07/11/2013 Midlands Today

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Radical

revamp on the roads: long term plans for a possible permanent closure of

Birmingham's city centre tunnels. We are not ruling out anything. We are

going into a discussion. We'll be finding out why planners think it

could benefit Birmingham city centre. Also tonight: A week after

she was abandoned, police return to the park where baby Jade was found

and appeal for her mother to come forward. We saw this man stood by

the house, by the front door. You could see he was up to no good.

The cleaner who gave police a crucial tip off and put a convicted

killer back behind bars. One of the world's top jazz

musicians lends his name and his sax to help raise funds to fight cancer.

And considering how things were looking yesterday, there could now

be a better outcome for the weekend. Get the full details later.

Good evening, The A38 tunnels in Birmingham city centre could be

closed permanently as part of major transport reforms. It's just one

idea being looked at as part of a 20 year plan looking at the future of

travel across the city. Every day Birmingham residents make

approximately 2.8 million journeys in and out of the city, but 250,000

of those journeys are less than one mile long. There are also half a

million journeys on public transport across the city every day. Peter

Plisner reports on what these radical proposals could actually

mean for the city and its commuters. This summer's closure of the A38

tunnels for maintenance. Despite fears of gridlock, congestion wasn't

a major issue. Now following that closure, the debate has started on

the exact role of the tunnels ` which is some places are hindering

development. From here, you get a good idea of what the role of the

tunnels is. On this side, a derelict land is being occupied by a car

park. The road is acting as a barrier to develop into the council

wants it to change. At this morning's launch of a new 20`year

vision for transport in Birmingham the future of the tunnels was being

talked about. They are not ruling out anything. We're going into a

discussion was three or four months and all these concerns will come out

in that discussion. Consultants hired by the council to put today's

report together maintain the it can be done. There is an urban motorway

in San Francisco that used to carry more traffic than this road, about

110,000 vehicles a day and one day they decided to close that and turn

it into a fully pedestrianised environment. And San Francisco is

one of the most successful cities in the world. The report also talks

about big improvements to public transport which in some places will

mean less road space for cars. Dual carriageways like this could be

changed into routes like this featuring special public transport

only lanes. This is not an anti`car policy, if I was a car driver in

Birmingham ten years from now, and we had done nothing, I would be

frustrated whatever the time of day I was seeking to come into

Birmingham. Anti`car or not, the improvements have certainly gone

down well with environmentalists. I would describe it as having a vision

of transport that is good for people, for pedestrians, cyclists

are that is refreshing and positive. The City Council will now launch a

major consultation on the ideas put forward in the new transport vision

and it promises to be a lively debate. And Peter's next to the A38

tonight ` this will raise a few eyebrows! How can Birmingham

function without its tunnels? I think the easy answer is it can't

right now but it might not have too. This is one option being discussed

will stop the fact is, this is more likely to become a through route,

saw the junctions being removed. Masshouse Circus on the east side

was raised to the ground 15 years ago, many people said we couldn't do

without that, , but what we have seen since is that the

developments. We also saw it again when the ballroom was built, and

there we saw a roundabout is a plea and replaced by the shopping centre.

We stopped driving is started shopping instead. Even the bus lanes

will mean less space for cars? It has been dubbed anti`car, and bus

lanes are controversial. The last Administration running Birmingham

decided to remove some, what is also not in this report is road pricing,

that will please a fair few drivers. It is not anti`car but through

people. Clearly something has to be done, is a public transport looks

like the answer? They want to get people onto public transport, onto

their bikes and walking. Two roentgen 50,000 journeys every day

by car of less than a mile, the sort of journeys that could be done on

the bike or on foot `` 250,000 journeys.

Well, we've been asking for your views on the 20 year plan ` thanks

for your emails, tweets and Facebook messages.

Coming up, never mind Silicon Valley, is more than being

transferred into the UK 's very own Silicon Hill? `` Malvern.

It's exactly a week since a new born baby was found in a bag in a park in

Birmingham. Now West Midlands Police have released new pictures in the

hope that they'll prompt her mother to come forward. Doctors say Jade

would have died within hours, if she hadn't been found by a local man

walking his dog. Giles Latcham reports.

