16/02/2014 East Midlands Today

With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

A Government minister has criticised East Midland council leaders for

building up cash reserves while complaining about having to make big

budget cuts. The intervention comes as our county councils finalise

their budget plans for the next year. Our political editor John Hess

has more. I am heading to the very top of the

East Midlands. It is from this spot at Wigan Hill that you get a

fantastic view of the whole these Midlands. `` Beacon Hill. When it

comes to budget treasures, it is not a bad place for the big edge. Take

Derbyshire, it is facing budget cuts of ?157 million, but is the

equivalent of 1600 job losses. In Nottinghamshire, the total of cuts

is ?154 billion and 750 jobs. Since the age of 30, it has lost almost a

quarter of its workforce. In Leicestershire, the County Council

is talking of cuts of ?110 million, the equivalent of 700 posts. It has

already had to lose 750 jobs. You can only spend reserves once. We

have spent them and continue to do so. We have reduced them

considerably. We will have reduced them by half by this time next year.

And we use them, for example, by giving ?20 million for the widening

of the A453. If we were to invest million pounds more in preventing

people from tripping and falling and breaking their hips, it would save

?12 million in A, but the money does not move back into our pockets.

Letter member that is a whole, we spent ?117 billion this year. The

authorities in the East Midlands have increased their reserves over

the last 12 months substantially. But will not be welcome in council

chambers like this, as our local politicians struggle to find more

savings. You can watch today's special Sunday

Politics on the BBC's iPlayer now. It concentrates on the cuts, and

includes a debate with the leaders of our county councils on the impact

of those cuts. Tributes have been placed at the scene of a car crash

in Leicester which killed a young mother`to`be this weekend. It

happened on Saffron Lane near its junction with Knighton Lane East

yesterday. The Police say 22`year`old Paige Jackson was

walking at the time. She died later in hospital. Friends have told us

she was pregnant. In a statement, her work colleagues said she was "a

popular and valued friend" who'd be "dearly missed".

The Army's commander in Helmand province has told us that troops

from the East Midlands have made huge contribution to the military

campaign. `` made a huge contribution. Hundreds of soldiers

from Leicestershire and Derbyshire are deployed on operations this

winter. Some troops are helping the Afghan police protect the city of

Lashkar Gah. Others are targeting insurgents who use deadly improvised

bombs. One can look back over the history

of our time here in Afghanistan and see the role that has been played by

regiments such as the Royal Anglian. The contribution has been

really valued, and you can see the changes and the progress that has

been made on the ground in Helmand. Sport now, and Nottingham ice

dancers Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes are about to perform in the

figure skating ice dance at the Winter Olympics. `` have just

performed. We will let you know more details later. To football now, and

Nottingham Forest were knocked out of the FA Cup this afternoon.

They were beaten by Sheffield United by three goals to one and miss out

on a quarter`final tie. Meanwhile, in the League, Leicester

and Derby haven't played this weekend, but Notts County and

Mansfield were in action, as Natalie Jackson reports.

In League 1, Notts County remain in the bottom four after the lost 2`0

four stop the first half had it `` header from Michael Jacobs but

Wolves ahead. His deflected shot after the break left the West

Midlands side with all three points. But Notts manager John Derry thinks

his team can stay up. There was a pitch inspection after the wet

weather. The game went on, Mansfield may have wished it hadn't. They lost

3`0. And in this afternoon's rugby

action, Leicester Tigers overcame Gloucester 11`8 at Welford Road to

keep pace with the play`offs in the Premiership.

Meanwhile in the Championship, Nottingham lost to Bristol, going

down 24`25 at Meadow Lane. After a glorious, fresh winter's day

for most of us, let's see what's coming next. Sara has your forecast.

The coldest part of tonight will be through the early part of the

evening. The temperatures will drop quite low initially, down to about

two Celsius. Turning misty with some fog around. But the breeze starts to

pick up overnight. The rain starts to gradually come in as well. It'll

us quite a wet day on and off on Monday. It will be quite a blustery

day with temperatures reaching a maximum of nine Celsius. Tuesday,

the winds will fall like but it is likely to be quite a day. We do

start to see some high pressure coming in, to give us or settled day

on Wednesday. `` or We'll have more for you after

tonight's national and international update, which is the other side of

tonight's BAFTAs, at around 11:20pm tonight.

Until then, have a very good evening.