04/12/2013 Look East - West

Hello and welcome. In the programme tonight: when this road goes ahead

in three years, there will be no toll. A toll`free A14 and fewer wind

turbines. Remembering Leon ` friends mark a month since Leon Briggs died

after being detained by police. We will be here later in the

programme. The legacy of the mid`Staffs

hospital scandal and the lesson for Met students in a care home. The

woman who has given 40 years of her life to netball.

It's the day the government told us where it's planning to spend our

money over the next few years and for us the headlines are roads and

wind turbines. As we forecast on last night's Look East, there was

confirmation that the planned A 4 confirmation that the planned A14

Huntingdon bypass will not be tolled. But today's announcement

also signalled a change of emphasis on renewable energy. Subsidies will

be diverted away from onshore wind and solar farms to offshore

proposals. So, what will that mean for our energy parks? Already

critics are saying the changes are too small to make a difference.

Seven years ago, this Northamptonshire landscape changed

for ever. Burton Latimer became home to the county 's first wind farm.

Today, the government announced that subsidies for wind and solar farms

where being reduced, potentially jeopardising smaller scale

projects. Welcome news for countryside campaigners. The hope is

that without the incentive we will not see so many applications for

farms in inappropriate places. You will see dozens of turbines being

erected. It is decimating parts of my constituency and lots of people

can't even sell their house. It is a big issue for my constituents.

Subsidy levels for onshore schemes will be cut by around 5% and more

expensive offshore projects will seize subsidies rise by the same

amount. Peterborough Council is planning a giant solar farm which it

says will generate money for the city. It says it is too early to say

what impact it will have on the plans and will study the details

carefully. Industry experts say it is likely to make little

difference. The changes are trivially small. They are so close

to a lie as it makes no difference. It is a slight change of emphasis

and a small increase for offshore. It is not significant. The

government denies today's announcement is in response to

public 's concern. They say it is purely down to the changing cost of

technology. In Burton Latimer, they prepare for a drop insert ``

subsidies. Nine more turbines are planned here. It seems where various

profit, the industry will grow regardless.

Well, the other big announcement today was, as we mentioned earlier,

the confirmation that the A14 will not be tolled when the new road

bypassing Huntingdon is built. Instead, the cost will be picked up

entirely by the government. As the news sank in today, there have been

mixed reactions. Another morning, another slow

commute on the A14. Today there was confirmation a new road will be

dealt and drivers will not have to pay to use it. I use it every day.

It is a good idea scrapping the toll. Great. Obviously it will be a

lot better if you had to pay `` if you don't have to pay. It will stop

everyone. You can stand on any bridge between Cambridge and

Huntingdon and see just how heavily the road is used. Look at the

lorries on there right now and it is not even rush hour. The haulage

companies are glad plans for a toll have been scrapped. Across the

region, they were strongly opposed. One transport firm said it would

have cost them ?170,000 a year. You would have seen people using other

rat runs, a lot of congestion in small villages and you would have

seen people relocate some businesses. We were certainly

looking to move away from our site. Yesterday, we found out the toll

would be scrubbed and today it was announced officially with

confirmation that the new road will still be built. Not everyone has

welcomed the news. We want to see money being put into an East `West

rail link to include transport from Felixstowe to Nuneaton `` improved

transport. The upgrade will be paid for by the government and local

councils. A few months ago they said the toll was needed to make up the

rest so does this mean councils will have to put in more taxpayers money.

``? I have taken that as a know so we look forward to the road

starting. Any indication when it will start? Hopefully, we will be

back to the original timetable and delivering on the ground as soon as

possible. The government says it has listen to concerns but Labour is

accusing them of wasting time and money. It has been in and out of

their plans and including the idea of a toll when there was no

alternative role. `` road. My constituency this as an important

economic grid and they are missing out. Work is due to start on 2016

out. Work is due to start on 20 6 with the road not opening in 2016.

with the road not opening in 20 6. Drivers do not have to pay but they

had to wait. Later in the programme, our

political correspondent, Andrew Sinclair, will give us his take on

all of this. It's been exactly one month since

38`year`old Leon Briggs died after being held in police custody. Since

then, an investigation has been launched, a number of police

officers have been suspended and his family and friends are still waiting

to find out what happened. Tonight, a candlelit vigil is being held in

his memory, but the support net spreads far wider. Anna Todd is at

Luton police station now. Lots of people are already arriving

for tonight 's candlelit vigil. While much of the support comes from

the Luton area, there are also people coming from all over the

country. The aunt of Mark Duggan, the man shut down `` dead in

Tottenham last year sparking the Tottenham riots, is here. As you can

see from the candles and flowers, the main element of the theme

tonight is about Leon Briggs. Family man, Leon Briggs, father of

two and friend to many. Since his death, known everywhere. On the 4th

of November, he was restrained by police in Luton. He kept shouting,

the cups `` cuffs are too tight. the cups `` cuffs are too tight.

