:00:00. > :00:12.Good evening. A council has been BBC News Channel.
:00:13. > :00:15.Good evening. A council has been branded underhand and dishonest
:00:16. > :00:18.after it secretly bought houses in leafy suburbs to turn into
:00:19. > :00:23.residential homes for troubled children. The vendors were asked to
:00:24. > :00:26.sign confidentiality clauses. Stockton Council says it's bought
:00:27. > :00:29.three houses and the move will save millions of pounds because it means
:00:30. > :00:32.vulnerable children won't be sent elsewhere. But local residents
:00:33. > :00:42.aren't happy, as Stuart Whincup reports.
:00:43. > :00:48.Crammed inside a Stockton school hall, emotions were running high.
:00:49. > :00:55.The consultation process should have started before the properties were
:00:56. > :01:01.bought. We got an anonymous letter to tell us what was going on. This
:01:02. > :01:19.was their first chance to raise concerns, but the deal had already
:01:20. > :01:27.been done. We need confirmation that the community will not be disrupted.
:01:28. > :01:33.I don't mind the children's home being there at all. This is the
:01:34. > :01:39.house that Stockton Council has bought. It will be run by a private
:01:40. > :01:47.company. Similar properties nearby have been bought. The is a
:01:48. > :01:52.perception that it will devalue the properties in close proximity to the
:01:53. > :02:02.children's home. But if the scheme is to go ahead it needs final
:02:03. > :02:08.approval. People say that it is wrong that after spending all this
:02:09. > :02:15.money, the council will effectively be granting themselves planning
:02:16. > :02:17.permission. Some in the Hall said the children should be helped and
:02:18. > :02:23.not demonised. The council said it would never have been able to buy
:02:24. > :02:31.the houses had it gone public and the move will save millions of
:02:32. > :02:45.pounds. These children will be happy and they will be back in the county.
:02:46. > :02:52.The council say that jobs will be created and also honourable local
:02:53. > :03:02.children will not be sent to other parts of the country, away from
:03:03. > :03:04.their family and friends. `` vulnerable local children.
:03:05. > :03:08.The Government's paid more than ?1 million in out of court settlements
:03:09. > :03:10.to people abused at a former County Durham detention centre. Police
:03:11. > :03:13.recently announced they're investigating the possibility of
:03:14. > :03:16.more than 500 victims of abuse at the Medomsley detention centre in
:03:17. > :03:19.the 1970s and '80s. Now we can reveal that the Ministry of Justice
:03:20. > :03:22.has already made out of court settlements to more than 30 people.
:03:23. > :03:25.Our Political Correspondent Mark Denten told me some of the
:03:26. > :03:34.background to the case earlier. This centres on boys who were held at the
:03:35. > :03:40.former Medomsley detention centre. Neville husband who work there as a
:03:41. > :03:49.prison officer was jailed for 12 years in 2003 four abusing some of
:03:50. > :03:56.the inmates. Last year after a former inmate came forward, the
:03:57. > :04:09.investigation was reopened. It is possible the R 520 potential victims
:04:10. > :04:19.of abuse. Horrific stories have been revealed about the abuse there in
:04:20. > :04:25.the 1970s. They were systematic abuse and rape and the detention
:04:26. > :04:30.centre was likened to a concentration camp. Today a firm of
:04:31. > :04:38.solicitors acting for some of the inmates who have come forward say
:04:39. > :04:45.the Ministry of Justice is paying out considerable sums of money to
:04:46. > :04:51.victims. In total payments could come to ?1.4 million. That is a
:04:52. > :04:55.financial drop in the ocean for a department with a nine be the pound
:04:56. > :05:06.budget. However, nobody knows how many people will come forward. ``
:05:07. > :05:10.nine V and pound budget. `` ?9 billion budget.
:05:11. > :05:14.The man in charge of Sage Gateshead has announced he is to stand down
:05:15. > :05:16.after 15 years. Anthony Sargent has overseen the development of the
:05:17. > :05:18.prestigious concert hall from drawing board to centre of
:05:19. > :05:21.excellence. His departure is scheduled for April next year,
:05:22. > :05:25.following the venue's tenth birthday in December. The Sage is at a
:05:26. > :05:28.critical stage in securing its long term future and has launched an
:05:29. > :05:31.appeal to raise ?4 million, which will attract ?2 million of match
:05:32. > :05:35.funding from the Arts Council. Anthony Sargent says he's not bowing
:05:36. > :05:37.out just as the going gets tough. It is almost like the alignment of the
:05:38. > :05:40.stars. We have got our attempt anniversary celebrations in
:05:41. > :05:45.December. We will know by this summer about our funding and we are
:05:46. > :05:53.just completing a ten year business plan. There are lots of important
:05:54. > :05:56.things that will be in place at the beginning of 2015 and that felt like
:05:57. > :05:59.a good time for me to leave. A teacher from Norton in Stockton
:06:00. > :06:03.won Mastermind tonight. Clive Dunning, who was made redundant at
:06:04. > :06:05.the same time as he applied for the television quiz, triumphed in the
:06:06. > :06:13.final tonight. His specialist subject was the life and poetry of
:06:14. > :06:20.Philip Larkin. Congratulations and hold it carefully. You looked
:06:21. > :06:30.absolutely terrified. I was petrified. My daughter and partner
:06:31. > :06:34.are in the audience. I think they will we more chuffed than I am.
:06:35. > :06:38.That's it from me for tonight, and this week, in fact. But here now is
:06:39. > :06:41.Hannah Bayman with some less than attractive prospects in the weather.
:06:42. > :06:45.Not the most springlike of headlines for Saturday, particularly in the
:06:46. > :06:52.North East. It will be showery and cool. First thing a band of rain
:06:53. > :06:57.pushes up from the south. It is widespread across Cumbria at first
:06:58. > :07:02.and then increasingly across the North East. Things will try out in
:07:03. > :07:10.the West in the afternoon with a few spells of sunshine. Highs of 215
:07:11. > :07:22.Celsius. Cooler though on the coast with south easterly breezes. It will
:07:23. > :07:28.fill chilly. `` highs of up to 15 degrees Celsius. Rain on Sunday and
:07:29. > :07:39.cloudy on Monday. with an outlook. We will have the
:07:40. > :07:44.outlook for the rest of the country. Goodbye.
:07:45. > :07:48.Good evening. A bit of a disappointing day. A lot of cloud
:07:49. > :07:53.around and we saw showery outbreaks of rain. Courtesy of this
:07:54. > :07:57.continental plume which arrived during the early hours and continues
:07:58. > :08:01.to drift further north. Into the weekend, this area of low pressure
:08:02. > :08:06.will influence our weather. It is already arriving bringing gusts of
:08:07. > :08:11.wind is to the Isles of Scilly and the south-west. Further north, and
:08:12. > :08:15.easterly feed are dragging more cloud, misty conditions and poor
:08:16. > :08:22.visibility with light rain. Overnight lows of eight to 10
:08:23. > :08:24.degrees. A band of persistent rain through Northern Ireland moving out
:08:25. > :08:29.of Wales and into the North of England and the south-east means a
:08:30. > :08:34.great, miserable start to Saturday. But a clearance with sunny spells
:08:35. > :08:36.coming through. All the time that area of low pressure to the
:08:37. > :08:37.south-west will keep feeding in plenty