:00:08. > :00:14.Welcome to Look East. Tonight. All change on wind turbines. More
:00:15. > :00:18.government cash for offshore, but less onshore. So where does that
:00:19. > :00:26.leave the region's renewables industry? Also tonight, confirmation
:00:27. > :00:29.that a plan to charge drivers to use part of the A14 has been dropped by
:00:30. > :00:32.the government. We've come to the decision that when
:00:33. > :00:42.this road goes ahead in three years' time there will be no toll.
:00:43. > :00:45.Comes to see you quite a bit? The legacy of the Mid`Staffs
:00:46. > :00:48.hospital scandal. A lesson for medical students in a care home.
:00:49. > :00:56.And let's hear it for netball trainer Phil Pitts. We love her, we
:00:57. > :01:06.love Phil! Time to put another unsung hero in the spotlight.
:01:07. > :01:12.First tonight, it was the day the government got its cheque book out
:01:13. > :01:16.and announced where it was going to spend its money in the years ahead.
:01:17. > :01:20.And for the East, the headlines are all about wind turbines and the A14.
:01:21. > :01:22.They call it the National Infrastructure Plan, when ministers
:01:23. > :01:27.announce the details of investment in a number of projects. So today
:01:28. > :01:32.the Chief Secretary to the Treasury promised to increase the subsidies
:01:33. > :01:36.for offshore wind farms. But there will be a small reduction onshore.
:01:37. > :01:42.And Danny Alexander also made it official today, there will be no
:01:43. > :01:46.toll road on the A14. But we start with wind power. In a moment Richard
:01:47. > :01:55.Bond and the changes onshore. But first Alex Dunlop and the promise of
:01:56. > :02:00.more money offshore. From Essex to Norfolk, the seascape
:02:01. > :02:04.of our coast is changing fast. Today's announcement of more subsidy
:02:05. > :02:08.means more turbines will follow. That can happen because the
:02:09. > :02:13.government guarantees the offshore generation a strike price, the
:02:14. > :02:20.amount it will pay per unit of... Tee, which is above the current
:02:21. > :02:27.value of electricity. The prices announced to 2018 are likely to a
:02:28. > :02:40.row `` to lead to several gigawatts of investment. The price will
:02:41. > :02:45.decrease each year to ?135 by 2020. But this was increased to 140, to
:02:46. > :02:50.encourage investment. This investment feed through to firms
:02:51. > :02:54.like this. They install, inspect and maintaining wind turbines. The
:02:55. > :02:59.government pumped a lot of money into the industry, why did you have
:03:00. > :03:03.more? If we don't get the support, industry will get suppressed and
:03:04. > :03:05.subjugated and that will lead to other companies coming in and
:03:06. > :03:13.encroaching on the jobs in this area. The industry's main argument
:03:14. > :03:17.is that investors are unwilling to put money into offshore wind unless
:03:18. > :03:23.they are guaranteed a return. We have a long`term investment, 40
:03:24. > :03:27.years in the making. If you only have clarity on the first six years
:03:28. > :03:34.of the life of that, happen anyone decide what the return investment
:03:35. > :03:38.will be? To get some idea of cost, the government investment on
:03:39. > :03:46.offshore power is about one third of onshore power. Critics say that the
:03:47. > :03:51.taxpayer is being sold short. The plans were made in good times. These
:03:52. > :03:55.are not good times. We have to ask ourselves whether we can afford to
:03:56. > :04:02.go on subsidising technologies at this sort of level. Offshore wind is
:04:03. > :04:07.now a vital industry and areas with a vital industry that needs a shot
:04:08. > :04:10.in the arm. The East was to be a keep their in this industry.
:04:11. > :04:14.So what about onshore turbines. Critics say the change here is not
:04:15. > :04:18.about policy, it's all about politics. And the reduction in
:04:19. > :04:29.subsidy is not a big one. This from our business correspondent.
