20/02/2012 Inside Out East

This week I'm in the Bedfordshire countryside and this is what we

have got on tonight's Inside Out. We investigate why parents feel

some school routes are too dangerous to scrap free buses.

road is not safe, no parent in their right mind would allow their

children to walk on this road. uncover the truth behind ambulance

response times. The radios keep going off, asking for crews to help

on other jobs, you can have quite a few stuck here unable to respond.

Celebrating 100 years of looking after nature, how the National

Trust protect rare species from thousands of visitors. They are the

three surprising stories from where I am in Great Barford, right on the

River Great Ouse. Some parents who live around here are angry that

their children's free school buses have been cut, and they say the

roads are too dangerous for them to walk to school. Councils are facing

some difficult decisions about their budgets. It is just before

9am on a winter morning. If the council had their way, some of

these children would have what three miles along a busy road to

get to the school. That is because at the end of October last year,

Bedford Borough Council stopped the free places on the school buses

from Roxton to Great Barford. The 20 children left stranded now face

what parents like Julie Cox believe is a dangerous walk to school.

d'you think this stretch of road, look at the speed of this car!

mph. He was doing 75 mph, I cannot believe that. He has come round

that corner really quickly, coming into a village, overtaken him. 75!

This road is just not safe. cannot believe that. 75 mph.

parent in their right mind would allow their children, nine year-old

children, to walk on this road. It is nearly three miles long, takes

75 minutes to walk. We do not have any street lighting, no gritting

facilities, and as you have seen, the speeding traffic is dangerous.

The deputy head of the local school is worried about the impact the

council's decision is having on his school. We are extremely concerned.

We're talking about some very young pupils, as young as nine, having to

walk along a route alongside a very dark, isolated road, and the

traffic passes them at 60 mph or in excess of that. We feel that our

pupils' safety and well-being is compromised. His is not an isolated

case, free places on school buses have been withdrawn across the East

of England. Recent figures show 75 per cent of councils are reviewing

or making cuts to their transport services. Parents in Norfolk are

facing the same problem. This country lane runs along a disused

railway line. The path crosses a busy road and a

blind bend. The council says this At the moment, it is daylight, and

visibility is good. But it is dark when children go to school in the

winter. Lucy Usher, a working mother of three, relied on the free

school bus. She lives in the village of East Ruston, just under

three miles to be near his school. The children, who previously got

the bus for free, now face walking because the council has stopped the

free places and chosen a route that Would you ever let your son walk

this on his own? No, never. It is far too dangerous and you will see

why. You have to look at all times, really. You cannot even see round

that corner. That came from nowhere! That is incredible, all

the sudden it was on us. We did not see it or hear it and it was there.

Exactly, there are no signs to say children crossing, people crossing,

bikes, people use this all the time and there is nothing there. It is a

virtual blind bend as you're crossing from that side. And a 60

mile an hour road. Frightening. Very concerning the council think

this is safe for children. It is not just cars, it is big

lorries. Skip lorries, tankers, Free school transport is provided

for pupils if the new school is more than three miles away, but

councils can also provide discretionary places, and it is

these that are being stopped. more than �6 million, 25 per cent

of its budget. Essex County Council said it will reduce its budget by

just over �1.8 million. Bedford Borough Council is hoping to make

savings of around �450,000 a year. Norfolk expects to save around �1

million. Can you tell me why that was designated a safe route? We go

through a regular process to ensure those families entitled to free

transport can access that transport, and we also reviewed periodically

those families who have been historically provided with

transport, even though they live less than the qualifying distance.

That is three miles for an 8-year- old. We ensure that if families are

no longer entitled, we take the appropriate action. We have a very

significant pressure on budgets across the board and spend a lot on

transport, around �23 million a year. We need to make sure that is

fair. Bedford Borough Council also told Inside Out that the decision

was based on fairness, and some routes had been recently reassessed

as safe. The charity that campaigns for better transport has fought for

better services for 40 years. Should the guidelines be looked at

again? Absolutely, this is being discussed now and the government

needs to take action so children can get to school and parents go to

work. At the moment, the government guidelines are not strong enough

and some local authorities are interpreting those guidelines and

In fact, figures published by the Government this month showed that

46 children are killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads every

