:00:08. > :00:14.This is East Midlands Today. Our headlines: work opportunities go
:00:14. > :00:18.begging because applicants are not up to the job.
:00:18. > :00:24.Bosses in Nottingham say job seekers lack education, skills and
:00:25. > :00:28.the right attitude. Basic things, getting people to be punctual,
:00:28. > :00:34.demonstrate enthusiasm, to learn new skills.
:00:34. > :00:42.The mother attacked by burglars who feared she would die. He thumped me
:00:42. > :00:48.in the stomach, it turned out he stabbed me. Also tonight, some are
:00:48. > :00:52.fun for some - the children who use the railways as their playground.
:00:52. > :01:02.Plus the town centre that is keeping the supermarket at arm's
:01:02. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:11.length to avoid it becoming a ghost Welcome to Wednesday's programme.
:01:11. > :01:15.The uncomfortable fact about unemployment in our region.
:01:15. > :01:21.Official figures list one of our cities as the second worst place in
:01:21. > :01:26.the UK for joblessness. That city is Nottingham. The percentage of
:01:26. > :01:30.its people not in employment is higher than in Leicester or Derby
:01:30. > :01:36.and nearly double the regional average. Employers say there is
:01:36. > :01:41.work to be had but many applicants are not up to the job.
:01:41. > :01:45.Lynn is looking for work. Made redundant in Nottingham last week
:01:45. > :01:51.after 12 years. She knows like many others that it will be tough to
:01:51. > :01:55.find a new job. It looks very fat - - bad at the moment. There is
:01:55. > :02:00.Christmas coming up, so I will try to get a Christmas job. Really
:02:00. > :02:06.difficult because there are hardly any jobs out there for youngsters.
:02:06. > :02:11.The I am sure it is the pure volume. I am sending out around 10 CVs
:02:11. > :02:14.every day. New figures from the Office for National Statistics
:02:14. > :02:18.suggest that Nottingham has a big problem compare to other parts of
:02:18. > :02:23.the UK and other parts of our region. They show that in Derby,
:02:23. > :02:31.the unemployment rate was 9% making its 75th in the country. In
:02:31. > :02:36.Leicester, it is 11.4 % making it 20th worst. In Nottingham, it is
:02:36. > :02:41.13.9 %, second in the table behind Middlesbrough. Nearly doubled the
:02:41. > :02:44.East Midlands rate of 7.5 %. But business has claimed that people on
:02:44. > :02:50.the jobs market do not have the right skills or even attitude for
:02:50. > :02:56.work. Basic things, getting people to be punctual, getting people to
:02:56. > :03:01.demonstrate enthusiasm, to learn new skills, to learn new trades and
:03:01. > :03:05.to become viable members of any business. Today in Nottingham,
:03:05. > :03:12.there are 2,500 vacancies at the JobCentre and help to build up the
:03:12. > :03:16.work ethic. If they never work, that work ethic is difficult, so we
:03:16. > :03:20.work closely with them and our providers that are out there -- out
:03:20. > :03:24.there. The city Council has challenged the official figures
:03:24. > :03:31.saying that on their analysis of the city would be 42nd in the
:03:31. > :03:37.country. Joining us he is Nottingham's
:03:37. > :03:41.deputy City Council leader Graham Chapman. I know you dispute these
:03:41. > :03:47.figures, although they are official, but you cannot dispute that there
:03:47. > :03:53.is a serious unemployment problem in Nottingham? There is an
:03:53. > :03:56.unemployment problem in big cities across the country. Nottingham is
:03:56. > :04:05.not the second worst, it is all the way they calculate the student
:04:05. > :04:10.population. We are convinced it is nearer 10 % and 14 %. Other cities
:04:10. > :04:14.have a large student population. They do not have the same tight
:04:14. > :04:21.boundaries and because we have a large number of students, those are
:04:21. > :04:26.the reasons. There were poor things that came out. Business leaders say
:04:26. > :04:32.job applicants from local schools they are not up to the job. They
:04:32. > :04:37.are lacking education skills and attitude. That is a claim from
:04:37. > :04:43.business leaders from across the country. There is an issue. The
:04:43. > :04:47.issue is about children, people turning up on time. Some of the
:04:47. > :04:53.skills are not appropriate or adequate, however, the staying-on
:04:53. > :04:58.rate in Nottingham into college has gone up. So has the level of skills
:04:58. > :05:04.over the last few years, but we are still not adequate. It is the case
:05:04. > :05:10.for most large cities. Your party has been in power for some time, do
:05:10. > :05:16.you take some responsibility? accept there is an issue but I will
:05:16. > :05:21.also accept that the skill levels and the staying on weight up of
:05:21. > :05:25.children over 16 and over into college has gone up substantially.
