10/07/2014 Look East - East

The weather is staying and settled over the next few days, join me

later in the programme for `ll of the details.

Both sides are claiming victory after a day of strike action

Trade union leaders say the turnout is a sign of widespread

The employers say, for most civil servants,

Here's our chief reporter, Kim Riley.

The unions claimed today's strike would be the biggest since the mass

protest over pensions three years ago, The TUC said public sector

workers had been "locked out of the recovery". It claimed the average

employee was ?2,000 worse off under this government. Members of six

unions have taken part. The Fire Brigades Union, the civil sdrvice

union PCS, Unite, Unison, the GMB and the National Union of Tdachers.

In Norfolk, Suffolk and Essdx, some 260 schools have been closed or

partially closed by industrhal action. The Government Cabinet

Office claims only one in fhve civil servants have been on strikd, and

all job centres have been open. It describes the action as

So, let's take a look at the impact of the action

Let's start in Chelmsford, and our reporter, Gareth George

Among those gathering for a march through Chelmsford, Karen Mtllins, a

teaching assistant at a loc`l infant school.

With teaching assistants, it used to be that you were a parent hdlpers,

now, the job has changed so much, and the pay does not reflect that.

What message do you hope thhs will send today?

Hopefully, pay us what we are worth. People have made the really

difficult decision to say enough is enough in a public fashion `nd take

strike action. I applaud those people. Thex have

just done a lap of the city centre and is on its way to the Essex

County Cricket ground. On the way, they are chanting and handing out

leaflets to shoppers. But some said the strikers should be back at

work. When you are a working parent, it is very hard to find childcare to

cover. I have a daughter at second`ry

school. I am off on the strhkers should be back at work. When you are

a working parent, it is verx hard to find childcare to cover. I have a

daughter at secondary school. I am off on's holiday or unpaid leave.

I am a retired public sector worker. I appreciate the situation some of

my former colleagues are in with pay being frozen. But I am honestly not

sure these strikes are effective. I don't think they should bd on

strike, there is no point in that. They should resolve the matter

without striking. People nedd to be paid a fair wage for what they are

doing. I know it is really difficult at the

moment, and in the private sector are lots of people are suffdring the

same issues. They really should be at work,

especially teachers. This school is one of 67 in Essex partiallx

closed, 39 are closed compldtely. The Fire Service said crews are

still working and dealt with eight instances including a house fire.

Meanwhile, the protesters h`d breached the cricket ground and a

union rally, happy with thehr protest.

It went really well, we had a lot more support than we had

anticipated. Essex County Council claimed the strike did not cause

significant disruption. In Suffolk, one in 20 schools was

forced to close. Some were `ble to stay partially open, after rejigging

the school day. Hundreds of protesters took to the stredts, with

rallies in Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft and Ipswich, from where

Kevin Burch sent this report. You wouldn't have had to wander far

around town this morning to see From here, the fire station,

and court buildings All of them individually making

a point but this morning thdy came together en masse to stand shoulder

to shoulder. They came intent on making

a noise and making a point. Rallying support and heartened

by messages of support. This on behalf of Labour and

Euro MP Richard Hallett. You can not drive up

standards by driving down w`ges His worry is over pension,

pay and pressure of work lo`d. The bit of my job in I enjox

is engaging with young people is But I look at

a profession that increasingly feels undervalued, increasingly fdels

under pressure from targets, We have had enough

of private companies making money They feel frustrated, so too does

Sharon, she has an autistic son The strike closed his school and put

paid to an assessment which will now There's got to be better waxs

to resolve it, maybe petitions? How far do they get,

they do this all the time. Across Suffolk,

41 schools are partially closed Westbourne Academy is one,

the acting principal Dave Lde Allen in a letter to parents said, because

of a number of factors incltding health and safety, he would be left

with no other sensible choice. There must be other ways

other than striking? They need to talk

about a fair pay rise, and show Talking to people today, many feel

there has to be a better wax to Today, from the Fire Brigadds Union,

in warning, if they are not listened to, if people won't negotiate,

they will expect more of thd same. And that is the situation

in Ipswich. Finally to Norfolk, where the main

rally was held in Norwich. Our political correspondent, Andrew

Sinclair, was there. 500 people gathered in the gardens,

representative of the unions involved in the strike. Council

workers, fire fighters, teachers. I love teaching, but we had to fight

the current Government and what they are doing to education. Will one day

of action make any difference? I don't know, I don't know what else

I can do. Their pension is tnder ?5,000 a year.

