31/07/2014 Midlands Today

creating one of the biggest medical complexes in the country.

In this environment is important to make every penny counts.

We'll find out what this hospital in Birmingham could mean

for the healthcare of families throughout the region.

Destroyed by arsonists ` an historic home of the Cadbury

A warning to pilgrims heading for Mecca ` after a rise in prosecutions

This is a once`in`a`lifetime opportunity and they have been

duped, those are the most heartbreaking cases.

What does ?600 million worth of building look like?

We go behind the scenes at New Street Station, ready for

And as we say goodbye to a hot and sunny July,

I'll have all the details in the forecast later.

The Midlands could get a new children's hospital to rival

It would run alongside the huge Queen Elizabeth Hospital

in Birmingham, creating one of the biggest medial

The cost would be more than ?400 million, but parents at the existing

children's hospital, built more than 150 years ago, said today that it

Here's our health correspondent Michele Paduano.

Archie is six months old and has never left hospital.

The Children's Hospital is a world centre of excellence

for heart conditions like his and he needed an operation.

But when he was born at the Women's Hospital,

Alfie was moved and Emma didn't see him before

I couldn't stop crying because I didn't get to see him. It was really

scary, the thought that anything could happen.

Moving sick, young children is far from ideal.

Now the radical decision by both trusts is to merge by 2017 and

create a brand new joint hospital by 2022 at a cost of ?430m.

Both of the boards are committed to doing everything to make this

happen. In order to make this hospital happen we need to come

together as boards and create one single organisation. Clearly, that

has to happen by the time the hospital opens in 2022.

This building is not right for modern medicine, but the site is in

the heart of the city, so by selling it they can raise some of the cash

needed for the new hospital. Elsie May Goody was born at 24

weeks on the edge of survival. Now 33 weeks old,

she weighs just 3lbs 5oz. Twice she has had to be sent to

the children's hospital It would be better because then LC

would not have to go to and from first surgery, she would be in the

same place, so it is easier for her.

The new women's hospital will be built here.

It's not known if this site belonging to the university could

But a merger offers many cost savings and tough financial

Especially for small babies and girls that are reaching adolescence,

we are sharing patient anyway, so there is a lot we already have in

common and we can build on that. The relations between the different

clinical communities are already strong.

But the biggest winners will be the babies and children, Michele

This is early stages, will this new hospital become reality?

Has been talk for 20 years. In 2011 there were moves, but then the

chairman and chief executives resigned, partly over this issue. So

it has been moving forward very slowly. Because of the financial

situation, both hospitals now they cannot get themselves a new hospital

without doing this. All the savings that can be made from joining

together their backroom functions mean that as one director said to

me, this is a no`brainer. It really should happen.

What difference would it make to the healthier families across the West

Midlands? It would be better for the children

and appearance, and it would be better for the doctors who to travel

between the various sites. At one of the big things that is going on here

is that they are concentrating all this in one site, with the

university, and are hoping to create a research centre and the centre of

excellence to rival anywhere in the world.

You're with Midlands Today, good to have you with us.

The harvest is ahead of schedule, but farmers see that rules from the

EU could reduce the amount of food they can produce in the future. Join

me to find out why. An historic home of the Cadbury

family in Birmingham has been A member

of the chocolate`making family said today he was shocked and saddened,

and it was a loss to the community. Up to 100 firefighters tackled

the blaze Our reporter Ben Sidwell

joins us now from the scene. Ben, what kind of state has

the house been left in? As you can probably see, it is in

appalling state. The building, which has stood for 200 years, is most

completely destroyed, in just a few hours. That's how severe this fire

was. People around here in the whole community are now asking, can this

piece of the city's history we saved?

Going up in flames, part of Birmingham's heritage.

Northfield Manor was once the grand home of the Cadbury family.

This morning is was little more than a smouldering shell.

Real sadness, this is part of the area's Heritage. The important thing

is to retain the building if at all possible.

From above, the damage is even clearer.

The fire destroying almost all of the house.

It was the second time in 24 hours that West Midlands Fire Service had

We know that children have been using the site and were chased off,

and we know that Cruise in previous evenings have seen children here.

Putting that jigsaw together, we are going along the lines of arson, but

the investigation is ongoing. For members of the Cadbury family,

who used to live at Northfield Manor, shock at the fire and concern

for the local community. The sad thing of someone committing

permeates into the lives of so many permeates into the lives of so many

other people who have very strong and very happy memories, one hopes,

and it is a direct attack on their memory. They are the people I feel

sorry for, more than our own family.

