18/08/2011 Look East - East

Hello from Stewart and me. In Look East tonight. The head of a

leading think tank on education calls on the Government to create

more university places. It would cost the government about the same

amount of money to have more university students as to have

those young people on the dole. there's joy and disappointment as

A-level results are opened across our region. I was hoping for 3 As.

I did not think I would get an A* at all, so pretty chuffed.

Also tonight. Pretty in pink. The weed taking over our waterways.

And later, how do you turn a middle aged company director into a

First tonight, on the day of the A- level results, a big increase in

applications to universities in this region.

The increase in applications compared to last year is well above

the national average. For example, at Essex, they're up by around 7%.

Bedfordshire, more than 15%. And the UEA, up by 17%. Only Cambridge,

with a drop of more than 4%, bucks the trend. It's thought that's

because its entry requirements have got even tougher. Maybe another

sign of the times are the figures released today by the Open

University at Milton Keynes. It reports the number of 18 and 19-

year-olds reserving courses is up by 30% over last year. The surge in

applications is being linked with next year's higher fees regime. The

Beard family from Bury St Edmunds is one of those affected. 18-year-

old Georgina Beard has decided not to take a gap year as she'd planned.

And her parents are concerned about the debts to be faced by her

younger brother who wants to train to be a vet. I would have liked to

have taken the gap year to develop myself a bit more and learn a

second language. I am fairly gutted I will not be able to do it. I will

not feel like taking a gap year after university because I will

have a big debt and will want to pay it off as soon as possible. Big

financial hurdles lie ahead. Her younger brother wants to be a vet.

Rory will be fair and square into the maximum �9,000 per year tuition

fees. There will be a huge increase in the amount of debt.

Across the region, tens of thousands of students have been

finding out whether they have the grades they need. Stuart Ratcliffe

spent the morning at Northampton College.

Results as always bring smiles... Re placed, -- are really pleased. I

did not think I would get a A*. also tears as disappointment.

a re my university and see if they will give me a place. If not, back

to Clearing. Whatever the result, students had already decided the

university and the debt that goes with that are not for them.

have had enough of education for the moment. I am hoping to set up

my own business in entertainment. do not feel that I want to get into

debt and start my real life in that way. Education is about learning

rather than certificates. This year's university intake will be

the last before tuition fees take effect next year. Will his students

of the future be looking as something other than university?

People are saying, what are there alternatives? One of the

alternatives is to study locally, to stay at home. To look at

apprenticeships, part-time degrees, there are alternatives. People do

not have to commit themselves to huge student loans. As this college

is in the middle of an expansion programme, the college says it will

be ready to offer thousands more students and affordable alternative

to a university education. Students who haven't got the grades

they needed to secure a place at university are now engaged in the

clearing process. Clearing centres around the region are already

extremely busy. Let's go live to Chelmsford and our chief reporter

Kim Riley. It is a hive of activity you. This

is one of two centres set up by Anglia Ruskin. They are very busy,

they started at 8:00pm this morning. -- at eight this morning. You can

talk to all the different faculties. You are the admissions tutor, 4 can

you tell the students when they call you? I am a lecturer and I am

doing this work for Clearing, if they have questions about the

courses, I can be very specific with the answers. I think that

helps them to be more comfortable with the choices they are making. I

do not to make the wrong choices. Keep up the good work. This is such

an our this time for students. You do not want to have people phone

and it just rings. Yes, and I'm very glad we anticipated that by

putting in double the number of phone lines. They have had double

the number of calls than this time last year. We want to minimise the

anxiety for students. Is it particularly frantic this year?

Every clearing period is emotional for students. We try to give advice

as quickly as we can. This year, we have been twice as busy as last

year. But with the extra resources that we have put on, we feel we

have helped to students at deal with things calmly and talking to

our staff, they have been able to help. You are back at Business

tomorrow morning. If you have just got your results

and need some advice, the admissions service UCAS helpline is

0808 100 8000. And if you have decided not to go to university and

you want to examine other options, taking a gap year, working abroad,

apprenticeships, whatever, try www.notgoingtouni.co.uk. And we

would love you to contact us if you have any stories.

Earlier I spoke to Professor Les Ebdon, the Vice Chancellor of the

University of Bedfordshire who chairs a think tank on higher

education. He told me he didn't think the big increase in

applications this year was all down to the coming change in tuition

fees. We are seeing people very keen on improving their have won

the prospects are applying for university, particularly at the

University of Bedfordshire which is very much geared up to the world of

work. What a future to people who cannot get a place? Should they

wait and apply again next year? is not quite such a terrible

situation next year. The student support budget will be bigger next

year. You will get more funding when you are a student. You will

not have to repay these higher fees until due are earning over �21,000.

Think about the part-time opportunities, about being a part-

time student. A third of the students at this universities are

part-time. Or they Open University. Think about taking a job for a year

and getting some experience, making yourself more attractive to

universities, improving your CV. They go by doing some voluntary

work so your commitment to the particular area in which you want

to study is clearer. There are a host of options. Just do not waste

a year. With so many more applicants than places, should

there be a way of increasing the number of places available?

find it extraordinary that the Government pays people money not to

work rather than spending money on universities to create more spaces.