:05:25. > :05:30.There has been an improvement, it is still not good enough and what
:05:30. > :05:36.the real issue is is getting people job ready and at the moment, there
:05:36. > :05:45.are no schemes to get them job ready for stock what will you do
:05:45. > :05:52.about it? We are doing a lot. All the money, half a billion pounds
:05:52. > :05:57.will be on local Labour. Our council house improvement Labour is
:05:57. > :06:03.done locally. We are putting up solar cells on houses, using local
:06:03. > :06:07.labour. We're also working with the colleges to improve the skill
:06:07. > :06:13.levels. I was at one this afternoon and they have an exceptional number
:06:13. > :06:19.of apprentices coming through. Let's hope it improves. But the
:06:19. > :06:23.figures are wrong. A huge boost for the campaign to save children's
:06:23. > :06:28.heart surgery in the East Midlands. In every view, the Glenfield Heart
:06:28. > :06:33.Unit attracted more support from individuals than any other centre
:06:34. > :06:37.in the country. Experts are looking at reducing the number of hospitals
:06:37. > :06:43.across England doing children's heart operations from 11 to either
:06:43. > :06:49.six or seven. They reveal that some of their results of their
:06:49. > :06:53.consultation. Safe in mum's arms. Lyle's feels
:06:53. > :06:57.very much at home at Leicester's children's heart surgery unit. Her
:06:57. > :07:03.life has been in their hands since birth and mum could not face it
:07:03. > :07:08.closing. I am hoping because lilies can -- will continue to need
:07:08. > :07:13.surgery throughout her life. She can keep coming to the same place
:07:13. > :07:19.where I know the surgery is good. There is a lot of support, you have
:07:19. > :07:24.the parents wing. The team at Leicester's Glenfield Heart Unit
:07:24. > :07:29.note its future will not be made until the end of the year but
:07:29. > :07:34.results of a consultation show most individual support keeping the
:07:35. > :07:41.service going. The public, patients and experts think that the Midlands
:07:41. > :07:45.needs two centres. To suggest that 11 million can only be served by
:07:45. > :07:50.one single centre, whereas London has a smaller population needs two,
:07:50. > :07:56.would be ridiculous. Of the four options opened, it seemed to be
:07:56. > :08:01.coming down to just two. One option was always the preferred one. It
:08:01. > :08:07.sees Leicester survive but option B sees it replaced by Southampton.
:08:07. > :08:14.That has more support from organisations and the consultation.
:08:14. > :08:19.Finley's family know which they prefer. You're troubled the end of
:08:19. > :08:24.the earth to avoid surgery. To have so do when your doorstep makes it
:08:24. > :08:28.easier. But in every city will find passionate stories of support for
:08:28. > :08:36.the local hard unit. This is Southampton. And Leicester's gain
:08:36. > :08:40.could prove Southampton's last. Still to come: he put town that
:08:41. > :08:45.saying no to supermarkets. Also the boxing club threatened with closure
:08:45. > :08:51.that is not quite ready to throw in the towel.
:08:51. > :08:55.And after many places not getting rain, the hope is we have
:08:55. > :09:05.persistent and some heavy rain working its way in tonight. I would
:09:05. > :09:09.
:09:09. > :09:13.A mother of two he was attacked in her garden after disturbing two
:09:13. > :09:17.burglars has told us that she thought she was going to die. Lisa
:09:17. > :09:21.Waring was stabbed repeatedly at her home on Cotton Way on Monday
:09:21. > :09:26.morning. Her children were inside the house at the time. Police say
:09:26. > :09:31.they are putting on extra patrols in the area.