There are many myths around. It is for everybody's benefit.

Also present, Parliamentary candidates in Norfolk. The party

leadership Gracnar leadershhp is not supporting the strike.

We have to put our money whdre our mouth is and stand up these people,

our core supporters. If we don't support them, what can we expect in

2015? There were picket lines outside

council officers. Although they weren't all manned. Librarids were

closed and hundreds of pupils had their lessons cancelled. Thhs school

was one of 96 only partiallx in Norfolk.

Half the children have not been here so they have missed a day of

education. We did say if parents had a problem if they did work, we would

be able to offer childcare, maybe not teaching, for other classes

Obviously, it will have had an effect.

Two thirds of schools in Norfolk were not affected. The pavelents

were still cleaned, rubbish was collected, leisure centres stayed

opened, most council officers still had staff on duty.

I am sure the will say they were able to provide a skirt and service.

The message is more about a large number of our members who are

entitled to strike are striking saying to the Government th`t the

pay offer on the table is not acceptable.

The Government believes the majority of public opinion is not behind this

strike. But the turnout herd showed that, after four years of atsterity,

lots of people are not happx. Late this afternoon,

I spoke to Brandon Lewis, the MP for Great Yarmouth and Minister for

Local Government, and asked him for First of all, I would like to thank

all those people who have bden at work today, so we can get back

to living within its means. The turnout is probably the lowest

from the civil service in a national strike on record. Don't you as a

Government has to show some humanity? All of those people, a lot

of those people, are on verx low wages and found the last few years

years very difficult? We have had to make some difficult

decisions. To deal with the inherited massive debt of the last

Government. And get on top of public sector pay. On average, the public

sector pay is higher than private sector. We need to get on top of

that. There are pay increasds of 1%. Making sure the lowest paid get that

increase. We have had to make tough decisions to Mitchell the country

can get back to living withhn its means. And protecting jobs.

We have some people living below the living wage.

In today's society, that does not seem acceptable.

The changes we have made ard looking to save the country billions

We have got to be living within our means.

We have a record number of people in work.

We want to make sure we keep it going.

Steve Bates, one of our viewers e`mailed to say MPs,

it is suggested, have an 11% pay rise next ydar.

How do you square that against what you are offering some of

Actually, I would draw people's attention to

the Prime Minister who said that was an unreasonable recommendathon.

And not something the Parli`mentary parties have approved.

We are doing this, when the coalition came in,

cut ministerial pay by 5% and froze it for the entire

If you get offered 11%, you will turn it down?

This is an inappropriate suggestion from the

Just answer that, if you get offered 11%, you would turn it down?

I haven't been offered offered 11% pay rise.

I have to say, we are looking at hypotheticals

I make it clear, it is an inappropriate

recommendation from that independent panel and hope by the next

Parliament will have reviewdd that in light of what we have said.

We are working in an environment where we have had

Public sector pay is on average higher than the private sector.

It is right to be fair to t`xpayers and hard`working employees

Some important travel news this evening.

And the M11 is closed because of a major accident.

A passenger in a car has been killed.

It's happened just south of Harlow, and both carriageways are closed

Anglian Water has been talkhng today about its "war ion le`ks"

The company admits almost a fifth of the region's water supplx is

Today, giant valves were being installed

in Peterborough, which could make a difference across the reghon.

Supplies to local homes and businesses were cut,

as engineers worked to repl`ce worn out supply pipes.

Leaks had cost Anglian Water millions of pounds a year to repair,

but now they are hoping a ndw scheme will cut leaks dramatically.

Outside Peterborough, they are installing four gi`nt

valves which will control the speed of flow through the pipes.

The more pressure you get, goes to a weak mains, and finds a weak point.

This system is put in to reduce the pressure and gives

The problem is an historic one, the system was built using hron

pipes which, unlike modern plastic ones, often break.

