07/09/2011 Midlands Today

to more than �1 million. The Quantum Leap in Shrewsbury was

unveiled two years ago to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth

there of Charles Darwin. Today Shropshire Council revealed it's

lost a legal battle with the contractors which has more than

doubled the cost, making it more expensive than the Angel of the

North and landing council tax payers with a huge bill. Here's our

It's been likened to human vertebrae and a dinosaur's skeleton.

But the cost of the so-called Quantum Leap in Shrewsbury has

quite simply jumped higher than anyone expected. Least of all

Shropshire Council, which inherited the delays and spiralling costs

from the former Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council when

Shropshire became a unitary authority. Unfortunately it make

impact on some of the capital projects around the county and that

will impact on our residents. The good thing however is it will not

affect frontline services. If we had �1 million at the start, we

could have had a very famous British sculptor and nothing the

people would then accept it. The famous sculptor Anthony Gormley

was responsible for the Angel of the North statue. That cost

�800,000, much of it Lottery-funded. And �200,000 less than Quantum Leap.

I would rather it be given to charity. I think it is nice. Waste

of resources. Better spent on the NHS, I think.

The original budget was �483,000, the council paying �200,000, the

rest coming from grants. But the council bill has risen by another

�410,000, plus legal costs of �115,000, bringing the grand total

to more than �1 million. All at a time when Shropshire Council is

The sculpture was to mark the bicentenary of Charles Darwin. He

was born here. A man at the helm of a charity dedicated to the

naturalist and geologist likes the sculpture. I am pleased the town

did it. But the amount it cost, are you still pleased? I don't think I

can comment, it has cost what his has cost. You can name a figure and

he would still have the same debate. Each of these concrete ribs weighs

3 tonnes and one of the problems during construction was that they

had to be realigned to complete the arch. The contractors Alun

Griffiths from Abergavenny declined our request for an interview. A

statue of Darwin already exists here. Who knows what he would have

made of the row surrounding Quantum Leap. Love it or hate it, the

debate about how much it cost will be discussed by councillors next

week. So Quantum Leap has divided opinion.

But what about public works of art elsewhere around the region?

Whether they're donated, paid for by business or from the public

purse, Joan Cummins has been Every town and city in our region

has got public works of art but are they worth the money? Waste of

money. He should go to the NHS. A focal point for tourists, the

River Goddess otherwise known as the "Floozy In The Jacuzzi"

presides over a range of opinions in Birmingham city centre. We need

to express ourselves and have fun with it. I don't know what it means

and why it is there but it looks good. By Frederick one is at the

Bullring, the barn. That is like a statue -- my favourite one.

Art can be devisisve though. In 2003, Birmingham Forward was

destroyed by arsonists and a scuplture of Lady Diana in Walsall

caused so much controversy that its black veneer was removed and it was

totally revamped. In Stoke on Trent they've taken a different approach

to the art and built a ramp to get up close and personal with a city

father, Josiah Wedgwood. Lady Godiva knows her place in a

revamped city centre is guaranteed and has a place in everyones hearts.

I love Lady Godiva, but I think there is an awful lot of public

money going down the drains. Some of it is a bit of a pointless thing.

Sometimes there really is just one way to say exactly how much you

We're joined now by artist Tim Tolkien who's famous for creating

the Sentinel Spitfire sculpture in Castle Bromwich and also a statue

in honour of Cardinal Newman. He joins us from his studio in the

Black Country. Good evening. When everyone's cutting back so much, is

it understandable that there's anger that �1 million of taxpayers'

money has been spent on the Quantum Leap? The funding matter is a

difficult subject. A lot of problems appear to be to do with

contractors which is out of the hands of the artist or even could

not have been conceived at the start. We hear time and again, arc

plaudits come over budget. You are obviously very passionate about art

but tell us about why it is not such a luxury, why do we need it?

think good quality public at which has been devised properly, it gives

people a sense of pride and place and certainly the way I try to work

is to work with the community so it will be with the people who want it.

