:00:00. > :00:00.over on BBC Two in a moment. Now, on BBC One, it's time
:00:00. > :00:16.for the news where And now the news
:00:17. > :00:17.for the East Midlands. First, a report out today
:00:18. > :00:24.suggests business is booming. The Royal Bank of Scotland says
:00:25. > :00:28.the economy here is now 4% bigger than it was a year ago, growing
:00:29. > :00:34.at the fastest rate in the country. The future is looking bright for
:00:35. > :00:41.this zip manufacturer in Leicester. Zipex supplies major
:00:42. > :00:44.high street chains. They are recruiting more staff and
:00:45. > :00:48.have seen a big increase in orders. Two years ago,
:00:49. > :00:54.we hardly had any orders. Now, they're three,
:00:55. > :00:56.four months in advance. RBS says the economy put on an
:00:57. > :01:01.impressive 0.9% this quarter, And just as impressive,
:01:02. > :01:08.it's growing twice as fast Hotspots include the counties
:01:09. > :01:13.of Leicestershire and Rutland, Also going strong are
:01:14. > :01:18.South and West Derbyshire, so it's not the cities
:01:19. > :01:21.leading the way. Leicester, Derby and Nottingham also
:01:22. > :01:25.grew their output, but for now, the In the last three months,
:01:26. > :01:31.we have seen So, East Midlands has a very strong
:01:32. > :01:38.retail and distribution sector that accounts for nearly 20%, a fifth
:01:39. > :01:42.of output from the region. It is almost a year since
:01:43. > :01:45.Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, gave
:01:46. > :01:48.a speech to business leaders, citing that this region was a bellwether
:01:49. > :01:54.for the UK's economic recovery. It was here, at the
:01:55. > :01:56.University of Nottingham, And on the surface,
:01:57. > :02:01.it does seem like things have improved, but underneath, the
:02:02. > :02:05.picture is a bit more complicated. Whilst unemployment has fallen,
:02:06. > :02:09.the region has seen the biggest drop in wages in
:02:10. > :02:12.the country, a loss of around ?36 a So what do today's growth figures
:02:13. > :02:20.actually mean I'm feeling the pinch more than I
:02:21. > :02:26.would say about four or five years ago, obviously
:02:27. > :02:31.because everything is going up. We have been relatively lucky,
:02:32. > :02:36.my husband has had a little bit Normally I don't go on holiday
:02:37. > :02:42.but this year I've been Today, the Chamber of Commerce
:02:43. > :02:45.said the figures demonstrate that the region has moved from
:02:46. > :02:50.bellwether to national leader. For companies like Zipex, it's
:02:51. > :03:01.looking like a promising road ahead. The charity Crimestoppers is
:03:02. > :03:04.offering a ?1,000 reward for information about a number
:03:05. > :03:09.of burglaries that followed a huge Three houses
:03:10. > :03:15.and a service station in Melton Road were ransacked after they'd been
:03:16. > :03:19.evacuated during the factory fire. Cash and jewellery were
:03:20. > :03:27.among the items taken. The A453
:03:28. > :03:29.in Nottinghamshire is closed tonight as traffic is switched over to
:03:30. > :03:32.a brand new section of the road. From 5:30am tomorrow, drivers
:03:33. > :03:35.will be diverted down part of Cars will remain in
:03:36. > :03:41.single lanes, though. It's the longest bit of the new road
:03:42. > :03:45.to be opened so far and drivers are being warned to take extra care
:03:46. > :03:50.approaching the new layout. They need to be aware that this
:03:51. > :03:53.new road is actually two`way, They need to pay attention to
:03:54. > :04:00.the signs that remind them of that and there is a bit of a
:04:01. > :04:03.revised layout at Parkway Junction. So they just need to drive
:04:04. > :04:06.carefully, pay attention to the signs until they they get used
:04:07. > :04:11.to the new road layout. Transport
:04:12. > :04:14.of the two`wheeled variety now and cycling campaigners claim Nottingham
