29/10/2013 East Midlands Today

weekend. That's all from us. Now the news

where you Tonight: The two cities that could

benefit the most from HS2. It is an opportunity for us to get a

rebalancing of the economy so not all of the growth happens in the

south`east. Also tonight: In the witness box at

the Old Bailey. A Leicestershire teenager is accused planning a

massacre. Plus the mystery of a child's

coughing, discovered in a ploughed field.

And a cost conscience family reigned in the energy bills. Anything that

can be done to bring costs down is a good thing and it's good for the

environment as well. ` cost conscious family.

Welcome to Tuesday's programme. First tonight: Nottingham and Derby

are being held up by the Government as a good example of why HS2 should

go ahead. The case for the high speed link was

laid out again today in the government's latest report. It says

the potential business rewards for Nottingham and Derby will be greater

than for any other area along the route.

But it comes as new findings also reveal that the overall

value`for`money rating of the HS2 project has slipped. We're joined

now by our political editor, John Hess.

Up until now, it has all been about speed and reduced journey times.

Today though, it stopped being about high speed. Now it is about economic

benefit sand conductivity, how businesses are able to connect with

suppliers and potential customers. And the government 's latest report

puts the figure on that. 23.3% improvement in business connectivity

for Nottingham and Derby, higher than Birmingham, noticeably higher

than the northern cities. In fact it is the highest of any city region

along the route. But does it make it value for money? We are always

supportive of infrastructure projects and in particular projects

like this but at the end of the day, they have to provide proper

value for money. All the independent bodies, the CBI, the IOD, the

National audit office, Public accounts committee, the Treasury

select committee said there was no business case. When this station is

built, London will be 51 minutes away. It'll be 19 minutes to

Birmingham. But that is no longer the main selling point. This

argument that somehow or that it is going to do is benefit London is not

something which is shared by those city leaders who have led their

cities for many years and look after the interests of their cities. They

say that this scheme is absolutely vital. High`speed travel on Eurostar

had cross`party support but the cost of the second phase is costing

Labour doubts. The government cannot be responsible about the costs. They

have to keep the cost under control and have to demonstrate the public

that it represents good value for money. Nottingham 's Labour leader

doesn't share such doubts. It's an opportunity for us to get a

rebalancing of the economists are not all of the growth happens in and

around the London area. Actually, we can see significant economic benefit

coming to the Midlands and the north. That is the reason why people

should really be strongly supporting this project. Today's report is the

fifth from the government to persuade the doubters. Nottingham

and Derby 's top position in the economic benefits league table may

win over some spec text ` sceptics. John, yet again the Government feels

it has to make the business case for this high`speed rail line. No blank

cheque, says Labour. Is it all coming apart?

Remember how at the Labour conference, the Shadow Chancellor Ed

Balls signalled that a future Labour government would pull the plug on

HS2 if the cost reached in excess of ?50 billion. David Cameron said last

week that HS2 would only contuinue if there was cross party support.

The government's also saying that the alternative to HS2 will be 14

years of weekend closures to upgrade existing lines and to bring them up

to HS2's capacity. Critics like Andrew Bridgen are now looking to a

key Commons vote on Thursday on HS2. A Loughborough teenager, accused of

plotting a terrorist attack, has told the Old Bailey that he was just

messing about. The court has heard allegations that he targetted his

school and a local mosque. The 17`year`old took the witness

stand this afternoon at the start of his defence. Our Social Affairs

Correspondent Jeremy Ball heard the youth give evidence.

He joins us now. Jeremy, what more was did the teenager say?

We've heard his own explanation of what the prosecution say were

preparations for an act of terrorism in Loughborough. He sat facing the

jury, had his arms crossed, was wearing a black T`shirt and

throughout, he spoke in a very low, quiet voice. He was taken to the

evidence by his defence barrister. The teenager was asked about those

video clips that showed him testing petrol bombs with his friends. He

said they were just messing about, having fun, having a laugh. He was

asked why they identified themselves as the United rebel army. He said

that was in images because it sounded cool. He also said he had

written notes about mass killings simply because he was bored.

What did the court hear about the teenager's background?

They heard that he had a very unsettled childhood in Loughborough.

He said his parents are separated before he was born. It described

himself as a loner. He said he had been bullied since a very early age

at school. In fact, we heard he moved between several schools in

Loughborough, partly because of that bullying and partly because his mum

had been evicted. We also heard he was diagnosed with a form of autism

have that condition was not spotted until after his arrest earlier this

year. We will be back on the witness stand tomorrow.