We have produced a report which shows that it would cost the

government about the same amount of money to have more university

students as they are spending on those young people being otherwise

on the dole queue. There is a lot of sense in creating more places in

our universities. Some people think that too many youngsters go to

university and there should be more going into work or apprenticeships.

Do you believe that what ever you study at university, if you, with a

degree, it is worth having? Over 90% of our guard was from these

university either going to work or into further study. -- Leader cent

of our graduates from this university. It is not a guarantee

of a job, but it is a good step on the career path. Thank you very

much. A year ago this week, a road tanker

weighing 44 tonnes collided with a train on it's way from Sudbury to

Marks Tey. At the time, experts said it was pure luck that nobody

was killed. A report into the accident has just been published.

Let's get the details from Amelia Reynolds.

No one was killed, but four passengers were seriously injured

as was the train driver. The crash happened at this unmanned

crossing at Sudbury. One of those crossings that you have to phone to

get clearance before driving across it. The report by the rail accident

investigation branch focuses on that and safety surrounding it. The

driver of the tanker did not use the phone. But the report says that

because drivers experience long delays in getting permission to use

a crossing, this has led to a high- level of non-compliance. People get

fed up waiting. The report says Network Rail has failed to identify

that problem. As a result of the report, there are six

recommendations covering improving safety at the crossing, trying to

deal with those long waiting times for drivers and a review of the

tables used on the trains, some of which came loose during the crash

and contributed to some of the injuries sustained. Thank you very

much indeed. Still to come tonight, our weekly

Olympic report. And if you want to be a jockey, you start young and

train hard. Or perhaps not. He is the managing director of the Jockey

Club at Newmarket and he is trying to ride in a big race at the end of

the month. Sounds like a bad idea A convoy of travellers has set up

camp on a nature reserve at Braintree in Essex and there are

fears it could now be damaged. The travellers say they have nowhere

else to go and insist they'll move in a few days.

Reserve and nature reserve -- the Bocking Blackwater nature reserve.

Tranquil and peaceful. This is a peaceful and clean the place. But,

last weekend, a convoy of travellers' caravans pitched up.

Volunteers to help keep the nature reserve tidy are worried that the

caravans and vans could cost damage. It would have been good if they

could have explained to the people that have moved on their that it

was a nature reserve addicts should be respected for that. But what is

happening here at Dale Farm has intensified worries about

travellers parking up without permission. Half the travellers

here face eviction next month and everyone is wondering where they

will end up. In Braintree, people on the estate near the nature

reserve have taken matters into their own hands. The other really,

we all part of a car's -- the other evening we all part to our cars to

stop them dealing entry. travellers have agreed to leave

this weekend. A second elderly woman who lived at

a care home in Harlow has died in hospital. She was one of three

residents at the Partridge Care Centre who were taken into hospital.

Essex Police say the woman, who was 80, died last night. A 36-year-old

woman was arrested in connection with the police inquiry and has

been released on bail. The investigation has focused on the

medicines given to residents. A pensioner from Norfolk has

appeared in court because she refused to pay all of her council

tax. June Farrow from Bawburgh says it is unfair that she has to pay

�99 a month when she lives alone. The court decided she has until

next March to pay the arrears. Conservationists are calling for a

Call to Arms after aerial photographs show a giant invasive

weed is taking over parts of the Norfolk Broads. The Himalayan

Balsam spreads quickly and is now starting to suffocate rare native

plants. Himalayan Balsam, with its sweet smell, a delight for

gardeners. But in the world, a giant and a welcome weed. Each

plant camp produce it hundred seeds and they are rapidly taking over

parts of the Norfolk Broads. -- 800. I see it from the board record

early, but I did not realise how far it hadn't read it. -- from the

boat regularly, but I did not realise how far it had spread. By

next year, it will be seven metres wide. The plant was introduced over

100 years ago. But it is now threatening to suffocate native

plants. The seeds fly out, which is why this is such an aggressive and

weed. We had not realised quite how bad it was in this area. We had

been working on it upstream but it is an eye or Blair. I think that

over the next few years, it will be One of the biggest stores in

Ipswich has closed today with the loss of 42 jobs. The national chain

TJ Hughes is in administration. Branches at Southend and King's

Lynn have already closed. A team of archaeologists is working

to uncover the ruins of a Roman forum near Norwich. The latest dig

at Caister St Edmund could establish when the forum was built

and what happened to it. The excavation will carry on until the

beginning of September. The forum is inside one of the most

important sites in Roman Britain. A north Norfolk village which has

been without a pub for more than 40 years has built a new one. The

Parish Council in Hindringham has funded The Pavillion which also,

rather unusually, doubles up as changing rooms for the village

sports teams. Pulling one of the first pub pint

here since the 1970s. Needing a new sports facilities, lacking a pub,

the committee came up with the solution to combine the two.

need is some way to cover the overheads of running the changing

facilities, so we thought of the pub. Locals call this are the

biggest beer garden in Norfolk. The pavilion has been nine years in the

planning and cost �200,000 of parish money. It means a lot. It

definitely is a good thing for the committee to come to, some were to

come to drink and eat. There used it to be five pubs here. Locals are

pleased to have won back. Marvellous. People enjoy a drink.

