08/11/2017 Midlands Today

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today.

The headlines tonight:

Tackling the growing problem

of fly-tipping in Stoke -

more than 8,000 cases this year.

Prosecute them, fine them, whatever

it is. Teach them a lesson.

We'll be finding out how the city's

trying to keep on top of the issue.

Also tonight:

The summer's long running bin strike

cost Birmingham taxpayers

more than £6 million.

Selling your house online

is becoming so popular that this

Solihull-based company is creating

hundreds of new jobs.

We are taking more space, creating

more jobs, and we want to give our

customers the best service.

I'm on

customers the best service.

I'm on the programme about

customers the best service.

I'm on the programme about later,

talking about this place, it's the

RSC. I'm a proper act for! -- actor!

And it may only be midweek,

but it's always good to plan ahead.

Settled today, but will it be

settled tomorrow and more

importantly over the weekend?

A tricky one, but you

may just be in luck.

Good evening.

It's a growing problem

across the region and costs millions

of pounds to clear up.

Local authorities are facing

a constant battle against those

who illegally dump rubbish.

Last year there were more

than 67,000 cases of fly-tipping

across the West Midlands -

costing the taxpayer

a staggering £4.2 million.

In Stoke-on-Trent, the number

of cases has steadily risen over

the past three years.

The city council insists

that it IS tackling the issue,

and is taking action against people

who dump waste.

But last year they had just

26 successful prosecutions.

Here's our Staffordshire

reporter, Liz Copper.

Unsightly, unpleasant and now

under investigation.

This rubbish was reported overnight.

Tim and Ashton from Stoke-on-Trent's

cleaning team are on their way.

The team's led by Dominic,

and what they find isn't unusual.

This appears to be a builder's-type

place so you've got your wood,

your plastic, your spilt paint,

and generally waste

in the wrong place.

And this is the type of thing that

blights the community.

The council's zero tolerance

policy has the support

of many families here.

Prosecute them, fine them.

Whatever it is that you want to do.

Teach them a lesson.

It's the only way they'll learn.

If you don't catch them,

they keep on doing it.

If you catch them, prosecute them,

they won't do it again.

Because it's going to hit

them in the pocket.

There are five teams

working five days a week,

clearing up after fly-tippers.

Next stop is a call

to waste that's been dumped

near an industrial estate.

Across the city, there were

26 prosecutions last year,

but that is not the whole story.

We now look at a proactive

and reactive service,

so we're not waiting

for the residents to come forward

and complain about fly-tipping -

we're actually going out and dealing

with environmental issues that

officers see for themselves.

To help bring more cases to court,

the team's joined by Zoe,

who collects evidence.

It's really getting stuck in,

and if there's bin bags,

if there's cardboard,

furniture and so on,

you're lifting up the

cushions on sofas...

You're digging through the bags

to see what may be in there that

could link to a potential address.

And after those

investigations, a call.

And questions.

There's some rubbish

in that alleyway.

Do you know anything about that?

Enquiries will continue

at this address.

Clearing up this mess costs

councils money they'd rather

spend on other services.

It's a constant battle.

But the team fighting

the fly-tippers -

and transforming this,

into this - are making

a real difference.

Joining me now is

Councillor Anthony Munday.

He's responsible for tackling

fly-tipping in the city.

Is this a battle you just can't win?

You could possibly say that. It's

certainly going to be a constant

battle that we've put a lot of

resources in, we are determined to

keep the streets and back alleys of

Stoke on Trent as possible. We are

proactive in this, a zero tolerance

attitude to this. I hate to say

so many prosecutions, but we've

issued hundreds of £4 on-the-spot

fines, out of the 8000 incidents you

talk about, 6000 were found by our

people and not reported.

So you've introduced

these fly-tipping hit

squads - is that enough?

They certainly are making a big

difference, as alluded to in the

peace there. Councils resources will

only stretched too far. I think we

are taking this prop -- this problem

incredibly seriously. These five

squads have been on the street since

2005, and they are doing a superb

job. We had the City of Culture

judges in the city two weeks ago,

they actually said without even any

prompting how clean the city

looked...

