Browse content similar to 25/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Back in recession - we look at three different sections of the | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
economy and ask employers what it means for them. Hello and welcome | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
to Look East. Also tonight, what's going on at Lotus? Now the local MP | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
wades in. My concern is to make sure that if Lotus is sold that the | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
owners, HICOM, only allow it to be sold to a buyer committed to | :00:24. | :00:34. | |
:00:34. | :00:35. | ||
keeping the business and its entirety in the UK and in Norfolk. | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
A woman is fighting for her life after her car collided with an | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
ambulance on a blue light call. And what a difference a few weeks make | :00:43. | :00:53. | |
:00:53. | :00:58. | ||
- we've been getting wet at Welney First, the economy is back in the | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
spotlight tonight, after Britain's first double dip recession since | :01:00. | :01:09. | |
the 1970s. It might not be as deep a drop as in 2008 and 2009. But | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
once again, Britain's economic performance has got worse over two | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
successive three-month periods. But what does that mean for us here in | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
the East? More people work in the service industry in this region | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
than anything else. It covers everything from shopping to local | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
government. 82% of our workforce is in this sector. Let's break that | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
down. 16.5% in retail, 11.6% in health and social work, just under | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
9% in admin and support, with science and technical not far | :01:34. | :01:41. | |
behind. These are the other most important sectors - manufacturing, | :01:41. | :01:48. | |
construction and agriculture. And of course some parts of the economy | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
can be booming, while others struggle. So tonight, we are | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
looking at services and construction. But Richard Bond | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
:02:06. | :02:06. | ||
starts with manufacturing in Stevenage. | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
Recession, what recession? It is what the workers here might as well | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
be saying. Their factory in Stevenage is rushed off its feet. | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
They make satellite. There are six satellites under construction here | :02:21. | :02:30. | |
at the moment. We are inundated with work. We are busy building | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
communication satellites and satellites for the European Space | :02:35. | :02:43. | |
Agency. We are also in printing. the past year manufacturing | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
employment in the east has increased from 235,000 to two | :02:49. | :02:59. | |
:02:59. | :03:01. | ||
London 42,000. -- tattoo on and In got services is one of thousands | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
of small firms which make up the sector. It cleans out kitchen | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
extractors in hotels and restaurants. In the last six months | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
it has taken on at 10 new staff. The boss says the media should stop | :03:16. | :03:23. | |
obsessing about whether we're in recession. It is very easy to be | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
talked into a depression. It does not necessarily mean that everybody | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
is walking around depressed and there is no business. Fit | :03:31. | :03:38. | |
businesses will succeed whether or not there is a recession. Overall, | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
services were pretty static last quarter. It was a slump in | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
construction which pulled the economy into recession. The this | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
housebuilder is trying to stay optimistic. The housing sector is | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
OK. It is troubled by the lack of finance and the lack of mortgages. | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
But I do believe we're working out where I do this. The economy in the | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
region is doing better than most. But it is still very tough out | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
there. As we heard, a big fall in construction work is being blamed | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
for us going back into recession. UCATT is the union which represents | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
construction workers. The regional secretary is Brian Rye. Is it as | :04:23. | :04:30. | |
bad in this region as in other parts of the country? Other regions | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
are worse. That does not mean to say this region is escaping it. | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
What does it mean for people working in the industry? The latest | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
figures show a 3% downturn on the back of four years of companies | :04:44. | :04:52. | |
going into redundancy. Is it because banks are not lending money, | :04:52. | :05:00. | |
or is it another reason? It is partly due to that. The prime | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
movers are the Government and private developers. The Government | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
seemed to be abandoning construction. The lack of | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
construction in housing is adding to the lack of confidence the | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
private sector needs from lenders and private developers. | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
Predominantly, housing is a private sector area. Is it because people | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
cannot get mortgages? That is partly true. The housing sector | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
does need help. Social housing would go some way to help private | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
constructors. Work on roads, will that ease the situation? It will | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
help when it happens. That is part of the problem. All major projects, | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
they do not in themselves creating of unemployment -- employment | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
opportunities. Are you finding people still want to come into the | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
industry? Young people do want to come into the industry. But there | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
is no work. Companies are laying people off. A considerable number | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
of companies find work delayed, deferred or cancelled. Then they | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
are asked to take on an apprentice. The Government can make a positive | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
