17/04/2014 Midlands Today

News at six. It is goodbye from me News at six. It is goodbye from me

In another development today, four women have been arrested as part of

the ongoing fraud investigation at the school. Also tonight:

Residents' fury over a huge pile of recycling that's causing a stink in

Stoke`on`Trent. The crucial Easter weekend coming up

for our football clubs, with problems on and off the field for

Aston Villa. Back to his roots performing in

Birmingham and the Black Country ` comedian Frank Skinner on football,

being a dad and making people laugh. The art of mourning in the West

Midlands is absolutely... As good as it gets.

And with the bank holiday weekend just around the corner, who is king?

Better than yesterday or worse? `` how is looking?

Good evening. Our school children are being made to feel like

terrorists. That's the view of a leading Muslim spokesman in

Birmingham. It follows weeks of allegations over the so`called

Trojan Horse plot which alleges Muslim hardliners are trying to take

over schools in the city. It was last month that the allegations

first came to light. And last week, Birmingham City Council suspended

the recruitment of new school governors. On Monday, the council

confirmed it was now investigating 25 different schools, and, on

Tuesday, the Department for Education appointed the former

national head of counter`terrorism to lead an inquiry into the

allegations. Now concern's growing that these allegations are damaging

community relations, as our special correspondent Peter Wilson's been

finding out. Children playing in the sunshine.

Sparkhill Park filled with young people brought together by an inter

faith charity. They were giving out balloons with personal messages, all

linked to the growing controversy over the Trojan Horse plot. We can

have lots of diversity and still be one community. I think that's what I

want, essentially, for them to be peace`loving, no stress. People

might be prejudiced towards Muslims and because of that, they might

judge. Children today learning the Koran. Many are from the 25 schools

in Birmingham being investigated over allegations of being taken over

by hard line Muslims. Our cameras were allowed into the Ombersley Road

mosque because people here wanted to speak out. The fear is that many of

these children will be worried and upset by this issue rather than

their own futures and the betterment of this country. And gaining

qualifications that will help better the world that they live in. The

focus, unfortunately, has shifted to being fearful and worried that they

are all going to be enabled as radical terrorists. `` be labelled.

That fear comes after the Government appointed Peter Clarke, a former

senior counter`terrorism officer, to be the new Education Commissioner to

investigate the Trojan Horse plot. One of the schools at the centre of

those allegations is Golden Hillock School in Saltley. Today, I spoke

with one of its former pupils. There was no separation in any classes,

apart from physical education, which once again was purely changing rooms

and that is understandable. While you were at the school, did you ever

hear any political or extremist views? No. Be honest with you, it

was unheard of. Since I have grown up and watch the news more I have

become more aware of what is going on but as a child in a school, like

I said, it was purely a learning environment and things like Jihad

were never heard about. One teacher, also a parent, wanted to defend the

schools for what she sees as simply reflecting their majority Muslim

student population. That might be, within the curriculum, that might be

things like Islamic assemblies or halal food. Things that allow them

to express their faith within the school system.

And Peter Wilson is `` the Speaker, the Chief Constable

of the West Midlands and leader of the City Council board said that

they believed that this investigation was not about

counter`terrorism but school governors. What Muslims in

Birmingham are seeing is that they do not want to be hard with the

brush of extremism. `` that. ``'s peter is here with me now. Separate

from this Trojan Horse inquiry. We have got police making four arrests

linked to school today. That is right. For women were arrested in

the early hours of this morning from addresses in East Birmingham and

Solihull. They are all in their 40s. This is a separate case, a suspected

fraud case, the police say, and it is linked to a primary school. It

was mentioned in the original Trojan horse plot. Apparently this has got

something to do with the fabrication of bogus resignation letters, not

directly to do with the Georgian Course. What is at the heart of this

hole so`called plot? It is very complicated. `` the Trojan horse.

Today people were seeing that a few years ago as Muslims they would turn

up at the school gate and feel like Jekyll and Hyde. They would have to

leave their Muslim identity behind. What they are seeing now is that

because the majority of people are so many of these schools are Muslim,

the schools should reflect that so that people feel comfortable in your

own skin without upsetting any other religions or the staff at those

schools or the broad curriculum that is being taught there. Peter, thank

you. Thank you for joining is ahead of

the bank holiday weekend. Coming up later in the programme:

Jails in crisis, prison officers having to travel hundreds of miles

to cope with staff shortages. And find out why live music and

bands in the Midlands are helping the vinyl record make a comeback.

Residents in a part of Stoke`on`Trent are calling for a

recycling collection centre to be closed down for breaching its

licence conditions. The centre, at Milton, stores thousands of tonnes

of used plastics. But those living in the area claim it's blighting

their lives. Kevin Reide reports. It's only in recent years this

industrial site has been used to store plastics. Residents like June

Grimes claim the only beneficiaries are the owners... And the local fly

and rat populations. She says it's an eyesore with a smell to match.

