

about. There is a designated teacher in most schools across the

county whose job it is to identify young carers. Adults and children

services are tasked with come out when they find a young person, the

whole family is assessed as one unit. One is to be done for the

adult who is being cared for has an assessment done a round that person

that includes the need of the young Ceri at the same time. They need to

deal with the psychological, emotional and living is used dead

young carers face. -- that young carers face. Do you think there is

a point where you want to influence national government and say maybe

some of this blaming people fall needing welfare. People who

genuinely need their benefits regattas for a start in the case of

young carers it is an exceptional case because sometimes you are

having to deal with the adults are having to deal with. You need that

extra support. Looking at the whole family is an important thing.

it is not easy to is the deserving case and who is receiving too much

help. This is why we need to look at the whole system and to have

reform to do it better. In Oxfordshire it is interesting to

hear what you're doing in your county but we did a review on young

carers some years ago and we have been doing a lot of work and

Oxfordshire particularly in support. One of the things young carers told

there's a you need time to yourself to mix with your peers and to share

some of the things you are doing and also to have a bit of respite.

The festival is a great idea. You are able to share your common

ground. That is the sort of thing we are trying to do in Oxfordshire.

That is what they're doing with his big weekend. It must be quite

appalling in some ways, so many youngsters running around. I feel

sorry for the leaders to go with the group's! It is loud and Mackie

and it is great fun! When you go back to your families, you have had

a bit of a break, I bet you are relaxed. Yes. I am glad you had the

break. Children are allowed to be Trojan, first and foremost. Not

young carers, just to be with children have that bit of child it

for a weekend. The problem of providing enough

affordable homes to meet the demand is something every council in our

region wrestles with. One of them, Wokingham, is taking the maybe

counter-intuitive root of knocking down some of its existing stock to

make way for new council houses and even self-build homes on council

land. As Tiffany Foster reports, destroying in order to create could

In the summer these blocks of flats on the Norreys Estate in Wokingham

have an air of space and community. But inside the buildings, it is a

different story. Wokingham borough council leader David Lee took me on

a tour of one recently vacated flat in Eustace Crescent. If you look at

this one you can see how it is rising up in the corner, how it is

coming up from the base. Water coming up from the broken

foundations is just one problem. The copper piping has been stolen

and leaking water joins do not help. Council tenants living above and

beside these conditions have complained more should be done.

Tarmac has bemoaned his lack of money to fix things. Up until

recently we have had to give 50% of the rent away. All the rent we were

receiving 50% was paid to other parts of the country was left

little money for major repairs. Wokingham has borrowed �90 million

to buy out the government's 50% share. We have spent millions of

pounds trying to patch it up. We have had little money to do this.

We decided we have got to the stage where demolition is the only answer.

That is welcome news for Diane Lee who has lived here with her family

for 13 years. I out constantly cleaning the window frames with

bleach. Every other day, I am changing beds because they at damp.

I have had my walk fixed because it fell down because of damp. All the

plaster has fallen down again. will be cleaning for some months

yet. The regeneration of this at will not start until next April. In

the meantime, of the 76 council owned flats and maisonettes 18 are

empty meaning the council still has to rehouse 58 families before

demolition can begin. It they do seem there is an impetus for change

to give people a clean, damp free affordable home. The fact that the

borough council is going to take on a huge debt to make it happen shows

it is a challenge they will embrace. Wokingham council is not alone.

Local authorities across the South want more freedom to meet housing

need and are doing their best to find solutions. There are

significant downside to this process. Not least on the point of

view of tenants. They're going to be new homes and far better designs

for their needs. So that vision in Wokingham is social rental and

shared equity homes Pless self- build where local people can build

their own home on TV council land released by the demolition. -- on

cheap council land. This creative thinking is what David the police's

key to the affordable housing scheme. We have moved out of the

normal routine. We have considered all options and they are moving

away from the attitude that flats are best. We are looking back at

family homes. It helps everybody, children with their education. It

is a bit of blue-sky thinking. may be blue-sky thinking better

Wokingham and other local authorities hope that is the answer

to the housing crisis. I hope they are coming down a we would go

somewhere decent to live. I would like to get a nice house out of it

at the end of the day. My children have been brought up in a flat and

they would like a garden now. it about people taking itself

responsibility? It is that responsibility because I know this

scheme in Milton Keynes, people are able to design and help build their

own property. You are right, it gives them as sense of initiative

and being a part of it. That is something they can contribute to

the and we will have value for them. It will mean something for them. It

is not expect the council was somebody else to do something. It

is getting them involved. I think about Diane who was in the film

there who was dealing with a damp, she is not going to build her own

home. Do you think she should take more responsibility? It is not

going to suit everybody, not a one size fits all. There has to be

other ways of dealing with this. We do have a situation where we need

more housing, more affordable housing. It is trying to get that

balance. A balance between those people who can build their own and

people like Diane who can't personally do that. One size fits

all is what we have with council housing but at least they knew

where they stood. I sit on the committee which is a panel of MPs

to ask hard questions to different departments and we have done a

report on housing supply. There is a variety of models that will allow

us to build more affordable housing. One of the greatest tricks we have

to achieve is to release the huge value that sits in existing housing

stock and allow money to be borrowed against that so we can

attract more money into building more housing. There is lots of

appetite out then the private sector to fund a new housing. If we

can liberate that cash out there to come into the social sector we can

make a difference. I hate to say it, some things like safe -- self-build

I'm very useful and have a contribution to make but in

relative terms they are not going to solve the problem.

Now our regular round-up of the political week in the South in 60

Another week, another royal jubilee river pageant. But in Henley the

sun shone and the Thames sparkled for the Queen's visit. The clock

tower at parliament is to be renamed the Lisabeth tower. It was

suggested its bite to buy his L- word. I am delighted so many

colleagues supported the idea. It has been fantastic. The comments

had been visit from the former you accountant. She says taxpayers'

cash is safe at Westminster. They are closer to the people, closer to

the Budget, they understand better the needs of the British people.

Wheelie bins are coming to Dorset, always partnership taking over

recycling from six district council. There is a mind-boggling array of

different bins but they are turning down Eric Pickles pleas to provide

a weekly collection. We talked about bankers do people get upset

about bins! Do you think we are going to end up with fortnightly

elections everywhere? We have a great scheme which has 60, 70%

recycling. Every week we put out our food and that is recycled. It

is a fortnightly for you recycler balls like last, cardboard and

things like that. The thing that people get upset about is their

food waste, that happens every week. It is an excellent scheme. In last

comment 2 U George Hollingbery. It is an Englishman's right to have

fared bins collected every week! Councils are exercising their right

to localism. It should not be lost on Eric Pickles. In Winchester it

was controversial when we do it about seven years ago. It is well

understood and liked. Recycling rates have gone through the roof.

Very much -- thanks very much for joining us.

That's the Sunday Politics in the South. Thanks to my guests Zoe

Patrick and George Hollingbery. Don't forget you can keep up to