23/06/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening welcome to Monday's Look North.

On the programme tonight, a high`speed rail line to lhnk

HS3 could slash journey timds and bring ?6 billion into the economy

We'll hear from the Prime Mhnister and investigate how easy it is to

Why funding cuts are making the thin blue line even thinner

And why is Alan Bennett back at the BBC?

This was the coast on Sundax but what about this week? Join le for

the detailed forecast later. But first tonight to

the plans announced by the Chancellor George Osborne for

a third high`speed rail link ` this The link would be based

on the existing rail route, but with new tunnels and infrastructtre,

and the idea is to connect northern cities to counteract London's

dominance of the economy. It would effectively reduce journey

times between Leeds and Manchester That would lead to the creation

of 30,000 jobs and generate nearly ?7 billhon

for the economy on both sidds of But could this become reality

or is it just politics? Danni Hewson is

at Leeds railway station for us now. Hi dear save commuters coming off

trains here in Leeds tonight, if their journey from Manchestdr had

taken 20 minutes less, they would have all been absolutely delighted.

But even if today's discusshon about a high`speed rail link ever becomes

reality most of the workers coming off trains here tonight will be

facing retirement. So why r`ised today and is it is new and dxciting

prospect as the Chancellor `nd the Prime Minister would have us

believe? Hours after Chancellor George

Osborne made his announcement about greater connectivity for thd North,

he and the Chancellor arrivdd. They were here to look at an invdstment

in Coca`Cola but the conversation kept being brought back to HS3 and

whether it was a ploy to win back voters.

This is a real vision to sed we have got strong economies here so let us

link them together so that we rebalance our economy and country

and drive growth and investlents in the north`east and the North of

England. Transport was behind a major

decision of Coca`Cola is to invest. If transport links are improved

would that mean better things for the economy? ?

I would suggest yes. Some awkward questions, it HS3 is still without a

started, is HS3 more than a political carrot?

I think you are going to sax they are still `` struggling in the North

and this is a political thing but I could be wrong. There are 20 million

people in the north and we could make a difference to the national

economy if we could get connected. Others are less charitable.

Especially with a lack of any kind of start date.

Wanted no, we want connectivity to allow our cities to grow as we

proposed in 2004. But they scrapped it. This is nothing to do it

connectivity in the north. Ht is to do with As many as are of the

opinion, say "aye". To the contrary, "no". In the North.

What details do we know? Thdre is no start date and maimed, no btdget and

there will be no, just an update of the existing track. We were told

that the brink journey times down from 50 minutes to 30 minutds but

the Department for Transport this afternoon told us it was actually

more likely to be 38 and it is. So how much would you pay for ` 12

minute quicker journey? Well, we're joined now by r`il

expert Paul Salveson who regularly practice? Electrification?

That will happen and will come in by the end of 2018 and that is great

and long overdue but there will still not be enough capacitx on that

key section between Leeds and Manchester so we do really need to

be looking for the long`terl at an additional route. The government has

said there will be a study to be done by the end of the year and that

is great but they need to look at all options including using some

disused pieces of real way. There is a tunnel lying there which could

actually form part of a cord element of the new route across the Pennines

and also to the site as well. Lots of people inside your share are

asking why it has been closdd down? That's right. In its heyday it was

carrying lots of coal traffhc. That declined but the potential for that

tunnel, which was basically a new tunnel on the belt just aftdr the

Second World War, I could rdally form a key element in the route from

the Mersey across to the Hulber and really provide fantastic jotrney

opportunities but also taking pressure off that he transport and

I'm route through Huddersfidld which can really carry more traffhc.

Is this just politics? There is an element of politics but

it is a game changer as well because it has big implications for the HS2

scheme. You will have terminal stations at Manchester and Leeds

which lots of people have argued isn't a good idea. You need to keep

the trains running through. HS3 if it does happen and I very mtch hope

it will, needs to be lined tp with HS2 and that means signific`nt

changes in how HS2 is currently being conceived which is barely a

London`centric. Well I see it happen?

I hope you and me both see ht happen.

I do too. Later on Look North: The trtth about

drugs and Le Tour. Testing times as

the elite cyclists prepare for the Grand Depart but what guarantees are

there that the race will be clean? There are warnings today

of a bleak future for neighbourhood The financial and staffing strains

affecting the force are featured in the first part of an exclushve BBC

documentary being aired tonhght Rank and file police officers voice

their concerns about coping with the biggest budget

cuts South Yorkshire Police have had Our Crime Correspondent John Cundy

reports. In Sheffield, conflict filmdd last

summer as up to 700 Roma imligrants come to part of the city whhch is

mainly white and Asian. A ldase with financial and staffing constraints

are coming under increasing strain `` Holy See.

Nobody told us that you can expect to see an increase in familhes in an

area and here are some extr` doctors and some City Council workers. That

didn't come. There is a tension between communities. It is `bout

cultural difficulties, poverty. Lots of people in a very small area

together. There is very much a feeling that

they have just run out of staff and you are going to have a sittation

where you have got literallx nobody on.

You need to move now. The community officer has to act.

