21/08/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

We talk to the man behind a multi`million pound plan

for a co`operative colliery in West Yorkshire.

The truly inspirational story of a Leeds Rhinos fan.

How a young man's passion for rugby has helped him rebuild his life

And find out how this wee beastie cant help solve a problem like that.

And it's been a cool, breezy day today. I'll be back later with all

the details of the bank holiday weather.

Ask almost anyone about coal mining in Yorkshire and most would describe

While other collieries are closing, he plans to open one.

He knows there's coal at Crofton near Wakefield, because British Coal

We'll hear from him in a moment, but first Cathy Killick's been

Here's a man who plans to open the first coal mine in Yorkshire

Jonathan Clarke has a business plan and now planning

permission to sink a drift mine here in Crofton near Wakefield.

So is his mining plan mad or visionary?

The history of coal mining in Yorkshire is chequered to say

Scrollback a half`century and Yorkshire's mines led

the industry with world beating engineering and innovation.

A completely up to date system, this installation shows how

the miner of today is becoming an engineer in his own right.

For decades the miners ruled the roost, with the country

And they have promised support saying that among other things they

will continue the newly`initiated Saturday morning shifts.

But the industry was riven by conflict and poor industrial

relations culminating in the miners' strikes in the 1980s.

That was followed by the pit closure programme that saw numbers

of pits decline from 56, employing thousands in Yorkshire, to just two

Jonathan Clarke says it's time to start again.

We're a cooperative so the mine will be owned by the workers.

We should have about 60 people working there who own the business

themselves, so you won't see this management`worker problems that

His optimism is in sharp contrast to the mood at Kellingley colliery,

facing closure and deemed unviable by the governmen.

To be frank, to keep this open on the long`term requires very

large government subsidies that we're not in the position to do.

In Crofton, though, the Co`op plan has mollified residents.

Planning permission was granted in seven months,

I think it's a good idea to bring employment again.

If it's going to bring jobs, fair enough,

About 80% of it is going to be put on the railway, so it means

we're not going to have big heavy trucks going through anywhere.

But will the plam prove too idealistic or

will it be a workable vision of a fairer way of doing things?

At the very least it is an interesting experiment that

could make Crofton the birthplace of a revolution.

So does Jonathan Clarke agree that he's taking a big risk by planning

to open a new mine when virtually all the others have closed down?

Not really. We are a drift mine. We generally go down about 150, metres.

Other man's a much deeper. From an engineering standpoint we don't have

those challenges. Also the site was earmarked by British Coal opencast

work. We know exactly where the coal is. So it will cost around ?30

million. Who's paying for that? Mine finance. We're talking about a tiny

amount of money. In effect, the value of the coal underground we

have permission to take is around ?300 million. The government has

today dismissed every view of securing a long`term future for

Kellingley pit. They are not interested in cold surely? Currently

we use 60 million tonnes of coal a year in this country. Were going to

be barely get for at least another ten years. Logically, I think we

should use local mines with local people rather than importing it.

Most of the imports come from Colombia, Russia and America. It

seems sensible to take it from local sources. Are you hoping to take some

business right? In terms of the market the 60 million tonnes use,

we're going to produce 200 a year. Where tiny fish in a big pond.

You've got planning permission? Would you not made by just by

selling the land? Absolutely, but we didn't set up this project to do

that. We started it to reinvest most of the money back into the local

area to create a better community and environment for everybody. Some

people said to us, are you going to sell? We said no. They thought we

were mad. Best of luck with the project.

Now the remarkable story of one Leeds Rhinos fan who'll be

at Wembley for the Challenge Cup final on Saturday.

Nine years ago Joel McBrinn, who's now 26,

came back from the very brink of death after he was savagely attacked

Now our crime correspondent John Cundy, who reported the story

His exclusive interview is a story of courage

Nine years on Joel McBrinn can remember little of the brutal attack

Nothing whatsoever, just what I've been told about the attack.

I remember bits of the year after I was in hospital.

Joel's injuries were massively life`threatening.

He suffered a broken arm, abroken jaw, broken cheekbones but,

Doctors had to cut away part of his skull to relieve swelling

I'd like to thank my family and my friends, especially

Amazingly, Joel had pulled through, his recovery gradual.

Even today his power of recall is still impaired.

When I'm watching a rugby game, the sport that I love,

I remember certain standout bits of the game but if someone asked me,

I used to be a healthy rugby player, a social person.

Now my health is not as good and I'm not as sociable as I used to be so

I've not got a girlfriend of kids are anything like that.

Rugby is something I can put my focus into.

Now it is all about Saturday and Wembley.

I'm hoping it's different to years gone by when I've gone down there

I've turned up and they've underperformed.

I'm thinking this year, I'm predicting a classic, actually.

