24/02/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Conservatives have been celebrating their win in Copeland

after snatching the seat from Labour, who've

Yesterday's by-election came about after the surprise

Theresa May was among the first to travel to Cumbria to congratulate

Copeland was the focus of lots of media attention today.

Not so long ago, the headlines here would have been

In this area's change from Red to Blue is a remarkable reality.

I'm absolutely delighted to be able to be here with the new member

of Parliament for Copeland, Trudy Harrison.

This is an astounding victory for the Conservative Party,

Campaigners fought on many issues here, but these two

were perhaps the most divisive - the protection of services

at the West Cumberland Hospital, and the future of nuclear power

For many voters, Jeremy Corbyn's previous views

The Corbyn factor was a reason for defeat.

But those in his campaign team say that's not the case.

Jeremy Corbyn's been the leader of the Labour Party

And Jeremy didn't certainly, as far as I was concerned,

Jeremy didn't crop up on the doorstep.

Whether it's the leader's stance, or disaffection

with the Labour Party as a whole, the appetite for change was made

The challenge for Trudy Harrison is to meet the electorate's

I'm really looking forward to getting on with the job.

I'm very much looking forward to going down to London on Monday

and making sure that we deliver on the plan that I've been pledging

More than 1,000 people have been demonstrating in Morpeth

about plans for a retail park and hundreds of new homes,

on the site of the current Northumberland County

Labour councillors insist the redevelopment will

But protestors say it'll destroy the town's historic character.

Here's our political correspondent, Luke Walton.

They've long had Northumberland County Council on their doorstep.

Today, the people of Morpeth came out in force to

accuse that same local authority of threatening

Their target - a multi-million pound scheme to redevelop

The heart is being ripped out of Morpeth.

All the shops will lose out if they put supermarkets.

And my other big concern is putting a McDonald's opposite a school.

We're on the verge of having 3,300 new houses built in this town.

And the character of Morpeth as a market town will change

These protesters say Morpeth's already had more than its fair

share of development, with housing estates

But Northumberland's Labour leadership see the proposals

as part of a wider plan to boost regeneration.

Northumberland Council wouldn't do an interview,

application was active, but said all views would be

It's previously argued that moving its HQ from Morpeth to a smaller,

more efficient building in Ashington would save taxpayers' money

Claims hotly contested by critics, who vowed to fight on.

We'll take this to court, we'll fight it all the way.

There's grounds why this should be refused.

There's over 1,500 objections on the website against this.

Over 1,000 people turned up today to show the strength of the feeling.

With council elections also due in Northumberland this spring,

this bitter planning dispute looks set to become a bruising

An outbreak of avian flu has been found at a farm near Haltwhistle.

Defra says a three kilometre protection zone has been

The H5N8 virus was found in a flock of around 35 chickens.

Plans to move consultant-led maternity services out

of the West Cumberland hospital in Whitehaven were opposed by 85%

of the people who responded to a public consultation.

That's according to a report published today by Cumbria's

NHS managers say recruitment problems mean a number of services,

including maternity, would be better centralised,

Pirelli's been given the go-ahead to expand its Carlisle factory,

in a move the firm says will secure almost four thousand jobs.

The tyre manufacturer is set to add a new extension to the plant,

which will be used on tyres produced there to "cure" them -

that's a process which gives the product its final shape.

More than 100 teaching assistants held a protest outside

They're concerned they'll face substantial pay cuts

Plans to re-hire assistants on the new arrangement

were suspended, following strike action in December,

but Unions say the threat hasn't gone away.

I'm going to be losing nearly 300 a month and I'm a single parent

And they're actually cutting people who could

Bradley Lowery, the boy from County Durham who's battling

a rare form of cancer, has been invited to be a mascot once

again when England play Lithuania in the World Cup qualifier

The five-year-old football fan, who has neuroblastoma,

has already been a mascot for his team Sunderland.

Earlier this week, his family learned that he has

That's it from me, now onto the weather.

And it was actually quite pleasant out today, Jen,

but I can't imagine that's going to last?

We are in for a spell of wet and windy weather as we go through the

weekend. The Met office has a yellow warning in force. Let's take a look

at how that looks tomorrow morning. A very wet start across Cumbria.

Heavy and persistent rain. Strong southwesterly winds blowing through

much of the day. Part of the north-east will stay dry, but here,

it will be quite cloudy. Temperatures around ten or 11

Celsius. That's 52 Fahrenheit. A very wet day to come first, on

Saturday. Beside the day off with plenty of brightness. Quite a mild

start the day. Spells of sunshine, but the wind starts to pick up ahead

of further rain pitching in. Some of that will be heavy and persistent.

Here the few days it is that the stay miles.

Outbreaks of rain at times particularly as we head into Monday.

A much calmer day today after the nasty storm yesterday. Let's look at

your pictures, tranquil from Hampshire, on the edge of the new

Forest. Nice cumulus clouds from Hartlepool. Still a bit stormy, that

sea. We are