22/02/2017 East Midlands Today

A reminder of the day's main story... The

Tonight, serious questions are raised about the running

A report on the trust which runs Bradgate Park in Leicester raises

concerns about reputation and how the charity's funds are managed.

Also tonight, East Midlands shop owners sound the alarm over

It is a substantial bill and it is coming at a time

Plus in the sport, the Foxes are on their European tour.

They're hoping to take more away from Seville

And find out why two leading Nottingham actors are swapping

Good evening and welcome to the programme, with Anne Davies

A Nottinghamshire policeman admits he "made a mistake" after failing

to notice an elderly man was disqualified from driving.

87-year-old Albert Newman had dementia, and was banned in 2013.

But in October 2015, he caused a fatal accident

after driving the wrong way down the M1 in Leicestershire.

PC Jonathan Mortimer is facing charges of gross misconduct

after failing to spot the disqualification

during a separate incident two months earlier.

Giles, what is PC Mortimer accused of?

In August 2015, a member of staff at a Nottingham bank called police

to say Mr Newman had appeared confused before driving away.

But just two months later Albert Newman was involved in that

He collided with a van going the other way,

killing himself and a passenger in the van, Michael Luciw.

This prompted an investigation of the the earlier incident,

which led to three charges for PC Mortimer.

The first two are failing to make adequate enquiries,

The third, most serious allegation is that he falsely claimed to have

called the bank that originally made the report.

Today solicitors acting for the police authority said

this was a clear lie, designed to, in their words,

The 41-year-old has admitted to the first two charges, saying

But he says, to this day, he remembers calling the bank

to follow up their report, despite evidence to suggest

His defence counsel said he had no reason to lie,

and that he was let down by his memory and not his integrity.

The members of the panel have now retired to consider the evidence.

If they decide PC Mortimer's actions amount to gross misconduct,

he could face instant dismissal from the force.

Colin's in Seville for the Foxes' Champions League clash.

And Storm Doris is on the way tomorrow.

It is expected to move across the East Midlands.

I'll have a full forecast later in the

programme and what you may need to do to prepare.

The financial management and reputation of one

of our region's best-known public parks are under the spotlight.

BBC East Midlands Today has obtained an internal audit

into the trust which runs Bradgate Park in Leicestershire.

The park is a registered charity and gets some of its funds from both

The review highlights concerns about financial procedures

and recommends an investigation into the way staff are allowed

Simon Ward has this exclusive report.

More than half a million visitors come to enjoy

In 1928, it was given in trust to the people of Leicestershire.

Last year, on-site activities alone raised more than ?1 million.

The City and County Council funds now account for 3% of annual income.

Sales of venison, car parking charges and the tearoom are among

This internal audit into Bradgate Park trust was carried

out by Leicestershire County Council.

It says, among other recommendations, "Little assurance

"can be given that risks, including those of reputation

"and income recovery, can be mitigated.".

I put some of these points to county councillor Peter Osborne,

who has just taken over as chairman of the Bradgate Park Trust.

It is not finalised, and it would be really

That is the opinion of the auditors, so give us your opinion of that.

Well, I would have to go back to the auditors and ask

for an individual explanation of a particular item

But as I say, on something that is still under review,

Well, I would expect you when I have the information in front of me.

The report says in black and white it wants a disciplinary

investigation into staff about late rental payments and not paying rent.

What we do over the accommodation is that we have accommodation that

The rents are set by an independent estate agent and then that becomes

part of their salary and they pay rent on it.

The auditors found there are relaxed staff discounts,

possibly leading to issues in relation to tax liabilities.

It is serious if there were to be a possibility but that is all...

We review everything and when we said in the summer

that we wanted to have a look at our financial controls

and how we did things, what we said was, all right,

Is there any money missing or unaccounted for?

All we have are internal processes and procedures

In summarising all the recommendations in this report,

the auditors say it is now for the trust to urgently consider

Police in Derbyshire are renewing their appeal

for witnesses after a teenager died in a fatal crash at the weekend.

It happened on Ford Bridge Lane in South Normanton just before eight

14-year-old Connor Revill died after his push scooter

was in collision with a black Ford Fusion.

Police would like to hear from anyone who saw the car

A 27-year-old man has been released on bail while enquiries continue.

