15/01/2014 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

That's all from us. It's goodbye from me. And on BBC One

Hello and welcome to Wednesday's Look North. Tonight: Two people are

found dead on board a boat. The latest live from the scene

coming up. On trial: the nursery assistant

accused of the manslaughter of this three`year`old girl.

A second block of flats hit by a freak storm is demolished as the

bill for the damage rockets to ?7.5 million.

A warning that the wettest part of our region could face a water

shortage. And how soldiers from the North

played a part in a brutal battle fought deep underground. We begin

our commemoration of the Great War. In sport, a new manager for Berwick,

still playing at 41, and a potential banana skin for Sunderland.

And school's out for Katy as she prepares for a rugby world cup and a

trip to the Palace! First tonight, what caused the

deaths of two people whose bodies were found on board a boat in Whitby

Harbour? Police were called to the vessel, moored off Pier Road, at

around ten o'clock this morning. The deaths are being described as

unexplained, but not suspicious. Let's cross live to Phil Connell

who's in Whitby for us. Phil, what's the latest?

The alarm was raised this morning by fishermen on board a neighbouring

boat and since then Whitby harbour has been the

investigation. The two men on board the boat are not thought to be

local, in fact we believe their vessel was registered in Milford

Haven and it was one of the three boats that had been in the Whitby

area for a couple of weeks looking for solipsist. Amongst the first on

the scene were crew from the lifeboat station and his fishermen

were brought here to the station, but attempts to revive them were

unsuccessful. We were shocked. People don't like to think about

it. Fishing is a dangerous business as it is. Especially when things

like this happen, everyone is thinking and praying for their

families. It is really quite sad. Do we know what caused these deaths?

North Yorkshire Police say there are no spacious circumstances. One

possible theory is that the men may have lit a gas fire on the boat and

may possibly have been overcome by carbon monoxide. Police have not

confirmed that, but told us that it is one line of inquiry that they are

looking into. On the harbour, traders were telling me there had

been a strong smell of gas. Nathan Brown from the Coastguard station.

There were a lot of agencies involved. We have to look at the

safety element and the safety for our crew and ourselves and the best

way... As you would expect, eight sombre mood here in Whitby tonight.

These fishermen, of course, risk their lives day in and day out going

out to sea and for this to happen in the relative safety of the harbour

has come as a real shock. A court has been told a 24`year`old

children's nursery assistant took no action to stop a three`year`girl

playing alone and unsupervised on a slide. Sophee Redhead has gone on

trial accused of the manslaughter of the little girl Lydia Bishop by her

gross negligence at the York College nursery 18 months ago. Ms Redhead

denies the charge and the College itself denies breaches of health and

safety duties. John Cundy reports. Lydia Bishop, the child who died so

tragically at York College Nursery on the 17th of September 2012.

Arriving at Leeds Crown Court were a family, and Sophee Redhead. The

court was told that Miss redhead had so on a picnic bench outside a

nursery as Lydia went past what was described as a makeshift and futile

barrier. Ms redhead was said to have done nothing to stop or supervise

Lydia. The child was left entirely on her own. The prosecution went on

20 minutes had gone by and only when a member of staff discovered she was

not in the building or directly outside did anyone appreciate she

may have come to some harm. Sophee Redhead ran in panic and found Lydia

in the slide with a rope coiled around her neck. She wasn't

breathing. All attempts to resuscitate her failed and she was

pronounced dead at three at 3:27pm. The jury were told that there had

been a dangerous lack of supervision on the slide for weeks. Brooks left

in coils on the slide were loose and soft. `` ropes. They should have

been removed when children were playing unsupervised. A child could

become entangled in the ribs with fatal consequences, and that is what

happened `` that is what happened. 17 children and three staff had been

at the nursery that they. CCTV shown to the court revealed that she and

other children had also been shown playing unsupervised on the slide

earlier before the tragedy. The trial is expected to last three

weeks. Senior councillors met this

afternoon in Sunderland to thrash out proposals which could see

changes to waste collection services, increased parking charges

and cuts to children's services. The city council needs to cut ?70

million from its budget over the next couple of years. And as with

many of our councils a war of words has broken out over who's to blame.

Labour say Sunderland's raw deal from central Government,

but local Conservatives say the council has to live within its

means. Well, our Political Correspondent Mark Denten joins us

now. Mark another one of our councils and another list of cuts.

