27/03/2012 Look East - East

On Look East tonight, the region braces itself for a decade of

expansion as the Government trance forms the planning laws. It really

does make sense to rip up the red table tape and allow areas that

want to grow, to start growing. have reaction from all sides to

that announcement, which could change the face of our region.

Reduced to a trickle, the rivers in our region drying up in the drought.

Normally, in March, you would expect that the water levels to be

above your ankles at least. At the moment, it literally is just a

small trickle running down the river. This woman's extradition

battle described as "shocking" by the experts. As easyJet makes its

first flight out of Southend I'm on board and in conversation with the

airline's Chief Executive, Carolyn McCall. Hello, towns and cities

across the region are fatesing a decade of development after the

Government announcement today of a shake-up in the planning laws. The

changes take place with immediate effect. The aim is to make it

easier for companies to grow and for developers to build more houses.

From now on, there will be an "presumption in favour of

sustainable development" it's the Look East region which can expect

the biggest impact. These are the locations where demand for housing

is at its highest. Here along the M1 at Luton and Milton Keynes. Here

in Peterborough and over here in Colchester where the population is

set to soar by 21,000 in the next eight years. In Corby it's

projected to rise by 9,000. That's ain crease of 19% in just eight

years. While the reforms are being welcomed tonight by the business

community, conservation groups have expressed concern at what they're

calling a "planning free for all". This report comes from Andrew

Sinclair. The Government says these changes are pro-business. Designed

to make it quicker to get things built. At this business conference

today the changes were Warmley welcomed. I think this is welcomed

anything that can shorten it is better for businesses. Businesses

need to react quickly. I think the news today that it will go through

is fantastic. It will make people from small contractors to larger

ones invest in for fork. About ministers say there is a growing

need for more homes in the region. Councils will be expected to look

at the population projections and give the go atheed far more

building. At Westminster, some MPs think the move is long overdue.

a time when we all know that the country needs economic growth, and

there is a housing crisis, it really does make sense to rip up

the red tape and allow areas like Corby, who want to grow, to start

growing. Why should Colchester and north Essex be submerged under more

housing. More land has been developed in Colchester in the last

30 years than in the 2,000 years after the Roman's settled on

Colchester and made it their first capital. The Government said

brownfield sites should be used first and the impact to the

countryside always considered. message from ministers gives us

very little hope that they actually mean what they say. We fear that it

will allow developers to build in the countryside regardless of its

impact. The Government is relying on British business to kick start

the economy. In building more roads, doing a way -- away with red tape

and looking at airport expansion, it's trying to make things as easy

as possible for business to grow. There will be more building in the

countryside, the question is, how much and will it be worth it? One

place which can expect a big expansion over the next eight years

is Peterborough. It's seen massive growth since the '60s. There is a

lot more to come. In the 1930's we were building houses like crazy.

Today, we are creating half of the homes we need. To give the next

generation the chance our generation has had... The council

here in Peterborough says it is sitting pretty. It is a council

that sticks to a local plan. We at Peterborough have a site

allocations document which clearly sets out exactly where any future

development might be allowed in our cities area. In the next 20 years

the city's population is expected to reach 250,000. New areas could

be created like this one. Ten years ago, Hampton Vale didn't exist, now

it's Peterborough's newest town, housing thousands of people.

sure it will chep help the economy. Good for businesses as well. More

people in the area for businesses and more growth. It's never a bad

thing. We are waiting for a property at the moment. We are

living in a room with a baby. It's not very good. We need a house.

25,000 new homes need to be built in Peterborough over the next ten

years. Work that come -- could come this developers way. The minister

made it clear in his statement to the House today that things like

green belts, areas of outstanding natural beauty will be maintained,

they will be preserved. It's not a developers charter as has been

written in the press up-and-down the country. With such a crisis on

our hands, good planning is an essential part of the jigsaw. Once

the houses are built, whether we can actually afford them, that is a

different story. Earlier, I spoke to the Communities Minister, and

yue Stunnell. I put it to him that the local people might not want any

develops but under the new rules wouldn't they still go-ahead

because of emphasis on the economic benefits? Your children and

grandchildren need to have places to live. They need to have places

to work and they need to have the means of getting from one to the

other. So, all our communities are going to have to grow. They are

going to have to provide the right accommodation for that community in

the future. We need to give people the opportunity to say, I want my

community to develop like this in the next ten years and to say to

developers, there is your opportunity, fit in with that plan.