It proves that the villagers can do it if they get together. �5 million

of lottery funding has been announced to help transform

villages and a website has been set up to offer advice. Locals hear

hope that their unusual project Time for our weekly Olympic report

where we round up the essential London 2012 news affecting our

region. Last week, we had the pleasure of javelin thrower Goldie

Sayers, but she's in South Korea for the World Athletics

Championships, so tonight our Olympic Reporter Shaun Peel is on

the case. We at the Cambridge University

athletics track. -- we are at. This weekend, British gymnasts or will

be a at Ipswich for a friendly, an international friendly. Tickets are

already sold out. It is one of the trials for the world championships

in Japan in October. The British men handball team will be in France

next week as part of their preparations. They do take on some

of the top teams from France, Spain and Denmark. The team has been

announced for the Palace cycling or road championships next month.

Included in the 13 is Jody Cundy from Cambridge. Knowing that our

games happen a few weeks after, you know it is coming closer and it

will soon be here. Can you remember this from three years ago? The

astonishing opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. In one

year, we will be staging are very or mud you can be in it. The

organisers are looking for a 10,000 volunteers to take part. -- we will

be staging our own and you can be in it. Alter the website to apply.

-- I got to the website. Next week, we will be looking at our Olympic

called -- hopefuls in South Korea. That is it from me, just loving the

weather! It suits them. +

Despite the rain at the Test match today, it has still been a

fantastic year to be a fan of the England cricket team. The test side

is now number one and nobody is doing better than Alastair Cook of

Essex. According to the former England captain Michael Vaughan,

it's the sort of example that young people should be following. James

Burridge caught up with him at a training session in Cambridge. He

has hung up the bat, now he is hanging out with the kids. Michael

Vaughan has a new cricketing challenge - inspiring a new breed

of batsmen and bowlers. We see what is happening in London and

Birmingham with the rights. -- rights. We need to make sure that

we keep these kids involved in sport because it is a wonderful

education for kids, whatever they go on to do in life. You need

discipline and skill and to be able to work with each other.

important a role can cricket- playing getting children of the

streets? It is all to do with their peers and role models. They are

seeing a very good England side playing well and winning games.

Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann, they are all

cricketers that are good examples. It is very important that the

England side see their role within society. You gave Alastair Cook his

first chance in Test cricket, when you see what he has done, it is

incredible, is it not? I was there when he made his debut. I knew from

the start that he was going to be special. He had a maturity at the

age of 20. He spoke very calmly. He gets very stressed about the game

because he thinks about it all the time, but all the great players do.

He will go on to be a good England captain. I am sure he will take

over from Andrew Strauss when that day eventually comes. He plays in

the right spirit and, as I said, he is just what the kids need to see

on their screens. Good man. Now if you're the boss of a company,

you tend to stick to being a boss. You make phone calls, go to

meetings and generally look busy. But William Gittus, who runs the

Jockey Club Estates in Newmarket, wanted to be something more than

just a boss. He wanted to train as a jockey. He

was too old, not fit enough, but he is the boss and what the boss wants,

the boss gets. Meet at William Gittus in the

Jockey Club HQ at new market. In his trademark a safari jacket, he

is the managing director of Jockey Club Estates. He has a boss. He

does all the boring stuff that managers have to do. They go to

meetings non-stop. What gave you the idea that you could be a

jockey? It was the challenge of whether I could be are not. William

has entered a race at the end of the month, one of Horseracing's

most historic events. But he had never ridden before. Madness,

surely? At this yard, William is on a real racehorse. He has been

riding with the jockeys. But he has fallen off several times. The

consequences of an accident he could be catastrophic. This is not

like riding a donkey on the beach, these animals are fast. These

resources, things happen a lot quicker. It is like driving a

Formula One car. It transpired that he was an absolute beginner so we

changed at the lesson plan from a Gallup to something more basic.

you see him at the Derby next week? William or the horse? If the loses

a few more Pounds, he could get there. William has lost more than a

few pounds in weight but he is hoping to raise lots of pines for

help for heroes and Racing Welfare. I have been told that your are not

a proper writer a jockey until you have fallen off at least eight

times. Williams says he knows a lot more

I think that is fantastic. He looked quite good on the horse.

He looked quite good on the horse. It is not good at all. We have been

following the rain all day. The heaviest on the beam is whether

bright patches are. -- heaviest of the rain. Still a fair amount of

cloud around. You can see from the brighter images here that there

will be some heavy again. Midnight, that rain will push away to the

east. Brighter conditions tomorrow morning. A much better day. Fine

and sunny, staying dry. A bit of patchy cloud at first. Temperatures

tomorrow around 21 degree Celsius. But feeling very pleasant when the

sunshine comes through. We rocket that morning, -- we will keep that

sunshine into the evening. Sunday will bring a few showers in.