04/12/2013 Look East - East

Welcome to Look East. Tonight. All change on wind turbines. More

government cash for offshore, but less onshore. So where does that

leave the region's renewables industry? Also tonight, confirmation

that a plan to charge drivers to use part of the A14 has been dropped by

the government. We've come to the decision that when

this road goes ahead in three years' time there will be no toll.

Comes to see you quite a bit? The legacy of the Mid`Staffs

hospital scandal. A lesson for medical students in a care home.

And let's hear it for netball trainer Phil Pitts. We love her, we

love Phil! Time to put another unsung hero in the spotlight.

First tonight, it was the day the government got its cheque book out

and announced where it was going to spend its money in the years ahead.

And for the East, the headlines are all about wind turbines and the A14.

They call it the National Infrastructure Plan, when ministers

announce the details of investment in a number of projects. So today

the Chief Secretary to the Treasury promised to increase the subsidies

for offshore wind farms. But there will be a small reduction onshore.

And Danny Alexander also made it official today, there will be no

toll road on the A14. But we start with wind power. In a moment Richard

Bond and the changes onshore. But first Alex Dunlop and the promise of

more money offshore. From Essex to Norfolk, the seascape

of our coast is changing fast. Today's announcement of more subsidy

means more turbines will follow. That can happen because the

government guarantees the offshore generation a strike price, the

amount it will pay per unit of... Tee, which is above the current

value of electricity. The prices announced to 2018 are likely to a

row `` to lead to several gigawatts of investment. The price will

decrease each year to ?135 by 2020. But this was increased to 140, to

encourage investment. This investment feed through to firms

like this. They install, inspect and maintaining wind turbines. The

government pumped a lot of money into the industry, why did you have

more? If we don't get the support, industry will get suppressed and

subjugated and that will lead to other companies coming in and

encroaching on the jobs in this area. The industry's main argument

is that investors are unwilling to put money into offshore wind unless

they are guaranteed a return. We have a long`term investment, 40

years in the making. If you only have clarity on the first six years

of the life of that, happen anyone decide what the return investment

will be? To get some idea of cost, the government investment on

offshore power is about one third of onshore power. Critics say that the

taxpayer is being sold short. The plans were made in good times. These

are not good times. We have to ask ourselves whether we can afford to

go on subsidising technologies at this sort of level. Offshore wind is

now a vital industry and areas with a vital industry that needs a shot

in the arm. The East was to be a keep their in this industry.

So what about onshore turbines. Critics say the change here is not

about policy, it's all about politics. And the reduction in

subsidy is not a big one. This from our business correspondent.

They are now the UK's largest source of renewable energy generation. But

onshore wind farms start up controversy. Today, residents of

this place near Ipswich had the chance to look at proposals for a

single turbine near their village. It is not for local people. It is

for the benefit of the landowner and for the power company. We feel there

is no reason why the villages `` the village as should bear the brunt of

this. England has 36 operational wind farms. 25 are approved and 30

`` others are under construction. Subsidies will be cut from 2015 to

onshore wind farms. Will this cause the developing year to have second

thoughts? It has gone down slightly, which is a shame but hopefully other

schemes in will still be viable. Most smaller ones will not be, and

this one will be. The government says there has been so much

investment in onshore wind and solar power, they need `` they do not need

so much support. Supporting local landowners to put on wind turbines

to generate little electricity has not been sensible. Offshore is one

of the most cost`effective methods, so we need to make sure it is part

of the mix. It is also supported, if you ask people what they would like

to see in their area, offshore solo comes out on top.

Danny Alexander also confirmed Whitehall's worst`kept secret. Plans

to charge people to use a new section of the A14 to the south of

Huntingdon have been abandoned. The Conservatives and the Lib Dems say

it shows they listen. Labour says the government has gone back to the

plans they had in place before the 2010 general election.

