21/12/2016 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening, and welcome to the late Look North.

Tonight - is a ?900 million windfall for South Yorkshire under threat?

Plans for an elected mayor for the region face delays

after a row with Derbyshire over which areas will be part of it.

We're in Calderdale a year on from the devastating floods -

residents say they still live in fear of it happening again.

With news of potentially severe gales over the Christmas weekend,

join me for that live updated forecast.

A leading expert on local government has told Look North that elections

for a South Yorkshire mayor next year are now looking unlikely.

The plans - which would lead to almost a billion

pounds of new funding - were thrown into disarray

because of a tug-of-war about Chesterfield.

The town was due to join Sheffield City Region -

but Derbyshire County Council challenged it in the High Court.

Christmas. It is full of decisions, like who gets what? Take

Chesterfield itself... Geographically it is firmly in zero

option but political leaders here think that an invitation to join the

new Sheffield economic region was too good a gift to refuse and today

they still do. It is about investment and economic

opportunities. Not about geography but about administrative boundaries.

Getting economic activity devolved from government to the local

decision-makers of which I am one. And ensuring it is used in the best

place for Chesterfield residents. Devolution of power was meant to be

a gift from government to the regions. The then Chancellor George

Osborne promised more cash as long as a mayor was elected.

He was keen to glad handed local politicians as a deal for the region

was signed. It should have been straightforward, Sheffield,

Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster at its heart. Derbyshire Dales, and

North Derbyshire councils were invited to join in.

Bassetlaw and Chesterfield wanted to become members with full voting

rights but Derbyshire County Council say that it cannot be claimed just

like that. They went to the High Court and the judge agreed that the

consultation undertaken to establish a new region was unlawful. I've had

more contact from people in Chesterfield about this issue than

anything else in the last three years.

People were very alarmed they did not know about it and concerned they

had no chance to say what they thought about it either. So far

there is no sign of the government taking their gift back to the shop.

In a statement after today's ruling,...

I think given that the combined authorities are saying it is going

to review the judgment carefully, it suggests there has to be a further

consultation if they want to hold together these authorities. It is

hard, as of now, to see a mayoral election going ahead next May. As

2016 draws to a close, Chesterfield is no closer to answering the

question of whether it looks north towards Sheffield or does it lean

spire and county council offices at spire and county council offices at

Matlock. We've asked Sheffield region for an

interview numerous times today but we ain't given a statement saying

that they are considering a statement and will announce their

next steps in due course. We were meant to be electing our

next mayor in May but tonight, that timetable looks, at best, ambitious.

Tom English, BBC Look North. John Mann is the MP

for Bassetlaw which - like Chesterfield -

is affected by today's ruling. Well, it will delay things, I'm

sure. But I do not think that Judges should be sticking their noses into

local democracy. We have elected councillors, politicians, doing

that. I'm a bit disappointed that judges think that it is their role

to be dictating what should and should not be happening. Don't you

think it makes a mockery of local government, to have a dispute like

this in the first place? Well, you have a county council in Derbyshire,

this is all about their jobs as councillors and their power. And

what they want to exercise. This is a ridiculous step back but we can

overcome it. Our economic future means working with our neighbours

where our buses, trains, most of our cars go. That is where we need

transport improvements. It is the Sheffield Universitys that I want to

see working with my businesses to help them grow and the more they do

it, the sooner they do it, the more it, the sooner they do it, the more

we get that money to do it, the better. Are you saying that support

lies with Sheffield rather than Nottingham in Bassetlaw? Of course.

Because we are in error. It's where more people work and more businesses

do their business. I've got nothing against Nottingham but the idea it

was Nottingham and Derby that they proposed, I don't even know the way

to Derby! For us, it is our economy. The airport we use. It's Robin Hood

airport. The airline we've got. East Coast mainline.

That is where our linkages and when it comes to the economy, and it

comes to transport, and it comes to health, that is where we are and

where we need to be. We need to stop messing around with this and just

get on with it. John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw speaking there.

A man who claims he was abused at a children's home in Yorkshire

has been awarded thousands of pounds of compensation.

