09/03/2017 East Midlands Today

It's almost 6.30pm - you're watching East Midlands Today.

Tonight - ?90 million to boost this region's economy.

A day after the budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond fires up the middle

and engine. Huge centres of successful entrepreneurial small

businesses and we are backing them all the way. The Nottinghamshire

woman who uncovered the national obvious orders an enquiry.

Protesters and some tough questions over its plan to end children's

heart surgery here in the East Midlands. And find out why boxing

legend Frank Bruno is throwing his weight behind this boxing school.

Welcome to Thursday's programme with Dominic Heale

First tonight, the chancellor Phillip Hammond has announced

a 90 million pound cash injection for this region.

The move, to boost our economy, has been widely welcomed.

It's predicted thousands of jobs could be created.

The money will go on a variety of projects, including

regenerating Derby City Centre, creating a space park in Leicester,

improving road links around Loughborough and improving town

In a moment we'll have local reaction to the news,

but first Sarah Teale looks at exactly where the

The Chancellor's visit to the Midlands today may have been

overshadowed by the uproar over national insurance

But Philip Hammond was here to shine the spotlight

on a ?390 million pound investment into the Midlands Engine -

the equivalent to the Northern Powerhouse, it's the government's

plan for boosting economic growth in the region.

From that pot the East Midlands will receive ?90 million pounds.

Pal tell you the good news, I used to live in Nottingham, I don't just

think about the West Midlands, I know the East Midlands as a

powerhouse small business. Across the East Midlands, Nottingham,

Leicester, huge centres of successful entrepreneurial small

businesses and we're backing them the way.

The cash is being spread across the region.

One of the biggest spends, almost ?13 millions,

will go towards developing a Space Park in Leicester

which will become a national hub for for research and learning.

And ?12 million will be spent on improving roads around

Loughborough including the A512 and the M1 junction 23.

That will unlock land for 4,000 new homes.

Derby is set to receive more than 11 million pounds to regenerate

the city centre and fund a replacement performance venue

And two million pounds has been allocated towards

a new museum and attraction at Derwent Valley Mills

In Nottinghamshire, some ?8 million pounds is going towards regenerating

town centres and redeveloping Nottingham Castle.

And ?10 million is being spent on refurbishing

the Broadmarsh car park and bus station.

While those are the headline figures, many more millions

are being pumped into other projects around the region.

Quentin Rayner has spent the day gathering reaction

Sherwood Forest's heroes became legends by handing out bounty to the

needy. This afternoon the local clothes than it was walking in the

outlaws footsteps with with ?63 million on his back pocket to boost

growth in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire. Half a million quid to

help the new visitor centre in the forest on the boat will go towards

regenerating sites across the two counties. Big vote of confidence, it

will help us create over 6500 jobs, ?150 million of private investment,

over 6000 homes and 2000 learners. It's a good result for other local

enterprise partnership, one of the biggest allocations in the country

and I think that demonstrates the government have confidence we can

deliver the jobs and growth they want. The East Midlands's is less is

only a quarter of the overall growth fund for the Midlands but the

minister doesn't swallow the idea that this side of the region is the

poor relation. The idea that the government picks winners between

different regions of the country is nonsense. We are investing in the

East Midlands and the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber and the Midwest

because we're absolutely genuine when we say we want to create an

economy that works for. His colleague, Marcus John says space

technology with Leicester at its hub was crucial to the UK's growth, so

there was ?1 million for an extension of the National space

centre and ?30 million for a space park in the city. Another million

pounds is available for road improvements. We have to look at the

enterprise last month and it's backed up with some real substantial

funding, ?26 million, so I really significantly because we have money

to be behind things. Sherwood Forest's new centre should be built

by next spring, it's unclear when other projects will get going.

Our political editor Tony Roe is here.

So we heard last night from MPs who feared the East Midlands

would be a junior partner in the Midlands engine.

