:00:14. > :00:20.Hello and welcome to a special edition of Look East, live from the
:00:20. > :00:29.A14 on the day the government announced plans for a new toll road,
:00:29. > :00:35.right here. It is part of a £1.5 billion project which will also mean
:00:35. > :00:39.improvements to the A1. But crucially, through traffic will not
:00:39. > :00:46.be able to use the old the A14. Also in the programme, I am out on
:00:46. > :00:51.the route that the new toll road will take, six lanes of traffic will
:00:51. > :00:54.cut through this part of the countryside.
:00:54. > :00:56.And I will have a round—up of the rest of the day's news, including
:00:56. > :01:01.network rail pleading guilty to health and safety breaches after a
:01:01. > :01:14.member of staff dies fixing overhead power lines.
:01:14. > :01:19.If you have ever used this road, you will see that traffic is moving OK
:01:19. > :01:24.this evening. You can be bumper to heal gay all the way up this stretch
:01:24. > :01:29.of road, it can take a lot of time to come up here. —— on part two
:01:29. > :01:32.tailgate. Just to give you a quick bit of geography, the St Ives
:01:32. > :01:43.junction is just there. Felixstowe lies in that direction. Behind the
:01:43. > :01:47.camera, you will find Huntingdon and Northants incher and the Midlands.
:01:47. > :01:52.We are here because the government has announced plans for this road.
:01:52. > :01:55.The plans are expensive, they're ambitious. And already they're
:01:55. > :01:59.proving controversial. The existing road heads north west from Cambridge
:01:59. > :02:05.towards Huntingdon. That will change. This road will head
:02:05. > :02:15.cross—country and will not rejoin the A14 until Hillingdon. —— LE
:02:15. > :02:20.didn't. Many thought that drivers would still be able to use the old
:02:20. > :02:25.road, but the government will remove a crucial road bridge across the
:02:25. > :02:30.railway here, forcing cars onto the toll road. As part of the package
:02:30. > :02:35.there will also be improvements to the A14 and the A1. No, the
:02:35. > :02:41.timetable. The government is consulting on plans until October
:02:41. > :02:49.2013. It will confirm the route in late 2013. If all goes to plan, work
:02:49. > :02:57.will start in 2016, and be complete within three or four years. Finally,
:02:57. > :03:05.the tolls. The proposals here, £1 or £1 50 per car and double that for
:03:05. > :03:11.lorries. Already people are calling —— talking about rat runs and we are
:03:11. > :03:17.on a bridge where one of those rat runs will go. People who come here
:03:17. > :03:26.to avoid paying the tall and go back onto the A1 that way. We are already
:03:26. > :03:32.giving lots of opposition. I'm at Offord Hill Farm, and in seven years
:03:32. > :03:39.time this field is set to be the new A14 toll road. The theory will be
:03:39. > :03:42.gone. —— the greenery will be gone. Three lanes of traffic in each
:03:43. > :03:46.direction, they'll run from junction 28 of the existing A14 at Swavesey.
:03:46. > :03:51.About eight miles in that direction, through to Ellington which is about
:03:51. > :03:58.four miles over there. And that is where the road will join up with the
:03:58. > :04:01.A1, which you might just be able to see in the distance. The A1 will
:04:01. > :04:10.also need widening there to cope with the extra traffic. Mike
:04:10. > :04:16.Cartwright has the details. This woman's family has farmed the for
:04:16. > :04:21.more than 60 years. This hedge just 60 metres from her house is where
:04:21. > :04:26.the toll road will go. The traffic in the glare from street lights in
:04:26. > :04:32.the landscape she loves will be ripped in two. Terrible. It is going
:04:32. > :04:40.to cut the farm in half, we have lived here since 1952. It is awful.
