15/04/2014 Look East - East

President Putin calls for the West to condemn it. Now

Hello, welcome to Look East. Our top story tonight: The

multi`million`pound project to save a holiday village from coll`psing

into the sea. If we did not do do this `` do this,

we would lose the second row in a couple of years and our bushness

would not be sustainable. The family of a nine`year`old boy,

who fell from a coach, are tonight still at his bedside in

Addenbrooke's Hospital. Save Our Bobby, the Essex vhllagers

clubbing together to keep their community officer on the local beat.

And a clean bill of health from the inspectors for our beaches.

Hello. A giant barge from Norway arrived off the coast of Grdat

Yarmouth today, carrying tonnes of granite boulders. They will be put

in place along a section of beach at the holiday village of Hopton.

Engineers will use them to repair the damage caused by the tidal surge

in December. Our environment reporter, Richard Daniel, is in

Hopton now. If I took a step to my right, I

would have a nastier fall onto the beach, the Cliff is a road hn very

fast. Normally, the tax paydr would foot some of the bill but this

project is very different. The owners of this holiday Park of

putting the entire bill. `` footing. A huge project at a huge cost.

The first load of granite arrived this morning at Valley two `` a

Hopton, carried from Scandinavia by this barge. It is hoped it will save

the holiday park on the cliffs above. This is believed to be a

first for the UK, with no prospect of government funding to defend this

Cliff, the company is doing the work itself, at a massive cost. ?7

million. The rock will be used to build ten grinds out to sea. The aim

is to stop the erosion. We will defend the whole coastline. The park

frontage down to Beach Road, 90 metres. This is one of the few that

you see such a big scheme privately undertaken. The owners of the Park

blame the construction of the great Yarmouth Harbour for the erosion,

denied either Harper 's operators. `` harbour. When you create a

hotspot on a soft sure, you create effects to either side. `` ` soft

seashore. We know the extent. Bearing in mind they are extending

50 metres here, the Harbour extended 800 metres. The owners of the

holiday park had a choice, dither invest in defences or witness its

demise. If we did not do this, we would have

years and our business would not be years and our business would not be

sustainable because we have a high owner base, we have a lot of

holiday`makers and the business would go backwards and we would lose

the confidence of people, and sustainability would not be viable

as a business. The sea defences could take all

summer to build. It is hoped they will be complete in time for the

first storms of autumn. Not everybody can afford to do this sort

of work, can make? They certainly come not. `` they

certainly cannot. The owners think it is ?7 million well spent because

they would get back back in bookings. Along the coast scores of

communities on a waiting list for coastal defence works. To bd

brutally blunt, they do not stand much chance of getting fundhng

unless they can dip their h`nds in their own pockets and find some of

their money to attract fundhng from the Environment Agency. But just up

the coast here, they need h`lf 1 million to put in rock baskdts.

Although they have a scheme on the drawing board, there is no funding

forthcoming, and that is thd reality. The Environment Agdncy has

made it clear communities whll have to find alternative sources of

funding. Let's get an update now on our top

story from last night, the nine`year`old boy who fell out of a

moving coach on a main road in Norfolk. Tonight, his parents, Nick

and Tracey Goold, are at his bedside in Addenbrooke's Hospital. They have

thanked people for their pr`yers at a "deeply distressing time". Our

chief reporter, Kim Riley, hs at Addenbrooke's now.

The news from the hospital tonight is that nine`year`old Sebastian

Goold, from Wansford near Peterborough, remains in a critical

condition after suffering vdry serious head and leg injurids. He

was transferred here from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King's Lynn.

He is a member of Stamford Rugby Club and the family has been

overwhelmed with messages of support from the world of rugby.

Sebastian had been heading home with team mates from the club after

taking part in a mini`rugby tournament at Holt. He fell from the

main door of the double`decker coach as it was heading along the A47 at

Tilney All Saints, near King's Lynn. In a statement released by his

parents today, they say: "Wd would like to pass on our gratitude and

thanks to friends and assochates at Stamford Rugby Club, and to the

wider rugby family, for thehr well wishes and prayers at what hs a

deeply distressing time. We have received further messages of support

from lots of other people, wishing Sebastian well, and these, too, have

been gratefully received. However, our focus, at this time, relains on

keeping a vigil at Sebastian's bedside, and we ask that we are left

alone to deal with this as ` family and that the media accepts this as

our only, but sincerest, st`tement on the matter."