:04:30. > :04:34.They are now the UK's largest source of renewable energy generation. But
:04:35. > :04:38.onshore wind farms start up controversy. Today, residents of
:04:39. > :04:42.this place near Ipswich had the chance to look at proposals for a
:04:43. > :04:47.single turbine near their village. It is not for local people. It is
:04:48. > :04:53.for the benefit of the landowner and for the power company. We feel there
:04:54. > :04:59.is no reason why the villages `` the village as should bear the brunt of
:05:00. > :05:06.this. England has 36 operational wind farms. 25 are approved and 30
:05:07. > :05:12.`` others are under construction. Subsidies will be cut from 2015 to
:05:13. > :05:16.onshore wind farms. Will this cause the developing year to have second
:05:17. > :05:22.thoughts? It has gone down slightly, which is a shame but hopefully other
:05:23. > :05:27.schemes in will still be viable. Most smaller ones will not be, and
:05:28. > :05:31.this one will be. The government says there has been so much
:05:32. > :05:40.investment in onshore wind and solar power, they need `` they do not need
:05:41. > :05:44.so much support. Supporting local landowners to put on wind turbines
:05:45. > :05:52.to generate little electricity has not been sensible. Offshore is one
:05:53. > :05:56.of the most cost`effective methods, so we need to make sure it is part
:05:57. > :06:01.of the mix. It is also supported, if you ask people what they would like
:06:02. > :06:08.to see in their area, offshore solo comes out on top.
:06:09. > :06:13.Danny Alexander also confirmed Whitehall's worst`kept secret. Plans
:06:14. > :06:17.to charge people to use a new section of the A14 to the south of
:06:18. > :06:21.Huntingdon have been abandoned. The Conservatives and the Lib Dems say
:06:22. > :06:25.it shows they listen. Labour says the government has gone back to the
:06:26. > :06:35.plans they had in place before the 2010 general election.
:06:36. > :06:42.Ministers prepared to reveal how they will be spending billions of
:06:43. > :06:44.pounds. This man runs hundreds of lorries out of yards near
:06:45. > :06:49.Huntingdon. Today's confirmation that the toll road had been scrapped
:06:50. > :06:56.means he would face an annual bill of ?170,000. I think it is a
:06:57. > :07:02.fantastic day for East Anglia, for the haulage industry. I think you
:07:03. > :07:07.can see people diverging from the A14, you would have seen lots of
:07:08. > :07:10.congestion in small villages and you would have seen people relocate to
:07:11. > :07:20.small businesses. We were looking to move away. Relief at the port of
:07:21. > :07:25.Felixstowe as well. This fear was that the toll road would have handed
:07:26. > :07:31.`` added costs, handing business to its rival. Huntingdon ports, who own
:07:32. > :07:38.the sport, with Owen `` was so worried about the impact of the
:07:39. > :07:45.toll, that they held meetings with the government. It was described as
:07:46. > :07:49.excellent news for all businesses. The campaign was coordinated by the
:07:50. > :07:52.Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. It says the involvement of local MPs,
:07:53. > :08:00.businesses and trade organisations was key. It was a geographical tags
:08:01. > :08:06.on East Anglia. So it was clearly unfair. It was a tax on business, on
:08:07. > :08:12.the community. But Labour described the announcement as a shambles. The
:08:13. > :08:16.government have done the hokey Cokie with this road, it has been in and
:08:17. > :08:22.out of their plans and at times including this idea of a toll. All
:08:23. > :08:26.the while, my constituencies `` my constituents, who see this as
:08:27. > :08:33.they've come for both of them, are losing out. Traffic was heavy on the
:08:34. > :08:38.A14 following an accident. For many, improvements to this road will not
:08:39. > :08:44.come a moment too soon. Therese Coffey led the campaign to
:08:45. > :08:49.get the toll road scrapped. Andy Sawford said the government has been
:08:50. > :08:53.doing the hokey Cokie and they had a perfectly good scheme on the books
:08:54. > :08:59.in 2010, why did the `` why did the government not go ahead with that?
