25/06/2014 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Good evening. They're supposed to improve choice for parents.

But opponents of free schools, state`funded but free

of council control, claim they're a waste of taxpayer's money.

And they claim two of our free schools prove their argument.

New figures show free schools in Stockton

and Durham have filled fewer than two thirds of their places.

Supporters insist they're both on course for success.

It doesn't yet seem an obvious spot for education.

But this metal shed on an industrial estate is being

converted into the temporarx home of the region's latest free school,

Over in that far corner, another classroom...

It had planned for 120 pupils in its first year.

It will actually start with fewer than two thirds that number.

That worries the school's critics but dods not

I think a lot of people are waiting to sed is it

really going to open, what will be the quality of provision?

It's my opportunity with my staff to show them it's going to

This is an artist's impresshon of what the free school will

The council says the project will waste millhons

That money could have been far better spent in schools that already

This government has got a scheme which local residents

and parents will be able to engage with, which will deliver wh`t we

need, it will mean a brand`new, new`build secondary school.

Work is due to start on a pdrmanent building by the end of this year.

The pupils and staff are expected to move in about 12 months later.

But the wider debate about the cost and the impact

of free schools across our region will go on much longer.

This is Durham free school which opened last September,

aiming for what it describes as a traditional Christian dthos.

It is on a temporary site and has struggled to attract pupils

with numbers around 60% of the predicted figure.

Is it good value to be investing millions of pounds in half dmpty

schools when other schools `re crying out for investment?

Ministers believe the schools give parents better choice and qtality.

But critics say the policy still has not achieved

The police say the body found in a waste dump on Wearside was

But tonight, they say they're not yet treating his death as mtrder.

From Washington, here's our Chief Reporter Chris Stewart.

For the worker who made the discovery, a dreadful shock

How had the man ended up here and how had he died?

This afternoon, the police said they had not formally identified him

He was 26`year`old John Sumner from Lincoln Street in Sunddrland.

Detectives want to find out what he was doing in the days leading to

his death and they ask anyone with any information to contact them

This is a waste transfer station run by a

What's brought here comes from household bins, mainly from

Once here, the rubbish is sdparated for landfill,

We have been told that it w`s during this process that

We understand the body bore the marks of several injurids.

The police will say this is suspicious but have been careful

The site remains closed while investigation continuds.

?1 million worth of drugs have been taken to an

Cleveland Police's Drug Enforcement Team recovered them over

Their efforts have been prahsed by drugs workers.

But they say more still needs to be done.

Recovered in raids, dumped and destroyed.

There's ?1 million worth of drugs here, bags and boxds packed

This was all seized because local people reportdd drug

Today really is a thank you to the public for all the information

and intelligence we get frol them that allows us to take action to

My unit is not just about taking the main dealers off,

it is also about the anti`social drug dealing that goes on in front

People on this Stockton est`te say the drug dealers and users have

Drugs are easy to get hold of here and a local support group

says it knows of children as young as 14 taking cocaine.

I think it's excellent that the public are now standing up,

ringing in, giving the police the inforlation

There's more drugs on the streets now, it's coling in

via the Internet, they're t`rgeting younger and younger people.

As well as recovering all of this, Cleveland's newly formed

Drug Enforcment Team has made around 200 arrests.

The depressing reality though is that on estates like this, the

problem doesn't seem to be going away and some days the war on drugs

Former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler will perform

at the Great North Run Millhon Opening Ceremony later this year.

It's being staged on Saturday the 7th Septembdr to

mark the millionth finish at this year's Bupa Great North Run.

Over the years, Knopfler's Local Hero track has

Good evening. At the amount of dry weather over the next few d`ys. Some

rain around tonight, the cloud producing some drizzly rain.

Temperatures in towns staying in double figures. A cloudy and damp

start in the West, but that range should become more showery during

the day. Eventually, at most places becoming dry. It will stay cool on

the North Eastern coast. As we headed through Friday and into the

weekend, still a lot of clotd around. But mostly dry. Most of the

rain will stay to the south of us. The National forecast now. Good

night. afternoon. It does turn more

unsettled and there would be heavy and thundery downpours around. Good

evening. A little bit later than usual. The weather over the next

couple of days will change. Let me show you the satellite picture. You

can see the cloud streaming across the Atlantic. This weather front

Weller upset the weather across -- will upset the weather in the

south-west. As