:00:03. > :00:07.Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight, with Gordon Burns and
:00:07. > :00:09.Ranvir Singh. Our top story: Hearing the case for High Speed
:00:09. > :00:14.Rail - business leaders tell the Transport Secretary 200mph trains
:00:14. > :00:20.are a must for the future. But would the �32 billion cost
:00:20. > :00:23.cutting journey times to London be better spent elsewhere?
:00:23. > :00:30.Also, one year on, the family of a woman murdered by her ex-boyfriend
:00:30. > :00:33.while on bail asks what lessons have been learned? I don't think
:00:33. > :00:37.there's been one single change in the system to stop the same thing
:00:37. > :00:40.happening again. The parents of children at faith
:00:40. > :00:46.schools say they face discrimination over plans to scrap
:00:46. > :00:56.subsidised bus fares. Celebrating a weekend of sporting
:00:56. > :00:57.
:00:57. > :01:01.success. Mark Cavendish and Amir Khan lead our parade of champions.
:01:01. > :01:05.5th and the first people who lived at this quiet address in Liverpool
:01:05. > :01:11.have to put up with a siege and they found a body under one of the
:01:11. > :01:19.patios. The latest residents tell me they will settle for a quieter
:01:19. > :01:22.life. Imagine hopping onto a train in
:01:22. > :01:25.Manchester and arriving in London less than one-and-a-quarter hours
:01:25. > :01:30.later. It could happen if a proposed high-speed rail link is
:01:30. > :01:34.eventually built. The Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, was here
:01:34. > :01:38.today to meet business leaders who support his plans. But opponents
:01:38. > :01:42.say it's too costly and won't bring enough benefits to this part of the
:01:42. > :01:49.country. Our chief reporter, Dave Guest, joins us now from
:01:49. > :01:53.Manchester's Piccadilly station. Dave. Yes, and each day thousands
:01:53. > :01:56.of folk set off from here to the capital or arrive here from there.
:01:56. > :01:59.It's a journey which currently takes a little over two hours if
:01:59. > :02:01.everything's working to plan. But according to supporters of the
:02:02. > :02:08.high-speed rail link proposals, that travelling time could be
:02:08. > :02:11.slashed, bringing huge benefits to the region as a whole.
:02:11. > :02:15.This could be the shape of things to come in rail travel. High-speed
:02:15. > :02:18.trains whizzing up and down the country at speeds of more than 200
:02:19. > :02:27.miles-per-hour. It's a prospect which excites some within the North
:02:27. > :02:31.West's business community. The rail network between the North West and
:02:31. > :02:40.London winner who is reaching full capacity and will be out of space
:02:40. > :02:43.in the next 12 years. It is needed to keep us connected to London,
:02:44. > :02:46.Birmingham and Scotland. The high- speed link would be built in two
:02:46. > :02:53.stages. The first joining London to Birmingham. The second connecting
:02:53. > :02:56.branches to Manchester and Leeds. If we don't start planning now, it
:02:56. > :03:04.will be too late and Manchester will be left in a European
:03:04. > :03:07.backwater. Today, the Transport Secretary arrived in Manchester to
:03:07. > :03:11.sell the concept to business leaders from across the North. It
:03:11. > :03:14.would cost �32 billion to build. But it's claimed it could generate
:03:14. > :03:16.far more in benefits. Building the first stage alone would apparently
:03:16. > :03:20.create 40,000 jobs. But not everyone's convinced of its merits
:03:20. > :03:24.for this region. Most of the journeys will be to London rather
:03:24. > :03:27.than the other way around, so this will be a drain on the north-west
:03:27. > :03:31.and a slight benefit to London. Among travellers on local services,
:03:31. > :03:36.there's also a feeling that money could be better spent. I think
:03:36. > :03:42.you'll be fantastic. Sounds good to me. I think the money should be
:03:42. > :03:46.spent more locally. The Transport Secretary arrive today in
:03:46. > :03:50.Manchester to sell the concept of business leaders. But unlike the
:03:50. > :03:53.trains, the process of decision- making is far from high-speed. Even
:03:53. > :04:00.if the link ultimately gets a green light, it'll be the 2020s before
:04:00. > :04:03.it's up and running. After his meeting, I spoke to the
:04:03. > :04:13.Transport Secretary and asked him if the proposed link is really
:04:13. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:22.worth the money. I think two things. But first of all, we cannot afford
:04:22. > :04:25.not to invest in Britain's future. Too often in the past we have made
:04:25. > :04:31.the mistake of not investing and cutting capital spending and then
:04:31. > :04:37.regretting it. We had then seen our competitors benefiting from the
