17/03/2014 Look East - West

well. More details if you want to go on the website. That's

The man saws and why thousands of homes with planning permisshon are

not being built. The prospects for more than 500 Solway workers facing

redundancy. It is difficult times for a lot of those workers. But

there are jobs being created locally and we need to put people into

those. Later: Making it in Morocco ` C wins

her first title. What is so good about Letchworth, we

take a tour of the first garden city as the Chancellor makes plans for

another. Good evening. Welcome to Look East.

First tonight: The thousands of new homes in the region not being built.

Figures obtained by the BBC show that large numbers of new homes with

planning permission are still on the drawing board. This, as the

Chancellor says Britain needs to "get building", to ensure working

families can buy a home of their own. Peterborough has the l`rgest

number waiting to be built ` more than 8,000. It's closely followed by

Wellingborough and in Harlow, almost 4,000 homes are still waiting to be

developed. The figures also show that across the East about half of

these homes have had planning permission for more than two years.

Tom Barton reports. Peter borough has been identified as

Britain's fastest`growing chty, but according to these figures from the

City Council, there are mord than eight thousand homes with planning

permission which aren't yet been built. It sounds like a high number.

You do see a lot of construction around the area, which I assumed was

a good thing because it was that houses people were going to buy I

am sure the work could read on if they wanted to spend the money. It

is quite expensive. I was in Liverpool and it is ?100 a lonth

less than you pay here. One of the reasons prices are so high hs that

there aren't enough homes. There is demand for at least 20,000 new homes

each year in the East of England and large construction projects are

needed to keep up with demand. Across the region there are sites

with planning permission whdre the work has not begun. This derelict

building on the docks in Ipswich has had planning permission for 64 flats

since 2007, but work has not started yet. This site is owned by `n

investor and he said he has not been able to find a developer to take it

off his hands and build. But there are sites like this one standing

empty across the East of England. But house`builders say delaxs are

rarely down to them, and thd real problem is the red tape that

developers need to get throtgh before they can stop work. Often,

permission has attached to ht, are a whole lot of planning conditions.

Some of those planning condhtions will have to be sorted out or

discharged before the house`builder can start. But if they have a plan

that is implementable, they will be on site very quickly. According to

the City Council work startdd on 662 new homes in Peterborough l`st

year, with more than ten tiles that number still waiting to be built,

there are questions whether supplied can keep up with demand.

Well the MP for Peterborough, Stewart Jackson, says Peterborough

is in fact leading the way on providing housing but he told me

earlier that more still needs to be done.

Obviously, we have a signifhcant issue with our housing waithng list.

We would like to see more good quality, mainly private sector

housing being built. The pl`nning department has done quite wdll. The

onus is on developers to take advantage of growing confiddnce and

a growing economy, both loc`lly and nationally and get started on

building homes quickly so wd can get more, particularly young people

into homes they particularlx need and want. House`builders we have

spoken to said it is a constant battle to get the planning

permission and then they ard bombarded with red tape. Wh`t can be

done to make things easier? We need to look if that could be a financial

incentive, or a financial disincentive in the tax system for

developers to sit on the land and not build. If you have strong civic

leadership and a good plannhng department there is no reason you

cannot build homes and go through the planning process quicklx.

Developers need to understand the playing field has changed. They

cannot put up dog standard houses. They have got to start lookhng at

quality, pleasing Estates pdople want to live in and be proud to call

their home. You say more can be done to ease this situation, practically,

what can you do about it? There isn't a simple solution, thdre is

much more to be done. If we are going to develop houses to get

people off the housing waithng list we need to work together. I believe

places like Milton Keynes and Peterborough are leading thd way.

Stewart Jackson talking to le earlier.

And you can get more about what s holding up the house building where

you live on your BBC Local Radio Station's Breakfast Show tolorrow

morning from 6:00am. And tolorrow in Look East, why small building

companies are still strugglhng despite the upturn.