Quite. Well, nothing is done and dusted in

terms of the detail of the cuts, but the overall context that figure you

mentioned is ?75 million over two years. One way or another they have

to save that. Yesterday, we reporting about Northumberland

Council intentionally selling off their headquarters. Not of course an

option for a compact, urban council like Sunderland. So they are looking

at cutting their fleet of bin wagons and slicing ?400,000 from the

children's centre budget. The leader of the council told us that cuts to

services are inevitable. We will hit services. We will try and mitigate

the effects, but it is not impossible not to. At the end of the

day, people understand that. We will try to do our best not to be in the

places where the most vulnerable people, young people, we will always

protect both areas, but there will be services affected. But, Mark,

Conservatives in Sunderland say there could actually be advantages

for council tax payers in the current situation.

The message from the Conservatives is two`fold. First, Sunderland needs

to live within it means and they say council tax payers can get better

services even with squeezed budgets. Secondly, talking to the

Conservative leader, said they could be advantageous. I think all

reductions in budget will have an impact, but it depends how it's

done. What has happened in Sunderland is an example where

budgets have been reduced, the workforce has been nearly halved,

but residents are saying that they are feeling that services have got

better and that is the direction things have to go in. We need more

privatisation of services, we need more efficient services. So all the

changes are out to consulation at the moment, Mark?

Yes, no final decisions until March, but one thing the council will have

to decide before then is do they put the council tax up? I'm told they

won't decide before February 12th. In Sunderland, it's only around 12%

of the council's revenue. A North East MP has asked the Prime

Minister to help secure the release of six former British soldiers

who've been arrested in India. Nick Dunn from Ashington is one of the

group which has been held held in a jail in Chennai for more than two

months. The ex`servicemen were working on a commercial vessel to

protect shipping from pirates when they were arrested and accused of

illegally possessing weapons. As we sit here, there are six

British National 's languishing in a prison in Chennai that have been

taken prisoner from a ship. Will the Prime Minister agreed to meet with

me and other representatives of this house to discuss this issue, to see

if we can get these former paratrooper is a release from

prison? I know I raised it personally with Indian

Government ministers. I have discussed it with the Foreign

Secretary, I will go on to make sure that we can do everything that we

can. If a meeting needs to be raised... I believe the Foreign

Secretary represent one of these constituencies himself, I'm happy to

arrange that. It's a housing estate which became

infamous after storms and a collapsed culvert left scenes like

these. And today a second block of flats here at Newburn in Newcastle

was demolished, a year and a half after it was hit by Thunder

Thursday. The estate is now at the centre of a dispute over who was to

blame for what happened. Neither the developer, Dunelm Homes, nor the

landowner, Northumberland Estates, will accept responsibility. Look

North has learned the final bill is likely to exceed ?7.5 million

pounds. Our Chief Reporter Chris Stewart has the story.

730 and the demolition men move in, the second of five blocks judged to

be beyond saving. By nine, the work was under way. The people who lived

here moved out 18 months ago after Thunder Thursday, a gay freak storms

lashed Tyneside. While this block `` the day.

Once this comes down, work carries on, the grouting work has been going

on since November. It is proving be very successful. Block a is

complete. Block C is under way. They will be finished by around... What

he was about to say is that people can start moving back in by May.

That is not the end of the story. That will happen in a courtroom,

when lawyers and insurance companies argue over who picks up the bill

which currently stands at ?6.5 million. That is still three or four

years away, and of course the legal fees continue to grow. Instead of

6.5 million, think ?7.5 million, possibly even more. Almost

unnoticed, Patrick and Marion Kelly turned up. They lost their home in

the first block came down and this might surprise you they then use

their compensation to buy another property on the estate. They say

this is a lovely place to live. Conservative MP Anne McIntosh is

appealing to her own members to be allowed to stand again as a

candidate in her safe North Yorkshire seat at the next general

election. The chairman and executive of her party have taken the

virtually unknown action of refusing to endorse the Thirsk and Malton

MP's re`selection. They feel she hasn't done a good enough job

representing her own constituents. It's now down to a last`ditch postal

ballot. among the most gay`friendly in

Britain, according to a survey by the lesbian, gay and bisexual

charity Stonewall. Property company Gentoo topped the

survey in this region. And the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service was

also among the top ten. We have worked very hard on the

years to ensure we are an employer where everyone can come to work and

be themselves, be comfortable being the person they are and enjoy the

work and experience. It's one of the wettest parts of the

country. But today there's a warning that water supplies to West Cumbria

could run short as soon as 2020. That's because water company United

Utilities has to stop using the lake at Ennerdale for its supplies and

find an alternative. That could mean building a ?300 million pipeline

from Thirlmere near Keswick. In the meantime, those living in a region

often battered by storms and floods may be forced to save on water to

keep the taps running. Mark McAlindon reports.