:09:00. > :09:06.There was no money left. Also, we have an extra part of the widening
:09:07. > :09:11.of the A1 which is important. We should be celebrating today. We have
:09:12. > :09:15.brought forward the start from 2018 to 2016. The government has listened
:09:16. > :09:21.to the people of East Anglia. We are going to get the red, that is great
:09:22. > :09:25.news, and no toll. Looking at this in a wider light, we have had
:09:26. > :09:29.ministers on this programme saying that we can't afford to build too
:09:30. > :09:34.many new roads, that we have defined a new way of finding the money. Does
:09:35. > :09:40.that not knock this into touch? I think that's what we should be doing
:09:41. > :09:46.is celebrating what is happening with the A14 today. It was a
:09:47. > :09:55.fantastic success for the Suffolk chamber of commerce. They galvanised
:09:56. > :10:03.opinion and got the Essex and Northwood Chambers involved as well
:10:04. > :10:09.`` Norfolk chamber as well. Can we afford to build roads? We have to
:10:10. > :10:13.continue to improve the capacity and the infrastructure can `` connecting
:10:14. > :10:17.our key economic centres. Felixstowe is the largest container port so it
:10:18. > :10:21.was crucial for them. But this is also about making sure that tourists
:10:22. > :10:27.can come unhindered without being deterred by a tax. Inward investment
:10:28. > :10:32.from across the world and within the UK. So one every school, Suffolk has
:10:33. > :10:43.done really well. Cambridge has done fantastically. `` so on every
:10:44. > :10:47.school. When we had our meeting with the Prime Minister at the end of
:10:48. > :10:52.Togo, we all felt it was constructive meeting. I won't
:10:53. > :10:55.pretend, I have been to one or two macro meetings where you get the
:10:56. > :11:00.clear message that they are not being to listen to us. The debit
:11:01. > :11:07.stick with their decision. From that moment, we put forward a strong case
:11:08. > :11:11.helped by the Chamber of Commerce, but we have done that with the Prime
:11:12. > :11:15.Minister and the secretary of state. We had a good feeling and today has
:11:16. > :11:23.just been a Christmas present that has come early.
:11:24. > :11:26.The police in Southend are investigating the possibility that a
:11:27. > :11:30.mother killed her son before taking her own life. The bodies of who the
:11:31. > :11:33.police believe to be Catherine Mhlaba and Beki Ali were found in a
:11:34. > :11:39.burning car at Thorpe Bay yesterday evening.
:11:40. > :11:47.A quarter of a mile stretch of Southend seed coat `` Southend post
:11:48. > :11:52.was cordoned off. It showed where last might's fire had happened.
:11:53. > :11:56.There were two macro bodies inside the car and police said they were
:11:57. > :12:01.treating the death as unexplained. But early this evening, police
:12:02. > :12:08.released more details. We believe the bodies to be those of Catherine
:12:09. > :12:13.Mhlaba and her 16`year`old son, Beki Ali. These deaths are being
:12:14. > :12:17.investigated by detectives from the Kent and Sussex team. They are
:12:18. > :12:21.looking at the possibility that Catherine Mhlaba was responsible for
:12:22. > :12:26.killing her son and taking her own life by starting a fire inside the
:12:27. > :12:29.car. Some of Southend's most sought`after seafront properties
:12:30. > :12:37.overlooked the fire. This woman told me what she had seen. This car, with
:12:38. > :12:41.flames at least ten feet high, and coming out from the sides. I could
:12:42. > :12:45.see the flames inside but could not see if anybody was in there. A
:12:46. > :12:50.neighbour said that his wife had heard an explosion. She said it
:12:51. > :12:56.shook the house, which is unusual. By the time she got the window, the
:12:57. > :13:01.car was engulfed in flames. It was frightening. I got up after her,
:13:02. > :13:06.when she called down to me. It was frightening, I have never seen
:13:07. > :13:10.anything quite like it. The car was in goals completely. If there was
:13:11. > :13:16.anybody inside, they had no chance. `` the car was engulfed completely.
:13:17. > :13:19.Flowers in memory of her mother `` of a mother and her teenage son.
:13:20. > :13:22.People living near the coast are being warned to expect flooding
:13:23. > :13:25.tomorrow and on Friday. Forecasters expect a combination of gale`force
:13:26. > :13:29.winds and high spring tides. Gary Watson is from the Environment
:13:30. > :13:37.Agency. He joins us from the Essex coast at Jaywick now. `` as Clapton
:13:38. > :13:45.now. Where are you most concerned about? We are particularly concerned
:13:46. > :13:51.about the North Norfolk coast. The area `` areas in Suffolk, as well.
