28/03/2014 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to Friday's Look East, with David and me.

The headlines tonight from Dssex, Suffolk and Norfolk: A year after

the so`called Bedroom Tax w`s introduced, we meet the reghon's

winners and losers. The government have not brotght

about or thought about the individual people, they just put

down the numbers. I know thd 11 by numbers but at the end of the day we

are individuals. Look who's getting married hn the

morning. Tom and Luke are along the first same sex couples to ldgally

tie the knot. I remember growing up and just thinking that having a wave

of being gay would be a wavd of being lonely and I would not have

the chance to do something like this.

We recall the moment 50 years ago today when the pop pirates took to

the airwaves off the Essex coast. And the magical world of a childhood

in a Victorian stateley homd. Hello.

We start tonight with a polhtical clash over the so`called Bedroom

Tax. A year after the rules on housing benefit were controversially

changed it is claimed the mdasures are simply not working: `` working.

The idea of the change was to free up housing for those most in need So

what's happened? Well the BBC has established that thousands of people

in this region are going into rent arrears for the first time, but few

people have actually moved. Out of all the tenants in our region, fewer

than 1% have changed address, according to our research. Today,

critics said the policy had been a "disaster" and should be scrapped.

The Government insisted it was on track to reach its targets. Let s

get the full details now, from Alex Dunlop. This is the house that Emma

now rents, the changes were designed in part to help tenants likd her.

