18/07/2013 Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)

Good evening and welcome to BBC Look North. The headlines tonight.

Calls for fairer funding for the police in Lincolnshire. Now the

government's to review how the force is financed. We do have more

and more with less and less. pensioners face losing their homes

after a planning inquiry goes against them.

Revert devastated. These units were being occupied as people's main

home. Would a cull tackle the problem of seagulls?

And it's full steam ahead as Grantham prepares for the

homecoming of the world's fastest steam locomotive. Dot must the

detailed forecast and 15 minutes. The Government says it will conduct

a review into how money for policing is divided up.

It comes after the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire says

ministers need to give the county a bigger slice of the police budget.

Today, the latest crime figures are released and they show that

offences fell in the Humberside force area by 11 per cent, in

Lincolnshire they dropped by 2 per cent. Vicky Johnson reports.

When police budgets were cut, people feared the worst. But crime

is going down and detection rates are stable. But in Lincolnshire,

they feel they are doing well despite the current funding formula.

I believe we are the current gold standard in policing. Why should

they give you more when you can achieve so much on so little?

would hope that their government would say, look how little money

they have compared it to every other force in the country.

According to a report released by her Majesty's Inspectorate of

Constabulary, the amount spent on Lincolnshire has saved money by his

controversial partnership with G4S, a private company which now handles

its back office operations. Despite this, the force has still lost 120

officers over the past three years. What I would appreciate his if the

Home Secretary would recognise that there is a cost to the investors.

The costs have been pared down to the lowest level. Those in charge

they they are doing a good job, but what about the residents they

serve? They are too busy getting Pettit stuff sorted out, not

sorting the proper criminals. never see the police. They are all

sat and a bit of us here where I live. This wine bar owner is not

impressed either. There is no prisoners when you needed. I used

as security because there is that anybody there. The police insist

they are running Aleem and efficient service as they would be

glad to show the Home Secretary exactly how they are achieving that.

Earlier I spoke to Zoe Billingham who carried out the report who said

Lincolnshire Police had made savings, but had concerns that they

had cut too much. Lincolnshire has taken a whole

range of steps to make sure it brings its costs down while

protecting front line workforce. For that, we say that they have

risen to the financial challenge well. Were they too hasty Toutai

ABTA deal with G4S? -- Toutai up a deal. -- to tie up. They have got

very few staff and police officers left from which to make additional

savings. We think that there them the blue line is at risk of being

cut if there are further cost reductions. So they have nowhere to

go now? If they make any more savings, it will be front line

officers? That is precisely the risk. They have almost run out of

places to make savings. But you praising them or not praising them?

It is important that the public understand that the force has risen

to the challenge well. But there is a risk because of the decisions

they have taken in the past apart the because of their historic

funding decisions. There is very little room above them into term

now -- a very little room for them to turn now. Do you agree that

there funding for Mel is not right? That is not for me to say. The way

that police funds are distributed it needs to be looked at in the

future. There are some forces in the country that have become very

lean and efficient that will find it very difficult to make savings

in the future. Thank you. The report highlighted

that Humberside Police has to make more than �3 million worth of

savings over the next two years. Concerns were also raised about the

speed at which the force had made changes to reduce its funding

shortfall after the HMIC said they had not reacted quick enough. But

the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside, Matthew Grove, says

they are providing a good service to the public.

It is not how many officers you have, it is what you have them

doing. If you have them out on the streets, being on patrol,

preventing crimes, protecting your family, you can have a better

police service with your officers over all. We want to hear from you

on this story. Do you think Lincolnshire should get more money

from policing? Or maybe you think with crime falling, it doesn't need

In a moment. As the heatwave continues, I'll be

live at the lido to see how the region's keeping cool.

Over 100 residents have been coming to terms with the reality they

could lose their dream homes at a holiday park in Beverley.

Lakeminster Park was built after planning consent for holiday homes

in 2006, but now people face losing them because of a breach on the

original planning permission, which includes using them as a permanent

home. Now, as it stands, there is no planning consent at all on the

site and residents have 18 months to find alternative accommodation.