:13:52. > :13:59.What do you think could happen, what are we looking at? There are gale
:14:00. > :14:05.force winds coming down. Coinciding with high water and a significant
:14:06. > :14:09.storm surge. So we should expect flooding throughout Norfolk, Suffolk
:14:10. > :14:15.and Essex. At the moment we are predicting a limited impact on
:14:16. > :14:22.property. So, what advice would you give? We don't want to be alarmist
:14:23. > :14:28.but people can take precautions. Yes, we recommend that you have a
:14:29. > :14:34.look on our website. We also have a helpline number. You can check local
:14:35. > :14:40.conditions in your area. We are working closely with the police and
:14:41. > :14:46.the emergency services. We are working to get the warnings out
:14:47. > :14:51.tomorrow morning. So, as far as this will compare to previous warnings by
:14:52. > :15:01.the Environment Agency, how bad do you think it could be as Mac `` it
:15:02. > :15:11.could be? We are expecting it to be... You may remember the 2007
:15:12. > :15:16.event in great Yarmouth? We are expecting something greater than
:15:17. > :15:25.that in north Norfolk. But we are expecting reduced severity by the
:15:26. > :15:28.time it gets to Yarmouth. Stansted has launched a campaign to
:15:29. > :15:31.get airlines to fly long`haul from the airport. It's asked 300
:15:32. > :15:35.businesses in the region to tell them what flights they want as part
:15:36. > :15:38.of a survey. The airport is particularly keen to speak to
:15:39. > :15:40.companies with links to the USA, Middle East and Far East who
:15:41. > :15:49.currently travel from other terminals.
:15:50. > :15:56.Still to come, more on the history of the A14 project. And more on our
:15:57. > :15:59.unsung heroes project. Meet Phillipa Pitts, the inspiration behind
:16:00. > :16:02.Eastwood netball. The University of East Anglia is
:16:03. > :16:06.giving some medical students the chance to care for elderly people as
:16:07. > :16:09.part of their studies. The idea comes in the wake of the Francis
:16:10. > :16:11.Report earlier this year into the failings at the Mid`Staffordshire
:16:12. > :16:14.Hospital. Among the recommendations from Mr Francis, a call for the
:16:15. > :16:19.caring professions show more compassion. `` to show more
:16:20. > :16:24.compassion. Mike Liggins has spent the afternoon with one of the
:16:25. > :16:29.students at a care home in Norwich. This woman is in the third year of
:16:30. > :16:33.her degree course in occupational therapy. The last five weeks, she
:16:34. > :16:40.has been coming year to this care home in Norwich. Today, she has come
:16:41. > :16:52.to seek 92`year`old IV and talk soon turns to Ivy's recent birthday
:16:53. > :16:58.party. So you had to cakes? Yes. Rhianna is one of five students who
:16:59. > :17:06.have been volunteering. It is to help students with confidence,
:17:07. > :17:09.communication and compassion. I think everybody deserves respect and
:17:10. > :17:14.to be treated as an individual and to be listened to. This experience
:17:15. > :17:19.particularly has helped me understand people's stories and it
:17:20. > :17:25.brings home to you that people have a life that they have lived. The
:17:26. > :17:32.pilot is being run by the school of rehabilitation at the University of
:17:33. > :17:38.East Anglia. This compassion something that we should have to
:17:39. > :17:44.teach students? I think a lot of students who come to the caring put
:17:45. > :17:47.`` caring professions are compassionate, but it doesn't harm
:17:48. > :17:55.them to get more exposure within the sort of environment. Grandchildren?
:17:56. > :18:00.How many do you have? We have been delighted with the way it has gone.
:18:01. > :18:05.The five students have been amazing. Each of them has found something
:18:06. > :18:08.different out of the experience and they have been really happy coming
:18:09. > :18:16.to our home and we have been delighted to have them. Rhianna says
:18:17. > :18:20.that her time with these patients has been hugely beneficial. The UAE
:18:21. > :18:24.`` need the University of East Anglia hope they can carry on with
:18:25. > :18:27.this in the future. This week in Look East, we're
:18:28. > :18:30.meeting the three people who have been short listed for the BBC East
:18:31. > :18:32.Unsung Sporting Hero Award. Yesterday it was a netball
:18:33. > :18:37.administrator, today it's a netball coach. Phillipa Pitts has given more
:18:38. > :18:40.than 40 years of her life to coaching netball in Essex. She
:18:41. > :18:48.spends nearly every week night and every weekend on a netball court.