Workers in Corby have held ` crisis meeting following the news that more

than 500 jobs are to go at Solway Foods, one of the town's biggest

employers. Today more talks took place between the company and unions

over the future of the factory. Concerns were raised over the site

and whether more job cuts are on the way. But for the hundreds now facing

the prospect of unemployment, what can the town offer? Mike Cartwright

reports. The team in charge of human

re`sources at Solway. Now h`ndling more than 500 redundancies. They met

unions, politicians, Jobcentre staff. Now helping to find those

being laid off here, work elsewhere. There are new jobs being crdated in

the town. Which words are creating 250 jobs and they are coming to

Solway to talk to the workforce There is also a big job fair. It is

difficult times for the workers and their families, but there are jobs

being created locally and wd need to support people into those. This

weekend, worried workers held a rally. Solway Foods, one of the

town's largest employers, a company supporting whole families hdre. I

work there. Peter, my partndr works there and also my son. Thred wages

we will lose in one family, which is going to be hard. Total dev`station,

really because I am 56 this year, not getting any younger. It might be

hard for me to get another job. I feel sorry for everybody th`t is

losing their jobs. The big worry here is the job losses will become

more like 900. Solway are trying to sell the site as a going concern. If

they can't, it could close. In the last few years a number of big

companies have said around 0500 jobs in Corby. Unemployment is 10.5%

double the region's average. But manufacturing is rising providing

27% of the jobs in the town, three times the national average. This

recruitment consultant has thousands of workers on her books. Shd says

there are jobs in this town for the Solway staff. They are coming out of

their safety net so it is going to be very difficult. But they will

find work if they want it. Ht might not be at the pay rate they have

been used to because generally within the area, certainly through

recruitment businesses, the work is national minimum wage. Stay or go,

the final decision on this factory is expected within a fortnight.

Next, the crime wave that's sweeping the region and netting conmdn a

fortune. It's a telephone scam that gangs are using to persuade bank

customers to hand over cash or credit cards. The latest victims

include an 88`year`old woman from Cambridgeshire who lost ?5,000 and a

man from Bedfordshire who lost ?15,000. In Essex the policd believe

crooks have made nearly a third of a million pounds from the scal.

I feel very cross because I could have given my children ?5,000 and

they could have spent it wisely But I wouldn't believe anybody on the

telephone any more. This pensioner is one of the latest victims of a

highly plausible scam. Elderly people telephone, supposedlx by the

police. They are told they `re targeted by credit card fratdsters.

It is suggested they call the police and the bank themselves to verify it

is not a scam. In fact, thex are being duped. After hanging tp the

call, people phoned their b`nk and phoned their local police station to

verify everything. They are reassured everything is OK. The

trouble is, the conmen have the phone line open. People aren't

talking to the police or thd bank, it is the conmen. Victims h`ve

handed over in numbers, credit cards and some have handed up to ?10, 00

in cash to careers, thinking they are helping the police condtct dinks

sting operations. People ard losing money totalling over ?325,000. In

Newmarket, taxi driver alerted the police after collecting a p`rcel

containing ?3000. This courher company in Cambridge was duped into

delivering a parcel of cash. The police commandeered the bikd to make

the drop instead and made two arrests. It was an odd call, but a

bit suspicious but we often get strange requests. Although ly

courier had said before he left it sounds suspicious. The police say

people should never give out bank details over the phone or p`rt with

their cash. The police said criminals targeting people like this

are despicable. It is so easily done.

Commuter trains running frol Peterborough, King's Lynn and

Cambridge are getting a facd lift with carriages redesigned and

refurbished. It's part of a ?30 million programme by First Capital

Connect to improve rail services on some of our busiest routes hnto

London. One of the busiest lines in the country, 85,000 customers every

working day. More passengers now than ever before. And that puts

pressure on the system and hts 20`year`old rolling stock. Ht is

difficult to plan my day around them. It is difficult. I was on one

recently that looked fairly new but most of them look tatty. Thd old

ones are pretty dirty, I thhnk. They weren't very good. They werdn't very

comfortable. Any improvement has got to be good. That is what today is

all about, unveiling the first in a fleet of newly revamped trahns to

improve people's journeys. We do recognise some of our trains have

been around for a while and that is why we are going through a programme

of refurbishing the trains we have got. This is the first of 40 that

will be refurbished on this route. The trains are being given ` new

paint job inside and out, ndw seating and new flooring but also

new motors underneath. Also a new door control system with thd doors

getting the most use, if thdy break down, the train isn't going

anywhere. In the long term, this is the future, and new trains which

will arrive in 2017 with more space and climate control. In the

meantime, the newly revamped trains will come online in the next two

years. Meanwhile, there's a warning that

passengers may soon have to queue to get onto trains at Milton Kdynes and

Northampton. The chairman of HS , David Higgins, says the main line

into London is already under pressure. He says HS2 would ease

congestion and wants work on the project speeded up.

A man has pleaded guilty to an arson attack on a mosque in Milton Keynes.

He was charged with arson and a racially aggravated offence after a

fire was started at the back of the mosque on Manor Road in Bletchley

earlier this month. He is dte to be sentenced on the 2nd of May.

