04/10/2011 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Hello, and welcome to Look North. Coming up tonight:

We're live at the crunch meeting to decide on plans for a �75 million

hospital. The �100,000 police force.

Criticism of plans to increase the number of senior officers earning

big salaries in one of the country's smallest forces.

Also tonight, defeat for the campaigners fighting to save a 100-

year-old beech tree. There is nothing we can do for this

particular tree. And we meet the blind man on the

verge of becoming a fully trained scuba diver.

In sport, there's basketball action as the Wildcats square up to the

Eagles. And what next for Sunderland

Football Club as Quinn moves out and the owner moves in?

A packed meeting is underway this evening that will decide the fate

of a controversial �75 million emergency hospital at Cramlington

in Northumberland. The hospital would be built just outside

Cramlington and would serve a population of half a million people

in North Tyneside and Northumberland. Adrian Pitches is

outside the crucial planning meeting at County Hall in Morpeth

A new hospital, surely that has to be good news?

It does sound like good news, doesn't it? 60,000 patients would

be treated per year at the state of the Arc Hospital. -- state of the

art hospital. But it is bad news for people live -- who lived nearby,

with traffic disruption. The meeting is under way, as you have

said, and we are expecting a decision possibly within the hour

and we will update you later on. Let's hear about the news of today.

Today there's just a stake in the ground. But within two years a

state-of-the-art emergency care hospital could be built in these

fields if the plans are approved this evening. Yes, there are

concerns from local residents, because there is a housing estate

and there is a concern about hospital Moyes and helicopter noise.

Why man said last night that he was a building worker and he needed

work. This has to be good news. A local man agrees and he has been

fighting for support for this new plan for the site. A have got a lot

of people in this area. -- we have got a lot of people in this area

and this would be their hospital. You come in here and you go out

alive, and that is the main thing. But over his shoulder live the

householders whose home will be surrounded by the new hospital

development. In effect, they say, the home they

built themselves will become a roundabout. It is the wrong

location. These roads cannot cope with the extra traffic. The quality

of life with 60,000 ambulances coming past our bedroom windows 24

I was a day, that equates to seven ambulances every hour 24 hours a

day. -- 24 hours a day. The traffic and disruption in people's lives: -

- in people's lives... Whether that hospital is built could be decided

within the hour. Its backers say it will save lives. This will allow

early access for people. So this will save more lives? Cow our hope

is that it will save a lot more -- our hope is that it will save a lot

more lives. By this application is recommended for approval -- this

application is recommended for approval but there are potential

concerns from the nearby Newcastle airport. We will bring you more

later. Tonight Look North can reveal new

developments on the crisis at Cleveland Police. Yesterday we

heard news from Sean Price its suspended Chief Constable. Today

we've learnt that he is to be replaced by a new interim Chief

Constable. The move has been attacked because it would leave the

force with seven senior managers earning an average of more than

�100,000 a year. Stuart Whincup has this exclusive report.

This is Jacqui Cheer. She is the Deputy Chief Constable at Suffolk

Constabulary. And Look North understands she is currently in

talks about taking over the top job at Cleveland. But her appointment

would leave one of the smallest forces in the country with seven

senior managers. All earning an average salary of more than

�100,000 a year. And this at time of savings and job cuts. I do not

feel we can testify to have as many as you are saying at a time when we

are haemorrhaging police officers. Our figures are dramatically

decreasing. I have some real concerns over the front line and

the service we can deliver to the people of Cleveland. Operation

Sacristy, the investigation into allegations of corruption regarding

business practices at Cleveland Police, has, according to

Middlesbrough's Mayor Ray Mallon, already cost more than $1 million.

And he says the bill the force are having to pick up is now running at

�170,000 a month. Money is tight and some claim now is not the time

to be recruiting more managers. is concerning that for what is a

very small police force we are now talking about seven people earning

over 1,000 -- �100,000 a year. People will be concerned that we

are seeing quite a large number of highly paid staff in what is a

difficult time for the police and when money is in such short supply.