Are you concerned this problem

will affect your bid to win City

of Culture for 2021?

This is a nationwide problem, it is

not just Stoke-on-Trent. Obviously

what we have to try and work hard to

do is change the perception of

Stoke-on-Trent, people's perception

of Stoke-on-Trent is completely

wrong. We are a clean, and very

green city, the third green dust bag

re-nest in the UK in terms of open

spaces. -- the greenest in the UK.

OK, let's hope that's the case.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

A jury's heard how a taxi driver

killed his two young children

in a fire at his home in Birmingham.

47-year-old Endris Mohammed

is accused of murdering his son

and daughter who were asleep

at the home in the Hamstead area

of the city in October last year.

He's also accused of attempting

to murder his wife.

He denies murder, but admits being

responsible for the deaths.

Giles Latcham reports.

Saros, aged eight, and six year-old

Leanor, killed by their father

in October last year as they slept

at the family home in

Hamstead, north Birmingham.

It was the half term school holiday,

they'd been allowed as a treat

to sleep downstairs in the lounge.

There, the jury was told,

Endris Mohammed smothered them

with a petrol-soaked rag,

and as their mother slept upstairs

he started a fire in the hall.

Later, fire engulfed his car and he

suffered severe burns.

The judge Andrew Gilbart

told the jury that:

The judge Andrew Gilbart

told the jury that:

The prosecution rejected the

assertion that he was suffering from

a "Depressive disorder

assertion that he was suffering from

a "Depressive disorder "At the time

of the killings, which impaired his

ability to make rational judgments."

He said that in interviews, Mr

Mohammed said he intended to kill

himself, but he had decided the

children would be better off dead

than living without him. The

prosecution said that was to ignore

the fact that these were happy,

healthy children with a loving,

supportive women -- mother. An

asylum seeker from Ethiopia, Mr Ham

-- Muhammad later told investigators

he was struggling to find work, vets

were mounting, and he felt a

failure. The case continues. --

debts were mounting.

He will appear at Westminster

magistrates next month.

A senior West Midlands Police

officer has been suspended

on suspicion of an offence under

the Official Secrets Act.

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus

Beale faces allegations relating

to a failure to safeguard sensitive

documents, which were stolen

from an unmarked police car in May.

He'll appear at Westminster

Magistrates' Court next month.

A teenager from Wolverhampton has

been convicted of trying to import

explosives from the dark web

with intent to endanger life.

19-year-old Gurtej Singh Randhawa

tried to buy a remote-detonated

explosive device online.

But he was arrested in May,

after the National Crime Agency

replaced the package with a dummy

device before it was delivered.

The MP for the Wyre Forest,

Mark Garnier, has apologised

to his constituents for asking

a former member of

staff to buy sex toys.

Last week it was reported how

the Conservative MP sent his then PA

to a sex shop in Soho,

shortly after he was

elected in 2010.

In a statement, Mr Garnier

says the incident was

reported out of context.

He stressed that at the time,

he and his secretary

were friends, and he didn't

force or pressurise her.

It's been revealed the Birmingham

bin strike over the summer has

cost the taxpayer

more than £6 million.

Bin workers first walked out on 30th

June, in a row over job losses

and changes to working patterns.

82 days later the strike

was suspended, after the High Court

granted an interim injunction

against the City Council's attempt

to make workers redundant.

A trial is expected take place

later this month, to determine

if the authority was unlawful

in issuing redundancy notices.

Well, earlier I spoke

to the new leader of

Birmingham City Council,

Ian Ward, who was officially

voted in last night.

I started by asking him how

negotiations were going

with bin worker unions.

We're talking to the trade

unions now within Acas,

I'm quite clear that we've got

to resolve this dispute.

No-one wants to see black bags

piling up on the street again

like they were in the summer,

so we've got to reach an agreement

with the unions that they can

sell to their members,

in order to resolve the dispute

and then move on from there.

What has this saga cost

the city financially?

It's cost the city over £6 million,

and I accept that that's not value

for money for the taxpayer,

that's another reason why we cannot

have a repeat of the industrial

action over the summer,

we've got to be talking

to the unions, and reach

a resolution to the dispute.