Leicestershire police are dealing with what they're calling a

suspicious incident at Donington Park services. They were called to

the site which is operated by Moto at junction 23a of the M1, just

before five o'clock this evening. Fire crews are also attending the

incident. Northbound traffic is said to be very heavy, but moving from

Junction 23 up to 23A. Four men have been charged after

stabbings in the centre of Nottingham in the early hours of

Sunday. Three people had to be treated in hospital. A 23`year`old

has been charged with dangerous driving after a pedestrian was hit

by a car. A court's been told a baby was

shaken so vigorously he suffered a catastrophic head injury and died in

hospital three days later. Scott Gladwin who's 20 and from

Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire denies manslaughter. Jo Healey reports from

Nottingham Crown Court. The jury heard of the tragic and

premature death of the four and a half month old baby boy. He had been

left in the care of Scott Gladwin, who was 16 at the time. The baby 's

mother was popping to the shops. In court this afternoon, she wept as

she described the last time she saw her baby boy healthy. He was wearing

a yellow sleep suit. I left him there quite content, she said. He

was awake and absolutely fine. The court heard, as she returned from

the shop, she saw an ambulance. It was there to take a baby son to

hospital. He was transferred to the Queens medical Centre intensive care

unit, where, after three days, his life support was withdrawn. The baby

died on February the 6th. The jury heard the man had claimed he went

upstairs to the toilet and when he came down, it looked like the baby

was having a fit. He went to a neighbour who dialled 999. Gladwin

denied causing any injury or ever touching the baby. But the doctors

concluded, said the prosecution, the baby had been gripped and shaken

with a force far inappropriate to his age. They suggested that perhaps

in a moment of temper or frustration, he gripped and shook

the baby. Gladwin denies manslaughter and the trial

continues. Home owners say the sale of their

houses is being put in jeopardy because of delays at Leicester City

Council. Searches carried out by the council tell prospective buyers

about any local planning developments. They used to take

days, now they're taking months. The council currently has almost 600

to complete. Louise accepted an offer on her

house in July. She is still waiting to move. It has gone on and on. I

had to reinstate a lot of my direct debits, cancelled the removal match

ban, cancelled the time I booked off work. The sale is being held up by

local searches carried out by Leicester City Council. They are now

taking months, rather than weeks, to complete. Louise has no idea when

she will move. The amount of different things I've been told from

a time frame of 24 hours to a week, to a month. The latest I heard today

was 14 weeks. I just don't know what to believe any more. The reason is

the only one who is waiting to move and for some, the weight means their

house sale may fall flu. The average time video is taking to complete has

extended from six weeks to three months. That is jeopardising chains.

It is causing problems for people who have agreed deals on timescales

they now cannot deliver upon. In mid`August, sadly, three of our 14

of officers resigned. Since that time, I've been applying resources

to make sure we make inroads to the volume of cases we have to deal with

and also prioritise those cases where a person insured transaction

might be at most risk. I've packed everything away thinking we were

ready to go. I was ready to get into the removal van. I have literally

got two cups, two plates, all my pictures are off the wall. None of

my personal belongings which have made the house my home are around me

any more. I'm living in an empty shell. The council are hoping to

complete the searches in the next month. For Louise, it cannot come

soon enough. Still to come: the young poet who

writes about the highs and lows of life in Leicester. There is life at

night, get out of here, they will not take you seriously... We are in

for a cold night to night. Temperatures are already down to

seven degrees. Make sure you wrap up because rurally tonight, we could

get as low as one or two Celsius. The government will announce who has

won the next UK city of culture in three weeks time. Leicester is

bidding against Dundee and Swansea Bay to host the title in 2017.

Today, the Department for culture media and sport revealed that the

winner would be declared on the 20th of November which is just days after

the bid teams pitch their ideas to the judges.

Administrators for a Leicester firm have managed to save more than half

the jobs at its headquarters. W R Refrigeration Limited employs 600

people across the UK, including around 300 in Leicester. Officials

have secured 178 posts at the Thurmaston site in the city, with a

further 77 at depots across the country. Administrators are now

focusing on options for the remaining parts of the business.

Next: how a family in Derby turned a derelict former stable into an

energy efficient home. It's in an area once known for drugs problems,

but the owners say for them it's been a good move.

As energy costs continue to rise the owner believes more and more people

will want to investigate ways of cutting their energy bills.

Tucked away in the heart of Derby city centre, these old buildings

have been turned into an energy`efficient family home.