:04:40. > :04:44.It makes you want to cry. I am sure there are other places they could
:04:44. > :04:49.put it. There are many roads between here and Cambridge that they could
:04:49. > :04:55.take and add another lean on to. In Huntingdon this flyover carries
:04:55. > :05:02.traffic. There are plans to put it down, and then rewrote local traffic
:05:02. > :05:07.through the town. If they drop the bridge it will be good because it
:05:07. > :05:15.will bring a local traffic into town. Good for business.It is good
:05:15. > :05:19.for traffic if they will stop. In St Ives there is fear of more
:05:19. > :05:25.congestion if people search for ways to beat the tall. The RC seeing you
:05:25. > :05:29.must use the toll road unless you want to beat the traffic. It could
:05:30. > :05:38.be a bad thing, traffic is bad in the morning. The A14 gets really
:05:38. > :05:46.jammed. We are on the A1, you join the new road here in Buxton and
:05:46. > :05:52.joined the the A14 that way. It will go past Helton had to Swayze. One MP
:05:52. > :05:57.said it is the wrong solution. I do not think it is the right way to go.
:05:57. > :06:03.We must control the costs of this project, and deliver improvements on
:06:03. > :06:09.what we currently have. We should try and fit more on the real ways
:06:09. > :06:13.rather than the roads. If the toll road comes, this landscape could
:06:13. > :06:23.change forever. Most people agree that something must be done to fix
:06:23. > :06:28.the A14. For people in these villages, this new road is not about
:06:28. > :06:34.improving the economy or journey times, it is about how it impacts on
:06:34. > :06:39.their lives. Many are worried that the mere mention of this route today
:06:39. > :06:47.is enough to wait a large chunk off the value of their homes.
:06:48. > :06:52.Janine thank you very much. When the heavy vehicle goes over this bridge
:06:52. > :06:57.it wobbles. About 85,000 vehicles use this section of the A14 every
:06:57. > :07:00.day. Now on a normal road you would expect about one in ten of those
:07:00. > :07:04.vehicles to be an HGV. But on the A14 it is one in four. A reminder
:07:04. > :07:08.that this road is a major artery between the port at Felixstowe and
:07:08. > :07:10.the Midlands. So what do hauliers and businesses make of the plan?
:07:10. > :07:25.Here is our business correspondent Richard Bond. This man set up his
:07:25. > :07:32.transport company 25 years ago. It has 200 lorries, 150 of them working
:07:32. > :07:38.out of Felixstowe. They want in a 14 upgrade but deplore the idea of a
:07:38. > :07:44.toll. They are indicating a toll of around three or £4. Each journey,
:07:44. > :07:53.given that we carry out 150 journeys per day, that is going to be 250, or
:07:53. > :07:59.£200,000 per year. What will that be in five years time? Huge costs.
:07:59. > :08:09.Felixstowe as the UK's biggest port. It is a cornerstone of the economy.
:08:09. > :08:13.We feel that this will be a tax on Suffolk, and in town it will be a
:08:13. > :08:20.tax on UK plc by taxing the significant ports that come through
:08:20. > :08:25.Felixstowe. But you want the the A14 to be improved. Shouldn't hauliers
:08:25. > :08:29.tip into the cost? We have already paid for our road network through
:08:29. > :08:35.the taxes we pay already. Piling another tax on top of that business
:08:35. > :08:40.is no way to go about it. However unpopular road tolls are, they are
:08:40. > :08:44.an essential part of the business case for the new road according to
:08:44. > :08:50.the highways agency. New road tolls, no new road. The Treasury
:08:50. > :08:54.will not pay for the entire scheme, they are providing most of the money
:08:54. > :08:58.but believe that road users should contribute, too. There is support
:08:58. > :09:04.for this view in the business community. We cannot ultimately
:09:04. > :09:10.leave the A14 in the situation it is in at the moment. We must have the
:09:10. > :09:14.solution. From the business perspective I would hope that they
:09:14. > :09:19.would support a small level of the in order to get the A14 improvements
:09:19. > :09:23.underway. If there is one thing this region needs it is better
:09:23. > :09:29.infrastructure. The A14 upgrade would deliver that. Subtle colliers
:09:29. > :09:31.and see it should not be at the expense.
