16/02/2014 Midlands Today

two weeks' time. That is all

Good evening. The Environment Agency is warning

that river levels in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are still

unstable despite today's drier weather. They're predicted to

fluctuate across the two counties over the next 24 hours. Meanwhile

teams of council workers and volunteers now beginning to remove

tonnes of debris trapped under Worcester Bridge. Sarah Falkland was

there. It was quite the Sunday morning

spectacle, pulling in crowds of onlookers. It is amazing when you

see what he never has brought down. A huge pile of debris, there was all

sorts in here, 28 tonnes were removed in the first hour. It is

mainly wood, Ford's and get some I have seen your wheelie bin, a beer

barrel, a life boy, plastic bottles, all sorts of things.

The dredging machine operator can't see what he's picking

`` this is not just some floating island of rubbish, it is the

proverbial tip of the iceberg. All of this degree is about three metres

underwater. The dredging machine operator can see what he's picking

up. He relies on the guidance of the team and the piles of. The normal

way is to let the river go down and take it away by car in the water. As

the doors closed we have an opportunity to reach down from the

top. That excavator can reach 80 metres in depth. That is the perfect

kit for getting rid of this. You might also see the difficulty we

have, the lights on the bridge are difficult for us to work alone.

All the wood will be chipped and made into mulch. In all they're

expecting to take out around 500 tonnes. Sarah Falkland, BBC Midlands

Today in Worcester. A 20`year`old man from

Stratford`on`Avon has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a

teenager in Oxford. 17`year`old Connor Tremble was stabbed in

Fairacres Road in Oxford on Thursday night. He was taken to hospital but

died yesterday. A 21`year`old man from Birmingham has also been

arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

The Chief Executive of HS2 Limited says Stoke`on`Trent "hasn't been

ruled out" in a battle to get a station on the new high speed rail

line linking London, the Midlands and the North. The city has just

submitted its case to get a stop on the line, but it's facing stiff

competition from just 15 miles away, as BBC Radio Stoke's Political

Reporter Phil McCann reports. It used to be one of

Stoke`on`Trent's industrial powerhouses. Thousands of people

produced tonnes of steel at Shelton Bar in its heyday, but 14 years

after it closed, this is all that's left. The hope now is that HS2 will

fill the gap. The derelict land here would be home

to international arrivals, with high speed trains thundering to London in

less than an hour. Unlike councils in Coventry, Warwickshire and rural

Staffordshire, the city council here is actually fighting for high speed

rail. This will actually make Stoke`on`Trent a call city, the

amount of growth that will happen is unimaginable.

Local businesses say it'd give this city the boost it's been waiting for

for decades. It will create jobs, bring in investment, attract new

businesses to this great city. But 15 miles up the road, a

competitor in the shape of a true railway town. Crewe has already

appeared as a stop for some HS2 trains on the government's preferred

route. Stoke's plan would involve dragging the track away, launching

officials here into battle mod. The total connectivity argument that the

government talks about in the capacity argument is enhanced with

what you get from Crewe. Despite the initial preference for crew, the

chief executive told the Sunday politics that they will look at what

sort `` Stoke`on`Trent has to offer. We have completed a public

consultation. I am sure that Stoke have submitted their consultation.

Stoke`on`Trent have high hopes they'll win, but it'd mean a

significant change in the government's HS2 strategy. Phil

McCann BBC Midlands Today, Staffordshire. Time for the weather.

After the lovely sunny skies the day we will start to see some rain

moving and overnight, quite cold ahead of it, though, tend to drift

down to two degrees or three degrees. Mist and fog present as

well. It is going to be quite chilly and patchy to start, the odd heavy

burst likely as we head throughout the day came tomorrow, techie Lully

in the Senate. It will stay quite murky as well. A daytime temperature

of nine degrees. That's it. We are back tomorrow morning.

Goodbye. Good evening. In the midst of any

normal winter weather for the week ahead would be fairly unremarkable.

Some rain in places, some strong winds at times, but of course we are

in the midst of no normal winter. It is worth emphasising that with -

the weather this week will be less angry and volatile overall, a fair

bit calmer. Calmer but by no means dry. Outbreaks of rain will spread

across much of the UK through the night. There will be some snow mixed

in across the hills of central Scotland. Temperatures slowly

starting to