19/10/2016 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

It needs to make savings of more than ?33 million in the next

financial year yet Durham Council has agreed a rescue package

?3.7 million of outstanding debt owed to the council will be

This comes on the day teachhng assistants voted for strike action

as Durham Council plans to cut their pay.

After more than 20 years as a first-class county,

Durham is a cricket club saddled with debt - more than ?7 million.

Durham County Council is owed ?3.7 million with no prospect

of repayment, and so today, the council vote to turn th`t debt

I ask that everybody is in agreement with

So the council has allowed the cricket club to live and hopes

to be repaid at some stage in the future.

Recently, we've closed care homes, we've closed leisure centres,

we're restricting service to the old and the young,

we've shut schools, and I don't think Joe Public out there's

The council claims the cricket club brings millions into the economy,

It brings an important profile, not just for the county of Durham,

But is there much appetite `mongst local council taxpayers

I would probably go against it but that's my belief

If they go bust, to me, they half deserve it.

If they have the problem, why give us the problem?

Because if the council's bahling them out, it's going to impact

The County Durham and the cricket club - help them out of trotble

The council deal suggested by cricket's governing body,

It relegated Durham for their financial dealings.

It's been getting it in the neck for doing so.

But it too has been lenient over money that Durham owes it.

So the ECB has written off ?2 million worth of debt.

It's paid off a loan company that was owed about ?800,000

by Durham and it won't vigorously pursue another ?1.8 million

And thanks to that and the council, Durham will live to play on.

Well, teaching assistants in County Durham who are Unison

members have voted for strike action over Durham Council's plan to pay

While the council says the change is needed to abide by equal pay

rules, some workers say they could lose nearly a qu`rter

Our news correspondent, Mark Denten, reports.

You could hear the anger when they gathered for a rally

But words from the teaching assistants are about

to turn into action - action which could have an hmpact

on schools, pupils and parents across County Durham.

Unison members have voted by 93% to strike.

This shows absolutely the strength of feeling amongst our Unison

teaching assistants about the way they're being treated

We know that there was a strong solidarity amongst our membdrship

and we hope that the council now sit up and listen and come back

The strike is over plans by Durham Council to reduce

the teaching assistants' pax just to turn time.

GMB members have backed a compensation deal but workers

who plan to strike say they've been left with little choice.

We have taken this action with a heavy heart.

We absolutely understand the impact and the disruption this

will have for schools, for families, for children, but we

The long-term impact and the long-term disruption

to those families and schools and children will be far,

far greater if those professional dedicated experienced staff

are forced out of their jobs because they can't afford to live.

The council says it's disappointed about the planned strike action

There was a significant risk of an equal pay claim.

We've had to do what we've done thus far and, of course, two

of the unions have accepted the compensatory offer

But clearly, our priority now is to work with school leaders,

governors and headteachers to minimise the impact

Their education is our primd concern at this time.

Unison say, while there are no dates yet for strikes,

they will definitely take place before Christmas.

Mark Denten, BBC Look North, Durham.

A family have spoken of their distress at the way

their dying mother was treated in her final moments.

An internal investigation is underway at Harrogate Hospital

after Irene Simister was moved twice in the last half hour of her life.

The hospital has now apologised, as Cathy Killick reports.

It's just five days since the death of his mother, Irene,

and David Simister is at her flat to start sorting out her affairs.

His grief is still very raw and it's compounded by the manner

of his mother's death at Harrogate Hospital.

In her dying moments, a clinical bed manager insisted

Irene was moved to make way for another patient.

It was very upsetting because we had prepared ourselves for our mother

to pass away in the room she had been in for almost a week.

She was comfortable there, she was settled there,

she had cards from well-wishers there, she had flowers and she had

a photograph of her and my father on their wedding day on the table

In the melee that was to get her into this other sideroom

before her death, that got knocked over.

Some of her stuff was left in the corridor.

And we were left with our mother dead in another room

The nurses said they were doing it under sufferance and when mx mother

under sufferance and when my mother died, the nurses were crying. They

see death on a daily basis and died, the nurses were crying. They

see death on a daily basis `nd they see death on a daily basis and they

are used today but they werd not used to this particular death. Those

final minutes after them further tainted by what happened.

The hospital has apologised for moving her.

I want to ensure that what happened to my mother and what myself

and my family are experiencing, does not happen to anybody dlse

For David, that means seeing protocols established

to ensure dying patients aren't moved in future.

Cathy Killick, BBC Look North, Harrogate.

A sixth man is being questioned by police over the death of a woman

27-year-old Jodie Wilkinson was stabbed on Monday

Today, a 43-year-old man was arrested.

Five other men arrested remain in custody.

A 20-year-old man has died in a road crash on the A69 in Northumberland.

It happened shortly after 1`m near the Bridge End

A 27-year-old man and a wom`n aged 21 have been arrested

on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Theresa May has rejected an appeal to intervene in the potential

downgrading of health services at the West Cumberland Hosphtal

Restructuring plans include the possible scaling back

of consultant-led maternity and children's services.

During Parliamentary Questions, Mrs May said the issue

would be dealt with by local decision-makers -

something opposed by the local community.

I was disappointed and underwhelmed by the Prime Minister's response

Either she's been given misleading information to use at the ddspatch

box or she's choosing to use misleading information

Ultimately, the question of maternity services, 24-hour

consultant and maternity services at the West Cumberland Hospital,

is a decision that will be made by the government.

Unemployment's fallen across the region, according

88,000 people were without ` job in the North East in

the three months to August , that's down 9,000.

There were falls too in Cumbria, where 4,445 people are clailing

Job Seekers' Allowance, and in North Yorkshire,

To football - Gateshead are out of the FA Cup

after losing to Alfreton Town in their qualifying-round replay.

They came from behind to le`d 2 1 at one point but eventually lost

Time for the weather now with Paul Mooney.

A bit of an east-west split the night. A lot of cloud in the

A bit of an east-west split the night. A lot of cloud in thd east

and showery outbreaks of rain. Some and showery outbreaks of rain. Some

places in the East, temperatures in double figures. Some parts of the

Cumbrian countryside cold enough for a touch of frost. It should start

chilly but drying the West tomorrow and it should stay dry. Mord

chilly but drying the West tomorrow and it should stay dry. More cloud

east of the Pennines. The showers become fewer and further between.

Most places should at least see blue sky, sunshine. Temperatures

generally peak at 12 or 13 Celsius tomorrow afternoon. A light

northerly breeze in the West, more to it along the north-east coast in

North Yorkshire. We got high pressure trying to build an over the

next few days, we get back into the setup we had joined the first top of

this month with high pressure centred over Scandinavia fedding

this month with high pressure centred over Scandinavia feeding in

cold northerly winds. It dods depend cold northerly winds. It dods depend

on how much shelter you get from that went. On Friday, we get a bit

of shelter. Fairly cloudy skies and that north-easterly breeze. The

weekend is similar. Shelter from the breeze, should see sunshine.

that cool breeze to factor in. Here is Matt with the national outlook.

Good evening. Just as the weather starts to quieten down across many

parts of the country it notched up a gear across the east coast today.

Near gale force winds whipping up rough seas for our weather watchers