:09:31. > :09:37.So opposition from people who live near the new route. Concern from
:09:37. > :09:42.people in business. Opposition too from some hauliers. Plenty to put to
:09:43. > :09:47.the roads minister, Stephen Hammond. And when I spoke to him from the
:09:47. > :09:51.studio early today I started by asking him about the decision to
:09:51. > :09:55.make this a toll road. What we have always said as a government is that
:09:55. > :09:58.we are always prepared to look at polling as a way to make sure we can
:09:58. > :10:01.build a new and improved infrastructure. This is the biggest
:10:01. > :10:08.single project that the highways agency will be updated —— will be
:10:08. > :10:16.undertaking in 2020. There is already local support for this from
:10:16. > :10:21.the local county council. The AA said that asking drivers to pay to
:10:21. > :10:26.use the A14 with no alternative rewrote is a double whammy, many
:10:26. > :10:31.drivers see the tolling proposals as the thin edge of the wedge, a Trojan
:10:31. > :10:38.horse to introduce wider calling. There is no intention to tall
:10:39. > :10:44.existing infrastructure. But it might be that you will build future
:10:44. > :10:50.roads using tolls. We have always said that. The A14 is an example of
:10:51. > :10:56.this. We are not ruling it in or out. But you always said there would
:10:56. > :11:01.be an alternative, but there isn't. There are alternatives for locals,
:11:01. > :11:09.there is an alternative on the a fortune eight onto the A1. How much
:11:09. > :11:16.will the ride etc put into this? There is no final decision. —— how
:11:16. > :11:23.much will the private sector put into this? The central government is
:11:23. > :11:27.putting 1.5 billion into this. That will not stretch, you will
:11:27. > :11:33.presumably expect the private sector to fill the overspend. I am not
:11:33. > :11:38.expecting any overspend, and I will not prejudice any relationship
:11:38. > :11:44.caused by the split in costs between public and private sectors. In ——
:11:44. > :11:50.are you concerned that by having this toll road on a public route
:11:50. > :11:54.that you will take away traffic from the port of Felixstowe? This will be
:11:54. > :11:59.huge for Felixstowe in terms of access, far from taking away it will
:11:59. > :12:05.accentuate the virtues of Felixstowe as a port. If you do hear strong
:12:05. > :12:10.opposition from local people, you will listen? That is why we are
:12:10. > :12:19.having this consultation. Thank you very much. Later in the programme we
:12:19. > :12:24.will hear some more of your views, we will also hear what local MPs
:12:24. > :12:29.have been saying about this idea of the toll road. Let's catch up with
:12:29. > :12:34.more of the news from where you live.
:12:34. > :12:37.Hello. Network Rail has admitted breaching health and safety
:12:37. > :12:42.regulations following the death of one its workers in Essex. Malcolm
:12:42. > :12:51.Slater, who was 64, died in 2008 when the aerial platform he was
:12:51. > :12:57.working on sheared off. Real workers repairing overhead
:12:57. > :13:00.power lines, it was while doing this type of work on the Norwich to
:13:00. > :13:05.London rail line in Essex that Malcolm Slater was fatally injured.
:13:05. > :13:10.In June 2008 he and two colleagues were working at height in a basket
:13:10. > :13:17.welded to a hydraulic arm. The will field, sending the men plummeting 15
:13:17. > :13:22.feet onto the track below. Malcolm Slater died from head and spinal
:13:22. > :13:27.injuries. Today, network rail admitted breaching health and safety
:13:27. > :13:31.regulations. The court heard that there was a 350 kilograms weight
:13:31. > :13:36.limit for the hydraulic basket, but on the day before the accident it
:13:36. > :13:42.had been repeatedly overloaded by up to 100 kilograms. Nor was this the
:13:42. > :13:46.first time that overloading of these baskets had been reported. In
:13:46. > :13:51.addition, the alarm on the vehicle which warned of overloading had been
:13:51. > :13:56.muted. Network rail have expressed their regret at the death of Mr
:13:56. > :14:01.Slater and the entities sustained by his two colleagues. They refused it
:14:01. > :14:05.claims that the platform had been used as a crane but they failed to
:14:05. > :14:09.address overloading in normal use. They will be sentenced tomorrow.
:14:09. > :14:12.One of the country's biggest private care providers has apologised after
:14:12. > :14:16.a hundred people in Norfolk criticised its standard of care. In
:14:16. > :14:19.the summer, "Care UK" took over the County Council's contract.. To
:14:19. > :14:28.provide care to the elderly and vulnerable in their own homes.
