13/12/2011 Midlands Today

Welcome To Midlands Today. The headlines: the growing gap between

the cost of living in the Midlands and pay rises. When we asked them

for pay rises, it is the economy, the industry is not good.

�20 million facelift for Birmingham's n I a venue. We get

the cultural and economic benefit. Then the multi-million pounds

football training academy hoping to turn out stars of the future.

And the teenager who had the surprise of her life when a Harry

Potter stuck turned up to meet her Good evening. Has the cost of

living changed life in the Midlands? The consumer price index

figures showed inflation of 4.8 % this month, down slightly from last

month. But in the Midlands, inflation is 10 times the average

salary increase. Annual earnings before tax have increased by 0.4 %

year-on-year. An average full-time salary is now �19,981, what does

that mean for us in the region? Is all this stopping spending ahead of

Christmas? Figures are encouraging, up 10 % the number of shoppers

coming here. A similar picture elsewhere. Crown Gate in Worcester

up 6% and the boring up 5.5 %, this despite the widening gap between

wages and inflation. Inflation rising 10 times faster than wages

and that means some people are struggling.

Even with today's slight fall in the rate of inflation, prices are

still rising and that means continued pressure on family

budgets. We have to figure out which week we can do the Christmas

shopping. Dean and Mandy are feeling the pinch. Petrol, gas,

electricity has gone up and wages have not increased with inflation.

That has meant drastic action including only running one car.

What we save on insurance and tax just with one car and with petrol

just running the one car it is cheaper. They had been forced to

change the way they shop. We now do a big shop once a month whereas we

used to do it once a week. We go to the supermarket and filled the

freezer up with the meat because it is cheaper. This is why they are

doing that. According to figures, pay packets only rose by 0.4 % in

the last financial year, while the consumer price index was up by 4.5

%. But the region's businesses have been hit also. This Foundry is

where Dean works. Here most workers have not had a pay rise in four

years. When we asked them for pay rises, it is the economy, the

industry is not good. Cost of electricity, it still which has

come in. Prices are rising and bosses are facing a massive 32 %

rise in their energy bill. That height in energy prices means the

cost of producing something like this has gone up by 15p and that

might not sound like much but when you consider they produce 3 million

cars like this every year it mounts up. So also does the impact on the

profit margins. It will affect our profit by the end of �330,000.

Which means that sparks could be flying here next year if there is

no money in the pot for a pay rise. It is not just rising prices in the

shops that are worrying. There are increasing levels of fuel poverty.

Per troy is going up, food is going up, everything is going up and the

wages are still the same. You are left with less. I cannot save money.

I am not planning on holidays or anything like that. The price of

petrol is ridiculous. It seems to go up. They say they bring it down

but it does not appear so. We do not have the heating on in our

house in case the bill is sky high. It is hard to live. Perhaps a bit

of a worrying sign, Santa is not very busy here. With me is Michael

from the independent retailers Association. Inflation has gone

down but prices are rising. What effect is that happening? Prices

are rising faster than in comes and that is causing sales to be subdued.

Are you surprised we are seeing rising levels of at fault but

people are not spending much? have been counting the backs of

people coming to the tales, not as much. There are fewer bags on

people's arms here. How will Christmas 2011 be remembered?

will be remembered as a subdued Christmas. Sales are down for

independents. What about 2012, there are concerns about the

economy for them. What a member saying? They have the same worry

that the government does, they need growth but will it arrived? Will we

see more empty shops in 2000 and fog? We may do in the early part of

the year because they are under pressure. Thank you. It is 11 days

to go until Christmas, so plenty of shopping to be had and plenty of

bargains to be had also. We would like to know how this is

affecting you. Have you had to cut back? You can comment on our

Facebook page or e-mail us. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Still to come: we hear from a doctor who says thousands of lives

could be saved if more medics knew how to spot blood poisoning.

New plans for a �20 million facelift at Birmingham's National

Indoor Arena had been unveiled. The NIA celebrates its 20th anniversary

and it has hosted more world championship sports events than any

other arena in Europe. It can hold more than 14,000 people, it has

staged concerts by international superstars.

