11/09/2013 Look East - East


11/09/2013

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Welcome to Look East. Education bosses are called to a meeting with

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the government on the days schools in Norfolk receive more critical

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Ofsted reports. Also in the programme, the farmer ordered to pay

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£5,000 after he allowed his arm to be turned into a rubbish dump. Can

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smaller roads cope after their A14 is closed?

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If people think they are getting a reasonable deal, they will use it.

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And the project to restore East Anglia's lack gold.

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—— black gold. Hello. After months of poor results

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and low Ofsted ratings, education leaders in Norfolk were summoned to

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Westminster today to tell the minister how they're planning to

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improve schools in the county. This week, Ofsted announced its

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findings from inspections at 18 schools in Norfolk. 14 require

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improvement. Only three have improved since their last

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inspection. North Walsham Junior, Ditchingham Church of England

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Primary and the Cliff Park High School. So how did we get to a point

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where the Government is asking questions about the quality of

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schools in Norfolk? This report from Debbie Tubby.

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These are year 11 English students at Hethersett High. It is one of six

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schools put into special measures in March. Four months later, Ofsted

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criticised Norfolk's LEA. The Local Education Authority. It said its

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arrangements for supporting school improvements were ineffective. I

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would like each and everyone of you to say, let him have it, Chris. In

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June, John Catton, a headteacher with 20 years experience, was

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brought in by the LEA to turn around Hethersett High. Since its GCSE

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results, it's now classed among the most improved in the county. John

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Catton credits the staff and pupils and can't fault the LEA's support.

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The local authority have really pitched in here and done a

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substantial job of work and they are continuing to do so, data up to the

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point when it becomes an academy on the 1st of November. It was in

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March. Ofsted blitzed 28 Norfolk schools in a week. Three out of five

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were falling short. Some slipping backwards. In June, the director of

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Children's Services stood down following MP's calls for her

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resignation. I don't think I'd have failed, and I do not thing the

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system has failed. The LEA itself was assessed by Ofsted the same

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month. In July, it revealed the LEA needs to get tough with failing

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schools. And fast. Today, the Schools Minister, David Laws, has

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held a meeting with the LEA. And all nine Norfolk MPs are meeting with

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Ofsted. As a group of Norfolk MPs, we are determined to do all we can

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to work with the council, government, Ofsted to do what we all

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know needs to be done to improve the situation for all of Norfolk's

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children. John Catton says Ofsted was right to place Hethersett High

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in special measures. But it believes, in the next three years,

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it will be among the top performing schools in the county.

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I spoke to Mick Cassell from Norfolk County Council and asked about

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two—day's meeting. We wanted to tell him we had we were with the

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improvement programme, what we as a council had done for additional

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resources, and make it clear to him that we were as committed as he

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was. Does he think that will do the trick? Part of discussions was

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external validation for improvement plans. Disappointed that there is

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another Ofsted reports with so many showing improvement required? I am

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aware we have a problem that needs addressing, so in some respects,

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whether it is the report from Ofsted, or exam results, those were

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not a surprise. You say within three years all schools will reach

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required standards, or better, but Norfolk has tried so long. How will

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you do that in three years? We were in the middle of the table in the

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last few years, only recently that we have sunk to the lower part of

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league tables, so I am convinced that we have been better in the past

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and can be better still. Who got it wrong in the past? I was off the

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Council for a few years. It was not officials? It is always a mixture,

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resources, choices, you know. Have you got rid of all the people who

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got it wrong? I do not know.Bite you are confident of getting it

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right. I know what we have done is right. Someone with a track record

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of dealing with failing schools, so no qualms about that. Are you

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surprised MPs from Norfolk have gone to meet Ofsted today? If the ad of

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goodwill —— if the error of goodwill, we hope we will succeed.

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They did not be to me beforehand. To me, we have to work together and I

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think we will. Working together and interfering are two different

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things. Yes, I have some reservations about the kind of a

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nascent we have had recently, and it is about the hard work of getting

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onto the day to day bread and butter issues and important to us that we

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can take the boxes with some milestones in the road to

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improvement. Thank you very much. A court's heard how a former BBC

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Radio Norfolk presenter molested two teenage boys. Michael Souter, who's

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60, is said to have plied the youngsters with alcohol before

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indecently assaulting them. He denies a string of abuse charges.