I think so because if you look at the figures, ?90 million is quite a

lot when you take what each individual area gets. Derbyshire are

Nottinghamshire and Derby and Nottingham, they get more than any

other part of the Midlands as a whole, more than Greater Birmingham.

And the Leicester and Leicestershire partnership, they get more than

Stoke and Staffordshire, so if you look at it like that, we've done

quite well and also remember that the chairman of the Midlands engine

is John peace, he's from Nottingham, so he will have the East Midlands's

interests at heart. This funding announcement is for four years but a

lot of these projects will last a lot longer than that. They've got

money to spend on where the project should go and we're talking about

infrastructure in particular roads and transport. Midland Main line

electrification is still on their list. We haven't had a confirmation

from the government yet that is going ahead but still on their list.

Many road schemes, not just the ?12 million near junction 23 because the

roads do need some work doing to them. There are so many pinch

points. I was out today filming for Sunday politics at a haulage company

and they are saying it causes them so many problems because they never

know when the delays will happen and it costs them time and money. Thanks

very much. The former Nottingham social

worker who uncovered a child migration scandal,

says "torture, rape and slavery" were covered up

at the highest levels. Margaret Humphreys has been giving

evidence to the "Independent Inquiry Our Social Affairs Correspondent,

Jeremy Ball, reports The smiling faces of British

children who were shipped across the Empire but today the National

enquiry had they were deported and raped and this was the most

catastrophic child abuse legacy in living memory. Look at the

violations that we've heard them talk about two hours. Kidnapping,

sexual abuse in the UK before they were sent, before they were sent!

Starting all over again in various institutions within the

Commonwealth. Margaret's 30-year quest for justice prompted this

feature film. Today she described how victims were stripped of their

identity, some were flogged just for singing British nursery rhymes. The

Inquirer had how she set up the child migrants trust are

Nottinghamshire after victims had been told they were orphans and

discovered it wasn't true. One mother went to visit a children's

home as her son was being taken away. He said as the train pulled

out she was screaming and crying, get the children off, get the

children off. Stop the train. Her boy put his fist at the window and

shouted I'll never forget you, ma'am. Doctor Humphreys told enquiry

that my children were selected for migration to preserve the British

Empire's racial unity. She said many were used as slave labour on farms.

Margaret Humphreys told enquiry that record is about children were

deliberately destroyed. Social workers raised concerns and they

were ignored and her charity is now reunited well over 1000 child

migrants with their families. Still to come - a host

of golden daffodils - All spied by our growing army

of weather watchers. Sara's standing

by with our forecast. A man has been airlifted to hospital

with serious injuries after a collision involving six

vehicles on the A1. The crash happened just before 8

this morning on the northbound It's thought to have

involved several cars, One of the lorries,

which was carrying a shipping A man who was trapped

in the wreckage, has been taken The road's been closed in both

directions, but police say it's Leicestershire Police say a man

found fatally injured in the street outside Leicester Railway Station

had been stabbed to death. Officers believe the victim,

who hasn't been formally identified He was found shortly after midnight

yesterday on London Road. A 30 year old Leicester man

was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday afternoon

and remains in custody. NHS England is facing tough

questioning tonight from campaigners fighting to save the East Midlands

children's heart surgery unit. Tonight's public consultation event

into the plans to close the unit at Glenfield Hospital started half

an hour ago. Protestors have also gathered

outside as there's been criticism that everyone who wanted to go

could get tickets. We'll be hearing from our health

correspondent Rob Sissons in a moment but first how have

we got to this point - there have been so many twists and turn -

here's how it all began. Question has been hanging over the

future of Leicester getting children's heart surgery unit for 20

years. It follows the heart scandal in Bristol, where high rates of

babies died after heart operations in the 80s and 90s. The hard-hitting

report that followed led to demands for fewer bigger centres bringing

expertise together and controversial choices were avoided. A review is

being carried out across England and there is speculation that at least

four on the country's 11 children's heart units may stop operations. In

Leicester, this intent to the streets and they went to the top.

