:00:00. > :00:00.whether that is legal or not. Full coverage for you online and on
:00:00. > :00:00.In Look East tonight: Care in the community.
:00:00. > :00:00.Why a solution to bed-blocking is under threat because funding
:00:07. > :00:11.27,000 new homes for Milton Keynes, as authorities reveal when and where
:00:12. > :00:24.And, staying cold with the risk of snow showers in the next couple of
:00:25. > :00:26.days. I'll be here later with all days. I'll be here later with all
:00:27. > :00:30.the details. As you may have seen
:00:31. > :00:34.on the national news, bed-blocking is a huge problem
:00:35. > :00:35.for our health service. And here in the East,
:00:36. > :00:38.in December alone, patients spent nearly 15,000 days in hospital beds
:00:39. > :00:42.when they didn't need to. It is usually because the patients
:00:43. > :00:46.need care outside that isn't there. But a pioneering scheme to tackle
:00:47. > :00:49.the problem in Hertfordshire is under threat as its funding
:00:50. > :00:52.is being slashed. Our Political Reporter,
:00:53. > :00:56.Tom Barton, has the details. Myra Stevenson has been
:00:57. > :00:59.in St Catherine's Nursing Home in Letchworth Garden City
:01:00. > :01:02.for three weeks. She came here straight
:01:03. > :01:04.from hospital. And the nurses are individuals,
:01:05. > :01:23.and you're an individual. Myra is benefiting from a scheme
:01:24. > :01:29.which sees the local NHS and Hertfordshire County Council
:01:30. > :01:31.working together and It's paying for exercise classes
:01:32. > :01:37.like this, which have led to a massive drop in the number
:01:38. > :01:40.of falls, stopping unnecessary And it's also helping to get people
:01:41. > :01:49.out of hospital more quickly. Hertfordshire have just started
:01:50. > :01:52.using this red bag as a way of making the process of leaving
:01:53. > :01:54.hospital run as So it's got everything in it that
:01:55. > :02:00.you need to go home. So it's got a change of clothes,
:02:01. > :02:02.it's got your medication, The project also has
:02:03. > :02:08.a trusted assessor, working in the Lister Hospital on behalf
:02:09. > :02:11.of the Hertfordshire Care Home Association,
:02:12. > :02:13.helping to get people out of hospital as soon
:02:14. > :02:17.as they are ready. We've had a 45% reduction
:02:18. > :02:21.in hospital admittances since we've In terms of the trusted assessor,
:02:22. > :02:29.she has now saved, I think it's 305 So that means that we have made
:02:30. > :02:40.a saving of around ?160,000. The Herts Valley Clinical
:02:41. > :02:45.Commissioning Group has just taken ?8.5 million out of the shared fund
:02:46. > :02:52.that pays for schemes like this. This is an additional payment,
:02:53. > :02:55.very few parts of the NHS And yesterday, a Council committee
:02:56. > :03:00.decided to ask the Health Secretary I strongly believe that
:03:01. > :03:06.patients will suffer, because while we can absorb some
:03:07. > :03:11.of the impact of that funding reduction within the service,
:03:12. > :03:14.and we will be able to preserve some of it, but the magnitude
:03:15. > :03:20.of ?8.5 million just being taken out, five weeks before
:03:21. > :03:23.we set our budgets, it makes it For now, though, Myra and others
:03:24. > :03:30.like her are benefiting from a system which is really
:03:31. > :03:33.helping to stop unnecessary Tom Barton, BBC Look East,
:03:34. > :03:41.Letchworth Garden City. Staying with so-called bed-blocking
:03:42. > :03:43.- Northamptonshire is one of the worst affected areas,
:03:44. > :03:45.with more than 5,000 bed Part of the reason,
:03:46. > :03:50.according to the county's Care Home Association,
:03:51. > :03:53.is that many homes just won't work with the County Council because it
:03:54. > :03:57.doesn't pay them enough. The Council says it's
:03:58. > :03:59.planning to invest an extra The impact is that we cannot provide
:04:00. > :04:05.the service that we need They don't pay a sufficient amount
:04:06. > :04:10.of money per week per resident. We're reaching, in effect,
:04:11. > :04:14.a tipping point. We've said to them that they need
:04:15. > :04:16.to increase their funds, they need to increase them rapidly,
