30/01/2014 Look East - West

Hello, welcome to the programme Coming up tonight, the demand for

more police on the streets following the murder of this teenager in

Bedford and the community worker calling for a change. The community

needs to think positively rather than saying Midland Road is a bad

area and unsafe, we need to get together and make a difference. The

row over the cost of getting away from it all in the school holidays

and the mother who wants it raised in Parliament.

And we will be looking at stopping flooding downstream.

And the gymnast about to go back to the country of his birth to try to

make it to reopen. `` to Rio de Janeiro. Hello. First tonight, the

demand for more police on the beat after a teenager was murdered in

Bedford at the weekend. Isaac Stone was stabbed to death in the Midland

Road area on Sunday evening. Residents say crime and anti`social

behaviour are rife. And tonight they're meeting with the local

Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss their concerns.

The murder of a teenager is difficult for any community to face.

Redford's Midland Road is no exception. On Saturday, 19`year`old

Isaacs Dome was stabbed to death here. The belief they at the

teenager was deliberately targeted. The chair of the local residents

Association told me that the community had been left shocked It

has caused great sadness for money, great upset, and I think great fear

and concern. Concern over why it has happened and what the causes are,

and I'll likely to be further ramifications? Of course, this

murder has left many people in the middle and Road area concerned that

there is a gang problem here, but many of this area have little to do

with young people and gangs. `` in the Midland Road area. The Midland

Road area has long suffered from anti`social behaviour including

drug`taking and street drinking Tonight, the local residents

Association will call for more policing when they meet with the

local Police and Crime Commissioner. Not everyone seems concerned. There

are issues, but it is like anyone else at the end of the day. I would

not walk around alone at night. I have lived all my life and I have no

row problem. This woman says that teenagers are often wrongly blamed

for problems, she says she is saddened by the murder but it is an

isolated situation and the community needs to pull together. We need to

act upon it so it does not happen again. We have the resources

available. The community needs to be positive rather than say that

Midland Road is a bad area and unsafe. We need to get together to

make a difference. The police and the local authorities have said they

made great strides in cleaning up the area, but the understand the

concerns of residents are concerns that have only been heightened by

the murder of eyes that stone. `` by the murder of Eisenach.

Earlier I spoke to Chief Inspector Julian Frost and put it to him that

some residents have called Midland Road a "no`go area".