The authority says while it has nothing but praise for its

management team in this difficult time, it has been considering ways

of providing further support. That process, it says, is still under

way. It says that the reality is that the suspension of the two

senior officers has led to a strengthening of the senior

New wind farms and nuclear power stations could create thousands of

jobs in the North East and Cumbria. But, as we've reported previously,

some of our communities want an embargo on turbines near their

homes. And one North East Conservative has backed them,

accusing the government of getting its policy badly wrong. Our

Political Editor Richard Moss is at the Conservative conference in

Manchester. Richard, how strong is the opposition to wind farms?

We have heard before or about places like County Durham that

tried to oppose places like this in their communities. Northumberland

is facing serious planning applications for the countryside.

It was a Northumberland Conservative who took his bike to

conference today. She says that her government has got it totally wrong

and she wants to look at other forms of energy and other parts of

the country should be taking their fair share. She says Northumberland

has had its fill. Rural Northumberland is absolutely fell -

- fed up to the back teeth with people wanting to trash our

landscape and the subsidy will not help the local people. It will put

their very small in comes under more pressure on their fuel bills

and the subsidies will end up in the hands of the German investor

and they are fed up that we are not seeing any economic benefit and we

are getting our landscape trashed in the 4th process. -- in the

process. We also spoke to someone from Sellafield today. Jobs will

decline there as the business wind down. But he has welcomed the

government plan for a new nuclear station made by a consortium. He

thinks it will be a big boost to the West Cumbrian economy. In the

construction phase we will have 5,000 jobs and there will be more

beyond that. Sellafield is looking into commissioning the area so we

will have a steady reduction in employment in the next few decades

and new investment like a nuclear plant next door will balance that

out and continue to support West Cumbrian economy for decades to

come. There was one more mention of the northeast and the conference

today. Greg Clarke said that he hoped that people in Newcastle but

next make for an elected mayor. He says that every city needs its

Boris Johnson. Here's an uplifting story of a man

who decided not to let his disability get in the way of

enjoying life to the full. Robert- Ainsley Raffel, from Hexham, was

born blind. But soon he will qualify as a fully-trained scuba

diver. Chris Storey went to meet him, and the team of divers making

his dream come true. Not what it was designed for, but this is how

Robert Ainsley-Raffel finds his way round his new underwater world. He

was born blind, but last year he decided he fancied a new hobby, and

scuba diving is what he chose. is the freedom of aid because you

are under water and it does not matter. -- freedom of it. It

becomes a three-dimensional world, really. The British Sub Aqua Club

were happy to adapt their rigorous training regime to meet Robert's

needs. Absolutely amazing, fantastic. He is absolutely

brilliant. His buoyancy is spot on. We have seen him using a stick to

help him gauge his depth and he is bang on in the water. Absolutely

fantastic. Because he can't see, all of the instructions have been

adapted to be conveyed by touch. A tap on the visor means lift your

mask, a double tap on the arm means let go. And Robert has also passed

his theory exam with 100 % marks. Soon he will be ready for his first

dive in the sea. I would like to die for some of the big shipwrecks

-- or I would like to dive around some of the big shipwrecks. Robert

is now just one weekend of open sea diving from his open water

Certificate and he has done that in as little time as it would have

taken anyone else. Coming up next, find out the fate

of the Irton beech tree. And he'll never run out of words,

but the region's longest serving journalist has run out of time, and

we've been to meet him on his home patch. And in the forecast, the

colours might be lovely, but the weather is not shaping up as well.

The five-year battle to save a tree near Scarborough is over.

Protesters have been occupying the 100-year-old beech tree at Irton

for the last fortnight. North Yorkshire County Council has been

trying to cut it down because they said it was damaging nearby walls

and drains. Michelle Lyons is live in Irton now. Not the result that

many people were hoping for, is it? Not at all. Behind me there is a

gaping hole where the tree once stood. For many protesters, they

could not watch, it was too emotional for them. But for one

protester in particular, 17-year- old Reddy, it was a four day ordeal

of being tied to the trees. The council arrived at first light

this morning to erect a fence around the base of the trees. Cut

off from the rest of the protesters, Vicky prepared herself for the

After speaking to a council official, she decided to end her

first -- four des protest. She spoke of her ordeal. I think we

have had to accept that there is nothing else we can do for this

particular tree. Vicky was one of five protesters to occupy the tree.

One man started two weeks ago today and spent four nights there.