Hundreds of men are suing the Catholic Church over historical

abuse at the St Williams school near Pocklington,

Three other men lost their case for compensation at the High Court

in Leeds and another will be decided next month.

A woman's been taken to hospital after her car ran out of control

in Sheffield and ended up in Porter Brook.

A number of other vehicles were damaged in the incident

on Sylvester Street just before five o clock.

West Yorkshire Fire Service has issued a warning to e-cigarette

users after a man was injured by a battery exploding

Investigators say the man was keeping batteries

They say people should avoid storing them alongside other metal objects

It's nearly a year since homes and businesses in Yorkshire

This week we've been looking at the legacy

Today we hear from the residents of Calderdale.

Millions of pounds are being invested in a new flood

prevention scheme - but many residents say

they still live in fear of it happening again.

The Calder Valley will never forget Boxing Day 2015. By 3pm, the River

coal dollars at the highest level ever recorded. Water rampaged

through, showing no mercy. Emergency services were at full stretch, and

some residents had no choice but to risk their own safety to help

others. Here, dozens of elderly people had to be rescued from their

ground floor flats which were completely submerged. Mary, back in

your flat at last, what is it like? Sensational. Mary King was one of

them, the 82-year-old only moved back in a couple of weeks ago. I

used to walk around and peep into the window and thought I can't go

back there. No walls or doors. What a

transformation! Others are looking for more reassurance. Cordell

Council has ?60 million set aside for flood risk management.

-- Calderdale. Work has already begun but the severity of the floods

came with a financial and emotional knock.

This man risked his lives to save others on Boxing Day and says others

still feel vulnerable. We have to beg, steal and borrow. We have flood

stores but nothing in them. If push comes to shove and God forbid

there's another incident like Boxing Day, it is sounding like we can do

very little. Here, the fear of further floods has forced some to

move away. John and Catherine's home was destroyed last Christmas,

Catherine was 8.5 months pregnant, and they wanted a safer place for

their baby. We decided it was not the best place

to bring a child up. You have the flood risk. The ever present threat

of damage and harm hangs over many residents in the valley. Some

experts have said it is a miracle that no one died in the Boxing Day

floods, these communities want to know that the flood protection work

will save them, should be heavy rains come again.

Charlotte Leeming, BBC Look North, in the Calder Valley.

Let's find out if bad weather is coming our way...

What is the latest? There are strong winds to come in the next few days,

tomorrow not looking bad, sunny spells and some showers, the jet

stream will pile in from the West as we head towards the Christmas

weekend. Friday, and you can see the number of ice bars there. Severe

gales, and Christmas Day is windy as well. -- isobars. Temperatures at 13

degrees on Christmas Day afternoon. Then we have a couple of showers

coming in from the West. Elsewhere, dry with clearer periods, and it

could have icy patches on untreated surfaces, temperatures close to

freezing in countryside areas. Tomorrow is quite chilly, breezy but

bright, plenty of sunshine about. A few scattered showers, especially in

the north, west and eastern parts of southern Yorkshire. It should be

dry, but feeling quite chilly. Temperatures of six or 7 degrees. On

Thursday evening, Thursday night, a couple of showers possible, then it

becomes dry, certainly on Friday morning, this vale of cloud comes in

from the West. That's ahead of the next weather system that brings

severe gales on Friday. Heavy rain on Friday afternoon. That's it from

us, a summary of good for us. Mild by the time we

reach Christmas Day. Hello there, there is wet and very

windy weather on the way in the run-up to Christmas. The worst of

the weather to the northern half of the UK. We have a strengthening jet

out of North America that is propgating across the Atlantic.

Rushing our way. Picking up low pressure, deepening them, tracking

them to the north-west of Scotland, hence the wind and rain. Tonight, we

have gale force winds in the north-west of Scotland. Wintry

showers here. There is still come rain to clear from the south-east.

It will go. The skies will clear. We get patchy fog in the south-east of

England. Chilly where skies clear, particularly in the countryside, not

far away from freezing. Further north we keep the showers going

through the night and into the morning