Residents should not have to be putting up with the smells and the

issues that these sites bring when they are put on the doorstep. What

we want to see happen is this site completely cleared and relocated to

a suitable industrial site. And the lorries are a problem too, say

residents. June captured these scenes on her mobile phone as

drivers grapple with Milton's narrow lanes and tiny bridges. We have got

heavy goods, left`hand drive, coming down our roads where our children

walk to school. They are that big that they are amending the pavement

as they Well, as you can see, in some places the site is literally

bursting at the seams and that's not surprising because it is only

licensed to hold 500 tonnes of recyclable waste. Are going down. ``

they are going up on the pavement as they are going down. Last December,

the Environment Agency estimated there were around 6,000 tonnes here.

The Agency has since ordered the owners, Hanbury Plastics Recycling

Limited, to reduce the level to the licensed amount by June this year.

It says it's satisfied with the progress being made but not

everybody is. Nobody from `` I have concerns that they are not

taking enough action to ensure that the site is safe, that the fences

are peered to a satisfactory standard. That people cannot get

onto the site. White nobody from the company would speak to us today on

camera but a spokesman said this is the best way to deal with plastics,

otherwise it ends up in landfill. They said they were planning to

double the workforce to 60 over the next few years and that they were

applying to increase their licence to hold 3,000 tonnes. Kevin Reide,

BBC Midlands Today, Staffordshire. A heart surgeon who was sacked after

he blew the whistle at overcrowding has won his case against unfair

dismissal. He was sacked by the trust in 2010, nine years after he

raised concerns about dangerous post`operative care. Today, the

tribunal ruled he had been unfairly dismissed.

For men and two women have been arrested in connection with an

attack which has left a teenager with serious burns. The 19`year`old

had high`strength cleaning fluid poured over her as she went to

answer the door of a house on Macdonald Close in Tividale on

Tuesday. It's left her needing treatment for 15% burns to her neck

and face. Three people have now been arrested on suspicion of wounding,

one on suspicion of conspiracy to wound and two people on suspicion of

attempting to pervert the course of justice. Quite shocking, to be

honest. I mean, it's a very quiet neighbourhood. My parents live here,

about a two minute walk. And to think it's a young girl, as well.

You know, it's not nice for that to happen to her.

A 14`year`old boy has been arrested in connection with a car`jacking in

Bilston. It follows an attack on 84`year`old Michael Green by the

Trumpet pub on Friday night. He was dragged from his car and assaulted,

resulting in a fractured hip. Thieves then stole the vehicle and

dumped it a few minutes later. The union representing prison staff

says jails in the West Midlands are in crisis. The Prison Officers

Association says its members are being asked to travel hundreds of

miles to help deal with staff shortages in the region. Some are

coming from as far away as Northumberland. Giles Latcham

reports. The Ministry of Justice denied

`` Birmingham Jail, part of a service struggling to cope with

chronic staff shortages, if you believe the Prison Officers'

Association. Since January, they say hundreds of

officers have been travelling the country, plugging gaps at other

prisons as part of what is called detached duty. Unfortunately what we

have got is staff coming from all over the country. Staff being forced

to live in hotels for weeks at a time... Months at a time, even,

believe it or not, to try and shore up a system that is in crisis. And

it is without doubt that we could see some real serious disturbances

within prisons, rioting. In recent weeks, staff here at Sanford have

been sent to HMP Birmingham, to Nottingham and to near Redditch.

Extra staff have been drafted in to travel to Oakwood near

Wolverhampton, run by G4S, on a promise of ?500 payments. For

Labour, it is all about funding. The fact that we have got prison

officers being drafted in from 200 miles away to the Midlands is

because the Government has imposed severe cuts on the Prison Service.

Fewer and fewer prison officers looking after more and more

prisoners in overcrowded jails. The Ministry of Justice say they are

reforming and modernising jails to ensure best value for the taxpayer.

reforming and modernising jails Staffing levels, they say, remain

appropriate. An MP with first`hand experience of the Prison Service

admits there are problems. appropriate. An MP with first`hand

There are concerns and I know that there are a lot of vacancies. I

cannot understand why there are so many vacancies when we have got 8%

unemployment in the West Midlands. I have been a prison officer. I

thought it was a great career. Others may differ. Figures obtained

by Labour show assault on prison staff have risen 45% in the past two

years. It's the start of the Bank Holiday

weekend and the great getaway is already underway as people take to

the road, rail and air for a short break. Our transport correspondent,

Peter Plisner, is at Birmingham Airport tonight. So how busy has it

has been there? It is pretty busy down there. I was

inside the terminal building half an hour ago. Very busy. This Easter the

airport says 407,000 passengers will fly from here. That's 11% up on last

year. Popular destinations this year for city breaks are Amsterdam, Paris

and Barcelona. There is a warning about packing your bag, your hand

luggage, there are still restrictions in force for some

things, including liquids and sharp objects. It can mean more delays if

you have them in your case and the airport want to avoid that to get

everybody on time. And what about the roads and trains?

