:00:14. > :00:15.Good evening. They're supposed to improve choice for parents.
:00:16. > :00:18.But opponents of free schools, state`funded but free
:00:19. > :00:22.of council control, claim they're a waste of taxpayer's money.
:00:23. > :00:25.And they claim two of our free schools prove their argument.
:00:26. > :00:27.New figures show free schools in Stockton
:00:28. > :00:30.and Durham have filled fewer than two thirds of their places.
:00:31. > :00:32.Supporters insist they're both on course for success.
:00:33. > :00:41.It doesn't yet seem an obvious spot for education.
:00:42. > :00:44.But this metal shed on an industrial estate is being
:00:45. > :00:47.converted into the temporarx home of the region's latest free school,
:00:48. > :00:53.Over in that far corner, another classroom...
:00:54. > :00:58.It had planned for 120 pupils in its first year.
:00:59. > :01:01.It will actually start with fewer than two thirds that number.
:01:02. > :01:03.That worries the school's critics but dods not
:01:04. > :01:09.I think a lot of people are waiting to sed is it
:01:10. > :01:14.really going to open, what will be the quality of provision?
:01:15. > :01:18.It's my opportunity with my staff to show them it's going to
:01:19. > :01:23.This is an artist's impresshon of what the free school will
:01:24. > :01:26.The council says the project will waste millhons
:01:27. > :01:29.That money could have been far better spent in schools that already
:01:30. > :01:36.This government has got a scheme which local residents
:01:37. > :01:39.and parents will be able to engage with, which will deliver wh`t we
:01:40. > :01:41.need, it will mean a brand`new, new`build secondary school.
:01:42. > :01:46.Work is due to start on a pdrmanent building by the end of this year.
:01:47. > :01:49.The pupils and staff are expected to move in about 12 months later.
:01:50. > :01:55.But the wider debate about the cost and the impact
:01:56. > :01:58.of free schools across our region will go on much longer.
:01:59. > :02:00.This is Durham free school which opened last September,
:02:01. > :02:04.aiming for what it describes as a traditional Christian dthos.
:02:05. > :02:07.It is on a temporary site and has struggled to attract pupils
:02:08. > :02:09.with numbers around 60% of the predicted figure.
:02:10. > :02:34.Is it good value to be investing millions of pounds in half dmpty
:02:35. > :02:37.schools when other schools `re crying out for investment?
:02:38. > :02:43.Ministers believe the schools give parents better choice and qtality.
:02:44. > :02:45.But critics say the policy still has not achieved
:02:46. > :02:55.The police say the body found in a waste dump on Wearside was
:02:56. > :03:00.But tonight, they say they're not yet treating his death as mtrder.
:03:01. > :03:04.From Washington, here's our Chief Reporter Chris Stewart.
:03:05. > :03:07.For the worker who made the discovery, a dreadful shock
:03:08. > :03:12.How had the man ended up here and how had he died?
:03:13. > :03:14.This afternoon, the police said they had not formally identified him
:03:15. > :03:24.He was 26`year`old John Sumner from Lincoln Street in Sunddrland.
:03:25. > :03:28.Detectives want to find out what he was doing in the days leading to
:03:29. > :03:31.his death and they ask anyone with any information to contact them
:03:32. > :03:35.This is a waste transfer station run by a
:03:36. > :03:40.What's brought here comes from household bins, mainly from
:03:41. > :03:46.Once here, the rubbish is sdparated for landfill,
:03:47. > :04:00.We have been told that it w`s during this process that
:04:01. > :04:05.We understand the body bore the marks of several injurids.
:04:06. > :04:07.The police will say this is suspicious but have been careful
:04:08. > :04:14.The site remains closed while investigation continuds.
:04:15. > :04:16.?1 million worth of drugs have been taken to an
:04:17. > :04:19.Cleveland Police's Drug Enforcement Team recovered them over
:04:20. > :04:22.Their efforts have been prahsed by drugs workers.
:04:23. > :04:24.But they say more still needs to be done.
:04:25. > :04:34.Recovered in raids, dumped and destroyed.
:04:35. > :04:37.There's ?1 million worth of drugs here, bags and boxds packed
:04:38. > :04:51.This was all seized because local people reportdd drug
:04:52. > :04:58.Today really is a thank you to the public for all the information
:04:59. > :05:01.and intelligence we get frol them that allows us to take action to
:05:02. > :05:06.My unit is not just about taking the main dealers off,
:05:07. > :05:09.it is also about the anti`social drug dealing that goes on in front
:05:10. > :05:16.People on this Stockton est`te say the drug dealers and users have
:05:17. > :05:21.Drugs are easy to get hold of here and a local support group
:05:22. > :05:25.says it knows of children as young as 14 taking cocaine.
:05:26. > :05:28.I think it's excellent that the public are now standing up,
:05:29. > :05:33.ringing in, giving the police the inforlation
:05:34. > :05:42.There's more drugs on the streets now, it's coling in
:05:43. > :05:46.via the Internet, they're t`rgeting younger and younger people.
:05:47. > :05:49.As well as recovering all of this, Cleveland's newly formed
:05:50. > :05:52.Drug Enforcment Team has made around 200 arrests.
:05:53. > :05:54.The depressing reality though is that on estates like this, the
:05:55. > :05:58.problem doesn't seem to be going away and some days the war on drugs
:05:59. > :06:09.Former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler will perform
:06:10. > :06:13.at the Great North Run Millhon Opening Ceremony later this year.
:06:14. > :06:15.It's being staged on Saturday the 7th Septembdr to
:06:16. > :06:19.mark the millionth finish at this year's Bupa Great North Run.
:06:20. > :06:21.Over the years, Knopfler's Local Hero track has
:06:22. > :06:47.Good evening. At the amount of dry weather over the next few d`ys. Some
:06:48. > :06:55.rain around tonight, the cloud producing some drizzly rain.
:06:56. > :06:58.Temperatures in towns staying in double figures. A cloudy and damp
:06:59. > :07:04.start in the West, but that range should become more showery during
:07:05. > :07:15.the day. Eventually, at most places becoming dry. It will stay cool on
:07:16. > :07:17.the North Eastern coast. As we headed through Friday and into the
:07:18. > :07:27.weekend, still a lot of clotd around. But mostly dry. Most of the
:07:28. > :07:28.rain will stay to the south of us. The National forecast now. Good
:07:29. > :07:35.night. afternoon. It does turn more
:07:36. > :07:43.unsettled and there would be heavy and thundery downpours around. Good
:07:44. > :07:47.evening. A little bit later than usual. The weather over the next
:07:48. > :07:53.couple of days will change. Let me show you the satellite picture. You
:07:54. > :08:00.can see the cloud streaming across the Atlantic. This weather front
:08:01. > :08:04.Weller upset the weather across -- will upset the weather in the
:08:05. > :08:05.south-west. As