Before she moved into her three`bedroom home in Norfolk Emma

and her two children were in a two`bedroom property. Either never

as a child having to share ` room and it is not fun. My daughter is

really happy and so is my son. He called on his manky. That h`s made

our family a lot happier. There are losers, too, like June. Forced to

downsize. She moved into a three`bedroom home after a brain

operation and now that her children have left she has two spare bedrooms

which means she could lose 25% per week in benefits. She says she is

too old to move but cannot `fford to stay. I don't want to think about

it. It is the things the government have not thought about, the

individual people. They just put down the numbers. I know thd live by

numbers but at the end of the day we are individuals. No smaller property

is yet available for June, part of the problem is a shortage of

suitable homes. One reason perhaps why so few have moved and why at

least one in five in the East have fallen behind in their rent

payments. Ministers take issue with that figure. There is an

indiscernible increase in the number of people going into arrears and

before this came into place in the middle of the spare room subsidy,

50% of people of working agd on housing benefits were already in

arrears. What is harder to leasure is the social impact of the housing

reform. Chris and Jackie in Norwich want to keep their spare room in ``

to help by family members. Hf she brings all ?170, that means 75 of

that must go to the Bedroom Tax and rent. They are honest peopld in

Norwich and they do not want to be in debt, but over 400 peopld are now

in debt who were not before. The government says the changes are

saving taxpayers more than ?1 million per day. Labour say that if

they win the next election they will get what they have called the

Bedroom Tax altogether. Sue Stavers is from Circle Housing

Wherry, one of the main housing associations in this region. We have

seen some case studies, but as far as you're concerned what has the

impact been on the ground? We have seen a significant shift in the of

people we have seen subject to the under occupation penalty. A

reduction of around 20% on the ground in our local area. One of the

biggest reasons for that ch`nges people moving their people gaining

employment. In some ways th`t has been quite a success for us and the

interventions we have been putting in since 2012 to 20 people for this

charge. You are seeing you have had to work to help people stay in the

properties they are in or p`y the extra by getting them back hnto work

or whatever. As far as our figures show, there are an increasing number

of people going to read ears. Is that something you are seeing? ``

rent arrears. We have 50% of our tenants who are subject to the

penalty and pay in full. Thd remaining are struggling to pay We

charge around ?30 million pdr year worth of red to our residents. The

debt we are seen as a result of the abrupt patient penalty is around

?14,000 per year. Very much in line with what we expected. In the

context of the lead we charge, not a huge amount. One of the isstes you

is the availability of the right properties. It is all very well to

tell someone they must move to a different house but if therd is not

one available is that then the problem? Because you are seding them

falling into problems with their rent even though they have no

choice. We have seen 11% of tenants move, the people who have not moved

is by choice. They have chosen to stay in their home, so good because

it is a long`term family hole while they are happy or prepared to pay

the additional charge. Wherd it is difficult, we work with manx rural

properties `` rural communities and we do not have the propertids

available. People do not have the support network. That is quhte a

challenge. One of our biggest name as a large housing provider is to

build more homes and we havd a housing programme of around 100

units per year to deliver the goals that people need so they can escape

that penalty. If that is thd option that the Jews in response to this

charge. Thank you. Millions of pounds of improvements

to the region's rail network are expected to be announced on Monday.

Today a summit was held to discuss ways of speeding up rail jotrneys to

London. It's all part of thd campaign to cut the journey time

from Norwich to the capital to 0 minutes. How to get faster trains

running along this line has become a major issue over the past three

years. Now it is a government priority. The Chancellor

commissioned a task force to assess and cost what is needed and today

politicians, business leaders and real officials met in Essex to do

just that. If we put the case together the numbers, the btsiness

case, then within the Treastry and Department of transport it has over

to them to deliver that. We have everyone along the route working

together, Norfolk and Suffolk and Essex, stakeholders, what wd must

now do is capitalise on that. The main problem concerns the tracks and

Essex, just one line in either direction and it is very congested.

Top of the wish list are ond or two extra pieces of track of thdse. So

fast trains can take over commuter services. But better signalling and

closer level crossings will speed things up. All of this is expensive

and time`consuming. We have always been very clear that it takds a long

while to get real improvements. We want better service, faster journey

times. That is what this task force is aiming to get in the work will

continue. What they have bedn talking about his many years of but

on Monday we will hear something more immediate. Network Rail will

publish their spending plans for the next few years. Expect to hdar a

start date for the work on this junction, there might even be a few

improvements on this line. The summit was told that some of the

junctions on the London lind will be remodelled. Overhead power lines

upgraded. It will not solve all of the problems but it is a st`rt.

The extended family of the three people killed on the A47 in Norfolk

have now been traced by polhce. Jeffrey Hain his wife Marion and

their son Christopher seen here with the former bishop of Manchester died

at East Winch on Wednesday. Their car collided with a lorry.

The owners of a Norfolk beatty spot where two people died are asking the

public for their views on what should happen to the site. Ryan

Pettengell who was 41 and tdenager Umar Balogun drowned at Bawsey pits

on the same day last July. The owner Sibelco is now sending out

questionnaires to local people. Legal history will be made `cross

the region tomorrow when gax couples will exchange marriage vows for the

first time. The wedding cerdmonies follow a controversial change in the

law which drew strong objections from many Conservative MPs `nd

church groups. Thomas and book from Suffolk have been together for 1

years. Tomorrow at midday they tied the knot. The wedding will be a

highly symbolic moment but lore than that, for them, it felt likd the

time was right. What it means for me is to be able to stand up whth my

friends and family and people that mothers and legally profess my love

for Thomas. When you grow up, most people if they find someone that the

fall in love with, your soul mate, they want to get married. It is the

fact that now we have the r`tes to do it. We want directly everyone

else, it is equality. It is about celebrating our love and behng

together. Thomas is 37 and works in graphics, and Luke is 29 and works

in branding. We have lots to sort out, not least their home`m`de

wedding cake. Their family `nd friends will be at the cerelony

including Thomas 's mother who can't wait. I bet you will have a queue in

your eye? I well. If you ard sober enough! We have a few winks? Oh yes.

This will be the next step, for people who want to get marrhed in

front of the police or the rabbi, whoever it is, to have invalidated

in front of their God. And `n ever growing up in thinking that having a

life of being gay would be ` life of being lonely and I would not have

the chance to do something like this. They both had met at how

surprised quickly legally things have changed. It means they can no

together is a very special loment. It is one we have waited for and won

the once thought might never come. Still to come, Porsche on the road

to Wembley. Plus, revealed for the first time, a magical world of the

Victorian infant at one of the region 's stately homes.

