10/05/2013 Look East - West

Hello. Our top story: One of Europe's leading chemical companies

is fined up to one of the worst cases of river pollution in our

region. This was one of the biggest incidents we have had in this

region. It had quite a big impact on the ecology and the aquatic life

in the river. That story and the A judge hits out as an interpreter

of players to turn up for this man's court hearing. And the

Canaries face up to their day of destiny, knowing the cost of

A leading chemical company was ordered to pay �92,000 in fines and

costs today following a major pollution incident in our region.

It happened when vandals broke into the Safapac site outside

Peterborough last summer and opened the taps. 5,000 litres of chemicals

were released on to the floor, down a storm drain and out into the

River Nene. Two days later, the chemicals had reached Wisbech and

The Wash. In King's Lynn, it meant a 24-hour ban for Shellfish

fishermen, while the water was checked for contamination. Dead and

distressed fish. Plant and animal life bleached white after a

devastating release of chemicals from here. An insecticide,

pesticide, detergent. Around 5000 litres poured from taps by vandals.

The company MD's still pleaded guilty. Outside court, no comment.

The judge said there is a heavy burden on firms not to cause

pollution. It is their responsibility to ensure premises

are not vulnerable to vandals, especially when there have been

previous incidents. On 18th June last year, workers saw that hangs

have been empty. The next year the chemicals had plain as far as the

speech. -- flown. Fishing stopped for the next two days. It cost the

industry �200,000. Recreational fishing in came the chair and

commercial fishing in Norfolk where bears badly affected. -- in

Cambridgeshire. It was devastating news. Particularly bad for the life

of the River Neva. I cannot see it coming back. It needs restocking

heavily to restore the confidence of the local fishermen and the

confidence of people coming back to Peter Barrar. It has affected the

fishing industry drastically. -- Peter Barrett. -- Peterborough.

was the worst case of contaminated waterways this region has ever seen.

A fine for this man's company and a warning to others. Mansir Tang is

from the Environment Agency. Hundreds of fish were seen on the

day dead. Thousands of fish were seen struggling and in distress. It

affected 50 kilometres of the river. It had a sick and begin to impact

on the ecology and life of a river. How should these chemicals have

been stored? they should be safe, secure of and in a locked area.

They should not have any access to outside bodies. In this case,

vandalism. The company has said in all of this there was no risk to

human health and a pub there was no need to stop fishing in the Wash. -

- and they felt. The decision was taken by another partner

organisation as a precautionary measure. The Environment Agency

provided information to the palm of organisation and they acted

accordingly. -- ate part that organisation. The incident was

reported. They co-operated fully. The company itself was a victim of

crime. Vandals attacked their premises. We do not like to see

companies in this position. They need to make sure promises are safe

and secure and not accessible to any acts of vandalism. Although the

company has come forward and Dermot it can, they could have done much

more before this incident occurred. -- done all it can. What are the

long-term effects? There was a fungus side, an insecticide and the

disinfectant. This has killed a lot of the insect life, which the fish

feed upon. They are affected by a drop in insect population. We do

not know how long these chemicals may persist within the environment.

The need to take a precaution reproach in this matter. -- we need.

A High Court judge hit out today after an interpreter failed to turn

up for a plea hearing in the case of a man accused of a quadruple

murder. Mr Justice Flaux said it was a complete disgrace that the

interpreter failed to turn up for the hearing of Chinese businessman

Anxiang Du. Jo Black was in court. To use a little bit of legal jargon,

today was a plea and case management hearing. He walked into

the court and was asked his name. He nodded. The case can go no

further. The judge said a Mandarin speaking interpreter was not coming

because the people who provided the service and it was not worth their

while. The judge was really unhappy about at and ordered one to turn up

at 2pm. The company said they could get one there for to 30 pm but the

judge said that was not good enough and it was an absolute disgrace. --

2:30pm. Has there been a response from capita? They said the original

interpreter was not able to attend so they booked a replacement. They

communicated this to be caught up in good time. They could not get

back until 2:30pm. At no time did they refuse to attend court on the

grounds of cost. The judge now wants a written explanation about

this and the plea and case management hearing has been

adjourned until July. Peterborough City Council is having to borrow

�86 million to keep up with an unprecedented demand for new school

places. Over the next five years, it will have to cope with 8,000 new

pupils. The news comes just a day after we revealed that the city

hospital's maternity services have It is clear Kneen Park academy has

seen better days. The school is showing its age. It should have

been rebuilt under the building schools for the future programme,

which the coalition axed at a stroke in 2010. We have one of the

two that got cancelled at the end of the chain. The school and the

community - I understand how long we have been waiting. It was a

massive frustration. Here, a new building is due to open in

September and existing buildings had been refurbished since the

school became an academy. They said they have got a lot of new

utilities for science, especially. I am really looking forward to that.

The arts department will be a big studio with massive windows.

new technology can help it you learn and achieve better grades.

The council has had to pick up the tab for the developments. We have

just been offered 22 million over the next couple of years. That is

very helpful. I need 108 million over the next five years.

Peterborough City Council is having to borrow it. It is as simple as

that. There is a cost to that. If you borrow 1 million, you need to

find money out of the rates to do it. It is very much focused on

those areas that need the most resources. What we have done in

Peterborough in particular is, the new figures coming through a much

more accurate about the growth in population. Peterborough will get

the funding it deserves. It's boring to build schools looks set

to continue. -- its borrowing. In the next five years, another 8000

are needed. A task force has been set up in Luton to investigate why

the number of babies who die there is so high. These the latest

figures. Across the whole of England, out of every 1,000

children born alive, 4.4 will die before they reach their first

birthday. In Luton, that figure is higher. Five children in every

1,000 die under the age of one. The difference may seem small at just

0.6%. But it has worried the council and the NHS. What they want

to do is to look at what are the issues around infant mortality in

Luton, what can we be doing to try and tackle areas? Are we doing the

right things in the council - working with partners in the Luton

and Dunstable Hospital and the Luton clinical commissioning group

in order to try to tackle those things? What the council wants to

do is to identify all the issues and do we have the right actions

and services in place? Is there more we can be done to tackle this

issue. -- be doing. So, what could be causing this infant mortality?

Research has shown that there are a number of contributing factors,

including smoking, poverty, obesity and genetics. And it is this last

point that Dr Nasreen Ali from the University of Bedfordshire says is

particularly relevant to areas with a large Asian population, where

marriages between cousins are traditional. It is something the

task force wants to address. We are hoping to do this more formally

with Luton Borough Council. This is to find or what our local community

in Luton feels about cousin marriage - how much they understand

about the link between cousin marriage and genetic risk and what

sort of interventions they would like putting into place to support

them. Is it a case of the existing interventions being improved or is

there something else that we can do to support the community to make

informed decisions? A Peterborough woman has appeared in court charged

with the murders of three men, whose bodies were found in ditches

in the city. The body of Kevin Lee was discovered on 30th March. Four

days later, the bodies Lukas Slaboeski and John Chapman were

found at Thorney Dyke. 30-year-old Joanna Dennehey appeared at

Cambridge Crown court via video- link. She has been remanded in

custody. The loss of hundreds of jobs at a Tesco distribution centre

in Harlow has been raised in the House of Commons today. The town's

MP, Robert Halfon, secured a debate over the rights of workers. Many