Nobody will step out more proudly on Saturday than Joel McBrinn.

His brave recovery a truly remarkable story.

And we'll have more on the build`up to the Challenge Cup

We hear from the first student to benefit from a

new partnership between the region's forensic unit and a university.

Comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown has been fined after he was caught driving

while reading a newspaper in North Yorkshire.

The 69`year`old, whose real name is Royston Vasey, was spotted holding

the paper in front of his steering wheel as he passed a

The comic, who had a top ten single in 1995 with a

cover of Living Next Door to Alice, will have to pay ?30 and has been

Hoax calls are costing Yorkshires' fire services hundreds

of thousands of pounds, according to the latest figures.

In the past year more than 360 bogus calls were made to West Yorkshire

fire and rescue, the most of any service in our region.

The fire service says it's a drain on resources

Every time we send a fire appliance to a hoax call, the firefighters are

Effectively you're putting the fire engine in the wrong place.

That can put people at greater risk because if there is

another incident somewhere else they are simply not available to us.

Thousands of grave stones in Yorkshire have failed health

and safety tests and been deemed unstable.

Some councils have been securing headstones with wooden posts

and plastic tape until they can be repaired.

But families of some people buried in a Normanton

cemetery say they feel the work has been disrespectful.

Wakefield council says it acknowledges the distress

GCSE results were out today and in Yorkshire and the Humber the numbers

of students getting grade C or above has gone up slightly to 64.9%.

But across the UK more than two in three students achieve

a C or above, so students here are still lagging behind.

The Government says changes to the way pupils are tested,

including final exams, no resits and less coursework,

were necessary to correct a system that had worked against the best

But the changes have been criticised by a Sheffield headteacher.

The difficulty has been that things changed very suddenly

When people move the goal posts mid`way through the match it's an

We've done our very best and we've got results that have shown that.

Detailed plans for the new Queens Park Sports Centre in

Sport England has given the council ?2 million to build

The new centre will be built on the Queen's Park Annexe.

It will replace the current 1960s facilities.

Work will begin next month and it should be finished in 2016.

We are going to get a new facility which is far better

It will be up to date and a lot more accessible to the whole community.

In general, it will just be a great facility that Chesterfield and the

Music fans have been arriving at Bramham Park today

Now in its 16th year, the event will feature over 200

bands with headliners including Blink`182 and the Arctic Monkeys.

Around 70,000 music fans are expected there over the weekend.

The great thing about this weekend in Yorkshire that

It's back here and we've got amazing bands

for the weekend, topped on Sunday by the Arctic Monkeys, a Yorkshire

Their last gig in the UK for a long time.

A new partnership between the region's police forces and

Huddersfield University is helping one forensic science student gain

Miranda Blackburn will spend 10 months learning on the job

at the new police regional forensic services department.

The experience will help towards her final mark.

I wonder if you've ever seen one of these part near a crime. All the

evidence is gathered and brought back here to the new state of the

art synergies at Wakefield. It all start at the scene of the crime.

There is a team of CSI is covering the four police forces in Yorkshire

and the Humber. It covers all areas. Evidence gathered is sent to

Wakefield for analysis. The latest technology has helped speed up the

detection protest. I've seen a spur move from forensics to corroborate

investigations that we traditionally saw. The science is now gone to such

an extent that it is now almost completely reversed the forensics

are right front end. The comebacks in Wakefield brings together

investigators and scientists under one roof. It means there is no time

wasted travelling to labs miles away. What I'm doing here is looking

that fingerprint that you can't see with the naked eye. Miranda is the

department's latest recruit. She is the latest didn't get the ten month

work placement as part of her course at Huddersfield University. I just

want to help solving crimes. I've always wanted to do it.

When this didn't come back we see a massive step change in their

confidence. The main thing is experience. Also technical

knowledge. As crime detection continues to rely more heavily on

science will stop its expected more of these

Never mind the chilly weather, there's a Caribbean flavour

We find out how Leeds's West Indian carnival has got bigger,

Just two days before the all Yorkshire rugby league channels

final, the divided passions are no louder and clearer than here.

Just two days before the all Yorkshire rugby league channels

final, the divided passions are no louder and clearer than here.

Ecologists have come up with a new way of trying to keep

A red water weed is threatening to choke parts of the network.

The answer seems to be surprisingly low tech and exceedingly small.

This stuff here is the problem. And this is the solution. What is this?

That is water fern. It's an invasive plant which covers the top of the

water and causes problems for boats and people fishing. These are

weevil. They don't like big enough to make an impact on this. Will it

work? Yes. Although they look small they do breed in numbers. We are

putting 4000 in there today. They will get busy eating the weed. What

it then? Ducks. We're not going to situation like the Australians had

with rabbits? No, not at all. Let's release them. Yes, OK.