Get your development plans to line up with what the local community

wants. A lot of talk today about sustainable development and that

developments need to be sustainable. What is the exact definition of

that? A big company might say that their plans are sustainable, but

local people might say, no, we don't want these fields to be built

on. What wins the argument? It has to be sustainable economically.

Obviously, nothing gets built if it's not economically sustainable.

It has to be sustainable from the environmental point of view. It has

to be sustainably from the social and community point of view as well.

The NPPF say it is's right for the planners at local council level to

test that out and to decide whether that development proposal is or

isn't sustainable. Countryside Alliance said there is a lack of

guidance for local communities if they have legitimate concerns about

planned developments. What should they do? Every local council area

needs to have its own local plan. Inside that area, each

neighbourhood can, if it wants to, develop its own statutory plan.

It's own plan suitable for its own needs and and its own purposes. It

has to fit into the overall pattern, of course it has. The jigsaw has to

join up and make a picture overall. It's the first time local

communities have had that freedom to decide how their communities

should be shaped in the future. That's the new step that we've

taken. So, yes, of course, there is going to be tension and conflict

sometimes, but it's going to be one where the local community has far

more say in the shape of their future than they have ever had

before. Thank you very much. Northampton and England rugby star

Dylan Hartley has been banned from playing for eight weeks after he

bit an opponent during the Six Nations game against Ireland. James

Burridge is in Northampton now. Both the players were involved in

an incident. The pictures show when the incident happened. Nigel Owens

is refereeing, he didn't see the incident. Both players and both

captains were spoken to about it at the time. Nigel Owens pulled both

captains together. I know we were going to hear a bit of the clip

there. Let me ask you, is that it as far as he is concerned for the

rest of the season now? In a strange way he is quite lucky.

Normally, a ban for biting could be a minimum of 12 weeks, it could be

as much as four years at times. Eight weeks is quite lucky. He

could play in the Premiership final. He will be playing in England's

Tour to South Africa in June. It wasn't conclusive. I think the

committee today saw that, Hartley made a statement as well. He may

appeal this. He said he is disappointed about this. He is

waiting for the written judgment on Friday. On Thursday, Callum Clarke

he faces his own disciplinary committee hearing on Thursday for a

worse offence. He has been accused of pulling out the elbow out of a

socket of a rival player. This week for Northampton is not good. Both

its captains are involved in cases such as these. Lots more to come,

including the attempts to keep one of our most beautiful rivers

flowing. Shaun Peel has news from on board easyJet flight 2012.

easyJet announced it's looking at allocating seats for passengers in

a trial. One change in an ever changing airline industry. I will

talk to the boss of easyJet, Carolyn McCall, after the news from

your part of the region. A single mother from Thetford is facing

extradition over a drugs offence in her native Poland six years ago.

23-year-old Natalia Gorczowska came to the UK when she was 18. A

campaign group say it is's shocked by the move. Natalia Gorczowska has

turned her life around. She adores her son Nathan, she has a regular

factory job, she share as home in Thetford with her father, but fear

it is could all be taken away from her. The self-harming scars on her

arms testify to how it used to be in Poland. He was given a ten month

suspended sentence. Hidden beneath the trousers her electronic tag.

The poemish authorities say she broke the terms of her sentence by

not telling them of her move to England. They say she must return

and go to prison. I try to do my best for me and my son. It's not

easy being single mother. Now, my life has come down again. I don't

know what's going to happen the next day. I'm scared every day

because maybe I have to go. It's really hard. Do you think this is a

battle that you can win? I'm not sure now. I hope so. I don't kill

no-one. Auto I do bad for myself, not to someone else. I hope I can

stay with my son and someone will understand me and try to help me.

Extradition has an enormous human impact. It should be restricted to

the most serious offences. In this case, extraditing a young woman,

separating her from her one-year- old child, for a minor offence,

would be disproportionate. The pressure group says Poland issued

3,700 European arrest warrants in 2010 many for minor threft and drug

pocession offences. She fears the knock-on the door that could turn

her life and that of her son upside down. The flow of gas to the Bacton

terminal on the Norfolk coast has fallen sharply following a gas leak

on a drilling rig in the North Sea. Gas from the Elgin field is piped

ashore at Bacton. Gas flows at the nerm terminal have dropped by 60%

since the rig shut down. The region's supplies won't be affected.

