:00:18. > :00:24.The A14 will be upgraded with the help of government cash. Work could
:00:24. > :00:31.start in two years' time. Will they stay or will they go?
:00:31. > :00:38.After a crunch meeting today for directors of a Norwich Ambulance
:00:38. > :00:45.Trust are still in their place. should examine their consciences.
:00:45. > :00:48.Beth Chatto at 90. Some great shots of her beautiful garden.
:00:48. > :00:54.And meet Ezio, the band who were going to make it big before Tony
:00:54. > :01:04.Blair said he liked them. We were cool and then instantly became less
:01:04. > :01:11.
:01:11. > :01:17.Good evening. Look East can confirm that the A14, the region's most
:01:17. > :01:19.important road, will be upgraded with the help of government money.
:01:19. > :01:28.The official announcement will be made tomorrow as part of the
:01:28. > :01:31.spending review. It follows months of negotiations. The stretch in
:01:31. > :01:36.question runs between Huntingdon and Cambridge. It is a notorious
:01:36. > :01:45.bottleneck. Businesses say that one accident could bring a big part of
:01:45. > :01:49.the region to a grinding halt. Tomorrow morning in the building
:01:49. > :01:51.behind me Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will
:01:51. > :02:00.announce �100 billion worth of infrastructure projects, and untold
:02:00. > :02:02.from sources that when he reads out that list the A14 will be on it. It
:02:02. > :02:08.will be a substantial investment, certainly enough to get the project
:02:08. > :02:13.started. What I can't confirm is whether that new stretch of road
:02:13. > :02:17.between Huntingdon and Cambridge will be a toll road or not. Up until
:02:17. > :02:20.now the expectation has been that it would be a toll road but Lib Dems
:02:20. > :02:26.have expressed opposition to the idea, similarly members of the
:02:26. > :02:31.haulage industry. I have heard rumours that the government has gone
:02:31. > :02:35.quite cold on that idea. We will find out in the morning, but it does
:02:35. > :02:38.seem that after many years of talking about making improvements to
:02:38. > :02:45.the A14 we will finally see something happen.
:02:45. > :02:50.So why now? I understand the Chancellor has told colleagues many
:02:50. > :02:55.times that it is top of his list of priorities. Two things have come
:02:55. > :02:59.together very nicely. Firstly, the Spending Review. The government is
:02:59. > :03:03.keen on infrastructure projects because it believes that getting
:03:03. > :03:07.people moving is good for the economy, but the government could
:03:07. > :03:13.never afford the scheme on its own. That is why it had to scrap the
:03:13. > :03:20.first scheme in 2010. It is said to businesses and local councils that
:03:20. > :03:25.they will need to pay as well, and this week local councils and local
:03:25. > :03:30.businesses have put forward hundreds of millions of pounds. Suddenly a
:03:30. > :03:36.scheme that appeared very expensive is now affordable.
:03:36. > :03:43.More now on why the road is so important to our region.
:03:43. > :03:49.It is the region's main economic artery. The A14 is clocked up and in
:03:49. > :03:55.desperate need of surgery. Tonight that treatment appears imminent. The
:03:55. > :04:00.road runs 127 miles from Felixstowe to the Midlands. It is at its most
:04:00. > :04:05.congested between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Up to 85,000 vehicles
:04:05. > :04:15.use the stretch daily, double what it was designed for. Delays here
:04:15. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:23.cost millions. Today interested parties put up �100 million to help
:04:23. > :04:30.upgrade the section. Local partnerships have given half of the
:04:30. > :04:37.money, �50 million to the part, and other authorities like Suffolk and
:04:37. > :04:41.Northampton. The help is conditional on the start of work by 2016. That
:04:41. > :04:47.may have persuaded government to take the plunge. Motorists were
:04:47. > :04:52.expecting a toll road. An extra road would be really good and if it ended
:04:52. > :04:58.up being a toll road then I would just have to cope with that. I use
:04:59. > :05:05.it quite a lot to go down to Suffolk, so if it is a toll road
:05:05. > :05:11.then I use the toll road on the M6 as well. I don't think it would help
:05:11. > :05:16.because it would just fill up. We need better public transport.
:05:16. > :05:21.Hauliers say a toll road would add to their costs, but they are waiting
:05:21. > :05:26.for the deal on the table tomorrow. We will have details of that
:05:26. > :05:36.announcement tomorrow on Look East. Today the Chancellor told councils
:05:36. > :05:41.that their budget would be cast by debt -- cut by 10%.