People are cutting facilitids back because there is no funding, it is

not just people coming in to take over.

As the struggle to maintain what police say is one of the mahn

priorities, immunity policing, they are facing ?42 million in ctts and

pastes one of the biggest crime issues in the country.

Well, earlier I spoke to Deputy Chief

Constable Andy Holt and I bdgan by asking him if community policing

Now it has not. What we havd done thus far is take lots of savings out

of what I term back office functioning. So the administration,

stuff around how we answer the telephone is, I've service our

vehicles. The sort of things that actually people out in the

communities shouldn't noticd a difference. I would argue that up

until now what we have been able to do is make the same savings without

any effect on policing. Has that affected the staff? We hear

lots in the documentary abott the pressure on staff. You have got an

area which has got some of the worst crime figures in the countrx. How

much pressure where the unddr and early still under?

Obviously, when you are askhng your staff to do the same or mord for

less, there is a huge amount of pressure. What we have tried to do

is work smarter, more effectively but you can only do that to a

limited extent. Do you think you have turned it

around? We have certainly made the savings

required of us thus far. We have protected and improved our

performance. One of the are`s is around child sexual exploit`tion.

That wasn't something that featured on any radar five or six ye`rs ago.

I except maybe it should have done. But it didn't feature on anxbody's

radar. But we have put millhons pounds of `` millions of potnds

worth of resources into that will stop we are working very hard and

have seen a change in the w`y we are operating and are concentrating on

what we believe matters most to members of the public.

What challenges do you face now We are halfway through the savings

programme. As in any savings programme, you have a tendency to

make the savings that are pdrhaps the most easily achieved early on. I

think the phrase you would hear is taking the low hanging fruit. We

have got a few more years to make significant savings and that will be

a challenge. My name is to do that a challenge. My name is to do that

without there being any detriment to the service.

And you can see more on the programme Police Under Pressure

Protestors have called Brithsh Transport Police heavy handdd after

They came during the latest demonstration about

The so`called Freedom Riders have been travelling without payhng for

tickets for months. For three months, they have been

travelling without tickets. They are angry about changes to concdssionary

travel. There are supporters followed them to the police station.

The police waded in to the crowd, pushing and shoving. They wrestled

the megaphone out of my hand and bruised my arm as a result. They

basically tried to intimidate the protesters into giving up otr

protest. The Freedom Riders have alrdady

claimed a partial victory. Disabled people have won back every travels.

And about half`price travel for over 65 is. But they say they won't give

up. We will be lobbying and carrying on

our protest and encourage everybody who is affected by these cuts and

travel to join us. In a statement, British Transport

Police said... The first arrests shocked the

protesters but at the travel again without tickets they may not be the

last. A woman from west Yorkshire who led

a successful campaign to get a bone cancer drug made avahlable

on the NHS has died. Jacky Pickles, Janice Wrigglesworth

and Marie Morton all sufferdd They became known as the Velcade

three after they challenged NICE's decision not to make the drtg

available to NHS patients in 20 6. Jacky passed away early on Saturday

morning at Manorlands Hospice Police in Sheffield have naled

the 23`year`old man who was shot Grant Bodell died after being

fatally injured on waste ground Extra officers are patrolling

the area, although detectivds say this was most likely

a targeted attack and are rdassuring the public there's no need to be

concerned for their safety. The online fashion retailer Asos has

begun taking orders again today after a fire damaged

its distribution centre The blaze, on Friday night,

destroyed about 20% of the company's The company suspended its

business but say that the clean up process has progressed quickly and

they have reopened for business Ambitious plans to convert

an old railway tunnel that tsed to link Bradford with Halifax hnto an

underground cycleway have bden seen Transport minister Robert Goodwill,

who's also the Scarborough LP, visited Queensbury Tunnel to see

if the idea is possible. The mile

and a half long tunnel would be the longest underground cycleway

in the UK and would allow pdople to bike between Halifax and Br`dford on

the route of the old Great Northern The ideal way

of combining the excitement of going through a long tunnel and

we have had tunnels like thhs in the They have been phenomenally

successful in attracting people to enjoy the

route which is no longer as steep. And of course that brings money to

the local economy through tourism. We need to see what the pricetag

would be for putting it back into use and how that could then

really ensure that we have ` long Harrogate got a new artefact today.

No, not me, the window. The stained glass monument

celebrates Le Tour and was designed It's been sited at the top

of Montpellier Hill to be a permanent reminder of Harrogate

hosting the two days of the Tour. And staying with Le Tour, it's now

12 days to go until the Grand Depart and only a week until the rhders

start to arrive in our region. Sadly, as ever one

of the big topics for conversation Our Tour de France correspondent

Matt Slater looks at the sport's troubled past

and asks, can we really belheve Born into a mining family in Durham,

raised on the Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire border, he struck gold.

But he had a secret. He dopdd. He paid for it, dying on his bhke. You

might have thought that would have shocked the sport into cleaning up

its act but it didn't. When Lance Armstrong won his record seventh

title decades later, all th`t had changed was that the drugs got

better. Did you ever take drugs to hmprove

your performance? In all seven of your victorhes did

you ever take banned substances Yes.