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Simon Newton was in court. Michael Souter sat in the dock

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making notes as these two men separately gave evidence from behind

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a screen. This morning, we heard from man who had a casual job at BBC

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Radio Norfolk in the 1980s when he was 16. Mike Souter invited him to

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go round and do odd jobs. One one summer's day, he says Souter offered

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him alcohol. He drank four or five cans and felt unwell, at which point

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Souter led him upstairs and have a lay down. Awoke he found his clothes

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had been removed and Souter molesting him. I said, what are you

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doing? He said, calm down, don't worry. And what did the other

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witness have to say? The jury heard how Michael Souter helped set up a

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scout group in the 1980s. A second man described how when he was 16 he

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went on a cycling trip to Roughton Mill near Cromer with the presenter.

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He said Mr Souter brought cans of lager and the pair then slept

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overnight in the Mill. He said he woke up to see movement in the

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presenter's sleeping bag. He said, quite quickly, he unzipped my

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sleeping bag and started to touch me. He said Souter suggested he did

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the same to him, but he refused. He stayed in the scouts and never

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mentioned what happened. Largely because of Michael Souter's

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celebrity status and connections. He didn't think anyone would believe

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him. Both men refuted claims by the defence that they'd invented the

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allegations. And denied they'd consented to any sexual activity.

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Souter denies 19 charges relating to seven boys. The trial is due to last

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six weeks. Simon, thank you. A former farmer from Essex has been

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fined for allowing rubbish, which included some medical waste, to be

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dumped on his land. It cost half a million pounds to clean up the mess

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on Neil Spooner's farm. Today he was ordered to pay £5,000.

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It looks like a rubbish dump, but this is actually a farm near

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Chelmsford. Strewn with tonnes of plastic, glass and wood from skips.

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The are even hospital dressings, syringes and plastic langue kits.

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The former Spooner, was sentenced after allowing waste to be —— the

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farmer, Neil Spooner, was sentenced after allowing waste to be dumped

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there. But he said he was duped by people who wanted to turn it into a

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rubbish table. He got into financial difficulty after buying the farm.

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The court was told that not long afterwards three men in a Mercedes

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drove up and offered to fill a slurry pit with mud and soil. Mr

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Spooner gave permission, because he wanted to use the pit for grazing

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for horses. His job as an economic consultant took him away from the

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farm, but when he returned, he realised much more than mud and soil

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had been dumped. The farm effectively used as a tip. It took

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£1.5 million of the value of the farm, costing so much to clean up.

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He was fined £2000 and ordered to pay £3000 costs. A very important

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prosecution, sending a clear message to landowners that you cannot allow

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anyone onto your land to deposit waste. He was hoping for a clean

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soils, but ending up with lots of materials that will cost money to be

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removed. The farmer is now up for sale. Mr Spooner says he still does

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not know who the three men were. There is growing hope the Lowestoft

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Airshow could return next year. It's thought to be worth £13 million to

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the local economy, but was cancelled this summer because not enough

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funding could be found. Its displays have thrilled the

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crowds for 17 years, but the organisers failed to raise enough

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money this year. Funding really should not have been a problem. It

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costs about £300,000 to stage. But 400,000 people come to watch it,

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less than £1 per head. Now businesses are trying to raise the

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£60,000 reserve needed in case the short makes a loss. —— in case the

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show. ?? YELLOW We think we have found 40,000, and need another 20.

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So people and businesses of Lowestoft need to come up with

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pledges for the other 20,000. Do you think you will make it? Yes.Among

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those pledging support, this hotel. It believes business will be brisk.

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It brings lots of people, bringing everyone in. But time is tight.

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There is just over a fortnight to decide whether the deadline can be

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met to book the Red Arrows. We have this exciting option. All credit to

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the seafront businesses for coming up with these proposals. If it was

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not for them, I would not be talking to you. That is growing confidence

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that, come next June, the skies will be buzzing once more.

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Still to come, the project to restore thousands of acres of

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peatland. And a former commander of forces in Afghanistan says the

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government is creating a part—time Army as it cuts the number of

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regular soldiers. All this week, we've been looking at

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the plan to build a new toll road on the A14 in Cambridgeshire. It would

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mean part of the existing A14 would be demolished to stop drivers using

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the old road. So if you don't want to pay the toll, the Highways Agency

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is suggesting drivers could avoid it by travelling via St Neots using the

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A1 and the A428. But will those roads be able to cope with the extra

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traffic? Stuart Ratcliffe did the commute this morning.

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Thrapston, Northamptonshire. Destination Cambridge. And so far so

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good. We are just approaching the junction

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for Ellington on the A14 and, in 2019, this is where you would take

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the toll road cutting through those fields, working through the

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countryside before rejoining the A14 at the Cambridge services. But we

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are carrying on on the old A14 to take the recommended diverging

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route, going down the A14 and across the A428. We are leaving the

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existing A14, this is the A1 above us and the alternative route if you

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did not want to take the toll. So down towards St Neots and Cambridge

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and we have the problems start. And this is what people are worried

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about. Only a single carriageway at the moment heading towards Caxton.