But can you afford for this

dispute to go to trial

at the end of the month?

Well, that's the other thing

that's creeping up on us,

the 27th of November

and the possibility

of going back in court.

That's in no-one's interest,

it'll cost the council money,

it'll cost the unions money.

So we want to reach an agreement

with the unions before we get

to the 27th of November.

I mean, the residents of Birmingham

were understandably very frustrated

and fed up during the summer,

and they want to see an end to this.

When will they get that?

Well, there's not a strike

at the moment, collections

are being carried out normally,

so we're not in a situation

where we've got bags piling up

all over the city uncollected.

So what we need to ensure

now is that we continue

talking to the unions,

that those talks are meaningful,

and we're going to be putting

a proposition to the unions back

in Acas shortly.

And I very much hope

that that will allow us

to resolve the dispute.

Now, you were voted in last night,

but you also have responsibility

for finances which is normally

looked after by the Deputy.

And you're also leading

the Commonwealth bid for 2022.

So are you taking on too much?

I certainly think these

are challenging times.

The finance brief I had

when I was Deputy Leader,

I've taken the view that

particularly with where we are now

with finances and how critical

they are to the future

of the council, that that particular

bid or portfolio has to be owned

by the leader, which

is why I've done that.

The Commonwealth Games - sport's

always been a passion of mine.

Yes, there's a lot of work to be

done to get the bid over the line,

and we're very much hoping that

we'll satisfy the CGF on the 30th

of November and then

there'll be an announcement,

a positive one, shortly after that,

for the city of Birmingham.

But really that bit of work

on the Games is more

pleasure than work for me,

because I'm such an enthusiast

for sport and what it can do

for the people of the city.

What's your main priority, though -

the bins, or the Games?

The main priority is settling

the dispute, no question about that.

Because we cannot afford

to have rubbish uncollected

in the streets of Birmingham

like it was in the summer.

Thank you very much for joining us.

Hundreds of jobs are to be

created at online estate

agent Purple Bricks.

The Solihull-based company

is expanding rapidly,

both here and abroad.

The growth of online agents has also

meant big changes in the way

traditional estate agents operate.

Our business correspondent,

Peter Plisner, explores

the attraction of selling

your house online.

In the past, to buy a house,

you chose a street,

looked for For Sale

boards and then went to a high

street agent - job done.

But since the advent of property

websites like Rightmove, buying

a selling a house has

gone online too.

Karen and Robert Guttridge

recently sold their house

in Shirley with Purple Bricks.

I think it was a bit of a leap of

faith, because online, you don't

know how it is going to work out.

The misery you feel when you spend

thousands on Commission...

TV adverts like this

have helped increase

turnover at Purple Bricks -

so much so that it's now out

grown its call centres in Solihull.

Here they take more thn

3,000 calls everyday.

Co-founder Kenny Bruce

showed me round

the companies new offices.

We are taking more space, creating

more jobs.

There are various pro

and cons of online

vs high street agents.

If you go online you'll pay

a fixed fee regardless

of whether your house is sold.

On the high street it's

still "no sale, no fee".

Once the house is sold there's no

commission to pay if you've

used an online agent,

but on average you'll pay

around 1% of the sale

price on the high street.

around 1% of the sale

price on the high street.

And with most online agents, you'll

pay extra for them to show potential

buyers around your house,

but viewings are free

with traditional agents.

The number of transactions going

through online agents currently

accounts for around 7% of all UK

sales, but it is a share that is

expected to grow rapidly, putting

all the more pressure on traditional

high street agents.

One recent predictions suggested

that 1 in 5 traditional agents

are at risk fo going out of business

- some like this Solihull

agent are now offering the same

deal as Purple Bricks.

We could have sat back and said it's

all going to go away, people won't

stand for this, but in this day and

age when people are walking around

down the high street with a screen

in front of their face, they want

easy, cheap and value for money.

Whatever happens in the coming

years, it's clear that in the long

run the arrival of the online agents

has made selling house

easier and cheaper.