:04:15. > :04:18.is too dangerous to ride around. They say deaths
:04:19. > :04:23.among cyclists are up by a third. Our political editor John Hess took
:04:24. > :04:26.to the roads of the city to see Most days,
:04:27. > :04:31.Jessica Beyer`Lyons cycles to work. She is a project manager at
:04:32. > :04:34.Boots in Nottingham. It can be quite stressful
:04:35. > :04:38.because there are no dedicated cycle lanes and drivers don't appreciate
:04:39. > :04:42.that, as a cyclist, you have nowhere We meet up with
:04:43. > :04:48.the cycling journalist Mark Patterson, near where a cyclist
:04:49. > :04:52.in her 20's was killed last month. A so`called "ghost bike"
:04:53. > :04:54.marks the spot on the corner There is, of course,
:04:55. > :04:59.a lot of hype from the City Council about what a great cycling city,
:05:00. > :05:02.what a green city it is. The reality for cyclists
:05:03. > :05:04.on the ground is that We are heading
:05:05. > :05:10.about two miles through the city. Our destination is the former
:05:11. > :05:14.Raleigh Cycle Works, to meet the officer in charge of Nottingham
:05:15. > :05:18.City Council's cycling policy. Over the past four years,
:05:19. > :05:21.cycling levels have increased by about 30% so obviously there is
:05:22. > :05:24.going to be more casualties because Nationally, cycling casualties,
:05:25. > :05:31.totally about 19,500, In Nottingham last year, there was
:05:32. > :05:39.one death among the 130 casualties. Leicester's casualty toll was 172.
:05:40. > :05:45.Derby's was 94. We are looking at
:05:46. > :05:47.a route that goes north`south in particular,
:05:48. > :05:52.across the city centre itself. But ask any driver or pedestrian
:05:53. > :05:55.and they will tell you that when it comes to safety on wheels,
:05:56. > :05:58.not all cyclists tend to adopt I think it is very important that
:05:59. > :06:03.drivers accept that cyclists are there, and likewise, cyclists
:06:04. > :06:07.accept that drivers are there This is a dedicated lane
:06:08. > :06:13.for cyclists, Cyclist campaigners say they want to
:06:14. > :06:18.see more of this so it is safer for So, it's goodbye from me, but with
:06:19. > :06:33.your weather now, here's Mel Coles. August continues to play it cool
:06:34. > :06:38.and it could feel fresher still tomorrow because
:06:39. > :06:40.the breeze will also pick up. We had a few showers around this
:06:41. > :06:43.evening but they have cleared away. The skies are also beginning to
:06:44. > :06:46.clear, which means the temperatures We are looking at overnight lows
:06:47. > :06:51.of about nine Celsius, that is in In the countryside, they could be
:06:52. > :06:57.as low as four or five Celsius, A fresh start to Thursday morning,
:06:58. > :07:00.the best of The cloud will increase
:07:01. > :07:05.from the northwest and there will be By the afternoon, it looks
:07:06. > :07:10.like many places will be overcast. Not everybody will see a shower,
:07:11. > :07:13.but we will all notice that south`westerly breeze,
:07:14. > :07:17.making it feel a bit fresher. I will leave you with the outlook
:07:18. > :07:25.for the next few days, it will be remaining fairly cool with showers
:07:26. > :07:29.and sunny spells throughout. The national forecast is up
:07:30. > :07:47.in a moment. Good evening. For many of us a bank
:07:48. > :07:50.holiday looms large and so does a change in the weather patterns. Is
:07:51. > :07:55.the that good or bad news? Only you can decide that. For the time being
:07:56. > :07:58.we've got similar weather patterns. Another chilly day tomorrow, with
:07:59. > :08:03.some sunshine but probably more showers. Today's showers are fading
:08:04. > :08:05.from the east but we are seeing outbreaks of rain in parts of
:08:06. > :08:08.Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland and later in the night northern
:08:09. > :08:09.England. You won't be as cold