:04:37. > :04:40.have a structure they have built in the next economic cycle. During
:04:40. > :04:44.this Parliament, we are also going to be planning and obtaining
:04:44. > :04:50.planning consent to build this railway. We are not going to be
:04:50. > :04:54.spending serious money on building it until after 2016. You talk about
:04:54. > :05:02.the importance of arresting in the country's future and she will know
:05:02. > :05:07.doubt be aware of the Institute -- the Institute of economic Affairs
:05:07. > :05:12.saying it is not commercially viable. Yes, it will cost a lot of
:05:12. > :05:16.money, but it will be spread over 17 years. The amount of money spent
:05:16. > :05:20.each year on this big, national strategic infrastructure project
:05:20. > :05:25.will be about the same we spend on the CrossRail project in London
:05:25. > :05:31.every year at the moment. Before this colossal amount of money, it
:05:31. > :05:36.is only going to mean the trip from London to Manchester will be 40
:05:36. > :05:41.minutes less than it already is. Is that worth it? It is not just about
:05:41. > :05:45.speed. It is about capacity. Anybody rows tried to get on a
:05:45. > :05:51.service from London to Manchester on a Friday evening will know we
:05:51. > :05:57.are running out of capacity. -- anybody who tries to get on to a
:05:57. > :06:01.service. We will be finding there are services throughout the day at
:06:01. > :06:08.peak times with no capacity at all on them if we don't do anything. Of
:06:08. > :06:13.what about people's land who will be seeing their land taken by
:06:13. > :06:17.compulsory purchase order? An awful lot of scare stories are flying
:06:17. > :06:20.around. Real spending large amounts of money to mitigate the impact on
:06:20. > :06:24.parts of the country that the line goes through and I am sure that
:06:24. > :06:28.when it is built and is up and running, many of the people making
:06:28. > :06:33.so much noise today will turn around and say, this was not quite
:06:33. > :06:40.as bad as we were told it was going to be. Thank you.
:06:40. > :06:43.And we'd like to know what you think. Should the Government be
:06:43. > :06:45.spending �32 billion cutting journey times to London? Or would
:06:45. > :06:49.that money be better spent elsewhere. Get in touch via email,
:06:49. > :06:51.Twitter or Facebook. A year ago, the lives of John and
:06:51. > :06:54.Penny Clough changed forever when they received the worst news a
:06:54. > :06:57.parent could have - that their daughter had been murdered. Nurse
:06:57. > :07:02.Jane Clough was stabbed to death by her former partner Jonathan Vass
:07:02. > :07:05.outside Blackpool's Victoria Hospital. At the time he was on
:07:06. > :07:08.bail, accused of raping Jane. Since their daughter's death, John and
:07:08. > :07:12.Penny have been campaigning to improve victims' rights and change
:07:12. > :07:22.the bail laws. Here they tell us what the past 12 months have been
:07:22. > :07:23.
:07:23. > :07:28.like. Just a normal day... And suddenly a
:07:28. > :07:32.knock on the door before you go to bed. It turned our lives around.
:07:32. > :07:40.The police officer came... Saying that he thought... Our daughter had
:07:40. > :07:47.been murdered. I think the impact on us has been very tough. We used
:07:47. > :07:51.to be a very fun-loving couple and now we don't really have fun.
:07:52. > :07:57.is my games room. We've not used it... I can't remember the last
:07:57. > :08:04.time we use it. There never seems to be an appropriate time for a
:08:04. > :08:09.celebration. We think about it every day. You drive to work, you
:08:09. > :08:15.drive past the cemetery. You drive past her house. You cannot go past
:08:16. > :08:20.the part without thinking where she is now. We spend more or less every
:08:20. > :08:25.evening thinking about what we want to do for the next stage. I have
:08:25. > :08:31.written to David Cameron, the Prime Minister, on at least three
:08:31. > :08:36.occasions. We have yet to have a response from him. We have had
:08:36. > :08:41.three replies from Mrs Adams, who I believe is a fictitious person.
:08:41. > :08:45.latest thing we're doing at the moment is designing a petition so
:08:45. > :08:50.we can get signatures from people out there to support the bail
:08:50. > :08:56.Amendment Bill proposal. I think we're doing this because it is our
:08:56. > :08:59.way of dealing with the murder of Jane. We are a year on now. And I
:08:59. > :09:03.don't think there's been a single change in the system that would
:09:03. > :09:09.prevent the same thing from happening again. We have just got
:09:09. > :09:15.to carry on fighting. I hope people will understand why we feel we have
:09:15. > :09:22.to do this. It is our way of coping. I think we would feel worse if we
:09:22. > :09:25.didn't. We thank them for being so brave. Just heartbreaking.
