Author: Sonja Francis

THE housing market is in crisis as owner occupation rates fall and house prices and private rents soar in South East, study warns.

Home ownership in the South East will fall to under 70% over the next decade as an entire generation are effectively locked out of the housing market, according to a new study.

The number of owner occupiers will fall from its current rate of 72% in 2010 to 69.7% by 2021.

Huge deposits, combined with high house prices and strict lending criteria, have sent home ownership into decline in recent years and the downward trend will continue for the foreseeable future, the Nation Housing Federation?s independently-commissioned forecasts predict.

The Federation, which represents England?s housing associations, warned the housing market will be plunged into an unprecedented crisis as it forecast steep rises in the private rental sector, huge social housing waiting lists, and a house price boom ? all fuelled by a chronic under-supply of homes.

In England, the proportion of people living in owner occupied homes will fall from a peak of 72.5% in 2001 to 63.8% in 2021, the lowest level since the mid 1980s.

The average house price in the South East will meanwhile rise by 21.9% over the next five years from

REMEMBER the Chernobyl disaster back in April 1986? It?s now 25 years since that event, but it was recently highlighted in the news because of the latest nuclear accident in Japan.

The Chernobyl plant was closed in December 2000 and it is estimated that it will take up to 400 years to rid Belarus of the contamination caused by the explosion. The emerging picture of the impact on children born after the disaster shows a rise in childhood cancers such as leukaemia, tumours and thyroid cancers. Some are also born deformed. Those ?children? are now having families of their own and it is the next generation that the Chernobyl Children?s Life Line charity is trying to help.

Marius and Zoe Ciortan who live in Thame, recently looked after two children from Belarus through the Risborough link of the Chernobyl Children Life Line charity. The charity brings the children here for four weeks to boost their immune systems by giving them clean food and healthy outdoor activities. At the age of 11, the age at which we host them, they are starting into puberty. Giving them a break here at this time in their lives has been found to clean out their thyroid gland where the radiation collects. When they go back home and their bodies begin changing, they start with a ?clean sheet?.

Marius (pictured far right of photo) told ThameNews.Net: “Zoe and I had a couple of 10 year old girls from Belarus during the first half of August. The children had a lovely time with us.”

The activities the children were able to experience locally included horse riding donated by Franklin?s Farm in Shabbington, canoeing and rock climbing, archery from the Whiteleaf Bowman, swimming at Princes Risborough and Aqua vale pools, an outing to Woburn Safari Park donated by his grace the Duke of Bedford, a trip to the Natural History museum in London and Tring, the maize maze at Lacy Green, Warwick Castle.

The vast majority of these activities have been donated to the group by local businesses, churches and other organisations and individuals.

PHOTO: This picture shows the children and some of their host families at Muswell Hill Manor a farm in Brill where the children are shown around the farm, given lunch and enjoy games and other activities courtesy of Caroline David the owner.

FACTS

Belarus was the region hit most by the Chernobyl disaster with 70% of the fallout landing on its territory and around one fifth of its land seriously affected. The rest of the Belarus countryside was affected by very low-level background radiation. By 1990 it was established that 20% of the country?s forests and well over 250,000 hectares of agricultural land had been contaminated. It is estimated today that several million people still live in contaminated areas where there is no access to ?clean food? or water. Older people, in particular, continue to till their fields, keep livestock and poultry, and eat contaminated fruit and vegetables grown on the land.

The Chernobyl Children?s Life Line is a charity formed in 1991 by Victor Mizzi. There are now over 145 Links (local groups) throughout the UK. These are all run by volunteers who raise funds to bring groups of children to the UK for respite care. Each year we bring over approximately 3,000 children in groups of eight to 25 for a four-week break. It costs about

THE Chilterns Conservation Board, based in Chinnor, near Thame, has been officially recognised as one of the greenest organisations in Oxfordshire ? it?s just been given a Gold award by the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

GTBS is the main scheme in the UK for accrediting tourism businesses that are operating in an eco-friendly way. Only two other businesses in Oxfordshire have achieved Gold awards.

“We’re thrilled to have this seal of approval on all our work to be as green as possible and to encourage others to reduce their impact on the environment,” says Claire Forrest, Information Officer at the Board.

“We?ve had a Sustainability Plan in place for some years now which guides the way we work and gives us targets to achieve every year. We are always trying to make improvements, whether it is replacing an old boiler with an efficient condensing one, or reducing the miles that staff travel. We also encourage other businesses to join the Green Tourism Business Scheme. Many of us are already operating in a green way so why not get some credit for it?”

The Chilterns Conservation Board is a public body charged with looking after and promoting the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At its office in Chinnor it has installed photo voltaic panels to generate electricity, low energy lighting, extra insulation and a water butt. It has also planted trees and distributed low energy light bulbs to parishes to offset carbon emissions.

PHOTO: Flash back to when Boris Johnson, then Thame’s MP, attended the Solar panels switch on at the Chilterns Conservation Board’s HQ back in May, 2005.