Their wares celebrity backing, thousands of people filled in

consultation forms. With the world-famous service alongside the

heart unit, they felt upbeat but other cities were fighting two.

Proved winners. Our reward is staying! CHEERING

. Leicester and Leeds were losers. Also tonight, ending children's

heart surgery in the East Midlands. The experts defend their decision.

By having bigger teams of surgeons doing more cases in the centre, we

can maintain a high quality service in the future. After challenges, the

Health Secretary eventually overturned the reviews findings. The

outcome on the safe and sustainable review was based on a flawed

analysis. Another review but with NHS England proposing to end surgery

in Leicester and at the Royal Brompton in London, the East

Midlands's fight was back on. To bring us right up to date, that

consultation meeting going on this evening, robbers they are now. Good

evening. Passions running very high here in Leicester, so many people

care about the future of children's heart surgery in Leicester which has

been under threat for so many years, we've come to expect the unexpected

in this saga. The meeting which is happening out there in one of the

rooms at Leicester Tigers is being streamed live on the Internet. Spent

quite a lot of time explaining the ground rules. One of the reasons for

that is because there is always the risk of temper is becoming a little

bit frayed in all of this. I've been to speak to one family at Coalville

in Leicestershire and I told to the mother of a little boy who is in the

meeting behind me and she explained why she cares so much about the

future of the hard service in Leicester. I'm Jess Whitehouse, my

son was born 11 weeks ago and we discovered he had down syndrome and

as a direct result of that he also had a heart condition where he had

two large holes in his hand. Glenfield heart unit, I'm eternally

grateful to them and without them we wouldn't be here today. I'm

disgusted there is a threat to the heart unit. The standard of care

there is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. I'm very passionate

about this, so much so that last month myself I were to donate 50

hand a petition. I do feel the campaign will be successful because

I think if it goes to a fair panel there is no way they can justify

closing the unit. A short time ago I spoke to someone from NHS England

and ask them what they were trying to achieve by all of this. The

reason why we're here today is that we've developed initial proposals to

the consequences of how services should be delivered. We are now out

to consultation and we are here in Leicester very much to listen to the

public and very interested to know whether these proposals make sense.

Campaigners don't think they make sense and many suspect this process

is rigged. I would definitely say this process is not rigged. There

are no predetermined numbers of centres with NHS England. What we

remain very firm about is that having spent a lot of time in

consultation with charities, with patients, with professionals in

developing the standards, we do need to implement them so that we can

provide the best possible care. Let's have a chat with some of the

people who haven't got tickets, they are not at the meeting but they are

outside making their point. Sally, you went to the unit at Glenfield a

few years ago. Our twin sons were eight weeks premature on one of them

had a suspected hole in their hearts so he was referred to Glenfield and

had a couple of visits. Thankfully everything was OK? Fantastic

treatment and fantastic care. Do you not buy the argument that fewer

bigger centres would save more lives. The fact it was local for us

took some concern out of it and it was a fantastic unit. Some deals

here is Tom, why are you here? I oppose the closure of the heart

unit. Out here right now standing in solidarity with all of the people

that have been unable to register for this event. They called it a

public consultation. You're not impressed with the organisation?

There was a demonstration a few weeks ago that had two dozen people

just in Leicester, the fact they have a room for 150 people is not

good enough. Quick word with Darren. What do you think? You wanted to

stay? Of course, the distances would be too great if this unit is closed

and it's a symptom of a wider problem to privatise the NHS. We

don't want to see patients go to Birmingham, that's the message from

people here. Two men have been found guilty

of conspiring to commit fraud by telling businesses

they were selling them halal lamb Mahmudur Rohman and Kamal Rahman

imported the cheaper They sold it to dozens of customers

in the East Midlands for almost double the price,

making a profit of hundreds These two men were involved in

selling meat on a big scale. In court today, Kamal Rahman and

Mahmudur Rohman were found guilty of running a fraudulent operation. They

were based in Peterborough but it sold meat to restaurants, takeaways

and butchers here in Leicestershire and beyond. The men told customers,

like this butchers, that the meat was boneless leg of lamb but it was

actually Turkey, much cheaper, which they then sold for double the price.

