29/03/2017 Midlands Today


29/03/2017

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Business leaders in the Midlands have begun the push for more

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investment in infrastructure across the region, to make sure

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they can compete once the UK leaves the European Union.

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Since the referendum vote last year, there have been mixed fortunes -

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with some firms winning new contracts, while others have

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Here's our Business correspondent, Peter Plisner.

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A recipe for success, or a disaster for the economy?

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Views on Brexit are still mixed and so is the picture on

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At this Walsall cake-maker they have seen a big

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They have gained a bigger slice of the

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market, because of changes in the exchange rate

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It's made their products cheaper than

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We are extending that right towards the end.

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This whole warehouse is going to be shifted out into the car park.

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They're now so busy that they have brought

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forward plans to build a new

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production line, as retailers turn to UK suppliers.

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That majorly impacted on the whole supply chain.

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So they needed to turn to UK manufacturers for this reason, but

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also the other uncertainty as well with imported goods, any tariffs

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that may be implicated in that process.

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But not all companies are feeling a Brexit boost.

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At this South Birmingham advanced engineering firm, they have noticed

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a drop off in sales since the referendum

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last year, but not only that, some of the foreign

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firms they work for appear to have pressed the pause

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button when it comes to investment in big projects.

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And that, according to management, has

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meant laying off some contract staff and trying harder to find new work.

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We have gone from about a one in five inquiry to sales conversion

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So what we have had to really do is put our foot down

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on the gas to get a lot more inquiries to get the conversions.

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But despite Brexit concerns, experts maintain the Midlands economy isn't

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Actually the West Midlands economy seems to be

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outperforming the national economy and again we're faced with capacity

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The region would be looking at more infrastructure

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expenditure, particularly into the road and rail infrastructure

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Like it or loathe it, Brexit's here to stay and

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the business as usual attitude appears to be paying dividends.

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Two people have been arrested after a raid by counter-terrorism

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police in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham.

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A 21-year-old man and a woman who's 23 were detained after police

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Police say today's arrests were intelligence-led

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and are not connected in any way to last week's Westminster attack.

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A 30-year-old man arrested in Birmingham in connection

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with the terror attack in Westminster remains in custody,

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a 58-year-old man was released today without charge.

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Parts of the Midlands came to a standstill this afternoon,

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to pay tribute to the victims of the Westminster attack

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in which four people were killed a week ago.

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Taxi drivers, civic leaders and people from all faiths

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were among those who gathered at this vigil in Balsall

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Prince William was at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

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today, where he laid a wreath in memory of PC Keith Palmer.

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The officer was killed in the terror attack at Westminster a week ago.

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The Duke of Cambridge also opened a new remembrance centre.

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A warning, Liz Copper's report does contain some flash photography.

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The Arboretum is a place where dedication to duty is honoured and,

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a week on from the attack at Westminster, Prince William laid

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flowers in tribute to PC Keith Palmer, who lost his life

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The message on the wreath read, "Your legacy is

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For a member of the Royal Family to come and want to

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lay a wreath for policing, to remember that a police officer's

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given his life to protect the people in this country, is important to

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The Duke of Cambridge is patron of the

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appeal which funded the ?15.7 million new centre.

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Earlier, he met children from All Saints Primary School.

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He asked us if we had been to the Arboretum before and I have

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been to the Arboretum before with my Gramps, because my Gramps

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has got dementia and I think it's a really nice place for him to come.

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Not a lot of people realise what the war was really

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like and we need places like this for people to come

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The Duke also met veterans from each of the armed forces in the

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Arboretum's newly-built Heroes' Square.

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It's such a nice peaceful place and it's just nice to come and

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just to reflect and remember shipmates that are no longer

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Every day of the year, in public and in private, there are acts of

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Telford's Accident and Emergency department could close overnight

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A report going to the NHS board which runs hospitals

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in Shrewsbury and Telford suggests they should start drawing

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up plans now, to deal with serious staffing shortages.

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Our reporter, Nicola Beckford, is in Telford.

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So what are hospital bosses saying Nicola?