Charles replace him and then Dave and Robert each spent one night in

the tree before the key started her vigil on Friday. -- Vicky. Within

minutes of her descent, the contractors moved in, and the

protesters wept. After six years of protesting and getting petitions

and people's points of views across to save the tree, it has not worked.

It is the heart of the village that is being removed. Just over one

hour ago, the tree hit the ground with an almighty thud. A five-year

legal battle costing more than one- quarter of a million pounds was

finally over. Some of the protesters here have asked for part

of the tree trunk to be safe for them. They want to turn it into a

sculpture or a memorial plaque they can keep in the village. They say

they do not want their efforts to be forgotten. They have set up a

fund today to set up -- pay for any legal fees that became -- for

future problems they may be involved in.

The region's longest-serving journalist is retiring at the end

of the week. The Northern Echo's Mike Amos has written millions of

words in a career that spans nearly half a century. And all for just

one newspaper company. Our Business Correspondent has tonight's Look

North report. Mike Amos is reminiscing over a

lifetime of stories. For 46 years he has written about every aspect

of North East life. He's gone from cub reporter on Darlington's long

gone Northern Despatch to provider of 250 columns a year on today's

Northern Echo. But from next week he'll no longer be the company man.

By and large it has been good fun, not least because in the last 25

years they have just left me to do my own thing. His own thing is

writing that has wit, style and erudition. His copy features words

like coruscating or vertiginous. And the scope is broad. Religion,

sport, restaurant reviews and dairy columns. His contacts numbered in

the thousands. I think he has the ability to capture the role world,

the dominoes, the five and threes, the community halls that he goes to,

the pubs and clubs, he is touching real people here in the northeast

and that is why he is so special. And he does it all in spite of not

driving. Myopia did for that. So he buses, trains and ambles around the

region. Here he's on the case of a fellow retiree and old school

friend. Of course he is a bright lad! I enjoy reading the paper more

than other people do. He is just part of it. The paper will never be

the same without him. But print is not Mike's only enthusiasm. Beer

looms large. He's also chairman of football's Northern League, two

interests that seem to give him older readers and contacts.

columns probably appeal to older readers who remember the world as

it wise. I would rather write about the Northern League than the

Premier League. All of these things in turn tended to appeal to older

folk and it is up to the Ago to report on these things. This then

is very much the world Mike Amos writes about. Dominoes, hearty

crack over a beer, tales of gritty non -league football and equally

gritty North East characters who enquire 'what fettle' rather than

'how are you.' And having set it down in millions

of words it's a world that can never stale. It may not be the real

world, and for that thousands of readers say, "Thank god". They can

also give thanks that retirement doesn't mean not writing. If you

are healthy, which, touch wood, I am, you can do anything. I still

look forward to meeting great people and being paid to do it. It

has been a great life. That has been a career, hasn't it?

It began as a chance encounter on holiday that left a Wearside

teenager smitten. Now a little bit older, that same woman is devoting

her life to birds of prey. As well as rehabilitating injured birds,

Becky Allen is now in business, showing the public around the

aviary, not out in the wilds as you might expect, but at her family

home, on a housing estate in Washington. We've been to meet her.

The main thing for me is doing work in schools and charity work and I

think it is more of a partnership than a dependants.

Wings over Washington as a means of education, particularly for young

people, about these fascinating creatures. Hidden away on a housing

estate, you'd never know it was there. This is a Harris hawk. They

come from Mexico and Arizona. This is a bar and I will. She is the

youngest one that I have got. This one is a tawny owl and he is the

costliest. -- costliest. This is my grubby as to bird. He will not lead

you stroke him when he is on the perch. -- This is my most grumpy

bird. A day out with Becky will get you close enough to handle the

birds, and then allow you to see Is it right to keep them? Some

people would say that these things belong in the wild. I totally agree,

and when we rescue a bird, we try to put it back in the wild if

possible. If they will be in captivity in the first place they

should be with someone who will look after them properly. If you

object to birds of prey being kept in captivity you're unlikely to be

paying Becky a visit. If you don't, or you're just not sure, getting

this close the birds might help you Just stunning. I love owls. I could

watch them all day. We have a story that broke last night. A big one as

well at the football club. For Niall Quinn began his first day as

Sunderland's new head of international development today. By

the end of the week, he'll be jetting off to lead a deputation to

the Far East. It's all part of a plan put together by the club's

owner and new chairman, Texan billionaire Ellis Short. And it

could change the face of the club forever.

