13/02/2014 Look East - East

First Minister, Alex Salmond, what he would do

Good evening. I'm Jenny Kirk. The future of the region's oldest and

longest serving MP has just been decided. Sir Alan Haselhurst will

continue to be the candidate for Saffron Walden at the next election.

Some in the party had suggested that it may be time for someone younger.

Andrew Sinclair was at the meeting and joins us now. This result came

in in the last 20 minutes. Sir Alan survives by an overwhelming

majority. He has been a very popular MP here. He has often championed

local causes. It was a tough meeting for him tonight, by all accounts.

The meeting overran and went on for at least two and a half hours.

People did point out that perhaps it was time for a change. There was

also talk about challenges facing the party. Alan will be an

octogenarian after the next election. They decided to reselect

Sir Alan Hazlehurst. I asked for his reaction. Relief, because it has

been an anxious time. You don't like that sort of uncertainty. It has

been heart`warming, the amount of vocal support I have had. The party

has united behind me. You have been MP here for 36 years. What do you

say when people ask if there is time for a change? Well, I haven't lost

their appetite for it. It is a job I love doing. I try to help people as

best you can. I know you cannot always win. People will not always

agree with you. I tried to give decent reply and speak up

effectively. So, Sir Alan Haselhurst got a

majority of 15,000 last time. It is a fair bet he will go back to

Parliament. Thank you.

After a time of what they call "significant turbulance", Colchester

Hospital says it's on the road to recovery. The new chief executive

took part in her first board meeting today and told them she wants to

restore public faith. And you can see why. The hospital's failed its

most recent cancer waiting time targets and its A targets. A

Department of Health investigation has been launched into its higher

than expected death rates. And there's a ?3.5 million deficit. I

appreciate that when you take these kinds of jobs on, you have to do

with your heart. It isn't just about having the relevant skills, you have

to really want to do the right thing and health both the organisation and

patients and future patients of the trust. I felt I had the skills to do

that. The Government has been told that

Stansted Airport is being held back by poor rail links. A group of MPs

says the airport could play an important role in easing the

pressure on other London airports. Richard Bond has more. MPs want to

increase their capacity in the South East. Stansted is the only London

airport with spare capacity. MPs are asking what is holding back

Stansted? It is the railings, specifically Stansted express. The

journey takes upto 53 minutes, which they consider to be too slow. They

also say it is a reliable, and they say it is driving passengers

elsewhere. The current state of these things mean 34 million people

avoid that airport, and catch flights instead likely from Heathrow

or Gatwick. MPs want a section of the route in the London suburbs to

be made for track rather than to at present. They want more trained

early in the morning and late in the evening. The company which runs

stance of express says it would welcome greater investment in the

line but it is a decision for Network Rail.

Tornado jets from RAF Marham in Norfolk were launched today to help

create a picture of the flooding problems in the South. The aircraft

have captured highly detailed images, pictures which will help

agencies plan how they're going to help the people and communities

affected. More wet and windy weather's due to

batter us in the next few days, but problems still exist from the tidal

surge ten weeks ago. At Blakeney in Norfolk their already`damaged sea

defences might not be repaired, while in Suffolk, businesses are

still cleaning up. Getting ready to reopen after a major refurbishment.

The first of more than 300 new seeds are finally being restored at the

East Coast Cinema in Lowestoft. The repair bill is more than a quarter

of ?1 million. It is unbelievable they managed to rebuild a place in

six weeks. Around the corner, this business was also submerged in

water. Two months on it still drying out. It won't reopen for another

month. I will have to work hard and hope you come through it, because

there is no guarantee being out of business for months that everything

will come back to how it was. The council hopes a promenade destroyed

by the waves will be fixed by the summer, added vows to continue to

support local businesses. We have been giving tax relief and aid

relief from day one. We have moved all of the damage, flood damaged

items. Well, today the Environment Agency held a drop in session for

people in Blakeney, one of the places badly affected by the tidal

surge. The defence is kept busy at, but they were damaged, and to repair

them will cost almost ?1 million. Environment Agency has opened up a

debate. They admitted they may not rebuild the sea defence nearby. We

need to accept that in places, we can't keep resisting the force of

nature and the North Sea. Others say the outlay more than justifies the

payback generated by local is this and tourism. The Environment Agency

says there is no easy answer. That's it from me for now ` but

Julie's here with an extended weather forecast for you.

There is a lot of weather imminent, isn't there?

Lots to talk about. Foremost was, a dry night and a fairly one. Long,

clear spells. We will start to see the wind easing down. With

temperatures close to freezing, we will probably see a frost in places

and perhaps actually icy patches. There will be yet more wet and windy

weather. There is another yellow warning in place from the Met Office

for more heavy rain. We could see up to 20 millimetres of rain in our

region. It is a dry start to the day. Largely dry, give or take one

or two showers. Then we will see that band of rain pushing in from

the South West, heavy at times. It will be accompanied by fresh

south`west of this. It is wet and windy afternoon. As we head into the

evening, we head into the evening, we'll start to see the main band of

rain coming away and a rash of showers behind it, some on the heavy

side. Continue into the early hours Saturday morning. We are expecting

strongest winds. They will be strong to gale force south`west of this.

Goss generally of 50 or 60 mph. We cannot rule out up to 70 mph. Nick

has a national forecast. If you have any worries, do

few days and now we go to the weather centre for the national

forecast from Nick Miller. Hello, in this winter of perpetual

autumn, it seems we're never more than a day away from a storm so we

must be due another one and as you've just heard, here it comes,

deepening in the Atlantic Trio heading for us. Overall for the UK,

we're not expecting this to be as severe as the storm yesterday that

there will be some significant impact, particularly where the Met

Office has weather warnings impact, particularly where the Met

and that means more rain will serve to heighten the floods. All the

while, the wind is picking up, reaching its peak tomorrow night in

southern England. This is the rest of tonight and where we've had

showers, south-west England and Northern Ireland and Scotland, as

icy patches developing. Quite a cold start but, for Scotland, Northern

Ireland and northern England, a dry start for most of us. Look at this -

the rain from that