contribution. The construction sector is a private sector. They | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
are not looking for a bail out, they want investment. | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
Fears are growing today that Lotus cars could be sold, putting 1200 | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
jobs at risk at its factory in Norfolk. The local MP says it wants | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
the Government to make sure that "credible guarantees for the future | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
of the business" are in place. Today the company said it couldn't | :06:42. | :06:50. | |
comment. Mike Liggins can tell us more. | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
His is a Lotus car. Not terribly easy to get out of. Which I but now | :06:56. | :07:06. | |
:07:06. | :07:07. | ||
demonstrate. A new one will cost you �37,000. They are still | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
desirable cars. That is why the future of Lotus matters to people | :07:12. | :07:21. | |
:07:22. | :07:22. | ||
It is one of the most famous car names in the world. For more than | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
40 years, Lotus cars have been designed and made in Norfolk. For | :07:26. | :07:33. | |
how much longer? Last night Richard Bacon MP led a Commons debate about | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
loaders, and he revealed an accountancy firm is thought to be | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
involved. -- Lotus. KPMG has been appointed to find a buyer in China. | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
That is very worrying because of the other things that have been | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
going on. Started by the late Colin Chapman in the Fifties, an adult | :07:54. | :08:02. | |
has made its name in grand prix racing. -- Lotus. The can macro | :08:02. | :08:12. | |
:08:12. | :08:13. | ||
factory is in Hethel. -- car. are no jobs about now. You have got | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
1200 people working at Loders. They need a living. It is like an | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
institution in a way. It would be ashamed to use it. An institution | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
which these days is doing some pioneering work on fuel efficient | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
cars. Does the honourable member agree that if Lotus were to leave | :08:34. | :08:43. | |
Norfolk and leave the UK, they risk losing access to skills and | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
expertise? This will damage their ability in the Loch Carnan | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
technologies. Suppliers are watching developments closely. They | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
are keen to avoid making at comment which may not help matters. We are | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
keeping our fingers crossed that Lotus is here a long term. | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
concern is to make sure that if Lotus is sold, and that is not | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
clear, that the owners, Rikuzentakata, Olly allow it to be | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
sold to a buyer committed to keeping the company in Norfolk. | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
chance the Lotus cars chief executive is in China this week at | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
the Beijing motor show. He has not commented today. According to the | :09:36. | :09:43. | |
video, the cars are more Lotus than ever. How much longer they will be | :09:43. | :09:53. | |
:09:53. | :09:53. | ||
made in Norfolk is not clear. have had a statement from Lotus. It | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
says, "Atomic mack disappointed that lot of the facts presented to | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
the House of Commons were inaccurate. -- we are. We will sort | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
this with Mr Bacon directly." son of Colin Chapman, the founder | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
of Lotus, says the uncertainty is both concerning and frustrating. | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
Clive Chapman says it's extremely important the business is based in | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
Norfolk, and he is confident the new owners won't abandon the base | :10:19. | :10:29. | |
:10:29. | :10:30. | ||
at Hethel. Lotus cars owes its existence to Colin Chapman. He | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
started the company in 1952. With a reputation for lightweight sports | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
cars, production doubled in the Seventies. With racing driver Jim | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
Clark at the wheel, Team Lotus was almost unbeatable. It really helped | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
establish England as being the centre of Formula One. We always | :10:51. | :11:01. | |
:11:01. | :11:01. | ||
see Lotus's around the place. Japan, Australia etc. You think, that is | :11:01. | :11:08. | |
made in Norfolk. The company was sold to General Motors in 1986, and | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
recently sold again. There has been concern locally. It is frustrating | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
because the company wants to get on with an exciting future. It is in | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
hiatus at the moment. It needs some positive action. What do you think | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
we knew this speculation that Lotus could be sold? The heritages so | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
much tied up with Hethel, that if the company was moved, you would be | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
shooting yourself and the fort to some extent. I am quietly confident | :11:38. | :11:46. | |
Lotus will remain in Hethel. Clive Chapman now runs Classic Team Lotus. | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
They still use the test track at Later in the programme, from | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
drought to deluge - but will it make a difference? | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
And why the big political names are all heading for Harlow - the first | :11:59. | :12:09. | |
:12:09. | :12:10. | ||
Eight people, including a family of five, have been left homeless after | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
a fire in Southend. Firefighters were called to the building in | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
Hastings Road just before one o'clock this morning. One man was | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
taken to hospital. The house had been divided into flats. | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
Two Essex slaughtermen caught on camera stubbing cigarettes out on | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
pigs' faces and hitting them with a baton, have been jailed. Piotr | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
Waisuta was sentenced to six weeks in prison, and Kelly Smith four | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
weeks, for cruelty at Cheale Meats, near Brentwood. Their crimes were | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
filmed by undercover investigators from Animal Aid. | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
An elderly woman is critically ill in hospital after a road crash | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
