08/11/2017 East Midlands Today

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

And now the news

for the East Midlands,

I'm Dominic Heale.

First tonight, the police

and the Environment Agency have

made their first arrests

in connection with a huge

fire involving illegally

stored plastic waste.

The blaze at Walesby

in Nottinghamshire last year threw

up a column of smoke that could be

seen for miles -

and it smouldered for a month.

Mike O'Sullivan reports.

Early morning, and police

and the Environment Agency raid

a flat in Sneinton Dale in

Nottingham.

The Environment Agency

want to question a 40-year-old man

The Environment Agency

want to question a 41-year-old man

over a huge fire of illegally stored

waste at a business park

in Walesby in Nottinghamshire.

Thousands of tonnes

of material went up in flames.

We believe that people have been

taking waste into the site

and at some point in time,

that waste caught fire.

There was a considerable

amount of waste.

That waste is commercial,

industrial, household type waste,

recyclable materials that have gone

into the site, large quantities,

several thousand tonnes

and potentially leading to a large

amount of money for the people

that are involved in it.

It happened at the Oakham Farm

business park in Walesby

in September 2016.

Smoke billowing into the sky

from rented premises.

Not thought to be started

deliberately, but it

smouldered for around a month.

The police are getting the man ready

now to be taken away to the police

station after being arrested

and they say inside, they have found

41 cannabis plants as well.

The Environment Agency also

want to question the man over lesser

amounts of illegally stored waste

at an industrial estate

in Sutton Bonnington

in Nottinghamshire and at a farm

near Haven in Leicestershire.

The fire at Walesby has left

the owners there with a big bill.

The cause of the fire,

we are not entirely sure

what started the fire.

What we do know is the operators

of that site are going to be left

with a massive bill.

The Environment Agency has been

working with the operators

of the site to secure appropriate

waste disposal for the ashes and any

remaining waste on site and,

of course, they lost both

of their buildings in the fire.

Raids were also carried

out at two houses in

Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

A 46-year-old man voluntarily

attended a police station there

and was arrested and questioned.

The inquiry centres on three men

running a waste disposal company.

A jury's been hearing how

a bizarre money scam led

to the death of a man whose body

was found in a Leicester car park.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how

Promise Ndlovu was caught up

in a plot to con a group

of businessmen in Leicester.

Geeta Pendse was in court.

The court heard Promise Ndlovu -

who was 40 and originally

from Zimbabwe - arrived

at the Kapital building in Leicester

on the 28th of October last year

with a group of African men.

They were there allegedly to buy

land with the five defendants

who worked in the building.

The court heard the African men had

brought with them a bag

full of black paper,

cut to look like bank notes.

They claimed that the black paper

would be turned into cash

by the application of a chemical.

They even demonstrated

this with a real note.

But it was all a scam.

The court heard Ndlovu remained

at the Kapital building

as a form of human security

by the defendants whilst

the deal was ongoing.

But when things turned sour,

the prosecution claim he was held

there against his will.

Prosecutor Lloyd-Jones QC told

the court Ndlovu's body was dumped

at the Charter Street car park

in Leicester by four

of the defendants, where a member

of the public later discovered him.

Kehar Hayer and Kuldeep Singh

are accused of manslaughter.

The pair, along with

Ramandeep Dhaliwal, Bikramjeet Singh

and Kulwinder Singh,

are accused of conspiracy to commit

false imprisonment and conspiracy

to pervert the course of justice.

All five deny the charges

and the trail continues

at Nottingham Crown Court.

The charity Shelter says

the number of people classed

as homeless in our region could now

stand at around 2,500.

Many, including families,

are living

in temporary accommodation.

Simon Ward has been

looking at the figures.

Well, as the cold weather begins to

set in, the issue of being homeless

and living on the streets

is highlighted, but organisations,

including Shelter, work to reduce

the problems all year round.

Shelter's estimated

numbers have been compiled

from a number of sources,

including Government figures.

They suggest for our part

of the East Midlands,

there are almost 2,500 people

who are homeless.

The number of people

sleeping rough is 184.

and those in temporary

accommodation is more than 2,300.

That includes people and families

in hostels and others

sleeping on friends' sofas.

People understand that homelessness

is getting worse but when you see

there are thousands of people across

the region who are now living as

homeless, hundreds of people in

cities like Nottingham and Leicester

who are living as homeless, then

that will be a real surprise to

people.