It should have a sense of belonging. We know that people were saying

that these are tough economic times. How his business for you bearing

up? At the moment, the product I am working on which is keeping me busy,

the money committed to that was committed over the past couple of

years so now people are not committing money so the next couple

of years it will be a bit tight but we will have to see. Were the

products are publicly funded or privately, I hope that which will

still be able for people to enjoy it in the future. We mentioned a

few minutes ago that you created the Cardinal John Newman statue,

there was a funding problem with that. How is that going? To fit in

with what you're talking about, but has been picked up by the

Birmingham City Council Heritage Department to a technically belongs

to the Museum and Art Gallery. The initial hopes to make it publicly

subscribed as a piece of work, it did not raise enough money, the

sculpture was already made by that point. Gratitude labelled for

joining us. The -- thank you for joining us.

So what do you think about public art, such as Quantum Leap? Is it

worth the money or is it too expensive at a time when public

finances are being cut? We'd love to hear your thoughts. You can e-

mail us or give us a call. Later in the programme, are things

looking up for dairy farmers after years when things looked decidedly

sour? A former Labour health minister

apologised today for what happened at Stafford Hospital. Giving

evidence to the Francis Inquiry into the failings there, Ben

Bradshaw said he had no idea how bad the problems had become. He

also said ministers felt powerless to act because they'd given a lot

of their power away to independent watchdogs. Our health correspondent,

Michele Paduano, joins us now from Stafford. To what extent did

ministers feel they weren't able to control what was going on?

Bradshaw was Minister of Health between 2007 and 2009 when the

catastrophe at Stafford Hospital was taking place and he was in

control of key areas but he said he was kept in the dark about those

areas. What was more interesting was what happened afterwards. After

the problems occurred, they tried to do things but the independent

watchdogs had the powers. For example, they wanted to take the

hospital back into full NHS ownership but they were not able to.

I asked about this but he refused twice but only made this statement.

I am desperately sorry for what happened here in the local hospital

for the families that suffered in there, relatives. I still feel

strongly from the time I spent in the department from the evidence I

have heard at this inquiry that this was fundamentally a case of

chronic local management failure. That does not mean that lessons are

not to be learned by the rest of the system. So why were ministers

prevented from sacking the chief executive? The former chief

executive Martin Yates clearly lied about what was going on what was

going on,... Ben Bradshaw said that the Minister of State -- Secretary

of State Alan Johnson was furious and said I rarely saw Alan Johnson

There was more discussion about the number of people who died, what can

you tell us about that? Even the health care commission originally

thought original there was 100 per when they got the figure of between

400-1,200, Ben Bradshaw wanted that figure published but they have had

a round table discussions and decided the figure was not robust

enough and took the decision that we would never know how many people

died at Stafford Hospital. Thank you.

A cul-de-sac in a desirable area might sound like a nice place to

live. But residents in one such street say their lives are being

made a misery by 200 lorries a day heading past their homes to a

quarry. They want a new access road to be built to take away what they

say is traffic nightmare, as Bob Hockenhull reports.

7:25am and the lorries start coming down Branton Hill Lane in Aldridge

near Walsall. And they keep on coming... And coming and coming. We

counted nearly 40 in an hour. Residents here say there's often

200 a day. The noise and the dust are the worse things, and it is not

safe. We have not got a pavement on one side of the road.

The cul-de-sac is the only access to this quarry. The quarry was

established in 1944 to extract sand to rebuild houses destroyed in the

Blitz. But since 2000 the number of lorries has risen seven-fold as the

site, which has been the subject of two public inquiries, is now also

involved in recycling rubble. Even the inspectors said that it is no

exaggeration to say the residents have suffered, it has been reduced

to a state of despair. The situation is still the same.

The inspector granted outline planning permission for a new

access road across greenbelt land and away from the houses. The

site's owner says he's ready to build it, but has spent the last

three years negotiating with planners. We have got everything we

need, we are ready to roll. would you feel if you lived on the

road? It certainly wouldn't be something I would be very happy

with. I can fully understand their frustration and I sympathise with

them. Councillors are due to discuss the

alternative route next month. will go to the planning committee

for a decision, and we are hopeful that will go through and we will do

everything we can do to make sure it happens.

If the plans are approved, residents say they'll throw a

street party, but in the meantime they'll have to carry on sharing

their road with lorry after lorry. Parents, teachers and pupils at a

school in Shropshire have lost their battle to keep it open.

Shropshire Council today voted to close the Wakeman School in

Shrewsbury, saying it was no longer viable because of falling pupil

numbers. Pupils created a mock crime scene at the Shire Hall,

where the plan was rubber stamped, claiming the decision was

"criminal". We said to the Wakeman School it was in your hands. Come

forward with a viable situation, we do not want to be closing schools

but unfortunately school or the community or the governors did not

come forward with a sustainable alternative to the proposals.