No, that is completely untrue. The police station is in the Midland

Road area itself, so no, I, myself live around 200 metres just outside

the area covered by the Midland Road residents Association, so it is not

a description or ignite at all. We are regularly there, we have PCSO is

out there, they live in that area, so a no`go area is about the

furthest I could possibly imagine from the area. Some people have

spoken about intimidation, violence, lawlessness, a place they say were

crime and anti`social behaviour are rife? Like many areas, Midland Road

does have its issues, but certainly, that is not a description that I

recognise of the area that I work and live in. It has issues and we

are seeking to address them. You can understand why following the murder

at the weekend, people want more reassurance and they actually want

to see more police on the beat is Mac `` on the beat. Yes, we have got

police talking to people, reassuring people, the community and people

passing through, and looking for information. We have got additional

police, over and above the money we would have for the night`time

economy anyway, who will be working with me and talking to the people in

Midland Road and providing reassurance to show we are serious

about happened last weekend in serious about supporting the

community in the Midland Road area. I know that your meeting with people

tonight, what would be your main message? Firstly, we are determined

that we bring the people that have taken this man's life to justice and

secondly, that we will continue with the work we're doing alongside them

and our partners to make Midland Road a safer place and a nicer place

to live. Thank you. A family from Royston returned home

after a family holiday to find a car had reversed into their kitchen

completely demolishing one wall Emergency services and gas engineers

had to evacuate the street and make the area safe after the incident on

Saturday. No one was injured. The owners, Josie and Tony Poole, had

only moved into the property five months ago. They're now waiting for

insurers to inspect the damage. The kitchen is used a lot, the

grandchildren sit here and do their homework. It could have been so much

worse. But thankfully nobody has been hurt. Not seriously anyway It

is just the damage to the property. We have only been here five months,

we had done it all up, and we want it back together again as soon as

possible. Next tonight, the claim that holiday

companies rip off consumers with holiday prices during the school

holidays. In a moment we will speak to companies representing the travel

industry, but first, this report. Outside the school gates, it is what

parents are talking about across the region, pay school holiday prices

are face paying a fine. We need to follow the school policy, but we

should not be penalised because we have children at school. I have to

go to Thailand to visit my wife if I wished during the holidays it

would cost ?3500 for my children and myself. It is terrible. It is greed,

commercialisation gone mad, it encourages terrible behaviour. The

children miss out. The new rules mean that classes can only be missed

in exceptional circumstances. The Department for Education says that

this stops a valuable learning times being lost but it means that

holidays had to be taken when prices tend to be more expensive. This

woman has collected nearly 150, 00 signatures, and her petition is

calling for prices to be cut in school holiday. She started it after

taking a break at Center Parcs. I tried to book the same apartment who

had previously. Basically it was ?1000 more expensive than had I gone

a week before. Center Parcs will open the newest development in the

summer at Headford. The prices are set by the market, says the Chief

Executive. We might make a profit in the peak times, but we have to in

peak times, because we have to achieve a level of revenue across

the year which allows us to reinvest in the business to improve the

quality for the guests that come back every year. That is what they

expect and that is what we do. Take a holiday without the permission of

the school and the parents could face an initial fine of ?60 per

child. This travel agent in Bedford says they have seen a drop in family

bookings in term time already. We have seen a deep crease of about

13%. January is a weak time for booking summer holidays and we have

seen people just not wanting to commit at the moment. `` we have

seen a decrease. The school end of term time is fast approaching which

means that this could see a rise in holiday prices.

Do you have any sympathy for the parents of school`age children? Yes,

we do, and it needs to be explained economic realities behind by prices

increased during school holidays. It is all about supply and demand, in

that when you see an increase in demand for it ever reason, school

holidays being part of that reason, then prices will increase. If you

look at when holidays are taken it is Christmas, Easter, July and

August, and those are the busiest times of the year for the industry

and prices constantly increase. If you look at foreign holidays, we are

eating with the rest of Europe for hotel space, and if you are a

hotelier in Spain and you have somebody wanting to book rooms in

August, then that'll tell will put up the prices considerably. `` we

are competing with the rest of Europe. You say supply and demand,

parents that we spoke to say greed and commercialisation gone mad. That

is quite wrong. In the British market, we have the cheapest foreign

holidays in Europe, I can guarantee you that if you spoke to a parent

and asked what they paged compare to what we charge, they pay rather

more. `` what they paid. We have been saying this for decades to

various governments, the issue for school holidays is the time of year

when it is taken, when it is already very busy, so the prices will be

higher, so we suggested the solution is to stagger the days when schools

take holiday and not take them all at the same time. That may be one

solution, another solution is perhaps capping the percentage rise

in prices. That will not work, because if you talk about dealing

with a foreign hotelier, if you can only pay them a certain amount,

there will simply say, sorry, we will sell those rooms to somebody

else, so it is more about changing the date when the school takes the

holidays, giving them the option to have a summer break abroad in June,

September and the demand is a lot lower and the prices are lower. It

is not about artificially capping prices, that will not work. We'd

love to hear what you think. You can get in touch by phone. Or send us an

email.There's Facebook and Twitter too. And we'll be looking at some of

your comments later in the programme.

Police in Cambridgeshire are hunting a gang who raided a restaurant

dressed in camouflage onesies. It happened on December the 27th at the

Glinton McDonalds. Three of the gang were caught on CCTV. Staff were

shaken but unharmed. The police are appealing for information.

That is all from us, we can go Essex. In June, Ashton Rybak will be

up again. `` Ash Dieback. The woods are undergoing a huge and unwelcome

change. Still to come, the girl who can now

eat five peanuts a day after researchers in Cambridge cure to

allergy. And a gymnast swapping the union Jack for the colours of South

Africa. After months and months of rain,

most of our rivers are full and, of course, that means the risk of

flooding is always there. Which is why experts are trying to

find a way of cutting the risk .In Norfolk, they are slowing down the

flow of a river upstream, to stop flooding further

this river as it nears the sea. Like so many rivers, it is boxed in by

man`made flood banks. But miles upstream, a clock is being turned

back. Trees are being felled, this may look like a mess but it has a

purpose. We are building low`lying structures along the edge of the

river, designed to narrow the stream, to make it more bending, it

has been straightened over the years. We are putting the curves

back in the riffraff, and every structure where we felled trees will

be trapping silt. The red line on this photograph shows the current

straightened course, the plan is to reverted to the way veep blue course

of over nearly 200 years ago. Over time, these areas of timber will

patch the silt, and you will not be able to see it at all, there will be

a bank here great for wildlife. And at times of intense flow, the river

will flow outside its channel, meaning less flooding downstream.

