11/03/2014 North West Tonight

Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight with Annabel Tiffin and

Roger Johnson. Our top storx. Almost half the children in Central

Barrow are growing up in poverty claims a shocking new report.

We hear from the residents `nd the town's MP who described the figures

as jaw`dropping. Also tonight, trouble at the top ` the crhsis

deepens for Co`op as their chief executive hands in his resignation.

Lucky to be alive ` the Blackburn family saved from carbon monoxide

poisoning by their teenage son. I walked into the room and bodies

were lying everywhere. A massive new astronomical project, and the start

of the show will be Jodrell bank. And taking the lead ` the country's

first cinema for dogs. A new report paints a stark picture

of deprivation in Cumbria. Parts of the county now have some of

Britain's worst rates of chhld poverty. The figures compildd by

Cumbria County Council make grim reading. They show that household

incomes have fallen more in the region than many other parts of the

country. Our Chief Reporter Dave Guest is in Barrow now. Davd.

Barrow, a place with more than its share of social problems anx county

where many people have problems they today. According to statisthcs,

households have seen their hncome drop by around 9% since 2008, more

than many other parts of thd UK Across Cumbria, 15% of housdholds

have to survive on an incomd of ?10,000 or less. Here in thd central

ward of Barrow, just shy of 50% of children are said to be livhng in

poverty. She has six children aged bdtween

two and 15 and her husband `s a taxi driver but she struggles to make

ends meet. She recently had to access a food bank. You feel like

you are taking from other pdople that may need it. A difficult

decision to do that? It is ` widespread problem. I do not think

it is in the town centre. It is in most areas and it is becoming more

apparent that people struggle with data DS use. She is headteacher of

an infant school in the town and witnesses the effects of poverty on

a daily basis. Children comd in hungry and tired and it is laking

them not sleep well. They are a multitude of things that catse this.

Is this something you have seen get worse in recent years? Definitely. I

have seen the TV on eight over the last few years and parents `re

really struggling not just financially but socially and

emotionally. According to Ctmbria county council, this part of the

county has experience that lore than most. We have to make sure we are

working together to make sure we are targeting these authors are areas

where the problems are worst, and make sure children do not bdcome

statistics of the future. The local MP wants to see action. We have to

find more job opportunities for our families but the problem is that too

many families are actually finding work but they still can't p`y the

way because of the enormous squeeze on their wages. At the offices of

the local credit union they said people need help and need it now. We

have had some horrendous stories, particularly people from Barrow who

are finding financial managdment is very difficult. We have expdrienced

them borrowing money from illegal loan sharks. For many in thhs corner

of Cumbria, each day contintes to pose a series of challenges. And of

course the challenge facing Cumbria county council is to come up with

ideas to tackle the problem. Its draft action plan was considered by

councillors last night and ht will be going before the full cotncil

next month. Reform or die. That was the stark

message from the Co`Op's chhef executive Euan Sutherland who

resigned today. Mr Sutherland said his efforts to overhaul the

Manchester`based Group had been made impossible by the mutual society's

failure to change the way in which it works. He said the busindss was

becoming ungovernable. It all centres on Mr Sutherland's plans to

streamline what he believed was the Co`Op's cumbersome and outd`ted

structure, to make it more businesslike and profession`l. At

the moment the Co`Op is basdd around members electing area boards and

regional committees who then choose board members. Under Mr Sutherland's

plans there would have been two boards ` one looking after the

business, the other made up of members and staff would look after

the Co`Op's values and principles. Mr Sutherland believed opposition

would kill off this radical plan. Today he walked out saying `

sustainable future is impossible without professional and colmercial

governance. Earlier, the Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell, whose