week. Rural roads have a disproportionately high casualty

Some of the parents have tried the walk from the school with their

children and feel it is too dangerous. Until something changes,

they rely on car-sharing to get to school and back. Some are left

paying for the bus but for some it is too expensive. We have to find

an extra �40 or �50 per month to use the service. I have only one

child so I am lucky, and I am struggling to find that funding,

but some people have two or three children, that is obviously causing

financial difficulties. Meanwhile, the bus still runs through the

How far is it from here? Another mile to go. Like Julie, Lucy is

asking the council to look at the road again. We would certainly look

at any particular concerns a parent has about any route. If there was a

specific concern we would look at the report that has already been

done by road safety, if it was not absolutely clear on that area, we

would look at the concerns of the parent. We would advise them how

that concern could be avoided, or we would ensure the decision was

sound. We would like the council to reassess the route and would like

children to get safely on the bus. We would like a free bus service

for all the children and not just a few. We find out about that story

because some of the parents got in touch with me. You can as well if

you think there is something we should be investigating. You can

follow me on Twitter or e-mail me. Later, how this 100-year-old

reserve has become one of the largest colonies of seals in

You dial 999 for an ambulance, it is an emergency and you hope the

ambulance arrives soon, but lately there have been stories about

people that had to wait for help. What is the truth behind those

delays? We have visited the Anglian control room in Essex to find out.

Can I ask you to call back on his It is the ambulance control room in

Essex. A busy Monday morning at the start of a half-term holiday. Calls

are already stacking up. It is busy, and sometimes it does not always go

to plan. Recently, East of England Ambulance Trust has been criticised

for not getting to patients in time. What was going wrong at Broomfield

was that there were no ambulances there for the emergency. Our little

boy. We just wanted to get from Braintree to Chelmsford, and we

cannot understand why it took so long. Politicians and members of

the public blame the Trust for ambulance delays. Is that the whole

picture? What is the truth about Dozens of 999 calls are pouring

into ambulance control in Chelmsford, an accident involving a

lorry threatens to cause traffic mayhem. Can you confirm a lorry has

rolled over? The call is quickly logged and passed to ambulance

despatch, Sarah, who has less than one minute to decide which vehicle

Control is getting busier and Meanwhile, out on the road,

paramedics Caroline and Ian have rushed the patient to Broomfield

Hospital. But there is a problem. At the moment we are waiting for

hospital cubicles to become free. They only have a certain amount of

cubicles and only a certain amount of staff that can manage those

cubicles. Until those are free we have to stay with the patient.

control receiving 50 calls power they need all the ambulances they

can get. We have an ambulance outside hospital with a cameraman

in it. What is happening? That is delays building up at Broomfield.

Everything that goes in will be delayed until they have room for

them. It depends what the delays are but currently they are delayed

handing over which means they are really busy in the accident and

emergency department. We have patients stacking up, and

ambulances off the road and unavailable. It is unavailable

until they can take the patient off In fact, all for the past three

years, the number of ambulances waiting at hospitals across the

East for over 15 minutes has more than doubled. How many ambulances

are outside the hospital? Currently we have three vehicles booked out

at Broomfield, with two on their way in. You have five vehicles you

cannot task to another call? This control room covers the whole of

Essex, and life threatening calls have to be reached within eight

minutes anywhere in the country. is a massive challenge. One of the

first things that struck me is just how busy it is and how much

information is going through this room. He is quite close to the

deadline. He is. That one will go all over. What happens if it goes

And if East of England Ambulance Trust don't reach an average of 75%

of life threatening calls in less than 8 minutes... That is tight.

..they get fined half a million pounds. That's a lot of paramedics.