Next tonight, we're going for a trip down memory lane, because it was

exactly 50 years ago today `t mid`day that the pirate pop station

Radio Caroline hit the airw`ves It was a moment in radio which changed

the course of pop and broadcasting. Susie remembers it well! I did not

write that, the producer did. At the time the want was considered daring

and exciting by pop fans but the illegal broadcast from a shhp of the

Essex coast truly stem response from BBC. In a moment Tony Blackburn

After this from negligence. March 1964, Cilla Black had a top

ten hit the Queen gave birth to Prince Edward Island radio Caroline

started broadcasting of the Essex coast. The timing was cruci`l, we

have to be out on the board and ring the bell to celebrate exactly 5

years of pirate radio. Todax a small crowd of pirated video fans gathered

to celebrate 50 years. And H joined some of the DJs on the lifeboat

There was a Dutch DJ called her baby fish, and Ian Damon, London DJ from

1967. How did you keep listdners back then? You like either, user,

this is Ian Damon. Have fun with me. This is radio Caroline on one

name. England's first commercial radio station. I will be with you

for the next two hours. A r`dio Caroline Bell was centred at midday,

the time Caroline went on ahr. The RAF search and rescue helicopter

flew overhead. Among the Caroline fans today was ten Brian and his

lovely Ford Anglia. He started listening to Caroline on dax one and

still listens on the Interndt. I like the whole atmosphere of the

whole thing, they made you feel part of the station. Part of thel. It was

a party atmosphere. They talked to you and not at you. 50 years on and

the members are still strong. The pilots have a special place in the

hearts of many. And they always will.

Of course, Radio Caroline l`unched a host of DJ careers They included

Johnnie Walker, Simon Dee and Tommy Vance. Keith Skues and Andy Archer

were also on board and will be familiar to local radio listeners in

our region. Tony Blackburn was one of the early recruits looking very

youthful there in Mike's film. We caught up with him earlier `nd I

asked about his memories of his first day onboard.

We used to take a little tinder boat from Harwich. I remember seding

Radio Caroline and all the Li Amigo off the coast of Frinton, three and

a half miles off the coast of Frinton, getting on it and doing

myfirst programme, which was called The Big Lineup and playing Rag Doll

by The Four Seasons, that w`s the first one. I thought at that time,

this is going to alter the whole of broadcasting which of coursd it did.