Ministers prepared to reveal how they will be spending billions of

pounds. This man runs hundreds of lorries out of yards near

Huntingdon. Today's confirmation that the toll road had been scrapped

means he would face an annual bill of ?170,000. I think it is a

fantastic day for East Anglia, for the haulage industry. I think you

can see people diverging from the A14, you would have seen lots of

congestion in small villages and you would have seen people relocate to

small businesses. We were looking to move away. Relief at the port of

Felixstowe as well. This fear was that the toll road would have handed

`` added costs, handing business to its rival. Huntingdon ports, who own

the sport, with Owen `` was so worried about the impact of the

toll, that they held meetings with the government. It was described as

excellent news for all businesses. The campaign was coordinated by the

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. It says the involvement of local MPs,

businesses and trade organisations was key. It was a geographical tags

on East Anglia. So it was clearly unfair. It was a tax on business, on

the community. But Labour described the announcement as a shambles. The

government have done the hokey Cokie with this road, it has been in and

out of their plans and at times including this idea of a toll. All

the while, my constituencies `` my constituents, who see this as

they've come for both of them, are losing out. Traffic was heavy on the

A14 following an accident. For many, improvements to this road will not

come a moment too soon. Therese Coffey led the campaign to

get the toll road scrapped. Andy Sawford said the government has been

doing the hokey Cokie and they had a perfectly good scheme on the books

in 2010, why did the `` why did the government not go ahead with that?

There was no money left. Also, we have an extra part of the widening

of the A1 which is important. We should be celebrating today. We have

brought forward the start from 2018 to 2016. The government has listened

to the people of East Anglia. We are going to get the red, that is great

news, and no toll. Looking at this in a wider light, we have had

ministers on this programme saying that we can't afford to build too

many new roads, that we have defined a new way of finding the money. Does

that not knock this into touch? I think that's what we should be doing

is celebrating what is happening with the A14 today. It was a

fantastic success for the Suffolk chamber of commerce. They galvanised

opinion and got the Essex and Northwood Chambers involved as well

`` Norfolk chamber as well. Can we afford to build roads? We have to

continue to improve the capacity and the infrastructure can `` connecting

our key economic centres. Felixstowe is the largest container port so it

was crucial for them. But this is also about making sure that tourists

can come unhindered without being deterred by a tax. Inward investment

from across the world and within the UK. So one every school, Suffolk has

done really well. Cambridge has done fantastically. `` so on every

school. When we had our meeting with the Prime Minister at the end of

Togo, we all felt it was constructive meeting. I won't

pretend, I have been to one or two macro meetings where you get the

clear message that they are not being to listen to us. The debit

stick with their decision. From that moment, we put forward a strong case

helped by the Chamber of Commerce, but we have done that with the Prime

Minister and the secretary of state. We had a good feeling and today has

just been a Christmas present that has come early.

The police in Southend are investigating the possibility that a

mother killed her son before taking her own life. The bodies of who the

police believe to be Catherine Mhlaba and Beki Ali were found in a

burning car at Thorpe Bay yesterday evening.

A quarter of a mile stretch of Southend seed coat `` Southend post

was cordoned off. It showed where last might's fire had happened.

There were two macro bodies inside the car and police said they were

treating the death as unexplained. But early this evening, police

released more details. We believe the bodies to be those of Catherine

Mhlaba and her 16`year`old son, Beki Ali. These deaths are being

investigated by detectives from the Kent and Sussex team. They are

looking at the possibility that Catherine Mhlaba was responsible for

killing her son and taking her own life by starting a fire inside the

car. Some of Southend's most sought`after seafront properties

overlooked the fire. This woman told me what she had seen. This car, with

flames at least ten feet high, and coming out from the sides. I could

see the flames inside but could not see if anybody was in there. A

neighbour said that his wife had heard an explosion. She said it

shook the house, which is unusual. By the time she got the window, the

car was engulfed in flames. It was frightening. I got up after her,

when she called down to me. It was frightening, I have never seen

anything quite like it. The car was in goals completely. If there was

anybody inside, they had no chance. `` the car was engulfed completely.

Flowers in memory of her mother `` of a mother and her teenage son.

People living near the coast are being warned to expect flooding

tomorrow and on Friday. Forecasters expect a combination of gale`force

winds and high spring tides. Gary Watson is from the Environment

Agency. He joins us from the Essex coast at Jaywick now. `` as Clapton

now. Where are you most concerned about? We are particularly concerned

about the North Norfolk coast. The area `` areas in Suffolk, as well.