In 1990, when the industry was privatised, leakage for Anglian

Ten years later, this had reduced to 220 million litrds.

Now it is at 192 million litres 17% of the region's water stpply.

Within six years, the company is hoping to cut that

Still a huge amount, but Anglian Water said zero leakage

It would take decades to achieve, and would mean digging up every road

This is a totally different approach to how

Moving from responding to ldaks and finding and fixing them.

While we're doing that, we will be preventing them happening

The company says householders won't see any difference

It is planning to roll out the scheme across the region.

Still to come, unlocking thd potential of the M M 11 corridor.

And bringing the magic of computer technology to the developing world.

There has been a new development this evenhng in a

row over a plan to sell an Dgyptian statue which is 4,000 years old

It belongs to Northampton Council, and will go under the hammer

at Christie's in London in just a few minutes.

It's expected to sell for about ?6 million.

But, now, the Egyptian government has told

Look East it wants the statte back, and it shouldn't be sold.

Once on view to the people of Northampton,

this ancient Egyptian statud is now on view to potential buyers.

Valued at ?6 million, the 4,000`year`old limestond carving

This evening's sale of the statue has sparked

The country's ambassador to the UK told me why.

It would have to be for public viewing, the students, for

researchers, for any single Egyptian who wants to come as a part of his

country. But, sending it and making money out of it, selling itdms, if

they don't want it, give it back to its country.

For the past four years, this statue has been kept

The borough council argues ht is not in keeping with the rest

It says the sale will fund a redevelopment

It says the sale will fund a redevelopment of the town's

Local campaigners are trying to stop accreditation which, in turn,

The leader of the council says the sald is

You're convinced this is sthll the right thing to do?

It has not been on display for four years, no`one has asked for it to be

on display to see it, we've had it for over 100 years in North`mpton,

We want to expand, and we need to raise money, which is

Campaigners in Northampton say they are devastated tonight's

But they said they have not finished yet.

We will still carry on, with the legal bits and pieces.

We will try and stop the export should ht be

And we are talking to the Egyptians, because they are

With the auction minutes aw`y, it seems no matter the pressurd can

stop this sale. Today, Arts Council in and said it would review the

accreditation of Northampton. Northampton Borough Council may well

raise much`needed funds but it could pay the price in the troubld this

sale provokes. Business leaders gathered in London

today to discuss ways of boosting The east is currently home to more

than a thousand such companhes, many of them between Cambridge

and London. What they do is turn scienthfic

research into medicines. Our business correspondent, Richard

Bond, was at today's conferdnce Richard,

where are these companies exactly? The conference was held by ` body

called the London Stansted Cambridge Consortium which gives you `n idea.

It is part of Cambridge, Essex and Hertfordshire. The consortitm says,

in that cluster, there 1400 life sciences businesses employing 4 ,000

people. The main centres it includes the Cambridge biomedical calpus

Stevenage, and the Harlow enterprise zone.

What do we need to do to help these businesses to flourish?

The Government can see the potential of life sciences and is protecting

the science budget despite austerity. There are a numbdr of

concerns, particularly in transport. A feeling life sciences

is a global industry, peopld need to globe trot and we need bettdr

connectivity. Stansted is great for short`haul, it

flies to over 150 destinations in Europe. The problem is the long haul

destinations to America, Boston Singapore, which are high knowledge

economies that Cambridge is crying out for. At the conference, we have

heard some people are taking four hours to get from Cambridge to

Heathrow which is not doing us any good. Another big concern is skills.

Are taking four hours to get from Cambridge to Heathrow which is not

doing us any good. Another big concern is skills. I'll be

One of the problems is studdnts not studying the subject in need,

specifically around growth sectors like science, engineering and maths.

We go into schools and excite them about the careers so that they can

see what possible exciting technologies they can be involved in

and the career paths open to them, get them hooked at a young `ge.

training but we're not going to get new roads?

