19/09/2011 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Dominic Heale and me, Kylie

Pentelow. Our top story tonight: the cities

scrambling for Government cash. Nottingham, Derby and Leicester all

want money to promote growth but how big is the pot? �1.3 billion

for the whole of the country which has one third of what used to be

given. Also: other parents pleading for

help to solve the mystery of their son's death. It absolute nightmare.

I never thought I would lose my baby boy. He should not die before

your kids. Six months after the tsunami, how

students are helping to rebuild Japan.

And a man down and a goal behind. Derby celebrate a remarkable big

Good evening and welcome to Monday's programme. First tonight,

the race to bring in the investment millions that'll create thousands

of jobs in our region. Nottingham, Derby and Leicester are

all chasing private and public sector cash to kick-start the

economy. All three are putting in bids for help, to the Government's

regional growth fund. Today though there was a warning

that the fund isn't big enough and more taxpayers' cash is needed.

Mike O'Sullivan's in Nottingham to tell us more.

Good evening. This is what's called the island site in Nottingham.

Parts of it derelict for years. Supposed to be used for homes and

commercial use. And this site was one of around a dozen or so

showcased to potential investors in Nottingham today. Nottingham trying

to convince them they should come here instead of elsewhere in our

region. It is not every day you meet a

passenger on a bus tour of Nottingham with �25 million to

spend. But this tour is taking potential investors around key

sites like the Broad Marsh Centre which could create 6000 jobs. And

the birds Enterprise Zone, creating �10,000. More investors are still

needed. We are looking to provide about 250 homes, associated shops

and restaurants. You are probably looking at a build cost of �25

million, which we would have to raise in that the City and possibly

as many as 200 jobs. They even named a train. All three of our big

cities are trying to win backing from the public and private sectors.

Government cash is on offer from the regional growth fund. Not him

once �200 million for the Brits enterprise zone. -- Boots. Derby

once around �50 million for things like a hi-tech business park near

Rolls-Royce and and Innovation Centre. There is a lot of

investment... Even as the Tour showed off Nottingham's highlights,

there was a warning that there is not enough government cash for

everybody. We will get something out of it but it is not to kick --

not enough to kick-start the economy. The other towns named miss

out, we will not all be winners of stop Leicester's high cross centre

is part of investment in the City over the last 10 years. In at the

fight for investments in jobs, you can never stand still.

Well, the government has defended the �1.4 billion in its regional

growth fund, due to last until 2014/15, saying it ensures that

some private sector cash comes in as well. Economic development and

jobs have been the key themes of the Liberal Democrats' annual

conference. Over to the International Convention Centre in

Birmingham and our Political Editor John Hess.

The conference today heard the Business Secretary Vince Cable talk

of the need for investment to boost exports, green technology and

manufacturing. Then this afternoon, the reality for one of our

struggling manufacturers, train makers Bombardier of Derby. In a

question and answer session with delegates, the Lib Dems' leader

Nick Clegg was put on the spot. am very annoyed that we were

totally tied up, tied in knots by the legal requirements of the

tendering process drafted by the previous government. We could not

get out of it. Philip Hammond and Vince Cable are working to make

sure that doesn't happen again, that British companies had given a

fair crack of the whip. But it was a Nottingham delegate who earlier

told the conference the quickest way to boost the economy and the

infrastructure was to build new homes. I cannot stress enough how

many people in this city of Nottingham and elsewhere in the

country find themselves trapped in sub-standard housing that they

cannot afford to get themselves out of. But new housing, roads,

industrial estates, key ingredients of local infrastructure projects

are not cheap. I asked the leader of the Liberal Democrats on

Leicestershire county council Simon Galton, how much money we're

talking about. Leicester identified a shortfall of �2 billion. If there

is a huge gap to fill. Can it be filled? That depends upon whether

the government is going to make some more money available to kick-

start those sorts of projects. Clegg said today, the Department

for Transport alone has �8 billion to spend on infrastructure projects

and he's determined, in his words, to get the money out of doors of

Whitehall and spent. Well, the East Midlands Development

Agency is on the island site. The organisation that used to hand out

lots of development cash being wound up by the Government and

replaced by the regional growth fund. And to discuss the chances

for investment in the region, I'm joined by Professor Baback Yazdani,

from Nottingham Trent University and regional chairman of the CBI.