:09:31. > :09:35.Showing the scars of a terrifying attack. Lisa Waring was at home
:09:35. > :09:41.with her two young children when she found two men burgling her home,
:09:41. > :09:46.taking her laptop and at least one of them had a knife. In the garden
:09:46. > :09:54.they turned on her with horrific results. There was a chap appear
:09:54. > :09:58.from behind the door and also one behind me. He slashed at my chest
:09:58. > :10:05.and I thought he thumped me in the stomach but it turned out he
:10:05. > :10:11.stabbed to me. I grabbed the blade which severed my fingers. I thought
:10:11. > :10:15.they would kill me. One over Easter's children saw her get
:10:15. > :10:19.injured. The man were wide and in their twenties or thirties, one had
:10:19. > :10:24.a Scottish or Irish accent. Ironically they then ran dropping
:10:24. > :10:29.the items they had stolen. Police say they also want to trace a blue
:10:29. > :10:33.van with white writing seen at the area at the time. It is rare to
:10:33. > :10:37.have a Burberry with the people inside the address and for Lisa
:10:37. > :10:41.Waring to disturb the two people in the act of committing the crime and
:10:41. > :10:46.for them to attack her, this is despicable. We will do everything
:10:46. > :10:53.we can to catch these individuals. The operation will between four and
:10:53. > :10:56.six hours. In the meantime, at least a now faces more surgery and
:10:56. > :11:05.physiotherapy on her hand. She has been told it could take more than a
:11:05. > :11:10.year for her to recover. Nottinghamshire police say it
:11:10. > :11:14.incidents of anti-social behaviour in of rain have dropped by a third
:11:14. > :11:17.following a crackdown. Police teams have been targeting hotspots and
:11:17. > :11:21.sending out patrols to tackle disorder. Beat officers and
:11:21. > :11:24.community support officers have been out speaking to both offenders
:11:24. > :11:28.and their families officers say they have targeted under age
:11:28. > :11:33.drinking. Police investigating the death of a
:11:33. > :11:38.Derby man have arrested a 4th man on suspicion of murder. Johnny
:11:38. > :11:42.Assani who was 43 was assaulted in the city 10 days ago. He died at
:11:42. > :11:48.the Queen's Medical Centre the day after being attacked. The 24-year-
:11:48. > :11:52.old man was arrested this morning and remains in custody.
:11:52. > :11:58.The region's newest multi-million- pound leisure centre open this
:11:58. > :12:08.afternoon. It is the Arkin Matlock and cost �12 million. It has to
:12:08. > :12:11.
:12:11. > :12:15.sport -- sports halls and a suing Shoppers who want to stop
:12:15. > :12:20.supermarkets taking over our town centres have a new champion tonight.
:12:20. > :12:23.He is a council leader that has blocked plans for supermarkets and
:12:23. > :12:28.rejected permission for the Sainsbury's superstore. Councillor
:12:28. > :12:35.Roger Begy, the leader of Rutland county council says he will not
:12:35. > :12:40.allow the big boys to turn the town into a ghost town.
:12:40. > :12:45.Grantham has already been labelled a ghost town by one politician
:12:45. > :12:49.following the supermarkets to dominate as we reported on Monday.
:12:49. > :12:53.But in No camp the bunting is out. The retailers have cause to cheer.
:12:53. > :12:58.The supermarket giants have been kept at arm's length and that is
:12:58. > :13:03.benefited small high-street shops. They diversify and do things the
:13:03. > :13:07.supermarkets cannot. We depend on dealing with individuals as a
:13:07. > :13:12.person rather than a number. Tesco moved into the town just over 10
:13:12. > :13:17.years ago. The supermarkets are wanting a bigger slice of the
:13:17. > :13:21.retell action in Oakham. Tesco is wanting to double its retail space,
:13:21. > :13:25.Sainsbury's and Waitrose are waiting in the wings. But recent
:13:25. > :13:30.planning applications from the big supermarkets have been rejected.
