Browse content similar to 20/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the north-west, there is no place like home. But with many | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
finding there are no homes to be had, we examine why. | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
And how this small Lancashire town raised the Fairtrade flak and | :00:56. | :01:06. | |
:01:06. | :01:06. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2342 seconds | :01:06. | :40:08. | |
change the it shopping habits of Welcome to the Politics Show in the | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
north-west. On this week's programme, as thousands struggle to | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
get a foothold on the housing ladder, if we ask what can be done | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
to ease the crisis. At the small Lancashire town of | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
that raised the Fairtrade flag and changed the shopping habits of the | :40:23. | :40:31. | |
world. This week we are in a Darwen in | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
Lancashire, and like many places here, affordable housing is guests | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
on the ground. In fact, waiting lists have more than doubled in | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
just 10 years. High house prices, high deposit requirements and | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
difficulty in getting a mortgage has really hit families hard. This | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
week, the government is launching its new housing strategy, but what | :40:53. | :41:03. | |
:41:03. | :41:06. | ||
They come in all shapes and sizes, but it has never been more | :41:06. | :41:12. | |
difficult to get the right fit. This man thought he had. Four years | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
ago he was forced to sell his home in Rochdale to the Council. He put | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
a deposit down on a new home, but was never quite ready. Meanwhile, | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
his friends moved out. What is it like living here on your | :41:27. | :41:33. | |
own? It is horrible, a disaster. It is | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
horrible having all these empty houses. | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
The irony is, you live, Ramsay Street, but you have no neighbours | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
at all. He's got home has grown | :41:46. | :41:51. | |
increasingly damp and isolated, problems which is MP says are not | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
unique. It is particularly bad in Rochdale | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
because funding has been stopped. We have families in communities | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
living next to boarded-up houses, and they have effectively been | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
abandoned. At the sad thing is that over the years, the government has | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
put money into housing market renewal, and we started to see a | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
return on that, we saw a new and improved housing being developed in | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
Rochdale. But this government has stopped that, and we are now seeing | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
poor communities abandoned, at that is creating a misery for the people | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
of Rochdale. These are pretty different! This is | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
where you are going to move to? But at least his luck appears to be | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
turning. He has been allocated a new home on a housing association | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
development opposite. It has been a long time coming, and | :42:40. | :42:46. | |
I do not know what will happen. Because last time it took us four | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
years. But I do not know this time. It looks like it will be a very | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
nice house if you get in there. hope so. A in Salford they have | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
built the first new council houses here for 25 years. | :43:00. | :43:06. | |
This man from Slovakia moved here in February after waiting two years. | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
I am really happy that I can get a house, and I do not know how many | :43:11. | :43:18. | |
people are as lucky as me. But there are problems here too. | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
Rubbish has been thrown over his wall, fireworks set off by his | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
windows at a neighbour has had his car destroyed. He thinks he knows | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
why. I and Slovakia and and he is Polish, | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
as the best of the people are English. -- the rest of the people | :43:36. | :43:44. | |
are English. As they do not have problems. When someone is drawing | :43:44. | :43:53. | |
an egg on your wall, and only you, what do you think. | :43:53. | :44:00. | |
So it is it a bit cramped? Yes, we need a bigger bed in here. | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
The the House would not be big enough for this woman. | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
She needs a four bedroom house, but does not know how long she will | :44:07. | :44:13. | |
have to wait. It is needed, we are desperate. | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
They are not any situation that we are in. | :44:17. | :44:27. | |
:44:27. | :44:27. | ||
You feel people are not listening Different people facing different | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
problems. Housing pressure remains a serious challenge. | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
I enjoyed by the local MP, Jake Berry, who has a particular | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
interest in housing, he is parliamentary private secretary to | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
Grant Shapps, and by Derek Long from the National Housing | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
Federation which represents England's 1200 housing associations. | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
Thank you for joining us. Letters explain why we are standing outside | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
a derelict building. Welcome to Darwen, it is fantastic | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
to have you here. This was a development that was being | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
undertaken on a commercial basis, it failed to during the recession. | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
Now we are hoping in this town with the local housing association to | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
take it on and make it a real success and provides a more | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
affordable homes. Let me bring in Derek. We are | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
talking about the housing associations, obviously you | :45:21. | :45:27. | |
represent the housing associations. With a development like this, how | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
difficult is it for a housing association to take this on and | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
make it into an affordable house? It is a big challenge because there | :45:35. | :45:41. | |
are not many resources available, particularly since there has been a | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
reduction since the spending review. But housing associations are good | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
value for money, because what they are trying to do is turn the | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
government's grants into borrowing as well, which means we get three | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
or four times the money we put in. It is difficult to do this, but | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
housing associations are happy to do it. The this is one project, but | :46:04. | :46:06. | |
it is a massive problem in the north-west. | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
I was staying with you Derek, because waiting lists are growing | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
at quite a fast rate in the north- west. | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
There are about 250,000 people on the waiting list here, and that is | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
because we are not building enough houses. We at the lowest level of | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
