Browse content similar to 01/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South: With councils struggling to provide enough | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
affordable housing, we hear about one that's actually knocking down | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1682 seconds | :01:41. | :29:44. | |
substandard flats. They reckon Welcome to Sunday Politics South. | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
My name's Peter Henley. On today's show: The flats that the council | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
wants to knock down and replace with a mix of brand new social | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
housing and self-build homes. They're willing to hand over the | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
land at reduced prices to make building your own more affordable. | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
More on that a little bit later. First let's meet the two | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
politicians who will be with me for the next 20 minutes. Zoe Patrick is | :30:07. | :30:09. | |
the Lib Dem leader of the opposition on Oxfordshire County | :30:09. | :30:16. | |
Council and George Hollingbery is the Conservative MP for MeonValley. | :30:16. | :30:24. | |
Lot in the news this week about banks. How do people, why do people | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
say to you about getting tough with banks? What people see is that they | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
have been part of some of the economic problems we are having. | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
More than that, of what they have been angry about is the issue with | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
RBS and NatWest when they haven't been able to access payments. I | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
have mentioned before they have been people who have mentioned they | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
have had problems with this. When it hits them at home it makes them | :30:55. | :31:03. | |
think, what is the government doing about the bank's? Should we be | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
paying bonuses to people who are not performing? It has become a bit | :31:08. | :31:15. | |
of a witch-hunt. People do generally want to see something | :31:15. | :31:22. | |
done. RBS is in public ownership and it feels like Fairbank. We | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
should be doing something about it. You have lots of experience | :31:27. | :31:36. | |
developing different companies but you started in the city. I had | :31:36. | :31:45. | |
quite enough of that and moved on. It is a serious... They create | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
wealth for the country. 11% of all tax take comes from financial | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
businesses. There is no doubt that the casino side of banking, the | :31:56. | :32:05. | |
:32:06. | :32:07. | ||
investment side, has been a real problem. It needs dealing with. A | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
report is going to see the casinos side of banking been separated away | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
from regular banking. That is blameless. Les not blame all the | :32:17. | :32:24. | |
bankers. From the people who earn most to some of those who have the | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
least. This weekend hundred of young carers from all of the | :32:28. | :32:36. | |
country have been at the Young Carers Festival. It is a chance for | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
some fun and a bit of respite from their very adult responsibilities. | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
According to the 2001 census, there were 175,000 carers aged 5-18 in | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
the UK but the real figure could now be several times that. Joining | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
me now are Ellen Broome from The Children's Society which is one of | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
the organisers of the festival, and Abbey Bartley, who is a young carer. | :32:56. | :33:02. | |
I used 17? Yes. My mother had a brain haemorrhage followed by a | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
stroke. A very sudden for you and your family. She had been | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
complaining for headaches and then suddenly one morning at 3am she | :33:11. | :33:19. | |
woke up screaming. It was horrible. You were the oldest at 13. My older | :33:19. | :33:27. | |
sister wasn't around at that time because we were on holiday. | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
have been left to cope over the last few years. Do you mind doing | :33:30. | :33:38. | |
it? In some ways it made me a better person, I have become more | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
mature and confident. But I have missed out on some things like | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
normal teenage things like sleep covers and things. If I leave my | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
mum, something is going to happen but if you young carers think if | :33:52. | :34:01. | |
they're going to go away something will happen. You have been brave to | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
come on television and talk to us about it but not everybody wants to | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
talk about it. That is good about this festival. There are about | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
1,800 people there. The you can all talk about your shared experiences. | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
Why don't people want to come forward? I think people are afraid | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
to say they are not normal, they don't have the normal set-up. They | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
have to care for a parent for such a stigma can be attached. I think | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
it is the way ever appears a few areas, they might think it is | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
strange. There is a lot of pressure on children at school anyway. I | :34:43. | :34:49. | |
have mentioned maybe we don't know how many people are young carers. | :34:49. | :34:55. | |
You mention that figure but the BBC has done some research which shows | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
700,000 children might be young carers. That might be one in eight | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
of secondary school age children. There are many reasons why children | :35:05. | :35:11. | |
don't disclose they are young carers. There is stigma attached. | :35:11. | :35:14. | |
Children don't necessarily tell at school they are a young carers. | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
That means they were not be getting the support they need. The teachers | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
need to find out. Teachers need to find out that schools need to be | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
better at identifying and picking up the signs that someone is a | :35:26. | :35:35. | |
young carer. Do you hear that sort of thing? I have heard from some | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
people that schools are not great at identifying and supporting young | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
carers. If they need to be a identify so they Ken carry on doing | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
their role. The government will be paying for carers. You are doing a | :35:48. | :35:55. | |
lot of work. What would you like to be seen Dan? We would like to see a | :35:55. | :36:05. | |
:36:05. | :36:08. | ||
number of things done. we need to look at the whole family structure. | :36:08. | :36:18. | |
:36:18. | :36:18. | ||
I would like to see they knew benefit system supporting disabled | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