In the arms not of her mother, but of a nurse at Heartlands hospital in

Birmingham, eight day old Jade, the baby left in a park. In that park in

Stechford today, further efforts to find members of the public who may

have seen something. Since Jade was found in these bushes, police have

carried out extensive house`to`house enquiries, check with hospitals,

medical centres and care homes and followed up missing persons

enquiries as far afield as Manchester, but no avail. So if her

mum is looking at these pictures, wondering what to do and doesn't

want to contact the police, what would you say? You have a beautiful

baby girl, she is doing really well, she has been lavished with toys, but

you need to be with her, you are not in trouble, this is about getting

you reunited with Jade and making sure you are safe and well. Safe and

well, largely thanks to the dog Jade is named after, Jade the German

shepherd was patrolling the park with her owners again a week after

she found the newborn infant. She loves children. I think it is just a

natural instinct. I do think every dog would do that, I think she has

to be kind of special `` I don't think. I hope the baby comes forward

today can be together. Doctors say had she not been found when she was

she may well have died from the cold. Their concern is for mother as

well as child. The baby is fine and in the couple of days, it is really

for mum, she needs to have the same examination and care as the baby has

had to make sure she is well. Jade was found wrapped in a plastic bag

like this one ` police believe sightings of the bag could help the

investigation. A DNA swab's been taken in the hope that identifies

the parents of the baby in the bushes.

Plans have been revealed for a ?36 million manufacturing training

centre in Coventry. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

will provide half of the funding for the project which will be built on

vacant land at the current Technology site on Ansty Park.

A Birmingham MP has called on the government to investigate how the

Jobcentre in Sparkhill is being run. The Labour MP for Birmingham Hall

Green Roger Godsiff has tabled an early day motion which puts on the

record his concerns that "unusually high" numbers of people are having

their benefits unfairly cut. The Lichfield MP asked the Transport

Secretary today when plans will be drawn up to limit the effects the

proposed High Speed rail link will have on the Staffordshire

countryside. Michael Fabricant is particularly concerned about the

scheme to build a 20 metre high viaduct to take the rail line over

Lichfield. He says he never loses an opportunity to make his point about

objection for this particular viaducts, it was part of a route

realignment which was done to help mitigate the effect, they will be

the opportunity once the bill is deposited for those affected to be

able to petition the Select Committee wants the second reading

has taken place. He'd been on the run for nearly two

weeks, but Alan Giles is back behind bars tonight after he was found

hiding in Alcester. The convicted murderer had been on the run from

Hewell Prison in Redditch. He was finally spotted last night by a team

of cleaners as they left work, who called the police to catch him.

Lindsay Doyle reports. As every detective knows, good

observation is key to solving a crime. As three cleaners were

travelling home from work at Alcester Grammar School last night,

they spotted a prisoner, who's been on the run for nearly two weeks ` in

effect hiding behind a hedge. We saw a police car go down the end of the

road, we have been joking about it, scaring each other, because we were

worried. We thought, has he been caught? My friend said Timmy, let's

follow police car. But we didn't need to, because we saw this man

stood by a house, we could tell it was him. He was trying to hide. So

we pulled up the road and phoned the police. Alan Giles, who's 56, walked

out of an open section of Hewell Prison near Redditch, he was serving

two life sentences for the kidnap and murder of sixteen year old Kevin

Ricketts in 1995. They have done a great job, it's lovely they have

gone out there in the community, big ego wide as ever, looking out for

the safety of the community and for the students of the school where

they work. This has been a town on Monday. It is known that Giles has

connections here. He worked here on day release. No one from the shop

wished to comment today. I thought he would be further away, I knew he

had been working in the shop, I thought he would never come back

here. They were terrified, especially to let the children out,

I wouldn't let my now. I can imagine they are glad he has been caught.

It's hard to think what the children are actually thinking, it's pretty

scary. The end of his time on the run has made social media heroines

of the cleaning ladies of Alcester Grammar School. I shall be giving

them some badges and medals and probably police medals! At badge of

honour indeed. More than 5,000 new jobs could be

created as part of a large`scale regeneration of one of Britain's

first so`called 'New Towns'. The centre of Telford in Shropshire is

being remodelled at a cost of a quarter of a billion pounds ` with

investment from the public and private sector. Hundreds of homes

are also expected to be built over the next five years. Ben Godfrey

reports. Regeneration was a dirty word.

During the economic crash, private investment was hard to find ` and

few councils had the nerve to pump taxpayers cash into large projects.

