24/08/2011 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today. Our headlines: work opportunities go

begging because applicants are not up to the job.

Bosses in Nottingham say job seekers lack education, skills and

the right attitude. Basic things, getting people to be punctual,

demonstrate enthusiasm, to learn new skills.

The mother attacked by burglars who feared she would die. He thumped me

in the stomach, it turned out he stabbed me. Also tonight, some are

fun for some - the children who use the railways as their playground.

Plus the town centre that is keeping the supermarket at arm's

length to avoid it becoming a ghost Welcome to Wednesday's programme.

The uncomfortable fact about unemployment in our region.

Official figures list one of our cities as the second worst place in

the UK for joblessness. That city is Nottingham. The percentage of

its people not in employment is higher than in Leicester or Derby

and nearly double the regional average. Employers say there is

work to be had but many applicants are not up to the job.

Lynn is looking for work. Made redundant in Nottingham last week

after 12 years. She knows like many others that it will be tough to

find a new job. It looks very fat - - bad at the moment. There is

Christmas coming up, so I will try to get a Christmas job. Really

difficult because there are hardly any jobs out there for youngsters.

The I am sure it is the pure volume. I am sending out around 10 CVs

every day. New figures from the Office for National Statistics

suggest that Nottingham has a big problem compare to other parts of

the UK and other parts of our region. They show that in Derby,

the unemployment rate was 9% making its 75th in the country. In

Leicester, it is 11.4 % making it 20th worst. In Nottingham, it is

13.9 %, second in the table behind Middlesbrough. Nearly doubled the

East Midlands rate of 7.5 %. But business has claimed that people on

the jobs market do not have the right skills or even attitude for

work. Basic things, getting people to be punctual, getting people to

demonstrate enthusiasm, to learn new skills, to learn new trades and

to become viable members of any business. Today in Nottingham,

there are 2,500 vacancies at the JobCentre and help to build up the

work ethic. If they never work, that work ethic is difficult, so we

work closely with them and our providers that are out there -- out

there. The city Council has challenged the official figures

saying that on their analysis of the city would be 42nd in the

country. Joining us he is Nottingham's

deputy City Council leader Graham Chapman. I know you dispute these

figures, although they are official, but you cannot dispute that there

is a serious unemployment problem in Nottingham? There is an

unemployment problem in big cities across the country. Nottingham is

not the second worst, it is all the way they calculate the student

population. We are convinced it is nearer 10 % and 14 %. Other cities

have a large student population. They do not have the same tight

boundaries and because we have a large number of students, those are

the reasons. There were poor things that came out. Business leaders say

job applicants from local schools they are not up to the job. They

are lacking education skills and attitude. That is a claim from

business leaders from across the country. There is an issue. The

issue is about children, people turning up on time. Some of the

skills are not appropriate or adequate, however, the staying-on

rate in Nottingham into college has gone up. So has the level of skills

over the last few years, but we are still not adequate. It is the case

for most large cities. Your party has been in power for some time, do

you take some responsibility? accept there is an issue but I will

also accept that the skill levels and the staying on weight up of

children over 16 and over into college has gone up substantially.

There has been an improvement, it is still not good enough and what

the real issue is is getting people job ready and at the moment, there

are no schemes to get them job ready for stock what will you do

about it? We are doing a lot. All the money, half a billion pounds

will be on local Labour. Our council house improvement Labour is

done locally. We are putting up solar cells on houses, using local

labour. We're also working with the colleges to improve the skill

levels. I was at one this afternoon and they have an exceptional number

of apprentices coming through. Let's hope it improves. But the

figures are wrong. A huge boost for the campaign to save children's

heart surgery in the East Midlands. In every view, the Glenfield Heart

Unit attracted more support from individuals than any other centre

in the country. Experts are looking at reducing the number of hospitals

across England doing children's heart operations from 11 to either

six or seven. They reveal that some of their results of their

consultation. Safe in mum's arms. Lyle's feels

very much at home at Leicester's children's heart surgery unit. Her

life has been in their hands since birth and mum could not face it

closing. I am hoping because lilies can -- will continue to need

surgery throughout her life. She can keep coming to the same place

where I know the surgery is good. There is a lot of support, you have

the parents wing. The team at Leicester's Glenfield Heart Unit

note its future will not be made until the end of the year but

results of a consultation show most individual support keeping the

service going. The public, patients and experts think that the Midlands

needs two centres. To suggest that 11 million can only be served by

one single centre, whereas London has a smaller population needs two,

would be ridiculous. Of the four options opened, it seemed to be

coming down to just two. One option was always the preferred one. It

sees Leicester survive but option B sees it replaced by Southampton.