Peter Plisner, BBC

Midlands Today in Solihull.

Thanks for joining us

here on BBC Midlands Today.

A reminder of our top story.

Tackling the growing

problem of fly-tipping -

there were more than 67,000 cases

in this region last year.

The weather is later. Also tonight.

The power of Pudsey -

the big yellow bear has

been spreading cheer

through the children's

wards in Stoke.

And a star-studded cast prepare

to make their debut on one

of the world's most famous stages.

Two soldiers from the Midlands

are among a group of six women

preparing to undertake a race

against the clock to

get to the South Pole.

They're known as the Ice Maidens,

and are hoping to write their names

in the history books as the first

large group of women

to achieve this feat.

They've been preparing for the trek

for two years - and get this,

they're bracing themselves

for temperatures as low as minus 50.

Lee Maden reports.

The Ice Maidens have hit the ice in

Antarctica. And when the weather

clears, their mission will begin.

Everybody wants to make sure that we

successfully

Everybody wants to make sure that we

successfully complete the

expedition, but also do it safely.

These pictures are from a recent

training expedition in Switzerland,

making sure they know how to get out

of crevasses and can last the 75

days it is expected to take to track

coast-to-coast across the continent

via the South Pole.

After leaving Heathrow, and their

loved ones, 11 days ago, the Ice

Maidens headed south, first to Chile

were they told me how they are going

to cope.

It is definitely going to be

repetitive, day in, day out, you've

got to get up the next day whether

you want to or not. You've got to

carry on with the journey.

Everybody's got different ways of

coping, I like to break the journey

down into different sections. And

we've got each other to help as

well.

The six soldiers will be monitoring

how their bodies change compared to

men's, in conditions of up to minus

40.

There is a really good medical

research element, so we will be

looking at how our body consumes

energy now, and if that changes, and

we have sensors detecting our heart

rate, are breathing rate. So there

is a lot of medical data being

captured, and there will be a lot of

analysis when we get back.

250 soldiers applied to be Ice

Maidens, gradually they got whittled

down to the final six, who have now

spent two years training for this

moment. The race to the finish line

is about to get underway.

In football, Coventry City's defence

of the Football League Trophy

they won at Wembley last year

is over at the group stages.

The Sky Blues beat West Bromwich

Albion's under 21 side

at the Ricoh Arena last night.

But, Walsall's victory over

Shrewsbury in the same group means

it's those two teams who will go

through to the last 32

of the competition.

A 17-year-old gymnast

from Bromsgrove is hoping to make

a big impact at the Word Trampoline

and Tumbling championships

in Bulgaria this week.

Kallum Mulhall, who trains

at the City of Birmingham club,

has been selected as part

of the four-man tumbling

team for Great Britain.

He's previously won a medal at

the World Age Group Championships,

but this will be his first

major senior competition.

I'm really excited, because it's my

first one. It's just mainly for

experience, but for the team it

should be good because it pushes you

further, doesn't it?

BBC Children in Need is back next

week, hoping to raise millions

of pounds for good causes.

Today, children at the Royal Stoke

University Hospital had a surprise

visit from this cheeky chap.

Pudsey took time out from his hectic

schedule to spread some cheer

among poorly children.

Sarah Bishop watched him

work his magic on the wards.

The excitement

couldn't be contained.

The big yellow bear

was here in their clinic -

and with his eye bandage

Pudsey fitted in a treat.

This is a specialist eye unit

where they care for as many as ten

thousand children every year,

children like three-year-old Ollie.

It is covering his good eye, and

getting his brain to function and

use his bad eye.

How does he get on

wearing a patch?

He doesn't really

like it, because when recover his

good eye, he doesn't really say

much.

But for seven-year-old Archie,

celebrations that he won't have two

were an eye patch any more. -- he

won't have to wear an eye patch. His

verdict on the bare's appearance?

Exciting.

Some of our children will

struggle to go away and were a patch

at home, because they don't see

other children doing that, so if

they can see other children wearing

that, and Pudsey as well, it

encourages them to go home, where

the patches, and if they comply with

treatment we get the most

improvement in their vision.