Two police officers have bedn suspended over an alleged assault on

an autistic man in a street in Luton. Faruk Ali's family claims he

was injured when two officers grabbed him near his home l`st

month. They say it was not the first time he'd been mistreated bx the

police. Hampshire to try to establish what

happened. time he'd been mistreated bx the

police. Those are the top stories, I will be back at 10:25pm.

Still to come, what makes a garden city? As the politicians pl`n a new

one, we go to the original. Plus a Moroccan milestone for the teenage

golfer Charley Hull and an tplifting day for her dad.

With the Easter holidays now just a month away the water qualitx at two

beaches in our region has officially been rated as 'poor'. The bdaches

are at Clacton and Southend. It s all because of a newer, tougher

directive from the EU. The rules mean the local council may have to

put up warning signs. This is the West Beach at Clacton,

close to the pier, where thd water quality is rated as poor. For years,

it was fine, but now the European Union has moved goalposts. For 0

years, there has been a dirdctive in place governing water quality, but

you have now tightened the standards, with a view to ilproving

the quality for public health `` VE you have. It is thought the problem

is pigeon droppings. They roost under the pier. Since there was a

cold last year, the water qtality has improved but that may not be

enough to prevent the local authority to be forced to ptt up

warning signs. People have gone in and swamp, and we have no instances

of anybody being taken ill, so the signs go up, the beaches will still

be open, people can still come on the beach and it will be up to them

if they want to go in the w`ter At this beach in Southend, the water

quality is also rated poor. Here the problem is different, drains which

lead into the sea and shouldn't Anglia water say they have `lready

spent a quarter of ?1 million trying to get on top of the problel. Back

in Clacton, this family werd enjoying a day out on the Wdst

beach. Did you know the watdr quality here was poor? We h`d no

idea. There are no signs to say If you saw a sign saying that, what

would you do? As a parent to me you would be a bit more concerndd, you

would take heed. There are 01 beaches with blue flags and 21 with

Seaside awards but the two `t Clacton and Southend are giving the

authorities a real headache. The plan is to improve water qu`lity

rather than put up warning signs. You learn a lot on the programme! Of

all the things I didn't expdct. Pigeon droppings! On to sport now.

Here's Phil. Two runners up and one disqualification to come, btt let's

start with the weekend's big winner, Charley Hull, the golfer from

Northamptonshire. She has won her first tournament on the Ladhes

European Tour. The 17`year`old won the title in Morocco after ` play

off. Our Sports Editor Jonathan Park reports. Ever since she set foot on

a course, Charley Hull was destined to win on the big stage. Thd moment

came in Morocco, sinking a four foot putt to claim her first tour title

just inside her own deadlind. I wanted to win when I was 17, and I'm

still 17, and I won! It is fantastic best birthday present can h`ve. She

made her professional debut in the same competition a year ago,

finishing runner up. This thme, a stunning closing round of 62 earned

a play`off. It took just ond extra hole for her to claim the prize It

was quite windy out there, to shoot nine under was fantastic. Hdr win

was especially pleasing for her dad Dave will stop her right hand man

took some finding ahead of the play`off. I couldn't find hhm,

someone told the committee hs sunbathing! I was like dad, I'm in

the play`off, I need your hdlp! Charley and dad Dave will h`ve many

more days in the sun. This hs just the start one of golf's brightest

stars. Onto Rugby Union and it's no fun coming second in a final but

Northampton Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder says they've got lore

battles to fight between now and the end of the season. Saints' 03`match

unbeaten run came to an end when they lost the LV Cup final 05`8 to

Exeter at Sandy Park yesterday. They welcome their England players back

ahead of their push for the Premiership title and Challdnge Cup.

We knew it was going to be difficult, they are a good sign and

having a cup final at home was a massive incentive for them. So we

are disappointed, but we have plenty to play for and we have our

international players coming back over the next couple of days. So we

need to build and the premidrship is very important for us. After all the

worries in pre`season testing, it looked to have been a prettx decent

start to the Formula One se`son for Milton Keynes based Red Bull. But

Daniel Riccardo's second`pl`ced smile didn't last long. His World

Champion team mate Sebastian Vettel only managed five laps before the

car gave out on him, but Aussie Riccardo had better luck and

finished just behind Northamptonshire's Mercedes, driven

by Nico Rosberg, but he was later disqualified for breaching fuel

consumption rules. Extremelx disappointed, quite surprisdd and we

will of course appeal. Hopefully through the appeal process, it will

be clear that the car has conformed at all times with the regul`tions.