:13:30. > :13:35.made ourselves very unpopular with people in Oakham by turning down a
:13:35. > :13:41.Sainsbury's application. But we felt so strongly that the town has
:13:41. > :13:45.to be a surviving and thriving. somebody supermarkets to help the
:13:45. > :13:50.town thrive and survive. Tesco's is the only one we have in the area
:13:50. > :13:56.and sometimes there is not a wide variety there. More competition
:13:56. > :14:04.might get lower prices. It might bring more people into town. There
:14:04. > :14:08.are not a lot of people that come. You will not find empty shops
:14:08. > :14:13.boarded up here. Vacancies are snapped up quickly but worries
:14:13. > :14:17.remain about supermarket ambitions to set up shop. We would like to
:14:17. > :14:21.ensure that that does not happen and although we can allow a small
:14:21. > :14:27.number of supermarkets in, we cannot allow it to be overtaken by
:14:27. > :14:31.supermarkets. You would expect the county town of Rutland to have an
:14:31. > :14:41.independent streak. That spirit can be seen in its variety of retailers
:14:41. > :14:47.Police in Leicester are growing concerned about a woman who has not
:14:47. > :14:52.been seen since Monday night. Jean Gray, 76, was last seen by a name
:14:52. > :14:56.but at 9pm at her home on New Parks Boulevard. Officers say it Mrs Gray
:14:56. > :15:00.had been worried about her husband who is in hospital and has never
:15:00. > :15:03.gone missing before. Investigations are under way into a
:15:03. > :15:08.fire at a Woodyard which disrupted train services in Nottingham. Crews
:15:08. > :15:12.were called to the site on Victoria Road last night. Firefighters
:15:12. > :15:18.believe it was started deliberately and have spent much of today
:15:18. > :15:23.dampening down at the yard. It seems that every summer police
:15:23. > :15:26.issued his warning: Children are still putting themselves at danger
:15:26. > :15:30.by playing on railway lines. But yet again, the British
:15:30. > :15:34.Transport Police have been forced to speak out. This time after
:15:34. > :15:42.children as young a six were seen putting objects on the line near
:15:42. > :15:46.Leicester. A train heads north from Leicester
:15:46. > :15:52.station towards Nottingham, accelerating hard, they can be
:15:52. > :16:00.doing up to 80 miles an hour. Below one of the railway bridges, this
:16:01. > :16:06.PCTs tells me about the latest vandalism on the track above.
:16:06. > :16:10.threw bricks and would on the line. Trains are passing from north to
:16:10. > :16:15.south and they were struck. It is a shocking how young the three
:16:15. > :16:19.children involved were. They were aged between six and seven years
:16:19. > :16:24.old and placed items on main lines. No damage was caused, but it is
:16:25. > :16:29.extremely dangerous. Each summer, it seems, despite constant warnings,
:16:29. > :16:36.young people decide to either play on railway lines or vandalise the
:16:36. > :16:41.tracks. Network Rail says over the last year, there were 135 incidents
:16:41. > :16:46.in Leicestershire. But Derbyshire was worse, with 170.
:16:46. > :16:51.Nottinghamshire it was worse still, with 202. The incidents ranged from
:16:51. > :16:56.taking dangerous short cuts to throwing stones at trains, to
:16:56. > :17:00.deliver replacing debris on the track which could cause derailment.
:17:00. > :17:05.It is catastrophic for passengers. The after effects of that could be
:17:05. > :17:09.disastrous. It is worrying to see children of that age on the lines.
:17:09. > :17:14.We would ask parents all over the East Midlands to educate their
:17:14. > :17:19.children to the dangers of railway. The police say anyone spotting
:17:19. > :17:24.anyone acting dangerously or suspiciously on the lines can ring
:17:24. > :17:29.British Transport Police or crime stoppers.
:17:29. > :17:35.Next, an award winning boxing club in Leicester could be forced to
:17:35. > :17:38.close because of a lack of money. The gym in Birstall has been
:17:38. > :17:46.keeping kids off the streets for years. But rising costs could mean
:17:46. > :17:53.its owner has to hang up his gloves. After a years of running this club
:17:53. > :17:57.for young people in Birstall, Kohl is used to taking a few hits. But
:17:57. > :18:05.in the current financial climate, he may be facing a body blow.
