21/03/2012 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening. Welcome to when's edition of Look North.

The Yorkshire hon mooners killed in the Maldives.

Jay and Emma grey from Halifax fell from a quad bike. The driver's been

charged but, back in Yorkshire, Jay's mother is prepared to forgive.

It is too horrific to contem play something like this might happen. -

- contemplate. We have an exclusive interview in a moment.

And what the budget means for Yorkshire's towns and cities. The

Chancellor's promising wider WiFi access to two cities and big

improvements on some rail lines. I'm reporting from Huddersfield

where plans have been announced to turn this into a multimillion pound

new shopping development. It turned out to be a glorious day

to the day at Temple Newsam. More sunshine for many areas tomorrow.

Welcome to the programme. First tonight, the man driving a quad

bike which crashed killing a honeymoon couple from Yorkshire has

been charged in connection with their deaths. Jay and Emma Gray

from Halifax had been married for just a week when they died in The

Mall deefs last August. Swedish national Philip Petra was arrested.

He could face the death penalty under Sharia law. But Jay's mother

described that as barbaric. It was a tragedy which claimed the lives

of Jay and Emma Gray. The quad bike they were on crashed killing the

young couple instantly. Seven months later, Jay's mum gets the

news, Filip Petre has been charged with disobedience to order. Under

Sharia law, the maximum sentence is death. It is too horive I can to

tor ific to contemplate that this would happen. It is not something

we would want to condone or happen. Even if the death penalty is not

cared out, life imprisonment is a distint possibility. Cath wants

forgiveness. Two lives have already been devastated. I don't see the

need for anybody else' life to be harmed. There's another family out

there with pending doom over them. I still believed what happened was

a tragic accident and not the result of wilful or malicious

intense. What impact is this having on you and your family. It brings

back all the sadness. Takes us back to the day when we heard the news.

Sets us all off thinking about it again. It is not where we need to

be. We want to be able to move on with our lives and put what's

happened behind us. We don't want to forget Jay and Emma but we want

to remember them as the lovely people they were and not in the

tragic circumstances in which they died. Very little is certain in the

malddeefs. Not least what will happen next to the man accused of

causing Jay and Emma's deaths. What can be said for sure is that what

Cath wants is forgiveness not retribution.

The last time the death penalty was handed down in the Maldives was two

years ago for gang murder. The then President stated he was opposed to

the death pan altogethery. He was forced and replaced by Dr Mow Hamid

Waheed. His views are not clear. Today's budget promises significant

investment for parts of Yorkshire. The cities of Bradford and Leeds

will be among ten around the UK to get ultra fast broadband.

Two of our rail links between Sheffield and Manchester and

between Bradford and Manchester will be upgraded so reducing

journey times. Our correspondent Alan Whitehouse is in Bradford.

Alan, good news for those of who -- of us who use the trains. The good

news, yes. It is part of a much wider idea to updead key routes.

They want to make trains run faster and increase frequency. Good news

but it doesn't address the issue of overclouded old charges. We all

know in this part of the world we have some of the oldest and least

reliable coaches on the network. Did you say rattiest? What about

that other announcement? Super-fast broadband. I'm not very

technological. What does it mean? Well, it's all about connectivity.

About wiring up Leeds and Bradford. There will be saturation cover WiFi,

very high-speed broad band. If you have a smartphone you can get

whatever information you want at the touch of a butt. It is about

getting the two cities a key competitive edge.

Thank you. More on the broadband announcements

on the late Look North at 10.25pm. In a moment, we'll look at what the

budget means for you. First, we've been to two parts of

the Yorkshire to see how they've been coping with tough times.

They are just 35 miles apart but their Prospects couldn't be more

different. York's economy is strong and thriving. Doncaster looks to be

one of the worst-hit in the country. We've investigate ed why that may

be so. Cathy Killick has been number crunching in York and Phil's

been looking at the books in Doncaster.

In York, the youth unemployment rate is 2.5%. In Doncaster, it is

.9%. The average weekly wage here is �465. In Doncaster, it is �416.

That means on average, earn ears here are �65 worse off. In York,

you have a better chance of getting a job. About four people are

chasing each vabgapbsy. Doncaster, it is treble that with

up to 12 people looking for every opening. Why should two places so

close together have such different economic outlooks when on the face

of it, they have so much in common? Both have a Roman heritage and

ministers. Both boomed in the middle ages. York has its

Knavesmire, Doncaster the ton moor. Both have leading racecourses

bringing visitors and cash to their local economies. In the past, it

was railways which brought economic prosperity. Both had charge works.

