13/06/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

The Government company set tp to plan and deliver the Tour dd France

says Yorkshire is officiallx well on track to stage the race.

The TDF Hub, as the company is known, has released its third

And a survey shows that nindty four per cent of us know the Tour's

coming, and 84% think it's worth getting excited about.

But not everyone's convinced it's worth the disruption.

60% think it will be worth ht, which of course leaves 40% who don't.

Well, the Grand Depart begins in just three weeks? time.

Walking around Knaresborough it s hard to believe there are pdople who

don't know about the bike r`ce. The French flags could be for a farmers

market I suppose, but even French farmers don't ride yellow bhkes

These children know what tile it is, for them it is race time. Wd wanted

to make them aware of the tour, to drive forward different parts of the

curriculum and get them confused about it. I would definitelx say

they have taken it on board in a massive way. It is kind of like a

race on bikes and it is verx interesting, not like racing cars.

This was the first stage in the children's yellow jersey race. My

personal favourite, this falous Yorkshireman, Jeremy Clarkstone

These ladies have been found out their road will be closed e`rlier

than expected throwing their plans into doubt. We have to bring people

and tell them to be here before five in the morning so we will h`ve to

refund their money and it whll be a total disaster. Tour fever has hit

Yorkshire hard, infecting bhkes and buildings.

We heard from someone upset about the road closure changes, h`ve the

organisers got this wrong? The road closures are the most controversial

part of the whole plan and organisers have gone with the side

of caution, and sensibly, bdcause in the past people have got hurt. A lot

of their messaging, their spend has gone around making sure the event is

safe. We heard about the amount of money they put into safety. With

tens of thousands of voluntders they are backed up by the elergency

services, our duty is to make sure the communications work through the

terrain of North Yorkshire which is why we have had to spend more money

on additional transmitters. Our job is to make sure the event is safe

for all of those who want to come. We are just three weeks thehr way.

What is the general state of readiness? 300 miles of road is now

ready to be raced on and crtcially the budget is in good shape. There

are still half a million of rainy day funding. What we don't want is

rainy days. A father has been paying trhbute to

his daughter after she was killed whilst walking

to school in Bradford. Lily Davies was hit as she crossed

a road in the Wibsey area at 8: 0 Her family have described hdr

as a bright and beautiful ghrl who A beautiful girl, she enjoy doing

everything. We've loved spending time with her, she was just

beautiful, so generous and kind to everybody.

Police investigating the violent robbery

of an 80`year`old man in Ledds have released CCTV footage in an attempt

Eamonn Durcan was pushed ovdr and then dragged inside his own house

After being attacked the victim hit one of the robbers

But they still got away with cash, digital photographs and jewdllery.

The centre of Leeds faced hours of disruption this afternoon

One man was taken to hospit`l and several roads were closdd.

The first explosion happened at 1:20pm, followed by several violent

blasts. The van owned by thd Morehead group, a demolition group

in Leeds, was carrying gas canisters and the driver was extremelx lucky

to escape without injury. Bdcause of the risk of further explosions,

roads were closed bringing hnto sections to a standstill. As police

and fire crews cleared the scene, the cause remains unclear, though an

investigation is under way. Leeds Rhinos captain Kevin Sinfield

has been honoured by the Quden Sinfield, who's also the England

team captain, has played He's the most successful captain

in the club's history with six He says he's proud to receive an MBE

for services to rugby leagud. Staying with rugby and in

Superleague the Wakefield Whldcats tonight managed to put a bit more

space between themselves and other They beat the London Broncos

by 18 points to 10. Castleford Tigers, meanwhile, suffered defeat

at the hands of Wigan with Ashley Gibson scoring the Thgers'

only try in the 73rd minute. The final score was Wigan 46,

Castleford 6. Cricket, and it was

a great night for Yorkshire Jonny Bairstow's unbeaten 60

produced a comfortable 16`run victorx over

Northants to keep Yorkshire And congratulations to

Yorkshire's Joe Root who scored his first test double century

for England at Lords today. It has been a beautiful week, is it

set to continue for the weekend Settled but cooler and cloudy, and

we won't have to sunshine. Tomorrow it will feel fresher, it will be

variable with large amounts of cloud, but team to the weather. Some

heavy thunderstorms out there at the moment. They will ease away

southwards so some downpours in the short term and are largely cloudy

night to come. Temperatures falling back to 14 degrees. You can see the

cloud is thick enough to brhng some patchy rain tomorrow, but gdnerally

for the next few days it looks largely dry and we will see some

brightness in the east tomorrow afternoon. Much cooler on the coast,

fresher Inland too with temperatures up to 20 degrees.

next couple of days, looking good, temperatures in the 20s. Now the

West -- now the National forecast. Good evening. Over the last two days

in the south of England there has been a lot of sunshine and

temperatures up to 26 degrees. Don't expect temperatures that high this

weekend, cooler for many. A lot of dry weather even if it is a little

bit on the cloudy side at times We see the cloud increasing this

afternoon and through the evening. The cloud has been drifting south.

Over the last few hours we started to see thunderstorms. Over the next

few hours, further thunderstorms to be found across parts of northern

England, the Midlands, the eastern side of Wales. They are drifting

south overnight. Every bursts of rain with that. Most will clear into

the English Channel. A lot of cloud out there, temperatures 14 or 1

degrees. Around the North Sea coastal areas, temperatures not

rising far because there is a cool breeze from the North. Inland, the

cloud -- the cloud breaks up in the afternoon. Sunny spells developing.

One or two showers. On the western side of Scotland, doing well in the