Since 1953 it's been owned by the University of Birmingham

and used as halls of residence, but in 2007 it was boarded up.

We did boarded`up. We have had long`term plans to develop it, so

pathetically, and have plans to make it into flats.

The question now is, simply, has Northfield Manor been too badly

So Ben, what happens now ` what's the building's future?

The future of the building is very unclear. As you can see, the roof

has gone, many of the chimney stacks could be dangerous, many of the

roofs and the floors have fallen through. They have to see how safe

structurally this building is. That'll be the decision as to

whether this is kept or not. There were plans going into Brogan City

Council into a committee next month `` Birmingham City Council next

month, to turn this building into flats. At the moment they do not

know what is happening because of the state of the building. The

building will first be made more safe, and then people can go inside

and assess the damage. The Fire Brigade have said there are lots of

loose timbers and loose slates, and some of the chimney stacks are

incredibly dangerous. Anyone thinking of coming to have a look

around, the advice is to keep away because this is a dangerous building

with an uncertain future. The Home Secretary Teresa May was

in Birmingham this morning to support the Conservative candidate

in the upcoming election for the West Midlands Police

and Crime Commissioner. Councillor Les Jones says

if he wins, he'll free the police to fight crime

and insist on tougher sentences. There is a perception among the

public that police arrest criminals and give them a slap on the wrist

and let them go. I want to make sure we're doing right by the people,

where criminals should be prosecuted, we take every step

possible to make sure they are prosecuted.

The death of a woman in custody is to be investigated.

30`year`old Sharmila Ullah was found dead in a cell at Bloxwich

She'd been in hospital overnight, but had been assessed

as being fit enough to be returned to custody the morning she died.

The privately run Oakwood prison near Wolverhampton is one

of two West Midlands jails whose performance has been described

The annual rating is the worst that can be given

Brinsford Young Offenders Institution

in Wolverhampton has also been ranked in the lowest category.

Figures given to the BBC reveal a rise in prosecutions

for mis`selling packages to pilgrims heading to Mecca.

Trading Standards Officers are warning travellers to be careful

The warning comes as many Muslims start organising their journey to

Saudi Arabia to take part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

It was supposed the trip of a lifetime, and they'd saved

for three years to afford it, but when Makhdoom Chishti and his wife

Tahseen booked a pilgrimage to Mecca it was nothing like he'd imagined.

It was chaos. We were not put in the same room, we were not looked after

properly. I had to share my bed with a man, it was a double bed, and that

was ridiculous. I had to sleep on the floor.

Makhdoom had to fork out an extra ?300 to get a room with

his wife and when he complained to the travel agent he was told because

he was on a spiritual pilgrimage it was wrong of him to get upset.

Millions of Muslims from across the world make the trip to Mecca every

year, and many of them are now being targeted by rogue travel agents:

There was just one prosecution back in 2012 which was the first

By the end of the reporting period in 2014

there'd been five convictions, with eight more awaiting court dates

And at the moment trading standards are already dealing with

a further 14 cases brought to them in the last few months.

We think this is underreported. As soon as we proactively went out and

looked for problems, we found problems.

This midlands MP is calling for more to done to try

We need to create greater awareness about the rules that apply to

booking these packages. There are protections in law which are strong

enough, it is just that people are not aware of them. Not everyone has

a bad experience. I have just come back, and I had a

good experience. If you go with people who are not

registered, this is where the problem comes.

Makhdoom and Tahseen are hope that by speaking out more people will.

Makhdoom and Tahseen want to go back to Mecca one day if they can afford,

but say they'll be much more careful booking the trip next time round.

A world first ` a joint women's and children's hosptial,

creating one of the biggest medical complexes in the country.

Your weather forecast to come, also, more medals from the Commonwealth

Games. And the Spitfire pilot turned photojournalist after stealing a

camera from the German force, capturing everything from the

battlefields to the Beatles. Birmingham's revamped

New Street Station will be completed by September next year `

according to Network Rail. The huge project includes

a shopping centre and is costing Our transport correspondent,

Peter Plisner has been checking No modern building, it seems,

is complete without one, but the framework that makes up New

Street Station atrium is certainly It's a bit like Meccano but

on a much larger scale. Soon they will be demolishing this

floor below me to bring daylight onto the Concourse station.