constituency includes the Group s Headquarters, told me she w`s

worried by today's events. What the group needs right now is st`bility

and leadership. After today, it does not seem to have either so ht is

very worrying indeed, not jtst for members and customers but for the

thousands of people in my constituency employed by thd core

group in Manchester. Euan Sttherland spoke about the group needing a

fundamental modernisation. Can they continue to exist in their current

form? The values and what it stands for and the sharing of the profits

of the company through its lembers and wider group is pivotal to what

the Co`op stands for and thdn this world of big business and pdople not

trusting corporations, it is a good unique selling point for thd

company, but what he is right to say is that the structure of thd

governments needs addressing. Governance or lack of it worse

perhaps at the root of the problem the Co`op bank suffered. Is there a

danger that savers who have money in the co`operative bank might start

checking their money out in droves? That is the real danger than what we

are worried about. It is not just the small savers but there `re other

banks and investors that thd co`operative group owes mondy to so

we have to ensure those people as quickly as possible, becausd many of

the businesses in the grip `re profitable good businesses. The food

business and others are working well. I guess the man driving those

reforms feels it is an impossible task, that is worrying? Maybe has

expectations were too high hn terms of how quickly some of thosd reforms

would come about. The grip has evolved over more than 100 xears and

is in many ways quite a conservative organisation, a little bit stuck on

its way, so the former is ndcessary. That means may be leaving some

vested interests to one sidd? And changing the way they work, but what

I dispute is that somehow you have to choose between Co`op valtes and

being a successful business. Moves to evict anti`fracking

protestors from Barton Moss in Salford have been put on hold by the

Court of Appeal. This The jtdges want more time to consider whether

the campaigners have grounds for appeal. They've said a High Court

Order giving landowners Peel Holdings the power to removd the

campaigners cannot be enforced until they've considered the protdstors'

case. Police investigating the de`th of a

14`year`old girl in a car crash on the Isle of Man have arrestdd a

number of people on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Lucia Porter was killed when the car she was in left the Switchb`ck Road

at Peel at the weekend. She's thought to have been one of eight

teenagers in the vehicle at the time.

A man's died after being hit by a car which then drove off at Chorlton

in Greater Manchester. The black Porsche which struck the 26`year`old

as he crossed Wilbraham Road last night was found burnt out and

abandoned nearby. A 32`year`old man has been arrested.

One of Blackpool's longest serving illusionists has died. Rich`rd De

Vere, who was originally from Bolton, was Master of Illushon in

the Pleasure Beach's Mystiqte show for 13 years. The 46`year`old died

whilst on holiday in Thailand. Three people have been arrested in

Manchester as part of an investigation into people who've

fought in or plan to join the war in Syria. The BBC understands that one

of those arrested is the brother of a teenager who's missing fe`red

killed in the country. Two len from Levenshulme and a woman frol

Trafford are being questiondd on suspicion of being concerned in the

commission, preparation of instigation of acts of terrorism.

Yunus Mulla reports. Counterterrorism officers h`ve spent

most of the day searching this address in Manchester. It follows

the arrest of two men in thd area on suspicion of being involved or

supporting fighting in Syri`. They seemed like a fairly normal family

and then all. This man was killed last year fighting for the rebels. A

friend went to Syria are in the same time although we do not know why.

One of the men arrested tod`y is understood to be the 29`year`old

brother. The family has previous said there was confusion about

heaven. At least 200 men from the UK are believed to have gone to Syria

to join jihadist groups. Thd Northwest's counterterrorisl unit

began an operation last year. A statement today said...

Two other people, a 21`year`old woman from Trafford and the man from

Oxford were also arrested. Police say none of today's arrests are

linked in any way to any imlinent threats in the UK.

The jury in the trial of thd Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans have heard

allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances towards thrde men

whilst drunk. But each of the men also said that they did not expect

Mr Evans to be prosecuted. Our Political Editor Arif Ansarh is

covering the case from Preston Crown Court. The court heard from the

first three victims today. What s been said?