:18:06. > :18:09.Everything goes up: It your maintenance, rent, electricity. I
:18:09. > :18:14.do not want to put the suspicions up because that is taking money off
:18:14. > :18:18.children. I'm hoping that we will get a benefactor who wants to put
:18:18. > :18:23.money into help the kids. Without the Gem, some of the kids would be
:18:23. > :18:31.lost. Opened in 2003, the club started with just seven members,
:18:31. > :18:35.but now has over 1,300, nearly 300 of which are girls. It is steeped
:18:35. > :18:39.in history, you are part of something. I would be really
:18:39. > :18:43.disappointed because it is a great place to go. Everyone is so nice
:18:43. > :18:47.here. It would be a shame if it closed down because there is
:18:47. > :18:51.nothing else to do. Parents fear that if the Jim goes, their
:18:51. > :18:55.children will be left roaming the streets. They will be outside,
:18:55. > :19:00.which is hanging around the park and shops, possibly getting into
:19:00. > :19:04.trouble. It is a great place for them to be, it keeps them off the
:19:04. > :19:10.streets so they are not playing video games all day. But Kohl is
:19:10. > :19:14.not out for the count just yet. am going to carry on. I'm not going
:19:14. > :19:18.to get downhearted about it. I have to carry on with it because I am
:19:18. > :19:23.sure my members want me to do that. I have been very proud of them over
:19:23. > :19:30.the last 10 years. With a sponsored run plan for next month to raise
:19:30. > :19:40.funds, the club is still fighting its corner.
:19:40. > :19:43.
:19:43. > :19:48.We have a feast of goals out of the year. Between Nottingham Forest and
:19:48. > :19:54.Leicester, they crept more than seven goals between them. Forest
:19:54. > :19:59.won 4-1 and Leicester came from behind to win 4-2 at Bury.
:19:59. > :20:02.Forest arrived at Wycombe having only scraped through the first
:20:02. > :20:06.round against Notts County. No such problems last night. This man put
:20:06. > :20:09.them ahead with just three minutes on the clock. Another three minutes
:20:09. > :20:19.on the clock. Another three minutes later, he was earning them a
:20:19. > :20:20.
:20:20. > :20:24.penalty. Forest were already 2-1 up. -- a 2-0 up. The Reds had a chance,
:20:24. > :20:29.then another, then another after half-time. They finally got another
:20:29. > :20:34.goal, just after the one hour mark. The Wycombe defence went one way
:20:34. > :20:39.and this man went the other. The home side got one back for a
:20:39. > :20:44.penalty, but any hope of a comeback quickly disappeared as the third
:20:44. > :20:49.goal went in. Senor and Ericsson made 10 changes to his side for
:20:49. > :20:54.their trip to buried, but the night was not without its scarce. They
:20:54. > :20:58.took the lead as four goals went in. Bury did not take it lying down,
:20:58. > :21:03.they equalised before the break and took the lead just after it. With
:21:03. > :21:09.20 minutes left, Leicester began their fight back. Paul Gallagher
:21:09. > :21:15.fired in a free-kick. Then there was this great finish. The foxes
:21:15. > :21:17.made sure of the wind with this man wrapping things up in stoppage time.
:21:18. > :21:25.Leicester and Forest are burst through to the third round. We will
:21:25. > :21:31.find out who they will be paying -- playing on Saturday.
:21:31. > :21:35.Last year's player of the season, John Brayford, has signed a three-
:21:35. > :21:44.year contract at Pride Park. On to the cricket, Nottinghamshire
:21:44. > :21:49.have hosted an excellent win against -- at Trent Bridge. At
:21:49. > :21:53.Grace Road, a young Leicestershire side are well behind Surrey, and
:21:53. > :21:58.definitely a bowler's wicket in Chelmsford. 16 wickets in a day
:21:58. > :22:01.there. There is a big day ahead for James
:22:01. > :22:05.Taylor. The youngster will be in the full England squad for the
:22:05. > :22:11.first time tomorrow. They play Ireland in a one-day international.
:22:11. > :22:20.Paul Nixon, a former England player, says Taylor is more than ready.
:22:20. > :22:23.Twenty-one years old, he knows his game. He is one of our best players.