It doesn't sound like a lot for the entire country but it is unlikely

to change. Perhaps we need to concentrate our efforts to give the

project that are going to have the biggest impact. How difficult is it

to get the private sector to invest in places like the East Midlands?

The private sector requires a good planning and tax environment to

want to invest. In that regard, the little things to matter. The

Investment announced today in Wolverhampton and the �10 million

investment in the regional growth fund has brought in �350 million

from Jaguar Land-Rover into that region. This is the second round of

birds in the regional growth fund and the results will be announced

later in the autumn. -- bids. Still to come on the programme: the big

clean up in Japan. Six months after the Tsunami a student from

Derbyshire returns from a country that's slowly re-building its

The parents of a Leicester man who died after collapsing with serious

head injuries say they're living an absolute nightmare as they try to

find out how he died. Jason Jelley was married with five

children. How he got his injuries is a mystery. His family are

appealing for anyone with information to help them. In

morning and struggling to accept the death of their son. The parents

of the father of five say they are utterly devastated. Absolute

nightmare. Never thought I would be losing My baby boy. Here he was,

captured on CCTV on Wednesday morning in Leicester. Just an hour

later, he arrived home with terrible head injuries. Police say

they do not know whether he felt or if he was assaulted. His family

there are certain he was attacked. He told his wife when he got him

that he had been attacked from behind. Somebody saw him holding

his face with blood coming out of his face. Officers have been

carrying out house-to-house inquiries in the area to try to

find anyone who might have seen something. Police particularly want

to trace a man who may have helped him across Strasbourg drive, a

round the corner from his home. Based say he is described as black,

between 5 ft 6 and 6 ft 4 -- Paul. Meanwhile, Jason's family say they

are desperately waiting for someone to come forward with information

which might help them solve the mystery of their son's death.

appeal to people who are parents themselves, how would you feel if

you had lost your son? The pain we feel is unbearable.

Firefighters have been dealing with a large blaze at a Transport Yard

in Sutton in Ashfield. Officers have set up a 200-metre exclusion

zone around the site on Prospect Close. Local businesses have been

affected. The Fire Service says it's expected to be on site for 24

hours. Officers are concerned about the danger from gas cylinders on

the site. Network Rail is to monitor the

timing of barriers at a level crossing in Nottinghamshire after

two people were trapped on the tracks. The incidents happened at

the crossing on Carey Road in Bulwell. On two occasions people

with mobility problems were trapped between the barriers because they

closed too quickly. Network Rail is also upgrading the monitors used by

signallers to observe the crossing. This is East Midlands Today. Coming

up in sport: a tale of two cities. At one end of the A52, jubilation.

At the other, disbelief. All the highlights of an epic local derby

The police say they're becoming increasingly concerned for the

well-being of a vulnerable woman who's been missing for more than

four days. Janet Bacon was last seen when she

was dropped off for a bus in Mansfield. But she left home

without her bank cards and has switched her mobile off. At her

Mansfield bungalow where she lives with one of her sons, a police

search team was looking for clues. They were going through her

belongings in the hope that a piece of paper, a receipt or note might

tell them where she was heading and what he plans were four days ago.

74 year-old Janet became a great great grandmother six weeks ago but

last weekend was the 9th anniversary of her husband's death.

Her sons and daughter described their mother as sociable but are

concerned about the pain she is in a former water disability. She has

taken a large quantity of painkillers with her and her family

is worried about her frame of mind. Very worried. There is only so much

pain people can take. We are very concerned as regards the number of

tablets she has with her. Passengers at Mansfield bus station

are also being asked if they've seen Janet. She enjoys using her

bus pass and regularly travels around the East Midlands. She was

dropped off by taxi at 1:30pm last Thursday. For Janet to catch a bus

was not unusual but for her not to be in contact with her family for

so long is out of character. At the time she went missing, she was

wearing a blue top and carrying a red metal walking-stick and a black

leather handbag. We are not saw -- we are not sure of what is state of

minders. We are really concerned. Jags family is pleading with her to

get in touch and tell them she is safe. -- Janet says family.

