08/05/2017 Midlands Today

Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

There's been a huge surge in the number of electric

cars on the road - but trying to charge them here

The region has among the smallest number of electric car charging

That's despite this region being at the centre

for research and development into electric vehicles.

Joanna Tidman has been investigating.

The future of motoring. It's widely predicted many more of us will be

driving electric cars in years to come. But despite being a hub of

development it seems the West Midlands has been full to catch up

in terms of infrastructure. It is an industry where we can create tens of

thousands of jobs in the future but we're not putting the infrastructure

in place in the West Midlands to encourage people to drive these

cards. Rachel and her husband bought two electric cars in February and

she says she has been delighted with she says she has been delighted with

them but charging can be a problem. The country needs a step up and to

put more charge points in. We have got friends who have said, we have

never even thought about buying electric but now they are

considering buying electric. The average card is capable of driving

100-125 miles before needing charged.

It is changing the way we are using our vehicles here and around the

world. Instead of popping to the petrol station we will be using

these. Plug them in, coffee coffee and away we go. Demand is growing

and car dealers of reporting huge upturns in sales of electric cars.

Going through the years momentum has gained and in the last quarter of

January- March this year, they sold more than they have in any quarter

since the car's lunch. With sales booming, the irony is this lack of

charging points could put people off charging points could put people off

buying the very vehicles region has played a large part in developing.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been campaigning

Reducing homelessness and tackling congestion on our roads -

two of the priorities set out by the new West Midlands

Our reporter Ben Godfrey joined him - on his first day in office.

A warning his report contains some flash photography.

Here's the man voters have chosen to grow the West Midlands economy.

I have always been Andy, so why change?

Do you know what you have let yourself in for?

How are you going to get things done in those areas? I thought the most

set the tone and that is about being set the tone and that is about being

the leader for all the West Midlands. Tackling congestion is

high on the list. Labour were pushing for the nationalisation of

the M6 Toll. Would you now be looking at doing that? We have said

that certain aspects of how the M6 Toll operates that we want to go

back to. Not a closed mind and we definitely want to work with them

but not on the whole idea of nationalisation. This was another of

his top priorities, setting up a task force to bring down the number

of rough sleepers. Last autumn, there were almost 300 people across

the West Midlands sleeping rough on our streets. It is most urgent and

Birmingham where the numbers went up by 50% in just one year. It is the

tip of a much bigger iceberg, and I would like to see they may support

all the other work going on. Just a few hours in his company and you get

the feeling and the street has the ambition and drive to fulfil his

election promises. Some say he will need it in abundance now his

business is politics. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

has been campaigning in the Midlands today -

setting out his plans In Leamington Spa,

he told a crowd that one of his first priorities,

if he gets into Downing Street, would be to start a programme

of housebuilding - He said Labour wanted an economy

and society that works for all. We need a serious national

initiative to deal with the housing crisis by building for those that

need homes, rather than building for speculative investment to keep

them empty to make more money out And there's more information

about the general election - and who's standing -

on the BBC politics pages. A man has appeared in court,

charged with preventing the lawful Megan Bills from Stourbridge,

was found in a wardrobe, which had been wrapped in cling film

- in Brierley Hill last Thursday. 24-year-old Ashley Foster

was remanded in custody, to appear at Wolverhampton crown

court next month. A man has been arrested

in Birmingham, on suspicion The 23-year-old man was taken

into police custody from a house The arrest follows a stabbing

in Perry Barr in the early Another man remains in a serious,

but stable, condition in hospital - Two men posing as police officers

have been trying to lure members of the public into a stolen unmarked

police car, with blue West Midlands Police have issued

a warning after a female motorist was flagged down -

and asked to get into their silver The care was later found to have

been stolen in Solihull. The captain of England's

women's cricket team has been in Warwickshire,

to inspire young playing Heather Knight is due to lead

England in the World Cup at home this summer,

but is recovering from She believes the women's game has

a higher profile than ever. That is nothing better than a home

World Cup. Hopefully I'll be fit

and ready to lead the team The most publicised women's

World Cup ever, and we have got some Hopefully I will be out

there and ready to go. More than 500 Roman coins unearthed

by two metal detector enthusiasts, have gone on display close

to where they were found - The coins were declared treasure -

and have now returned from being on show at the British

Museum. This is the hoard of 518 Roman

coins hidden in a field When you look at the

quality of these coins, That was until two off-duty

paramedics and metal They'd been deposited

in a leather satchel. Inside the satchel,

there were several hessian bags, and those bags, we found,

were stuffed with leaves. They were hidden under two very

large stones to keep it well hidden. It's the sort of thing

you always dream of, and when you finally find it,

you almost can't Once we found it, we

realised what it was. We immediately knew it was a very

important historical artefact that The hoard's worth a few hundred

pounds, and was declared treasure. It's now on display close

to where it was found at tourist attraction Stockton Gardens

at Kimbolton near Leominster. The coins date back to around 270

AD, a time of war, of chaos. When you get instability,

people will sort of go and put their horde or their coins

and bury them, to come Because I think you wouldn't

be able to trust... You wouldn't know what was going

to happen the next day. The coins were found in this field,

land owned by the aptly-named Raymond Treasure, and he had

to invent a white lie to keep people We parked a tractor over the top

of the site and told everybody that there was an unexploded bomb

to keep people away! Since the coins were discovered four

years ago, every bit of this field has been searched,

and nothing else has been found. Only the earth knows the secret

of who buried the treasure here, close to where there was once

a Roman road. That's all from me, I'll leave

you with the weather forecast Good evening. Off the back of a

stunning day yesterday when the temperature reached a high of 23, a

tad cooler today and still very dry. It is quite cloudy to begin with

this morning but the sunshine didn't begin to break through until later.

This is an ongoing theme through this week, continuing on from where

we left off last week. Initially dry, warming up from midweek and

then we start to see things becoming wetter for Thursday and Friday, with

rain spreading up from the south. Try out there apart from the odds

that of rain, cloud beginning up from the east and as it stretches to

the west, the temperature will fall to around five Celsius, western

parts coolest. It cloudy morning and the cloud may struggle to break in

places, but it will eventually do so and we see the highest temperature

reaching 14. Light winds from the north-easterly direction. Tomorrow

night we see the cloud shrinking back to the East, clear skies and

with that we set up nicely from plenty of sunshine on Wednesday,

cooler as well particularly in rural spots. The temperature responding

nicely to the sunshine and highs of 16-17 and the winds are liked as

well. The south-easterly will draw up my elderly as we walk into next

week. Thursday we see low-pressure moving up from the south bringing

rain by Friday but thirsty itself looking dry, Friday we start to see

the rain. with some sunshine and showers, it

will become drier and feel warm. Now the National forecast.

Good evening. A quiet day on the weather front but we still managed

to have some huge contrasts in the weather. This was a beautiful

picture from Cumbria, blue skies and crystal clear blue skies in Argyll

and Bute but closer to the north coast, it sends shivers down your

spine! Chilly and cloudy all along that cost this bank of cloud that

sliced the country in half, cool and cloudy to the east and to the West

had