Simon Spark reports. This is a community confused, angry

and ultimately devastated by a decision that will mean the loss of

their dream retirement homes. The Lakeminster Park near Beverley has

never had the planning permission that would enable people to live

here. But because they are, for reasons still being investigated,

East Riding Council served a notice of enforcement for people to leave

their properties. An independent planning inspector upheld that

decision. To hear suddenly that there is no hope, that's it. We

were all devastated. We just do not know what we are going to do now.

We have worked all our lives for what we have got and it is going to

be taken away from us. Around the corner, we met Barbara who is in

her eighties. Let them cut everything off, I don't care.

not moving. At my time of life, I will not go. And I think a lot of

these people around here are in the same mind as I am.

The council say this is not an eviction, this is planning

enforcement. The council understands the difficult position

the residents are in but the council would advise that they take

their own private legal advice as to what steps they now need to take

in the future. The council in all fairness has always said it was not

land that should have been developed for that purpose.

Why didn't they take action then when they knew in March 2009? Why

did they leave it for 26 months before they swooped? If they had

done it then, there were only a few houses occupied. But they waited.

From day one, they have taken poll tax from us, all of us. They knew

we were here. Meanwhile, the fraud investigation

is continuing into the alleged mis- selling of holiday homes. Police

have arrested five people who have been released on bail pending

further enquiries. But for the residents here, a time limit of 18

months has been set to find suitable alternative accommodation.

A senior officer from Northumbria Police has been asked to

investigate the travel restrictions placed on Hull City fans by West

Yorkshire Police last season. Some supporters boycotted the game in

March against Huddersfield town in protest after being told they could

only travel to the stadium using club transport.

13 football banning orders and one four month prison sentence have

been handed out after violent scenes at Scunthorpe United's

ground in April. Brian Whitely from the town has been banned from

A Hull man says more needs to be done to tackle menacing gulls after

he was attacked by a flock three days in a row. Keith Lee says it's

left him nervous of walking along one of the city's main roads.

Crispin Rolfe reports. Beside the seaside. Exactly where you'd expect

to see a seagull. Though not Keith Lee where, for him, a brush with

the birds came instead alongside a Hull industrial estate. He says

he's faced down three separate attacks over the last two weeks,

and is worried these sea birds are moving inland. I carried on walking.

And then, because I was so frightened anbd it was still above

my head, I crossed here. The lorries probably protected me on

the first occasion. On the second occasion, they came up within

threatening, above my head. I heard the front door go. It seemed as if

he could not get in fast enough. He just stood at the bottom of the

stairs. He did not have much colour in his face and he was shaking.

a rare fright, and the reason for this - a falcon being used by pest

controllers from Beverley, not to harm but to scare off seagulls from

as far inland as Bradford. When you look at places like shopping

centres, schools, nurseries, I do think it is a rising problem. And

we need to do something and that is where we come him. We scare them

away. In Bridlington a cull has even been discussed, because

although the gulls generally live side by side with humans, it's not

always been a comfortable co- existence. This sign says it all.

Two years ago, two pensioners were hospitalised after a seagull attack.

However, the birds are protected and the RSPB wants it to stay that

way. Meanwhile the British Trust for Ornithology says there are good

reasons why seagulls shouldn't be culled. Seagulls are in decline,

they are a protected species. They might do well in cities, but not

elsewhere. Wildlife groups argue human waste remains the root

problem here. But with no solution in sight, back in Hull, Keith is

now more cautious at the sight of a seagull.

You might have a view on this story too, should there be a cull on

seagulls to reduce these attacks? Still ahead tonight. Looking for

the wow factor to make Hull the UK's city of culture.