A Black Country MP is demanding urgent action to reverse the

mounting number of empty shops. New figures show that nearly a third of

shops in Dudley are vacant, compared with a national average of

one in seven. Ian Austin, the MP for Dudley North, is calling for

the town centre to be smartened up to help attract new stores and

fresh ideas. It's one of the biggest

regeneration projects in the UK. Rising from the ashes of the

collapsed car maker MG Rover is a new Longbridge town centre. The

latest milestone is the completion of the new Bournville College,

which has cost almost �70 million to build. Students are now

enrolling for courses, while there's plenty of activity

elsewhere on the site, as our business correspondent Peter

Plisner has been finding out. It may look a bit weird, but this

modern building promises to shape the future of higher education in

South Birmingham. Inside it's spacious, bright and students

enrolling today seem to love it. is brilliant compared to the old

college. I am very impressed. College is rubbish compared to this.

For the man in charge of the new college, it's the end of six long

years of planning. We think this will demonstrate what it is about

in Birmingham. But Bournville collage is only part

of the Longbridge regeneration story. Developer St Modwen, despite

the recession, is gearing up for even more construction. You have

got to get the heart back into Longbridge. The reason for people

to come here and to invest here. And encouraging that means more

regeneration. Soon they'll start work on a new �70 million retail

development which will also house a new hotel. Elsewhere there's more

space for living with the construction of scores of new homes.

This is another part of the site yet to be developed, the engines

used for at MG Rovers used to be made here, now 700 houses are

planned to be made here. It's all great news according to

the local vicar who also used to be the chaplin at the MG Rover factory.

We always knew it would be done cautiously but to see things

physically changing shape and people need to use these things and

it is inspiring. Despite the recession, millions of

pound is still being spent here, ultimately that should help to

create thousands of new jobs. The very striking indeed.

Still to come this evening, Shefali looks a few days ahead, could we

see a repeat of Monday night's wild weather over the weekend? Keep

watching to find out. After a tough few years, are things

looking up for the dairy industry? Farmers attending the Dairy Event

at the NEC today say milk prices have edged up towards a sustainable

level. But the news comes as it emerges an earlier attempt to pay

farmers a fair price led to a court case and multi-million pound fines

for supermarkets and dairies. Here's our environment

correspondent, David Gregory. Thousands of farmers, and plenty of

cattle of course, are expected to visit the NEC in Birmingham for the

135th Dairy Event. And it seems things may be looking up. The

crushingly low milk prices of recent years appear to be gone.

general P people are on a bit of a high. They are starting to see the

costs now and it works with farmers' lobbying people and

getting in touch with people who are sat behind those desks, drawing

up contracts and deciding what they will pay us.

But trying to increase the amount of the milk price farmers get has

landed some household names in court. An attempt to pay farmers

more at ended with an Office of Fair Trading investigation and

multi-million-pound fines for companies.

Dairy Crest was fined �7 million and Wiseman's, �3 million. Tesco is

contesting their �10 million fine at the moment. Everything is seen

as interests of the consumer but the difficulty is if you lose the

primary producer, that is not in the interest of the consumer so it

is a balance that is important. But now the picture appears rosier

with prices rising naturally. Farmers at a big event like this

tend to be commercially savvy and sensitive, but it is a sign that

there are better signs ahead for the industry.

The everyday story of country folk, that phrase has a ring to it. But

we're not talking about the Archers. No, two Herefordshire communities

have now become the inspiration for a couple of dramas on the radio.

For the past 12 months, the Rural Media Company has been working with

people in Ewyas Harold and Kington. Our arts reporter, Satnam Rana, has

been meeting some of the characters involved.

The market town of Kington is home to 2,500 people. 70 of whom have

helped bring local stories to life on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play

slot which is accompanied by a film. Later that evening, everybody

danced under those stars. "Man In Wheelbarrow" has been

inspired by Dick, the local street cleaner and school caretaker who

gathered stories and appears in the play himself. We always enjoyed

stories in the small town and there are so many of them and they are so

joyful mainly, and they go on for years.