What do you think could happen, what are we looking at? There are gale

force winds coming down. Coinciding with high water and a significant

storm surge. So we should expect flooding throughout Norfolk, Suffolk

and Essex. At the moment we are predicting a limited impact on

property. So, what advice would you give? We don't want to be alarmist

but people can take precautions. Yes, we recommend that you have a

look on our website. We also have a helpline number. You can check local

conditions in your area. We are working closely with the police and

the emergency services. We are working to get the warnings out

tomorrow morning. So, as far as this will compare to previous warnings by

the Environment Agency, how bad do you think it could be as Mac `` it

could be? We are expecting it to be... You may remember the 2007

event in great Yarmouth? We are expecting something greater than

that in north Norfolk. But we are expecting reduced severity by the

time it gets to Yarmouth. Stansted has launched a campaign to

get airlines to fly long`haul from the airport. It's asked 300

businesses in the region to tell them what flights they want as part

of a survey. The airport is particularly keen to speak to

companies with links to the USA, Middle East and Far East who

currently travel from other terminals.

Still to come, more on the history of the A14 project. And more on our

unsung heroes project. Meet Phillipa Pitts, the inspiration behind

Eastwood netball. The University of East Anglia is

giving some medical students the chance to care for elderly people as

part of their studies. The idea comes in the wake of the Francis

Report earlier this year into the failings at the Mid`Staffordshire

Hospital. Among the recommendations from Mr Francis, a call for the

caring professions show more compassion. `` to show more

compassion. Mike Liggins has spent the afternoon with one of the

students at a care home in Norwich. This woman is in the third year of

her degree course in occupational therapy. The last five weeks, she

has been coming year to this care home in Norwich. Today, she has come

to seek 92`year`old IV and talk soon turns to Ivy's recent birthday

party. So you had to cakes? Yes. Rhianna is one of five students who

have been volunteering. It is to help students with confidence,

communication and compassion. I think everybody deserves respect and

to be treated as an individual and to be listened to. This experience

particularly has helped me understand people's stories and it

brings home to you that people have a life that they have lived. The

pilot is being run by the school of rehabilitation at the University of

East Anglia. This compassion something that we should have to

teach students? I think a lot of students who come to the caring put

`` caring professions are compassionate, but it doesn't harm

them to get more exposure within the sort of environment. Grandchildren?

How many do you have? We have been delighted with the way it has gone.

The five students have been amazing. Each of them has found something

different out of the experience and they have been really happy coming

to our home and we have been delighted to have them. Rhianna says

that her time with these patients has been hugely beneficial. The UAE

`` need the University of East Anglia hope they can carry on with

this in the future. This week in Look East, we're

meeting the three people who have been short listed for the BBC East

Unsung Sporting Hero Award. Yesterday it was a netball

administrator, today it's a netball coach. Phillipa Pitts has given more

than 40 years of her life to coaching netball in Essex. She

spends nearly every week night and every weekend on a netball court.

We are going to do a change of direction tonight. 1974. Britain was

under a three`day week. It was also the year that Phillipa Pitts started

Eastwood netball team. Three fingers, carve them so that you have

them around ear height. Just one team, with a handful of girls. She

now has 13 teams with 150 players. People who started in year seven,

they have gone through and their daughters have been playing as well.

So that continuity of families, mother and daughter. She has taken

individuals and turn them into `` she is taken beginners and turn them

into international. But it is about making sure they enjoy the sport. It

is not just about her being a coach, she is an umpire, she brings girls

up to gloat. I am now a coach as well. It wouldn't run without her.

Are you running backwards? Which you run backwards on a netball court?

For whatever reason, many girls drop out of sport in their teenage

years. But Phillipa's girls keep coming back. You can hear that they

are enjoying themselves. It is the sport can take them all the way

through. With some sports, they can drop out. We try to accommodate

those who want to be performance players but also those who just love

the sport. It is all about the love of the sport. Her passion is

catching and because of her, thousands of girls had taken up

netball and deliberately taken up netball `` taken up netball.