:18:49. > :19:00.We are going to do a change of direction tonight. 1974. Britain was
:19:01. > :19:06.under a three`day week. It was also the year that Phillipa Pitts started
:19:07. > :19:11.Eastwood netball team. Three fingers, carve them so that you have
:19:12. > :19:19.them around ear height. Just one team, with a handful of girls. She
:19:20. > :19:22.now has 13 teams with 150 players. People who started in year seven,
:19:23. > :19:26.they have gone through and their daughters have been playing as well.
:19:27. > :19:32.So that continuity of families, mother and daughter. She has taken
:19:33. > :19:37.individuals and turn them into `` she is taken beginners and turn them
:19:38. > :19:41.into international. But it is about making sure they enjoy the sport. It
:19:42. > :19:46.is not just about her being a coach, she is an umpire, she brings girls
:19:47. > :19:52.up to gloat. I am now a coach as well. It wouldn't run without her.
:19:53. > :19:57.Are you running backwards? Which you run backwards on a netball court?
:19:58. > :20:02.For whatever reason, many girls drop out of sport in their teenage
:20:03. > :20:07.years. But Phillipa's girls keep coming back. You can hear that they
:20:08. > :20:11.are enjoying themselves. It is the sport can take them all the way
:20:12. > :20:15.through. With some sports, they can drop out. We try to accommodate
:20:16. > :20:21.those who want to be performance players but also those who just love
:20:22. > :20:25.the sport. It is all about the love of the sport. Her passion is
:20:26. > :20:34.catching and because of her, thousands of girls had taken up
:20:35. > :20:37.netball and deliberately taken up netball `` taken up netball.
:20:38. > :20:39.And tomorrow we meet our final candidate a woman from Northampton
:20:40. > :20:42.who's spent 30 years helping children with special needs take
:20:43. > 1:33:20part in gymnastics. And we'll be revealing the winner on Friday.
1:33:21 > 1:33:20Back now to the news that the government has abandoned its plan
1:33:21 > 1:33:20for a toll road on the A14. But the new road will be built. Work will
1:33:21 > 1:33:20definitely start in 2016. But if you think you've heard that before, you
1:33:21 > 1:33:20probably have. We've reported it on Look East on many occasions for more
1:33:21 > 1:33:20than 20 years. John Cranston has been looking through our archives
1:33:21 > 1:33:20with the help of one man who's seen it all before.
1:33:21 > 1:33:20When the ribbon was cut on the A14 in 1994, the road was heralded as
1:33:21 > 1:33:20opening up the east. But it shared the stretch between Heybridge and
1:33:21 > 1:33:20Huntingdon with the A1 M11 link. We proved that it was not long before
1:33:21 > 1:33:20there were regular problems occurring along it. The first
1:33:21 > 1:33:20suggestion of bypassing the bypasses came in 2000. The transport
1:33:21 > 1:33:20secretary was proposing plans for a ten lane superhighway. We need to
1:33:21 > 1:33:20make sure that our road and rail links are strengthened to make sure
1:33:21 > 1:33:20that we have a Rob `` have the jobs. It will be widening the path around
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the motorway and could start in 2008. But there were planning
1:33:21 > 1:33:20problems and the financial crash came and all we ended up with work
1:33:21 > 1:33:20promises. The government has said that the long`awaited plan to build
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the A14 will now begin in 2011. And heavy highways agency done its job
1:33:21 > 1:33:20effectively the first time around, we would not be in the position we
1:33:21 > 1:33:20are now because that would have happened before the financial crisis
1:33:21 > 1:33:20and the change of government. The coalition will do the axe. Let's
1:33:21 > 1:33:20begin with the news that many businesses and commuters really
1:33:21 > 1:33:20didn't want to hear. We can't proceed with a ?1 billion funded
1:33:21 > 1:33:20dual carriageway. Then the toll road solution was mooted. You can't just
1:33:21 > 1:33:20expect the taxpaying public to pay for everything. You have to share
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the burden between taxpayers and those who abuse the road. What
1:33:21 > 1:33:20finally scuppered the idea was the lack of an eternity of `` and it ``
1:33:21 > 1:33:20and alternative free route. It is unlikely that the road will be
1:33:21 > 1:33:20started before late 2016. But we welcome that if it actually happens.