adults with children been restructured. We would like to see | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
the government looking at that against a young carers and their | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
families are supported. We need to look at the whole family structure. | :36:27. | :36:35. | |
Looking across at our politicians here? You are on the Welfare Reform | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
Committee. You need to make sure that the people who need help get | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
it was up you don't want a bog them down with bureaucracy. It clears up | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
the huge number of benefits and put them into one pot. It makes the | :36:50. | :37:00. | |
whole house sold assessed and the tame -- the same time. It is a | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
multi-agency approach and a whole family approach, what I was talking | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
about. There is a designated teacher in most schools across the | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
county whose job it is to identify young carers. Adults and children | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
services are tasked with come out when they find a young person, the | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
whole family is assessed as one unit. One is to be done for the | :37:23. | :37:29. | |
adult who is being cared for has an assessment done a round that person | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
that includes the need of the young Ceri at the same time. They need to | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
deal with the psychological, emotional and living is used dead | :37:36. | :37:46. | |
:37:46. | :37:53. | ||
young carers face. -- that young carers face. Do you think there is | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
a point where you want to influence national government and say maybe | :37:58. | :38:07. | |
some of this blaming people fall needing welfare. People who | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
genuinely need their benefits regattas for a start in the case of | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
young carers it is an exceptional case because sometimes you are | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
having to deal with the adults are having to deal with. You need that | :38:20. | :38:27. | |
extra support. Looking at the whole family is an important thing. | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
it is not easy to is the deserving case and who is receiving too much | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
help. This is why we need to look at the whole system and to have | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
reform to do it better. In Oxfordshire it is interesting to | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
hear what you're doing in your county but we did a review on young | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
carers some years ago and we have been doing a lot of work and | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
Oxfordshire particularly in support. One of the things young carers told | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
there's a you need time to yourself to mix with your peers and to share | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
some of the things you are doing and also to have a bit of respite. | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
The festival is a great idea. You are able to share your common | :39:09. | :39:16. | |
ground. That is the sort of thing we are trying to do in Oxfordshire. | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
That is what they're doing with his big weekend. It must be quite | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
appalling in some ways, so many youngsters running around. I feel | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
sorry for the leaders to go with the group's! It is loud and Mackie | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
and it is great fun! When you go back to your families, you have had | :39:39. | :39:46. | |
a bit of a break, I bet you are relaxed. Yes. I am glad you had the | :39:46. | :39:53. | |
break. Children are allowed to be Trojan, first and foremost. Not | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
young carers, just to be with children have that bit of child it | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
for a weekend. The problem of providing enough | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
affordable homes to meet the demand is something every council in our | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
region wrestles with. One of them, Wokingham, is taking the maybe | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
counter-intuitive root of knocking down some of its existing stock to | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
make way for new council houses and even self-build homes on council | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
land. As Tiffany Foster reports, destroying in order to create could | :40:18. | :40:28. | |
:40:28. | :40:35. | ||
In the summer these blocks of flats on the Norreys Estate in Wokingham | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
have an air of space and community. But inside the buildings, it is a | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
different story. Wokingham borough council leader David Lee took me on | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
a tour of one recently vacated flat in Eustace Crescent. If you look at | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
this one you can see how it is rising up in the corner, how it is | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
coming up from the base. Water coming up from the broken | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
foundations is just one problem. The copper piping has been stolen | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
and leaking water joins do not help. Council tenants living above and | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
beside these conditions have complained more should be done. | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
Tarmac has bemoaned his lack of money to fix things. Up until | :41:14. | :41:22. | |
recently we have had to give 50% of the rent away. All the rent we were | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
receiving 50% was paid to other parts of the country was left | :41:25. | :41:32. | |
little money for major repairs. Wokingham has borrowed �90 million | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
to buy out the government's 50% share. We have spent millions of | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
pounds trying to patch it up. We have had little money to do this. | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
We decided we have got to the stage where demolition is the only answer. | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
That is welcome news for Diane Lee who has lived here with her family | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
for 13 years. I out constantly cleaning the window frames with | :41:58. | :42:06. | |
bleach. Every other day, I am changing beds because they at damp. | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
I have had my walk fixed because it fell down because of damp. All the | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
plaster has fallen down again. will be cleaning for some months | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
yet. The regeneration of this at will not start until next April. In | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
the meantime, of the 76 council owned flats and maisonettes 18 are | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
empty meaning the council still has to rehouse 58 families before | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
demolition can begin. It they do seem there is an impetus for change | :42:35. | :42:42. | |
to give people a clean, damp free affordable home. The fact that the | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