After that there was constant screaming. He was detained under the

Mental Health Act but died after being in police custody. The

Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed it was

investigating. One week after five police officers were suspended. The

next day his family confronted police at a community meeting. It

became heated and emotional. We do not know why he died. We know

nothing. The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police said if there

was any wrongdoing she would deal with it. A postmortem examination

proved inconclusive. A few days later, a candlelit vigil was held to

remember Leon Briggs with over a hundred people looking for answers.

With me is a man who knew Leon Briggs probably better than many

others, Cyril Mitchell. What has the last month been like for you and the

family? I would like to say the last month has been horrible and

horrific. We are still here on this candlelit vigil and so many have

come out to show their hurt and they concerned as to what has happened.

It has been painful for the family. His mother is still broken and the

fact we can't bury our brother right now and they are rubbing our faces

in it. We are disgusted. That is why so many people in the powerful

community have come together to voice their concerns outside Luton

police station. There has been concern because of the confusion and

anger and circumstances over his death that there might have been

some unrest in the Luton community. Is that the case? We are the only

town with an airport, to motorway junctions and train stations and we

are a community of power. We do that in a decent and peaceful way. All

the people of Luton and Beds want justice. Justice for us all. Thank

you very much. The IP CC is asking people to be patient while the

investigation is ongoing. Rural areas are missing out on

sports funding because the big towns and cities are swallowing up all the

cash. That's what one of our MPs will tell the House of Commons

tonight. Steve Barclay, who represents North East

Cambridgeshire, says the funding system needs to be clearer and

fairer. We'll hear from him in a moment, but first Emma Baugh reports

from Wisbech Tennis Club which is desperate for some all`weather

facilities. Reads on the centre line and real

grass`roots tennis. They say they need all`weather courts but they are

still waiting after two years. There are so many things we would like to

do to encourage more youngsters to play. Go out into schools and

introduce tennis to young people and adults but we cannot develop this

programme without the facilities. The club is severely restricted by

the weather, only playing from late April to September. In bad weather,

they have to wait till late morning for the courts to dry out and in a

bad summer, they can lose half of their playing time. The club needs

to raise ?180,000. It says it has had to scale down plans after

funding was directed to more urban areas. It is a real frustration for

us as a club. For all the members and people in the community who are

keen to play all the way through the year and have not got an

opportunity. How does the area do for sporting facilities? Very

sparse. Compared to the inner cities it is sparse. I think we lose out,

yeah. I don't know what you can do about it. It comes down to money,

doesn't it? They have to make sure the highest number of people can get

to facilities, but clubs say that funding here has a long way to go.

So, is the government ignoring these rural clubs, or is that the groups

don't really know how to apply for funding? I asked the MP Steve

Barclay this afternoon. It is because the model is complex.

Government allocates the money to sport England and it has 11

different grants and the criteria is often changing. It also gets a lot

of his money `` gives a lot of it is money to various sporting bodies.

They all have their own different schemes with different criteria

which again often change. People with a love of sport find themselves

dealing with a complex model of delivery and often one that is

weighted against rural communities, like ours in north`east

Cambridgeshire, because too much funding is going to the cities and

that is something I am keen to have out in Parliament today. Isn't there

an argument for the money to go to the places that benefit the most

people? Of course cities should get funding and there are lots of people

there and that should be reflected. What I will highlight is the

disproportionate amount of funding that goes to the cities. If you look

at rural communities where travel is more difficult and expensive and

sometimes there aren't as many options, it is important we have

local facilities so people, particularly young, but all ages,

can be active and healthy. It shouldn't be the case that

everything is centred in the cities. That is not realistic and I

communities should have their fair share for, after all, what they are

paying for. Sport England says that if you have plans to help more

people play sport more often but you are held back by cost, we can help.

Are they falling short of that? Their rhetoric is great but the

reality isn't. Cambridge has had five times as much funding as my

constituency. Of course there is more need in Cambridge, but is it

five times? Why is it that the criteria on funding bids keeps

changing and why is it so complex that it makes it difficult for

people to get their bids in? Why are criteria often weighted against

Shire counties? That is why I want to put pressure on ministers so we

get our fair share. We are just looking for a reflection of the fact

that people in villages, towns and community areas across north`east

Cambridgeshire want to play and participate in sport and are not

getting a fair share of the funds. In a statement, the Department for

culture, media and sport said they are investing over ?1 billion in

sport up to 2017. There are warnings of strong winds

hitting the region tonight. The weather forecast in a moment but

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.