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Well, the chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford

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Hospitals NHS Trust, Simon Wright, says that

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unless the Trust can recruit more doctors for A,

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the emergency department here at the Princess Royal will have

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The Trust has been trying to recruit two consultants without any success.

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Tomorrow, a board meeting of the Trust will consider that

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a proposal to start planning for that closure.

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Mr Wright says the Trust needs to plan now before it

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reaches what he describes as "a crisis point."

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What has been the reaction to the proposal? The leader of Telford

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council said he is hoping to get the local community to put pressure on

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the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. It's an NHS in crisis

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and it is not just about A, it's about women and children's

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unit, every midwife-led unit across Shropshire under review

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and - heavens sake - a couple of months

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ago I they couldn't afford to put The trust says this is not a

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downgrade by the back door of the hospital and Simon Wright says no

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final decision will be made within the next six months. Thank you.

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The families of some of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings

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travelled to Westminster today to hear the Labour MP

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Andy Burnham introduce a ten-minute bill

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which would make it a criminal offence for members of a public body

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to cover up wrongdoing within their organisation.

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It would also give families the same resources as public

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bodies to pay for legal representation at inquests.

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Since the Hillsborough verdict, the families

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of those who died in the

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1974 Birmingham pub bombings have - quite wrongly and unbelievably -

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There are thousands of other hidden individual cases where bereaved

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families are denied legal representation, while the public

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bodies they are up against in court spend public money like water.

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Every year, supermarkets and food manufacturers throw

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away 270,000 tonnes of perfectly good food.

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The charity, Fareshare, have spent the last ten years

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putting some of that to good use, by giving it to community groups.

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In that time they reckon they've saved enough for ten million meals.

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Look at all this food in a warehouse in Birmingham - donated by

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supermarkets and manufacturers who would otherwise throw it away.

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Reasons include over-production, or it may have a short shell of life.

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The charity, Fairshare West Midlands,

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gives it to groups, including domestic violence refuges and

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It just gives me such a good feeling to

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know that we have helped so many people each day and it's a

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270,000 tonnes of food is wasted by shops and manufacturers every year

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That's enough to provide 650 million meals.

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The Birmingham Support Group's one of

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150 in the West Midlands to benefit and this

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We take it up to a soup kitchen in Albert Street every

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Wednesday and we distribute it to the homeless and the needy.

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Next to load up the Brasshouse, which

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provides services to people in Smethwick.

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In Smethwick, the workers waste no time in turning food that

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would have been wasted into nutritious meals.

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I've made a chicken and mushroom curry with rice

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and we feed the local community, so anybody

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in need of a meal, anyone in

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our area, is welcome to come and have a meal with us.

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We have lots of families, lots of different

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The charity makes free lunches on Fridays, today is an

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extra, because the Fairshare warehouse is celebrating its tenth

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He has had a spell of being homeless, but now lives in a flat.

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It's OK coming to the community centre to meet a friend

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and have a chat and other than being on your own and lonely.

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For people like Tony, the mountain of

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food saved from landfill is invaluable.

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That's all from me for now, I'll leave you with

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It was disappointing today, we had varying shades of grey and a enough

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rain to draw out the snugs and snails. We should be lucky tomorrow

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with a slight adjustment in the wind direction to southerlies and that

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will draw up warm air from the continent. Temperatures could fall

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into the high teens, making it the warmest warmest day of the year so

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far. You will feel the warmth through tonight with that southerly

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taking effect. We have got a bit of cloud and some light rain which

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should die out in the early hours. But temperatures up to 12 Celsius.

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Quite a mild start tomorrow. And that cloud and rain will eventually

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clear away to the north. By the afternoon some sunshine that will

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help boost values further. So into the high teens, between 16 to 18

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Celsius and a noticeable breeze, but it should be a warm breeze. The

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national forexas is next. far. The outlook for the next few

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days, temperatures coming down a bit but staying decent for this time of

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year. Here is Darren Bett with the national weather.

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The warm air coming up on a southerly breeze all the way from

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Iberia and across France into England and Wales. To achieve the

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high temperatures we need to get into some of this dryer air and

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sunshine. Even with the cloud today, 17 degrees. Not just about the

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temperatures, let's not forget there is some rain around as well.

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