She was the world's fastest steam locomotive - now Grantham's

We just went on holiday to Torres Molina's in Spain. We switched on

the television in the hotel bedroom and there you wear. We get it in

Once again, we are looking at weather conditions that are mainly

sunny, dry and hot inland. If you want to escape the heat, the coast

is the place to be. They might be a bit of mistiness developing,

especially later in the day. That herald as a change for the weekend,

we will pick up a lot of low cloud from the North Sea. It will push

across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Friday night. In places, it

might be reluctant to clear on Saturday. But looking at the

satellite picture, absolutely beautiful. Temperatures around 80

degrees Fahrenheit once more. A beautiful evening. Temperatures up

to 27 and 28 degrees this afternoon. Overnight, clear, but a bit of a

mistiness in some valley bottoms. For most of us, another lovely day

tomorrow, fine and any mistiness Clearing. Plenty of strong sunshine

to come. Just a hint of a bit of sea threat coming into that

coastline. -- fret. If you want to escape the heat, go to the coast.

Low cloud Friday night, slowly breaking up through Saturday

towards the coast. It might be reluctant to clear. Temperatures

taking quite a drop, but a hot sunshine returns next week.

This is an e-mail, Mollie send it to you?

Mark After two weeks of glorious weather and with no sign of the

temperatures dropping, many of us have been making the most of it. It

could be a postcard picture from a foreign holiday, but here at

Skegness, the British beach is having a comeback. It's a couple of

hours' drive from Nottingham, it is ideal. Gets you away from the

everyday routine of life, by the sea. Just makes a nice change.

is brilliant for children and there's lots to do. The seal

sanctuary, the gardens, the mini village - there's loads to do here.

Just sitting here watching everybody enjoy themselves. The

children. It's nice. It's hard to believe that a year

ago, visitors to the Driffield Show were wading through rain water. But

it's our coastal businesses who are basking in this year's summer sun.

There was a feeling of dread throughout the accommodation

industry in this part of the world. This is the fillip we needed. This

is paying back almost last year, not just this year. We could do

with this until late October. everyone has time to relax and

enjoy the weather. For farmers in Boston, the constant heat has

provided perfect growing weather for broccoli. The bad news, it all

needs harvesting and quickly. Extremes of weather really. We had

a very cold April where planting was delayed. Even when we did

manage to plant, the crops didn't grow. That led to an uneven

ripening of the crop which has made it a little bit more challenging in

terms of meeting supply and demand. For other agricultural businessess,

there are some animals struggling to keep cool. These pigs are

relying on mud to protect their skin. They suffer from sunburn,

sunstroke and heatstroke exactly as we do. We flood the area around the

water troughs, they turn that into a wallowing mud pool and roll

around in it for the rest of the day. Then when they come out, it

hardens up and they have an excellent sunblock for them.

from rainy downpours last year, it is fast becoming a summer where

people welcome water of a different kind. And while it lasts, proof

that everyone has a great summer holiday on their doorstep.

Jill is live at the Lido in Woodhall Spa tonight. How much of a

bruised has this been for businesses?

When you get weather like this, 29 recorded in Lincolnshire today, you

could be forgiven for thinking that this is a campsite in the south of

France. I have been speaking to the managers here and they have taught

me they have clocked up 7000 visitors in the past two weeks when

the weather has been at his best. About 500 people every day. Compare

it to last year, that is six times better in terms of visitors. If the

some kick shiny, it is not just good for people, but their

businesses to. -- keeps shining. A new fleet of high speed trains

which can travel up to 140 miles an hour are to be introduced to the

East Coast mainline. The class 800 series will be operational from

2019 and will cut journey times between London and Edinburgh by 18

minutes. It's part of a �1.2 billion investment programme. Plans

to generate power from a landfill site are being considered by East

Riding Councillors. Cityplant, which operates the tip in

Gilberdyke, wants to produce electricity from gas on the site.