Nobody knows why Pudsey wears a

bandage across his right eye, but

some say it is because he has such a

big heart, he always wants to be in

sympathy with poorly children

everywhere.

Which is why Pudsey went on

walkabout, spreading his charm among

staff and patients alike.

A day to remember for the children,

and a timely reminder that Children

in Need night is looming.

As we've heard Children In Need

is getting closer -

it's next Friday in fact.

And Nick and Pudsey are already

getting into the swing of things.

"Some are born great,

some achieve greatness and some have

greatness thrust upon them".

Certainly the cast of

the Royal Shakespeare Company's

forthcoming production

of Twelfth Night all have a bit

of that about them.

It stars comedian Adrian Edmondson,

and Strictly Come Dancing

winner Kara Tointon.

They're both making their RSC

debuts, and will be joined by some

home-grown talent too.

Rebecca Wood's been to meet them.

Adrian Edmondson is no stranger to

comedy. There's a dead rat in there!

But for the first time, he is trying

his hand at Shakespeare.

If you are

frightened of Shakespeare, come to

this one. It is very easy to

understand and there is nothing kind

of posh about it.

Despite performing

live for much of his career, 12th

night is his first taste of

Shakespeare on the stage.

Sometimes

people -- an opportunity comes

through the door that puts your life

in a different way. And as soon as

this came through, I thought, I want

to say yes quite quickly but that

would not be cruel!

It is a star-studded line-up, with

another famous face making her

debut, Kara Tointon.

It is quite

daunting, but I am taking every day

at a time.

She began her career in EastEnders.

I questioned whether I should take

this on at the beginning, because I

thought, is it a little bit too

much? But I did a lot of Shakespeare

at school, I loved it, because

indulgently it is really fun to do.

But when you get to grips with the

language and you start to really

understand it, it is just so

enjoyable.

There is plenty of home-grown talent

as well.

It's really amazing, I grew

up coming to see stuff on this

stage, and so many performances that

were so inspiring, so to be back

here playing Viyella is a dream come

true. -- Viola.

It's all pretty nerve-racking even

for seasoned professionals.

I have

to stop thinking it is rather

peculiar, because you can get

overwhelmed by the idea. So I try to

imagine it is just a character with

a few words to say, and I have fun

way to save them.

At least there's plenty time to get

it right.

Time for the weather -

and it's been another chilly

day across the region -

is it likely to get colder?

day across the region -

is it likely to get colder?

Shefali's here.

Temperatures will be as varied as

today's Weather Watchers pictures. A

cold and frosty start but some real

vibrant colours. We had some premium

sunshine this morning, beautiful as

it was though it turned milk year

during the day. But all in all it

was a stunning day and very dry as

well. Which it may not be as the

days go ahead. But what today was,

the weekend has the potential to be.

Just a few showers in the mix, but

Armistice Day and Remembrance

Sunday, just wrap up warm but be

aware they could be a few showers on

the cards. We have a few fluctuating

temperatures over the next few days,

we have warm fronts, cold fronts,

and it is a front arriving by the

end of Friday that could bring a

heavy boat of rain Wizard. -- a

heavy load of rain. As far as to

night is concerned we have got a

weakening front moving down from the

North West, so we will get a bit

more cloud developing through the

night, and that will squeeze out

sunlight, patchy rain here and

there, but it is a mainly dry

picture, and temperatures underneath

the club hold up to between two and

six Celsius. In the countryside it

could be cold enough for a touch of

frost. The cloud and rain will clear

away quite quickly tomorrow morning,

so it is looking bright by the

middle part of the morning and sunny

by the afternoon. And it will be

milder too, temperatures will rise

to between 12 and 14 Celsius, with a

moderate north-westerly breeze. By

tomorrow night another bout of rain

arrives, but it will not be

particularly heavy, and it will be

quite mild tomorrow night, however

it will be a largely dry day on

Friday, some sunshine by the

afternoon.

And that's all for now.

Rebecca Wood will be back

with your next update at 10.30.

Until then, have a great evening.