:00:11. > :00:16.Good evening. A charity's encouraging more people
:00:17. > :00:21.to plant trees as a way of helping to reduce the risk of flooding. The
:00:22. > :00:24.Woodland Trust says trees can help the soil absorb more water, as well
:00:25. > :00:27.as filtering it. In Holland, however, they've embraced much more
:00:28. > :00:31.extreme measures to protect their towns. Here's our environment
:00:32. > :00:34.correspondent David Gregory Kumar, who's been investigating whether
:00:35. > :00:39.similar schemes would ever be adopted here.
:00:40. > :00:42.Traditionally, the Dutch have always relied on a vast network of dykes to
:00:43. > :00:46.protect themselves. But, following huge floods of 1995, the authorities
:00:47. > :00:51.decided on a whole new plan of defence. And, now, in some parts of
:00:52. > :00:53.Holland, they're deliberately lowering dykes to encourage
:00:54. > :00:59.flooding. It sounds illogical, but it's all part of a cunning plan.
:01:00. > :01:02.It's part of a ?1.8 billion project called Room For The River, taking
:01:03. > :01:08.place at 34 locations across the Netherlands. The premise is simple
:01:09. > :01:11.enough. By pushing the dykes back in certain specific areas, they're
:01:12. > :01:15.creating more of an overflow for the river. So, now, when the water
:01:16. > :01:18.reaches a critical level, it has a new flood plain to spill onto. But,
:01:19. > :01:25.to create this space, the Dutch had to evict over 200 home owners and
:01:26. > :01:28.farmers. To find out more, I've arranged to
:01:29. > :01:36.meet Professor Nigel Wright, an expert in flood management.
:01:37. > :01:38.What about radical solutions like in Holland? Could we do something like
:01:39. > :01:42.that here? That's just the sort of thing we
:01:43. > :01:44.should be looking at. There may be other measures, but we need to think
:01:45. > :01:48.differently. What are the choices we have to
:01:49. > :01:53.make? Widen the river? Displace farmers, shops businesses, people?
:01:54. > :01:57.In some cases, that may be what needs to be done. And there has to
:01:58. > :02:03.be a discussion. And, in the end, people will need to be compensated.
:02:04. > :02:05.That would be popular with farmers. None of this is popular with
:02:06. > :02:10.anybody. After our fourth major flood in 16
:02:11. > :02:14.years, is it time to take the Dutch approach, and talk about radical new
:02:15. > :02:18.ideas to protect the Midlands? You can see more on that story on
:02:19. > :02:22.Inside Out, with Mary Rhodes, at 7.30pm tomorrow, here on BBC One.
:02:23. > :02:27.The Environment Agency has now lifted all of its flood warnings for
:02:28. > :02:31.the region. This was the picture in Worcester today, as the clean`up
:02:32. > :02:34.continues. Compare that now to the situation a fortnight ago. Those
:02:35. > :02:35.pictures are on the right of your screen, before the debris was
:02:36. > :02:40.removed from the bridge. The Department Of Education has
:02:41. > :02:43.confirmed it's investigating concerns about the way Park View
:02:44. > :02:47.Academy School in Birmingham is being run. A report in The Sunday
:02:48. > :02:49.Times says a former member of staff has claimed that non`Muslim staff
:02:50. > :02:53.were being "sidelined", while female pupils are not allowed to be taught
:02:54. > :02:56.PE by male teachers. The government says it will take action if the
:02:57. > :02:58.school, which was rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted in 2012, is
:02:59. > :03:05.found to have broken equality rules. Crew members from HMS Ledbury were
:03:06. > :03:09.in Herefordshire today, for special reception and parade. It's only the
:03:10. > :03:12.third time that the Navy has exercised its rights to march, since
:03:13. > :03:15.it was granted the Freedom Of Ledbury in 2007. The mine`hunter,
:03:16. > :03:18.which bears the town's name, is based in Portsmouth, and is the
:03:19. > :03:31.second ship to be linked to the area.