One of our towns, Melton Mowbray,

is ranked at 94 in the list,

per head of population

in England by Shelter.

Although there were no people

sleeping rough included in these

figures from the last year,

more than 100 people

are classed as homeless.

They're in various types

of temporary accommodation.

Nottingham is the East Midlands city

with the highest numbers.

650 homeless and 35 sleeping rough.

Professor Joe Richardson from the

Montford University studies housing

and social issues and spoke about

some of the causes that the two

becoming homeless.

Costs are rising and people aren't

in employment that is going to meet

those housing costs and other living

costs so, yes, homelessness

is on the rise.

There is also change to benefits,

with Universal Credit, and we know

this is having an impact.

There are a range of studies

which demonstrate this is having

an impact and we are seeing it

on our streets.

The figures out today

are only estimates,

using a range of data.

The number of people

who are homeless and those sleeping

rough changes every day,

but this does give a general idea

about how many people are coping

without a permanent place to live.

A Syrian refugee has told

us she's "overwhelmed"

by the welcome from her

new neighbours in Nottinghamshire.

Manal Raweah's one of around four

hundred Syrians who've been

resettled here in the East Midlands.

Our Social Affairs Correspondent,

Jeremy Ball, reports.

At their new home in Gedling,

a reminder of a comfortable life

that was shattered by war.

Crochet is a passion for Manal,

who is now volunteering

in Nottingham while she tries

to improve her English

to resume her career

as a hospital lab technician.

This is our flat...

She had to leave that job

because of repeated deadly air

strikes around their apartment

in the Syrian city of Idlib.

When the plane came,

I was standing in the kitchen

and all of the glass of the window

came over me.

So I told my husband

we have to leave Idlib,

because it was very dangerous.

Their city became a front line

between rebel fighters

and Syrian Government forces,

so they headed for the Turkish

border, a journey that

brought new horrors.

Leaving Syria meant becoming

refugees and when Manal applied

for what is known as resettlement,

Britain invited them here.

This is the moment they boarded

the plane for a welcome

in Nottinghamshire that they

will never forget.

My neighbours are very kind

and lovely neighbours

and when we came to my house

the first time, she gave to me

flowers and tried to speak slowly,

so I can understand

The British people here

are overwhelming us with kindness.

This performance was for the charity

workers who helped them

settle in Nottingham.

A small way to say thank you.

50 years of BBC local radio has been

celebrated today in Leicester.

The festivities began

with a special peal by bellringers

at the city's cathedral,

followed by a party for former staff

and editors at BBC Radio Leicester.

In 1967, the city became the first

to have its own radio station,

in what is now a network of 40 up

and down the country.

There are 46 days to

Christmas and only three

until the annual festive display

opens at Chatsworth House.

This year's theme is based

on the works of Charles Dickens.

Staff will be bringing some

of his much-loved stories to life

with the help of actors playing

Fagin, and Miss Havisham.

This year's Christmas display opens

on Saturday, and runs

until the 7th of January.

That's your news.

with your weather now, here's Anna.

What a beautiful autumnal day today,

some beautiful photos sent in of the

sun rises this morning and the

sunset this evening. Do keep your

pictures coming into us. This one is

really beautiful, thank you very

much.

really beautiful, thank you very

much. This was taken at Stoney

Middleton. Tomorrow, some cloud

around first thing in the morning

but it should improve and we will

see some sunshine during the

afternoon. A couple of weather

fronts pushing south eastwards

overnight but it is quite a quiet

weather story for the next 24 hours

or so. We have a clear skies

earlier, we are already starting to

see the cloud increase from the

north-west and it will produce a few

spots of rain here and there

overnight but not amounting to much.

The transfer some hill fog into the

Peak District and we should stay

away from the frost, with three

Celsius. Quite a damp start to

Thursday but it will improve, we

will start to see the cloud pushing

towards the south-east, behind it

plenty of sunshine as we go into the

afternoon. With highs of 12 degrees,

feeling quite pleasant in the

autumnal sunshine. A fairly similar

day on Friday, largely dry and

settled, a little bit on the chilly

side with highs of ten, but some

unsettled weather to come Friday

night into Saturday, so a spell of

wet and windy weather heading our

way but when it hears, a decent but

chilly weekend. I will leave you

with the outlook for the next