Col play, Sir Paul McCartney, Eurovision - not forgetting a long

sporting pedigree. 420 years the National Indoor Arena has been

entertaining the public of the West Midlands and beyond. Maybe it is

starting to look tired around the edges. Time then for a �20 million

facelift. Two years of work to create a huge glass frontage making

the most of its canalside location. Now is the time to invest in the

NIA. We are doing this to protect the market share, the number of

great events we attract to the city and through that we get the

cultural and economic benefit. We get the employment benefit as well.

Together with a new library it forms part of the council's Big

City vision for a revamped Central Birmingham and it is the council

that is landing the NIA the Monday -- money. Its leader Mike Whitby

The point is is where the money comes from. With the council

cutting millions in spending, not everyone thinks the loan is wise

off their. This venue brings investment into the venue -- region,

why not invest in it? Their run many thousands of people losing

their jobs, we are talking about the council learning 20 million to

a press these project that could have got the money somewhere else.

The arena is planning to sell its naming rights to pay off the loan.

Building work should start late next year.

I am joined by Emma Gray from Marketing Birmingham. Why do this

at a time when public money is so tight? It is important that

Birmingham remains competitive and with this new plant it will help us

for the future. It is a plan about the future and how we can remain

competitive as a business and leisure location. We have had a

year on year increase on visitor numbers but we need to reinvent

ourselves and create new products that will bring people back and get

our profile high. Will the ordinary people of Birmingham benefit?

benefit is massive. It will provide jobs are but alongside that, when

you have the big sporting events that happen with in this stadium,

you get benefits within the hotel sector, restaurants, it is very

widespread and there is a massive ripple effect. When will all this

dark? It will start at the end of next year and it is a two year

project. We think it will fit in well with the major plans that are

happening within the city in terms of infrastructure. Will there be

any closures to the NIA well this is going on? There will be

information about that throughout the website on the NIA to keep

people up-to-date. It is important that the work happens because it

really does help from an economic perspective and it helps revitalise

the city force DUP meanwhile, there has been a further boost to the NIA

with the news that one of the world's top athletes will be

competing next year. Four Mar 100 metres record holder

Asafa Powell has announced his intention to compete in the Grand

Prix. He will be based in Birmingham with the Jamaican team

in preparation for the London Olympics.

A Birmingham bookseller has been sentenced to three years in jail

after being found guilty of encouraging others to carry out

violent terrorist attacks. Kingston Crown Court was told some of the

material sold by Ahmed Faraz contained instructions on how to

make explosives and kidnap people. The 32-year-old round the Maktabah

bookshop but it has now closed down. Hundreds of patients will have to

wait too long to be admitted to hospital according to the West

Midlands Ambulance Service. Yesterday more than 80 patients had

to wait more than an hour for the handover from ambulance to hospital.

All of England's 11 ambulance services experienced delays in

handing over patience. 10,000 lives could be saved every

year if doctors and nurses recognise the early signs of sepsis

all blood poisoning. One doctor is petitioning the government to do

more. Ron Daniels started his campaign after watching a man died

following a simple operation. At 37, gem Abbott was fit and

healthy but he started to feel ill and his body shut down. His wife

Karen from near Sutton Coldfield is still trying to piece together how

a vasectomy could lead to the death of her husband, leaving her with

two young children. The doctor said, there is nothing we can do for him.

He will lose his hands, arms and legs and he will be her brain

damaged. The choice was not mind to turn the machine off, the hospital

made the choice for me. This intensive care doctor was also

shocked by Jem Abbott's death. By employing specialist staff and

identify infections early, he believes they are saving 80 lives a

year. Sepsis is a complex condition which can present to any health

worker and we need to engage everybody and work with everyone to

ensure we make this difference. Each year across the UK, 37,000

people die of sepsis. Sepsis UK believes 10,000 of those could be

saved and that would save the NHS �170 million in treatment costs.