It's taken more than 20 years, but from today a young woman from Essex

officially exists. She is Jade Jacobs-Brooks and she lives in

Harlow. Her problems started when she was born in Spain and didn't

get a birth certificate. This is the document she has been fighting

for. Presented with her Spanish birth certificate it proves she

does now exist. I didn't know how to react to it. Everyone take it is

for granted. When I got it in my hands, I mean, it was mad.

Obviously, it's held me back for 20 years not being able to work. Pick

up a package from the post box. I dent tie crisis started in Spain.

Her parents were on holiday. She was born early. Although her birth

was registered in Spain, she wasn't given a birth certificate. Her

parents were allowed to fly her home. It has taken years to get her

an identity. Without a birth certificate, she hasn't been able

to vote, learn to drive or leave the country. Everybody says, surely,

you must be able to do this. Why don't you try. This we've tried

everything we can. It's taken four years for one of the world's

largest law firms to resolve her case. We saw it as a human rights

issue. She couldn't work. She couldn't vote. She couldn't travel.

All of these things that we take for granted, she couldn't do.

will open up everything for her, holidays, going out with the girls.

Jade Jacobs-Brooks plans to apply for her passport and travel. A

quick word about the football tonight. Ipswich are at home to

Middleton in the Championship. In League One, Colchester go to

Walsall. A win could put them within three points of the play-

offs. Not so long ago we all had them, thep then came the CD and the

iPod. Demand for old-style records is growing by the day. That's good

news for devoted fans of vinyl. Among thepg is a collector from

Suffolk. -- them is a collector from Suffolk. I appeared at the

Royal Festival two or three times. I did ten minute warmups for

Frankie Vaughan. I was called Steve Baron. I change, all musicians do.

One thing that hasn't changed is his love of vinyl. He lost count of

how many records he has, he think it is could be more than 6,000.

Heavy metal is popular with the kids. Funk has take an dive.

can listen undisturbed here and get nostalgic. Remember this sound?

This is what they call sych-folk. Collectors clamour for it, vinyl is

very much back in vowing. It's the warmth of the recordings. Now

everything is digitally mastered. It's so clean. There is a warm wth

vinyl. Sometimes at the beginning you might not hear that crackle. It

makes it feel more homely. Collectors don't want to hear that,

they want it perfect. There is a warmth to it. If you want to step

back, how about this, a black box and Bobbie Helms. It's from 195, a

track called Living In the Shadow Of the Past. For JJ where better to

be. --1958. This is Look East from the BBC, coming up Viva Espana from

Southend. There's still no end in sight to the drought in this region.

We are just nine days away from a hosepipe ban. The driest spell in a

century can be seen where ever we look in our fields and gardens and,

of course, in our rivers. Over the coming weeks, Look East will chart

the story of the drought from the banks of the River Deben in Suffolk.

It's a typical east ange -- East Anglianwaterway, which, in places,

has been reduced to a trickle. We can join our environment reporter

Richard Daniel. This river depends on run-off from the surrounding

farm land there has been little rain in the past few weeks. The

flow is sharply declining. There is concern that the ecology of this

river could be affected. Dawn on the Deben. It's easy to see why

some rate it among the most beautiful low land rivers in

Britain. For 26 miles it winds it is way through the unspoilt Suffolk

countryside. Wildlife, agriculture, tourism, all depend on the river.

Downstream, here at Afford, close to where the Deben becomes tidal,

it appears to be nothing wrong with this river. It's stunning. Travel

up close to the source of the river, and problems are already becoming

apparent. Normally, in March, you would expect that the water levels

to be above your ankles at least. As you can see at the moment, it

literally is just a small trickle running down the river. At Deben

the river is stagnant. They have seen this before. Back in 1997, we

had an incident, where 15 kilometers of the river further

down was deoxygenated and we had lots of fish dying. Yeah, the

conditions were so bad that the eels were crawling up the banks to

get out of the waurter because it was so unpleasant. -- water because

it was so unpleasant. Five miles downstream they are prepared for

the worst. This borehole can pump 4,000 tonnes of water a day into

the river. They expect to start using it by mid-summer.

forecasts at the moment we would expect to Selo flows from June on

wards. Which means we have to run this borehole through to September.