If you have any information, call Well, there is only one place to

start tonight, the fall out and analysis after the explosive Forest

Derby game. Team Rams have had the day off today after victory,

meanwhile the Reds have been sweating out defeat on the training

field. In a moment we'll be looking at what's going wrong at the City

Ground but first Natalie Jackson reports on a Derby day win for

Derby. The East Midlands derby is all

about the fans, about pride and These players have experienced

games like this before. But they will need strong hearts and minds

in this game today. The fixture is always dramatic but few expected

this! 66 seconds gone, Derby down to 10 men. The goalie sent-off, his

stand-in had barely taken his seat. Was it a minute or something like

that? I was eating my banana, getting ready for the game. Read

funded in the penalty. -- thundered in a. It did not take long before

there was more controversy. He has lost his footing and there is the

referee, no foul. Off we go, carry on. Nigel Clough is telling derby

to carry on. Carry on, he says, it It is a great run and he has

Derby showed incredible character and team spirit. Hendrick missed a

sitter and then at the 19 year-old turned from a villain to hero.

knew it was going in. I didn't know what to do and all the lads came

over and jumped on me. It was a great feeling. We have huge belief

in their character and spirit. We hope that when we look back in six

months, it will BAA season defining moment. He is probably the proudest

manager in the season at the moment. -- in the the lead at the moment.

So the Forest fans are angry not just because of the defeat, but

also because they haven't won at home yet and are now in the

relegation zone. It is early days but why were Forest so bad in such

a landmark game for the supporters? Last season, Nottingham Forest's

defence was one of the best in the championship but Derby's first goal

was barely -- with a daily the hint of a challenge finally shattered

that repetition. Steve McLaren admitted the defending was

unacceptable but he reckons the problems run deeper. There are a

lot of changes gone on in this football club with management, with

players and to get teething problems. Sometimes, failure to

adapt to each other... That is the problem. We've not found the

balance. The defence is a puzzle, four of the current back five

helped create a record. They have now conceded nine goals in three

games. So, could confidence be an issue? I'm not too sure about lack

of confidence. I think it is because we made so individual -- so

many individual next -- mistakes since the start of the season. Each

mistake keeps costing a sand gets highlighted. And the frustrations

of the fans are growing. There were chants of sack the board. A banner

also directed at the chief executive of stop the board didn't

lose the game, we did. Nigel puts a lot of money into this football

club and how he wants to run it is how he wants to run it. We have to

work within those parameters. We accept that now. We fight it and we

try for things and he can see the fans frighted as well. But at the

end of the day, he has put his hard-earned money into this

football club and it is still going because of him. The season has a

long way to run. Forest are notoriously slow starters. Still,

there is plenty to chew on. If you want to see it again, it is

all on the BBC website. Over at Leicester City the pressure isn't

exactly off but a good performance and a victory over league leaders

Brighton makes the Foxes start to the season suddenly look a whole

lot better. All smiles at the King Power Stadium.

It was a victory built on a storming first half. They were

having fun with their pace up front. The fox is even had the ball in the

back of the net. -- the Foxes. Any frustration was blown away by the

goal and if second half. -- in the second half. No one was getting

carried away. Least of all the manager. A couple of weeks ago,

Southampton... They were the better team. Today, Brighton were top of

the league. We must build on this. The game could have ended up as a

draw. Smith was a Leicester target in the summer. He did the club he

Neelie joined a massive favour by missing. -- Neelie joined. Notts

County have gone one better than Leicester. Their recent record in

League One is three wins and a draw. A trip to Turin clearly a tonic.

They had a few things to survive to win at Stevenage. This penalty, for

example. A great save. Then, this challenge by Charlie Allen. Hard to

argue that it should have been a red card. But Nottingham County

survived and thrived. When Ben Burgess headed in to seal the win,

it was a model of simplicity. Good news and bad news for

Leicester Tigers. The bad is that number eight Thomas Waldrom has

been called up by England as cover for Nick Easter. His flight to New

Zealand leaves the Tigers with precisely no players dedicated to

that position. The good was a dramatic come from behind win at

Newcastle. Tigers first win of the season featured three players

scoring their first try in Leicester colours, starting with Ed

Slater. Then, 15 minutes into the second half, it was Julian Salvi's

turn. All before the Steve Mafi late late show stole a one point

victory. Off and running. Two other triumphs to mention:

Nottingham Panthers did a Scottish double on the road. Demolishing

Fife 6-2 and then Edinburgh 8-0. And golfer Mel Reid warmed up

wonderfully for the Solheim Cup by winning the Spanish Open. A full

report on Mel's progress later in the week.

