14/03/2012 Look East - East

Her England's newest city! Welcome to the programme, we are live in

England's newest city, Chelmsford and we will be finding out exactly

what it means to this city. Also in tonight's programme:

Service veterans involved in nuclear tests in the 1950s lose

their bid for damages. And a �13 million care centre is

When the announcement came just before 10 o'clock this morning, it

is fair to say it was a bit of a surprise. No-one had Chelmsford

among the favourites to gain city status - the hot money was on

Reading. The title is purely honorific, but hotly pursued.

Almost 30 cities bid for the award marking the Queen's Diamond Jubilee,

including Luton, Milton Keynes, Southend Colchester and Corby. But

in the end, Chelmsford won out, and as Richard Daniel reports, that was

the start of a huge celebration. Three times they have applied for

city status. Today, they could hardly believe they have won it.

got a telephone call around five past nine and within five minutes,

the whole world and Chelmsford knew that we had been awarded city

status. For once as a politician, I was nearly speechless. Not for long,

but for a short while. At 14-1, at the bookies had Chelmsford down as

a big outsider. But this morning at Westminster, the Deputy Prime

Minister confirmed the Queen's decision. I can confirm the

announcement today of the results of the silly, as competition in one

of the Her Majesty the Queen's A wonderful accolade for the

Borough of Chelmsford, about to become a city. Over 800 years as it

had have become too -- come to an end. Chelmsford was given a royal

charter in 40 night denied. Now a new chapter begins. To get it this

year of all year, brilliant. It has finally absolutely calm, and it

does bring a lot of opportunities. Everybody has a buzz in their

stride today. They Chelmsford is a cathedral city, not a cathedral

town. -- now. When I came in 1997, I mentioned by opening sermon that

it was shortly to become a city, which became a bit of a stir and P

mayor asked if I knew something they didn't know. It is lovely to

be there now if I wasn't quite accurate. -- even if. It is a day

they will be savouring for quite some time.

I dance that how much you know about Chelmsford, it was actually

in the Domesday Book -- I don't know how much. It has been an idea

of city status for a long time. The local football club is called

Chelmsford City. The Queen makes the decision on the advice of

ministers and they keep the reasons for their choice very close to

their chest. Alex Dunlop has been looked -- looking at what makes

Chelmsford stand out. One assumes this man's job title

will have to change, along with local road signs and council headed

notepaper. But this is the lady they may thank for it. Chelmsford

was chosen for the distribution of Royal Monday... 11 years in two her

reign, the Queen visits Chelmsford. 49 years on, city status is her

Diamond Jubilee present. For those people who may be thinking of

expanding their businesses or moving to Chelmsford because of its

proximity to London and the rail network, it is the icing on the

cake. Home to a cathedral, Essex's cricket ground at the county town

since 1215, Chelmsford has suffered a decline in its defence industry

in the 1980s, most notably the Marconi Company. Today's on it

gives no official powers or funding, so what will city status bring back

on our? The it will Bayor have on what is already there, the county

town, the cathedral -- it will build. The university and now the

city status. From the point of view of the chambers, we think it will

help retain business and attract new ones. As regards people moving

into the area, it will be more attractive to them as a city, but

from the house prices, I am not sure if it will immediately affect

the actual price. Clearly, at Chelmsford City Football Club was

well ahead of the game when it was formed in 1938. We won't have to

keep defending our name wherever we go, from the council's point of

view, where we Crenshaw -- ground- share and use facilities, I think

funding will be much more available as a city status. Local communities

and groups have already got their heads together on a simple concept.

How do you make Chelmsford a more successful plays? Being a city of

the last night hours is a good place to start -- successful place.

Chelmsford was very much involved in the peasant rebellion in 1381

and after it was quelled, King Richard came here and this was the

seat of government for nearly a week. Let's talk to the local seat

of government, Reuter Whitehead, leader of the Borough Council, or

you were until this morning, it is now a city council. As I understand

it, yes. Did you get a nod and a wink? Not a word. I had a call this

morning from the local press to say we were the winners and I was as a

standard as anybody, so it was a very secretive process. --

astounded. He thought it would go in to be Reading! They were the

bookmakers favourite. You have any idea why you one? Clearly the

merits of Chelmsford should be speaking for themselves. We had a

splendid document which I have here which was put together by the

borough council staff and it was done from a very bright young

people who came up with weird ideas and there is a prescriptive form --

brilliant ideas. It cannot be a video with glossy pictures and all

the sort of things that you White wanted to be. So you haven't spent

a lot of money? About �10,000, maybe not as much. And you will get

that back, you hope? We hope so. What does it mean to you? Apart

from the whole glossiness of the thing and everybody smiling in

Chelmsford, I have said before on TV and the radio, it is about

business and investment. You want to be in the Premier League, so

when businesses are looking for places to invest, and foreign

businesses, if you are at the top list of cities, you are more likely

to get people saying let's go there. And you have failed that it a

couple of times, that must have come as a surprise. I wasn't there

at the time, as they say. We have learned from previous efforts and

the presentation and style has improved. It is not at the

cathedral and so on, it is about business and expansion. -- about.