:14:28. > :14:38.Carers UK senior managers travelled to Norfolk to defend themselves on
:14:38. > :14:42.BBC UK —— BBC Norfolk radio. My main reaction is just absolute
:14:42. > :14:47.disappointment. We have reached this kind of level, and we have given
:14:47. > :14:52.people the reason to complain. It is important that we apologise when
:14:52. > :14:56.things go wrong. The reasons they go wrong can be varied, but it is
:14:56. > :15:00.important that we apologise and say that we are not happy that this
:15:00. > :15:04.situation has happened. Roger Hagley is among those who have complained
:15:04. > :15:10.about medication is not being given. Born with cerebral palsy devalues
:15:10. > :15:14.his independence but says that the excellent care he received for 23
:15:14. > :15:20.years all changed when carers UK took over in July. You cannot have
:15:20. > :15:24.the same independence because you do not know what time the carers are
:15:24. > :15:29.coming in. No disrespect to the carers, they are good people, but
:15:29. > :15:34.you do not know what time the coming in and that change. Today, BBC radio
:15:34. > :15:41.Norfolk continued to receive complaints. There are too many
:15:41. > :15:45.issues to mention. I could go on all day. After the meeting with the
:15:45. > :15:50.company to make, the county council said that they will take action if
:15:50. > :15:54.they do not see rapid improvement. 120 part—time soldiers from the East
:15:54. > :15:58.have just returned from a training exercise in Croatia. With the army
:15:58. > :16:01.set to lose 20,000 regular soldiers, it needs reservists to fill the gap.
:16:01. > :16:05.In the first of three special reports our Defence reporter Alex
:16:05. > :16:24.Dunlop joined the Royal Anglian reservists near the town of Slunj.
:16:24. > :16:29.Call them weekend warriors and they will not thank you for it. For a
:16:29. > :16:38.fortnight in this wilderness these men are full—time soldiers. Men like
:16:38. > :16:44.William. Matthew. And Joseph. You learn to build up a family, you get
:16:44. > :16:48.out and do this kind of thing and you push yourself to the limit. The
:16:48. > :16:53.government wants more like William to do just that. The regular Army is
:16:53. > :16:59.set to shrink by one fifth, the hope is that there will be 30,000
:16:59. > :17:03.reservists by 2018. There are more benefits coming through that the
:17:03. > :17:08.army are offering reservists that were never there. I hope in the Army
:17:08. > :17:14.hope that this will encourage more services —— encourage more people to
:17:14. > :17:20.join. For an army looking to cut costs you may ask why there are
:17:20. > :17:24.people getting sent to Croatia for two weeks when we have training in
:17:24. > :17:28.the UK. The answer is immersion. Immersion in a different country and
:17:28. > :17:34.culture. The town of Slunj still bears the scars of the Civil War of
:17:34. > :17:38.the early 90s. Mayfield and memorials to dead soldiers are sober
:17:38. > :17:43.look —— sober remainders to soldiers. There will be less
:17:43. > :17:47.fighting in Afghanistan. Will people be less inclined to join the
:17:47. > :17:53.reserves? I have no doubt that we have a generation of soldiers at the
:17:53. > :17:57.moment whose primary aim was to join to be on operations. My job as the
:17:57. > :18:02.commanding officer is to identify the hooks to keep people in the
:18:02. > :18:06.reserves in the future. Exercises such as this offer adventure and the
:18:06. > :18:12.opportunity to progress their reserve carriers. Certainly, the
:18:12. > :18:18.novelty of training alongside Croatian soldiers is a draw for
:18:18. > :18:26.local reservists. This is the first time. It is, if you have made us
:18:26. > :18:31.very welcome. Awesome. Poll, who works at Stansted airport, is proud
:18:31. > :18:37.to be part of the first British military units to train in Croatia.
:18:37. > :18:43.I can take back general confidence, I will be a more rounded person.