Well, on the roads I'm told that it's fairly quiet tonight. A lot of

people may have travelled already and some may be waiting to travel on

good Friday or Saturday. And the good news is many road works have

been lifted for the weekend. On the trains, the opposite is true.

Engineering work is often done on bank holidays and this year's is no

exception. All our operators are reporting service disruption on many

routes. There will be replacement bus services, meaning longer journey

times for many passengers. Some of the most disruptive work will be in

the Stafford area. That's affecting both London Midland and Virgin

Services. Wise to check before you travel. If you want advice on what

to do and some of those engineering works, go to...

Peter, thank you. It is 18:42pm. This is our top story tonight:

Four women are arrested as part of an ongoing fraud investigation at a

Birmingham primary school. We've the all important Easter

weekend weather forecast coming up shortly from Shefali. Also in

tonight's programme: On a stand`up tour for the first

time in seven years, Black Country comic Frank Skinner on stage in

Wolverhampton and Birmingham. A busy

a busy weekend ahead for football teams at the end of the season

approaches. But Aston Villa's problems on the pitch as they fight

to stay above the drop zone are mirrored with problems behind the

scenes. Nick Clitheroe reports. This has been a turbulent week for

Aston Villa and their manager Paul Lambert. Two of his backroom staff,

assistant Ian Culverhouse and director of Football Operations Gary

Karsa, have been suspended while the club carry out an internal

investigation. But that's all the club are prepared to reveal. I think

you will need to appreciate it being illegal investigation. I cannot

really comment on anything. I think you will appreciate that answer. I

respect you asking me the question but I think you have got to respect

my answer. If you want to blog about the football side of things and

results, I am happy to answer. `` to talk about. It couldn't have come at

a worse time. Four straight defeats have left the team four points above

the relegation zone. On Monday, that prompted the club's chief executive

Paul Faulkner to issue a statement saying, now more than ever it's time

for us all to pull together. 24 hours later, we learnt of the two

suspensions and the promotion to the coaching staff of club legend Gordon

Cowans and goalkeeper Shay Given. But that wasn't all. On Wednesday,

owner Randy Lerner broke his silence to admit unexpected issues and very

real obstacles have to be overcome. But that wasn't all. On Wednesday,

owner Randy Lerner broke his silence But where does all of that people

leave the fans, whose main concern is whether they stay up this? I

think there needs to be change of manager. We are staying up,

definitely. Nobody will send us down. I reckon that it is looking

up. I can understand the fans. They pay a lot of money to come and watch

of and travel long distances. We need them on Saturday, that is for

sure. I understand your frustration. Lambert seems to have the backing of

the men who make the decisions at the club. On Saturday he's hoping

victory over Southampton will get him back in favour with the fans,

too. Nick Clitheroe, BBC Midlands Today.

And you can follow all the Easter football matches by listening to

your local radio station, who'll have match commentaries and regular

updates. Remember the days when you wanted to

buy the latest single by your favourite artist and you had to pop

down to your local record shop? Happy days. But as tapes, CDs and

now digital downloads took over, many stores were forced to close.

Well, it's now come full circle as vinyl is growing in popularity

again. And to celebrate the fact, this Saturday is National Record

Store Day, as Ben Sidwell's been finding out.

I have only got 20 minutes but it is very easy to spend your entire day

in a record shop. There's still something rather

special about a vinyl record. The days may be gone when our high

streets were full of record stores but slowly they're starting to creep

back in. West Midlands has obviously got a great culture for music and

always had fantastic bands. The shops there are springing up, new

shops opening in Birmingham, will overwrite, Shrewsbury's. ``

Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury's. To mark this year's Record Store Day, one

Birmingham band, Goodnight Lenin, decided to undertake a project to

record, mix and produce a vinyl single in just one day. You grew up

and see your dad's collection, you want to be banned with your own

final. That is the way we want to be anyway. In London, their hard work

in the studio is turned into vinyl. Just 24 copies will ever be made,

all being sold at independent record stores in Birmingham this Saturday.

From an artist's point of view, it is great to have something you can

physically holding your hand and be proud of the process. We will give

them to independent record stores and try to encourage people to

treasure the way they select and listen to music. Swordfish is one of

the stores selling the very limited edition single. We find more and

more younger people buying vinyl, you know, if they like something, if

they are serious about the music they will go out and buy vinyl.