:09:25. > :09:30.A man's been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a woman
:09:30. > :09:33.in St Helens at the weekend. Heather Dyer was 22. She died from
:09:33. > :09:36.stab wounds after an incident on Chapel Street on Saturday. Paul
:09:36. > :09:42.Lyon, who's 44, is also accused of attempting to murder a 25-year-old
:09:42. > :09:45.man. He'll appear at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.
:09:45. > :09:49.A doctor who failed to identify breast cancer in 61 women in
:09:49. > :09:52.Lancashire has quit his job. Dr Glenn Anthony Kelly, a consultant
:09:52. > :09:59.radiologist at Accrington Victoria Hospital, was suspended on full pay
:09:59. > :10:02.for two years ago. He's still facing disciplinary action.
:10:02. > :10:05.Another satellite centre run by the famous Christie Hospital opened
:10:05. > :10:09.today in Salford. It's a radiotherapy unit for treating
:10:09. > :10:13.cancer patients based at Salford Royal Infirmary. It cost �18
:10:13. > :10:23.million. Doctors say it can accommodate patients with a range
:10:23. > :10:23.
:10:23. > :10:28.of cancers, including those affecting the brain. It is a 20
:10:28. > :10:31.minute session as an out-patient and it is painless. Incredible,
:10:31. > :10:34.cutting-edge treatment and they can have that from today in Salford
:10:34. > :10:38.rather than having to go much further afield as they previously
:10:38. > :10:41.had to, to Sheffield and London and perhaps further.
:10:41. > :10:44.A Georgian manor house in Lancashire is to be restored with
:10:44. > :10:47.�2.5 million of lottery money. Lytham Hall has fallen into
:10:47. > :10:50.disrepair. The money will be used to help refurbish the Grade I
:10:50. > :10:53.listed building and replace its heating and electrical systems.
:10:53. > :10:56.Two companies are facing big fines following an explosion and chemical
:10:56. > :10:59.fire which sent aerosols rocketing into the air above Crewe. The case
:10:59. > :11:02.involves Greenway Environmental Limited, which is based in the town,
:11:02. > :11:05.and Pakawaste Limited, which operates from Preston. Both
:11:05. > :11:15.companies admit breaking health and safety laws. Our reporter Andy Gill
:11:15. > :11:16.
:11:16. > :11:21.has been at Chester Crown Court for the hearing.
:11:21. > :11:27.It happened after an explosion in a machine which shreds aerosols full
:11:27. > :11:32.of flammable liquid. It took place at the gateway industrial estate in
:11:32. > :11:36.Crewe. Hundreds of cans were sent shooting into the air, landing on
:11:36. > :11:41.the roofs of nearby buildings. The fire destroyed more than 20
:11:41. > :11:44.vehicles and cover an area of 20,000 square metres. 100
:11:44. > :11:49.firefighters were needed to tackle it and some of the blasts were so
:11:49. > :11:53.powerful that they were knocked off their feet. Fay Greenway
:11:54. > :11:58.Environmental Limited has admitted to breaking safety laws and
:11:58. > :12:03.Pakawaste Limited has also admitted to breaking safety laws in relation
:12:03. > :12:09.to members of the public. The shredder was designed in a way that
:12:09. > :12:12.allowed flammable vapours to build up. Greenway knew about the
:12:12. > :12:16.ventilation problem but did not take the risks seriously enough and
:12:16. > :12:21.carried on using the machine. The prosecution says it was only good
:12:21. > :12:26.fortune nobody was killed or injured. The two companies are
:12:26. > :12:29.facing hefty fines in the hefty cost of six figures. This could
:12:29. > :12:32.jeopardise their futures and they will be sentenced later.
:12:32. > :12:35.Still to come in North West Tonight:
:12:35. > :12:43.We're at the cycling club that spawned a Tour de France champion,
:12:43. > :12:48.as fellow riders pay tribute to Mark Cavendish. The UK needs to
:12:48. > :12:51.start understanding that we have one of the greatest amongst us.