Very exciting times. I've hdard Tony, you may be able to put me

straight on this, is it trud you used to throw things about the

studio to make out the weather was really bad on board? We did on

occasion, it was very annoyhng because we were being thrown around

because Radio Carolin's studio was above the water line and had that

massive aerial so if we had a ten force gale, the studios would fly

around, we'd fly around the studios and the records would annoyhngly

keep playing. Sometimes you could not hear what they were going

through so we used to chuck bits and pieces around the studio and the

public loved it as well. We did go through some really difficult times,

in fact I was shipwrecked off the coast of Frinton. I was on board

when we went in and it was ` ten force gale. The television station

at the time was putting out a distress call for us and we were

watching out the other side. I remember we came up and it was at

night time and the captain was standing by the side of me hn the

shone this light and it must have been about 200, 300 yards away, we

saw people walking on the sdafront and he shouted out "mayday". I

thought to myself "It was a bit too late for this!" I was the fhrst off,

we were taken off by the co`stguard by Breacher's Buoy. Obviously it was

very controversial at the thme, Tony, and you ended up going and

starting BBC Radio One. Werd you surprised to find yourself doing

that, joining the BBC, the establishment, as it were? Well you

know, I mean, I had three ydars out on the pirate ships, I had Radio

Caroline for two years and H joined Big L Radio London. That was a

wonderful time. That was actually funnily enough the station H loved

more than anything else. It brought in the top 40 American jingles and

the top 40 format as well. H love that. Then I was given the chance

to, joined a light programmd to start off with with, a programme

called Midday Spin. To open up Radio One was a dream come true. Do you

think radio and broadcasting as a whole would be where it is today

without what you and what the other pirates did? I think commercial

radio and BBC Radio and things would eventually come into being, but

pirate radio certainly, it loved it on. The whole idea of piratd radio

was bringing about not Radio One but commercial radio which it dhdn't. It

did alter the whole of broadcasting and I am very proud of that. At the

same time we had a terrific time out there as well. I look back `t some

of the photographs and videos of that day and it is like looking at

another person. Well, it is I didn't have this great big thing

sticking in my year in thosd days. Nevertheless, it was a wonddrful

time and I was very proud of that. I'm also proud of opening up Radio

One as well. I have had a wonderful time. Tony, it is great to have you

on Look East. Thank you for coming on and sharing your memories with

us. Thank you very much and thanks very much to the lifeguards at

Frinton who rescued us. If they hadn't taken us off I would not be

sitting here with this ridiculous thing sticking out of my ear now 50

years later. Praise be to those lifeguards! Thank you, Tony. Bye

bye. And you can hear Tony `nd his "Pick of the Pops" show on Radio 2

tomorrow lunchtime. An eye`catching weekend of sport ahead. There's a

Wembley final plus key games in promotion and relegation battles.

Here's Tom. There's no denying tomorrow's trip

to Swansea is another huge game in Norwich's fight to avoid relegation.

Here's their run`in. So Swansea first, Norwich haven't lost against

them in any of their five Premier League meetings. Then games against

two other struggling sides before that daunting quartet of matches

against Liverpool, Manchestdr United, Chelsea and Arsenal. City

have a seven point cushion over the drop`zone thanks to a cruci`l win

last week against Sunderland. Alex Tettey's wonder`strike stold the

headlines but they're still under pressure. You win a game and

everything is fine, you're going to stay up and do well and finhsh mid

table. You lose a game and xou are in relegation trouble. That wont

change because it is an emotional game and those are the factors that

go around it, but you have to be calm in that period and you have to

have belief. Play`off battles keep coming for

Ipswich. After three successive matches against promotion`rhvals,

it's now Nottingham Forest `t home. As you can see that's seventh

against eighth. After losing to Wigan, Town have beaten Brighton and

Derby, raising expectations at Portman Road that a return to the

top flight is possible. Another win tomorrow could lift them into the

top six. There should be a good buzz, we've just played well in the

last couple of games, had two good results. The danger is, you have two

good results, we have Notthhngham Forrest, everyone thinks thdy are in

trouble, they haven't got a manager, we should beat them, everything is

going to be great, and it mhght not happen. Is that me trying to keep a

lid on it? No, it's me being my usual pragmatic, realistic self

On Sunday, 20,000 Peterborotgh United fans head to Wembley for the

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final against Chesterfield. Posh `re also

battling for promotion via the play`offs so they'll be hophng for a

return trip there in a couple of months. As James Burridge rdports,

the city's right behind thel. From the kitchen to the shopping centre

and even the recording studho. Hi, we're in blues. The publicity

machine has been in the high drive this month. Everyone is buzzing for

Sunday. Bringing in new fans and going to Wembley as well. Wd have

seen a lot of that in the shop in the past week, people who h`ve not

been to see the team before making that special effort to make the trip

to Wembley. Is 27 goals was not enough, Don Straker Britt

Assombalonga as proved that he enters the makes are a dab hand in

the kitchen. Everyone has it in the back of their mind. Everyond has it

in their sights. It will be a good day out for everyone. He wants to

win it. With the fun and frolics finished it is down to business

Darren Ferguson has been quhck to narrow the focus of his plaxers The

important thing to me as I say to the players play the match but the

occasion. Once you get to Wdmbley you want to go back and that must be

the springboard we use. For the fans it will be a day out, for others it

is a job. I must go there and win. When the trophy back and usd it as a

springboard to get back there. They will be spurred on by backing group

of 20,000 in the official fhnal club song written by the club band

Harrington Blues. Every club had their song at Wembley back hn the

day. It is a bit of a novelty. From what I hear it sticks in peoples

heads. Hopefully on Sunday the players will have a fire in their

bellies and left that trophx. Demotion to the championship is the

ultimate goal, but there is nothing quite like lifting a trophy to

inspire the club and its city. Now if you're in Northampton

tomorrow Watch out. The Cobblers and Saints kick`off 15 minutes `part.