Architects Nigel Turner bought the building for ?20,000 at auction and

spent another ?56,000 doing it up. Underfloor heating is one of the

most important energy saving measures. It's a much more efficient

as cash system than radiators. It can run at a lower temperature and

the room still feels warm. It's a much more even he'd see don't get

hot spots. It feels nicer, I think. This is what the building used to

look like. Now, with the house being all electric, the energy bill here

is around ?1200 per year but Nigel is to fit yet another energy`saving

device. We are installing a unit which is a mechanical ventilation

with heat recovery unit, which chucks the stale air out of the

house, draws the heat out of it and then uses that to warm up the fresh

air coming in. Today, the top executives from the UK's six largest

energy companies appeared before the climate change committee of MPs.

Following recent price ranges ` writers. Back in Derby, it is

upstairs but skylights can also help with eating. These simple windows

allow the sun to come in and he took the space in the winter, in

particular. You can feel the heat now? Yes, you can do. There is a

stark event... As energy costs soar, the owner here believes more people

will want to investigate ways to save money on their bills.

It looks lovely as well, doesn't it? Two metal detector enthusiasts have

unearthed an unusual find in Leicestershire. A rare Roman child's

coffin, believed to be 1,700 years old, was discovered in a field near

Hinckley. It's being called a significant

archeological find and is now being studied by experts. It was a

particularly poignant discovery for one of the detectors. He's a grave

digger. It may not look that exciting but

this led Coffin is believed to be one of the earliest Christian

burials anywhere in the Midlands. It is archaeologically significant

because it is regionally unusual. From my experience, it is quite

rare. The Coffin is thought to contain the remains of a young child

from a wealthy you ` Roman child. Archaeologists studying this rare

find say it could answer many questions. There is a lot we can

tell from the technology in the Coffin construction. There's a lot

that the pathology of the bones campus. The right of burial itself

tells us something about the way people were behaving at that time.

What does the cemetery in Nottingham have to do with the discovery of a

Roman coffin on the Warwickshire border? Well, for one of the metal

detector wrists, the find had more than a little connection to his day

job. Steve works as a grave`digger although his passion is metal

detecting but when he and a fellow enthusiast from Derby picked up a

signal in a field in Leicestershire, they had no idea they had just come

across the most significant find of their lives. What a surprise! We

knew we were on a Roman site but yes, it was the pinnacle of the day.

As things have unfolded, this is far greater than we initially thought.

Archaeologists say it will be next week before the Coffin is opened to

find out what is inside. Only then will its future be decided.

Intriguing, if not a little spooky! Time now for sport and after yet

another manager bit the dust over the weekend, Notts County are in

action at home tonight. Yes, Chris Kiwomya was Notts

County's seventh manager in just four years. And tonight the Magpies

are deep into their search for a eighth. None has lasted longer than

a year and the club hasn't been able to build on its ambitions or

crucially, its crowds. Tonight Steve Hodge is in caretaker charge here

and the team have Oldham to worry about on the pitch. But our eyes are

on the boardroom behind me and what they might decide. With me is Dean

Yates, ex`Notts County player, now with Radio Nottingham. Let's

start... It was obvious he was not the right man because he was not

getting the results and his overall record meant he had to go. Seven

league wins in 30 league matches tells its own story. He has gone.