And for contractors like Peter Creswell, the task

of putting on the roof comes with the benefit of stunning views.

This is great, this is why we do the job! We get to see things that

people don't get to see, we get to see the beautiful buildings from a

different angle. Birmingham, London, I've done most of them, really.

When it's all finished in September next year the atrium will become

a focal point of the new station and the Grand

There will be a wow factor. The space you can see here is the size

of Wembley football pitch. It will be exciting for Birmingham, and when

we open up the retail, it will be an exciting venture for the people of

Birmingham. And this time`lapse film

shows something others are This is the construction

of the new quarter of It'll promises be the company's

largest store outside London and it In addition to John Lewis, other big

names have signed up to Grand Central including The White

Company, Joules, Cath Kidson, But does Birmingham need another big

shopping centre? We have some fantastic shops, but

this will be the final piece in the jigsaw. There are lots of people who

live in the West Midlands who do not shop in Birmingham because they

further afield. This gives us an opportunity to make the city the

place everyone comes to the go shopping.

And with just over a year to go there's still a lot of work still to

do if the station and Grand Central are to arrive on time.

In farms across the region, the harvest is now underway

But some farmers say because so many chemical sprays have now been banned

or restricted by the EU, it's making their job much harder, resulting

Our rural affairs correspondent David Gregory`Kumar is on a farm

David, how is the harvest going so far?

Despite the odd shower it is going well. This was a field of wheat just

an hour ago, but now it is safely gathered in. Across the Midlands,

everything is pretty much ahead of schedule. But they are also saying

that there are problems with EU rules banning many of the chemicals

they rely on to grow these crops. From barley for beer in

Overbury Gloucestershire through to wheat for supermarket loaves

in Tamworth in Staffordshire. The hope was this year might be

a bumper year. One of the biggest factors affecting

yield is sunshine. If you look back to 2012 we can see all the grey

areas of below average sunshine. As we move forward we can see that the

month of June becomes more sunny and the hope was that would mean better

yields. But it seems the extra sunshine

hasn't been enough to increase Are mild and wet winter could have

damaged the roots. The crop will be more well rounded than last year,

but perhaps not as high as some people initially thought.

And tackling disease is something farmers say is now harder, because

the EU is banning or restricting the use of a number of pesticides,

Will have fewer products, so resistance in the crop will build

up, and that is not good. Harvest 2014 won't be the bumper

crop farmers hoped for a month ago. But with fewer sprays available it

might be the best we can do So why is the EU banning

so many agricultural chemicals? Has been a shift in how they think

about these chemicals. The knock`on effect is they are more risk averse

and they are restricting the use of some of them are banning them a

great. It is not just wheat, it is chemicals used on things like

apples. It is having a big impact on our reformers, and the fear that

some pests will become resistant to the fewer number of chemicals that

are still in use. We wanted to doctor the EU and called them

yesterday and today and you know them several times, but they have

and unable to put someone forward to discuss the issue.

After weeks of sun, there's a change in the weather ` how's that

It is a bit of a gamble. You could do what this farmer did and just

gather everything in. The yields might be lower, but it is money in

the bank as you have those grains and cereals inside the barn. Some

others are leaving things longer in the fields and taking a gamble on

the weather and that could mean higher yields. That something

farmers have to consider. Sport, the Midlands has won two

bronze medals at the And cricketer Moeen Ali has

also been making headlines. A remarkable bowling

performance today. Worcestershire's Moeen Ali took six

wickets as England beat India Ali, who is mainly in the side

as a batsman, wrapped up victory He finished with figures of 6

for 47 as England won The five match series is now level

at 1`all with two matches to play. The Midlands have won two more

bronze medals at the Para lawn Bowls Birmingham's Bob Love showed great

skill bowling with his feet and Paul Brown of Ross`On`Wye Bowling

Club helped England to beat Scotland in the bronze medal match with

his last bowl of the match. The England netball team will take

on the defending champions New Zealand

in the semi`final this weekend. And it will be a very special

occasion for one Birmingham family with a strong sporting tradition, as

Nick Clitheroe has been finding out. He's just like every other proud

father ` delighted to watch his daughter playing her heart out

in search of Commonwealth gold. Stacey Francis is a key part

of the English netball team's defence, but dad Kevin was more used

to scoring than stopping. For three years in the 1990s he was

a crowd favourite at Birmingham City Now he's learning what it's

like to be on the sidelines rather It was awesome. It one of those

things that until it happens you don't realise how much it means to

you. As a sportsman myself, being there is second to none. Seen her

was second to none. Hopefully I have improved since

2009. It is really emotional. I had to make sure I was focusing on the

game and not trying to find my dad in the audience. Just focusing on

getting the job done so we could talk about it afterwards.