There maybe some people watching this at home who are thinking, hang

on a minute, he's a butcher, how could you not tell the difference

between what is lamb meat and what turkey meat, what would you say to

that? We never chop them, we never cut them for customers. We don't

know what the meat looks like and it's very young but the colour of

the meat is different. If you look at it, it's just read lamb meat. You

can't tell. This is actually some of the turkey meat that was sold off to

a local butchers as halal lamb meat. Authorities raised concerns when

meat was tested in the East Midlands area in 2013 after the horse meat

scandal. That testing revealed that meat in the region was not what it

had been labelled as. Leicester City Council's investigation linked the

need to the company. Any reaction? No. The judge told the men their

crime was a serious matter. They will be sentenced next month.

Still to come - tram 222 gets a new name

It's named after an inspirational couple whose work has touched

the lives and hearts of so many people.

That tram naming coming up after the sport.

Starting with cricket and straight into the action because THIS is how

Nottinghamshire's Alex Hales was finally fit to play for England

and promptly scored his fifth one day century.

This six a stunning way to cross the line.

He finally fell for a 110 at over a run every ball.

After a month and a half out - and doubts over his form -

Some quick lines from our football clubs.

Leicester City are back from warm weather training in Dubai -

still no official word on the expected appointment

Nottingham Forest's visit to Burton will be an "emotional occasion"

according to Brewers manager Nigel Clough.

He was heavily linked with the Forest job,

And Derby County have lost midfielder Bradley

They go to promotion chasing Brighton tomorrow.

It's Badminton's equivalent of Wimbledon -

the All England Championships - and Nottingham's Chris Adcock,

along with wife and partner Gabby is through to the Mixed Doubles

This afternoon they got past Singapore's Xu Chen

It's our home event but the history and everything behind it is amazing.

In terms of playing an event is the best one for us, incredibly exciting

when you get to this point in the calendar year. It's obviously better

if you do well, so hopefully we can have a long week.

Finally, you'll remember Marcellus Baz - the winner of BBC

He runs a boxing school in Nottingham helping youngsters

But he's had a bit of a battle lately trying to finance

Well today he got a big boost from sporting royalty.

Former World Heavyweight Champion Frank Bruno came to visit,

The Nottingham School of boxing is absolutely buzzing here and why

wouldn't it be, one of the two Legends of the sport this year and

will speak to him in a second. Marcellus Baz, where are you in your

mission to keep the Nottingham School of boxing in a permanent

home? We are still raising funds, we've got absolutely magnificent

sport from our community and we are in talks with the Heritage lottery

and sport England and we are optimistic, we're really excited. We

want to make it our permanent home. How exciting is to have Frank Bruno

here? It's absolutely magnificent, words can't explain it. This was my

childhood role model. By Kizzire to support the cause and you've been in

the ring with him. Did you ever think you'd be in the ring with

Frank Bruno? Quite honestly no. I wouldn't think I would be sparring

with Frank Bruno. Very good experience. I can imagine it was.

That's something to tell a story for a long time to come! Let speak to

the man himself, Mr Frank Bruno. Pleasure to meet you. Justin Beaver

going on there! How did you first come into contact

with Marcellus Baz and are Nottingham School boxing? A man

working at the Frank Bruno foundation got in touch with

Marcellus Baz and trying to swap ideas. What do you make of the work

that Marcellus Baz does here? It's very good, with the youngsters

getting them off the street and getting them involved with

physicality and manners and if they're going through mental health

problems, come down there, let off some steam, go out and feel

brand-new. How important is it for boxing and the sport's future that

people like Marcellus Baz give up their time? It's very nice, needs to

happen all the way round the country to get some discipline amongst kids,

getting fitness instead of playing computers. You must be hoping this

place finds the permanent home and can pay the bill. Hopefully, give

them a good discount on knock-off the VAT. What do you make to

Nottingham, have you picked up any of the local catchphrases? I did

pantomime in Nottingham and I've been here quite a lot. Nice people.