When the man who had defeatdd cancer to win the Tour de France w`s

revealed as a drugs cheat, people lost faith.

He was an inspiration to so many people and felt such a degrde. We

have to ask what can we learn from that, all be better an antidote

movement and can we protect the young riders `` anti`` doping.

As the current champion, thd British star is adamant that the sport has

learned this lesson. It would be great for peopld to

understand just the level of testing we are exposed to. To know that 365

days a year, the authorities now where we are sleeping. If wd are not

wear we say we are, we get penalised for it.

Cycling is cleaner now than it ever has been that it will take ` long

time for the dates to disappear That may be a good thing. I'd the

only way to say that we won't get full again. `` fooled again.

Why have there been so many scandals over the ydars

The riders were already using stimulants and painkillers to cope

with the demands many years ago One famous rider was asked if hd doped

and he said only when it was absolutely necessary and whdn asked

when that was he said most of the time. What's changed in the 90s was

that drugs got a lot more effective and the tour became an arms race. If

you were unwilling to take part you were simply outgunned. That is the

culture that created Lance Armstrong.

Is it cleaner than ever? I hope so. Lance Armstrong was

caught not by the testers btt by former team`mates who had h`d enough

of the lies. The other thing to say is that testing is much better now.

How many tests do they have? The best weapon is the biological

passport which cycling was the first to take on. That means that you are

permanently assessed. So thdy stopped looking for the drug you are

taking but for differences hn your physiological make up. So if Chris

Froome is in the yellow jersey every day, he gets tested every d`y.

The sports can't take anothdr big cat, can it?

It is teetering. We can't afford another storm.

Before seven o'clock, we'll have a round`up of your weekend sport.

And Alan Bennett's back at the BBC but who's the mystery artist

Onto sport and a winding up petition against Leeds United has bedn

The club paid back the ?958,000 loan it owed to Sport Capital,

a company associated with former managing director David Haigh.

It means the club's bank account can now be unfrozen.

In Super League, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats pulled off a shock win

The Lancastrians went into the match as league le`ders.

But they were knocked off the top after Reece Lynn barged

over in the corner to compldte the Wildcat's 36`28 victory.

They've now won both their games under new coach

James Webster and move further away from the relegation places.

You can see more from that latch and all the weekend's highlhghts on

the Super League Show tonight or on the iPlayer from tomorrow morning.

In cricket, Yorkshire have built a healthy lead in their County

Sheffield golfer Matt Fitzp`trick earned his first pay cheque

as a professional for finishing in the top 30 at the Irish Open

The 19`year`old was leading amateur at last year's Open Championship

He turned professional earlher this month and yesterday won 17,400 euros

for finishing 29th at the European Tour event in Cork.

Defending World Superbike championship Tom Sykes enjoxed

a double victory in Italy this weekend.

The Huddersfield rider qualhfied fastest to take pole position

and won both of yesterday's races in Mis`no.

The 28`year`old has now opened up a 39 point lead

The Yorkshire playwright Alan Bennett has appeared

in graffiti in Leeds after `rtistic images of the writer were mhstakenly

He joins other Yorkshire artists pictured along the route of the Tour

de France, as Cathy Killick explains.

When famous Yorkshire folk started appearing in graffiti

around the route of the Tour de France it startdd a hunt

A street artist name Stewy owned up and explained he had permission

from owners to spray their walls and all were happy with the result.

But there has been a problel with his image of Alan Benndtt.

He was inadvertently boarded`up and the hoarding he was

Now Alan is back after BBC Radio Leeds offered Stewy a BBC

This morning, Stewy, who prefers to remain anonylous

used intricate stencils to put the playwright into position.

It will stay there for at least the duration of thd Tour.

We were at the hotly cycling festival. How did I get this on my

leg? It is a family show so I am not

looking. You are going to Glastonburx on

Friday, argy? That was taken on Friday evdning

just before the summer solstice That is taken in Scarborough on

Sunday. Stunning conditions. Keep the pictures coming in.

A change in prospect tomorrow. They cold weather front is brought in.

There is that cold front. You really weak affair but it will bring some

drizzle leading wet and stax, Thursday and possibly Fridax and

next weekend try with some sunshine although there are some

uncertainties. Some showers developing this afternoon through

the North Midlands but the rest of us have been dry. Most of us are

fine this evening. Just one or two sharp showers breaking out `gain.

Later tonight, the risk of one or two on the coast but most of us will

be dry. The sun rises in thd morning at 4:36am. It should be a fhne and

bright start with some sunshine but cloud will thicken through the

morning. There is that weak cold front ringing patchy rain and

drizzle. Then behind that the sky is bright and once again with just one

or two more showers. Cool and fresh air along the coast. Highs of 1 or

15 Celsius. A chilly nights to come on Tuesday night but that ldaves wet

and stay dry with some sunshine There are still there is uncertainty

about Friday but the weather front is expected to push in from the west

that should be to the south of us. It should be fine next weekdnd as

well. I'm devastated I can't make

Glastonbury this year but the build`up to the Tour de France is

more important. That is it from us. Goodbye.