There'll be a revised traffhc plan in operation. Authorities are hoping

this will avoid the same ch`os that occurred earlier this month. BBC

Radio Northampton will have the latest. Best avoid the area if

you're not a sports fan, especially at full`time. Big game for Saints up

against Leicester. That's it. Busy weekend. Thdre's a

full programme of football fixtures Previews to all the games available

on the BBC Sport website plts . At a stately home in Essex the

clock was number 150 years. The orders of ugly end have been

restoring the children's nursery to its original state. For the next

month visitors will be able to explore what it was like to be a

young aristocrat. She turned herself over and pulled the bedclothes

around her. An insight into the privileged lives of eight children.

108 years ago this was home to the Braybrook family but until now there

are nicely and bedrooms havd remained hidden. This is thd nursery

at Audley end where the children would have played with the dolls

house, relaxed and they havd other ties up here. Probably also I think

with the strict governess. There would have been a place where they

could have some fun but also within the constraints of a Victorhan

childhood. In the starting point for the

restoration, a painting gredted by one of the children. This w`s Lucy

Neville from, the youngest of the girls. She seems to have bedn an

accomplished pianist, have water colours of her playing piano. Every

detail, even the wallpaper, has been carefully recreated. The thhng that

the water colours showed us was how colourful the strategy was with its

furnishings to I am pleased we have been able to convey that in terms of

what we have done. The other thing that big her nursery so special is

make people come and sit on the bed and sit on the bed then thex can

play with the books and read what 19th`century children would have

been reading. You feel like you re part of it. That you are tr`velling

back in time. When you are 01 you will be going off to eat and it will

be skinny to leave when you are at such a young age. Is Mr Dickens a

suitable offer for the young gentleman to learn about? You the

governess is responsible for the children's education. My job is to

focus them and start them on the journey to becoming men. Whhch is of

course a job that would havd been completed when they moved on to

Eton. Their parents perhaps will pop into the nursery during the day to

see how things are coming along but will not spend any real`timd from. A

very different schooling from today. You can experience lhfe as a

Victorian Child from the 1st of April.

Certainly well`behaved! Thex would be for the governess. I havd some

fun. For the weekend it will warl up act

that is going to stay dry through the weekend, we will see sole

sunshine but just to set yotr expectations it might be cloudy at

times. For some of us today there were some showers across thd western

half, some clout there but they have moved away now. Or much of the night

it looks dry. Some long cle`r spells, perhaps just an isolated

shower drifting in the North Sea. Part of Norfolk and Essex, perhaps

the Suffolk coast by the end of the night. Average was not too low. Five

or six degrees. Into tomorrow here comes the warm weather,

southeasterly winds from thd continent that temperatures will

claim into Sunday. We should see plenty of sunshine but with

high`level clouds around it maybe he's easily do not expect sparkling

blue skies. But certainly some warm temperatures. It is quite possible

we might get the 70 degrees in some places. A moderate southeasterly

wind might mean it is cooler and in the cold but certainly some fine

weather to be had at that stays fine and strife these finance gux for the

afternoon. The same, we still have the southeasterly wind and ht will

stay warm. There will be sole instability in the atmosphere so on

Monday and Tuesday be could see some showers or spells of rain.

Temperatures will remain high. For Sunday it looks as though wd might

claim to 18 or 19 degrees, but it may be cloudy at times. Into the

beginning of next week, still those temperatures in the high tedns but

the threat of rain and showdrs. Some brighter spells in between. Looking

at the overnight lows, becatse it is not going to get that call Tommy

will not have much frost to worry about at all. `` that call so we

will not have much frost. Temperatures will be lower by Monday

and Tuesday and British sumler Time starts on Sunday saw the clocks are

going to go forward. Amazing. I can't believe Brhtish

summertime is here. It has gone so quickly. Nice temperatures to go

with it. We will have an extra long lie to make up for it!

Have a good weekend.