I have heard. There's one. There are tiny. You can't believe that

something that tiny will have any effect on this at all. I know, it's

amazing. It will help solve our problems. Brilliant. You go a little

one. Now let's return to

the build`up to Saturday's big Rugby League showdown, which sees

Castleford Tigers take on Leeds Rhinos in the first all`Yorkshire

final at Wembley for 28 years. Well, of course we need to be

scrupulously impartial, so we've sent our reporter

Paul Ogden to a pub in Kippax that's almost exactly half`way

between the two rival clubs. It's an absolutely fantastic

atmosphere. We couldn't be any more appropriate in terms of location.

This village lies right between Castleford and Leeds. They go

head`to`head at Wembley on Saturday. They'll have a nationwide TV

audience. Locally, if you were stuck in a traffic jam today I think I

have an explanation. Look at these pictures. This is the Castleford

team leaving the home. You can tell they benefited from it being the

school holidays. I think a lot of people left like early. And why

shouldn't they? It's a long time since they went to Wembley. They

last won it in 1986. That crowd was probably `` how much does it

actually mean? How much does the challenge cup itself mean to the

fans? Is this more important or less important than super league? To me

it is more important. It's a beautiful day out. We've waited so

long. It's brilliant. I've got the feeling today that Castleford is

going to be very quiet on Saturday when kick`off time comes. It will be

a ghost town. Were taking over 20,000 people to Wembley. Everyone

will have a fantastic day. Does this team say much about their future

plans in super league? Yes it does. I think we as a community in

Castleford need to get behind the club and we need to look at our

development. We're looking to the future and everyone needs to back

us. One team that knows about

development profile is Leeds. Your eye died in the wool fan. It is

about time you won at Wembley isn't it? I'm sure going to walk away with

it this year. Is it important enough to you? It certainly is.

We are going to do it. I think will win by seven. If there is a replay,

as we told you it would be at Sheffield. Other sports could learn

from here, bands of both sides mingling and respecting each other.

My producer just told me off. He has said that this is the first all

Yorkshire final at Wembley for 28 years.

Yorkshire's cricketers are in action in the One Day Cup this evening.

They put Hampshire into bat at Southampton and bowled the home

The 47th Leeds West Indian Carnival gets underway this Bank Holiday.

More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the event,

which organisers say is the oldest in Britain.

Tomorrow a contest to select the King and Queen to lead

the carnival parade will be held at West Yorkshire Playhouse

A short film about the carnival's history, told through

the eyes of one of its promoters Sandra Pitter, will also be shown.

It starts with some of the memories of the founder

We came here from the Caribbean and apart from coal we had nothing

We needed something that would bind us together.

One Sunday in 1964 Arthur France invited 27 people to his bedsit

in Leeds to discuss what would become Europe's first ever

I had a bed and one chair and 27 people.

I put the idea to them on a Sunday afternoon.

1967 saw the first Caribbean style carnival

on the streets of Leeds, but back then making the costumes provided

You need feathers to make Indian costumes

We went up to Otley and bought 12 chickens

We plucked the chickens and passed them out to people who would buy

Carnival continued to grow in the 70s and 80s

and the ambition and creativity behind the costumes grew with it.

Without the costumes there is no carnival.

It's important to keep the art alive in terms of the costumes and

The August Bank Holiday Monday is now a special day

for the whole city, but practice and preparation is a year`long process.

When the eyes of the world fell on Leeds for the Grand Depart

of the Tour de France, the lively, colourful rhythm of the carnival

Fantastic. It's going to be brilliant on Monday. We need to

share some good news from Corpus Christi school. They've received

some great exam results. Let's have some decent weather now

Keely. It's not going to get much warmer but it will feel warmer.

Let's take a look at some photographs first. We've been

getting lots of pictures of purple heather. The picture is of the peak

this trip. `` Peak District. A brighter day tomorrow but we still

can't rule out the odd shower especially in the east. The same

could be said Saturday and Finance Sunday. Saturday and mornings will

be chilly. You can make out the cloud on the satellite picture. It

is still producing showery burst of rain in places and will continue to

do so with brighter spells to end the day. Some clear spells will

develop overnight. Still an ongoing scattering of showers. They will

ease towards the end of the night. Temperatures will fall back to ten

or 11 cents US. Saturday and Sunday will be very chilly indeed. The sun

will rise at 5:56am. A lot of dry and bright weather to come.

Breitling cloud and sunny spells. We can't rule out some showers.

The breeze will be gentle from the North West and temperatures are on

the disappointing side but feeling a bit warmer. Were looking at 16 or 17

Celsius. Looking ahead to the Leeds Festival. There is a risk of an odd

shower but generally dry. It will be chilly at night. I won't wear my hot

pants. We will be at the Festival tomorrow night by the way.