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The car has officially ground to a halt. And if it's like this now,

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people in St Neots are really worried about the future. When the

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A428 is clogged up with traffic, I have experienced the problems that

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causes around St Neots, and I do not want to see that regularly. The

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traffic at St Neots will be horrendous. We will be looking at

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chaos in time two, they will come down this road, try to get through

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over little britches. — —— we will be looking at chaos. It is bad

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enough now. So back to the roads. Even without the toll, how did the

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government's alternative fare? I guess that was an extra eight miles,

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taking an extra half an hour, the government's alternative route if

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you do not want to use the toll road.

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Philip Gomm is from the RAC Foundation. I asked him what impact

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he thought an A14 toll would have on other routes. It is a real

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consideration and potentially a real problem. A lot will depend on

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pricing. If people think the prices are kept very low, people might be

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prepared to pay the £1 for what had better be a much better journey.

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That is not the situation we found on the M6 toll road when unregulated

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charges mean drivers pay more than £5 per journey and we have seen a

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lot of existing traffic staying on the old M6 and deciding to take

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their chances with congestion. The highways agency would say that

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because of the jams on the A14 there are already diverse as people try to

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find ways around a serious bottleneck. I remember when the toll

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was first mooted and this was called a tax on Suffolk. And a lot of

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viewers again are saying they have already paid for this through their

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road tax, why pay again? Good point. Drivers contribute billions in fuel

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duty, before adding VAT, so drivers pay through the nose to use the

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roads. The irony is this A14 scheme has been around for years. Back in

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2010, this government cancelled that, now we are going through it

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all again. They could have taken that taxation money and build the

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road when it was first mooted. This will be the first ball of its type

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in the country, but is this the future of road—building? Do you

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think old roads will have tolls in the future? The government say they

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are prepared to consider tolls for so—called new capacity. The RAC

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foundation sees a long—term case for some kind of national road charging,

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instead of fuel duty, but what we do not see any argument for is this

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piecemeal approach, essentially creating a postcode lottery. If you

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use the A14 in East Anglia, with existing taxation, you pay road

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tolls, something people will clearly be upset about. Thank you.

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The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan has told Look

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East the government is creating a part—time army as it cuts the number

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of regular soldiers. The MOD wants to recruit 11,000 more reservists

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and has pledged to invest almost £2 billion training and equipping them.

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Our defence reporter Alex Dunlop has just returned from Croatia, where

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reservists from the Royal Anglians were on exercise.

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As the dawn mist rises, a platoon commander urges his men to focus.

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Pass it down, guys. Part—time soldiers from across the Eastern

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region on exercise near the Serbian border. The enemy, marked with

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orange tape, won't give up without a fight. 50 metres! Pass, pass, pass!

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Doug Farthing, a paratrooper for 23 years before he became a reservist,

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has done it all before. This his day job now, a professional artist. We

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do see ourselves being used, as much as already used both in Afghanistan

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and Iraq. We will be integrating with regular battalions more. And

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deploying not only on operations, but on overseas exercises as well in

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the future. The student hopes this will give him an edge, before

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joining the Army Air Corps. I need something that puts me about the

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rest. Just the life experience I get from this will hopefully put me

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above everyone else applying. A soldier to be and are now

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professional welcomed into the ranks. The vast bulk of the 11,000

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reservists the army needs by 2020 will be civilians. And so far, not

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enough people are signing up. The government is investing £1.8 billion

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into reserves like these. That includes centres for lawyers. But

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critics say that is a cynical move by making full—time soldiers

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redundant and effectively hollowing out the army. —— centres for

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employers. This ex—colonel turned analyst says replacing with

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reservists is short—sighted. We have seen a crisis in reservists before

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the government decided to do that. What will that do to the Army? What

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is behind this is a false edifice. We are increasingly moved towards a

:20:15.:20:19.

part—time army, and civilian army. And an army made up in that way

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cannot function in the way the British Army has functioned since

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time immemorial as one of the most respected and professional Armed

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Forces in the world. A more flexible or more constrained Army? Either

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way, reservists will have a key role on and behind the front line.

:20:36.:20:45.

This afternoon, I spoke to the Defence Minister and Essex MP Mark

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Francois, who was a reservist with the Royal Anglians himself. I put it

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to him that Colonel Kemp believes we could end up with a part—time army.