York had chocolate factories which boomed in the post-war years. Done

carser had coal employing more people in the area than anything

else. Mining made its money. But, the closure of the pits hit the

town hard. In a sense, it is still trying to recover. In York,

chocolate mafring has declined. The Terry's factory closed. And

Rowntrees, now Nestle, employs far fewer than it Z but York has found

alternatives. These days, it is service industries, insurance and

finance which dominate. Tourism is also crucial. It accounts for more

than 10% of the city's jobs. Doncaster though, struggled to fill

the gap left by coal. Many jobs which supported mining also

disappeared. Today, Hatfield remains one of the few working pits

left in Britain. New distribution centres have helped but the town is

still reliant on thousands of public sector jobs which are now

under threat. But Doncaster's workforce may not be that

attractive to new businesses. Less than a fifth of people have a high

level qualification. That makes it one of the wos educated workforces

in the UK. 14.4% have no certificates to their name.

contrast, York has one of the best educated populations in the UK. Two

fifths have high level qualifications. That's double

Doncaster's rate. Here, just 7.2% have no formal qualifications at

all. It seems education really does matter.

Perhaps that's why Doncaster's been investing heavily in teaching and

learning. In reend years, the college has been expanding rapidly

with plans to become a university. But, will it be enough to close the

gap with places like York? That certainly is the question.

Maybe to answer that is financial expert Neil Liversidge. You're the

man who knows. Let's start in Doncaster. What do you think will

affect that particular town. Probably the best hope for

Doncaster out of this budget is the money that will be ploughed into

investment. Particularly in the new electified rail links. Doncaster,

as we know, has a big heritage in rail. That could, if the investment

in directed right, create significant new jobs. What about

tax? Doncaster is known as one of the town's that in fact has the

highest number of low-paid workers? That's right. The increase in the

personal allowance will definitely help lower paid workers. I don't

think the change in top rate tax will make any difference whatsoever

in Doncaster. At the bottom end people should benefit from the

improvement in the personal allowance. Of course, with three p

a litre going on fuel later in the year they may feel the pinch.

thought he might have listened to pressure?. He has to find money

from somewhere on the moves he's making. Because it was in train he

took the easy option. He knew he wouldn't get too much flag because

it had already been flagged up. We've seen rates increased on

cigarettes. That will affect many of our viewers? Yes, it is.

Patterns of consumption have changed. When I grew up, pretty

much everybody smoked. Every year, people were smoking out of

nervousness about what was going to be happen to the tax on cigarettes.

It is a much smaller porgs of population now. York doing well,

affluent. Part of that golden triangle. Expensive houses. What is

the key thing from the bipbl et here? With Corporation Tax being

reduced as it is. That will help companies and the again business

measures in the budget, I think, will certainly benefit a town like

York. Particularly in the white- collar areas. In areas such as

video games elts. Hi-tech industries. People make a lot of

money in those. They'll pay higher rates of tax. Very much the head

line has been the 50% rate scrapped down to 45%. It's not as simple as

that? The 50% thing has been a political football. They could have

all saved themselves a big argument. It never made that much tax.

Scrapping it won't lose that much tax. That's just a fight between

the political parties over something which is actual ji

irrelevant to 99% the population. But it starts at 41%, not 43%. The

higher rate? The band in which you pay basic rate tax is narrower

because the personal allowance increased at the bottom end. The

threshold at which you start to pay higher rate tax has reduced. You'll

pay higher rate tax now at 40% sooner.

What did people think of the Budget? Sp Ieplt' 27. Unemployed. I

don't believe the Budget really affects me until I get back into

employment. Then I'm happy to pay my taxes again. Overall, it's half

and half budget really in that respect. I like the idea of the

Trans-Pennine route trains. The tax change at the top is a bit unfair.

It would be better for the rich to pay more and for the poor to be

better treated. It is a difficult time because of the us a ter city

mish use. -- austerity measures. I can't gauge what the benefits are

at the moment. It is just about releasing more money into the

economy and helping small businesses. No great excitement

there, is there? No, there's not. I wasn't expecting fireworks in this

Budget at all. We've all learned that we're past the point where

politicians solve our problems and the best that can happen when a

Budget comes along is the politicians don't do anything that

will seriously rock the boat and upset the economy. We're not in

recession. There's nothing in this Budget which 1408 put us into

recession. There are a few things I'd give a cautious welcome to. As

long as there are no major shocks along the way, a year from now,

we'll probably be better off now than we are.

A lot of problemlies in there! Thank you.

Later in the programme. A Sunday League embarrassment - the

manager's assessment of Leeds United's humiliating 7-3 defeat.