building in 90 years. We have built less than half the houses we need | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
in the north-west. So it is essential that resources could put | :46:32. | :46:41. | |
into more affordable housing. I absolutely recognise that. It | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
will look at the historic problem here, and we are talking about not | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
building enough houses, over the course of the last government, we | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
actually had 420,000 fewer affordable homes, despite the fact | :46:54. | :47:01. | |
that they spent �4.5 billion try to create more. So the consensus | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
around the old model does not work. What this government has done is | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
given the opportunity to housing associations and local authorities | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
to release wet their assets and go up to 80% of market rent, get a | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
real return on their investments and to provide affordable housing. | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
We are going to provide 170,000 affordable homes through this model. | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
I did that is a real success. Derek, is that enough? | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
It -- it is good, but it is not enough. The affordable rent model | :47:39. | :47:42. | |
does not work in all parts of the country. It does not work well in | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
areas of limited growth and limited strength in the economy. It is | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
essential that we have more than just affordable rent across the | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
country. I would accept that if it were not | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
the case that we have had 143 providers apply for this model, it | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
is vastly oversubscribed. I was told it would not work in rural | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
areas, urban areas, the North or the south. In fact it is working | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
all across the country. We are delivering houses people want to | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
move into. Have governments got it wrong? | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
Yes. It is true that governments have not built enough homes for at | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
least 10 years. So it is not just a problem with the current | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
administration. But you're in a position now to make a difference, | :48:29. | :48:36. | |
at that means we need some new ideas put into the system. | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
We have got the government housing strategy Juge due to be announced, | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
so what will be in that a comic Derek feel more comfortable? | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
It is hugely exciting. I cannot say much before it is released on | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
Monday, but we accept that we need to build more houses. | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
So there will be something in there about more affordable houses? | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
I hope so. It will have to wait until Monday. But it is absolutely | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
vital that we get the construction sector going again in this country. | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
We all know we need more homes and jobs. Pulling that Leaver and | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
getting people back building houses, whether affordable, private rented | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
or ones we buy to living, will really get up our economy going | :49:18. | :49:27. | |
again. Getting more houses built, will really help. That is why it is | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
essential that this government initiative succeed. | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
Derek, is that good news for you? We want to see the numbers, and we | :49:37. | :49:44. | |
need to be clear about them. We would like a billion pounds to be | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
allocated for shared ownership. That could create 99,000 jobs in | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
terms of the construction sector, added would pay for itself in terms | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
of people coming off benefit. So we need big money, and not just in the | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
south but in the north as well. We would love to have big money, | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
unfortunate the country is on its knees following the last government. | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
But we don't need big money, we just need to use it in a smart away. | :50:10. | :50:16. | |
I believe the housing strategy will show that, we will have government | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
land coming forward on a bill now pay later system, and you can pay | :50:20. | :50:25. | |
when you have built the house. I would have to stop you. Thank you | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
very much for joining us. It is exactly 10 years since the | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
small town of Garstang in Lancashire was officially | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
recognised as the world's first Fairtrade town. At the time, | :50:38. | :50:42. | |
Fairtrade products were a novelty. But now the idea has developed into | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
way worldwide movement involving over 1000 towns and cities in 23 | :50:46. | :50:53. | |
countries. It was in the year 2000 that the | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
people of Garstang voted almost unanimously for this to become the | :50:58. | :51:06. | |
world's first Fairtrade town. One year later than was realised. A -- | :51:06. | :51:12. | |
one year later that was realised. Call the mavericks or | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
revolutionaries, but what was started here was an international | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
mood and. 23 countries have followed the lead. | :51:21. | :51:27. | |
We try to ensure that when we have anything in and around Garstang, we | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
always use Fairtrade products and local produce, which we think is | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
very important. Gradually, all the shops in Garstang have followed | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
suit, as they have got Fairtrade produce. | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
When the Miliband first started, it focused on certain products like | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
coffee and chocolate which she could only get in specialist shops. | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
Now you can get everything from Fairtrade goal to two coffins. 70% | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
of the items in the shops are Fairtrade. | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
It is great to be a pioneer of this movement. Children are like | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
learning about it in schools. The older generation are very | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
appreciative of it. There is a vast range if you shop | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
around and have a look. They all have the Fairtrade logo. So you | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
just have to shop around. The idea behind Fairtrade is not | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
just about stacking supermarket shelves with products, but building | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
strong community links. Garstang is twinned with a village in Ghana. In | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
2004, a delegation went out to build facilities for local children. | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
But not all supermarkets do this. At with some marketing their own | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
Fairtrade groups, -- Fairtrade goods, there is concern that some | :52:42. | :52:49. | |
groups are being pushed out. It works by giving people a decent | :52:49. | :52:54. | |
wage to give them a decent standard of living. Some companies go that | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