The Health Secretary has agreed to look into the decision to close

Lincolnshire County Council referred the decision

Today the authority received confirmation that an independent

panel will do an initial assessment of the decision, to see if a full

It comes on the same day three local MPs met with the Prime Minister

to raise their concerns about the unit closing overnight.

Colin's in Seville, a city famed for its oranges,

where Leicester City are hoping their Champions League

campaign doesn't come to a sticky end.

It could happen, one bad result and the whole campaign could be over for

Leicester City. But the fans are hoping for more. It is a grand

historic adventure and we'll talk about it in the sport later.

Local shops are warning an impending re-evaluation

of their business rates will hit our high streets hard.

The amount paid to local councils by all businesses,

not just retailers, will be announced this Friday.

And in many cases, business owners are bracing themselves for a rise.

It's prompted the Broxtowe MP, Anna Soubry, a former

Business Minister, to call for a fundamental rethink

of the entire system which the region's Chamber

Nottingham is said to have the highest percentage

of independent retailers in a city centre outside of London.

One of the oldest is this cards and gift shop,

which has been trading for more than 40 years.

Their business rate, the government's tax

on business properties, is about to go up.

Our increase is likely to be about ?4000-?5,000 a year extra.

That is over and above the ?44,000 we already pay.

So it is a substantial bill, and it is coming at a time

A few hundred metres around the corner from The Tokenhouse

is the Treat Kitchen, a chain of five sweet shops

In the last six months, our product has become more expensive,

our cost of staff has gone up by about 5%, our sales

have dropped about 10%, and now our rates are going up.

So we are struggling to maintain the network of five shops

as a result of all of these added pressures in the last six months.

The Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry, herself a former Business Minister,

is calling for the rates to be radically reformed or scrapped.

A view shared by the East Midlands chamber of commerce.

Members feel so strongly, the chief executive has

written to the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, asking him

to reconsider the way the rates are calculated.

The way business rates work in the UK currently

Businesses in the UK face the highest upfront costs

What we are calling for, at the chamber,

We need something based on a business's ability to pay,

something that encourages those businesses looking to invest

and grow and something that is fair for businesses of all sizes.

The Chancellor will deliver his Spring budget next month.

Tory MPs and small businesses will want to see if he offers any

financial support to independent retailers and businesses

facing significant increases in their rates.

Campaigners have been protesting outside Leicester's town

hall today against plans to shut down their local

library and merge it with a nearby recreation centre.

The City Council says the move would save around ?15,000 a year.

But users of Rushey Mead library are warning it would put a whole

Making a racket to save their library. These protesters are angry

about council plans to move their local library in Rushey Mead into

the nearby recreation centre, saving the council around ?15,000. They're

talking about merging two buildings. If that happens, how do you get 130

square metres of library into 40 square metres of the building

currently earmarked? The building will be too small, it is just a few

rooms, and our normal library is much bigger. How important is the

library building to the community? Very important, it is the heart and

lifeline of Rushey Mead. This is one of the most daft proposal the

council has ever come up with. You take a library twice the size of

this building here, this room, put it in this room and pretend

everything can carry on as before. Children trying to do their homework

while elderly people are having their lunch club. The council says

it is in during cuts from central government. We are trying to do this

as an authority, to safeguard services and reduce cost around

buildings. Will there be a scenario with aerobics in one room and kids

trying to do homework in the next? There are are more than enough

opportunities and gaps in the timetables for this. There should be

little issue in regards to providing both sets of services. The council

will decide at the meeting tonight whether to go ahead with the merger.

Time now for the third of this week's reports on sugar.

And with a sugar tax on soft drinks looming,

the boss of one East Midlands manufacturer is calling

Belvoir Fruit Farms has been expanding for 30 years.

But its managing director is worried it could be ruined by any

levy on its cordials and sparkling drinks.

Our Health Correspondent Rob Sissons has this report.

Presses, cordials, made in the shadow of Belvoir Castle.

It's a business that employs over 80 people and turns over more

But the boss is really worried about the sugar levy.

These will be taxed a lot and we've got to work out whether we can make

them with lower sugar but with the same amount of quality

taste so that customers who love them will not be put off by them.

If they do attract the tax, a classic example is ginger beer.