What has gone wrong at Notts County that they've had so many managers in

such a short space of time? They've only had one which has brought real

success, Steve Cotterill, because he was brought in as the first

appointment just after the chairman and owner of the club came three

years ago. He drove them to the title of league two. Know whether

manager has enjoyed such success. In the end, don't that boardroom have

to answer for that? Yes, they do have to answer. The chief executive

has been saying this week that they have to do some soul searching. The

soul`searching in my view has two include the question, why have we so

often got it so wrong? How do they get it right this time? They've got

to take their time over making the right appointment. There may be an

appointment by the end of the week. Of the many candidates who have

applied, two of the preferred names towards the head of that list are

Dean Saunders, who of course left Wolves earlier this season, and

Danny Wilson, who has got more experience of those two and is the

favourite with the bookies. Thanks for joining us. Much appreciated. So

Notts County in action tonight, as Leicester City. They are against

premiership Fulham full study and though it is premiership visitors

and they think they have a shot, there will still be changes to the

side which has been on such a good run at the moment. Nigel Pearson is

making no apologies for shuffling his pack. I make no bones of the

fact that the league remains the most important thing for us but it

is nice to play in cup competitions. I think it gives us that added

advantage of being able to freshen the side. People have their opinions

on that but it is not a case of going into this game with any less

Saint tend to go and get a win. They were 2500 fans at pride Park

today. That's a 10th of the normal number but impressive for what was

an open training session. Steve McClaren was leading it. He was

given the Derby public a real insight into the life of a

professional footballer. The training ground is normally a

closed world. That's why they were queueing to get a peek at the inside

life of a footballer. It was here in the mid`1990s that Steve McClaren

into his reputation as one of the countries could top coaches. He

brought in the best practices and the constant and introduced

cutting`edge sports science like heart monitors on players and

cameras all over this ground, trained on individuals during the 19

evidence of matches to analyse their performance. `19 minutes. You know,

I was here in 95, 96 and we were starting them. It was evolving. This

was no going through the emotions. It was a typical, physical, Tuesday

morning training session. We are working in a situation of four

attackers against three defenders, which is something that you get a

lot in the game. They have ten seconds to get a goal. Just to make

sure there are no slackers, the players where GPS monitors to track

every step, every sprint. The scientists and coaches work together

to get the best out of everyone. It's his attention to detail. He

cares, both individually and collectively. He knows what is

required and makes every practice enjoyable. It has always got a

purpose to it. The doors were opened as Derby tried to engage more with

funds. They are trying to reverse last season 's declining

attendances. It's important for us to get out there broke into the

wider community and also here, so people feel it is their club. It is

the fans club and we are delighted we can have days like this. It may

have been too much for some but for two hours, the fans got close to

their heroes. They are making a real effort at

Derby County to bring the fans in close with the public... Don't

forget, games on tonight: Leicester City in Carling cup action against

Fulham at Meadow Lane. Notts County play Oldham. He death reference

earlier on `... The big question they need to answer

here at Notts County over the next little while it is who in the end is

going to be in the home dugout? Who indeed! Or the results will be

on the latest news with me at 10:30pm.

For Wordsworth it was the Lake District and for Chaucer the

Pilgrims of the Canterbury tales, for centuries writers have been

inspired by the landscape and people around them.

In the latest of our Made in Leicester series, arts reporter

Geeta Pendse has been to meet a young poet who's found the Muse in

her own home City. This city is the key to working away

in the corner, at home on a bus untouched, scribbling and making and

no one ever looks hard enough, and I know that feeling because I did

twice a week in the capital, and I used to live when the last trains

stopped... A poem dedicated to her hometown,

Jess has been slowly carving a reputation as a performance poet

around the UK but the 24`year`old decided was time to put the

spotlight on Leicester. Because perform around the country, I need

so many people from London and Manchester, the bigger cities, who

are a little bit snobby about the smaller cities. You say where you

are from and gloss over. This is a poem trying to celebrate Leicester

but maybe not the most obvious things. The poem tries to capture

the changing form of the East Park Road area, where just grew up. I

grew up just up the road in a part of town that he is the rumours

first, that changes taste and size each year and has done for 24 of

mine, with each new family business and shop arrives... As well as

performing at just festivals, she has worked with the prison service

and schools around the city. She says despite initial reservations,

many find a new form of expression. I work with young people from

deprived areas, people within the prison service and just being able

to give people the skills to voice their opinions, their

frustrations... As Leicester vies for the title of UK city of culture,

Jess hopes it poem will inspire a new generation of artists to come

forward. Maybe you are too humble, Leicester, maybe you shouldn't let

the others shouted down, thank you for letting me make my own mark on

the city to say actually, you can make a living from being a poet,

Gilles can do it too, I will show you... Well done, Jess excavation

mark you can see Jess performing her poem in full by logging on to the

website. Good luck to her.

Good evening. A very cold evening as well. I've already lost the feeling

in my toes. There is that update out of the way. If you head out here to

tonight game, wrap up warm because the temperatures are only going to

continue to drop. Around seven or eight Celsius at the moment. It very

cold night and thoroughly, as we go through the night, although there

will be a couple of showers here and there, those two butchers will

continue to drop. Really, down to one or two Celsius. A very cold

night indeed. Grass frost tomorrow morning. As far as 0

night indeed. Grass frost tomorrow morning. As far as tomorrow goes,

despite that, it would be a frosty start. Through the morning, it would

be largely bright and dry. Plenty of sunshine. A nice, crisp autumnal

morning but there is a front which will gradually make its way in from

the West. When we get into the afternoon, it will be just a little

bit cloudier. Quite cold all the same. You might get the odd 30

degrees and southern parts of Leicestershire. At least it is

mainly dry until we start to see rain late on in the day. As far as

going through into Thursday, that is a mainly dry day again. There will

be a little bit more cloud around throughout the day but a mainly dry

and bright day again. Thankfully, we get the rain out of the way

overnight. A rather wet between Wednesday and Thursday. We are

timing things quite well at the moment. We are keeping our eye on

two areas of low pressure which are spinning their way in and swirling

their way towards us. They will be talking about in the media over the

coming days and unconscious about becoming like Michael Fish, but it

looks like the weekend will not be quite as bad as what we saw in the

south`east earlier this week. For tonight at least, very cold.

That's all for now. Goodbye. Goodbye.