That has changed ` this is 'Southwater' ` Telford's attempt at

creating a thriving night time economy. We have used two major

contracting groups from the told that area who have got, on average,

170 men, within that there is 15% of local employment. It's costing ?250

million. So far, public money's covered a tenth of the cost ` the

remaining funding for a new cinema, library, restaurants and hotels

comes from private investment. The Communities Secretary was on site `

and on side. Backing Labour`run Telford and Wrekin Council ` which

wants to create 5000 jobs, and further the town's retail and

business footprint. If this was just pure public money, that would be a

terrific waste. You want to involve people, you want to get people, get

some private money in, because that is about the future. Telford has

staked a claim to be the fastest growing town in the Midlands. It is

this reckless and regeneration? It's not, industry brings more GDP in and

we get some of that back into our funding. Through council tax for new

homes, so we are going out of our way to get development here.

Shoppers today broadly welcomed town centre development. This would be a

lift for us. When it's finished, it will be a boost for the town. 50

years after it became a new town, today, the talk is still of

Telford's expansion. This is our top story tonight:

Radical revamp on the roads: long term plans for a possible permanent

closure of Birmingham's city centre tunnels. Your detailed weather

forecast to come shortly from Shefali. Also in tonight's programme

` ambitious plans to be announced later this evening for supporters to

take over Worcester City Football Club and give it a new home. And

restoring the tranquillity of a Shropshire canal ` all thanks to

Lottery money. In recent years, the picturesque

Worcestershire town of Malvern has become the base for a number of

high`tech companies, including defence contractors Qinetiq and the

internet security firm 3SDL. Now an innovation festival's taking place

in the town and there are claims that Malvern is now the UK's cyber

capital. Cath Mackie reports. Welcome to the future. A future that

can be found in Malvern in Worcestershire. We are a software

company, we supplied 50 companies `` countries all over the world. It is

a garden gadget for clearing animal waste. At the Malvern innovation

festival ` even still pictures can come to life ` by way of an app. We

have developed this to enhance the user experience for visitors through

to shopping fruity general information. In the auditorium,

Professor Colin O'Halloran gives a lecture about software security. He

works at a new business which solves software problems. They chose to

base themselves in Malvern. There is a wealth of talent in the Malvern

area which we can use but also draw upon the people in the University,

further afield. The town has been a centre of scientific discovery for

decades. Rumour has it that the word boffin was derived to describe the

brain boxes working on defence projects here during the War. So

innovation isn't a new word in Malvern. It is after all the place

where radar was developed in the 1940s and later infra red and liquid

crystal technologies. And's it's now recognised as the UK's very own

cyber valley. Point is you cannot just stop, in order to be

competitive, you have to keep innovating and it's what we're

trying to encourage. There's been investment in superfast broadband

for companies in the town but for more rural businesses, like Mike

Gogan's, it's still a bone of contention. Just the other day, I

had to send some files after Birmingham, and I used a data

transfer system we have which is called the Royal mail, I posted

them. That must be frustrating. We live in hope! So the lobbying

continues to make sure Malvern remains cyber capital of the UK.

When you want to raise money to help the fight against prostate cancer,

it helps when you can call upon the world's best known jazz sax players.

Courtney Pine has taken time out of his busy touring schedule to help an

old friend and give out a stark message to black men. Michele

Paduano has been finding out more. Meet John Hoo ` he says he's not a

professional, he doesn't practice enough, but he toured for years with

the late great saxophonist, Andy Hamilton.

So when he decided to raise money for prostate cancer, who better to

call than the legend, Courtney Pine. John is not an old boy, he is always

young to me. When he picks up those ex, he always cuts through. `` those

aches. He carriages musicians to play. For the past three years, John

has been treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Like many black men, his disease was discovered late. It was in my lymph

nodes, I have got a permanent lake that doesn't perform very well. It's

a serious problem. Men in the black community don't go to the doctor

enough, particularly about their water works. It's roughly twice as

likely to occur in men of African origin than of the Caucasian origin,

it's a double whammy, increased risk and increased risk it will turn bad.

Sunshine gives people the dim indeed, and with the UK climate,

black men struggle to get enough vitamin B12 But there'll be plenty

of sunshine tonight at the Bramall music building as jazz shines a

spotlight on the disease. That concert is at 7:30pm this

evening at the University of Birmingham.

Worcester City Supporters Trust is meeting this evening to try to

secure their club's long term future. Worcester City don't have a

ground after leaving St George's Lane in April and at the moment are

playing their home Games at Kidderminster. Dan Pallett's in

Worcester now ahead of tonight's meeting. So Dan, tell us what's

happening? I'm at Tudor Grange Academy ` the school is on the

Bilford Road and it's in this part of the city where supporters hope to

build a new community based stadium to bring Worcester City back to

Worcester. Rob Crean is the secretary of the supporters trust.