The region has great potenthal but an indifferent infrastructure which

needs huge investment. Transport and skills are not the only are`s, we

need house`building for people who want to work in this industry and to

be able to afford to live hdre. If we don't get some of these

improvements, then these new jobs, the growth with it, will go

elsewhere. These days,

most of us have access to a computer, everything from a PC or

lap to, to a tablet or smartphone. But in the developing world

they are still quite rare. That's why a charity run by

Luke Doyle from Bedfordshird is Behind these shanty walls,

magic is happening. A little boy shows

his father how to use a tablet. In another house,

a crowd has gathered, mesmerised It frustrated me that polithcians

and people working for the aid agencies in Bangladesh

on big salaries, their kids were going to private schools,

they were getting a good edtcation. But for the poorer kids, it was OK

to make do and keep it basic. So, I guess our goal is to have that

high standard of paid education Three years ago, Luke Doyle,

a teacher from Bedfordshire, left his home comforts,

his steady income, to teach the poorest children in Bangladdsh's

capital Dhaka about computers. His charity,

Computers Are Free For Everxone We started just with one colputer

which we put in a shop So we got four computers, one

teacher. We had a line outside the door

of students wanting to join. His parents gave up retiremdnt to

run the Charity Shop in Bedford That helps,

but with Luke planning an app to teach preschool children and their

parents to read, that needs the money. Big companies, they `re not

prepared to take the risk on it If they could see what is achieved,

saw the app he's developing, The mums and dads don't know how to

read and write, so the kids don t. Then they go to school and `re

at a disadvantage straight `way This way, what Luke is doing,

they are on top. Here in Dhaka, a quality edtcation

was the preserve of the rich. Thousands

of public sector workers in this region have been on strike today,

in a protest over pay and pdnsions. Dozens of schools,

libraries and other governmdnt Our political correspondent,

Andrew Sinclair, is outside Norfolk The region did not grind to a halt

today. If you didn't have to visit a Government office today and if your

children were taught by non`NDT teachers, you may not have noticed

there was a strike taking place Partly because of changes to

legislation, partly because many people are not members of a trade

union these days. It is impossible for trade unions to have a big

impact on action that they tsed to have 20 years ago. Having s`id that,

the rallies were well attended. I have seen better attended r`llies

but when you consider the wdather, a lot of people came out todax which

suggests a lot of people ard still suffering under austerity and still

want to protest. We have had a couple of big days of action, is

there any sign that things will get better for public sector workers?

No, I think they will get worse Austerity has a long way to run

This Government wants the ptblic sector pay capped estate in place

until 2018. Even if we have a change of Government next year, Labour has

said they are committed to this Government's spending plans and have

warned unions not to expect any big pay rises. In the public sector the

next few years will be very tough. Some counties, it has been puite

treacherous, with heavy rain. To the west of it, parts of

Northamptonshire didn't get away with too bad a day. The beh`viour of

this weather fronts will govern the evening. Heavy downpours ard

possible pretty much anywhere this evening and overnight. Therd is a

Met Office yellow weather w`rning out for this heavy rain, it poses

quite a problem. Already on the roads, not great driving conditions,

the risk of local flooding. The weather front will move further

east over the next few hours, moving west again overnight. The bright

colours show heavy downpours among that band of rain. Graduallx making

its way south overnight. Quhte cloudy where it clears. The chance

of some sea fog developing. For many of us, temperatures staying in

double figures tonight, up to 1 degrees.

We start tomorrow, hopefullx, this rain will move away swiftly. It is

likely to click in the south. This eve of lingering in some parts of

the region. The chance of any cloud left behind will break in the

afternoon. Then we could sed some sunshine. It will feel warm and

humid in places. Some parts getting up to the mid`20s. This posds the

threat of heavy showers. Anx of these showers could develop into

thunderstorms in the afternoon. It looks largely dry across the

region but be aware of thosd showers. There is a risk.

The warm air stays in place for the weekend. A good thing in sole ways,

it will feel quite pleasant. It might feel humid at times. The best

of the weather is on Saturd`y morning with sunshine. In the

afternoon, there could be possibly thundery showers. A similar pattern

on Sunday. Not so much humility There could be a settled st`rt to

next week. `` humidity. Join us again after the

Ten O'Clock News. with some new adventures to share

with YOUR little ones. Please, double please.

We're going to Dad's office today. These look really yummy.

I'm so excited about going to school.