involving an ambulance and a car. The ambulance was on its way to an | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
emergency when it collided with the pensioner's Jaguar on the A131 at | :12:52. | :13:02. | |
:13:02. | :13:02. | ||
Sudbury in Suffolk. The accident is being investigated by the police. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
Amateur footage of the air ambulance. On the road, an | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
ambulance and the car have collided. The car driver needs urgent | :13:12. | :13:20. | |
hospital treatment. The footage was captured by E Jane would roll. | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
was very loud and very scary. I had no idea what happened. It was | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
frightening to see an ambulance and an accident. You don't ever expect | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
to see it. The ambulance service said that the ambulance was on | :13:37. | :13:46. | |
route to a call. It collided with a car. The medics were described as | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
shaken but unhurt. They had been on their way to Sudbury to pick up | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
someone who had fallen ill and needed to be taken to the West | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Another ambulance was sent to that | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
call. The ambulance service said it was not adversely affected. This | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
picture of the aftermath of the crash was taken by another | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
eyewitness. The road was closed for six hours. The ambulance had | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
avoided this it Jaguar coming out of the drive, hit a lamp-post on | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
the other side of the road and bounced back across the road. | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
Jaguar driver was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital. She is in | :14:25. | :14:35. | |
:14:35. | :14:40. | ||
critical condition. An accident Four people have been arrested as | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
part of an investigation into postal fraud. Parcels with | :14:46. | :14:51. | |
fraudulent postmarks were seized. Two men from West left and a woman | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
and a man from Canvey were arrested on suspicion of fraud. | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
Have physiotherapy Centre in Cambridge chair is the first place | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
in the UK to trial a bionics state which helps paralysed people to | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
walk again. The technology, which comes from America, uses battery- | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
powered motors to help people stand up and use their legs. | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
This man is paralysed from at the waist down, he has been a Nuffield | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
Chair for 19 years. You have to look up at everybody | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
all the time, you feel small and law. | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
This was the bike he used to race but an accident broke his back. Now, | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
for the first time in nearly two decades, thanks to a bionics eight, | :15:38. | :15:45. | |
he can talk. -- he can walk. The more you are in it, the more | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
you want to be in it. I want to be in it all day every day now. | :15:49. | :15:57. | |
The sit has motors and sensors at - - the suit. It is all controlled | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
with the putt and -- with the pitch of a button. At the moment, Andy | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
has a two hour drive to come here as it is the only place in the UK | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
which has them. It is hoped that soon there will be more places | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
which have them. He is using a remarkable piece of | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
technology which costs �100,000. still get excited every time I walk | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
someone in this it I still get excited doing it. The first time I | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
saw it I was just overwhelmed by the technology. This is a fighter | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
and sick tool which we will hope we be able to utilise. -- fantastic | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
tool. At the moment, this can only be | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
used in physiotherapy, but it is hoped that there will be a cheaper | :16:44. | :16:51. | |
version which can be used by people at home and the next few years. | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
The campaign for this year's local elections is entering its final | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
week. Many parts of the region will not be voting next Thursday, but | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
where there are elections there could be some interesting outcomes. | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
Or over the next few nights we will be looking at some of the key | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
battleground. A political Correspondent reports from higher | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
law, which is held by the Conservatives with a majority of | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
just one -- Harlow. This is Harlow's very popular | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
petting zoo and it is facing an uncertain future. The local council | :17:25. | :17:31. | |
can no longer afford to keep funding it. They are something like | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
115,000 people that there is it every year. It is very much part of | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
the local community. Why should the council go on | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
funding this, it is not an essential service? It makes a huge | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
difference to the community. There was public outcry. The | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
council find more money to be pit opened fire now and hope that a | :17:52. | :18:02. | |
:18:02. | :18:02. | ||
local trust will take the issue over. -- take the zoo over. The | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
council a pair that they had been able to cut costs in the town, | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
preserve all services and cut council tax. We have proper | :18:11. | :18:19. | |
organisation down to about 1,200 staff. All of those job losses and | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
exhausting was necessary? Yes, it was costing the taxpayer money. | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
Could there are rather keep the money in people's pockets. | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
Labour is making cuts the big issue in this election. The 0.2 local job | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
losses in the police and NHS and say it is only a matter of time | :18:38. | :18:48. | |
:18:48. | :18:49. | ||
before her other services are hit - - b 0.2. | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
You may have a tax cut now, but you will suffer financially for the | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