:12:51. > :13:00.And don't look under the patio. The real-life newcomers to a close with
:13:00. > :13:03.a few skeletons in the closet, or Councillors in West Cheshire will
:13:03. > :13:06.tonight vote on whether to end transport subsidies for faith
:13:06. > :13:11.schools, a move which would double the amount hundreds of families
:13:11. > :13:21.have to pay in bus fares. Cheshire West and Chester Council says
:13:21. > :13:23.
:13:23. > :13:26.abolishing the subsidy would save �1 million. That is out of a needed
:13:26. > :13:30.saving of �25 million. But opponents say it's unfair
:13:30. > :13:33.discrimination. Kate Simms reports. Like most families, mornings in the
:13:33. > :13:36.Bytheway-Jackson family are finely tuned to run as smoothly as
:13:36. > :13:44.possible. But that routine may be about to become unstuck, because
:13:44. > :13:50.getting Ella to her faith school in Chester could be getting expensive.
:13:50. > :13:55.My cost for getting her to school is going to rise from �300 to about
:13:55. > :13:59.�800, which is nearly a 200% increase, which, quite honestly, I
:13:59. > :14:03.haven't got the ability to fund. the moment, the council contributes
:14:03. > :14:06.to school travel if you live three or more miles away from your school.
:14:06. > :14:09.For state schools that transport is free. For faith schools, it's
:14:09. > :14:13.subsidised. But from September 2012, the council wants to remove that
:14:13. > :14:22.subsidy for faith schools. It also wants to end subsidised transport
:14:22. > :14:28.for the over 16s. We believe that targeting families who use this
:14:28. > :14:32.transport is discrimination. On top of this, targeting young people in
:14:32. > :14:36.post 16 education a top of them losing their Education Maintenance
:14:36. > :14:38.Allowance is a double whammy. Cheshire and Chester Council is not
:14:38. > :14:42.the only council considering this. Cumbria is considering a similar
:14:42. > :14:48.move, and in Lancashire the cost of travel to faith schools has already
:14:48. > :14:52.been increased. It, says the council leader here, is only fair.
:14:52. > :14:58.Any person who chooses their local school, they get that free of
:14:58. > :15:04.charge as a statutory right. This is not discriminatory, it is very
:15:04. > :15:10.clear. The decision will be baited here in Chester this evening. --
:15:10. > :15:17.will be debated. It can either recommend a review or scrap the
:15:17. > :15:21.decision. If the decision is taken, it will be a cost too hide for
:15:21. > :15:27.Vegard Groslie-Wennesland and her family. It is an education I have
:15:27. > :15:31.worked really hard for and it will be messed up.
:15:31. > :15:33.It's time for the sport now, and, Tony, those people who think all
:15:33. > :15:40.the excitement disappears with the football season have had plenty to
:15:40. > :15:44.think about over the past 48 hours. What a weekend in cycling and
:15:44. > :15:47.boxing! Where do I start? No less than three of our boxers all won
:15:47. > :15:50.crucial fights on Saturday night, and then yesterday the Isle of
:15:50. > :15:54.Man's Mark Cavendish won the final stage of the Tour De France to
:15:54. > :15:56.claim the green jersey and the 20th stage win of his career. Cavendish
:15:56. > :16:01.is already being described as the greatest sprinter in cycling
:16:01. > :16:04.history. He's become the first Briton to win that green jersey and
:16:04. > :16:13.is being tipped to beat Eddy Merckx's 34 career stage wins, but
:16:13. > :16:22.more of him in a moment. Let's start tonight with a ringside seat
:16:22. > :16:27.for a fight-night the North West will never forget.
:16:27. > :16:37.We called it Saturday showdown and it ended in celebration on Sunday.
:16:37. > :16:44.A triple whammy for Amir Khan, Tyson fury and Scott Quigg. Look at
:16:44. > :16:51.that position! Amir Khan is now the undisputed welterweight champion
:16:51. > :17:01.after his victory in Vegas. I took the shot and it was a very hard
:17:01. > :17:02.
:17:02. > :17:11.shot. We were working on that all the way through. It just naturally
:17:11. > :17:16.happened when he went down. I just shot that uppercut to the body.
:17:16. > :17:20.Manchester's ties and fury now has his undisputed title as British and
:17:20. > :17:24.Commonwealth heavyweight champ. Next up for him could be the
:17:24. > :17:34.Wladimir Klitschko, but he says he can't wait while he chases the
:17:34. > :17:44.Irish and European titles. Scott Quigg now has 22 wins of. The 22-
:17:44. > :17:44.
:17:44. > :17:49.year-old from Bury Town has gone into the super-bantamweight belt.