900 new jobs could be Creebased in Huddersfield if prance plans to

double the size of the Kingsgate Shopping Centre could be approved.

So far, no stores have signed up to the project: Move comes as towns

and cities across Yorkshire compete fiercely for shoppers. Huddersfield

says it will not be heft behind. Ian White's been for a look.

They might look like the best of friends but the relationship

between the owners the Huddersfield Kingsgate Shopping Centre and

Kirklees Council has not always been a happy one. The a major

expanse of the complex was initially thrown out by planners.

Now both sides buried their differences to try to make it

happen of the this month, Kingsgate's celebrating its 10th

anniversary. The world of retail has changed dramatically with

retailers and shoppers telling us they want more space. If plan ers

agree, more space is what they'll get. This is how it will look. A �4

40 million investment. To see the area that will be transforpd,

managing Director Peter Everest took me on to the roof.

Huddersfield is a major town in the UK. One of the to top 50 by size.

Its retailing facilities are not equivalent to that size. It needs

new large stores to accommodate new retailers into it. At the this

moment, there is an ambition to ensure within the next four or five

years, this phase of Kingsgate becomes a reality. What do shoppers

think. As long as they get the right stores. Ap John Lewis or

Debenhams. Something with a lot of choice. It is really nice, it is

big and has a lot of shops but struggled to compete with

Meadowhall. Competition's set to get more fierce. Along the road in

Leeds, work is well underway at the new Trinity complex which could be

open in a year's time. In stark contrast to plans for that

big investment in Huddersfield, the multimillion pound refurbishment of

a rather famous market, Chesterfield's historic indoor

market haul has has been halted. The council is looking for is a new

development after the original scheme wend overtpwuj et. Market

stall holders will move into temporary accommodation for a year.

We need to go back out to the market to attract other companies

to come in with bids which offer best value for money for taxpayers

in Chesterfield. It is a set back. But hopefully, it is just a

temporary one. Hopefully we can get a better price. The number of

police divers across Yorkshire could be cut by two thirds in a

move to save money. Plans are being considered to merge the underwater

teams from Humberside, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire

Police where numbers being cut from 28 divers to ten. That would save

�400,000. York University has confirmed

tonight that a 22-year-old who died while skiing in France was a former

student. Thomas Lynch graduated in economics last year. He was working

as a holiday rep in the Alps and died yesterday after crashing into

a piece of equipment. He was on his day off.

The Hepworth in Wakefield's been nominated for a prestigious award.

The gallery is one of ten institutions being considered for

the arts fund prize. The winner gets �100,000 and the title of

Museum of the Year. Good luck to them. It is a

fantastic place. And so successful. It is good. Especially so soon

after it opened of the Before 7.00 tonight: The Blades

find their cutting edge. Sheffield United put five past Notts County.

With a little help from their friends, grace and coreach their

cash target and get even more money. Paul's here. It was a goal-fest

last night? Everywhere. But especially at Elland Road. Some

won't are laughing? That is true. But some Nottingham Forest fans

watching will be very happy in the south of our region. Ten goals at

Elland Road. The problem for most Leeds nuetd fans is they came at

the wrong end. By early in the second half they were trailing by

3-1. For a brief period, Leeds showed the kind of find you'd

expect with Neil Warnock in charge. Luciano Beccio scored. Then came

this goal, a sizzler from Michael Brown from the end of the box. 3-3.

All to play for. The problem is Nottingham Forest can fight. They

certainly need to stay out of the relegation zone. They illustrated

with more ruthless finishing. Every slip by Leeds was punished. Leeds

suffering their heaviest ever home defeat. 7-3. Look at Neil Warnock's

face. It says it all. What about the Leeds fans today? Really

disappointed in the result. Expecting more from the team. It is

the teething period with the new manager. Not a good result. A very

unusual roult? A lot of goals. Four goals in the wrong direction. It is

not good. What do you think the problem is? I'm not sure. I think

the Leeds fans are quite supportive supporters. I think we'll still

support them no matter what. That is true support. What about

the rest of last night's football. Advantage Sheffield United in the

race for promotion out of League One. The Blades producing their

biggest goal tally at Notts County. Sheffield United got going with a

fine team goal which finished with Stephen Quinn ghosting into the

penalty bobg box and picking out the corner of the net. Meat Lou ton

drilled in a 30-yarder to put the Blades in control. It was 5-0 to

round off a belter of a night for Leeds. Meanwhile, Sheffield

Wednesday were struggling at home to Walsall. They twice came from

behind. First at Law threated the ball through six defenders. Then,

could this be the most important goal of the Owls season? Medine

scored to make it 2-2. Huddersfield had captain Peter Clarke to thank

for a goal-saving tackle early on this Chesterfield. Then Lee Novak

produced a superstrike to put Huddersfield in front. Jordan

Rhodes secured the terrier's win while Chesterfield remain routed to

the bottom of league one. It was a miserable night all round

in the Championship. Barnsley outplayed Crystal Palace but failed

to create chances and conceded a goal in injury time.