:04:17. > :04:19.to prevent further homes from shutting and prevent
:04:20. > :04:26.bed-blocking in the local hospitals. The fiance of Royston children's
:04:27. > :04:29.author Helen Bailey has claimed he was blackmailed for ?500,000
:04:30. > :04:32.by a pair of mystery kidnappers Ian Stewart says they were business
:04:33. > :04:38.associates of her late husband. He also claims he spoke to Helen
:04:39. > :04:42.after she disappeared. From St Albans Crown Court,
:04:43. > :04:48.Kate Bradbrook reports. Ian Stewart was on his
:04:49. > :04:51.feet in the witness box His voice broke several times
:04:52. > :04:55.as he gave his version of events He told the court that two men
:04:56. > :05:01.called Nick and Joe abducted Helen on the 11th of April,
:05:02. > :05:05.the day she went missing. He said on Friday the 15th, Nick
:05:06. > :05:12.turned up at the house with a phone. Ian spoke to Helen, who said, "Sorry
:05:13. > :05:15.about everything, I love you." He replied, "It's not your
:05:16. > :05:18.fault, I love you too." Ian Stewart told the jury
:05:19. > :05:21.that the following day he met Nick in Kent to hand over Helen's phone,
:05:22. > :05:28.as they had requested. He said on the 26th of April,
:05:29. > :05:31.Nick and Joe demanded access They said, "Helen told us
:05:32. > :05:35.where something was in the garage." Ian Stewart later told
:05:36. > :05:37.the court they must have Ian Stewart claimed throughout that
:05:38. > :05:41.Nick and Joe had threatened that he would never see Helen Bailey
:05:42. > :05:44.again if he told anyone He said they told him if they didn't
:05:45. > :05:50.get what they needed, Ian Stewart is accused of drugging
:05:51. > :05:56.Helen Bailey with sleeping pills He told the court Helen had taken
:05:57. > :06:01.them when she realised he couldn't When asked why this wasn't mentioned
:06:02. > :06:08.in his defence statement, he replied, "It only came back to me
:06:09. > :06:11.when I saw the The drug Zopiclone was found
:06:12. > :06:16.in Helen Bailey's system when her body was found three months
:06:17. > :06:20.after she disappeared. Under cross-examination,
:06:21. > :06:23.prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC put to Ian Stewart that it was,
:06:24. > :06:25."A long-crafted, cynical and cruel plan of yours to do
:06:26. > :06:28.away with Helen Bailey." "You smothered her while she was
:06:29. > :06:31.sleeping or unconscious... Now, Ian Stewart also admitted today
:06:32. > :06:40.that he lied for months about a note that he claimed Helen had left,
:06:41. > :06:42.saying that she was He said he had to do that
:06:43. > :06:47.in order to keep her safe. And also because he was told that
:06:48. > :06:50.if he didn't, his two sons Now, he told the court that months
:06:51. > :06:55.later he received a phone call saying that one of the men,
:06:56. > :06:58.Joe, had now been dealt with, Ian Stewart denies all the charges
:06:59. > :07:04.against him, and the case Kate Bradbrook, BBC Look East,
:07:05. > :07:12.St Albans Crown Court. This year, we've been looking back
:07:13. > :07:15.at the history of Milton Keynes, as the town celebrates
:07:16. > :07:18.its 50th birthday. But later this month,
:07:19. > :07:19.the Council will discuss how the town could grow over
:07:20. > :07:22.the next 15 years. Their new plans include thousands
:07:23. > :07:25.of new homes and offices, as well as a redeveloped shopping
:07:26. > :07:27.centre. From the very beginning,
:07:28. > :07:33.Milton Keynes has made it Today, over 250,000
:07:34. > :07:40.people live here. And in this new plan, MK would
:07:41. > :07:45.like to build 26,500 new homes. Which would take its population
:07:46. > :07:49.to well over 300,000. It's gone over and above
:07:50. > :07:53.the ten-year statutory We've done what Milton Keynes does,
:07:54. > :08:04.and always gone that step further. And yes, I think we can indeed
:08:05. > :08:06.deliver those house numbers if the developers and the builders
:08:07. > :08:09.will get on and do it. We will grant the planning
:08:10. > :08:12.permissions, we will set the land aside, but they've got to deliver
:08:13. > :08:15.on the numbers for us, which up 26,500 new homes is a lot
