:00:14. > :00:21.Good evening. Controversial free schools are back
:00:22. > :00:24.in the education spotlight tonight. It's after the Government turned
:00:25. > :00:28.down an application for a new free school at Newark in Nottinghamshire.
:00:29. > :00:31.It was going to be led by the man who used to be in charge of Derby's
:00:32. > :00:36.Al`Madinah School which has also seen another major change today.
:00:37. > :00:41.Simon Hare reports. Well, the trust which helped to
:00:42. > :00:44.set`up the Al`Madinah School in derby has gone. They had come in for
:00:45. > :00:49.a lot of criticism from the Government and its inspectors about
:00:50. > :00:54.how the school was being run. It was branded as dysfunctional. They were
:00:55. > :01:01.given as a deadline of today to step down and now they have. A new is in
:01:02. > :01:05.charge and tonight in a letter confirmation in a letter to parents
:01:06. > :01:10.that the primary school site will be closed and all pupils moved to the
:01:11. > :01:14.site near Derby train station and the school will continue to have a
:01:15. > :01:21.Muslim ethos. The man who had been the principal here, he wanted to be
:01:22. > :01:25.the principal of the Newark School of Enterprise, but the Government
:01:26. > :01:29.has said that that proposal didn't reach the high bar we have set so
:01:30. > :01:36.the project will go no further. News welcomed by the man who runs
:01:37. > :01:40.Nottingham's local authority schools. I think it is the right
:01:41. > :01:44.decision for Newark. I don't think it was viable because the take`up
:01:45. > :01:48.wasn't there. The numbers of pupils that they claim that they had to
:01:49. > :01:53.start in September was not sufficient. Those behind the Newark
:01:54. > :01:58.plans say they are disappointed and the future of Al`Madinah School is
:01:59. > :02:07.far from secure. It is due another Government inspection very soon.
:02:08. > :02:15.One of the region's former leading Conservatives has announced he is
:02:16. > :02:18.joining UKIP. David Parsons was the leader of Leicestershire County
:02:19. > :02:27.Council for nine years until a police investigation into his
:02:28. > :02:29.expense claims. Earlier today, the former Conservative leader and his
:02:30. > :02:33.wife Elizabeth were shaking hands with their new party leader, UKIP's
:02:34. > :02:36.Nigel Farage. For the moment, David Parsons has ruled out standing as a
:02:37. > :02:39.UKIP candidate in the next year's general election. They are a new
:02:40. > :02:46.political force. They have got something to say to people. I'm very
:02:47. > :02:53.interested in talking about the European Union. I have no plans to
:02:54. > :02:57.stand. David Parsons brings a wealth of experience, having been involved
:02:58. > :03:00.with the regional assembly, he has seen at first hand the European
:03:01. > :03:02.Union is having not just on national Government, but on Local Government
:03:03. > :03:05.in this country. An inspection has revealed that
:03:06. > :03:09.two`thirds of tanning salons in Derbyshire were breaking the legal
:03:10. > :03:12.ultraviolet ray limits. Council inspectors carried out the checks
:03:13. > :03:17.months ago, but have their results have only just been made public. The
:03:18. > :03:22.council has yet to see if anything has changed. Here's our health
:03:23. > :03:26.correspondent, Rob Sissons. It is one way of getting a suntan, but
:03:27. > :03:33.just how safe are sunbeds? New rules came in in 2009 limiting
:03:34. > :03:43.the level of ultra individual lot rays to 0.3 watts per square meet r,
:03:44. > :03:48.but how many salons are compliant? 45 sunbeds breached the legal UV
:03:49. > :03:51.output limit and five of those had emission ratings double the
:03:52. > :03:54.recommended level. We are working with the local businesses to make
:03:55. > :03:59.sure they are aware of what they need to do to make sure that people
:04:00. > :04:04.are not exposed to risks. It is knowing what the risks are when they
