23/02/2014 Midlands Today


23/02/2014

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Good evening. A charity's encouraging more people

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to plant trees as a way of helping to reduce the risk of flooding. The

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Woodland Trust says trees can help the soil absorb more water, as well

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as filtering it. In Holland, however, they've embraced much more

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extreme measures to protect their towns. Here's our environment

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correspondent David Gregory Kumar, who's been investigating whether

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similar schemes would ever be adopted here.

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Traditionally, the Dutch have always relied on a vast network of dykes to

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protect themselves. But, following huge floods of 1995, the authorities

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decided on a whole new plan of defence. And, now, in some parts of

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Holland, they're deliberately lowering dykes to encourage

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flooding. It sounds illogical, but it's all part of a cunning plan.

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It's part of a ?1.8 billion project called Room For The River, taking

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place at 34 locations across the Netherlands. The premise is simple

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enough. By pushing the dykes back in certain specific areas, they're

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creating more of an overflow for the river. So, now, when the water

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reaches a critical level, it has a new flood plain to spill onto. But,

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to create this space, the Dutch had to evict over 200 home owners and

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farmers. To find out more, I've arranged to

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meet Professor Nigel Wright, an expert in flood management.

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What about radical solutions like in Holland? Could we do something like

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that here? That's just the sort of thing we

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should be looking at. There may be other measures, but we need to think

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differently. What are the choices we have to

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make? Widen the river? Displace farmers, shops businesses, people?

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In some cases, that may be what needs to be done. And there has to

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be a discussion. And, in the end, people will need to be compensated.

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That would be popular with farmers. None of this is popular with

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anybody. After our fourth major flood in 16

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years, is it time to take the Dutch approach, and talk about radical new

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ideas to protect the Midlands? You can see more on that story on

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Inside Out, with Mary Rhodes, at 7.30pm tomorrow, here on BBC One.

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The Environment Agency has now lifted all of its flood warnings for

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the region. This was the picture in Worcester today, as the clean`up

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continues. Compare that now to the situation a fortnight ago. Those

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pictures are on the right of your screen, before the debris was

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removed from the bridge. The Department Of Education has

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confirmed it's investigating concerns about the way Park View

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Academy School in Birmingham is being run. A report in The Sunday

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Times says a former member of staff has claimed that non`Muslim staff

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were being "sidelined", while female pupils are not allowed to be taught

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PE by male teachers. The government says it will take action if the

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school, which was rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted in 2012, is

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found to have broken equality rules. Crew members from HMS Ledbury were

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in Herefordshire today, for special reception and parade. It's only the

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third time that the Navy has exercised its rights to march, since

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it was granted the Freedom Of Ledbury in 2007. The mine`hunter,

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which bears the town's name, is based in Portsmouth, and is the

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second ship to be linked to the area.

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It is very important the town marks this day, this affiliation goes back

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50 years, and two warships. It is to say thank you to all the hard work

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that the Navy does. The chairman of Kidderminster

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Harriers Football Club has resigned, partly because of comments he's

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received via email and social media. In a personal statement, Mark

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Serrell, seen here in January, said he was stepping down because of

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"vile and abusive attacks", while his wife has also resigned as a club

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director. Staying with football, Aston Villa's

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relegation worries continue, after they were beaten 1`0 by Newcastle

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United in the Premier League. Loic Remy got the winner for the home

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side, 90 seconds into second`half injury time. Villa's best chances

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fell to Gabby Agbonlahor in the first half, but he failed to convert

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any of them. The result leaves Villa in 13th, just four points clear of

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the bottom three. The family of Joel Fearon from

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Coventry say they're extremely proud of him, and the rest of his four`man

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bobsleigh team, for finishing fifth at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

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Despite a very fast fourth heat, the team were pushed out of the medal

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places in the last few runs of the competition. But his family say Joel

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has come a long way through hard work and training to even be able to

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compete at the Games. Shropshire's Ben Simons in GB two finished in

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19th place. We want to say thank you to everyone

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who supported us, even before we believed in ourselves. Two years

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ago, we didn't dream we would be here.

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Good evening, a fairly gloomy day. We will see sunshine tomorrow but we

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will have to wait before we see that. Not a lot of change tonight.

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Dry but a lot of cloud and breezy. Not particularly close `` called

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tonight, down to six Celsius. Tomorrow, we will soon see the rain

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pushing its way in. Slowly moving east through the day. Eventually, it

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will dry up, the skies will brighten. The winds will ease down

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with temperatures around 10 Celsius. Staying quite breezy this

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week. Before we go, you might like to know

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that we'll be launching our World War One At Home series, from

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tomorrow, on Midlands Today, and every morning on your BBC local

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radio station, as part of the BBC's commemorations of the centenary of

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the First World War. I'll be back with more news just

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after a 10.15pm tonight. But, Hello. Still no sign of the weather

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really settling down next week. There should be an improvement for

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most of us tomorrow. It will not be as windy as it has been today, and

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the band of rain will slowly peter out. We still have some rain to come

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through the night. This band of rain is quite slow moving, it will wander

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northwards into Dumfries and Galloway. Close to Northern Ireland,

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heavy rain in Cumbria and later in the night it will turn whether in

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Wales and the south-west. Southerly wind, quite strong at the moment,

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that will ease as the night goes on but it should be pretty mild, six or

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seven degrees, typically. Tomorrow, we start with heavy rain, especially

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over the hills, as it slips slowly eastwards so the rain tends to

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become light and patchy. Buying it, we get some sunshine and maybe a few

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