:17:49. > :17:52.He was managed perfectly, the guy who went through before. Now with
:17:52. > :17:59.the backing, he knows how it was done and it worked. And they're
:17:59. > :18:04.doing a good job with me bringing me on, nice and steady. So, three
:18:04. > :18:09.titles, three champions, three cheers. A knockout weekend.
:18:09. > :18:11.If you think all that was hard work, spare a thought for Mark Cavendish.
:18:11. > :18:14.After three gruelling weeks in the saddle, the Manx cyclist made
:18:14. > :18:17.history with a champagne performance on the Champs Elysees.
:18:17. > :18:23.As we've been saying, he finished the Tour De France for the first
:18:23. > :18:32.time as the top sprinter. Stuart Pollitt reports.
:18:32. > :18:37.The country's best sportsman? the green jersey is going to Great
:18:37. > :18:42.Britain. From the hills of the Isle of Man to first man across the line
:18:42. > :18:48.on the Champs Elysees, and a first green jersey. I have been trying
:18:48. > :18:53.the last few years. Finally it has worked out. It has not been easy.
:18:53. > :18:58.At the moment, I think he is the UK's greatest athlete. Probably the
:18:58. > :19:04.greatest ever sprinter in cycling, said to be called in any sport "the
:19:04. > :19:10.greatest"... But, yes, we have amongst us the greatest of all time.
:19:10. > :19:16.We must understand that. Here, at least, he's as big as Beckham. The
:19:16. > :19:22.cycling club where he started. came along at the age of about nine
:19:22. > :19:29.and he was just like all the other children, but they are not
:19:29. > :19:32.obviously as good. His talent shone out. He was very special. That
:19:32. > :19:37.potential's been translated into a place among cycling's greats. At 26,
:19:38. > :19:40.Cavendish already has 20 stage wins on the Tour de France. That's 6th
:19:40. > :19:44.on the all-time list, just two behind American Lance Armstrong and
:19:44. > :19:47.14 short of the record held by the legendary Eddy Merckx. The
:19:47. > :19:57.Manxman's next move could be to join the British Team Sky. As for
:19:57. > :19:57.
:19:57. > :20:02.what he can achieve, the sky's the limit.
:20:02. > :20:05.There we are. Another legend for us to celebrate.
:20:05. > :20:07.Wigan Athletic are on the verge of losing Charles N'Zogbia after they
:20:08. > :20:11.agreed a �9.5 million fee with Aston Villa. The French
:20:11. > :20:13.international winger, who has just a year left on his Wigan deal, is
:20:14. > :20:23.expected to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical within the
:20:24. > :20:24.
:20:24. > :20:27.next 24 hours. Manchester City manager Roberto
:20:27. > :20:29.Mancini says he hopes striker Mario Balotelli will learn from being
:20:29. > :20:32.substituted for showboating during last night's friendly in Los
:20:32. > :20:40.Angeles. Balotelli attempted an elaborate turn and back heel when
:20:40. > :20:43.one-on-one with the LA Galaxy keeper. He was hauled straight off
:20:43. > :20:53.by his manager, despite having scored City's goal in the 1-1 draw
:20:53. > :20:55.just minutes earlier. What on earth was he playing at?
:20:55. > :20:59.Finally, the details for the Wigan- St Helens Challenge Cup semi-final
:20:59. > :21:02.have been confirmed by the Rugby Football League. The great rivals
:21:02. > :21:05.will meet on Saturday 6th August at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in
:21:05. > :21:08.Warrington. Kick-off will be 4.30pm and the game will be live on the
:21:08. > :21:15.BBC. Wigan booked their place, winning 44-24 win at Warrington,
:21:15. > :21:21.while Saints beat Hull KR 54-6 yesterday. That will be some game.
:21:21. > :21:31.But that was some back heal, wasn't it? On the commentary, the American
:21:31. > :21:37.commentator says, are you kidding? And the crowd started booing.
:21:37. > :21:47.Let's take a look at the weather. We had a glorious weekend so let's
:21:47. > :21:48.
