Newcastle headlines 21 February: Charity issues housing warning

Here are your latest Newcastle headlines.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm Iona May and these are your latest Newcastle headlines.

00:03 Leading charity Shelter has called for action to deliver more and safer homes across the

00:07 region after it emerged that the waiting list for a council house has spiralled dramatically

00:12 in the North East.

00:13 The charity also warned that tens of thousands of people in the North East are "trapped

00:17 in homes with terrible conditions such as damp, mould and disrepair."

00:21 Next, the firm responsible for getting the Tyne and Weir Metros troubled trains into

00:26 service every day has been fined more than £1m for underperformance.

00:31 Metro operator Nexus has confirmed that it has hit Swiss manufacturer Stadler with financial

00:37 penalties for not having enough carriages in a usable state over the past year.

00:42 Finally, Newcastle City Council says it's not at imminent risk of going under but is

00:47 being forced into tough decisions to avoid following other local authorities into effective

00:53 bankruptcy.

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