:22:23. > :22:29.He can work the ball around and he took on the ground. Do have
:22:29. > :22:39.youngsters doing that is impressive. Paul Nixon is looking to finals day
:22:39. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:44.on Saturday. More on that later on The residents of Kegworth have been
:22:44. > :22:47.digging holes in their village Park for three days. It has been called
:22:47. > :22:50.a history digger. Archaeologists are on hand to look at anything
:22:50. > :22:55.that turns up and any significant fines will end up in the local
:22:55. > :23:00.museum. Kegworth the villagers have been
:23:00. > :23:04.invited to dig holes in a park. The site archaeologist is on hand to
:23:04. > :23:09.advise them on their fines, but it is more about hands-on history than
:23:09. > :23:12.buried treasure. They community did like this is more about that --
:23:12. > :23:16.their experience. The archaeology that has been found it is fantastic.
:23:16. > :23:21.It will be used in the museum and written up so people can look at
:23:21. > :23:23.what we have found. The idea was suggested to the council as a way
:23:23. > :23:29.of bringing the community together for three days of the summer
:23:29. > :23:34.holiday. We hope that the physical fines will be very important to
:23:34. > :23:38.tracking the history of the site and understanding more about
:23:38. > :23:42.Kegworth. But we are also hoping we will find more community can --
:23:42. > :23:47.cohesion. People were certainly pleased to be spending a sunny day
:23:47. > :23:51.digging holes in the ground. get to meet people who you do not
:23:51. > :24:01.tend to meet usually. It is a community thing for people of every
:24:01. > :24:04.
:24:04. > :24:10.age. Already, we have found lots of stones, and a brass button.
:24:10. > :24:17.found cow and picked teeth. Bradley found one of the best finds, that
:24:17. > :24:22.he merely splashed it to pieces. had an axe and I was hitting the
:24:22. > :24:28.rubble. I hit it three times and it almost smashed. It turned out to be
:24:28. > :24:33.a poison bottle from the 1920s. Today's highlights were animal
:24:33. > :24:39.bones, pottery and part of a knife grinding wheel. But been no expert
:24:39. > :24:43.himself -- myself, my favourite was the poison bottle.
:24:43. > :24:50.If you want to find out more about archaeology and how you can take
:24:50. > :25:00.part in your own Dick, there is more information on the website. --
:25:00. > :25:06.
:25:06. > :25:16.My husband is cooking the T-cell I have no idea what is going to
:25:16. > :25:17.
:25:17. > :25:23.happen! Sandra cent in this the photo. We
:25:23. > :25:27.need more rain. I'm going to try my best to organise that. We have got
:25:27. > :25:30.this area of low pressure that is starting to push up the system of
:25:30. > :25:34.rain up from the south. We are starting to seek some showers
:25:34. > :25:39.coming in. You can see the swirl of cloud around the area of low
:25:39. > :25:43.pressure. It is bringing the chance of showers as we go through the
:25:43. > :25:48.next few hours. One or two trickling in as I speak, and that
:25:48. > :25:53.will continue for a time. Later on in the evening, we will see this
:25:53. > :25:59.rain at pushing and. It is predicted to been everywhere across
:25:59. > :26:04.the East Midlands, with some heavy bursts. 12 Celsius, your minimum
:26:04. > :26:09.temperature tonight. The met if -- the Met Office have issued a
:26:09. > :26:13.warning for heavy rainfall. Flash flooding likely during the course
:26:13. > :26:17.of rush-hour. Then that this system works his way East during the
:26:17. > :26:22.morning. Into the afternoon, sunny spells and return. A couple of
:26:22. > :26:27.showers will remain. Temperatures will be around 22 degrees. Once the
:26:27. > :26:32.sun shows, it will be pleasant. On Friday, the low pressure is close
:26:32. > :26:40.by it so we are staying unsettled for now. We will seek some showers.
:26:40. > :26:45.The further west you are, the more likely you will seek sunny spells.
:26:45. > :26:48.We'll keep you posted on the developments. On Saturday, we start
:26:48. > :26:52.the Bank Holiday weekend on a showery note. Sunny spells with
:26:52. > :26:56.showers, but you see this large area of high -- a low pressure is
:26:56. > :27:02.making inroads as we go through the rest of the weekend. Saturday is
:27:02. > :27:07.not bad, but we could do better than that. Sunday looks drier, up
:27:07. > :27:15.warm while with sunny spells. Temperatures will be around 20