next he years. The Conservatives won control of | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
the councillor four years ago, but since then they have been gradually | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
losing seats. But the majority of just one, it is no surprise that | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
both them and Labour had been sending in the big guns to campaign. | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
The Liberal Democrats only have one seat on the council and are also | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
worried about Conservative cuts. is the little things that matter. | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
Over the last three budgets the Lib Dems have paid for with a Budget | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
every time which means the least impact on local people and local | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
services. If we are pledging to keep it we have found a way to do | :19:31. | :19:38. | |
This will be an interesting test for the Conservatives's popularity. | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
Is the approach to public spending -- cuts to public spending both | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
locally and nationally working? I apart from the three main parties | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
there is a candidate from the UKIP and an a depend it candidate | :19:52. | :19:58. | |
standing. It has been three weeks since the | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
hosepipe ban was introduced. Following the driest spell in | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
living memory we have had rain, rain, rain ever since. A last time | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
we had to make all the sweat was in 2,000 and there is no sign of a let | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
up to the deluge. So where does that leave the drought? | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
Parched - this was their wildlife and deserves to trust in the Fens | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
just two months ago. Today it could not be more different. As you can | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
see, we're walking through a nice wet ditch. | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
Be it is so wet we cannot actually cross, it is too deep. These other | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
conditions that they require. We are now on a completely different | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
end of the spectrum. I do not want to be too fussy, but a bit of rain | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
and ensure everybody will appreciate that. | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
There is no sign to the will rain letting up. Manly in April we would | :21:00. | :21:09. | |
expect 45-50 mm of rain. Many places RN Target -- many places RN | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
Target to have much more than that. Despite all that rain this Britain | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
temperature is still flowing at only 10 per that rate. This is | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
coming on the back of more than 20 Mon-Sun very unusually low rainfall. | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
A big part of the problem is that the water reserves under the ground | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
I not been replenished, so even if we get a wet Samur then grind the | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
Water Resources will stay at a historically low level -- | :21:41. | :21:49. | |
historically low levels. The picture is patchy. This | :21:49. | :21:58. | |
reservoir is still only two-thirds full, yet this reservoir in | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
Cambridgeshire is brimming. This makes the hosepipe ban a nonsense, | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
does it not? It is helping us because it is suppressing demand. | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
People do not really need to use a hosepipe, but underlying situation | :22:10. | :22:19. | |
remains that delivers -- the rivers are very low. We will be back in a | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
difficult situation again, so take the what a pilot is available but | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
it will not be there for very long. So is the recent deluge welcome? | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
Yes, but the message is, we are still very firmly in doubt even if | :22:32. | :22:39. | |
looks deceive. Tomorrow I am helping to raise | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
money for Park House, which is a hotel for her people with | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
disabilities and their carers. I am hoping for a bright, sunny day. | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
he seen the forecast? That is very he seen the forecast? That is very | :22:54. | :23:03. | |
A number of places in the region have already seen double than | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
average rainfall. The current rainfall is down to any area of low | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
pressure which has brought us some very wet and windy weather for | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
today. If we look at our radar Charter you will see that there is | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
a heavy band of rain which rattled through fairly quickly. Behind it, | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
we have had some heavy showers and the assorted merge together. This | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
was the scene and I recall, expect further wet and windy weather for | :23:33. | :23:40. | |
this evening. The show was will be quick to clear those not -- slow to | :23:40. | :23:46. | |
clear. It will dry out through the night, places fire towards their | :23:46. | :23:55. | |
end of the night. Six Celsius Isere expected low tonight. It still | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
stays breezy and it will be moderate to freshen strength. | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
Tomorrow, low-pressure is still very much with us. It will be slow | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
to clear away and it means that we have a risk of some scattered | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
showers through tomorrow. The advantage of tomorrow as that with | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
showers there will be some spots which to stay dry. Some heavy | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
showers around and they could turn thundery in places. Temperatures | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
into double figures at - 13 Celsius. It is still pretty windy actually, | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
south-westerly wind. It will be pretty strong in strength. | :24:33. | :24:40. | |
Especially around the coast. The When's well he's, into the evening | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
time the show was will fade. Much of the night will be dry. Low- | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
pressure is still very much the name of the game. You will see the | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
high pressure towards the north of Britain, but unfortunately for us | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
here in the east it is this area of low-pressure which will come up | :24:58. | :25:07. | |
:25:08. | :25:10. |