Music may have become a very disposable commodity but shops like

this hope Record Store Day will encourage more to treasure their

vinyl. Well, Ben is at a gig tonight. These

independent stores to actually have the support of the bands, do they

not? They `` absolutely. This is part of all of that project that

they are doing. It is not just the smaller bands, the bigger bands as

well. Wish me `` with me is one of the biggest bands in the Midlands at

the moment. For you and the guys, is by no important? Absolutely. We buy

our records on vinyl and we love the packaging, it feels great and plays

great. It finds the best. An important is it that bands like

yourself, you have had for Doctor albums now, are supporting

independent record stores? `` you have had four top ten albums. There

is a great thing about going into a record store and talking to somebody

about music and then opening up the knowledge to you. That is important.

What about when you look at records as a whole, there are many doing

this, is there more demand? I think so. Digitally edited and download

it, there is not much packaging and I think we do like to have things in

their hands, to see the artwork and what the band look like. The artwork

looks beatable on a 12 inch. Finally, we could not have easier

without finding out what the guys are doing. What about this year? We

are still to ring the record from last year and are going to going to

enter the summer festivals and hopefully a trip to South America,

our first time. Best of luck. If you want to find out about more about

national records stored it, Danny Kelly from 9pm, his programme

becoming and they bits from all sorts of independent record stores

across Birmingham. Well worth a listen on Saturday morning. 's I

have still got hold of them. Well, someone who knows what it's

like not only to make a record but have a number one is Black Country

comedian Frank Skinner. `` I have still got loads of them. Remember

that Three Lions football song back in the '90s? Frank, of course, loves

his football. He's a passionate follower of West Brom. He's long

been a part of the showbusiness stratosphere and now, in his 50s,

he's a proud dad to a little chap called Buzz, who's nearly two. I

caught up with Frank, who's on a stand up tour around the country,

this week back in the Black Country in Wolverhampton. Does it feel like

coming home? It does feel like coming home but I

don't know if the crowd still see it that way. I have been away quite

well. I would not want to come back and be fully Black Country bloke,

you know? To pretend that I am still knocking around. If it was

practical, I would still live here. I certainly wish I was living here

when my son was born. I have always said that geographically is how you

should decide your football team so it should be you know, you should

get a piece of string in the A To Z and get where they were born and go

around until you find your professional football club, in which

case he would be an Arsenal fan. I might have to rethink that! I think

a lot of it depends on what is in your DNA, what you see coming of

your dad. Maybe when he sees the pain that will put him off! We first

met through football, a television programme. Yes, 20 years ago. Great

fun. People still ask me when it is coming back but I don't think it

will. Lots of other shows were inspired by it. It felt very new and

different at the time. We are coming onto the World Cup. Derby County

curious on again? We will probably cured but it will not be anything to

do with me. `` will be cured a song again? It was great. I think it is

time for anyone. How would you describe your comedy? Honest. I try

to be as honest as I can and as open about what I have thought and felt.

When I have made a fool of myself or whatever. I think that is gained in

importance. Sometimes that honesty manifests itself in being quite

good. Are you a happy man? You have a long`term partner, a little boy,

West Brom are surviving in the Premier League. I have not been

happy since September 24, 1986. What happened then? See, I stopped

drinking then. I have not had that happiness when you are blind drunk.

How do you hold on? I just think that I would either be at

Wolverhampton city or wasteland. I dream about it and stuff but it has

been a long time. I am fine. How to celebrate death West Bromwich Albion

win a trophy? I celebrate than winning a trophy by going out with

my schoolmates! A glass of milk? Exactly! Free milk. Thanks a lot.

Some revealing stuff there, wasn't there?

And Frank is playing at Wolverhampton Civic Hall tonight.

He's at Birmingham Symphony Hall next Tuesday to Thursday and at

Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry on Sunday 18th May.

So will the weather make us laugh this Easter Holiday weekend or cry?

Here's Shefali. It is half and half. I do not think

you will be grinning from air to air but it is real done it really as

straightforward as that. We start off well this Easter and then it

starts to take off on Easter Day and Easter Monday, when things become

wet and windy and also killer. This area of low pressure will be the

culprit. It's got from the south east and with it rain on Easter Day

and then it will be lovely to the West during Easter Monday. As it

does so, we will be left with the after`effects, a futurist. `` then

it will pull away to the West. We are talking about an inch of rain on

Easter Sunday, nothing to be scoffed at. Back to this

tomorrow morning. Maybe others of cloud bubbling up through the latter

part of the day but overall, a fairly sunny Good Friday. Also try.

Temperatures eventually recovering to about 12`14 Celsius. Tomorrow

night, we start with clear skies again. Temperatures will fall even

lower for