:05:41. > :05:47.Local councils are among today's big losers, with central government
:05:47. > :05:53.funding cut by 10% by 2015. Because they get money from other sources it
:05:53. > :06:00.is reckoned they will have to save on average 2.3%. That is still a big
:06:00. > :06:08.hit. As a sweetener the Chancellor has told them that they would freeze
:06:08. > :06:12.council tax. We are freezing council tax for the next two years. That is
:06:12. > :06:17.over �100 off the council tax bill for average families and brings
:06:17. > :06:22.savings to these families to �600 over this Parliament. Cuts do not
:06:22. > :06:30.come without costs. Thousands of jobs have been lost in local
:06:30. > :06:37.government. There've been 40,000 job losses in our region. It is causing
:06:37. > :06:47.further deterioration of services. This is getting out a key economic
:06:47. > :06:50.
:06:50. > :06:53.battle line in our region. If I can start with you, councils
:06:53. > :06:59.weren't expecting another tranche of cuts after the current Spending
:06:59. > :07:05.Review finished. Will this put a major strain on services? This is
:07:05. > :07:08.tough, but it is hardly unexpected. We have quite a long history of
:07:08. > :07:13.making savings, restructuring, sharing services and freezing
:07:13. > :07:18.council tax is before it was fashionable to do so so I think we
:07:18. > :07:26.will attempt to carry on doing what we do best. We have also invested
:07:26. > :07:33.heavily in our towns and villages. We will be looking for some of the
:07:33. > :07:43.infrastructure money. The money that we are talking about for 2015 is
:07:43. > :07:46.cuts of �1.7 million. Where will they come from? Very significant. We
:07:46. > :07:50.are working with the private sector, we're working with the County
:07:50. > :07:58.Council and others, National Health Service, to find new ways of facing
:07:58. > :08:02.it, new challenges and preserving our prosperity while fostering new
:08:02. > :08:12.growth. That is why we are looking for a better share of restructuring
:08:12. > :08:12.
:08:12. > :08:16.monies. Is it not true that these charges will go up? It is very
:08:16. > :08:19.important that we recognise that the secure part of the funding we get
:08:19. > :08:24.from national government is getting smaller and smaller so the rest of
:08:24. > :08:31.the money that we need to find, we need to look at different ways to
:08:31. > :08:35.raise them. Car parks, investments, much riskier ways. They are asking
:08:35. > :08:38.us to look at riskier ways to account for the shortfall while
:08:38. > :08:43.telling us not to have larger reserves, which she needed to
:08:43. > :08:48.mitigate risks. If we look at car parks and business rates and council
:08:48. > :08:53.tax, the money we will need to make that shortfall up is coming from
:08:53. > :09:01.local people, people who've been harmed by welfare reform. We have
:09:01. > :09:05.real issue. The government says the 10% figure equates to 2.3% for local
:09:05. > :09:14.councils. The private sector finds those savings every year, doesn't
:09:14. > :09:19.it? We have found �12 million of savings, one third of our spend,
:09:19. > :09:24.which we have done through establishing joint ventures, working
:09:24. > :09:30.with the County Council... We have looked at every possible way we can
:09:30. > :09:33.to make the savings. We have to make 2 million next year, 2 million the
:09:33. > :09:37.year after and 2 million the year after that, that was before the
:09:37. > :09:42.announcement today. We can do it, but we have to be more
:09:42. > :09:48.entrepreneurial and innovative. I am concerned about the people of
:09:48. > :09:54.Norwich, I do not want them to suffer. Can you guarantee that vital
:09:54. > :09:58.services will be protected? Will do everything we can to do that, and
:09:58. > :10:03.the truth is we are all facing reality. We are doing everything we
:10:03. > :10:09.can to detect the prosperity of this part of the world. Thank you both
:10:09. > :10:12.very much. The directors of a troubled
:10:12. > :10:17.Ambulance Trust are refusing to resign despite pressure from many of
:10:17. > :10:22.the region's MPs. Two years ago a scathing report was published into
:10:22. > :10:29.the way the East of England Ambulance Trust was being run. That
:10:29. > :10:37.led to two of our MPs to write to these five people demanding that
:10:37. > :10:46.they resign immediately. So far just one of the five has stepped down or
:10:46. > :10:55.stop -- have stepped down. You had the executives, the chief
:10:55. > :11:00.executives, the medical director and then you had the non-executives,
:11:00. > :11:04.part-time, which paid around �6,000 a year. They are there to be
:11:04. > :11:10.independent and scrutinise the management is necessary. The
:11:10. > :11:15.criticism that has rained down on the board, they have taken a lot of
:11:15. > :11:25.flak. Two of the board's nonexecutive directors turned up for
:11:25. > :11:31.the meeting today. Neither intended to quit. Both played a part in the
:11:31. > :11:39.discussions in the public sessions. They intended to improve
:11:39. > :11:43.performance, response times and delays. The meeting was told that
:11:43. > :11:49.nonexecutive director Caroline Bailes was stepping down due to
:11:49. > :11:54.other work commitments. Her period in office was Jude ends next month.