It's all the brainchild of the Rural Media Company in Hereford

which has been working on the project for the last year along

with the BBC Radio Drama and Arts Council England. We like to work

alongside rural communities to give people chances to explore their

history is and open it to a wider world.

27 miles south in the village of Ewyas Harold, Graeme Sprackling, a

mobile librariran for 30 years, is the main inspiration for tomorrow's

play, "The Fearless Librarian Saves The Day". He retied 20 years ago. -

- retired. I am along comes Rural Media Company and almost at and I

am having to relive everything back on a mobile library. It is all the

talk of the village. It has put us on the map a little bit and it is

lovely to hear stories from the local community. Lots of lovely

places to see. The legacy of this product means the younger people in

these communities are now engaged in film-making and for the older

generation who have taken part in this project, they have been

introduced to modern media techniques. It just goes to show

that art is thriving in rural communities.

And you can tune into the second radio play on BBC Radio Hereford

and Worcester tomorrow at 2:15pm and you can find out more about The

Marches project on our Facebook The cricket season is boiling up to

an exciting finish. I always feel sad in September. With only two

games left, Warwickshire are fighting hard to win the County

Championship. Ian Westwood hit a century as they piled up the runs

against Notts. And at the opposite end of the table, Worcestershire

are battling to avoid relegation. Worcestershire have two games left

to preserve their status. Everything had gone pear-shaped in

June, they lost the first six games, rock bottom of the table and looked

doomed to treat relegation. Water transformation and one man has done

more to give them a fighting chance of staying up. Alan Richardson.

Alan Richardson is Worcestershire's most experienced player. He played

for Derbyshire and Warwickshire before arriving here from Middlesex.

He is enjoying his cricket more than ever at 36. He is the loudest

out in the pack and in the dressing room and he has got an enthusiasm

which is something for playing cricket. He had taken 62 wickets

but he did not long to make that 63 wickets and that is why he is so

popular with the Worcestershire men's. He has come to a nice County

and I think he enjoys his cricket. He cheers the players up a.

shows that there is always a place for experience and he has done very

well. Seems to be a good team player as well. A good morning for

Worcestershire, Sussex were left on 25 for two. But the cricket

commentators came out for their lunch when the players went in.

This man has followed the every ball. It is a tough time for county

cricket and Worcestershire have done well with the squad they have

done well. Steve Rose told us that if he keeps Worcestershire up this

season, it will be his single biggest achievement in his career.

Worcestershire are fighting for their lives, and Worcestershire

will... The file falling to Alan We are delighted to see him doing

so well. Warwickshire closed on 235 for 3. In Westwood court 134 not

It will be working its way up in the temperatures but feeling

autumnal. We are still seeing this rather intense area of low pressure

moving in from the West and at the rain is as bad as the winds, it

could be quite a nasty weekend. Outbreaks of rain rather than

persistent foe. Tonight is like that as well. We have got rain

moving in from the West and it is run the western parts of the region

that we will see rain moving towards the east as well. We have

got a lot of cloud so once again, quite a warm night and it seems as

if the night are better than the days in terms of temperatures.

During the morning tomorrow, this band of showers and rain retreats

to the west and then it springs back again during the afternoon and

that will form a more organised band of rain through tomorrow

evening and also tomorrow night. We will see that in a moment but

temperatures rising to 19 Celsius and breaks in the cloud where we

could see highs of 20 cells is but a warmer day than today because

through tonight and tomorrow, the winds will be easing. The rain

starts to form a more organised band and news from the south west

to the north-east say could be a wet night tonight before Friday

itself, the rain is out of the way and mainly dry, grey but also warm

and the winds are picking up as we A look at tight's headlines.

Economists say the 50p tax rate is doing long lasting damage to the

economy of. And the price tag for a

controversial sculpture soars past �1 million. Lot of e-mails as well.

Paul Williams emailed in to say he's very much into the arts yet he

doesn't think that such a large amount of money should be spent on

maintaining a sculpture in a time when arts funding is being cut.

Meanwhile, Fiona Smith from Telford asks, in this day and age when

community groups, local charities and other worthwhile projects are

struggling to keep going how on earth can such a project be

justified? Karen got in touch and says councils should come and raise

Martin got in touch from Newport in Shropshire and called to say that

the expense of these public projects is absolutely ridiculous,

particularly when we are in a time of austerity. And Jackie from

Dudley says I think if it is probably that art needs to be paid