And tomorrow we meet our final candidate a woman from Northampton

who's spent 30 years helping children with special needs take

part in gymnastics. And we'll be revealing the winner on Friday.

Back now to the news that the government has abandoned its plan

for a toll road on the A14. But the new road will be built. Work will

definitely start in 2016. But if you think you've heard that before, you

probably have. We've reported it on Look East on many occasions for more

than 20 years. John Cranston has been looking through our archives

with the help of one man who's seen it all before.

When the ribbon was cut on the A14 in 1994, the road was heralded as

opening up the east. But it shared the stretch between Heybridge and

Huntingdon with the A1 M11 link. We proved that it was not long before

there were regular problems occurring along it. The first

suggestion of bypassing the bypasses came in 2000. The transport

secretary was proposing plans for a ten lane superhighway. We need to

make sure that our road and rail links are strengthened to make sure

that we have a Rob `` have the jobs. It will be widening the path around

the motorway and could start in 2008. But there were planning

problems and the financial crash came and all we ended up with work

promises. The government has said that the long`awaited plan to build

the A14 will now begin in 2011. And heavy highways agency done its job

effectively the first time around, we would not be in the position we

are now because that would have happened before the financial crisis

and the change of government. The coalition will do the axe. Let's

begin with the news that many businesses and commuters really

didn't want to hear. We can't proceed with a ?1 billion funded

dual carriageway. Then the toll road solution was mooted. You can't just

expect the taxpaying public to pay for everything. You have to share

the burden between taxpayers and those who abuse the road. What

finally scuppered the idea was the lack of an eternity of `` and it ``

and alternative free route. It is unlikely that the road will be

started before late 2016. But we welcome that if it actually happens.

Let's go to Westminster and Andrew Sinclair. Let's start with the

shorts of John Bridge. How sceptical should we be? `` the thoughts of

John Bridge. In the House of Commons, Alistair Darling said he

was sure he had announced the screens before. The trouble with

infrastructure is that it takes a long time to put together. It can

get bogged down in the planning system as well. The government is

conscious of this and in this massive book of infrastructure

announcements which we got today, there is a plan to set up a new body

which will be in charge of driving through infrastructure

developments. The government is saying that if big schemes like the

A14 get bogged down in the planning process, they will use legislation

to fast track it. And of course the subsidies for offshore will come in

after the next election so everything we have talked about

today could change? On the offshore subsidies, that could well change

because everything about energy is political. On the A14, there seems

to be political consensus that this road needs to be improved. Labour

won not happy with the toll, so I think, sticking my neck out, that it

should start in 2016. Is there anything else to announce? It seems

as if we have had everything today. There will be more money for small

businesses. That is always big in our region. What happens to fuel

prices as well? The Essex MP has been pushing for a few cut. Now time

for the weather. `` a few well cut. We have had a damp day today and we

are seeing the price of the later sometime because some parts of the

region are now close to freezing. Ms patches forming `` mist patches

forming. Into tomorrow, we have this intense area of low pressure which

will push this France down across the country. Not a great deal of

raid on it when it comes to us, but it will increase the winds during

the day. So for all of us, it will be a windy day. There is a risk of

coastal flooding particularly on the Norfolk coast. Tomorrow will be dry

and bright with increasing amounts of cloud. That wind speed increasing

through the day. These are the strong gusts which we expect during

the day. Then as the day progresses, it is important to flag up

particularly that north Norfolk coast. A culmination of the

direction of the wind is and high spring tides, the push of the sea,

all coming together at the same point. This is the area under the

amber warning from The Met office. A risk of localised flooding for that

North Norfolk coast. This is our pressure chart. High pressure starts

to build back in. You can see that the isobars are starting to widen so

the winds will ease through Friday but still there is a risk on the

North Norfolk coast on Friday morning with the high tide. It will

be very cold because that by the fund will introduce much colder air.

So expect lower temperatures. As they get the weekend, the high

starts to drag in a lot more cloud. `` as we get to the weekend. It will

be rather cloudy. Saturday feeling chilly. Temperatures will start to

recover and by Sunday, we are back to highs of around eight else else

`` eight Celsius. That's it from all of us. See you

tomorrow night.