That has more support from organisations and the consultation.

Finley's family know which they prefer. You're troubled the end of

the earth to avoid surgery. To have so do when your doorstep makes it

easier. But in every city will find passionate stories of support for

the local hard unit. This is Southampton. And Leicester's gain

could prove Southampton's last. Still to come: he put town that

saying no to supermarkets. Also the boxing club threatened with closure

that is not quite ready to throw in the towel.

And after many places not getting rain, the hope is we have

persistent and some heavy rain working its way in tonight. I would

A mother of two he was attacked in her garden after disturbing two

burglars has told us that she thought she was going to die. Lisa

Waring was stabbed repeatedly at her home on Cotton Way on Monday

morning. Her children were inside the house at the time. Police say

they are putting on extra patrols in the area.

Showing the scars of a terrifying attack. Lisa Waring was at home

with her two young children when she found two men burgling her home,

taking her laptop and at least one of them had a knife. In the garden

they turned on her with horrific results. There was a chap appear

from behind the door and also one behind me. He slashed at my chest

and I thought he thumped me in the stomach but it turned out he

stabbed to me. I grabbed the blade which severed my fingers. I thought

they would kill me. One over Easter's children saw her get

injured. The man were wide and in their twenties or thirties, one had

a Scottish or Irish accent. Ironically they then ran dropping

the items they had stolen. Police say they also want to trace a blue

van with white writing seen at the area at the time. It is rare to

have a Burberry with the people inside the address and for Lisa

Waring to disturb the two people in the act of committing the crime and

for them to attack her, this is despicable. We will do everything

we can to catch these individuals. The operation will between four and

six hours. In the meantime, at least a now faces more surgery and

physiotherapy on her hand. She has been told it could take more than a

year for her to recover. Nottinghamshire police say it

incidents of anti-social behaviour in of rain have dropped by a third

following a crackdown. Police teams have been targeting hotspots and

sending out patrols to tackle disorder. Beat officers and

community support officers have been out speaking to both offenders

and their families officers say they have targeted under age

drinking. Police investigating the death of a

Derby man have arrested a 4th man on suspicion of murder. Johnny

Assani who was 43 was assaulted in the city 10 days ago. He died at

the Queen's Medical Centre the day after being attacked. The 24-year-

old man was arrested this morning and remains in custody.

The region's newest multi-million- pound leisure centre open this

afternoon. It is the Arkin Matlock and cost �12 million. It has to

sport -- sports halls and a suing Shoppers who want to stop

supermarkets taking over our town centres have a new champion tonight.

He is a council leader that has blocked plans for supermarkets and

rejected permission for the Sainsbury's superstore. Councillor

Roger Begy, the leader of Rutland county council says he will not

allow the big boys to turn the town into a ghost town.

Grantham has already been labelled a ghost town by one politician

following the supermarkets to dominate as we reported on Monday.

But in No camp the bunting is out. The retailers have cause to cheer.

The supermarket giants have been kept at arm's length and that is

benefited small high-street shops. They diversify and do things the

supermarkets cannot. We depend on dealing with individuals as a

person rather than a number. Tesco moved into the town just over 10

years ago. The supermarkets are wanting a bigger slice of the

retell action in Oakham. Tesco is wanting to double its retail space,

Sainsbury's and Waitrose are waiting in the wings. But recent

planning applications from the big supermarkets have been rejected.