For each job we don't get to within 8 minutes, there needs to be a

reason why we didn't. It's not just a case of we didn't. There needs to

be a reason why. For the simple reason, if we then get a complaint

in. If someone wants to know why we didn't get there in a certain

amount of time, we can answer them. Back at Broomfield, despite 999

calls mounting up at control, the crew have now been waiting for over

half an hour. It can be a little frustrating, because our radios

keep going off asking for crews to help on other jobs. And you can

have quite a few of us stuck here unable to respond to that. And the

worst offender for keeping ambulances waiting? The region's

flagship PFI hospital, the Norfolk and Norwich. Over the past three

years, the number of ambulance waiting over 15 minutes has

increased by 130%. Ambulances waiting outside hospitals to

offload patients is very frustrating for the Trust's Medical

Director. We've seen this morning ambulances

backlogged at A&E departments. They can't get patients processed quick

enough through triage and into the A&E system. What do you make of

that? It's very disappointing to hear that you've had that

experience. It's one I hear almost every day, unfortunately. Last week,

for instance, we had one hospital in the region where 26% of patients

waited over an hour to be offloaded from the ambulance and be admitted

into A&E. That's really, really disappointing. As you can imagine,

it's not good for patients. They're waiting in the back of the

ambulance much longer than they should do. And, of course, it means

the ambulance isn't freed to get back out on the road and see to the

next patient. And we later discovered the name of the hospital

who kept over a quarter of ambulances waiting the weekend

before last. The Norfolk and Norwich. They told us... We have a

larger proportion of emergency admissions than other Trusts.

Improving ambulance turnaround times requires a whole system

approach. And we are working together and actively looking for

areas to improve. The crew at Broomfield has finally

handed over their patient after waiting around for 40 minutes.

Broomfield told us they do aim to receive patients within 15 minutes.

However, if A&E is busy, as was the case last Monday, this can be

longer. BEEPING. Reference to general

broadcast, Broomfield. We can help with that.

And our paramedics are given another emergency job straight away.

'Thank you very much.' That's round the back. OK!

LAUGHTER. That is really round the back.

Ambulances get called for broken fingers, headaches. They're even

asked to put people to bed at night. Does this clog up the system?

If you're with a patient and you hear a general broadcast go out for

somebody who clearly by the description is in greater need than

the patient you are with, it is very frustrating. Because, as an

emergency ambulance, we've probably got the skills, talents and

medication to deal with that life- threatening illness in a more

appropriate fashion than we have a call from somebody who might be

better seen by the GP. We've had a 15% increase over the

last four years in 999 calls. It is quite significant. What's important

is that people understand that calling 999 isn't the wrong thing

to do if they have an emergency. What I would like to say to the

public is that they may not get a big truck turn up with blue

flashing lights. They may get a different response. They may get

advice. They may get advice to ring somebody else. Or they may get

particularly a car that will come to them. We'll treat them on the

scene and then leave them at home where we possibly can.

Is your eye still bleeding? Last year, East of England

Ambulance Trust took 840,000 calls and dealt with two million people.

The truth is ambulances are part of a health care system working at

full capacity. But with increasing calls and a decreasing budget,

perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised if it takes an ambulance

little longer than expected to Blakeney Point is a wild spit of

shingle and sand dunes on the North Norfolk coast. It used to be

privately owned. But 100 years ago, it was given to the National Trust

to protect it and its wildlife. The biggest threat to the rare birds

and seals that breed there are the thousands of visitors who come

every year. I've spent the past year with the warden, who has to

keep the people who visit and the This is one of the largest areas of

unspoilt coastline in the whole of Europe. This spit extends 2.5 miles

that way and 1.5 miles that way. I'm going to go to the end of this

spit to find out why it became Norfolk's first nature reserve.

It's March and the start of the season on Blakeney Point for

National Trust Warden Eddie Stubbings. He's going to be

spending six months out here on this isolated stretch of coastline.

And I'm going to be following him as he watches over this unique

place. His job is to protect the wilderness and safeguard its

wildlife while also allowing people to enjoy it. It can sometime be a

hard balancing act. Hi, Eddie. Hello. How are you? Not bad,

yourself? Do you want a hand with this getting it in? Looks like I

arrived just in time. His first job is to set up home at

the life boat house before the breeding season begins.

Well, it's not been manned for six months now. So I just need to get

my personal possessions in. Get my books on the book shelf. We turned

off the water last year and we have to turn it back on again. So you've

got to get everything ready to live in for the next few months? Yeah.

What do you like about being here? We've come out here quite a way. It

feels really bleak. Really kind of isolated. It doesn't appeal to me.

Why do you like it? You have to be the right kind of person, which

luckily I am. I like the solitude and being able to see nature change

through the seasons, really. Today there are thousands of birds

to see, which is why it is so popular with visitors. But 100

years ago, its bird population was under threat from hunters. Funds

were raised following a public appeal in 1912, with the help of

the banker Charles Rothschild and the academic Professor Francis

Oliver. Blakeney was then handed to the National Trust in order for the

charity to protect its habitat and birds. 100 years on, it is now one

of the most important places in the country for migratory birds like

the sandwich, common and little terns to breed.