Residents have already complained about smells and say gas turbines

will be too close to their homes. I'm prepared to compromise on my

own requirements and accept that it's going to be on my boundary if

there are satisfactory conditions that will guarantee that the noise

will be kept to bearable limits. Which I don't think is in any way

unreasonable. Thanks to everyone who got in touch

about the farmers in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who say they'll be

priced out of the global market if the Government takes an increased

cut of the payments they get from Europe. The UK is planning to take

a bigger slice of the payments than other member states. The money,

which comes from a European-wide scheme, is meant to support farmers

financially to produce food. Mick: "I think it needs to be more

transparent to the public, what farmers receive. Farmers never say

when they're having a good time, we always hear about the bad." And

Martin near Gainsborough, who's a farmer himself, says: "Farm

subsidies keep food prices down, so its the consumer that actually

benefits." The team behind Hull's bid to become the UK City of

Culture 2017 has been told it needs the wow factor. With a budget of

around �11 million should the city be successful, bosses say they want

to make sure it is spent on the right things. Today, there was a

special workshop for members of the public so that they could

contribute their own ideas about how to make the city standout

against the other rival cities. Amy Cole reports.

Hull has already been praised for its cultural flair. Last year,

there were thousands of people at key events such as the Freedom

Festival and the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. Now they are hoping to

build on that success and are bidding to become the UK City of

Culture 2017. At a workshop today, members of the public were asked

what buildings in Hull they thought had the most cultural value. I was

thinking of the William Wilberforce museum. Why is that?Because of the

significance in Hull's history in relation to freedom and

multiculturalism. I think it would be an important site. I think the

Lord Line building, off the Clive Sullivan Way. We feel it is an

amazing building, amazing architecture and it could be

fantastic. Hull is facing strong competition for the title.

Leicester, Dundee and Swansea Bay have also been shortlisted. Not

that that is putting anybody off. The focus has to be on getting that

bid right. The whole journey is about getting everyone behind you,

taxi-drivers, hotels, restaurants. People in the communities who all

play a part in the programme. They are still busy brainstorming in

there. The feedback that the team has had on its initial bid is there

is strong vision and theme but it needs the wow factor. It needs to

raise the bar on artistic programming. The team have to the

end of September to submit its final bid and then that all-

important decision will be made at the end of November.

Work is under way at Grantham station to prepare for a visit by

the world's fastest steam locomotive. Mallard set the record

75 years ago just south of the town. In September, the engine will

return to a specially built siding as part of a festival of speed.

Jake Zuckerman reports. Workers at Grantham railway station

prepare for a special visitor. They're laying hundreds of feet of

new track on the site of a disused siding, ready for 7th September,

when the steam engine Mallard will return to the town for the first

time in many years. For project manager Neil Lindley, it's

particularly exciting. His family has a long standing connection with

Mallard. My grandfather was lucky enough to be a fireman on the

Mallard and also the Flying Scotsman. We have a long history of

my family being involved in the industry. I think that era,

compared to what I do in this day and age was worlds apart. You know,

the thing I love about it is that history is still there and it's

still fighting strong in the industry. In 1938, at Stoke Bank,

just south of Grantham, Mallard reached 126 miles an hour, still

the fastest speed recorded by a steam locomotive. September's

Festival of Speed will celebrate the 75th anniversary of that event,

as well as the town's historic connections to the railways.

steam locomotive is a great British invention and this is the fastest

steam locomotive in the world. Of course, there was a lot of

international competition for that title and we will be telling that

story too. There will be a representative from the Berlin

Technical Museum who will be talking to us about the German

records which Mallard just beat. The connection between Grantham and

Mallard is an enduring one and it's kept alive today by the name of

this new housing estate built on the site of the former engine sheds

that were home to Mallard for so many years. Local rail enthusiasts

are looking forward to seeing Mallard return to the scene of her

greatest triumph. I think it's a tremendous achievement that's been

organised. It's the first time the A4 Mallard has been to Grantham in

over 50 years. But with less than two months to go before the big day,

there's still plenty of what to do to ensure thesw sidings are fit to

receive such an important guest. Let's have a recap of the national

and regional headlines. Official figures show that crime

has fallen to his laws level for more than 30 years.

The government promises a review of police funding. The Lincolnshire

force says it is not being given a fair share of the pot.