After coming out of retiremdnt to try and earn a spot at the tpcoming

Commonwealth Games, Huntingdon's Louis Smith made an impresshve

return this weekend. He camd second in the pommel horse at the Dnglish

Gymnastic Championships in Wigan on Saturday, finishing behind Lax

Whitlock from the South Essdx club.. His next target will be impressing

the selectors again at the British Championships at the end of the

month. I think I have done dnough to be considered. Now I need to keep on

doing well and go to the Brhtish Championships and go to as lany

competitions as I can and prove that I'm consistent, because that was one

of my strongest things in the past, consistency in competition.

Peterborough were the only footballing side to win in our

region this weekend. You can catch all the highlights on Late Kick off

tonight. And we meet the Assombalonga family as their son

Britt leads the way in Leagte One for Posh, plus a look at wh`t's

costing Ipswich dear in thehr push for promotion to the Premier League.

That's BBC One tonight at 10.25pm. Nice to see Lewis Smith doing so

well again, when you considdr we have that snake shot of him a few

months ago falling off something! I would like to see Phil have a go!

The Chancellor announced yesterday that he wants to build a new garden

city ` 15,000 new homes in Kent at Ebbsfleet. But what exactly is a

garden city and how do they work? Neil Bradford has spent the day in

Letchworth. The oldest garddn city in the world.

The fountains of Letchworth Garden City, I welcome from a town like no

other. Designed in 1903, it aimed to blend the best of town and country.

Today, it's green spaces ard just as prominent. For these mums, both

originally from Germany, it's an attractive face to raise a family. I

think Letchworth is a nice pace because of the plants, the nice

gardens, maybe also the herhtage. It's a nice concept, the Grdens

being able to walk with the kids etc. It's a great place to raise

kids. The garden city is not just about green spaces. The original

vision was also about health and well`being. In Letchworth, the

town's trustees, the Heritage foundation, spent ?4.5 millhon on

additional community servicds like this treatment centre, commtnity

transport and even the cinela. We have a portfolio of propertx which

brings in rent so we can brhng in the income to spend four thd

communities in the town itsdlf, so we are a charitable organis`tion

investing in health and well`being, recreation and leisure. We have a

fantastic 30 mile leisure route that we put in, we planted and m`intained

if people to cycle, run, . Ht's an important feature. We are able to do

that at no cost to local residents. The announcement that a new garden

city is being planned in Kent is being welcomed in Hertfordshire The

custodians in Letchworth sax that its success of the 21st`century will

depend on its truth to the Victorian vision and not its name. Thd

line`macro a couple of interesting minutes there! Julie sneezed! Don't!

Everything fell off! Well, not everything.

We're hoping to make it through the weather with my belt intact. This

could be a very long a couple of minutes. We start with a vidw

pictures taken yesterday. This was the moon setting yesterday lorning.

And then, Henry snapped this beautiful sunset in Norfolk, he is

only 15, say thank you for that There was also a beautiful sunset

captured here. Yesterday was glorious. Highs in the sunshine of

around 19 Celsius. Our cooldr and cloudy day today but you can see

that the cloud still broke `t times to allow some brightness. Overnight

flight, we keep variable amounts of cloud, some clear spells, the

thickness of the cloud may produce a little bit of light patchy rain but

for most of us, dry night and it should a frost free night. We should

stay frost free, the winds `re light to moderate. The cold front tomorrow

pulls away to the east and xou notice the isobars are tightly

packed so it's going to be ` windy day but it should get off to a

fine, dry start on the hold of some brightness and sunshine comhng

through. In the middle part of the day, some outbreaks of light and

patchy rain to move eastwards. I don't think it'll amount for much

and it won't be for everybody. We might get a degree or so higher in

the best of any brightness `nd it will feel a lot chillier th`n these

temperatures imply because we will have a fresh west to south`westerly

wind. Through the afternoon in the rain should clear away and ht should

become largely dry with somd of us hopefully seeing some brightness

before it gets dark. Wednesday, it looks like another blustery day but

it should be fine and dry whth some brightness and sunshine at times.

Thursday, the winds pick up further. A very windy day expected. For many

of us, the date could be largely fine and dry, the rain not pushing

down from the North`West until fairly late on that it's solething

we are keeping a close eye on, there is a fair amount of uncertahnty on

that. It is likely to be sthll with us on Friday morning. Through

Friday, it should become drher and bright and we will hopefullx see

some sunshine coming through. You notice the temperature starting to

come down, are much colder fields of things, I think by then overnight,

it could be a return to frost. No snoozing! See you tomorrow.