Mr Evans arrived here today is still facing nine Mack counts agahnst them

involving seven men. He is tnder public scrutiny but this is about

his personal behaviour. The court first heard from a knowledgd of the

victim of an indecent assault supposed to have taken placd in

January 2003. The man worked for a senior Tory politician and on a

night out he bumped into Nigel Evans who he said was drunk. Mr Evans

touched him and appropriately at least twice, the Judy Hurd, and the

man said he was annoyed and even considered letting Nigel Ev`ns, but

the defence barrister asked, physically and emotionally xou

brushed it off? Moving now to the second man also

the victim of another allegdd indecent assault and this thme

supposed to have taken placd at the Conservative party conference held

in Blackpool in 2003. This lan was a party worker and said Mr Ev`ns

approached home late one night, very heavily intoxicated. He tridd to

touch him inappropriately twice and the second time he said he was quite

angry. Asked whether it was a crime he said he had not intended to take

it further. What about the third man, the

alleged victim of sexual assault in the Palace of Westminster?

Yes, this dates back to sumler 2009. He was visiting Parli`ment for

the first time as the guest of one of the other alleged victims from

whom we are yet to hear. He says they were drinking in one of the

bars and at one point had their arms around each other but later in a

nearby room Mr Evans attempted to kiss him and the man pushed him away

and the statement to police was read out.

We are still to hear from the other alleged former victims. Mr Dvans

denies all the charges against him. Sorry about the sound delays, a long

way away for us! Still to come on North West Tonight.

Ambitious plans to look deep into space masterminded from Cheshire.

The country's first cinema for dogs. Many of us have smoke alarms in our

homes. But do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Well this next

story might make you get ond. The Patel family from Lancashird say

they're lucky to be alive after poisonous fumes filled their home in

Blackburn. Four of them collapsed unconscious. But luckily thdir

teenage son, who was in a sdparate room, discovered them and c`lled

emergency services in the nhck of time. Peter Marshall has more.

The class themselves among the luckiest of families, lucky to still

be here after an ordinarily they turned into something extraordinary.

I walked into the room and dverybody was lying everywhere, not something

you want to see or expect to see. I had no idea of what it was or what

caused this. She had been cleaning when overcome by carbon monoxide.

Her husband and son also collapsed. I felt a bit sick so I lay down and

did not know what happened `fter that. Two others when anothdr part

of the house and opened windows and called emergency services. Hf I had

not been in the house that day we would not be having this

conversation but luckily I was in a different room. It is believed the

carbon monoxide fumes had spread from a faulty boiler. Fire officer

said a simple detector can be a life`saving investment. You cannot

smell it or see it. I cannot stress enough, it hs

absolutely something you definitely need, everybody. They have `ll made

a full recovery and want to warn others of the dangers of unprotected

fumes. I was just glad I was in the other room. No one would have known.

This well done to him, a lucky escape for the family.

Space, it was famously said, is the final frontier. Well, our ability to

explore it moved a step closer today with a ?100 million Governmdnt grant

towards a project centred on the Jodrell Bank observatory in

Cheshire. It's known as the "Square Kilometre Array" and it'll give

astronomers a much more det`iled picture of the heavens. And, who

knows, that first message from ET might be received by scienthsts at

Jodrell Bank. This from our Cheshire reporter, Mark Edwardson.

Completed just in time for the space race, Jodrell Bank is now boldly

going where no observatory has gone before. It'll show was the radio sky

in fantastic detail. The sqtare kilometre are is an international

project to build the world's largest are telescope. Astronomers will see

the sky in unprecedented detail We are working on the design and

scientists cannot wait to gdt their hands on the data in the next few

years. It is a big deal for the government as well. The next great

science project. They sent science Minister David Willets to m`ke the

announcement this afternoon. To give you an idea of the sheer sc`le of

this, when you add up the strface area of all the telescopes hnvolved,

it will be 220 times the size of this. How will you and I benefit? We

are going to be handling more data than any other project on the planet

has ever handled, and there will be things that come from analysing that

data, from processing and sdarching for patterns. Students from the

school visiting the discovery Centre when excited by what it might find.

The fact it will be like a lassive telescope and get all these amazing

pictures is going to be amazing It is going to develop our

understanding of the universe massively. It might not havd too

long to wait for the results. It should be completed by 2020.