:03:32. > :03:36.It is very important the town marks this day, this affiliation goes back
:03:37. > :03:39.50 years, and two warships. It is to say thank you to all the hard work
:03:40. > :03:42.that the Navy does. The chairman of Kidderminster
:03:43. > :03:45.Harriers Football Club has resigned, partly because of comments he's
:03:46. > :03:48.received via email and social media. In a personal statement, Mark
:03:49. > :03:51.Serrell, seen here in January, said he was stepping down because of
:03:52. > :03:54."vile and abusive attacks", while his wife has also resigned as a club
:03:55. > :03:57.director. Staying with football, Aston Villa's
:03:58. > :04:00.relegation worries continue, after they were beaten 1`0 by Newcastle
:04:01. > :04:03.United in the Premier League. Loic Remy got the winner for the home
:04:04. > :04:06.side, 90 seconds into second`half injury time. Villa's best chances
:04:07. > :04:10.fell to Gabby Agbonlahor in the first half, but he failed to convert
:04:11. > :04:12.any of them. The result leaves Villa in 13th, just four points clear of
:04:13. > :04:22.the bottom three. The family of Joel Fearon from
:04:23. > :04:25.Coventry say they're extremely proud of him, and the rest of his four`man
:04:26. > :04:29.bobsleigh team, for finishing fifth at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
:04:30. > :04:33.Despite a very fast fourth heat, the team were pushed out of the medal
:04:34. > :04:36.places in the last few runs of the competition. But his family say Joel
:04:37. > :04:40.has come a long way through hard work and training to even be able to
:04:41. > :04:51.compete at the Games. Shropshire's Ben Simons in GB two finished in
:04:52. > :04:57.19th place. We want to say thank you to everyone
:04:58. > :05:00.who supported us, even before we believed in ourselves. Two years
:05:01. > :05:05.ago, we didn't dream we would be here.
:05:06. > :05:13.Good evening, a fairly gloomy day. We will see sunshine tomorrow but we
:05:14. > :05:18.will have to wait before we see that. Not a lot of change tonight.
:05:19. > :05:25.Dry but a lot of cloud and breezy. Not particularly close `` called
:05:26. > :05:30.tonight, down to six Celsius. Tomorrow, we will soon see the rain
:05:31. > :05:36.pushing its way in. Slowly moving east through the day. Eventually, it
:05:37. > :05:40.will dry up, the skies will brighten. The winds will ease down
:05:41. > :05:41.with temperatures around 10 Celsius. Staying quite breezy this
:05:42. > :05:49.week. Before we go, you might like to know
:05:50. > :05:52.that we'll be launching our World War One At Home series, from
:05:53. > :05:56.tomorrow, on Midlands Today, and every morning on your BBC local
:05:57. > :05:57.radio station, as part of the BBC's commemorations of the centenary of
:05:58. > :05:59.the First World War. I'll be back with more news just
:06:00. > :06:11.after a 10.15pm tonight. But, Hello. Still no sign of the weather
:06:12. > :06:15.really settling down next week. There should be an improvement for
:06:16. > :06:18.most of us tomorrow. It will not be as windy as it has been today, and
:06:19. > :06:23.the band of rain will slowly peter out. We still have some rain to come
:06:24. > :06:27.through the night. This band of rain is quite slow moving, it will wander
:06:28. > :06:30.northwards into Dumfries and Galloway. Close to Northern Ireland,
:06:31. > :06:33.heavy rain in Cumbria and later in the night it will turn whether in
:06:34. > :06:36.Wales and the south-west. Southerly wind, quite strong at the moment,
:06:37. > :06:40.that will ease as the night goes on but it should be pretty mild, six or
:06:41. > :06:44.seven degrees, typically. Tomorrow, we start with heavy rain, especially
:06:45. > :06:50.over the hills, as it slips slowly eastwards so the rain tends to
:06:51. > :06:51.become light and patchy. Buying it, we get some sunshine and maybe a few