:11:54. > :11:57.The position of these part-time directors is not the key issue.
:11:57. > :12:03.is my priority to review the leadership of the Trust. I think
:12:03. > :12:08.discussions about individuals should be conducted with individuals, but
:12:08. > :12:10.my focus will continue to be on ensuring we have the best high
:12:10. > :12:17.quality leadership for the organisation and stay focused for
:12:17. > :12:25.delivery. That is what matters to patients and communities, having a
:12:25. > :12:33.safe, high-quality and sustainable Ambulance Service. This man is
:12:33. > :12:38.critical of some of the criticisms from the region's MPs. There been a
:12:38. > :12:42.lot of political criticism of the Trust. I have tried to engage in the
:12:42. > :12:47.criticisms but they have been and willing to meet me. They have plenty
:12:47. > :12:55.of time to talk to the press. I don't recognise as some of the
:12:55. > :12:59.things that they see, which I am aware are undermining public
:12:59. > :13:07.confidence. The message for the MPs tonight is that one resignation is
:13:07. > :13:10.not enough. I do not see how a Trust can continue through this period of
:13:10. > :13:14.reform with these particular individuals in place. They were
:13:14. > :13:19.culpable for much of the damage that took place in the Trust over
:13:19. > :13:26.previous years when the Trust was failing and they added no value then
:13:26. > :13:31.and I don't see how they can add it to going forward. Everyone accepts
:13:31. > :13:39.there is a long way to go. I talked to the two nonexecutive directors
:13:39. > :13:45.off-camera, both of whom were very experienced in the NHS. Both felt
:13:45. > :13:50.there was a lot of work to be done and wanted to be part of it. As for
:13:50. > :13:55.quitting and doing the decent thing, Mr Barlow said he didn't join this
:13:55. > :13:59.organisation to walk away when the going gets tough.
:13:59. > :14:04.Seven men have been charged with fraud related offences alleged to
:14:04. > :14:06.have been committed against elderly and vulnerable victims. They
:14:06. > :14:16.appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court today after
:14:16. > :14:18.
:14:18. > :14:26.were suddenly made uncooled by Tony Blair.
:14:26. > :14:33.And a very happy birthday at 92 that chatter and her amazing garden. --
:14:33. > :14:39.at 90 two Beth Chatto. Around 40,000 people went to the
:14:39. > :14:44.Royal Norfolk Show today, proof, say its fans, that traditional county
:14:44. > :14:47.shows can continue to pull in the punters. But all is not rosy. The
:14:47. > :14:54.East of England Show at Peterborough had to call it a day last year
:14:54. > :14:59.ending a 200 year history. Let's put the Norfolk show in context. It is
:14:59. > :15:02.one of six Royal county shows across the country. It is one of 200 shows
:15:02. > :15:12.across the country and the umbrella group says that number is roughly
:15:12. > :15:12.
:15:12. > :15:15.stable. Last year was grim. 34 shows cancelled because of bad weather.
:15:15. > :15:24.Every one is back on this year. What is the mood like on the Norfolk
:15:24. > :15:29.Showground? Music and the military. Two key
:15:29. > :15:34.elements of the Royal Norfolk Show. Prince Michael of Kent inspected the
:15:34. > :15:40.troops as a tribute to Norfolk's military. The show was first held in
:15:40. > :15:47.1847. Today it costs �1 million to put on and aims to break even.
:15:47. > :15:53.Organisers say getting the chemistry right is important. Keeping the
:15:53. > :16:02.balance right, we say we have some big everyone here and I think that
:16:02. > :16:05.is true. The East of England Show in Peterborough has now closed.
:16:05. > :16:14.Organisers said it had become disconnected from its agricultural
:16:14. > :16:18.roots. But this presenter says agricultural shows do have a future.