This A unique collection of paintings by the Salford artist LS

Lowry is up for auction latdr this month, which could fetch more than

?15 million. They include, tnusually for Lowry, a London landscape. That

could go for ?6 million. Thd auction is in London in a couple of weeks.

But last night some of the paintings were on show in Manchester for

prospective buyers to examine. Our reporter, Andy Gill, who's not a

prospective buyer, went along too. Millions of pounds of masterpieces

carefully placed on display. Six of the 15 which go under the h`mmer

later this month. Families watching a Punch and Judy show, workdrs

filing past a factory and pdople enjoying Peel Park in Salford. It is

a great combination of landscape and city life combined together in one.

The paintings belong to a millionaire from Suffolk called Tony

Thompson. He spent the monex he made on recycling on resources and

paintings by LS Lowry. He h`d an amazing instinctive reaction to LS

Lowry and over the course of 30 years he made a collection that

represents all the different parts of his life and put together some

great early examples of his work, a rear market. Tony Thompson died last

year and the estate is sellhng his collection including a river bank

which was sold to raise mondy in 2006. The industrial landsc`pes LS

Lowry painted are largely gone from Britain these days but you find them

in emerging nations like Chhna and India, which is one of the reasons

why auctioneers think there might be big international interest. Also up

for sale is one of only two paintings of Piccadilly Circus LS

Lowry made. The option is in London on March 25.

`` option. This great if yot could get one in your living room.

Ever get the feeling you're being watched? A new cinema has opened in

Salford. It's not exactly multiplex,.more multi`pooch.

Britain's first cinema for dogs or so the owners tell us, chooses its

films especially with its c`nine customers in mind. The films are

supposed to have a calming hnfluence on the animals. Stuart Flinders has

been to take a look. They're just like kids really. Off

to the pictures and a bit excited about it. What are the most popular

films? We have 101 Dalmatians, Fox and the hound... You won't be too

surprised to hear it's an Alerican idea. After all, the Americ`ns have

even set up a TV channel just for dogs. Is The dog cinema is `t a day

care centre. The owners compare it to an infant school. When they have

had their activities and done all the emotional work, they can watch

TV for 45 minutes and then ht is back to their activities ag`in until

the afternoon when in comes the classical music. Yes, he did say,

classical music time. Some of the music is by Bach, seems

appropriate! It seems to work. Different dogs have different energy

levels. Do we make too much of a fuss of

dogs? I do not think we makd enough fuss. Is this not going a bht far? I

don't think we can do enough for our animals. At the end of the day, it

seems, these cultured caninds just can't drag themselves away.

Don't see any popcorn. We h`ve been trying to think of terrible puns.

They are not showing Reservoir dogs, I expect. She is about to dhsappear

when she does the weather, xou will see what we mean.

We had a glorious day what springlike conditions. Proof that

spring has arrived and if you would like to she was the spring

conditions, there's the address I suspect you will have plentx of

opportunities over the next few days to photograph spring condithons The

mildly stays with us for another few days. `` mildly. Clouds for the

weekend but tonight there's hardly any clouds out there. Lots of clear

skies but overnight the clotds begin to encroach from the south `nd we

are likely to see some fog `nd mist and also some frost, partictlarly in

Cumbria and possibly over the Isle of Man but I suspect temper`tures

will drop close to freezing. Tomorrow looks to be another decent

day with plenty of sunshine and it should be a chilly start with mist

and fog around. Very light winds around tomorrow and you are in for a

bright afternoon and it could be hazy at times. Highs of 12 Celsius

for tomorrow and then to thd next few days, high`pressure continuing

to build. We are starting to get a touch cooler so high`pressure sticks

with us until Friday and thhs is the breakdown of the temperaturds. By

Saturday a lots of clouds around and possibly down to single figtres

You have got your spring wardrobe and look what happens. You `re

camouflaged against the so far! Any more plans?

A lot of people sceptical about it, I have to say. Good night.