They give are coming on, congratulations, leader of the city

council -- thank you. We will be back here talking about jobs, but

no more news from where you live. - - now.

Hello. In other news, hundreds of ex-servicemen exposed to radiation

in British nuclear weapons tests have lost their latest legal battle

against the Ministry of Defence. One Norfolk veteran, Colin King,

who was on Christmas Island in the South Pacific in 1958 described

today's judgement in the Supreme Court as "immoral".

Colin King watching live coverage via the internet of today's Supreme

Court proceedings. He wasn't hopeful, but when Lord Wilson

started to speak, Colin quickly knew the veterans had lost. Since

the veterans cannot even today prove that their illnesses have

probably been caused by whatever happened or did not happen to them.

It stinks. They rest on false hopes and should be brought to an end

their at the rather than later. believe it is morally wrong. There

is enough evidence and the world to prove that radiation has caused the

disease. It was 1958 and of Christmas Island, Britain was

carrying out nuclear tests. -- on. Colin King was doing his National

Service in the RAF. He was then the balloon unit based in Bedford which

was responsible for dropping two nuclear devices -- he was in.

balloons are stacked at their trial highest with a Dublin vote takes

place. -- dummy. The men were told to turn their backs and put their

hands over their faces. At that instance, the light first of all

just came right through your hands. I was sitting with fire back to the

bomb with my hands over my eyes -- buy-back. My thumbs were in my ears

and the light was so intense, it was like daylight. The many of the

veterans suffered health problems in later years. Colin King has a

lung disease and skin problems and cannot fathom out why the MoD would

take responsibility. Yes, I feel angry, frustrated and above all, I

feel that our government has let our people them. In a statement,

the MoD said it recognises the debt of gratitude to the servicemen but

reiterated the Supreme Court's judgement that any case brought by

the veterans would be doomed to failure. But lawyers acting for the

veterans say they will look at ways to fight on.

Flowers have been laid today outside a school in Essex where a

girl died during a PE lesson. 12- year-old Leonie Nice collapsed

after being hit yesterday by a rugby ball at the Woodlands School

in Basildon. Throughout the morning, Flowers

were taken into Woodlands School for a 12-year-old called Leonie

Nice. She was in a PE lesson and she tried to catch a rugby ball.

The ball hit her chest. She appeared to have a fit. She was

given CPR here at the school. was then taken to Basildon Hospital,

less than one mile away. Staff were waiting and ready but they could

not save her. On arrival, the young girl was being cared for by members

of staff administering first aid went -- and when the paramedics

assessed fair, she was in cardiac arrest. They attempted to

resuscitate at the scene and to cut a Basildon Hospital, where sadly

she died. At the school, at more flowers arrive. Elsewhere, the

internet was flooded with Tributes, and example of how deeply the

tragedy has been felt. The head teacher at Woodlands School

described Leonie Nice as kind, promising and delightful. Pupils

were offered counselling. Meanwhile, this picture of all of the flowers

left for Leonie Nice was added to the internet Tributes. There is

disbelief that a 12-year-old girl can lose her life doing something

as routine as p e. One of three men being tried for

the murder of a man in Norwich has pleaded guilty to the charge.

Honorato Alberto Christovao died of head injuries after an assault in

Rose Lane car park in February last year. Spencer Yiadom, who's 22 and

from Newham in East London, changed his plea at Norwich Crown Court

after previously denying murder. He's been remanded in custody. Two

other men deny the charge and their trial continues.

An elderly man has been killed in a house fire at Leigh On Sea in Essex.

A neighbour in Ormonde Gardens raised the alarm just after eight

o'clock this morning. The fire is not being treated as suspicious.

A �13 million centre to help people living with dementia has been

opened in Norfolk. The number of people with the illness in this

region is expected to rise by 30,000 in the next ten years. It's

one of the major challenges facing the Health Service.

This centre in Norwich is described by the NHS as the most advanced in

the country, with 36 bedrooms caring for people with all types of

severe dementia, and it is state of the art. All of the rooms are

fitted out with sensors, so in the distance, you can see if anything

is going on. If the patient is leaving the bed at night, an alarm

will go off so that the nursing staff knows somebody is coming out

of the bed. Tapsell Sauternes of automatically if a patient wonders

await -- perhaps turn off. Grass on the roof provides insulation. Stars

like Terry Pratchett and felt like the Iron Lady have helped increase

awareness, and Mary Brittain runs a day centre where she looks after

her mother. She has Alzheimer's and neither are convinced a specialist

centre is the way forward. personally don't like it very much.