Ginger beer, because it is so peppery and sharp

with the taste of ginger, it needs sugar to soften it.

That one, if we make the ginger beer without sugar,

it really doesn't taste very nice at all.

Some people will say sugar is sugar and we've got to do something

It's not just taxing soft drinks, though.

Much better would be to tax bulk sugar.

If you taxed sugar which went in everything then the government

The sugar tax could work out at least 18p more on the firm's

sparkling elderflower presse and put more than a pound on the cost

Up to 100,000 bottles pass along this production line every day.

This business is worried about the sugar tax,

that it could put the brakes on expansion or even put

It could have a profound impact on us, depending

on how high it is set, where exactly these things kick in,

Manufacturers are not forced to pass on the tax to consumers but this

company warns they probably won't be able to afford not to.

There'll be one name missing from the ballot paper

After a 20-year career, Dave Bishop from Nottingham,

also known as Lord Biro, has decided to stand down

The Bus Pass Elvis Party member made his name,

in fact, several names, as part of that British tradition

of eccentric parliamentary candidates who always

Our political editor Tony Roe's been to meet him.

Bishop, David Lawrence, Bus Pass Elvis Party, 67.

David Bishop, a self-styled post-secondary modern artist.

But after 20 years on the national stage, that's it.

A lot of people have had a go at me since and said,

"You shouldn't have stopped, Dave, and you should have kept

going," and all this stuff is going on in the world,

Neil Hamilton, I remember his wife saying when I bumped

I remember that, doing the Tatton election.

So after a career of lost deposits and sharing platforms

with mainstream politicians, he is retiring.

Never a winner but some minor victories in some local

I stood there for the Militant Elvis Anti-Tesco Popular Front and got

cashed in and got 323 votes and a great slogan was, "Elvis

He'll continue his art, his YouTube films, but Donald Trump's foreign

policy might yet bring him out of retirement.

Donald Trump's been doing a bit of sabre rattling

I thought, "If a situation arises there, I think I ought to come stand

in the national interest on that one."

Elvis and the Yeti Himalayan Preservation Party.

Save the yeti from extinction, uh-huh-huh.

Where would we be without our eccentrics?

And there still are a lot of eccentrics actively in politics. And

now Colin is in Seville for an important football match.

Just slightly important! What an adventure. These are all the fans,

Leicester and locals from Seville taking selfies. This is what a big

Champions League night can do for clubs, it can galvanise a season.

