31/07/2013 Look East - West

Susie and me. In the programme tonight. An investment in the

future, or a waste of tax payers' money? The Government ploughs

millions into more charging points for electric cars. Sacked - the

school dinner lady who lost her job after serving pork to a Muslim

pupil. More resources for the front-line. The East of England

Ambulance Service sets out how it plans to improve response times. And

eels in Earith. The plan to return of pounds of taxpayers' money is to

be spent installing more charging points for electric cars. Despite

the fact that many of the existing ones are hardly being used. The

Government announced today another �37 million for the project. In this

region, Milton Keynes town centre will receive the most investment

followed by Peterborough. There are also plans to install charging

points at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and railway stations in

Cambridge and Peterborough. But in a time of austerity is it right to

plough so much public money into a scheme that the public don't seem to

be supporting? In a moment we'll hear what the Transport Minister has

to say. But first, this report from Louise Hubball.

Clean, green motoring. Our electric cars the future or a fad that

refuses to take off? Many here in Milton Keynes, are they ready to go

electric? Yes I would because it saves money and it is good for the

environment. If you get a power failure on a country lane, where you

going to charge it? I don't think so. Figures released show that one

charging post here in Milton Keynes had only been used once and another

three for only ten minutes, although the council said has picked up now.

We bumped into one motorist who had just taken the plunge. So far, very

happy with it. I've only had it for three weeks but I am enjoying it.

But elsewhere, charge points have broken down and electric car owners

could not get into base to power because petrol cars were parked

there. You have technology that can only get you some 280 miles and then

takes several hours to charge. But what I think we are moving to now is

the next stage on which makes electric cars are real option for

considerably more. At the moment there are just age charging point in

the whole of the sentence. Milton Keynes already has 13. Cambridge and

after Germany have it then each. At the show has 22 points. Some

motoring experts say it is hybrid cars, part electric and part motor,

which have really accelerated. The Transport Minister, Norman

Baker, says the investment boosts the motor industry and jobs, it

helps cut emissions and makes the country less reliant on oil from

overseas. But I put it to him that despite his argument, people weren't

buying electric cars. That is a rapist mystic way of

looking at it, not true. straight into rubber the figures

suggest it is true. In our region a lot of money has been invested in

charging points and some of any been used twice in an entire year.

sales of electrical vehicles in the last quarter with the highest they

have been by some distance. We have all the major manufacturers

producing electric vehicles or shortly to do so. Thirdly, when you

undertake something like this, which is to transform a house or product

like a car, right across the country, of course it does not

change overnight. But there's no point selling electric vehicles

unless they are charge points. do they not charge them at home? You

need to be a car overnight built to get more than a few miles. You do

not, because we're rolling out today rapid charges which will benefit

from half �1 million of investment. They will later charge a car within

30 minutes. You can pop into the shops only come out again your car

is charge. This is the future. experts are telling us that hybrid

cars are the future, they give the emissions and do the job electric

cars will do but are more affordable. Hybrid cars, I regard as

a rich. Ultimately I think they will give away to electric vehicles.

you were a betting man, are you some confident that electric cars will

take off in this country insufficient number to make the

investment worthwhile, that you would bet your life savings on it?

don't know about my life savings, but I would certainly have a good

bet on it. Do you have an electric car yourself? I do not, but I have

no aversion to it. Do you think that the investment has simply become too

soon? That the rapid expansion of the electric car market is so far

into the future that actually we could have waited? No, I think if we

waited, we would like Germany, France, Japan, to overtake us. By

getting in early we have investment in this country to rating jobs and

we have environmental credentials to go around and send this message

across to the rest of the world. A school catering company is

standing by its decision tonight to sack a dinner lady after she served

a pork dish to a Muslim pupil. Alison Waldock worked for a company

which provides school dinners for Queen Edith Primary School in

Cambridge. Our reporter Gareth George is outside the school now.