:21:48. > :21:53.Shock, horror, the kids are off school and we have good weather! We
:21:53. > :21:57.have had this little weather front trying to ruin things. It has been
:21:57. > :22:01.trying to edge its way in from the West and it has formed a bit of
:22:01. > :22:05.cloud and a few splashes of rain across the Isle of Man. But it will
:22:05. > :22:11.fizzle out as we go through tomorrow. A lot of dry weather
:22:11. > :22:15.coming tomorrow. Dry for the next couple of days, but with
:22:15. > :22:20.temperatures, we are very dependent on whether we get the sunshine or
:22:20. > :22:24.the cloud. Quite a lot of cloud around at times. Temperatures
:22:24. > :22:30.happily creeping up into the 20s, but when the cloud comes along, the
:22:30. > :22:38.best we can hope for is 17, 18 degrees. So I would not describe it
:22:38. > :22:44.as a scorcher. We have had an East- West Split today, so that has
:22:44. > :22:48.bought some cloud and some showers over the Isle of Man. We will see
:22:48. > :22:58.this weather front trying to creep in from the West. So some splashes
:22:58. > :22:59.
:22:59. > :23:04.of rain across the Western post for tonight. Some temperatures could
:23:04. > :23:09.fall down to single figures later. Tomorrow morning, the rain will be
:23:09. > :23:13.moving away quickly. So, dry with decent spells of sunshine, and the
:23:13. > :23:20.cloud will increase as we go through the afternoon. It will
:23:20. > :23:24.start to swing around to the north- easterly direction. The Isle of Man
:23:24. > :23:31.has a beautiful afternoon, but elsewhere, a bit more in the way of
:23:31. > :23:35.cloud with highs of 20 to 21 degrees. This weather front could
:23:35. > :23:43.bring patchy outbreaks of rain on Thursday, but later on this week,
:23:43. > :23:47.If you found out that the neighbourhood you were planning to
:23:47. > :23:50.move into had, let's say, a colourful past, what would you do?
:23:50. > :23:53.In this case, we're talking murder, an armed siege and a firebomb
:23:53. > :24:01.attack. And that's just for starters. The neighbourhood is in
:24:01. > :24:08.Liverpool, and Stuart Flinders is there for us now. You had better be
:24:08. > :24:14.careful! It is clearly not very safe. What she didn't even mention,
:24:14. > :24:20.the body under the patio! That house there. -- what you didn't
:24:20. > :24:23.even mention. Some terrible things have happened here... In Brookside
:24:23. > :24:27.Close. The characters of the TV soap are long gone, but now real
:24:27. > :24:30.people have started moving in. Brookside Close has never been so
:24:31. > :24:34.quiet. For more than 20 years, there was drug addiction, domestic
:24:34. > :24:37.abuse, petrol bombs and an armed siege. TV's Brookside ended in 2003.
:24:37. > :24:40.But Brookside Close really does exist, in the Croxteth area of
:24:40. > :24:44.Liverpool. And over the past few months, the houses have been
:24:44. > :24:54.renovated and real families have moved in. This is where Bobby and
:24:54. > :24:55.
:24:55. > :25:03.Sheila Grant lived. She seems nice enough. She's OK. It's not her
:25:03. > :25:13.fault she's married to an idiot. And the bungalow was over there. Oh,
:25:13. > :25:14.
:25:14. > :25:20.that. The family kill the ex- husband, I believe, and buried him
:25:20. > :25:25.under the patio. But it is not the patio? No, because people took the
:25:25. > :25:35.patio stones away as a souvenir. You didn't find anything underneath
:25:35. > :26:09.
:26:09. > :26:11.The Close has become a tourist attraction. Harry Cross' old
:26:11. > :26:14.bunglaow is now home to Carole. Brookside's fictional folk lumbered
:26:14. > :26:18.from one catastrophe to another. The real-life residents are hoping
:26:18. > :26:21.for a quieter time of it. Now we'll end with some of your
:26:21. > :26:25.comments on the value of a high- speed rail link to London, which
:26:25. > :26:27.was our top story. Susie says: "It is completely un-
:26:27. > :26:29.needed. What a monumental waste of money".
:26:30. > :26:33.David Lawson says: "Why does Manchester always get the big
:26:33. > :26:35.public investment? Surely it would make sense to extend the line to
:26:35. > :26:38.Preston to benefit the whole Lancashire area?"
:26:38. > :26:41.Loads of reaction on Twitter, too. Someone calling themselves
:26:41. > :26:51.VampireLover says: "Worth every penny as the rewards to local
:26:51. > :27:03.
:27:03. > :27:06.economies will be substantial". But SpiderFlat says: "Money should
:27:06. > :27:08.be spent on high-speed broadband for all the North West, to enable
:27:08. > :27:11.people to work from home". Milton Grimshaw, apparently seeing
:27:11. > :27:20.the upside, says: "Anything which allows you to leave the South East
:27:20. > :27:26.fast is worth the money!" another says, the money could be spent on