23/04/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

Two big green energy projects have of the UK is governed.

Two big green energy projects have been given the go` ahead in

Yorkshire. A new wind farm will be built off the coast, and part of

Europe's largest power station, Drax near Selby, will stop burning coal

and use biomass to make electricity instead. The government says

hundreds of jobs will be created. But electricity bills will go up and

Drax is disappointed that it's only got funding for one biomass unit,

not two. It's starting legal action against the government. Our

political editor Len Tingle reports. For more than four decades, Drax has

dominated the North Yorkshire skyline with its distinctive 12

cooling towers seen for miles. But what is coming out of them is just

harmless steam. What is jeopardising the future here are its six giant

electricity generators. Until recently each one of them powered by

coal. That made Drax here the biggest single polluter in Europe

and because of that its days were numbered. It simply had to do

something about it. And that something is this. Wood and other

biofuels are much cleaner but far more expensive. It can only be made

to pay with subsidies from the taxpayer. But today the government

said there has been enormous pressure to fund other schemes, so

Drax was getting only half the subsidy it expected. We had 57

applications when we started this process. So there is a lot of

competition for these contracts. Many of these energy companies have

invested a lot of money to get to this stage. Offshore wind farms,

including one here in the North Sea off the Humber, are among the other

seven schemes given full subsidies today. Shares in the companies

running them have risen on the news. Back at Drax the opposite has

happened. There was no word from the management here today. In a

statement it said it was confident that it had a case to get the

government to change its mind by going to court, but if that doesn't

work it sees this as a slow`down in its long`term plans to reduce

pollution, rather than the end. Joining us now is environmental

campaigner Simon Bowens, from Friends of the Earth. Two issues.

Let's deal with the wind farm. How do you react to that? The news on

the wind farm Israeli positive. We know we can generate about 40% of

our electricity from offshore wind by the end of the next decade. This

is a really good boost to the industry and much needed. Can you

decide what biomass is? Many people might not clearly understand that.

The biomass plans that Drax entail taking timber from US forests,

shipping them across the Atlantic, putting them through and making them

into pellets and burning them in the furnaces that Drax to create

electricity. So what is wrong with using timber rather than coal?

Basically what we are seeing in the US is there are vast acres of these

southeastern United States Whitland forest being cut to turn into wood

pellets. That is completely unsustainable. `` wetland forest. We

need proper solutions to climate change and burning biomass is not

one of them. Mixed feelings all round here? Absolutely, yes. The

plans at Drax are unsustainable. What it will do is drive up carbon

emissions from Drax, rather than driving them down. Thank you for

joining us. The number of deaths on North

Yorkshire's roads has risen to a seven`year high. Latest figures show

there were 51 fatal crashes last year, which is a 65% increase on the

year before. Meanwhile motorcyclist deaths have gone up by 220% to 16.

The number of crashes involving death and serious injury had been

going down since 2009. Police have responded by increasing surveillance

and putting up warning signs. The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust is

planning to employ 60 nurses from Spain in the next six months as part

of a recruitment drive. The Trust ` which runs hospitals in Dewsbury,

Wakefield and Pontefract ` has allocated more than ?1 million to

increase the number of permanent nursing staff on some wards. The

hospitals will also hold open days in this country to attract more

nurses, midwives and health care assistants.

Cyclists have criticised plans to charge for the traditional team

presentation event ahead of the Tour de France Yorkshire leg. This is the

night when the teams show off their riders and their bikes and

traditionally it's been a free event. But in Leeds organisers are

turning the event into a show at Leeds Arena, with tickets between

?45 and ?85 each. Here's our Tour de France correspondent, Matt Slater.

As Harry Enfield once put it, "Sophistication? I've been to

Leeds." It was advice the BBC took last year when it held Sports

Personality of the Year at the First Direct Arena. A night of glitz,

glamour and Gary. The organisers of Yorkshire's Grand Depart must have

been watching because it's the model for their opening ceremony on

Thursday, three July. But do cycling fans want that much sophistication?

Otley's mother and son tandem team Vanessa and Oliver were looking

forward to something more modest. I was really, really disappointed.

I've been out to France a couple of times to watch the finale of the

Tour de France. It was something I was really looking forward to taking

my son to see. And at ?45`85, it is a little bit out of reach

financially. It will be a massive show, the biggest in the history of

the Tour de France. 13,500 at Leeds Arena, it will be massive, much

bigger than anything else that has happened before. There will be 300

seats at ?85, the others are a similar price to Sports Personality

of the Year and there will be 1,000 seats going free to schoolchildren.

If sweeping lights, soaring vocals and sharp suits are your thing,

tickets go on general sale on Friday. If you prefer bike racing,

well, that is still free. Finally, it's the eve of the

Harrogate Spring Flower Show, one of the country's best`rated gardening

events. Around 1,000 exhibitors have been preparing their displays at the

Yorkshire Showground. Some of the gardeners this year have been taking

inspiration from the Tour de France. Let's have the weather prospects.

You almost look intelligent and night! Not too sunshine, one of two

showers breaking out. A different story on Friday as an easterly

brings low cloud and patchy rain especially later in the day. A wet

night developing out there, outbreaks of rain spreading north

eastwards. Clearing later. Mist and low Falque by dawn. Eight or nine

Celsius. `` mist Wadlow fogged by dawn. Some sunny spells for most of

us on Thursday, one or two showers are possible especially through the

course of the afternoon. Quite pleasant. Temperatures around

15`16d. That is it from me and a very intelligent looking Harry. A

summary of very intelligent looking Harry. A

summary of tomorrow's weather and weekend doesn't look grey. Here's

Nick Miller with the national outlook.

The weather is going downhill, and here is why. Weekend weather

developments are now to the south-west of us, low-pressure

forming, and this has the weekend whether written all over it. But

first to the weather front we have now. Still some heavy bursts, maybe

with a rumble of thunder, but clear spells developing in Northern

Ireland, Wales and the south-west. Perhaps just a slight ground frost

here and there. More significantly, mist and fog forming. And even in

the London area, it is possible. Bear that in mind if you have an

early journey. If it affects travel, you can hear about it on your BBC

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