made ourselves very unpopular with people in Oakham by turning down a

Sainsbury's application. But we felt so strongly that the town has

to be a surviving and thriving. somebody supermarkets to help the

town thrive and survive. Tesco's is the only one we have in the area

and sometimes there is not a wide variety there. More competition

might get lower prices. It might bring more people into town. There

are not a lot of people that come. You will not find empty shops

boarded up here. Vacancies are snapped up quickly but worries

remain about supermarket ambitions to set up shop. We would like to

ensure that that does not happen and although we can allow a small

number of supermarkets in, we cannot allow it to be overtaken by

supermarkets. You would expect the county town of Rutland to have an

independent streak. That spirit can be seen in its variety of retailers

Police in Leicester are growing concerned about a woman who has not

been seen since Monday night. Jean Gray, 76, was last seen by a name

but at 9pm at her home on New Parks Boulevard. Officers say it Mrs Gray

had been worried about her husband who is in hospital and has never

gone missing before. Investigations are under way into a

fire at a Woodyard which disrupted train services in Nottingham. Crews

were called to the site on Victoria Road last night. Firefighters

believe it was started deliberately and have spent much of today

dampening down at the yard. It seems that every summer police

issued his warning: Children are still putting themselves at danger

by playing on railway lines. But yet again, the British

Transport Police have been forced to speak out. This time after

children as young a six were seen putting objects on the line near

Leicester. A train heads north from Leicester

station towards Nottingham, accelerating hard, they can be

doing up to 80 miles an hour. Below one of the railway bridges, this

PCTs tells me about the latest vandalism on the track above.

threw bricks and would on the line. Trains are passing from north to

south and they were struck. It is a shocking how young the three

children involved were. They were aged between six and seven years

old and placed items on main lines. No damage was caused, but it is

extremely dangerous. Each summer, it seems, despite constant warnings,

young people decide to either play on railway lines or vandalise the

tracks. Network Rail says over the last year, there were 135 incidents

in Leicestershire. But Derbyshire was worse, with 170.

Nottinghamshire it was worse still, with 202. The incidents ranged from

taking dangerous short cuts to throwing stones at trains, to

deliver replacing debris on the track which could cause derailment.

It is catastrophic for passengers. The after effects of that could be

disastrous. It is worrying to see children of that age on the lines.

We would ask parents all over the East Midlands to educate their

children to the dangers of railway. The police say anyone spotting

anyone acting dangerously or suspiciously on the lines can ring

British Transport Police or crime stoppers.

Next, an award winning boxing club in Leicester could be forced to

close because of a lack of money. The gym in Birstall has been

keeping kids off the streets for years. But rising costs could mean

its owner has to hang up his gloves. After a years of running this club

for young people in Birstall, Kohl is used to taking a few hits. But

in the current financial climate, he may be facing a body blow.

Everything goes up: It your maintenance, rent, electricity. I

do not want to put the suspicions up because that is taking money off

children. I'm hoping that we will get a benefactor who wants to put

money into help the kids. Without the Gem, some of the kids would be

lost. Opened in 2003, the club started with just seven members,

but now has over 1,300, nearly 300 of which are girls. It is steeped

in history, you are part of something. I would be really

disappointed because it is a great place to go. Everyone is so nice

here. It would be a shame if it closed down because there is

nothing else to do. Parents fear that if the Jim goes, their

children will be left roaming the streets. They will be outside,

which is hanging around the park and shops, possibly getting into

trouble. It is a great place for them to be, it keeps them off the

streets so they are not playing video games all day. But Kohl is

not out for the count just yet. am going to carry on. I'm not going

to get downhearted about it. I have to carry on with it because I am

sure my members want me to do that. I have been very proud of them over

the last 10 years. With a sponsored run plan for next month to raise

funds, the club is still fighting its corner.

We have a feast of goals out of the year. Between Nottingham Forest and

Leicester, they crept more than seven goals between them. Forest

won 4-1 and Leicester came from behind to win 4-2 at Bury.