Queen Edith Primary School is in a quiet street in Cambridge but

tonight it finds itself at the centre of what you could describe as

a media storm. And dinner lady who used to work here said she was

sacked for pleading numbers compute or pork and today she went public

with her story -- feeding a Muslim people. The Queen Edith Primary

School School has a diverse catchment area. Today in a national

newspaper, the dinner lady called Alison Waldock claim she had lost a

job because she accidentally served a Muslim pupil Bob. -- pork. The

pupils parents reportedly complained. Today some questioned

whether Alison Waldock should have lost her job. I think an

explanation, but certainly not sacking. It is a bit extreme,

they're going over the top. What should they have done instead?

should have taken aside and had a chat with her. Just give her a

warning and if it happened again she would be sacked. Now one would I am

sure give a chart liberally feed that they should not be having all

hell for religious frames. -- for health or religious grounds.

letter sent by the company says that the main issue at the disciplinary

hearing will be feeding Cameron to Muslim students. I spelt it also --

I spoke to Alison Oldham this morning. She said she was not able

to do a television interview but she said that she felt what had happened

to her was unfair. A member of the Muslim minty also disagreed with her

sacking that said there needs to be more education about what people can

and cannot eat. In this incident were taught about the Muslim faith

but it could be the Jewish faith or people who had an allergy to nuts.

Alison Waldock was employed by a catering company called Lunchtime

UK. It says it would not cease to dismiss any employee due to just one

honest mistake. The plot thickens. Within the last few minutes were had

a statement from the head teacher of the school here, Caroline Peet. She

says, we understand from the employers of that dinner lady that

this was not a one-off event entry to the significant number children

involved, the company treated the issue with the seriousness it

deserves. It was entirely up to Lunchtime UK to decide what measures

to take. After a rough year, with failures to

meet response times and the resignations of senior management,

the East of England Ambulance Trust has been explaining how it intends

to improve performance and regain public trust. Kim Riley has the

details. When the trust board member sat down

for business today was a new line-up. That month five

nonexecutive directors to down, in the best interest of agents, they

said. Two new interim replacements have been headhunted. Both have

considerable senior experience in the NHS. The chairman said there had

been 46 applications for the nonexecutive roles and interviews

were to be underweight. As soon as the board is concerned we need to

get a permanent team in place and we need to make sure that immediately

we begin to turn around something which is taking quite a long while

to develop. Issues in a trust like this cannot happen overnight.

are determined to make a difference. Absolutely, that is what I voice

been committed to in the NHS. public hesitation this afternoon

attended by three of the regions and is. The interim chief executive

setting course to build public confidence. The aim is true of the

leadership of this trust to make sure our response to patient is

better than it has been. It is about timeliness, it is by care and

compassion, and about clinical outcome. Today was also a shop

window for the gambling service. They were setting up a major

exhibition of their work. And the trust is actively seeking more

community first responders, volunteers trained up to provide

vital local care while an ambience is on its way. We provide a training

course on all the skills that they need to learn to be first responders

and give them the training and confidence to go out there and save

lives. Volunteers are urgently needed as part of the trust's

determination to listen to its staff more carefully and put more

resources into the front line. A decision will be made tonight

about a controversial new business park for Wellingborough. The

developers of Appleby Lodge say it will create up to 2,500 jobs. But

there are concerns the development is in the wrong place, and local

roads won't be able to cope. Charles Stockdale is preparing his

three-minute speech - objecting to the plans for a proposed new

employment park. Living in the village of Mears Ashby, he's just a

mile from the site. He says the rich agricultural land will be wasted and

the traffic increase will be unbearable. It is taking up 150

acres of good quality, great to agricultural land. The bypass at him

put on hold so there is no decent thing from the North. It does not

make sense. This is how Appleby Lodge employment park is likely to

look - it would cost �150 million and should create more than 2,500

jobs over the next ten years. But with 100 letters of objection

received by local residents, including the parish councils of

Isham and Mears Ashby, the planning decision tonight won't be

straightforward. It is a difficult balancing act, trying to balance the

economic needs of the borough with the impact that it may have on

residents in surrounding villages. I think you have to take the overall

view of what is good for the borough. There are going to be some

road improvements and roundabout improvements carried out. A lot of

that will go a long way to mitigating any opulence. If the plan

is approved work on phase one is likely to start early next year.

Milton Keynes and Luton are facing a chronic shortage of blood donors, in

particular the Blood Service needs more young people to volunteer.

To highlight the issue, the "Blood Bus" rolled into MK this afternoon.