These were the scenes as recent storms lashed the west Cumbrian

coast. Floods and high tides might have left water everywhere, but it

seems there is a possibility that in years to come, there may not be a

drop to drink. Why? Well, for environmental reasons, supplies

cannot continue to come from Ennerdale. There are a number of

precious species there that benefit from the high quality of water. What

we have learnt is that we need to do more to protect them and stop

abstract in water from Ennerdale. This is Ennerdale and I guess if you

asked which natural resources short supply, I would hope they would say

sunshine. The fact is that on a cold day in winter it is water. United

Utilities is even asking people for their views on drought measures to

keep the taps running. So how does that go down in the nearest village?

I would have thought we have more than enough water year in West

Cumbria to serve West Cumbria to Southwest Cumbria. What is precious.

`` water. So, what's the solution? The solution is here. At the

moment, it sends water to Manchester. What we are looking is

looking to send some of that water into West Cumbria. There are those

that think that current problems could lead to the most sensible and

beneficial solution. As far as I am aware, apart from the usual

permissions, there is nothing stopping them from doing this and

from environmental perspective we think it makes a huge amount of

sense. If West Cumbrian water is to supply West Cumbrian homes, it will

cost around ?300 million and take until 2025 at the earliest.

Well, Mark's in our Cumbria newsroom now. Mark, what kind of water saving

measures are being talked about? It may be strange to talk about this

when you can see the state of the whether there. Projecting forward

into the summer when you may get prolonged dry periods, what's united

utilities want people to do is not stew is your hosepipe, for example,

cuts down the water you use when brushing your teeth. They say all of

that adds up and by doing those things, you can protect the water

supply until an alternative is found.

This year marks the centenary of the Great War. Throughout 2014, Look

North and your BBC local radio station will bring you a variety of

stories to commemorate the conflict. And we begin with the first of two

reports from France. The site of perhaps the most infamous battle of

all, the Somme. It was there that soldiers from the North played a

major part in one of the most brutal, yet little`known, aspects of

the war deep underground. Gerry Jackson has tonight's Look North

report. They've been called Silent Cities of

the Dead. The cemeteries dotted for hundreds of miles along the Western

Front. Nowhere are they more plentiful than here on the Somme.

And in 1914, it was pure chance that put one tiny village at the

epicentre of events that have haunted us ever since. This is La

Boisselle. A lot of blood would be shed over it.

And invaders were coming this way and the French forces, desperate to

stop them here. This would become one of the most bitterly contested

patches of the Western front. Here, the front line trenches were so

close and well`fortified, that men began digging underneath their

enemies. In this area alone there are five miles of tunnels ` 30, 80,

100 feet deep. Their aim? To blow their adversaries

to bits. Watch your head. This labyrinth lay abandoned and

unexplored for almost a century. When you cut chalk, it is sharp. You

can see it is black and by a candle. It brings the human touch

into it and that is what it is about, it is about the men that

fought here. In 2011, a team of archaeologists, military historians

and respectful enthusiasts began the huge task of unblocking the tunnel

system. All of them are unpaid volunteers. Two or three times a

year they gather to uncover and learn a little more. It is a huge

privilege to be able to work on a project like this. It is a contact

with the past and with my family's past. You cannot imagine what the

English here. `` they endured here. When the British took over these

tunnels from the French in 1915 they began preparing for the battle that

would end the stalemate of the trenches and perhaps the war itself.

Hundreds of miners, many straight from coal, iron ore or mineral

collieries in the North, intensified their efforts, knowing each moment

could be their last. It is not the physical exhaustion, it is the

mental exhaustion. Many men could only do it for a few months, knowing

that every clatter or movement that could be picked up by the Germans

may well be the sound that signals your death. These men are almost a

different race. They lived a civilian life under incredibly harsh

conditions, compared to how we live today. Many of these men here, in

fact most of them, didn't even have the vote and here they were. That is

to do with a sense of duty. Do your duty, . The miners were hand`picked

for their experience and temperament. But the donkey work of

shifting those thousands of tonnes of chalk fell to the ordinary

infantryman. They were there as beasts of burden to

tunnels. They did it for eight hours, the most appalling drudgery.

In spring 1916, men from the 11th Battalion, the Border Regiment,

raised by the Earl of Lonsdale, took their turn as those 'beasts of

burden'. A few of them managed to leave a very personal mark. It is

easy to persuade yourself that the spirits of those men are still here.