I think it is very clinical. I think we have taken a backward step

and I think that we need to try and keep people with dementia in their

homes for as long as possible and people need to have familiar things

around them, not a clinical set up. You can't treat a street full of

people as though they are all the same. They are all individuals and

need to be looked at in that light, otherwise you might as well go into

an asylum. This centre cost �30 million to build, some might argue

that money might have been better spent on care in their home -- 13.

We do both. The centre will be for people who are at this stage of

their illness where they can only be cared for in a specialised

environment, but there is an awful lot we do before that. There may be

differing opinions on the care for dementia but one thing everybody in

Shorabak is that dignity and respect must be central.

-- sure about. Killer shrimp, which top a list of

the worst foreign invaders of our waterways, have been found in a

broad in Norfolk. The shrimp, which kill native species including young

fish and insect larvae, have been discovered in Barton Broad. They've

previously been found at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire and two

locations in South Wales. In football, a tough ask for

Colchester United last night as promotion-chasing Sheffield United

were in town. The Blades are the highest scorers in League One.

highest scorers in League One. The last month also has seen a

rejuvenated Colchester United their five games without defeat and bring

with it an outside chance of a play-off push. But with second-

placed Sheffield United the visitors, that record would

certainly be tested. Just after half-an-hour, the Blades spliced

through they Colchester defence and Will Hoskins finished past Ben

Williams. But Steven Gillespie has found his shooting boots of late

and he equalised after the break with pinpoint precision, taking his

tally to the season 2 11. Confident is not an issue with the use and

they streamed forward looking for another, but lightning would not

strike twice. But keepers finishing the game with sore hands, each of

them happy to concede only one goal each. Colchester stay night in

League One, seven. Outside the top six. -- 9th.

six. -- 9th. That's all from me. Now it's time

to go back to Stewart in Chelmsford. Welcome back to Chelmsford. It is

the second smallest cathedral in England. What else makes it

interesting is if you look behind me, you can see this is the centre

of Chelmsford. While lot of cathedrals are surrounded by a very

big ground, this is almost in the High Street, which makes it an

interesting place to come. It is a lovely cathedral, very busy as well.

Chelmsford was one of six towns in our region who were competing for

city status. Southend, Colchester, Luton, Corby and Milton keynes have

also spent the last 18 months trying to fight their case and, not

surprisingly, they're very disappointed by today's news. Our

political correspondent Andrew Sinclair reports.

It is only a title but a lot of places wanted to be called a city,

not least Milton Keynes. For many years, people here have called it a

city even though it wasn't and it still isn't. We are called the new

city of Milton Keynes and will continue to be. We act like a city

and there is an old saying, if you look like a duck and you quack like

a duck, you are a duck. decision was made at the Cabinet

Office in Whitehall. Officials assessed the individual bed and

left it to the Deputy Prime Minister to make the decision. That

bid. The Cabinet Office will not say why Chelmsford one, it is a

secret process, but when it launched the search, we were told

the towns would be judged on their history, their sense of community

and their vitality. Luton had put a lot of effort into its bid, it

toured the party conference with these noisy and colourful displays.

It may also have Bude that city status would be a way of kick-

starting people's views of Luton. We are all aware of the Colchester

Chelmsford rivalry. The MP for Colchester, which also mounted a

strong bid, was incensed. Off camera, he waved his arms furiously.

God moves in mysterious ways and so does this place. I find it quite

astonishing, frankly, when I look at the lists of places that were

not granted city status. I would love to know what the criteria is.

Chelmsford was always considered the outsider. There is a lot of

wounded pride but those who lost say they will try next time.

Let's move on to jobs now. As you may have heard, latest figures show

unemployment in Britain is up again. But here in the east, it is down.

The latest total now is 208,000. That's down 10,000 on the previous

quarter. And we're still below the national figure in percentage terms.

6.8% here compared with 8.4% across the country. But strangely,

although unemployment has increased in recent years, so too has the

number of people actually in work. One reason for that is what is

happening in places like Chelmsford. This report from our business

correspondent Richard Bond. It is all to do with our growing

population. More and more people want to live in the east. Our

population has risen from 5.3 million in 2001 up to 5.8 million

today. Some of the new residents are migrant workers from overseas,

others are Britain's working from other parts of the country -- the

British. It all boosts employment numbers but the effect may not last.