But the story is even more remarkable than that.

Kevin emigrated to Canada in 2005 to become a policeman.

Stacey, then 17, stayed behind to pursue her sporting dream.

I was prepared to drag her ticking and screaming, she put up a good

argument and stayed here. And she was true to her word, she focused on

education and sport, and it has paid dividends because she is here

today. The only problem is, Kevin will have

returned to Canada before the final. So if Stacey does win gold he'll

have to get up in the middle But there's been disappointment

for the Wolverhampton Gymnast Yes, he won a team gold on Tuesday

and qualified for the final of the men?s floor but this afternoon

his misjudged this tumble. That cost him penalty points and he

finished 8th and last in the final. So with three days left, where might

other Midlands medals come from? Well, Kristian Thomas competes again

tomorrow in the finals And Jamie`Lea Winch

of Rugby is guaranteed at least a silver tomorrow in the final of

the women?s pairs in the bowling. Spitfire pilot, daredevil,

photo`journalist ` Terence Spencer When war ended he stole a camera

from the German air force and began photographing everything

from battlefields to The Beatles. His work captures the spirit

of the swinging ?60s ` and his daughter's put some of it

on show at a new gallery, as Giles Ace fighter pilot,

globetrotting photographer. He loved the natural ones, catching

people off guard. At her home near Shrewsbury

his daughter cherishes his photos and her memories of a father for

whom life was one big adventure. Somebody said he was Biggles and

James Bond rolled into one. He said the RAF set him up because he

learned to head for danger when everyone else was running away from

it. At Shrewsbury's old music

hall, newly re`invented as museum and art gallery there are

pictures of the conflicts he covered from Vietnam to the Congo `

as well as scenes for the streets Isn't it wonderful to think that

back then they were tough guys and now they are sweet East End

grandfathers. The Fab four also loom large. It was

his daughter who told her dad she should be photographing them.

He followed them all around Britain, they were not famous then, so he got

some great photographs of them in their dressing rooms and fooling

around. He said that since it was my idea I should come along and meet

them. It was fabulous. Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke, it just

brings all that back to me. Name a celebrity from the 1960s and

he probably photographed them. So many iconic images. We are

celebrating his life and his work. He was a character. He worked hard

and he played hard. That's what people in that generation dead.

# Talking about my generation #. The photographs of terror and

Spencer are on show until the middle of August. There was welcome rain

for the gardens around. We can find out if there is more to come.

You can bridge what can on stand`by for the next few days at least. Not

everyone will see the rain, we will have some sunny spells, and by the

end of the weekend things are starting to turn a little windy.

This afternoon we had some showers working across the region and

reports of thunder and lightning in Warwickshire and Worcestershire this

afternoon. Cloud has been spilling in from the West for much of the

day. The last of the showers are clearing away and it will be a

pleasant evening. Overnight we have clear spells, saw temperatures will

drop a little particularly in rural spots. It is still not feeling cold

overnight and it will be a little humid. Tomorrow is a flip`flop from

today. We have low`pressure starting to take charge and that drives and

unsettled period of whether and when switch we will see by the end of the

weekend. The south`east got most of the showers, but tomorrow it will

stay dry for much of the day before the showers started piling through

the afternoon. Across the North and West we start with showers in the

morning and they will band together and become persistent rain.

Temperatures struggling under the cloud and rain. 17 up to 20

Celsius. On Saturday we continue to see rain, it will be with us through

Friday night and into Saturday. Saturday is a grey, wet and

miserable day. The rain continues throughout the day. It will march

northwards. The good news is that by the time we get through to Sunday

things are looking better. It will be brighter, it will feel warmer.

But still unsettled next week. Israel says it won't stop

its attacks on Gaza until all the tunnels built by Palestinian

militants are destroyed. I'll be back

at ten o'clock with the latest on the lasting impact of the so called

"Trojan horse" plot to Islamify some