Two massive minds were prepared either side, this is where the

German front lines would be perpetrated and the enemy sent into

retreat. That was the plan. After their labours underground, the

border men would take their places in the trenches amongst the rest of

their comrades, ready for what they called The Big Push ` what we call

The Battle of the Somme. The second of Gerry's reports is

tomorrow, when we'll reveal what happened to those Cumbrian soldiers

on the awful first day of the battle and the search that's begun for

their descendants. And a reminder that we'll have more on the 100th

anniversary of the start of World War One here on Look North from late

February. In the last 30 minutes, the FAA has

component that man United manager has accepted a charge of misconduct

following his comment about match officials in the league cup defeat

at Sunderland. Meanwhile, potential banana skin awaits

Sunderland after non`league Kidderminster Harriers booked a

fourth round FA Cup tie at the Stadium of Light following last

night's shock win against League One side Peterborough.

Kidderminster, who play in the Conference Premier, are managed by a

former Newcastle defender, Andy Thorn, who won the FA Cup with

Wimbledon. He also played for 1990 finalists Crystal Palace alongside

the current Magpies boss Alan Pardew.

The former Scotland, Hearts and Wolves midfielder Colin Cameron is

taking over as player`manager of Berwick Rangers. This follows the

sacking of Ian Little following a poor run of results in Scottish

League Two. Cameron, who's now 41, left his former club Cowdenbeath by

mutual consent in November but has kept up his fitness since then. His

first training session is tomorrow evening.

Now, it's a fortnight since the England women's rugby union captain

Katy McLean was named in the Queen's New Year's Honours list. And, the

news of being made an MBE is only just starting to sink in. Katy, from

South Shields, who combines her playing career with teaching, faces

a big sporting year ahead, hoping the World Cup final doesn't clash

with that trip to the palace! Fly`half Katy, who's now 28, became

the second current England player to be honoured. But the letter asking

whether she wished to accept becoming a MBE for services to rugby

was originally addressed to the former ground of her club side

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks. Eventually, though, it caught up

with her. One of the guys text me saying there is a letter for you at

the club, it has her Majesty 's service on it. I looked on Google to

wonder why you would get that sort of letter . Luckily, he said, look,

come and pick it up. I picked it up before training and was absolutely

thrilled, shocked. A friend read it and she said, I think you are being

offered an MBM. I went as training and drove home and showed my mother

and father and they said, yes, you are. Katy, who teaches reception`age

children at Bexhill Academy in Sunderland, plans to take a short

sabbatical later this year to prepare for the women's world cup

final, part of a busy year for the sport. This is a massive year. We

are going into a Six Nations campaign and then going to a World

Cup. For us, it is massive. You dream about this sort of thing. It

is such an immense tournament. Being in such a rugby crazy country like

France, it would be fantastic. Katy, who would love to go one better than

the 2010 World Cup final defeat against favourites New Zealand,

feels the MBE is as much for women's rugby as for her. But who'll be

going to the palace with her? Trying to explain to 30 children that it is

just me may be difficult, but at the moment we are all going! I cannot

wait to take them. It has been very mild. We expected

double finger temperatures and they did in some places. Top of the table

was Carlisle. Tomorrow, a different sort of day, I think there will be

some bright spells around. They will be simpler story showers. It will be

quite breezy, but generally stay mild. A lot of cloud around as we

head into the evening. Some more persistent rain coming from the West

into the evening and clearing away eastwards. That leaves behind it

clear spells and the odd shower. There could be some mist patches.

Temperatures in town and cities down to four or five Celsius. Some

shelter from the light breezes, we could see some growled frosts. ``

ground frost. Tomorrow is a day of brighter spells and scattered

showers. Some showers could be heavy. Maybe even some hail and fund

a mixed in. Many places should miss the showers. `` hail and under.

Eight Celsius, although the South easterly breeze will be brisk. As

they go through the next few days, the low pressure keeps charge of the

weather. It keeps the wind coming from a southerly direction, things

should not cool down too should not cool down too quickly and

the weather front will come northwards. Nothing too dramatic in

the next few days as far as north`east and Cumbria are

concerned. Some rain around on Friday. More widespread rain spreads

out from the South through the course of Sunday, Saturday rather.

Generally, we keep the southerly breezes. A similar picture is of the

Pennines. One or two showers are likely on Friday, but some blue sky

in between. The band of rain on the warm front coming from the South and

then most places dry for the second half of the weekend. Daytime

temperatures of seven or eight Celsius. That is the way your

weather is looking. That is it for tonight. We will be

back at 20:25pm. `` 10:25pm. Hidden beneath your feet

are magical worlds, see the incredible adventures

of these miniature heroes