The good ideas are being rolled out across Solihull and Coventry but

things move slowly be in the NHS and the plan now is to lobby

government. We have an electronic petition. The idea is to engage

ministers, particularly the Secretary of State for Health to

ask them to persuade the Department of Health that sepsis needs to be

taken seriously. All that is in Karon's gift is to try to raise

You're with Midlands Today this chilly Tuesday night. Still ahead:

a magic surprise for one school, as the Harry Potter star Rupert Grint

pays an unannounced visit. And with the first bout of stormy

weather out of the way, it's a question now of how bad it could

get on Thursday night. I'll have an update for you of all the warnings

later. Six Midlands towns and cities are

set to experience local television for the first time under plans

unveiled today by the Government. Birmingham is one of 20 "pioneer

areas" where broadcasting is due to start in 2013. Others are planned

for Stoke-on-Trent, Stratford-upon- Avon, Kidderminster, Malvern and

Hereford. Our Political Editor Patrick Burns is here with us now.

Why are ministers so keen on local TV? They clean kit ties together

the big themes of this government - localism and the Big Society.

Instead of the big guns of the corporate world. So the want to

limit the independent production companies to no more than 25%

ownership of one of these licences. This has been tried before in

Coventry and it flopped. Why do they think it will work this time?

And think those earlier examples were on shoestring budgets. It is

an expensive business. In this case the BBC has agreed to put �25

million to support the start-up costs. So the government hoped

there will be properly resourced and will attract a level of

advertising and sponsorship. What happens next? Ofcom consult over

the award of licences on a competitive tendering system which

should be completed by the summer. After 20 years in a Birmingham tram

depot, a collection of vintage buses and commercial vehicles is on

the move. The Aston Manor Transport Museum is relocating to a former

dustcart production line in Aldridge after the city council

said it could no longer afford to subsidise its rent. Sarah Falkland

reports. The last time this old girl was out

on the open road was 1945. This Morris Dictator is one of several

renovation projects that needed a low loader to take it from its old

home in Aston to a new home in Aldridge. They will look after her.

Where she is going there are people who do lot of preservation work so

they know what to expect. There will be no more bits falling off!

It will have taken six weeks in total to clear the Aston museum of

exhibits. It's the end of an era. I am sad about it but the city

council put us in a position where we had no other option. And this is

where the new museum will be created. A former dust cart

production line in Aldridge soon to grow from a bus refurbishment

business to a bus manufacturing site. The majority of the buses in

the collection have managed to get you to Aldridge under their own

steam. Although a few did have some problems. This 1964 bus broke down

try to get up the hill. The company's given the museum an

initial six months rent free - with the hope of a ten year lease to

follow. The museum will be located in this part of the building and

the other side is where the production line will go in. There

will be viewing areas were you can actually see the production in

process was DUP The vision is that traditional street setting will be

created as a backdrop for these trusty stalwarts of our highways.

It's cost around �100 million. And it's been a political hot potato

for more than 10 years. But now, the National Football Centre in

Staffordshire is almost finished. It's due to open next summer, by

which time England could be the new European Champions. Ian Winter has

been to Burton-on-Trent for a look round.

Wellington boots, hard hats and yellow jackets. We are all dressed

up and champing at the bit for our first glimpse of the most famous

building site in Britain. The new national football centre covers the

site of 330 acres in the National Forest and will be a state of the

art facility. It is the first time anyone has ever built at facility

quite like these with the whole of the eastern wall all reinforced

glass. You will not feel as if you are training in a big shed, you

will feel as if you're somewhere special. David has been the driving

force behind this massive project and today had several important

guests including Paul Foot went from Aston Villa and the England

boss, Fabio Capello. And would that, he was whisked away.

By the time the national football centre opens next summer, it will

be the next England manager who gets all the benefits of burgeon.

This is the elite pitch, identical in every respect to Wembley.

England's senior players will start training here next autumn in

preparation for the World Cup qualifying campaign. What does this

mean for the Midlands? It is great for the region. We will employ 250

local people. It helps put us on the map at the heart of England.