:16:18. > :16:22.The horse meat scandal really made me take stock and think, I need to
:16:22. > :16:29.feed my family for the money that I have but I need to know where the
:16:29. > :16:37.meat comes from. It is about British things, home-made food, baking,
:16:37. > :16:43.understanding where our food comes from. On average, the show attracts
:16:43. > :16:48.95,000 people over two days. A family ticket costs �50. Not cheap,
:16:48. > :16:55.but the people we spoke to said it was worth it. Lots of animals, lots
:16:56. > :17:01.of food. It is a nice day out and you can bring all the family.
:17:01. > :17:05.a good country show. Here they believe agriculture and everything
:17:05. > :17:10.that goes with it is still the key to success, but people also want
:17:10. > :17:18.thrills and spills. The organisers at the Royal Norfolk believe they
:17:18. > :17:22.have the balance right. There will be full coverage of the
:17:22. > :17:28.second day of the show tomorrow on BBC Radio Norfolk on the breakfast
:17:28. > :17:35.show at 6:30am. I went to the show today. I went really early, get
:17:35. > :17:39.there early, and I did not want to leave the food hall. There is so
:17:39. > :17:46.much free stuff. Don't eat before you go.
:17:46. > :17:53.Sample! In the world of horticulture, gardeners say that one
:17:53. > :17:58.name towers above all others: Beth Chatto. She has blazed a trail,
:17:58. > :18:04.growing unfashionable plants in the toughest of conditions. Tomorrow she
:18:04. > :18:09.turns 90, a grand age she says she never thought she would reach.
:18:09. > :18:19.They are gardens like no other. Gardens that have made Beth Chatto
:18:19. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:30.this was little more than an overgrown wasteland. It was the
:18:30. > :18:37.vision of Beth Chatto that transformed it into the oasis you
:18:37. > :18:43.see today. Her philosophy is very simple. It can be summed up as right
:18:43. > :18:51.plants in the right place. Yes, the right plant in the right place means
:18:51. > :18:59.it is adapted. When you started out did you have any idea it would turn
:18:59. > :19:04.out like this? No, not at all. If I have done anything with my life, I
:19:04. > :19:10.hope I have helped other people to cope with difficult problems.
:19:10. > :19:20.late husband's knowledge of plants inspired her to proceed all
:19:20. > :19:21.
:19:21. > :19:28.writings. -- varieties. You are clearly very hands-on still. There
:19:28. > :19:33.is always editing to be done. A garden is never finished. It is not
:19:33. > :19:43.only choosing the plants but putting them together, and that is one of
:19:43. > :19:43.
:19:43. > :19:49.the many skills. She is very, very highly regarded. Her unusual plants
:19:49. > :19:53.on her ten consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea flower show. In the
:19:53. > :19:59.nursery the flowers are sold, not by variety but by their growing
:19:59. > :20:05.conditions. She sees gardening not just as her passion but as a unifier
:20:05. > :20:15.of people the world over. If only gardeners could be politicians. I
:20:15. > :20:20.
:20:20. > :20:26.feel that we would be speaking the is amazing, isn't she? You can hear
:20:26. > :20:30.more from her in an extended interview on BBC Essex tomorrow
:20:31. > :20:40.morning from 6am. One of the region's best-known bands
:20:41. > :20:48.
:20:48. > :20:57.is celebrating 20 years in the business. Ezio have sold hundreds of
:20:57. > :21:05.thousands of albums worldwide. Seven studio albums, four live
:21:05. > :21:13.albums. In total over 250,000 sales. They have toured the world. It has
:21:14. > :21:18.been fun. The most fun we've had has been in the last 20 years. What we
:21:18. > :21:26.are is what we are getting away with. I didn't think about it until
:21:26. > :21:30.the other day, but 20 years is amazing. They have even had a
:21:30. > :21:34.celebrity endorsements. Tony Blair chose them on Desert Island discs.
:21:34. > :21:41.You would have thought they would be pleased.
:21:41. > :21:47.What record would you play now? is a record I played when I first
:21:47. > :21:52.became leader. I used to play at on Wednesday before Prime Minister 's
:21:53. > :21:57.questions came along. Up until that point we were
:21:57. > :22:07.considered very cool and then we became uncool. It is one of those
:22:07. > :22:07.
:22:07. > :22:14.things. It is in pubs and clubs like this one that Ezio first came to the
:22:14. > :22:24.public consciousness. We are the second most popular band in Germany
:22:24. > :22:29.