The coach, operated by Hamiltons Coaches at Rothwell in

Northamptonshire, is now in a police pound, being examined by officers

and experts from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. The focus

very much the main door arotnd the middle of the coach, from which

Sebastian fell. The police say he was among a group of boys qteuing to

use the toilet, which is next to the door, but they have refused to

speculate on how the door c`me open. If there are any witnesses, please

call was, ask to speak to md or the serious collision investigation

team. If you were in the arda travelling towards Lincolnshire it

is the main road, anyone who saw anything, please call was on that

number and ask for me or thd team. There were 30 passengers on board

the coach at the time, 20 children and ten adults. Sebastian's Father

was among them. We learn Chester day that hhs mother

was not on the coach `` yesterday. She was travelling in a car and

other vehicles were in convoy. It was suggested she might havd

witnessed the moment her son had forward from the coach. Tod`y, I

have had it clarified Knights of the mother nor the Father saw that

terrible moment when their son fell. Tonight, they are at the bedside,

their vigil continues. The MP for Colchester says the owner

of a former military garrison which caught fire on Saturday shotld be

"held responsible for lax sdcurity". Liberal Democrat Sir Bob Russell

says the former stable block, at Roman Circus Walk, had a "rhch

heritage" and should have bden better protected. But the owners,

Taylor Wimpey, say there were "frequent security patrols".

A road in Suffolk will be closed for the foreseeable future, following a

fire in two thatched cottagds. The buildings, in Barham, were

destroyed, but nobody was htrt. Eight fire engines were called.

Male visitors have been banned from baring their chest during vhsits to

a theme park in Essex. Adventure Island, in Southend, has put up

signs asking men not to takd off their tops. Anybody caught doing it

will be asked to leave. In 2010 more than 100 people strippdd naked

to ride on a roller`coaster in the park. Two award`winning villages in

Essex have joined forces to save their village bobby.

Following a review by Essex Police, it looked as if Great Bentldy and

Arlesford could be losing their long`serving PCSO. So the vhllages

have now decided to pay for it themselves. It is thought to be a

first in the county. This is Arlesford, six miles from

Colchester, an Essex villagd with just over 2,000 people. Somdbody who

has lived there for many ye`rs as the local parish chairman. H am

early Osborne and I have lived here nearly 50 years. The beauty of

Arlesford is the people. Absolutely fantastic people to live with. What

has helped in the community together over the last seven years as their

local police officer. Peopld feel far more secure than they dhd

previously. But Essex police plan to stop much

funding the cost of their community officer, so to ensure they keep

their officer, they are tealing up with a village close by, Grdat

Bentley, sharing the ?30,000 outlay, but there is no extra charge

for local people. It helps big`time and I agrde with

the fact that we are paying. It makes us feel more safe and she is

very friendly. It is quite ` high cost and so to share it with

Arlesford makes it more economic and more viable. It is very important

and reassuring for the old `nd the young to have a police officer

present, especially since wd lost our local bobby. Essex police say no

PCSO posts will be lost and they will decide where it is appropriate

to have them based, but these villagers believe more parish

councils will front the bill to make sure the local bobby stays local and

on the beat. Still to come tonight: Championship

cricket from Northamptonshire. And a clean bill of health from the

inspectors for our beaches. Just a few years ago, the pdople of

California were learning to live with power cuts, because thdre

wasn't enough electricity. Now, though, the United States h`s plenty

of cheap energy, thanks to shale gas. And that is having an

unexpected impact here. Bec`use the Americans aren't using all of their

coal, they are sending it over here and creating a glut. Plans for a big

gas power station in Essex have already been put on hold. Otr

special report tonight is from our business correspondent, Richard

Bond. The Coryton power station in Essex.

One of four gas plants in the East. It used to run continuously, but

have a listen now. It is swhtched off, as it is 90% of the tile.

Coal is much cheaper than g`s and part of that is driven by vdry cheap

US coal exports, coming frol the US because they have been displaced by

shale gas. That means it is much more profitable to burn coal and

power stations here in the TK and less profitable to burn gas.

The Americans now use cheap shale gas to generate their electricity.

The coal they used to use is coming to Europe at knock`down prices.

Britain's coal stations are working flat`out. The UK's gas stathons

including Coryton, Little B`rford, Yarmouth and Peterborough, `re

quiet. Gas is used to be the main fuel for

generating electricity in the UK but it has now been overtaken bx coal,

and that is bad news for thd existing power stations in the

region, and for plans to buhld a generation of new ones.

Plans for a new Centrica st`tion at King's Lynn, to replace this closed

one, are on hold. Proposals for a new gas station at Coryton were

given the go`ahead three ye`rs ago by the then Energy Minister. But

work still hasn't started. Ht does not look good in the sense that the

recovery for gas fired generation has taken far longer to recover than

most people had expected. And that is reread the underlying catse as to

why the new project here at London Gateway has moved out in tile, but

we are still confident, givdn the developments in the energy larket,

that we will secure the necdssary government support to start

construction in 2018. But the delay is bad news for jobs.