borough council is going to take on a huge debt to make it happen shows | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
it is a challenge they will embrace. Wokingham council is not alone. | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
Local authorities across the South want more freedom to meet housing | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
need and are doing their best to find solutions. There are | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
significant downside to this process. Not least on the point of | :43:04. | :43:14. | |
:43:14. | :43:15. | ||
view of tenants. They're going to be new homes and far better designs | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
for their needs. So that vision in Wokingham is social rental and | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
shared equity homes Pless self- build where local people can build | :43:25. | :43:31. | |
their own home on TV council land released by the demolition. -- on | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
cheap council land. This creative thinking is what David the police's | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
key to the affordable housing scheme. We have moved out of the | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
normal routine. We have considered all options and they are moving | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
away from the attitude that flats are best. We are looking back at | :43:47. | :43:55. | |
family homes. It helps everybody, children with their education. It | :43:55. | :44:02. | |
is a bit of blue-sky thinking. may be blue-sky thinking better | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
Wokingham and other local authorities hope that is the answer | :44:05. | :44:11. | |
to the housing crisis. I hope they are coming down a we would go | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
somewhere decent to live. I would like to get a nice house out of it | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
at the end of the day. My children have been brought up in a flat and | :44:18. | :44:28. | |
:44:28. | :44:36. | ||
they would like a garden now. it about people taking itself | :44:36. | :44:43. | |
responsibility? It is that responsibility because I know this | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
scheme in Milton Keynes, people are able to design and help build their | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
own property. You are right, it gives them as sense of initiative | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
and being a part of it. That is something they can contribute to | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
the and we will have value for them. It will mean something for them. It | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
is not expect the council was somebody else to do something. It | :45:05. | :45:11. | |
is getting them involved. I think about Diane who was in the film | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
there who was dealing with a damp, she is not going to build her own | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
home. Do you think she should take more responsibility? It is not | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
going to suit everybody, not a one size fits all. There has to be | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
other ways of dealing with this. We do have a situation where we need | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
more housing, more affordable housing. It is trying to get that | :45:35. | :45:44. | |
balance. A balance between those people who can build their own and | :45:44. | :45:54. | |
:45:54. | :45:56. | ||
people like Diane who can't personally do that. One size fits | :45:56. | :46:00. | |
all is what we have with council housing but at least they knew | :46:00. | :46:09. | |
where they stood. I sit on the committee which is a panel of MPs | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
to ask hard questions to different departments and we have done a | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
report on housing supply. There is a variety of models that will allow | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
us to build more affordable housing. One of the greatest tricks we have | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
to achieve is to release the huge value that sits in existing housing | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
stock and allow money to be borrowed against that so we can | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
attract more money into building more housing. There is lots of | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
appetite out then the private sector to fund a new housing. If we | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
can liberate that cash out there to come into the social sector we can | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
make a difference. I hate to say it, some things like safe -- self-build | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
I'm very useful and have a contribution to make but in | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
relative terms they are not going to solve the problem. | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
Now our regular round-up of the political week in the South in 60 | :46:57. | :47:07. | |
:47:07. | :47:13. | ||
Another week, another royal jubilee river pageant. But in Henley the | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
sun shone and the Thames sparkled for the Queen's visit. The clock | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
tower at parliament is to be renamed the Lisabeth tower. It was | :47:23. | :47:29. | |
suggested its bite to buy his L- word. I am delighted so many | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
colleagues supported the idea. It has been fantastic. The comments | :47:35. | :47:44. | |
had been visit from the former you accountant. She says taxpayers' | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
cash is safe at Westminster. They are closer to the people, closer to | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
the Budget, they understand better the needs of the British people. | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
Wheelie bins are coming to Dorset, always partnership taking over | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
recycling from six district council. There is a mind-boggling array of | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
different bins but they are turning down Eric Pickles pleas to provide | :48:07. | :48:14. | |
a weekly collection. We talked about bankers do people get upset | :48:14. | :48:20. | |
about bins! Do you think we are going to end up with fortnightly | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
elections everywhere? We have a great scheme which has 60, 70% | :48:25. | :48:33. | |
recycling. Every week we put out our food and that is recycled. It | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
is a fortnightly for you recycler balls like last, cardboard and | :48:35. | :48:42. | |
things like that. The thing that people get upset about is their | :48:42. | :48:51. | |
food waste, that happens every week. It is an excellent scheme. In last | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
comment 2 U George Hollingbery. It is an Englishman's right to have | :48:54. | :49:02. | |
fared bins collected every week! Councils are exercising their right | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
to localism. It should not be lost on Eric Pickles. In Winchester it | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
was controversial when we do it about seven years ago. It is well | :49:13. | :49:19. | |
understood and liked. Recycling rates have gone through the roof. | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
Very much -- thanks very much for joining us. | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
That's the Sunday Politics in the South. Thanks to my guests Zoe | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
Patrick and George Hollingbery. Don't forget you can keep up to | :49:29. | :49:32. |