one step further than the minimum standards and will get involved in | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
producing partnership programmes, helping farmers to build their | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
infrastructure and organisation. The motivation for large | :53:06. | :53:16. | |
:53:16. | :53:18. | ||
Fairtrade is not just helping farmers in the Third World. This | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
man is a dairy farmer in Cumbria. He feels the model has a lot to | :53:22. | :53:27. | |
offer him. I think the benefits are putting | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
Cumbria on the agenda, if you will. People understand what they are | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
getting, where they are getting from, how it is produced, and they | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
trust the people who do it. And fetching together that food chain | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
for them to understand how we do it and what we do it. | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
How could the money you get from creating something like a Fairtrade | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
model really benefit areas like Cumbria? | :53:51. | :53:58. | |
If you look further down the road, we produce a lot of milk and lamb | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
and all the rest of the things that Cumbria is quite famous for, if you | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
will. But if that was processed within the county, and if it was | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
sold within the county, you would get a lot more jobs were young | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
people could work and there would be more money kept in the area | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
instead of all that going elsewhere. And it is not just farmers feeling | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
out of pocket. In tough economic times, can people really afford to | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
shop ethically? I know people try to push for | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
independent things, but at the moment, if you are getting your | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
shopping, you just get bored is on offer. | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
If you can help by getting Fairtrade food, then by all means | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
get it. The majority go to where it is | :54:45. | :54:48. | |
cheapest. Shopping ethically may be a | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
challenge to consumers, but the Fairtrade brigade shows no signs of | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
slowing down. What started here in the small town of Garstang has had | :54:56. | :55:05. | |
a major impact on the way we shop. Joining the is the driving force | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
behind Fairtrade here in Garstang. We are here at what will be the | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
world's first Fairtrade visitor centre. An incredible achievement. | :55:14. | :55:20. | |
Absolutely. It would be the world's first Fairtrade in visiting centre | :55:20. | :55:28. | |
in the world's first Fairtrade town. We have got a lot of first here in | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
this market town. Are you surprised at how big this | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
movement has become? Yes. I am idealist, I have been | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
called this all my life, so I always expect great things to come. | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
But even I never dreamt we would be as big as this, we have now got | :55:45. | :55:51. | |
over 1000 Fairtrade towns in 23 countries across all six continents. | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
And it all started in a market town in Lancashire. | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
Cannot work in other places? Definitely. There is no question. | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
It can happen in a small market town like this, but that means it | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
can happen anywhere. We have got places with populations of 65 | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
people in Scotland which are Fairtrade places. So is London, 7 | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
million. And do consumers get behind the | :56:20. | :56:25. | |
ideal of Fairtrade? I think that is the point of | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
Fairtrade towns. We live in a busy world, people do not have time to | :56:30. | :56:33. | |
understand the issues that are happening with our trading system. | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
The fact that people in Ghana are growing cocoa for a chocolate, and | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
they do not have access to clean water. People do not know this, but | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
when that awareness is fed to them, which it will be through the | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
visitors' centre at Fairtrade towns, as these people want to do | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
something about it, and all they have to do is buy the Fairtrade | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
chocolate. Are the supermarkets getting behind | :56:56. | :57:03. | |
Fairtrade, or are they coming out with their own Fairtrade did? Is | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
some of the original Fairtrade Foundation being pushed out? | :57:07. | :57:13. | |
Supermarkets are coming on board now. Some people are doing it just | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
because they realise the consumers are demanding it. Therefore, the | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
supermarkets need to change. Otherwise they will go out of | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
business. In the recession, are people | :57:27. | :57:31. | |
happier to pay that extra bit for ethical goods? | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
Fairtrade could do not have to cost a lot more, and they often don't. | :57:35. | :57:40. | |
So that is a bit of a question from the past. But the other thing is, | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
when people who grow the cocoa do not have clean water, do we really | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
need to have our chocolate so cheap that we cannot give someone a life? | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
I think when people understand that they supported. In the middle of | :57:55. | :58:03. | |
this recession, we have had a 40% increase, and that is clear across | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
the last year. We still had a 40% increase in sales of Fairtrade | :58:08. | :58:13. | |
product. So I think it shows people really do feel they can. | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
Thank you for speaking to us. I know you have got lots to do, | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
because the visitors' centre should be open tomorrow. | :58:21. | :58:29. | |
Tied by that of this week's event. -- time for a round-up of this | :58:29. | :58:32. | |
week's events. They could be good news for BAe | :58:32. | :58:40. | |
Systems if the Indian government buys the Eurofighter plane. | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
Ministers have been assiduous over the last few weeks in promoting the | :58:43. | :58:52. | |
case for the typhoon in India and other countries. We understand that | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
there is likely to be an announcement in the next few weeks | :58:56. | :59:03. | |
on the decision that has been made by the Indian government. | :59:03. | :59:04. | |
Everton Football Club's official charity has been given permission | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
to set up a free school. From next September it will provide education | :59:09. | :59:16. | |
for either 100 teenagers. The philosophy of our club will | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
form part of our brand values within the school. It will be about | :59:20. | :59:25. | |
team work, dedication, commitment. We will have access to players and | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
the resources and facilities of the football club. | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
Police stations across Lancashire are too close to the public in an | :59:33. | :59:39. | |
attempt to save millions of pounds. 14 stations across the county are | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
affected, eight or close completely, as the other six were have front | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
desks shut. 31 buildings will be sold. | :59:47. | :59:52. |