600 posts would be created during the construction of the new power

station. Richard is here now. So why does

this matter if gas is having a tough time?

Environmentalists would certainly say that it matters if our coal

stations are busy and our g`s stations less so. We have a

government which says it wants to be the greenest ever. If you w`nt to

avoid putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, you don't w`nt to be

burning too much coal. You want to be burning gas, using renew`bles,

nuclear. Gas is a fossil fudl, but emits less carbon than coal. So the

boom in coal is not Green. How much of our electricity comes

from gas now? Three years ago, we produced 40 of

our electricity from gas, now about 22%. Over the same period, coal has

gone from 30% three years ago to 40% today. We are going to be closing a

number of coal plants over the coming years. Also investing in

renewables and new nuclear. But in the short term, shale gas h`s had an

unexpected effect of boosting coal. Thank you very much.

Time and again on this programme, we have told you about some important

scientific breakthrough devdloped in this region. Now the Mayor of

London, Boris Johnson, is doing much the same thing. He believes

Cambridge should join with London and Oxford to form a so`called

"golden triangle" of scienthfic excellence. But if thousands of new

jobs were created, would thdre be enough homes, and could we cope on

our roads and rail? Cambridge, a world leader in science

and medical breakthroughs. But instead of competing with Oxford and

London, is it now time to work more closely, to create what the London

Mayor describes as a 'golden triangle'?

What we are trying to do is to capitalise on that and to promote

it, and to projected abroad more thoroughly. We go on about the

financial services but this is a sector of the economy growing even

faster. Recognition of that today in

Cambridge, as county councillors gave the nod for a new railway

station at the Science Park. More than 5,000 people already work

there. The hope? That better transport links, including dxtended

bus and cycle ways, will attract others.

This means they can start work on building the new station here. They

had been hoping to finish it by the end of next year but it now looks as

though it will be early 2016 instead. For some people, a new

station is not enough. There have long been calls to reopen

the disused railway line between Cambridge and Bedford, and that

would complete one side of the triangle, linking Cambridge directly

to Oxford. We have developed the schemd from

Oxford to Bedford and that hs under construction. The missing g`p is

between Bedford and Cambridge and the danger is if we do not do that,

we cannot deliver the growth and the enhancement to the economy that we

are trying to achieve. But if the idea is to creatd new

jobs, new homes would also be needed. Across the East, thdre is a

shortage. It is thought we need 20,000 every year. Last year, only

11,000 were built. So the Ddputy Prime Minister says we should build

whole new garden cities, sililar to Letchworth.

Particularly in that arc of prosperity, Oxford to Cambrhdge

where normal people want to live at cannot live at the moment. Or they

are priced out of the housing market altogether. One way of making sure

more families can live and work there and go to school therd, that

is the plant properly through garden cities.

So what do those who are trxing to buy make of the idea? `` to plan it.

It would be a good idea, I live in Kings Lynne and would need

somewhere. We cannot afford Cambridge. If you can get into

Cambridge easily, it yes. I think I would.

So the golden triangle, an hdea to encourage innovation. But whthout

big improvements to infrastructure, it is the one that will be hard to

make a reality. It has been announced today that the

England Coastal Path is being extended into East Anglia for the

first time. It will cover a route from Weybourne to Sea Palling. The

coastal path is a popular fdature of Britain's coastline in other parts

of the country, improving access for ramblers and visitors. Let's get

some more detail from Jo Taxlor who is in the newsroom. What is so

special about the coastal p`th? How long it is. This is a ndw

National Trail around the entire coastline in England and once

completed, it it will be 2800 miles of path, the longest Nation`l Trail

in England. It is being dond to open up inaccessible parts and to boost

tourism. But it has not been smooth sailing, the plan was set in 20 9 by

the government had since thdn, we have had budget cuts. Only 76 miles

of the pack have been open so far. But natural England's sake the pace

is picking up national shall England save. And they save work will have

been completed on 17 stretches in two years, one of those is the 5

mile stretch between Weymouth and Sea Palling.

When will it open? Norfolk county council has to contact landowners

and it hopes to start buildhng work this summer, and it should be opened

by the end of the year. It is also hoped in the sumler, the

government will improve a stretch of path to Sea Palling.

Thank you very much. With Easter just a couple of days

away, holiday resorts in thhs region have been given a timely boost. A

study of water quality along our coast says a record number of

beaches are "excellent". Thd Marine Conservation Society found that

seven beaches in Essex, two in Norfolk, and one in Suffolk have

improved since last year. It means a total of 14 in Essex, 15 in Norfolk,

and five in Suffolk are now classed as excellent.

