:00:13. > :00:17.And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Dominic Heale. Good
:00:18. > :00:20.evening. UK Coal has confirmed tonight that
:00:21. > :00:24.the last remaining deep pit in the East Midlands is to shut next year.
:00:25. > :00:27.The company is consulting with unions and employees about the
:00:28. > :00:32.planned closure of Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire, which has been
:00:33. > :00:40.operating since the 1920s. Helen Astle reports.
:00:41. > :00:45.It has been a sombre day today, the end of an era for deep coal mining
:00:46. > :00:51.in Nottinghamshire. 600 people are employed here, the jobs are under
:00:52. > :00:55.threat. 280 could go by the end of the year. It was last November the
:00:56. > :01:02.Chancellor visited the site and there was hope it had a future. It
:01:03. > :01:05.is a different story today. Falling prices and the strength of the pound
:01:06. > :01:11.against the dollar are being blamed. I spoke to several people
:01:12. > :01:16.who work here, no one on camera but they told me they are shocked and
:01:17. > :01:21.saddened. They also say they have been given little information by UK
:01:22. > :01:26.Coal as to what is happening and there listening to the radio for the
:01:27. > :01:31.latest news. The site has been here since 1925, almost 90 years old. It
:01:32. > :01:37.is the main employer. Many people have spent most of their lives here.
:01:38. > :01:45.Today, they tell me they don't know what else they can do. The site will
:01:46. > :01:48.close in the next 18 months. Earlier, I spoke to Andrew
:01:49. > :01:56.Mackintosh of UK Coal who confirmed the closure and explained the
:01:57. > :02:02.company's position. A very difficult day for all of us.
:02:03. > :02:11.2000 employees, 600 in Thoresby and a sad day for Nottinghamshire. The
:02:12. > :02:16.point about on how the situation is, we tried to keep employees
:02:17. > :02:22.informed, today has been a crunch day weather news has come out with
:02:23. > :02:25.competent `` about consultations. Consultations with unions and Andrew
:02:26. > :02:28.Mackintosh from UK Coal speaking to me earlier from our Norwich studio.
:02:29. > :02:31.Employees, what will you talk about? We will look at the discussions are
:02:32. > :02:36.taking place at the moment involving a wide range of people to see if we
:02:37. > :02:42.can get a package together to make sure we can close the coal mines
:02:43. > :02:47.down safely. At the same time, to make sure employees and suppliers
:02:48. > :02:53.get the appropriate treatment they expect from such a plan.
:02:54. > :02:58.A lawyer has called for prosecutions over the death of an elderly care
:02:59. > :03:01.home resident. 87`year`old Betty Arch, who had dementia, was offered
:03:02. > :03:05.solid food despite not being able to swallow it. An inquest heard that
:03:06. > :03:09.neglect at the home in Nottinghamshire contributed to her
:03:10. > :03:14.death. The coroner said the case should act as a warning to other
:03:15. > :03:18.care home owners. Rob Sissons reports.
:03:19. > :03:22.Do not be fooled by the sign, this was not a quality provider. The
:03:23. > :03:27.inquest heard staff were run ragged, mealtimes chaotic and the needs of
:03:28. > :03:32.dementia patients not met. Betty Arch paid the ultimate price. Betty
:03:33. > :03:38.Arch died alone, left unsupervised with sandwiches. She should not have
:03:39. > :03:42.had solid food, it should have been mashed or pureed. The coroner said
:03:43. > :03:47.the attitude was take it or leave it. Take it, sandwiches and
:03:48. > :03:55.biscuits, risked Betty's life, leave it and she would go hungry. This was
:03:56. > :04:00.the owner. The inquest was told she was asked for more staff but this
:04:01. > :04:04.was ignored. The coroner said she controlled the purse strings and the
:04:05. > :04:07.purse remained closed. Betty Arch's son left with his solicitor
:04:08. > :04:14.demanding tougher action on care homes. Whilst nothing can bring
:04:15. > :04:17.Betty back, the family hope lessons have been learnt by everyone
:04:18. > :04:20.involved in the care of dementia patients and homes providing care
:04:21. > :04:25.for these vulnerable residents will in future be much more closely and
:04:26. > :04:29.effectively monitored. Tonight, Nottingham social services stressed
:04:30. > :04:36.most of the 170 care homes they say are good or excellent but they do
:04:37. > :04:38.have concerns about a handful. We have established a task force
:04:39. > :04:42.which consists of professionals going in to work with those
:04:43. > :04:50.identified homes to make sure they improve their quality of care.