What are you looking forward to in the year ahead? What can you look

forward to? Well, a good breeding season for the birds. And a good

mix of, um, people enjoying the reserve and the birds having a

successful breeding season. Is that quite tricky? Because, of course,

you want to keep it open to the public, but there's conservation

involved as well. Do you ever feel like very protective of the area?

Er, yeah. Yeah. That can give you a little bit of a passionate sort of

outlook on it. So when you see a whole colony of terns desert or

fail. If their eggs failed. It can really hurt, because you're linked

to the place. You're living out here and watching them every day.

So you can get quite passionate about it.

Three months later and the breeding season is well underway. I am back

to see the tern colonies. Morning, Eddie. Morning! Nice to

see you again. Yeah, and you. Come aboard. Cheers, thank you. Shall I

pop that on? Yeah. Your life jacket. Is this the easiest way to get to

the colonies? You can't walk up to the colonies in the summer. It

causes too much disturbance to the nesting birds. So this is the only

way you can get there at this time of year? Exactly, yeah. We haven't

see you for two or three months. How's the season gone so far?

it's been a good season. It's been quite quiet for people. But the

terns are on the end are doing very well, as we'll see. There's a

feeding frenzy over there. Yeah. What kind of birds have we got

feeding here? We've got black- headed gulls. Sandwich terns.

And it's not just the birds that Eddie is watching out for today.

Blakeney also has the third biggest grey seal colony in England.

count the seals at low tide, when they're resting on the sands over

here. And, at high tide, we make sure no-one comes down to disturb

them. And we'll come around on the boat and count what's out here.

Make sure nobody's disturbing them from a boat. Look how close he's

getting! Because we're with Eddie, we're

allowed to walk the rest of the way. So how close do you think we can

get to the colony? Well, we'll get just over this brow of dunes. And

as our heads become visible to the colony, we'll just crouch lower and

lower. Eddie and I can get close as long

as we don't scare them. The area is out of bounds to the public as it

doesn't take much for the birds to abandon their nests.

Is it a good number at the moment? Is it a high number? Yeah, it's the

biggest colony in Britain. It's the highest number of breeding pairs

since, I think since the '90s. So it's the highest number of pairs in

the last 20 years. Brilliant. What do you put that down to? Um, good

food supply. We fence them off to minimise the disturbance. It's a

perfect place from them to breed. They like to breed on islands or

peninsulas or spits. So it's a combination of factors, but it's

ideal. Before the 1960s, people used to walk in amongst the tern

colonies and it was affecting breeding success. So, in the '60s,

they decided to fence off the colonies and to stop people from

having picnics in the colonies. And it's worked well for us. The

colonies are thriving, especially Hello there. Hi. Sorry to disturb

you. That's OK. I'm one of the National Trust wardens here. We

just come and speak to people about the tern colonies. OK, yeah.

allow people to go down to get a closer view of the seals. Yeah.

we keep them away from the little tern colony. Sure, yeah. We just

walked round the edge. At the end of the season, Eddie

moves out of the lifeboat house and back to the mainland. He works out

of the National Trust office there. But he's still responsible for what

happens on the spit. TELEPHONE RINGS.

Hello, National Trust? It's now December and the seal pups

have been born. Eddie goes out regularly from the mainland to

check on them. Hi, Eddie! Hello. Good to see you

again. Last winter, you had a record number of seal pups born

here at Blakeney. Yeah. How many have you got this time? We've

already passed last year's total. Really? So what are you up to now,

then, roughly? It's about 750. Blakeney is one of the few sites in

Britain where seal numbers are on the increase. And the success of

this breeding means that Blakeney is now more important than ever.

I'll come out here two or three times a week. I'll walk down

through colony. Yeah. I mean, I'm the only one who does that, so the

disturbance is minimal. And I count the pups as I go. I feel proud to

be the current warden. It is such an amazing place. The wildness of

it and the way it's governed by the sea and the weather. I just feel

like I love the place, really. Just proud to look after it. 100 years

on and this unique habitat is still wild.

And accommodating thousands of visitors every year. It's just been

fantastic. The most successful year that I've had out here. And to

think that the place has been looked after for 100 years by the

National Trust. It's just incredible.

Right, that's it from Great Barford in Bedfordshire. I hope you've

enjoyed the programme. Join me next week, when I'll be back with these

surprising stories. Next week, despite promises that

banks will lend billions to small businesses, we investigate why

companies are still being let down by their banks.