You told us about the plans in April, remind us what they are. Last

time we spoke we were at the old ground, we had no home to go to, we

are planning to ground share with Kidderminster, we thought we needed

an alternative, to get the club surviving so we have looked to at a

planning a patient in with the City Council to build a community`based

stadium within the confines of the city. `` planning application. How

big will it be and how can you pay for it? 4300, and in terms of how we

pay for it, some will come from the sale of the ground, we hope to get

some funding, we will talk about that at the meeting, about making

the Constitution of the club different, encourage more funding

and look for a community share off, try and raise shares to build the

stadium. Getting fans to own the car, that's interesting, we saw the

great crowds in April, over 4000 people, are people still caring and

will you get the club through this period in Kidderminster? We have

realised we can't exist ground sharing forever so we're trying to

get a groundswell of opinion going, get people to support what we're

doing. Suggestion making it a fan zone `` fan owned club, who think

the more involvement we can get the more we can make it a success.

Difficult times for Worcester City, but you can see the fans do care,

that is maybe the way forward. Plans to restore a Shropshire canal

have moved a step closer after the project was awarded money from the

Lottery. The ?160,000 grant is a key step towards securing the ?3.7

million needed to bring the Montgomery canal back to life.

Joanne Writtle reports. The Montgomery Canal runs for 33

miles between Shropshire and Wales and is more than 200 years old. This

section's near Oswestry. 2000 narrow boats travel along this section of

the canal every year. When they get to this section, they have to turn

round and go back again. That's because only eight miles are

navigable here. The rest's fallen into disrepair. Now the Canal and

River Trust has secured ?160,000 of Heritage Lottery money. It paves the

way for a larger bid of ?3.7 million to restore just over a mile. We want

to increase the number of boats we have on the canal, and we also want

to increase access for people who want to use the tow paths for

recreational butties. `` activities. Once canals were crucial in England.

This photograph shows the Montgomery Canal before large parts were ruined

following a breach in 1936. For decades volunteers have worked to

restore this canal. This section's expected to be finished next May.

It's hoped it will link up with the stretch the Heritage Lottery Fund is

set to pay for. I think it's fantastic, it means we can carry on

to the net stage and carry on working slowly but surely so we can

hopefully link up the whole canal. It's been under restoration for 40

years now and we're probably only halfway through the process. As for

boat owners like Tony and Christine Hesslegrave, they're delighted. How

do you feel about the fact they are hoping to do the work? Looking

forward to it very much, the sooner the better! He may have to wait,

though. Work isn't expected to start until 2015.

Much brighter weather`wise today than wet Wednesday. More of the same

please, Shefali. I may be able to comply! It is

looking quite good for the weekend. Generally it is going to be

unsettled, it will also be breezy, if we concentrate on Sunday alone

for Remembrance Day parades and services, compared with what I said

yesterday, there has been a turnaround. It is now looking dry

and sunny, crisp and cold, rather like today, the rain we were talking

of yesterday will arrive later on in the day. Taking a closer look we

have a lot of rain around us, just not across us in the next couple of

days. Having said that, they will be some sharp splinters showers to the

west and the South, these will affect us on Saturday. A ridge of

high pressure builds for Sunday, that's when the rain arrives from

the West, that's later on Sunday, through the course of the night.

This evening, we still have some showers drifting up from the

south`west. They should stay out of the region, for most of us it will

be dry tonight, especially the further east you go. Towards the

North`East, here you could see some patchy frost developing in right

areas, but generally, those of around four to six Celsius. The

showers will be developed `` defected to the North and the South,

so it would be much like today. Temperatures up to about eight to 10

Celsius, maybe a maximum of 11, with a moderate south`westerly breeze.

During tomorrow night, we start to see the rain encroaching from the

West. Perhaps longer bands of rain but they will split into showers

during Saturday itself. Sunday will be dry.

Tonight's headlines from the BBC: In the trial of three marines accused

of killing an Afghan, the court hears a recording of them talking as

the man was shot. A radical revamp of the roads is on

the cards for Birmingham: plans announced for a possible permanent

closure of the A38 city centre tunnels.

That was the Midlands Today. I'll be back at ten o'clock discussing

Birmingham's transport plans with an expert from the University of

Birmingham. Have a great evening.