29/01/2014 Look East - West

Good evening. The development of Northstowe, a new

town to the north of Cambridge is one step closer tonight after local

councils agreed a ?30 million deal for the first phase of homes. The

project was first unveiled ten years ago. Our reporter Ben Bland has the

story. It's something that's been talked

about for more than ten years. Today's deal between the county and

district councils and the main developer is a big step towards

turning the plans into an actual town. Here's where it will go:

10,000 new homes between Cambridge and Huntingdon. The first phase

1500, will be built near the village of Longstanton. Initially, the

councils were hoping to secure 65 million from the developer to pay

full amenities in Northstowe. Last year that was cut to ?40 million.

They've now settled for a contribution of ?30 million, less

than half what they originally wanted. Some councillors are unhappy

about it. There will be less facilities for

the community to enjoy. There will be more cost put back to local

authorities who are already hard pushed and facing financial crisis.

There will be more mental health problems and anti`social behaviour

and all of that becomes a problem for the local authority. So it is a

false economy. The money they have secured will go

towards a primary and secondary school, sports pitches and cycle

routes. Some will also go to a guided bus, already in place. But

under the deal there will be fewer affordable homes in the first phase.

Instead of two in five, it'll be just one in five. For that, the

developer makes no apology. I have to make the point that 4 %

affordable housing was always subject to viability. And the 2 % in

the first phase after all is 30 affordable housing units, which will

be available for local people. I think that is a substantial

provision. This development will be one of the

largest in the UK. A whole new town. Today's deal means that shovels

should hit the ground this summer, the first home ready by the middle

of 2015. Next tonight: inspectors say the

East of England Ambulance Service is still failing to get to 999 calls

quickly enough, but in some areas ` like Luton and Cambridgeshire ` it

does seem to be making progress Stuart Ratcliffe is outside the

ambulance service headquarters now. The last months have been turbulent

for the Easter then and underlines service and the root of the problem

is response times. Put simply, the ambulance service is not getting to

emergencies quickly enough. There are signs that that might be

changing. The un`announced inspection last

month found significant improvements in a number of areas. After

interviewing patients, there is praise for the care received from

ambulance crews and call handlers. But the trust is found wanting in

two key areas: ambulance response times to 999 calls, and staffing.

Ambulance trusts must aim to respond to at least 75% of life`threatening

calls within eight minutes. And at least 95% of calls where a solo

paramedic is first on the scene within 19 minutes. Latest figures

show that the trust has met neither target. There are big regional

variations: in Luton and Cambridge, the trust is exceeding these

targets. But in some areas of Norfolk and Essex it consistently

fails. But the service has welcomed today's news.

The report clearly identifies that the service is getting safer, but

there are still areas where the response times are not where we

would expect them to be. To meet that gap, we need to fill vacancies,

which is what we are pushing hard to do now. We need to have more staff

and to have the same type of service across the East of England.

The report says a recent review found that in order for the trust to

meet national targets, it would need over 500 additional paramedics by

2016. The East of England Showground

service has already recruited more paramedics and wants to recruit a

further 400. To meet that target, it is unlikely to meet its response

time targets. Every child will have a place at one

of our primary schools. That's the guarantee I Peterborough, which has

faced unprecedented demand for places. 1000 children came forward

in just one year and tens of millions of pounds is being spent to

create spaces. I would like you to discuss whether

you think we should ban playtime or not.

Small school, high expectations That's the motto of this primary

school, but it will soon double in size, so great has been the demand

for places. The pressure is certainly on the

younger age groups. There has been a higher birth rate, and more children

in the area want to come to the school. In Year One, if we had the

space we could actually have an extra class of children. We are not

able to offer a place to between 25 and 30 children who want to come

here. In the last seven years, 5000 extra

places have been created, but still more are needed. This year there are

going to be six school expansion projects, creating 1500 extra places

at the cost of more than ?25 million. Last year the city had to

find 1000 new places due to more people moving to the city and one of

the highest birth rates in the country. But the council says this

expansion will create spare capacity.

We can guarantee that every pupil who wants to come to school will

have a place but not necessarily where they would want to go or where

they live. Work is going on across the whole

city to expand schools or build new ones. They'll be ready to take

pupils this September. Good evening. It is going to stay

cloudy with some outbreaks of rain. A lot of cloud around. We start

tomorrow with a cloudy picture. Further outbreaks of rain through

the morning. The rain will become lighter and patchy into the

afternoon. Gradually the rain will clear away and become drier by the

afternoon and into the evening. Into Friday, much of the day looks drier.

The wind will start afresh and later and that weather front will bring us

some heavy rain. From all of us on the late team in

Cambridge, good night. Hello. The next dose of wet and

windy weather is due to arrive on Friday from the Atlantic. Today we

have had an easterly wind bringing the chill as the threat of icy

patches comes to the north where the cloud breaks. More cloud further

south. Maybe some sleet and snow in parts of East Wales as we engage the

cold air. Temperatures in the south-east are not changing much

because the rain keeps going. It will be colder further north,

though. Icy patches are possible. More wintry showers in the

north-east. Quite a few flood warnings in Tayside. Write to the

west of the Pennines. -- brighter. Figure clad -- thicker cloud further

south. We see some dampness in parts of the West Country, possibly into

East Wales. In the north-west of Wales is the