Absolute pleasure to meet you, thank you very much. As the Nottingham

School of boxing looks for a permanent home, it certainly got a

heavyweight of the sport fighting its corner.

I love Frank Bruno, such a great voice. So deep.

Believe it or not today is the 13th anniversary

of the tram in Nottingham and, to celebrate, tram 222

was re-named as part of NET Tram's Community Hero Award.

It's only the second time this award has been given and it went

to a couple whose charity is helping parents across the East Midlands.

One, two, three. The Richard and Michelle Daniels tram takes to the

tracks. The charity has made a huge difference in the three years it's

been going. After the little girl Emily was stillborn, they set about

raising money to build a special serenity suite in the Queen 's

medical centre. It opened and now they're raising money for the City

Hospital and they have their sights on Derby as well. They bring people

together, they inspire people and they help people, genuinely, who

suffer that terrible loss of a stillborn baby. To the stars

themselves, Richard and Michelle. What is a feeling to have a tram

named after you? It's amazing, quite funny. Hopefully it will get the

message out to the rest of the city about forever stars and we are

desperately trying to get people to talk about stillbirth and remove the

taboo on what a brilliant way to do it. As Richard said, Nottingham to

the charity to its heart and it's appropriate that tram should now

travel to the heart of Nottingham. I think Finley has it about right. My

mummy and daddy are great. That's so lovely. I hope he says that when

he's 17. Unlikely! The weather now. Nice today, my daffodils in the

garden have decided to wake up. Very pleasant but also quite blustery at

times. We saw the cloud varying in the daytime, this is the early

satellite picture but they cleared nicely as we head into the afternoon

and that was captured once again by our weather watchers busy outside

taking those photos for us across the East Midlands and thank you for

sending them into day. Just showing what a lovely day it was. We will

find the weather changes through this and into tomorrow but it's

clear skies out there at the moment, so that's the coldest part of the

night tonight. The temperatures in rural parts could be just about past

freezing at the time. A feel of high cloud coming into the early hours,

so we will end at around five Celsius into the early part of

tomorrow morning. The cloud that will thicken up throughout the

daytime tomorrow is bright to start initially but gradually starts to

bring some patchy drizzle as we head into the afternoon and this weather

front has been keeping the south-west of the country and fog,

so some misty conditions linked to this. I'll be on the wind continues

to come from the south but it will be lighter than it was today and the

daytime temperature should be in the region of 11 Celsius. As one weather

front clears into the early part of Saturday we should find this guy

brightens for a time and we have the mild air sitting across the

south-east of the country so Saturday will be mild but again

we'll find the cloud increases into the afternoon and we find this

weather front starts to come through overnight. The couple are weather

fronts with us on Sunday, another one the middle part of the day

bringing slightly cooler air with it, so we'll find that although high

pressure is in charge of the temperatures come down a little bit.

As we know that public meeting on the future of Glenfield heart

children's heart unit is currently taking place in Leicester. Any

update? Good evening. Lots of questions being asked in there, lots

of questions about why Newcastle in the eyes of the campaign is being

treated different to Leicester, the feeling they're trying to manage the

number of cases there but aren't offering to do that with Leicester.

Feelings running very high. The meeting is going on up there in the

room behind me and we'll have more on it in the late news. Thanks very

much indeed. Another milestone in the long saiga of Glenfield

children's heart surgery. Still it goes on. I'll be back tomorrow but

he'll be back tonight.