It was a bit cloudy in Clacton this morning on what is known as the

sunshine Coast, at some werd still thinking about a dip. It will be

very cold, I have just seen children run out screaming. But I sthll would

go in. And there has been good news about water quality here from the

Marine Conservation Society. There are nine bathing beaches here and

seven have achieved the highest water quality rating, that hs good

news for a resort gearing up for Easter and the summer season.

It is perfectly safe to swil in Clacton, always has been and always

will be. The beaches of fantastic comic you will not see bettdr

beaches in the UK. `` fantastic you will not see. A lot of new beaches

have been recommended. It is thought water quality has improved because

last year 's dry summer meant less pollution draining into the sea

Tests are stringent, 100% of water samples must show fewer than 2, 00

he coal lie bacteria per 100 millilitres `` E. Coli. A good

record this year, they have all passed at least the mandatory

levels. And record numbers of recomlended

beaches across the UK. It is really good news for beach water qtality.

Back in Clacton, this teachdr and his family were enjoying a three`day

break and looking forward to a swim. I would be happy to go in, the water

quality seems good. Myself `nd my daughter went for a paddle xesterday

and we are more than happy to use the water here. It is a traditional

seaside resort and we came here as kids and we bring our kids here now.

It is hoped improving water quality will attract tourists back to our

beaches this summer. We had hoped to bring you phctures

of the game against Northamptonshire and Durham today but we havd had a

couple of technical problems, so I am sorry about that, but thdy have

been doing all right! Bicycles come in all shapes, sizes

and materials, what not manx have parts made out of wood. Michael

Thompson is a joiner and five years ago, a friend at him could not do

it, how wrong he was! Now it is hoped the splinter bike will set a

new world record. He is a joiner, a designer and an inventor, at this

workshop there is a world of decision, skill and eccentrhcity.

And this is the splinter bike, made from wood and clue and nothhng else.

It is not eccentricity, it hs what happens when you drink too luch beer

in a shed! It started as a bet with his friend

James and by the summer of 2011 the duo had established the world land

speed record for a wooden bhke at just over 11 miles an hour. Starting

was easy but with no brakes, stopping was harder!

Trying to catch a fat cyclist on a heavy wooden bike, at 11.76 mph it

takes a lot of stopping! Thd teeth on the gears are much bigger than we

had before. Now there is a third splintdr bike

and in 2014, they will see how far they can go in one hour. But sitting

on a wooden seat for that ldngth of time does not seem sensible.

I agree. I was not keen on the idea but it is James who rides the big

who wanted to do it. He said, I will be fine. I think he was planning on

sticking a sponge down his shorts to help him go the distance!

Not only does Michael make wooden bikes, he also makes a hybrhd bike

of wood and metal, a thing of beauty costing around ?6,000. He w`nts

others to break his word and big record, but would anybody else have

the skill and would they be crazy enough to try?

Well, the weather has been `ll right. But it is going to change.

It was quite chilly this morning, these were the temperatures were

recorded last night, a widespread ground frost. Cambridge got down to

freezing, but temperatures climbed 15 degrees in the sunshine hn the

day. A lot of sunshine to bd had. It gets cold again tonight. Cldar skies

and light winds. Mist patchds could be forming in the early hours.

Expect a widespread ground frost and temperatures get below freezing A

chilly start the day, but fhne start. High`pressure is hanging on

and that will bring fine conditions into tomorrow. Mist patches clearing

the way and a dry day with sunny spells `` clearing away. A fine

spring day, similar to todax. Patchy cloud coming and going, but a lot of

fine weather. It will be cooler on the coast, but go further Wdst, 15,

17 Celsius. A fine afternoon and evening. Changes on the way. A cold

front heading southwards on Thursday. So we. Strike and bright,

but there will be short sunny intervals `` we will start dry. For

the afternoon, the figures cloud might produce rain or drizzle. ``

the thickest cloud. The Easter weekend looks as though it will get

off to a fine start. And Frhday and Saturday are pretty good, whth sunny

spells. It will turn increasingly unsettled by Sunday. That could

change but we are in for sole fine weather for the first two d`ys.

Expect a cloudy forecast on Thursday, increasing amounts of

cloud could ring light rain or drizzle on Thursday, and th`t

weather front will introducd cooler air. A cooler day on Friday, with

sunshine, and Saturday, long spells of sunshine. Temperatures overnight,

chilly nights still to come. Friday night in particular, temper`tures

down to three Celsius and it could be lower in the countryside. Thank

you, I hope you did not adjtst your sets, a problem with the sotnd.

See you tomorrow night.