Forest arrived at Wycombe having only scraped through the first

round against Notts County. No such problems last night. This man put

them ahead with just three minutes on the clock. Another three minutes

on the clock. Another three minutes later, he was earning them a

penalty. Forest were already 2-1 up. -- a 2-0 up. The Reds had a chance,

then another, then another after half-time. They finally got another

goal, just after the one hour mark. The Wycombe defence went one way

and this man went the other. The home side got one back for a

penalty, but any hope of a comeback quickly disappeared as the third

goal went in. Senor and Ericsson made 10 changes to his side for

their trip to buried, but the night was not without its scarce. They

took the lead as four goals went in. Bury did not take it lying down,

they equalised before the break and took the lead just after it. With

20 minutes left, Leicester began their fight back. Paul Gallagher

fired in a free-kick. Then there was this great finish. The foxes

made sure of the wind with this man wrapping things up in stoppage time.

Leicester and Forest are burst through to the third round. We will

find out who they will be paying -- playing on Saturday.

Last year's player of the season, John Brayford, has signed a three-

year contract at Pride Park. On to the cricket, Nottinghamshire

have hosted an excellent win against -- at Trent Bridge. At

Grace Road, a young Leicestershire side are well behind Surrey, and

definitely a bowler's wicket in Chelmsford. 16 wickets in a day

there. There is a big day ahead for James

Taylor. The youngster will be in the full England squad for the

first time tomorrow. They play Ireland in a one-day international.

Paul Nixon, a former England player, says Taylor is more than ready.

Twenty-one years old, he knows his game. He is one of our best players.

He can work the ball around and he took on the ground. Do have

youngsters doing that is impressive. Paul Nixon is looking to finals day

on Saturday. More on that later on The residents of Kegworth have been

digging holes in their village Park for three days. It has been called

a history digger. Archaeologists are on hand to look at anything

that turns up and any significant fines will end up in the local

museum. Kegworth the villagers have been

invited to dig holes in a park. The site archaeologist is on hand to

advise them on their fines, but it is more about hands-on history than

buried treasure. They community did like this is more about that --

their experience. The archaeology that has been found it is fantastic.

It will be used in the museum and written up so people can look at

what we have found. The idea was suggested to the council as a way

of bringing the community together for three days of the summer

holiday. We hope that the physical fines will be very important to

tracking the history of the site and understanding more about

Kegworth. But we are also hoping we will find more community can --

cohesion. People were certainly pleased to be spending a sunny day

digging holes in the ground. get to meet people who you do not

tend to meet usually. It is a community thing for people of every

age. Already, we have found lots of stones, and a brass button.

found cow and picked teeth. Bradley found one of the best finds, that

he merely splashed it to pieces. had an axe and I was hitting the

rubble. I hit it three times and it almost smashed. It turned out to be

a poison bottle from the 1920s. Today's highlights were animal

bones, pottery and part of a knife grinding wheel. But been no expert

himself -- myself, my favourite was the poison bottle.

If you want to find out more about archaeology and how you can take

part in your own Dick, there is more information on the website. --

My husband is cooking the T-cell I have no idea what is going to

happen! Sandra cent in this the photo. We

need more rain. I'm going to try my best to organise that. We have got

this area of low pressure that is starting to push up the system of

rain up from the south. We are starting to seek some showers

coming in. You can see the swirl of cloud around the area of low

pressure. It is bringing the chance of showers as we go through the

next few hours. One or two trickling in as I speak, and that

will continue for a time. Later on in the evening, we will see this

rain at pushing and. It is predicted to been everywhere across

the East Midlands, with some heavy bursts. 12 Celsius, your minimum

temperature tonight. The met if -- the Met Office have issued a

warning for heavy rainfall. Flash flooding likely during the course

of rush-hour. Then that this system works his way East during the

morning. Into the afternoon, sunny spells and return. A couple of

showers will remain. Temperatures will be around 22 degrees. Once the

sun shows, it will be pleasant. On Friday, the low pressure is close

by it so we are staying unsettled for now. We will seek some showers.

The further west you are, the more likely you will seek sunny spells.

We'll keep you posted on the developments. On Saturday, we start

the Bank Holiday weekend on a showery note. Sunny spells with

showers, but you see this large area of high -- a low pressure is

making inroads as we go through the rest of the weekend. Saturday is

not bad, but we could do better than that. Sunday looks drier, up

warm while with sunny spells. Temperatures will be around 20