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I do not accept that, because reserves will get high—quality

:20:58.:21:02.

training, equipment on a par with the regulars and we will peer

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reserve units with regular units. You have been looking at Royal

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Anglian reserve in creation who have been exercising with the 2nd

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Battalion of the regulars. There is a good example of what we will be

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doing across the Army of hearing reserve units with regular units,

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working more closely together, and more capable combine. But we will

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not be able to carry out the role the British Army has traditionally

:21:36.:21:41.

carried out so many reservists? I do not accept that. Territorial Army

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units in the Second World War have a proud history. Supporters one thing,

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but more than one in three soldiers will be reservists, a high number

:21:53.:21:58.

and people high up in the Army concerned about it. There is a high

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your ratio than that in other armies. Isn't this just about saving

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money? No, we are be balancing the Army, and the Ministry of Defence

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has had financial challenges, this is to expand the reserve part of the

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Army and integrate them more closely with regulars. But not going into

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the hottest of hot spots, doing back—up work? I do not accept that,

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we have had some reservists in Afghanistan, in some hotspots, and

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unfortunately some killed serving their country, just like regulars.

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Reservists at the sure pound —— sharp end for a number of years. So

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we do not need a regular army? No, a combination of both. We have always

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had regulars and reservists. In both the second and First World War,

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Iraq, Afghanistan, both regulars and reservists have formed well, that

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has been our tradition for a century and we continue it with this

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reform, and strengthen it. Thank you.

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Thousands of acres of peatland are to be restored as part of an

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ambitious project which could last into the next century. The Great Fen

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Project in Cambridgeshire is part of a national campaign to bring back

:23:32.:23:36.

our wetlands. There is a huge amount of carbon dioxide in peat. So it's

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important for all of us to save it. Ghostly and silent. Beautiful in its

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flatness. And underfoot black gold, the precious peat soil. But this

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rich organic darkness, the living breathing soul of the Fens, is

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dying. Intensive drainage projects followed by years of arable

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cultivation has literally sucked the life out of the landscape. Back in

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1850, this was completely drained and the people behind that

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controversial drainage project put in this metal pole to show the

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impact of drainage on peat soil. And ground level was at the very top.

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Research shows two centimetres of parched peat is lost every year.

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Known as a Fen Blow, the black dust clouds fill the skies. But the

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environmental impact potentially devastating. Peatland is a very

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valuable means of locking carbon dioxide into the soil. When peatland

:24:42.:24:50.

dries out, when peat dries out, it releases carbon dioxide, which is a

:24:50.:24:56.

greenhouse gas. But by re—wetting peatland, we can lock some of that

:24:56.:25:00.

carbon dioxide. From Trundlemere Hide, you can see this vast

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landscape changing. Islands rise up from the earth. Newly dug waterways

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rehydrate the soil. Pools and ponds are filling up. It will be one of

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the most important reedbeds. About 30 hectares. Within five to ten

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years, this whole landscape will be entirely transformed as far as the

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eye can see, all the way to the horizon there. And we will get

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wetland species moving in. It will take a long time to lick the wounds

:25:32.:25:36.

inflicted on this damaged land. Up to a 100 years before it is truly

:25:37.:25:38.

healed. It looked autumnal. Now for the

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weather. Low pressure and whether fronts is the theme this week.

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This front has been responsible for a lot of cloud.

:25:52.:25:53.

It has made things quite gloomy. Expect light and patchy rain, some

:25:54.:26:06.

drizzle here and there, but petering out. By the end of the night, we

:26:06.:26:12.

should be largely drive. A lot of cloud of around. —— we should be

:26:12.:26:18.

largely dry. Quite a bit of cloud around first

:26:18.:26:31.

thing, then something brighter, some sunshine perhaps breaking through

:26:31.:26:36.

the cloud. Much warmer air tomorrow, so temperatures climbing. Like

:26:36.:26:45.

south—westerly wind. 18, 19, perhaps 20 degrees in places, then

:26:45.:26:51.

increasing cloud later tomorrow, and the next month, more potent, with

:26:51.:26:58.

more rain. The rain chatting eastwards overnight into early

:26:58.:27:02.

Friday morning, and more persistent and heavy. Some uncertainty for

:27:02.:27:09.

Saturday. Low pressure from the South. Will that mean rain? Maybe it

:27:09.:27:16.

does. But stay tuned, because that is some uncertainty. Overnight rain

:27:16.:27:22.

for Thursday, clearing first thing Friday morning, then not a bad day,

:27:22.:27:29.

quite a lot of cloud, but largely dry for the bulk of the day, the

:27:29.:27:34.

chance of rain on Saturday. Not bad on Sunday, chilly overnight. That is

:27:34.:27:39.

it. From all of us here, thank you for

:27:39.:27:46.

your company this evening. We will see you tomorrow night.

:27:46.:27:46.

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