:18:43. > :18:50.Better time management. When the enemy is in front of you, do not get
:18:50. > :18:53.focused on him. The Anglicans enjoy strong local royalty across the
:18:53. > :18:59.eastern region, but it is sobering that, 2020, more than one in three
:18:59. > :19:03.soldiers will be a part timer. Tonight our sister programme Inside
:19:03. > :19:06.Out will be revealing the state of the region's sewers It includes
:19:06. > :19:10.footage of the deposits of fat clogging the system. Two years ago
:19:10. > :19:13.the watchdog Ofwat gave Anglian Water until 2015 to improve the
:19:13. > :19:18.network. But its latest performance report says it is falling behind.
:19:18. > :19:25.One of the main problems the company faces is these so—called 'Fatbergs'
:19:25. > :19:35.which have built up in the sewers. Back to Stewart on the A14.
:19:35. > :19:39.Welcome back to the A14 in Cambridgeshire. Just a quick
:19:39. > :19:43.reminder of why we are here. Today the government announced plans for
:19:43. > :19:49.part of the A14 to become a toll road. The new stretch will run for
:19:49. > :19:53.some 12 miles between the Swavesey junction and Ellington. As part of
:19:53. > :19:56.the package there would also be improvements to the existing A14 and
:19:56. > :20:01.the A1, all at a cost of £1.5 billion. Let's talk to her political
:20:01. > :20:08.correspondence, Andrew Sinclair. This has been a years in coming. I
:20:08. > :20:12.was talking to Andrew Lansley who reminded me that when he first
:20:12. > :20:18.became a Kim Butcher MP in 1987 he talked about improving the A14 in
:20:18. > :20:23.his maiden speech. The campaign had been going on for that. There are
:20:23. > :20:26.two problems, the first is that Kim Butcher is growing, the roads are
:20:26. > :20:36.very congested. —— Cambridgeshire is growing. Traffic will increase by 20
:20:36. > :20:40.or 25%. But it is so expensive to do something that previous plans have
:20:40. > :20:46.failed. The government says that things will be different, they have
:20:46. > :20:51.a big and bold plan. This is one of the problems that people have, they
:20:51. > :20:56.will have two use the road and pay for it. A new precedent has been
:20:56. > :21:00.set, if you look at the other pole road in the country, the M6, you can
:21:00. > :21:04.either choose to pay to go on it or go up the old insects. Here they are
:21:04. > :21:10.taking daily bread so the obvious alternative is gone. There will be
:21:10. > :21:14.other alternatives, but the government has admitted that they
:21:14. > :21:21.want as many people as possible using this new toll road. That has
:21:21. > :21:25.made a few MPs jumping. The Suffolk MP is worried about what this will
:21:25. > :21:32.do to the future of Felixstowe port. Most MPs, their reaction is that
:21:32. > :21:37.they do not want to have a toll road but it is the best thing. Thank you
:21:37. > :21:43.very much indeed. Let's get more of your reaction.
:21:43. > :21:48.Thanks, Stewart. We've already heard how people living close to the route
:21:48. > :21:52.of the new road feel. Hauliers too. But of course the A14 runs right
:21:52. > :21:55.through this region. And it affects anyone heading to and from the
:21:55. > :21:58.Midlands. So we asked our Suffolk reporter Kevin Burch to gauge
:21:58. > :22:06.opinion 50—odd miles east of here in Bury St Edmunds. But a Saint Edmunds
:22:06. > :22:12.is packed with personally. There is something around every corner. One
:22:12. > :22:16.of the constant is the A14. It rumbles relentlessly. It is the
:22:16. > :22:20.highway that never sleeps, except of course when it is gridlocked. It is
:22:20. > :22:27.frustration over constant hold—ups that has fuelled fears lobbying for
:22:27. > :22:37.an the A14 upgrade from the business community. At this special was
:22:37. > :22:43.printing firm in Bury Saint Edmunds, they operate here and abroad by the
:22:43. > :22:48.£10 million annual turnover and they say the idea of a toll road on a key
:22:48. > :22:53.route is an outrage. Build a new road, yes, but paying for it in
:22:53. > :22:59.addition to what we already pay, that is bad for all commercial
:22:59. > :23:03.enterprises. This man chairs the local Chamber of Commerce. He
:23:03. > :23:07.believes that this will appeal local firms when they are helping to drive
:23:07. > :23:13.the economy forward. Anything that improves the road is good news to
:23:13. > :23:18.the area, but when you put additional costs on you can see
:23:18. > :23:20.where they end up. They end up with the consumer. Use our taxes to
:23:20. > :23:28.improve the road. I would pay to go through, I don't
:23:28. > :23:33.mind. To put a toll on the existing road seems like lunacy. Will they
:23:33. > :23:40.get any tax advantage for contributing? I think not. Will you
:23:40. > :23:46.pay the toll or would you look for another route? Green man —— I am a
:23:46. > :23:51.white van man, I will find a route around it. The government say they
:23:51. > :23:59.are keen to hear what people think about the idea.