:04:05. > :04:11.go to a tanning salon. Even sunbeds operating at the legal
:04:12. > :04:18.level give the equivalent to an hour's sun in Australia. Shouldn't
:04:19. > :04:23.the checks have been done years ago? We prioritise where we think is most
:04:24. > :04:28.appropriate. We haven't got the capacity to visit every business in
:04:29. > :04:32.Derbyshire. Trading Standards told me they want
:04:33. > :04:36.to give businesses time to put things right, but they confiscate
:04:37. > :04:44.sunbeds if shops don't comply. A number of people were arrested
:04:45. > :04:47.today in Leicestershire during a police led operation targeting
:04:48. > :04:49.criminals on the road. Nine agencies including immigration and Customs
:04:50. > :04:53.officials joined police in stopping motorists at Beaumont Leys. They say
:04:54. > :04:56.from 40 vehicles checked, they uncovered 23 offences. They included
:04:57. > :04:58.immigration issues as well as driving offences. Police say they'll
:04:59. > :05:00.continue to use mobile patrols going forward as part of what they've
:05:01. > :05:07.called Operation Tiger. It has been confirmed today that
:05:08. > :05:10.work to demolish Leicester's Belgrave flyover should take just
:05:11. > :05:15.over two months. The city council announced the nine week timescale
:05:16. > :05:18.after consulting local people. It says more than two`thirds were in
:05:19. > :05:23.favour of a short, more intense period of work to dismantle the
:05:24. > :05:30.structure. The flyover shuts forever at midnight. The East Midlands is
:05:31. > :05:34.seeing a bigger boom in house building than any other part of the
:05:35. > :05:38.country. Figures from the national house building council shows the
:05:39. > :05:43.number of new homes built here was up by almost 60% compared to the
:05:44. > :05:48.same period the year before. Nationally, the rise was just over
:05:49. > :05:53.half of that. Leicester Tigers were in Cup action
:05:54. > :05:58.against Bath, but were defeated 17`35. In the championship,
:05:59. > :06:03.Nottingham won at home. They beat London Scottish 15`3.
:06:04. > :06:06.As well as being the transfer deadline, it is the last day of
:06:07. > :06:11.January and it has been a month that saw record rainfall for some parts
:06:12. > :06:17.of the UK. Was the East Midlands setting new records? Not here,
:06:18. > :06:21.Maurice. Leicestershire had the highest rainfall totals. No surprise
:06:22. > :06:25.that many fields like these in Derbyshire and Leicestershire are
:06:26. > :06:29.underwater. Motorists continue to struggle on roads that a liable to
:06:30. > :06:33.flooding, but at least the swans look to be enjoying themselves. If
:06:34. > :06:37.you are hoping for better prospects for the weekend weather, well
:06:38. > :06:40.tomorrow is looking really quite unsettled. It is going to be very
:06:41. > :06:44.windy and there will be plenty of scattered showers around, but
:06:45. > :06:49.Sunday, by far the better day, drier and brighter. So this is the main
:06:50. > :06:53.area of rain. It started to clear away to the east. There will be a
:06:54. > :06:57.few showers around through the night tonight before they clear away by
:06:58. > :07:00.morning. The skies start to clear and the temperatures will drop and I
:07:01. > :07:05.expect it should get low enough for frost in places. Tomorrow morning
:07:06. > :07:07.will be a cold start. It remains very windy with a gusty
:07:08. > :07:15.south`westerly wind throughout the day on Saturday. A dry start. The
:07:16. > :07:21.showers will move in. As I said, a better prospect on Sunday. Drier,
:07:22. > :07:26.brighter with lighter winds. Newsnight is starting now on BBC
:07:27. > :07:46.Two. For now, good night. Good evening. Today's heavy and
:07:47. > :07:52.persistent rain is disappearing over the horizon. Sadly, the other
:07:53. > :07:56.problems are not. Problems to come tonight include snow over Scotland
:07:57. > :08:01.and Northern Ireland, and tomorrow, strong winds and high tides bringing
:08:02. > :08:02.the potential for flooding.