There is also Carling Cup action this week. It's all very busy!

15,000 people were killed, 130,000 are still homeless. The earthquake

and tsunami in Japan six months ago had a devastating impact both on

Japan, its population and global markets.

It even affected car production here in the East Midlands. Well,

this week one of our universities has offered a helping hand by

inviting over a group of students directly affected by the disaster.

Lives lost, homes destroyed, family livelihoods devastated. These

smiles high personal tragedy. Each student here was affected by the

earthquake and tsunami in Japan six months ago. TRANSLATION: My house

was completely washed away by the tsunami. My house is only seven

kilometres away from the nuclear site. My family has to live apart

and I have to worry about when I can move back. TRANSLATION: There

are still many people who live in temporary housing, who do not have

normal lives. I really wish that those people who are suffering will

be recovering physically and mentally as soon as possible.

students go to university in the north-east of Japan. They've come

to De Montfort University to share their experiences and learn about

quirky English traditions. It has been inspirational to have them

here. We took them to Leicester City on Saturday and to our great

delight, the Japanese international scored the winning goal. Yesterday,

we took them to the whole of our archivist and they took them to an

allotment which may not sound impressive until you learn that

many of them live near toothy Fukushima nuclear site. There have

been telling us that they will not be able to grow food there for

another 50 years. They were very touched with how people in England

think about them. They realise they are not forgotten for loss of

light-hearted fun here, imagers different to the ones we saw six

months ago of the ones we saw six months ago. One woman from

Derbyshire has been helping out with the clean-up operation. All of

this used to be houses and it is now rubble of. At home in

Derbyshire, a cat tells her father about her voluntary work in Japan.

The 19 year-old is just back from a city 125 miles north of Fukushima,

which suffered in the earthquake and tsunami. I was based in a city

but we also did satellite projects to other places. I distributed food

and temporary homes, dug a lot of pictures, cleared a lot of drains

and did some other things. She says a voluntary work has been an

unusual but rewarding way to end a gap year. Now she is heading off to

Cardiff University to study medicine. The students here are a

testimony to how quickly people can recover from such devastating

disasters. The effects of the tsunami were far-reaching, even

being felt here in Derbyshire. At Toyota's Burnaston plant, staff had

to go on reduced hours because of a shortage of car parts but the

company is now back on track and they put that down to the

extraordinary efforts of their staff. We have returned to normal

production, that is since June. We started the recovery of lost

production since September. We will have fully recovered all the

vehicles which were delayed before the end of the year. In fact, we

will finish 2011 with slightly more production than we had originally

plan. The production lines are back to normal but for these young

people, the past six months have been quite literally a roller-

coaster ride. They are certainly optimistic about the future but

their messages, they don't want us to forget about the disaster

because its effects could be felt for generations to come.

Great spirit there, isn't there? I went to Melton Mowbray and a

charity car wash, where some firefighters did a good job on my

car. Thank you. It was hard work. We have a creative shot tonight of

one of the statues we showed on a Friday night at Chatsworth. Thank

you to Michael for capturing this. The cloud is starting to increase

overnight. We have lost our sunshine this afternoon and that is

due to weigh whether fund which is slowly going to be working its way

down the country. -- D to a weather front. A small amount of rain is

coming across the north-west corner. Quite mild and it has been breezy

as well so that temperatures dropping to 13 Celsius. It means

that front will be with us first thing tomorrow morning. It depends

how much rain is likely to come from it. It will pay a pub during

the early part of the morning and again into the afternoon as it

works its way southwards. Coming in behind, although still a lot of

cloud staying with us, you might as a model -- a bit of pride does

coming back to the Peak District. The winds should not be as brisk

yesterday. Temperatures not doing too bad either, around what they

should be for the time of year at 18 Celsius. That band clears to the

site from Wednesday so we've got low-pressure controlling the

weather still and the breeze starts to pick up again by the time we get

to one said. We are sandwiched between two whether funds. Ones

sitting further south and the other coming down from the north.

Wednesday should be a day which will remain bright but it will be

breezy. Thursday as well, the remnants of a front around on