:23:59. > :24:03.Kevin Burch there with some views from Bury St Edmunds. And we're keen
:24:03. > :24:07.to hear your stories on this subject. We've already had a big
:24:07. > :24:11.response — overwhelmingly negative so far. Just a quick flavour
:24:11. > :24:15.tonight: Jonathan Bowman on Facebook predicts thousands of cars and
:24:15. > :24:19.lorries will use side roads to avoid the tolls. And Dougie Richmond
:24:19. > :24:24.accuses the government of neglecting East Anglia. Would they toll the
:24:24. > :24:28.M25, he asks. Thank you very much for your comments. You can get in
:24:29. > :24:36.touch in the usual way And do remember to leave us a contact
:24:36. > :24:44.telephone number. Just before we came on air, the
:24:44. > :24:46.skies opened but the sun is out and it is pleasant. Let's catch up with
:24:46. > :24:55.the weather. We have sunshine and showers, two,
:24:55. > :25:01.the main area of rain heading into the North Sea. Some of these showers
:25:01. > :25:08.are heavy and Sunday. The risk of showers head into the evening. ——
:25:08. > :25:15.heavy and sundry. Or many of us it will become dry, but we will have a
:25:15. > :25:20.warm spot under clear skies and we could see a chilly eight degrees.
:25:20. > :25:24.The wind is settling towards the north—west and picking up on the
:25:24. > :25:28.north Norfolk coast. Tomorrow we have low pressure in the north—east
:25:28. > :25:33.with the weather front draped around it, that brings wet and windy
:25:33. > :25:39.weather to some of us. From the word go we are expecting some heavy and
:25:39. > :25:42.sundry showers, we could see some brightness and sunshine coming
:25:42. > :25:48.through. Then a more organised band of rain pushing westward. The
:25:48. > :25:53.heaviest rain is expected in North Norfolk, where we could see 20
:25:53. > :25:59.millimetres of rain, nearly an inch. We will see this this evening and
:25:59. > :26:03.overnight. As well as heavy rain we are expecting strong to deal force
:26:03. > :26:07.winds around parts of the course tomorrow, the strongest winds
:26:07. > :26:15.expected in the north Norfolk coast with gusts of 45 to 50 mph. A call
:26:15. > :26:21.day for some of us, highs of around 11 degrees. That is around 10
:26:21. > :26:25.degrees below average for this time of year. Into the evening we expect
:26:25. > :26:35.the rain to go further westwards before it retreats to the east. The
:26:36. > :26:40.rain might go to some western parts and others will remain completely
:26:40. > :26:45.dry. There will be when the weather and on Wednesday the last of the
:26:45. > :26:51.weather will clear the east and we can see a try and brighter slot, but
:26:51. > :26:54.another area of rainbow push down from the north—west later in the
:26:54. > :26:59.day, on Wednesday. Firstly looks fine and dry with some brightness
:26:59. > :27:03.and perhaps some sunshine, but on Friday a return to cloudy conditions
:27:03. > :27:09.with further outbreaks of rain. A humid feeling day on Friday. Does
:27:09. > :27:16.before I go, these are your overnight lows.
:27:16. > :27:20.Thank you very much indeed. As you stand here, you get a constant
:27:20. > :27:27.rumble of heavy goods vehicles coming up and down this road, it
:27:27. > :27:31.goes on and on. When the new road is built the junction will be just down
:27:31. > :27:36.the road there, couple of miles. Then we can look forward in seven
:27:36. > :27:40.years time in 2020 two This Rd being almost empty. That is a long way
:27:40. > :27:40.away. From hollows, good night.