:08:16. > :08:19.of homes for you to deliver. It is, absolutely,
:08:20. > :08:21.it is a lot of homes. And what we've got to do
:08:22. > :08:24.is bring forward the sites, bring forward the sites in the right
:08:25. > :08:27.places, those that We believe that we are doing that
:08:28. > :08:31.in the plan that we're putting out. We now need the developers to do
:08:32. > :08:34.their bit and build the houses, not at the rate they want to,
:08:35. > :08:37.but at the rate that we want them them to, and at the rate
:08:38. > :08:40.that the Government are asking But the Plan MK document is about
:08:41. > :08:44.much more than just new houses. The main shopping area could also
:08:45. > :08:47.get a huge expansion. The Centre MK for example could get
:08:48. > :08:49.new shops and leisure facilities. And the regeneration of Bletchley
:08:50. > :08:52.town centre will also be a priority. New jobs, better education
:08:53. > :08:54.facilities are also But central to the plan
:08:55. > :08:59.is transport. That includes support for the
:09:00. > :09:01.East-West rail link and an expressway
:09:02. > :09:05.road linking Cambridge and Oxford. It's taken years of consultation
:09:06. > :09:09.to come up with Plan MK, and it will now be debated
:09:10. > :09:13.by the Council later this month. Peterborough travel giant
:09:14. > :09:16.Thomas Cook has cheered a "solid" start to the New Year,
:09:17. > :09:18.but says it still remains The company says that holiday
:09:19. > :09:23.bookings for the Greek islands have risen by nearly 40%,
:09:24. > :09:25.as travellers move away from Turkey and Egypt because of concerns
:09:26. > :09:29.about security in both countries. Chief Executive Peter Fankhouser
:09:30. > :09:32.said there was no sign that Britons had been put off by the weak pound,
:09:33. > :09:35.but there was still plenty of And that's the late
:09:36. > :09:51.news from Look East. We are back with bulletins during
:09:52. > :09:52.BBC Breakfast from 6:30pm. -- 6:30am.
:09:53. > :10:00.The cold air has now properly established itself across
:10:01. > :10:02.the British Isles, so it's going to stay
:10:03. > :10:06.bitterly cold, certainly for
:10:07. > :10:09.For tonight, temperatures dropping away.
:10:10. > :10:12.And although a lot of dry weather around, there could be the odd snow
:10:13. > :10:16.You may wake up to a dusting of snow in places.
:10:17. > :10:19.Temperatures could get down below freezing in one or two
:10:20. > :10:23.And that could cause an issue with icy patches on untreated
:10:24. > :10:25.A very cold start of the day tomorrow.
:10:26. > :10:27.Not a lot changing in our pressure pattern.
:10:28. > :10:29.We have still got this bitterly cold easterly
:10:30. > :10:33.This could mean there are a bit more widespread showers as we go
:10:34. > :10:39.But there will be quite a bit of dry weather, likely to stay quite gloomy
:10:40. > :10:41.and overcast for much of the day. Showers being pushed in from the
:10:42. > :10:43.North Sea. As the easterly wind freshens, it could push them further
:10:44. > :10:46.inland. Temperatures getting up to around three Celsius. But with the
:10:47. > :10:49.wind chill it is going to feel colder still. The risk of snow
:10:50. > :10:53.showers increases into the afternoon and evening. There could be more of
:10:54. > :11:03.a covering of snow by Friday night and into Saturday morning. The
:11:04. > :11:04.National weather is coming up, and here is the outlook.
:11:05. > :11:11.will turn a bit less cold again. All the way up seven Celsius.
:11:12. > :11:17.At this time of year we can often get the weather stories that reflect
:11:18. > :11:22.the battle between winter and spring, and that's what's been
:11:23. > :11:26.happening in New York in the USA. Yesterday, 17 Celsius, but today,
:11:27. > :11:31.it's been bitterly cold, just a daytime maximum of -2, a significant
:11:32. > :11:35.wind-chill and some significant snow falling as we speak. This was Times
:11:36. > :11:39.Square earlier today. For others, it's been a pretty cold day. Not
:11:40. > :11:44.quite as cold, but nevertheless a lot of low cloud lifting in off the
:11:45. > :11:48.North Sea and two bridges have struggled. That will continue into
:11:49. > :11:49.the