24/04/2017 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Geeta Pendse.

First tonight, Labour Party officials are drawing up plans

to select a new Parliamentary candidate for Nottingham North

after Graham Allen's shock announcement that he won't stand

He told his local party that ill health was the main

Well we'll hear from our General Election reporter

But first, he's been looking back on Graham Allen's career.

A fresh-faced Graham Allen in his early election campaigning days.

The former trade union official has been the area's MP for 30 years.

His political legacy will be his approach

to the deep-seated social problems of the area, for example the high

His thinking to combat intergenerational deprivation -

through the so-called Early Intervention Programme -

Among political colleagues, there was genuine sadness at his decision

All the people, it was so important, all the people said they

were really going to miss him, and I think

that is something that many

politicians cannot say they can hold.

Labour has an 11,800 majority in Nottingham North.

At the last election, when Ed Millband's Labour Party

was losing seats, there was a 5% swing to Graham Allen.

We are looking to get a strong Labour candidate to replace me, and

that will happen within about three or four days.

The question now is whether the voters of Nottingham North will

So who will replace Graham Allen as Labour's candidate?

It is a good question. We have had a clue what Graham was saying there,

he hopes his replacement will be in position to fight this general

election in Nottingham North within, in effect by the end of this week.

That is a clue to the fact that it might be a strong city councillor, a

Nottingham City Council. But there will be huge annoyance and a row if

there is any hint that Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party mangling... Haida

parish it in a candidate. It happened with Chris Leslie and that

happened in Ashfield, so watch this space.

The thing to remember that when Graham won the seat, she won it for

the Conservatives in 1987 when Mrs Thatcher was in ten Downing St, and

he has turned it in effect to a labour fortress so there is a cute

little legacy there. As for Graham himself, I suspect that he will want

to swap the green benches for the red benches in the House of Lords

arable use the Lauds as an opportunity to promote early

intervention and those projects that were so close to his heart.

In other news, a Derby man's denied a string of terror offences

including planning an attack in the UK.

36-year-old Munir Hassan Mohammed was arrested in December

after officers searched a house on Leopold Street.

Today he appeared at the Old Bailey alongside a co-defendant,

Both pleaded not guilty to researching, planning

and obtaining materials to produce a bomb or poison.

In other news, Nottinghamshire County Council's been fined

?1 million pound after a disabled visitor to Rufford County Park

was hit by a machine used for collecting branches.

The tractor-mounted grabber struck the 71-year-old

while he was on a guided tour in 2015, leaving him with injuries

The Health and Safety Executive ruled the council failed

to adequately plan the work in a public place, putting employees

Next, it's a simple bell, but it's ringing in new hope

That's because people get to ring it to mark the end of their treatment

It's an idea imported from America, and as Victoria Hicks reports,

Harris Wagner hopes this is his last visit to the radiotherapy department

Today marks his 33rd course of treatment.

We sit and talk in the lounge and in the waiting area about,

And, how many treatments do you have?

And, mine is over next week, and, mine is over today,

and everybody looks forward to this day.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer,

Harris Wagner had his prostate removed in 2009, but when cancer

cells returned, he needed radiotherapy here at the LRI.

And now it's his turn to ring the newly installed bell to mark

Ring the bell three times and we'll all give a big cheer.

And hopefully it's a new life, really.

It has had such a positive impact within the department, all the

patients have wanted to ring it, because it signifies a real turning

point in their life, the end of treatment.

It's the focal point of the reception area and people,

when they finish their treatment, it's something really special.

They cheer and they clap and it's lovely.

That's why I'm hoping there's going to be some people

People here can't praise the staff enough -

this is a happy goodbye - as Harris Wagner leaves feeling

Finally, in our increasingly fast-paced world, it seems

many of us are turning to life in the slow lane.

It's thought there are more boats on our waterways

now than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

And where there are boaters, there is business.

Amy Harris is in the studio for us tonight.

Yes, Geeta, our waterways are going through what's been described

In the 20th century, many routes were being closed.

Now they are being reopened and regenerated.

There are now 33,000 boats on our canals and rivers,

more than during the Industrial Revolution.

There were 380 million visits to our waterways last year,

And boats actually passed through locks nearly four

So it's easy to see why our businesses are keen to cash in.

Among them is the Mercia Marina in Derbyshire which is seing

On a grey Monday morning, it is perhaps understandably quiet at

Mercia Marina near Willington, but in fact 800,000 visitors a year

flock here, tempted not just by boats but by its restaurants

Business is so brisk, they are expanding.

We are building a piazza which is a 25,000 square foot

building which will have two stories of high-quality offices.

It will have six shops and a restaurant.

The demand has been extremely strong.

We've got some really interesting tenants coming forward.

And they are not the only ones making the most of

This Nottingham boat company has tripled its profits in a year to

?1.5 million through diving in to the high-end market.

Back at Mercia Marina, there are grand plans, too.

It is already a major tourist attraction, but this ?3 million

extension is not the only planned investment.

We are a strong believer in the strength of the East Midlands

as a whole, and we're happy to invest.

We've had huge success so far, and we think we've got a long

We are always serving the community and we're

We are pretty much part of the community.

This expansion is expected to be complete by December,

in time for festive visitors, both on and off the boats.

The increased popularity of our waterways isn't just benefiting

local businesses, but the charity that looks after those rivers

For our region, this means that any of the waterways that flow

through the towns, cities, villages can bring increased facilities,

What we're finding as the charity that looks after the waterways is

that more people are aware of our work and are wanting to support it.

We have had people running the London Marathon for us last

weekend, so it is great as a charity that more people are aware of our

work, looking after the waterways, and want to support that.

And that of course means our canals are in

better shape than ever, handy really as it seems

the popularity of this peaceful pastime isn't

So, it's goodbye from me, but with your weather now, here's Lucy.

Think cycling down, maybe May next week but whatever it is an dropping

off as we move through the next few days. Through tomorrow and Wednesday

because the temperatures just struggling in the single figures.

We'll see some cool night as well, a touch of Frost is likely. There are

if you win the showers to look out for. If you get caught in one of

those they won't be pleasant, they could contain some hail and snow.

And that the nature of shallots, not everybody is seen one. As we move

through the day today, we have seen cool air spending in from the north,

and that means is removed the next few days it really will be fairly

cold. Putting the detail to the map, what a night, plenty of clear skies,

they will be a few patches of cloud, 12 showers, they do have the

potential to be quite wintry. Many others in a dry and clear night

overnight lows between zero and two Celsius in towns and cities, cooler

in the countryside. A bit of Frost to start the day tomorrow, but

plenty of brightness as we move through the day. Sunny spells,

scattered showers, particularly in the afternoon and those showers are

the ones that have the potential to be wintry. Activity is reaching a

maximum of 10 Celsius, it will also be fairly windy. North-westerly

wind. As they moved to Wednesday, a cool start, chance of seeing a touch

of Frost, looking largely like Tuesday, sunny spells and scattered

showers. Don't take those showers completely leisurely, it you can see

one anywhere. Temperatures reaching a maximum of nine Celsius. As we

move into Thursday, a warm front coming down from the north, that

will bring some cloud and a bit more in the wake of patchy outbreaks of

rain. Temperatures slightly recovering as they move through it

to Friday. Another largely cloudy day with highs of 11 Celsius. I

believe you with some rain. More with the national

forecast now. Good evening. It's been turning

colder from the north so far today. It's been cold enough for

significant snow in northern Scotland. This was mid afternoon.

More recently it's been blowing around over the tops of the

mountains. Snow in April not necessarily unusual but it's usually

unwelcome. The colder air coming in behind the front which