:22:29. > :22:32.after Hoffman. They continue to run open mike nights. 20 years hasn't
:22:32. > :22:37.dulled their enthusiasm, it hasn't dulled their music. It certainly
:22:37. > :22:45.hasn't dulled their banter. I would consider myself to be the brains,
:22:45. > :22:54.you would be the brawn. I would bring sex appeal to the whole
:22:54. > :23:04.equation. Yeah, he is the sexy one. I think they are pretty cool. No-one
:23:04. > :23:11.
:23:11. > :23:17.wants to be liked by, David. -- in a number of locations today, but
:23:17. > :23:20.then it started to turn cloudy. There is quite a large area of cloud
:23:20. > :23:28.in the North East which is moved down and I think that will bring
:23:28. > :23:33.showery rain. The showers are moving south eastwards, so we will see them
:23:33. > :23:37.in Norfolk and Suffolk, as far down as Essex. Later in the night it will
:23:37. > :23:42.turn really quite cloudy with some chances of showery rain. It
:23:42. > :23:50.shouldn't amount to very much but the temperatures should stay in
:23:50. > :23:56.double figures. In some areas it may be as low as nine Celsius. Into
:23:56. > :24:00.tomorrow, if you are heading to the Royal Norfolk Show tomorrow, it
:24:00. > :24:07.should stay dry. It will be cloudy throughout the day, but for much of
:24:07. > :24:12.the region a dry day. We may see some brightness, some sunshine first
:24:12. > :24:18.thing, but I think the cloud will gradually start to thicken from the
:24:18. > :24:28.West. There will be some isolated showers but more cloud around
:24:28. > :24:35.tomorrow, 19 will be the top temperature. The wind will be a
:24:35. > :24:43.moderate north-westerly. That rain doesn't get too many of us. -- too
:24:43. > :24:49.many of us. A lot of this rain will be lightened patchy -- liked and
:24:49. > :24:54.patchy, and we will all see some. The reason is this weather system
:24:54. > :24:58.coming in off the Atlantic. It will bring some rain on Friday, but it
:24:58. > :25:05.will clear and a ridge of high pressure moves in behind. That
:25:05. > :25:08.brings better prospects for the weekend. Here is our next four days.
:25:08. > :25:14.There are some cloud around, that will have an impact on the
:25:14. > :25:18.temperature, but it should stay dry until later. It will be fairly damp
:25:18. > :25:23.for Friday, a lot of cloud around and are starting to feel quite humid
:25:23. > :25:25.by the evening. With the cloud I think it will affect the
:25:25. > :25:30.temperatures and they will be several degrees cooler than
:25:30. > :25:39.elsewhere, but by the weekend I'm expecting a lot of dry, bright
:25:39. > :25:43.weather and a humid fealty things. Overnight -- humid feel to things.
:25:43. > :25:48.It should clear by the weekend. We will hold you to that on the
:25:48. > :25:54.weekend. Let's return to the government's
:25:54. > :25:58.Spending Review. Clearly the announcement is a big one, but there
:25:58. > :26:03.is good news for science funding. Budgets are being cut all over the
:26:03. > :26:07.place today. The Chancellor said he is freezing the science budget,
:26:07. > :26:13.which is very good news. He also said he is increasing the capital
:26:13. > :26:16.budget for science by more than �1 billion. People are saying that a
:26:16. > :26:22.lot of that money will come to Norwich and Cambridge to help fund
:26:22. > :26:32.new buildings and equipment for people who work in the field of
:26:32. > :26:33.
:26:33. > :26:37.biometrics. Investment in science is an investment in our future, so from
:26:37. > :26:42.cutting-edge supercomputers to a new generation of jet engines we see
:26:42. > :26:46.that this country will back you all the way. This is good news for our
:26:46. > :26:52.region. A lot of that money will find its way to creating jobs and
:26:52. > :26:55.growth which will help our economy, so it is a very sensible investment.
:26:55. > :27:00.We will find out exactly how our region will be affected by the
:27:00. > :27:08.Spending Review in the weeks and months to come. One thing that did
:27:08. > :27:11.jump out at me was the very large cuts in funding for local councils.
:27:11. > :27:17.They will need to be more inventive in the future about how they raise
:27:17. > :27:22.money. Regional arts funding is going to be cut, spots funding as
:27:22. > :27:25.well, and if you are watching this programme in Spain or Portugal you
:27:25. > :27:32.will lose your winter fuel allowance. The big announcement
:27:32. > :27:35.comes tomorrow, the infrastructure spending. We know we are getting the
:27:35. > :27:40.A14, there are lots of projects for our region as well. Will any of