The FA bought this side with �2 million and three years later their

plans were shelved. Four years after that they were resurrected

and now, costing �100 million, the national football centre is almost

complete. So we will watch and wait to see if first-class facilities

produce a first-class team. Thank goodness! We have waited so

long for that. Tonight, Walsall aim to reach the

first round -- the third round of the FA Cup for the first time this

season as they play against Dagenham.

It's not everyday that an international film star pops into

your school, but that's just what happened in Sutton Coldfield today.

Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, went

along with fellow cast member Oliver Phelps to surprise one lucky

pupil, as Ben Sidwell reports. For pupils at Bishop Walsh Catholic

School in Sutton Coldfield, it seemed like just another day. But

today was different, there was magic in the air.

Earlier this year, 17-year-old Sarah Cotter entered an online

Harry Potter competition. Today, much to the surprise of herself and

nearly everyone at the school, her prize arrived.

Pupils had been told there were it's a special Assembly and the

special guest would be the Archbishop of San Francisco. But

there are about to be in for a big surprise.

This is one of the most surreal days we have ever had. It is quite

overwhelming. It is just a very strange experience. In everyday

life you do not have that, it is quite unique. And how did the girl

that made all this happen feel? my God! I don't even have the words.

Everywhere Rupert and Oliver went today, there were screaming fans,

desperate to capture a momento of the day that two film stars came to

their school. Amazing! We have grown up with them, we're all such

massive fans. What to think of Sarah for entering this

competition? At the everyone will be her best friend! For Oliver

Phelps, who plays George Weasley in the films, it was a chance to

return home. He was born and grew up in Sutton Coldfield. Of all the

places to go in the UK, this is great. I have a horrible members --

memories of doing cross country on the field over there. Pupils from

almost half of the UK's secondary schools entered the competition,

which was run by Sainsbury's. And Sarah's victory was one shared by

the whole school, with every pupil getting a copy of the new Harry

Potter DVD and the school themselves 10,000 vouchers for

activity equipment. I think they were all remembered

this date for the less good acolytes. -- Remembrance Day for

It is just like that when you turn up to work! It must have been so

exciting. Now let's take a look at the

Now let's take a look at the weather forecast.

After the wild conditions last night we're not out of the woods

yet. There are still warnings for stormy conditions on the Thursday

night into the early hours of the mornings. At the moment this area

of low pressure seems to be moving further south, in which case it

will take those stormy conditions with it. For now the problem is

that stream of showers moving into the Bristol Channel. That will

contain hail and thunder. We already had reports of wintery

showers today across many parts. Those will leave behind wet

surfaces and so we're looking at the risk of ice on untreated

services. Then tomorrow we have another feature, this rash of

showers that will turn up wintery on the hilltops. But those will

revert back to rained throughout the day. It is quite a cold day,

but not quite so windy tomorrow. Tomorrow night, the wind dies down

completely. We are looking at some heavy outbreaks of rain. But we are

looking at cloudy conditions. That rain men dies away and on Thursday

it is dried with some sunshine. Perhaps some stormy conditions

during the night. But Friday is looking mainly dry and for Saturday

things start to clear up with some sunshine. But again the potential

for some ice and frost during the night as temperatures plummet again

night as temperatures plummet again to freezing or perhaps just below.

A look at tonight's main headlines: Shoppers have been forced to run

for their lives in Belgium as a lone gunman opened fire, killing

five people and himself. And inflation may be down but the

annual rate is still 10 times higher than the average pay rise in

the Midlands. And to our top story - news that

inflation in the West Midlands is now ten times the average salary

increase. Today we've been asking how it's affecting your life. Julie

Norton says: "I'm trying to get full time work in the Finance

Industry and trying to survive on �65 per week when my gas and

electricity is �30 per week and rising!" She describes her

situation as "dire". And Simon Lewis has been told he will not

have a wage increase for two years. Adele Partridge says: "My husband

and I are both self employed. We no longer have meals out or takeaways.

We don't do any social travelling journeys so that we don't waste

petrol. We are selling both of our cars to get a cheaper one. The