Not long after he and his Drumaville consortium bought the

club, just over five years ago, Niall Quinn warned he wouldn't be

chairman forever. But supporters are still in shock at the news that

he's stepped aside to spearhead the club's international development.

Maybe, like a lot of people, he just fell out of love with certain

aspects of the modern game? If you look back over the last five years

he has brought the club up by leaps and bounds. At the minute, the way

football is, we have seen mercenaries and people who are more

obsessed with money than they ever have been. A lot of my friends are

disenchanted with the way the game is. Of course it was Quinn who

appointed Steve Bruce. With his main ally out of the day-too-day

picture, where does that leave the manager? The bottom line with Steve

Bruce is results. If in the next month or so the result remained

inconsistent and Sunderland are still struggling to deliver

themselves then Steve Bruce knows the consequences as anybody else

does. Bruce will be packing his bags later his week, but only to

join Quinn and the club's new international marketing director,

Mike Farnan, on a business trip to South Korea. No coincidence that

Korea is the country from which they brought in striker Ji Dong-Won

over the summer. With the club's power base shifting to Ellis

Short's London HQ, the days of Quinn drumming up support in the

region's pubs and clubs are a thing of the past. I think when he first

came in, him and his Irish mates thought they could turn the club

around, and he said he should put a zero on the end of it. Less than a

day into his dual role, the new chairman has already made his first

major decision. Over the summer, away supporters will be moved out

of their prime spot in the Stadium of Light. Too often the gaps behind

the South Stand goal haven't looked good for the TV cameras or for that

global image. A historic moment for a basketball in the region. The

Durham Wildcats began life in the BBL at the weekend with their first

top-flight North East derby against Newcastle Eagles. It was watched by

a sell-out crowd. And it was hot stuff on and off court, as Katie

Gornall reports. So many people wanted to see this game that they

had to be turned away. Six years after they were formed, the

Wildcats are now rubbing shoulders with the Manchester United of

basketball. They may be the new kids on the block but they are not

planning to make up the numbers. Those who crammed into the

auditorium were rewarded with a gutsy performance driven forward by

the point guard and they made the Eagles work hard for their win at

the Derby. We are communicating. no point in time did we look like

we would get blown out of the gymnasium. There was a 22 point

deficit. It is really all about the players. The Wildcats will take on

their neighbours again next week and they have proved themselves

more than capable of holding their own. Some of the players and fans

looked hot and bothered. It was in 90 degrees Fahrenheit in these

The now it is time for the weather. One of the great things about all

some his collar. Here are some really vivid pictures and here are

some more muted ones. Thank you for her those who send in these

pictures. Tomorrow be overwhelming colour will be grave. It will be

wet and windy as well. Let's have a mug. You can see the lines on the

chart for tomorrow show that there will be some wind Through Wednesday

and it will be quite wet as well. The wind turns more north-westerly

and it will be a really biting wind as we head towards the End Of the

Week. For Friday, it will blow the showers away, and the very end of

the week looks dry with the best of the sunshine on offer in the east.

In the meantime, we have got some light rain moving into Cumbria at

the moment. It will continue its journey as far as the Pennines.

Every night combination of strong winds and cloud ever had means that

temperatures will stay well up into double figures through the night.

On Wednesday, the wettest day of the week, the cloud and Range will

come in first in Cumbria and they will go into the East through the

afternoon. These are the heaviest outbreaks of rain for the day

coming through in the afternoon in the south of the region. Tomorrow's

top temperatures are up a couple of degrees on Today, 17 up to 19 in

some regions and even up to 20 and some places. As we head through the

rest of the week, temperatures will take a battering on Thursday as the

wind turns north-westerly. It will not even feel as warm as 12 Celsius.

Some recovery on Friday with has a 15 and a similar pattern -- pattern

Let's go back to the county council meeting about the state of the art

hospital. Any news? It has been under way for an hour

now and as yet there is no decision. We are all on tenterhooks but you