This is about 50 meters deep. It pumps from the deep chalk. Talk

taking wautfrer a big area around us. It will have an effect on water

levels for three miles. This equipment monitors the oxygen

levels in the river. At the moment it's high, close to 100%. This is

one of self-places where the water may have to be aerated. Why you

have areas of slow flowing water there will be blooms, in the day

time sun light will give out oxygen. At the night-time they will give

oit out CO2. I have seen them completely dry. There will be rats,

nothing else. To think it could happen to our main channels is very

serious. Everyone hopes it doesn't come to. That over the coming

months, we'll find out. Now, the Environment Agency says it will

hold off to the last-minute before it pumps water into this river to

keep flows going. Farmers may not be able to extract water from this

river this summer. That decision rests on whether there will be any

rain. Alex is there any rain? We have high pressure across the

British isles blocking the weather front that would bring us wet

weather at this time of year. It will start moving to the west, it

doesn't look like we will see useful rain totals for the neck

week. From the two of us, from a beautiful stretch of the River

Deben, back to you in the studio. Thank you very much. If you are

affected by the drought conditions get in touch. You can: Phone, e-

mail, log on it our Facebook page or send us a tweet. Most people

would be able to name the boss of Virgin Airlines, Richard Branson

and perhaps the man who runs Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, but how

about the top person at easyJet? Her name is Carolyn McCall. This

week she launched a new UK base at Southend Airport. Shaun Peel has

been with her on the airline's first et flight out to Barcelona. -

- flight out to Barcelona. Carolyn McCall has always been a high flyer.

This week she announced ten routes out of Southend, that is 70 flights

a week. It's opportunistic Southend for us. Because the capacity is

constrained in London, actually putting capacity into Southend

helps that. It's very easy to get to Liverpool Street, over an hour

straight from the plane to Liverpool Street. Some have

questioned the wisdom of populating a flight Pathe cross 20,000 people.

The campaign group Stop Airport Expansion Now. After a while in the

wilder nest, Southend is growing with its new partner but promises

not to outgrow its welcome. We are trying to get to a stage where we

are 10% the size of Stansted in ten years' time. We want it to be an

enjoyable airport. McCall has been the boss of easyJet for two years.

She says she likes to walk in her customer's shoes and they don't

like the stress of queuing for seats. Some avoid her airline

because of. It today, they have announced they will trial a system

of seat allocation on certain routes. The only reason we are

doing it because all our research says that people want to be able to

pre-book a seat they know the seats they like. That's what they've told

us. Are you putting your elbow in the water here? Is there more that

could be done with Southend? will bring in and taking out about

a million passengers in the first year. We will hope to grow that. We

will wait and see. We will test routes. Make sure some routes work.

Some routes might not work. We will keep adding or amending what we do.

One hour and 50 minutes from Southend, touch down in Barcelona.

By tradition, the fire service on the ground christen the new arrival,

Carolyn McCall's baby. Quickly, to Carolyn McCall's baby. Quickly, to

Alex for the weather: what a beautiful day it has been. Easy to

forget it's still March. If we start with the pressure shart chart.

We have high pressure across the British isles. Tonight's chart,

with clear skies that we had today, it will get chilly. During tonight

it could get down to freezing or just below. Minus one is expected

in the wetion of the region, holding up at two Seles shus

further east. Tomorrow, it will be a bit of a chilly start to the day.

We could see remarkable highs tomorrow. Up to 21 Celsius. With

more of a westerly wind that means on the coast we could see highs of

about 18 Celsius where it's been fresher there today. In the

afternoon it will be fine and dry. If we look ahead to our next

pressure chart the area of high pressure starts to move to the west.

What this does, it brings up -- sets up a northerly wind. It will

cool things down. The next few days, fine and dry. Increasing amounts of

cloud for Thursday and Friday. By the weekend potentially patchy rain.

It won't amount to very much on Saturday. Some places may miss it

altogether. Quite a bit cooler by the weekend. High of 10 Celsius by

Saturday much we will notice the difference. Those are the overnight