1:33:21 > 1:33:20Let's go to Westminster and Andrew Sinclair. Let's start with the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20shorts of John Bridge. How sceptical should we be? `` the thoughts of
1:33:21 > 1:33:20John Bridge. In the House of Commons, Alistair Darling said he
1:33:21 > 1:33:20was sure he had announced the screens before. The trouble with
1:33:21 > 1:33:20infrastructure is that it takes a long time to put together. It can
1:33:21 > 1:33:20get bogged down in the planning system as well. The government is
1:33:21 > 1:33:20conscious of this and in this massive book of infrastructure
1:33:21 > 1:33:20announcements which we got today, there is a plan to set up a new body
1:33:21 > 1:33:20which will be in charge of driving through infrastructure
1:33:21 > 1:33:20developments. The government is saying that if big schemes like the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20A14 get bogged down in the planning process, they will use legislation
1:33:21 > 1:33:20to fast track it. And of course the subsidies for offshore will come in
1:33:21 > 1:33:20after the next election so everything we have talked about
1:33:21 > 1:33:20today could change? On the offshore subsidies, that could well change
1:33:21 > 1:33:20because everything about energy is political. On the A14, there seems
1:33:21 > 1:33:20to be political consensus that this road needs to be improved. Labour
1:33:21 > 1:33:20won not happy with the toll, so I think, sticking my neck out, that it
1:33:21 > 1:33:20should start in 2016. Is there anything else to announce? It seems
1:33:21 > 1:33:20as if we have had everything today. There will be more money for small
1:33:21 > 1:33:20businesses. That is always big in our region. What happens to fuel
1:33:21 > 1:33:20prices as well? The Essex MP has been pushing for a few cut. Now time
1:33:21 > 1:33:20for the weather. `` a few well cut. We have had a damp day today and we
1:33:21 > 1:33:20are seeing the price of the later sometime because some parts of the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20region are now close to freezing. Ms patches forming `` mist patches
1:33:21 > 1:33:20forming. Into tomorrow, we have this intense area of low pressure which
1:33:21 > 1:33:20will push this France down across the country. Not a great deal of
1:33:21 > 1:33:20raid on it when it comes to us, but it will increase the winds during
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the day. So for all of us, it will be a windy day. There is a risk of
1:33:21 > 1:33:20coastal flooding particularly on the Norfolk coast. Tomorrow will be dry
1:33:21 > 1:33:20and bright with increasing amounts of cloud. That wind speed increasing
1:33:21 > 1:33:20through the day. These are the strong gusts which we expect during
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the day. Then as the day progresses, it is important to flag up
1:33:21 > 1:33:20particularly that north Norfolk coast. A culmination of the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20direction of the wind is and high spring tides, the push of the sea,
1:33:21 > 1:33:20all coming together at the same point. This is the area under the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20amber warning from The Met office. A risk of localised flooding for that
1:33:21 > 1:33:20North Norfolk coast. This is our pressure chart. High pressure starts
1:33:21 > 1:33:20to build back in. You can see that the isobars are starting to widen so
1:33:21 > 1:33:20the winds will ease through Friday but still there is a risk on the
1:33:21 > 1:33:20North Norfolk coast on Friday morning with the high tide. It will
1:33:21 > 1:33:20be very cold because that by the fund will introduce much colder air.
1:33:21 > 1:33:20So expect lower temperatures. As they get the weekend, the high
1:33:21 > 1:33:20starts to drag in a lot more cloud. `` as we get to the weekend. It will
1:33:21 > 1:33:20be rather cloudy. Saturday feeling chilly. Temperatures will start to
1:33:21 > 1:33:20recover and by Sunday, we are back to highs of around eight else else
1:33:21 > 1:33:20`` eight Celsius. That's it from all of us. See you
1:33:21 > 1:33:21tomorrow night.