:04:51. > :04:53.The family don't understand why the facts that were produced at the
:04:54. > :04:59.inquest should not form a prosecution by the Health and Safety
:05:00. > :05:06.Executive. Clearly, these residents' lives were put in danger. Concluding
:05:07. > :05:15.the case, the coroner said Betty Arch died from natural causes
:05:16. > :05:18.contributed by neglect. The trust which runs Derby's
:05:19. > :05:21.hospitals is warning services could be cut unless the Government
:05:22. > :05:26.provides it with an emergency financial bail`out. It's currently
:05:27. > :05:30.spending ?66,000 a day over its budget. It had already been left
:05:31. > :05:36.with a ?9 million deficit from the last financial year. And it needs to
:05:37. > :05:39.make savings of ?43 million during this year. Officials say that could
:05:40. > :05:43.have an impact, but there aren't any plans to cut whole services or make
:05:44. > :05:48.any redundancies. But in the short`term it's going to need a
:05:49. > :05:56.financial bail`out. We need to ask the Department of
:05:57. > :06:01.Health for some short`term specialist funding to cover the
:06:02. > :06:05.extra costs we won't normally incur. That's so we can make sure we can
:06:06. > :06:08.continue to deliver high`quality services for patients.
:06:09. > :06:10.Soldiers from our largest local army regiment marched through Ashbourne
:06:11. > :06:13.this afternoon. The Mercian's second battalion have served four gruelling
:06:14. > :06:16.tours of duty in Afghanistan. This was the first of three "freedom
:06:17. > :06:21.parades" in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire this week. Tomorrow
:06:22. > :06:26.lunchtime they'll be marching through Mansfield Town centre.
:06:27. > :06:36.That's your news. So, it's goodbye from me but with your weather now,
:06:37. > :06:40.here's Anna Church. We are currently at moderate
:06:41. > :06:45.pollution levels and it continues to rise. The risk of moderate to high
:06:46. > :06:51.levels of air pollution is something to be aware of. Tonight, mostly dry
:06:52. > :06:55.and very mild across the East Midlands. Fairly cloudy, some
:06:56. > :06:59.showers across the North at the moment, some clearer skies in the
:07:00. > :07:07.south of Leicestershire. Towards dawn, mist and fog forming in the
:07:08. > :07:10.Peak District but a mild night, lows of eight Celsius. Cloud is quite
:07:11. > :07:16.stubborn try morning, a misty and cloudy start. Any brightness in the
:07:17. > :07:22.afternoon will be across the East and one or two showers starting to
:07:23. > :07:27.push in. A good deal of dry weather. Temperatures, not too bad, a maximum
:07:28. > :07:34.of 17 degrees. be dry. The air pollution has been
:07:35. > :07:40.hitting the headlines today. For more information on that, here is my
:07:41. > :07:45.colleague. Good evening. Very hazy skies in
:07:46. > :07:51.London today and many other towns and cities across the UK. On
:07:52. > :07:54.Thursday there is the chance of some pretty high pollution in the
:07:55. > :08:01.south-east and East Anglia but by the time we get towards the end of
:08:02. > :08:05.the week, we will see clearer Atlantique air coming in and we
:08:06. > :08:10.should get rid of the Saharan dust which has been making services
:08:11. > :08:16.grubby in the last few days. You can see the pattern across the
:08:17. > :08:19.Atlantic. We also have a weather front.