This is the knockout stages, last 16 of the Champions League. History

making for Leicester City. They're under the threat of relegation and

all the pressure means that what should be a treat could be turning

into a chore. Even so, the fans have travelled

in their thousands upon thousands. They are not, though,

expecting very much. We decided we are going to enjoy it

as a holiday and not The football match

can go to the side. Here's some pretty pictures

of Seville instead. But there is actually some football

to be played here and this Leicester's terrible

league form and lack of European experience compares really

badly to that of Seville. It is not hard to find

pessimistic voices. We are champions

of England but we are certainly not playing

like champions at the minute. We've not been defending

well, we've stopped scoring goals, one result tonight

could change everything. It is about pride,

you know, going and If we get beat, let's

not get rolled over. Amid all that, the players visibly

enjoyed themselves training in the stadium and the Champions League

so far has gone better for Leicester If we win, if we do a very good

game, something inside It is a new season so, like I say,

we need to work hard, each and The boss, the staff,

the players themselves, and then come game time when we step

over the white line, we need to make sure that we put it

all into practice. Still soaking up the disbelieving

joy that they are It is not hard to find optimistic

voices in Seville either. I wouldn't have come

here if I didn't In this bull-fighting

city, then, Leicester will take to a ring

and face an opponent It is good, I want the matadors,

the gladiators, the soldiers, Claudio Ranieri. We have lost Colin

for the moment in Spain but we will have an update in our late bulletin

at 10:30pm. Just away from Spain for the moment,

and Derby County's play-off hopes took another dent last night

with a goalless draw A miss from two yards

from Darren Bent was the killer. It was the best chance

against a stubborn Burton defence. Derby have failed to win their last

three home games and have slipped And a quick mention

to the Nottingham Panthers for their 7-4 win over league

leaders Cardiff Devils last night. More from Colin on the late edition

tonight. They've become familiar faces

on the small screen but now the Nottingham actors Vicky McClure

and Aisling Loftus are treading Touched is a play exploring life

in the city at the end of the Second World War as seen

through the eyes of one family. Geeta Pendse has

been to take a look. I can hear you, love. Being sick

every morning past couple of weeks. Yeah, the fumes. Sandra, I your

sister, it's me, Joan. You always wear clothes but even you can't hide

this forever. A devastating truth at the centre of a play capturing the

lives of three Nottingham sisters at the end of World War II. Touched is

about the woman left to fend for themselves. In the lead role is the

award-winning actress Vicky McClure, who could draw on her own family

history. My grandparents both lived through it. They came and watched it

on the first night and I asked them lots of questions, what was it like?

What did it feel like? Someone has got an old mattress, we'll get

things for the bonfire. Nottingham actor Aisling Loftus is now stranger

to dramas. You don't often come across things with such good parts

for women where the women are so well drawn. We know that when the

men were over in the War of the women had to graft, and that still

resonates to me with the women in Nottingham. I am proud of that. The

play is Vicky McClure's confessional stage debut. I have never performed

professionally in front of an audience like this so it is a first.

You just have to try it. To work with her was a real... You will make

me blush. I jumped at the chance. Big fan. I am a big fan of horror.

It sounds like I'm just saying it but she knows. Touched is on at the

Nottingham Playhouse until the end of next week.

That is brilliant they have both come back to their hometown to tread

the boards. OK, we can now go back to Colin.

It is a shame not to talk about this match in more depth. I have Rob

Tanner from the Leicester Mercury. We heard Claudio Ranieri wanted

warriors. They have to get their battling heads on. It will be the

toughest test this season. We heard a lot of the fans talking about the

best they could hope for was a 3-1 defeat. Have we got to get

enthusiastic? I think just forget about the mystic troubles and enjoy

this moment. Leicester City are taking on Seville in the last 16 of

the Champions League. It's incredible, just enjoy it. Claudio

Ranieri, what does he have to do in the dressing room? He has to

galvanise them and get them all playing. They have to find it in

themselves, a lot of responsibility comes from them as well. I think

they will rise to the occasion, they have been waiting all season but

this might be the right stage for them, especially people like Mahrez.

Full coverage on BBC Radio Leicester this evening and Robson newspaper --

Rob's newspaper will round things up tomorrow. Time for Leicester City to

get their enthusiasm back. We will be watching. They have gathered

behind us. Fingers crossed. I think Seville was

frightened by my orange top! Let's take a look at the weather.

There is a lot to talk about. Storm Doris is on the way but as we

go through the next few hours we have an amber weather warning for

wind. That is from 6am tomorrow to around 8pm tomorrow. We are having

reports of some events being cancelled tomorrow so tune in to

your BBC local radio station or check out local life pages to find

out. What might happen over the next 24 hours? We could see some

difficulty with trees coming down, fences coming down, and the

temptation for some tricky driving conditions, particularly for high

sided vehicles. Take extra care. It is not saying that it will

definitely happen but be prepared with the amber warning. In the East

Midlands we expect to be right in the centre of the amber warning

area. We could see gusts of 60 or 70 mph, perhaps up to 80 miles an hour

over higher ground. Take extra care tomorrow. The strongest gusts are

expected between three and 4pm. This is the track we expect Doris to

take. Nice buyers -- the isobars are squeezing together. We expect

widespread rain particularly in the early hours tonight. Tomorrow

morning we expect more rain on the way and gusts of wind picking up of

the afternoon. 50-60 mph in places. A little brightness towards the end

of the day with highs of around ten Celsius. Some respite on Friday, a

bit cooler, and then more wet and windy weather on Saturday. Whatever

you do over the next 24-48 hours, stay in touch with the forecast

because we expect lively weather on the way.

And if you're affected by Storm Doris tomorrow,

wherever you are in the region, we'd love you to get in touch.

Send us your stories and pictures via our Facebook page.

And that Facebook page is always worth a look anyway.

Fingers crossed it is not too bad. And we'll be back with all the

football at 10:30pm. Good job, guys.

We totally nailed it. This year, fundraising kits are

going to be sent through the post.