Aquatic life could benefit, the project is being backed by

landowners, the Environment Agency and the Norfolk Rivers trust. You

can see the way the river is bouncing from site to site, that

will become a self`perpetuating system. The river wants to do that.

Could this reduce the risk of the devastation being witnessed in

Somerset? Perhaps. The idea is now being tried elsewhere. We have a

really good example in Norfolk where over the last couple of years, we

have introduced a strategy of trying to reinstate the river act to its

natural habitat. In doing that, by increasing flows in the raw `` in

the water course and making it more self`sustaining, it stops the silt

build`up. Getting the river back to its original course will take years,

but those behind the project say everyone will benefit.

As we have heard today, researchers at Addenbrooke's Hospital in

Cambridge have made a breakthrough in the treatment of one of our

commonest allergies, to peanuts. One of the patients who was taking

part in the trial is 11`year`old Lena Barden, who lives in Histon.

From the age of two, she has had a severe reaction to eating peanuts

and was picked to take part in the research at Addenbrook's. She was

fed a tiny dose of nuts over a four`month period. At the end, she

could safely eat five whole peanuts a day.

Lena and her mum Diana are at home in Histon now. The first time you

notice this reaction, what happened? She was just over two and we had

been out for the day and my mother and I were having a drink and she

broke a bit of the biscuit and she spat out the peanuts, which probably

saved her life because that meant the reaction came on much slower

than it would have done. So over the next couple of hours, she became

more and more upset and coughing. Eventually, she was struggling for

breath. Lena, down the years, what have you most missed eating?

Probably doughnuts. You can need those now? Yes, I had my first about

a year ago. What has it been like for you, presumably you go to

parties and to friend and you could not eat what they were eating? ``

friends. It was quite annoying because whenever my friend had a

party, my mother had to read every label in the House. Seeing if

anything had anything to do with peanuts, it was quite frustrating.

Whenever I go out with my friends, it used to be annoying because I had

to read every label. She has been very good about it but it has been

difficult for you as well? Yes, I have to say, Lena has had to

grow up much faster than her friends and she has had to read labels when

I was not around. It has been very hard, we never had allergies in our

family. I was weaned on peanuts, my family are American. It has been

quite a lesson. So she has to eat five peanuts every day now, it keeps

everything going. But you do not like peanuts, do you, Lena? I

absolutely hate them and they taste disgusting.

It is quite a struggle. Thank you, both of you.

Well, from ground`breaking research at one of our hospitals to high`tech

innovation at another. Today, surgeons in Ipswich used a

robotic camera to beam live pictures from an operation to a team 800

miles away in France. It is a first for the UK, and the French

President, Francois Hollande, was one of the people watching.

We are inside the simulation room at Ipswich Hospital, watching gave very

real gall bladder operation underway in a theatre. That is where they are

putting the cannula. Into the doctor that comes from the gall bladder.

Access comes from a robotic camera and we are not the only ones. The

images are fed live to the European Institute of tele` surgery in

Strasbourg. Today playing host to a very important visit from Francois

Hollande, taking a presidential look at the pioneering pictures. The

Strasbourg team world leaders and can used the link `` can use the

link to give training and guidance to enhance a surgeon 's knowledge.

From Victorian times, how things have changed? ``! It did not become

a good idea because of infection. This allows us to teach the large

numbers of people without having them in the operating theatre. The

camera costs around ?70,000, the link especially encrypted to keep

data safe. What do you see is the potential for this technology in the

NHS? We will bring in experts in their field, new techniques, and

improve the surgery and the result. The project is part of a wider drive

to develop excellence here. This new training area with pretend patient

mannequins which cost around 50,000 pounds each opens soon. Doing things

like this will attract the best of the best optimistic Ipswich. And I

considered the people that work in this hospital to be the best of the

best. `` into Ipswich. I think we can achieve greater things. They

have high hopes for the future and this high`tech French connection is

just the start. For almost any sportsman or woman,

the best thing you can ever do is to represent your country. Which is why

one young gymnast from Cambridgeshire has made a very

important decision. Cameron Mackenzie has competed for

Britain and helped the team to win the European Junior Championships.