But, they remain a healthy 12 months points above reltkpwhaigs.

Doncasterp heavily beaten 3-0 at home to Millwall last night and

remain relegation-bound. In League Two, rot ral United --

Rotherham United made a good start. Pringle with a neat finish followed

by an Alex Revel strike. Mad Ford dragged themselves back into a

relegation fight with their third defeat in eight days. 1-0 at Crewe.

The bantams are four points above the drop zone.

Loads to debate. Not least, Phil, putting you on the spot, which

Yorkshire team will go up? Tricky, at the moment Sheffield

United are in pole. But that can all change.

It is changing every week. A fascinating season. I reckon Mr

Warnock will not be pleased. His facial expressions said it all

N stkpwhrl after eight gruelling days they've done it with just two

days to go. Radio Leeds presenters Adam Pope and Katherine Hannah hit

their fund-raising target. In fact, they've smashed it.

The pair who are travelling the Leeds/Liverpool Canal in that swan

shaped pedalo passed through swingbridges and down The Famous

Five-rise locks. Tonight, the latest total is �18,000.... Much

like the legend of the pied piper, where Adam and Katherine went today

people followed. For two miles of their journey, this pair of real

swans led the way. Slowly, the number of runners, cyclists and

supporters started to swell. Entire classes of schoolchildren, day-

trippers and people just popping down to the end of their gardens.

Some people walked for miles. Others waited for hours to pass on

their donations to Sport Relief. And, as the swan a riefd in Bingley,

there were almost 300 people waiting to cheer them on.

Absolutely shattered. But I can't believe how man people have turned

out to see us. It is incredible. Thank you so, so much. From the

moment we left Skipton it was one person, two, 10, 50. Schools came

out. Cross flats primary came out in their entirety to see us today.

When they started, Adam and Katherine hoped to raise � 100 for

every mile. Today, it has been the biggest support so far. More than

300 people turned out here in Bingley. At this rate, Katherine

and Adam are hoping they smash the �20,000 mark. Tomorrow, it's

Bingley to Attlee. They are still smiling. They have

another painful two days to government if you want to donate

Finally tonight, from swans to big cats, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park

near Doncaster is putting the finishing touchs to a new enclosure

which will be home to three leopards. Look pretty tame! Maybe

not! The animals are native to signeer ya and are on the most

endangered species in the world. The new quarter of a million pound

attraction will be open for Easter. The park is taking part in a

breeding programme which could see any young leopard born here

returned to the wild. Aren't they absolutely magnificent.

Lovely. Paul. Some sunshine? Been beautiful.

Touch of frost tonight. Is it warming up a bit? I think it will

do. We've this weather pattern into early march, possibly into April.

Potential on Sunday for 16 or 17 degrees. What about my flowers?

degrees. What about my flowers? frost tonight.

Not a bad one. Sunny spells. Sea fret along the coast at times. It

will be a lot colder. High pressure with us. This weak weather front

might bring the odd light shower in the west. Bank of England and

you'll miss it. It is a basically a bright and dry picture. We should

stay dry for next week as well. Not good news for the parching eastern

side of our region. You can see that clearance of the cloud. It

came up this afternoon. All parts have ended up on a sunny note at

the end of this afternoon. Temperatures dropping away quite

sharply. Just a light and variable breeze. Later, there could be mist

and fog, patchy low cloud. One or two spots down to 0 Celsius.

Generally in the range 1-3 Celsius A fairly widespread ground frost.

Even a touch of air frost in one or two spots. A grey start in places.

Any mist, fog and low cloud will break up. It is a lovely day. Fine

and dry with some good sunny spells. The best temperatures always in the

west. There will be a brisk south- easterly bringing low cloud and sea

mist in, especially later in the day. Scarborough, just 8 Celsius

tomorrow. That's 46 Fahrenheit. You'll know about it if you're

taking a walk in Scarborough. 14 Celsius inland. Leeds, Bradford and

Sheffield up to 15. Overcast on Friday. The risk of the light

shower. Weekend quiet. Variable cloud. Temperatures gradually on

the rise away from the coast. worried about you. You can't get