We have had population growth in the eastern region reflecting the

growth of the economy over the last 15 years, but the economy as have -

- has been slowing down over the last few years and employment

growth has stalled and we are seeing weaknesses in the labour

market. We are seeing fewer people in full-time employment. We are

seeing fewer hours worked by those in full-time employment. And we are

seeing more people losing their jobs. A big influence on our

growing employment numbers is London. More people are commuting

into the capital from places like Chelmsford. They may work in London

but because they sleep here, they count in ice employment figures.

Peter Jones is Adam Parr -- a partner at an estate agents near

Chelmsford. In the last 10 years, I would say we have seen a great

change in the number of people coming into the area. Before, for

2% of the buyers were coming from outside the area and with the

number of commuters now, it is probably 60% -- 40%. So with a

growing population, it is possible to have employment and unemployment

going up at the same time. Strange but true.

While we are run jobs... A quick word about the Look East

debate, which will be broadcast on Monday evening. Senior business

figures and politicians will be discussing the state of the economy

in this region. It's being held at Arm Holdings in Cambridge and you

can see it on Monday at 11:05 on BBC One.

I want to talk to Malcolm Johnston from Anglia Ruskin University and

see what city status will mean. Will it mean changes economic

Leigh? Over time, it well. Research published last year proved that the

eight cities that were made in 2002, out of all of those cities, only

one did not outperform their equivalent JOHN PARROT: In the

region in terms of inward investment and employment --

equivalents. Why is that? There is something

about perception. Cities can attract people. It can keep

graduates here as they graduate from university and other

universities in the area. And for foreign investment, being a city

does make a difference. This is a city that is doing reasonably well

as it stands, so cannot get better? Indeed it can. -- panic. What

Southend airport opening up, and with good links to the rest of

Europe and the world, it can do better and with American inward

investment. It makes a huge different, it is a city rather than

at town -- difference. When we look at how the council has managed to

do it, they are surprised. Are you surprised? I don't think we are

that surprised. If you look at the initiative, the borough council

have taken on a dynamic approach in the way they want to build

Chelmsford in the future to attract inward investment and this is just

the icing on the cake for them. Within the next five years, just

put a figure on it roughly what sort of growth can you think the

city status will bring? I couldn't say of the top of my head, but we

are talking about a few percentage points difference, which doesn't

sound a lot, but when you look at the inward investment already

coming in it is a significant amount of money and jobs. Good news

for everybody in Chelmsford and bad news for those who didn't get it.

Yes. Thank you for joining us, you must be very cold in just a suit!

Which leads us to the weather with Alex.

Good evening. It has been another Good evening. It has been another

day with high pressure right across us. It is just starting to slowly

migrate eastwards, but this was the image on a satellite picture

earlier this morning. A lot of cloud right across us once more.

But through the day, finally, that huge area of cloud started to thin

and break and we will see some places even got some brightness and

some sunshine in the West and the south of the region. Tonight, we

start with some clear skies further west and that is where we could get

some mist patches forming. It could get quite chilly with temperatures

expected to get them to three Celsius. -- Get down. Further east,

five or six Celsius with the wind alight South-a south-easterly. It

will be a cloudy and misty start, but we should see sunny spells

developing. It looks as though we will get dry out with us tomorrow,

particularly for the east, a lot of cloud to clear first thing. It

looks as though it will be in and break and through that as we get

sunshine, it could have quite an impact on the temperatures and they

are potentially could get up to 15 Celsius, so it should feel quite

comfortable in that sunshine with a light wind. Through the afternoon,

further spells of sunshine. Really make the most of it. Looking ahead,

Friday looks cloudy once more, but it is the weekend we are interested

in, because that actually looks as though it might bring us some rain.

This is the pressure chart for Saturday. We have this huge tailing

front which drags across us and it kind of move further backwards and

forms this area of low pressure, so the potential for rain, some of it

even on the heavy side later on Saturday. The next five days, it

certainly looks dry for the next two and Friday, as I say, a bit

more cloud around and that could bring temperatures down. Some

locations could be lower than 13. We will start the weekend dry but

cloudy and then the potential for some of that rain to move in from

the West. Some of it could turn heavy into the afternoon and

overnight period. By Sunday, it clears the way to showers, but you

will see their high for Sunday is just nine Celsius, so a bit cooler.

A dry start for the beginning of the week into Monday, a high of 11

degrees. Looking at the overnight lows, they are starting to get

lower. Minus one Celsius by Sunday, which could bring us back a frost.

which could bring us back a frost. Back to you in Chelmsford.

It does feel very cold here this evening, actually. As you drive

into Chelmsford on a night like this, you look at things like road

signs, they say town centre. I passed maybe eight or 10, they will

have to be replaced. They will have to replace the letter heading for