But he was born in South Africa and now he has decided to go back, to

try to become the African champion. That would open the door to the

Olympics in Rio. It is time for Cameron McKenzie to

leave a place he has called home for 11 years. Mum and dad help pack to

begin a new journey under a new flag. He has been very proud to

represent Great Britain and when he has stood on the podium with the

anthem, he has been proud. But it would add to his experience as a

person to have the additional privilege of standing there for his

country of birth. He has trained here in Huntingdon since the age of

nine but he has moved back to the country of his birth, South Africa,

to achieve an Olympic dream. I have done a lot of national and

international competitions for Great Britain, but to be an individual

champion of a continent, that is a step up to another level. His first

job is to get in shape for the African Championships at the end of

March. If he wins that and becomes King of that continent, it is all

systems go on the road to Rio. Being the best gymnast in Africa, with a

population of a billion, would open up big sponsorship opportunities,

not possible in Britain. He has competed many times under the union

flag, winning junior team Gold at the European Championships four

years ago. Do you feel English or South African? I would say I feel

more South African. I did a competition for South Africa in 2010

and I was competing for Great Britain, and I won it. I remember

standing on the podium with the British uncomplaining and I thought,

it does not quite feel right. The gymnastics world is quite a

close`knit family and it does not matter whether you represent Japan,

Great Britain, South Africa, America, when that gymnast performs

an excellent routine, everybody smiles and applauds and appreciates

what that gymnast has done. How proud will you be when the South

African flag gets raised, hopefully, in a many, `` in one of these

competitions? Very proud, if somebody else is standing up and the

South African anthem is playing, I get proud, so it will be a special

moment. He has seen the contribution Louis Smith has made and he wants to

provide the same spark for South Africa, they have not sent a gymnast

to the Olympics since 1954. I could be looking at the next! `` they

could be. Earlier, we asked for your views on

a subject that is controversial, the cost of going on holiday in the

school holidays. A mother from Essex has launched a Downing Street

petition over the issue. Jenny Kirk is in the newsroom and she has been

looking at what you have had to say. It looks like we cannot get the

sound. We will go back to her if we can. Whether first. `` the weather.

More rain this month. Today, we have had nuisance rain, a lot of cloud

across the region. Showery rain and expect more of those this evening

and overnight. By the end of the night, it is largely dry with clear

spells developing, turning misty and a risk of ground frost as

temperatures drop to around two Celsius. Into tomorrow, it does not

look like a bad day in the East. Mainly dry, but later, wet and windy

weather. This is what is coming. A low present `` a low pressure

weather system from the Atlantic, bringing a lot of rain. Expect a dry

morning, perhaps bright spells across the East. Maybe an isolated

shower, but largely dry. Increasingly cloudy. The signal this

weather front is on its way will be the wind speed. It is possible

through the evening that those costs will be around 40 mph. `` gusts. Six

or seven degrees as the high, the rain will turn persistent and heavy

through the night. Much of it should be out of the way by Saturday. This

is the pressure pattern for Saturday and into Sunday. Low pressure close

by, so strong winds for Saturday. It will stay dry. Sunday is the better

day as winds start to ease. This rain will come. Not a bad day for

Saturday. Although it will be quite windy. We should state dry, isolated

showers possible, but sunny spells, highs of around seven Celsius. ``

stay dry. Into Sunday, more present `` pleasant. Largely dry by Monday,

winds picking up. Back to Jenny. Can you hear me?

Superb! We have been busy. A lot of you

getting in touch. Some about the importance of a family holiday, this

woman says, we cannot go on holiday, we cannot afford school holiday

prices and we cannot afford a fine. Mike kids all living `` losing out

on cultural education. Susie says, this is not just about families, as

a person without kids, I cannot afford a holiday during school

holidays. The elsewhere `` the outrageous

prices affect everyone. Mary says, common sense tells you increased

demands mean prices go up like oil prices in cold weather.

Tony says, it is simple supply and demand. Sally says, so what if you

cannot have a holiday? Why does everybody think they are entitled?

Is I will government going to tell Spain to drop prices? I do not

excel. Melanie says, holidays have been robbing us blind for years, I

have parents over a barrel and they know it.

Jamie says that most holiday places in the UK only make their revenues

seasonally and they have to raise prices is a five through the winter.

Peter says, it will be recoverable for people to understand the charges

at the height of season of fair and reasonable. Prices at term time a

reduced bargain prices. Some of you have set any other form of

discrimination would not be allowed, the UK holiday industry

practices discrimination policies over holidays. Another viewer says,

thank goodness ice cream sellers do not put up their prices during

school holidays or we would all be in trouble. I could not agree more!

Thank you for getting in touch. We have been busy! People make

interesting point and it will remain controversial. That is all for this

evening. Good night.