20/08/2014 East Midlands Today

over on BBC Two in a moment. Now, on BBC One, it's time

for the news where And now the news

for the East Midlands. First, a report out today

suggests business is booming. The Royal Bank of Scotland says

the economy here is now 4% bigger than it was a year ago, growing

at the fastest rate in the country. The future is looking bright for

this zip manufacturer in Leicester. Zipex supplies major

high street chains. They are recruiting more staff and

have seen a big increase in orders. Two years ago,

we hardly had any orders. Now, they're three,

four months in advance. RBS says the economy put on an

impressive 0.9% this quarter, And just as impressive,

it's growing twice as fast Hotspots include the counties

of Leicestershire and Rutland, Also going strong are

South and West Derbyshire, so it's not the cities

leading the way. Leicester, Derby and Nottingham also

grew their output, but for now, the In the last three months,

we have seen So, East Midlands has a very strong

retail and distribution sector that accounts for nearly 20%, a fifth

of output from the region. It is almost a year since

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, gave

a speech to business leaders, citing that this region was a bellwether

for the UK's economic recovery. It was here, at the

University of Nottingham, And on the surface,

it does seem like things have improved, but underneath, the

picture is a bit more complicated. Whilst unemployment has fallen,

the region has seen the biggest drop in wages in

the country, a loss of around ?36 a So what do today's growth figures

actually mean I'm feeling the pinch more than I

would say about four or five years ago, obviously

because everything is going up. We have been relatively lucky,

my husband has had a little bit Normally I don't go on holiday

but this year I've been Today, the Chamber of Commerce

said the figures demonstrate that the region has moved from

bellwether to national leader. For companies like Zipex, it's

looking like a promising road ahead. The charity Crimestoppers is

offering a ?1,000 reward for information about a number

of burglaries that followed a huge Three houses

and a service station in Melton Road were ransacked after they'd been

evacuated during the factory fire. Cash and jewellery were

among the items taken. The A453

in Nottinghamshire is closed tonight as traffic is switched over to

a brand new section of the road. From 5:30am tomorrow, drivers

will be diverted down part of Cars will remain in

single lanes, though. It's the longest bit of the new road

to be opened so far and drivers are being warned to take extra care

approaching the new layout. They need to be aware that this

new road is actually two`way, They need to pay attention to

the signs that remind them of that and there is a bit of a

revised layout at Parkway Junction. So they just need to drive

carefully, pay attention to the signs until they they get used

to the new road layout. Transport

of the two`wheeled variety now and cycling campaigners claim Nottingham

is too dangerous to ride around. They say deaths

among cyclists are up by a third. Our political editor John Hess took

to the roads of the city to see Most days,

Jessica Beyer`Lyons cycles to work. She is a project manager at

Boots in Nottingham. It can be quite stressful

because there are no dedicated cycle lanes and drivers don't appreciate

that, as a cyclist, you have nowhere We meet up with

the cycling journalist Mark Patterson, near where a cyclist

in her 20's was killed last month. A so`called "ghost bike"

marks the spot on the corner There is, of course,

a lot of hype from the City Council about what a great cycling city,

what a green city it is. The reality for cyclists

on the ground is that We are heading

about two miles through the city. Our destination is the former

Raleigh Cycle Works, to meet the officer in charge of Nottingham

City Council's cycling policy. Over the past four years,

cycling levels have increased by about 30% so obviously there is

going to be more casualties because Nationally, cycling casualties,

totally about 19,500, In Nottingham last year, there was

one death among the 130 casualties. Leicester's casualty toll was 172.

Derby's was 94. We are looking at

a route that goes north`south in particular,

across the city centre itself. But ask any driver or pedestrian

and they will tell you that when it comes to safety on wheels,

not all cyclists tend to adopt I think it is very important that

drivers accept that cyclists are there, and likewise, cyclists

accept that drivers are there This is a dedicated lane

for cyclists, Cyclist campaigners say they want to

see more of this so it is safer for So, it's goodbye from me, but with

your weather now, here's Mel Coles. August continues to play it cool

and it could feel fresher still tomorrow because

the breeze will also pick up. We had a few showers around this

evening but they have cleared away. The skies are also beginning to

clear, which means the temperatures We are looking at overnight lows

of about nine Celsius, that is in In the countryside, they could be

as low as four or five Celsius, A fresh start to Thursday morning,

the best of The cloud will increase

from the northwest and there will be By the afternoon, it looks

like many places will be overcast. Not everybody will see a shower,

but we will all notice that south`westerly breeze,

making it feel a bit fresher. I will leave you with the outlook

for the next few days, it will be remaining fairly cool with showers

and sunny spells throughout. The national forecast is up

in a moment. Good evening. For many of us a bank

holiday looms large and so does a change in the weather patterns. Is

the that good or bad news? Only you can decide that. For the time being

we've got similar weather patterns. Another chilly day tomorrow, with

some sunshine but probably more showers. Today's showers are fading

from the east but we are seeing outbreaks of rain in parts of

Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland and later in the night northern

England. You won't be as cold