13/04/2017 North West Tonight

For months now, the stickers on egg cartons have told us the hens that

laid them were being kept indoors for their own safety.

But now, after tens of thousands of birds were culled in Lancashire

because of avian flu, the restrictions have been relaxed,

and the birds are allowed back outdoors again.

Our environment correspondent Judy Hobson is at a poultry

A taste of freedom for the first time this year.

These hens are free range, but they have not been

These restrictions were brought in to reduce the risk of avian flu

To start with we just had to make sure they got more straw,

and, as you can see, we have given them more area

We give them green material as though they were outside,

which is quite hard to do, but we've had plenty of cabbages

and broccoli and cauliflowers and all sorts of things.

In some parts of the country, restrictions were lifted six

High Legh is near Rostherne Mere in Cheshire where wild birds

gather, so it is classed as a high-risk area.

But migrating birds have now left the country, or are breeding,

All poultry are at still risk of catching bird flu,

We are encouraging everybody to have high security.

We want all the hens outside, make sure they are fed inside,

not outside, where wild birds could be.

Keep as many people off your site, only essential visitors on the site.

Any feed spillages, make sure you clear them up straight away.

It has been a difficult few months for the poultry industry.

Despite extra measures to keep farms clean, some,

like this on in Lancashire, had to cull thousands of birds.

As migrating birds return later in the year, the chances of another

The risk has not gone away completely.

Across Europe, we still are seeing cases of the disease in kept birds,

and they're still finding the disease in wild birds.

Although the risk is still there, this farmer is just pleased that,

for now, his hens can roam free again.

Especially at this time of year, in the spring, you could tell

Businesses around the North West say they're owed money after a company

that built a power station in Greater Manchester

went into liquidation with ?40 million in debts.

Duro Felguera UK Limited was the lead contractor to build

a new gas-fuelled plant, which was opened by the Energy

The power station is still operating, as it's run

It's the country's newest power station, built at a cost of more

than ?700 million and opened exactly a month ago by the Energy Minister.

The power station is still operating as normal.

It's owned by an entirely separate company and is providing energy

But the contractor that was in charge of building it has

It was a huge project, involving 35,000 cubic metres of concrete,

850 construction workers and over 40 other companies from

But now many of those subcontractors are owed money.

The debts in this region alone total over ?1 million.

This business based in Bolton made some of the doors for

We are currently owed ?90,000, including VAT.

And what impact is that going to have on your company?

We were going to expand this year, buy new machinery

But we have basically had to put that back now six months.

I'm totally disgusted with it all, to be honest.

Some businesses in the north west are owed hundreds of thousands

VOICE-OVER: We are an international benchmark in the construction

of power stations, with over 50 projects executed in 11

countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Duro Felguera UK Limited's parent company is based in Spain and has

The liquidators say an investigation is now under way to see what,

if any assets, the company still has, and whether firms

Naomi Cornwell, BBC North West Tonight, in Bolton.

A Catholic priest has been sentenced to 17 years for sexually abusing

a teenage boy at a boarding school in Lancashire in the 1970s.

74-year-old Father Michael Higginbottom was found guilty

of eight sex offences at St Joseph's Roman Catholic

He abused the teenager in his personal living quarters.

A man from Cheshire, who knowingly sold sick and dying

puppies, has been jailed for nearly three years.

Jamie Parvizi, from Scholar Green pleaded guilty to welfare

and fraud offences relating to the selling of dogs.

It's believed to be the longest jail sentence to ever follow

Two men have been arrested in connection with the death

of a 20-year-old in Manchester City centre.

Dylan Crawford was found unconscious on Spear Street

A postmortem examination was inconclusive.

The men have been arrested on suspicion of theft

Workers on Arriva Rail North are staging a fresh 24-hour strike

Members of the RMT union will walk out on Friday April 28th after talks

They also went on strike last Saturday during the Grand National

at Aintree as part of a campaign against new driver-controlled trains

18 months after a public health drive started in Stockport,

those behind it say it's working and getting people on their

It's reckoned illnesses stemming from unhealthy lifestyles

are costing the NHS around ?11 billion a year.

Now in the town, they're recruiting hundreds more volunteers

Here's our health correspondent Gill Dummigan.

These days, Laura's fizzing with energy.

18 months ago, she was a size 20 and struggling to get

I wouldn't have walked any further than I really needed to.

I certainly wouldn't have run anywhere, certainly wouldn't have

Then she learned about a new fitness programme

It has changed my outlook, my health.

Meanwhile, staff at Stepping Hill are among the 500 newbies now

stepping up in the next wave of recruits.

For some, it's a bit of a departure from the usual.

Sitting down on my PlayStation, just playing video games,

eating junk food, not really doing a lot of exercise,

I just want to keep going, really and just keep trying to work

up a little bit of a sweat like this

It makes me feel better about everything.

The people behind this scheme say it is not about being a gym bunny,

it's about incorporating exercise into your daily life,

the theory being that the more you spend doing this, the less likely

To me, it is more about staff being a role model.

We know that one of the key things people are coming

into hospital with are strokes, heart problems, and a lot

So anything that people can do to help themselves

and not come into hospital is a really good thing.

More than 20 of the town's firms have signed up

to the programme, devised by a local not-for-profit group.

They do run gyms, but mainly they use phone apps and online coaching

to support people who don't generally do fitness.

What happens if you don't exercise a lot, and you're literally

You need somebody there to hold your hand and motivate

And more importantly, it is about changing your behaviour.

This is not about quick fixes, this is about long-term behaviour change.

The hope is that hundreds more in this town will make

Gill Dummigan, BBC North West Today, Stockport.

Manchester United are level at 1-1 going into the second leg

of their Europa League quarter final with Anderlecht.

Mkhitaryan opened the scoring for United, with Dendoncker equalising

That was Anderlecht's only chance of the game.

In the Championship tonight, Wigan came from 2-0 down

Nick Powell scored a hatrick for the Latics, his third

That means Wigan are now third from bottom

They play a crucial game at Nottingham Forest tomrrow,

and you can hera that match in full on BBC Radio Lancashire.

And in League One, Caullum Camps scored for Rochdale

In the Super League tonight, Warrington won away

Widnes did take the lead, but afer Tom Lineham

scored for Warrington, they never let the lead

slip and went on to win by 19 points to ten.

Now time to head over to the weather.

Very mixed. Good evening. We have been telling you every day this week

that it is chilly and it stays chilly as we had to do the weekend.

Went going through the Northwest, dragging in cool. We have also got

weather fronts coming towards us from time to time. It bring quite a

when Dave tomorrow. By Monday, fingers crossed things will be

drier. There will be some sunshine from time to time. Some detail.

Spots of rain have started to work their way into Cumbria, Lancashire,

parts of the Isle of Man. That happens over the next couple of

hours. Many places will be drier, see you can see it is a 50-50 split.

Overnight, temperatures about seven, eight Celsius. When you get up first

thing, you can already see the line of framework in its way towards us.

A bit of a nuisance, plenty of cloud cover, nothing in the way of

sunshine. In the afternoon, it picks up, so there may be a lull in the

morning, in the afternoon there could be heavy bursts from time

time. Stiff, westerly breeze. Tomorrow night, there will be some

showers at first, but temperatures will be a little bit lower. Saturday

morning, Saturday will be a little bit cooler, but going through the

day, fingers crossed, the cloud will break, brighter skies will come.

More detail as you are moving around in the national picture.

We will keep you updated. Now with the National Outlook, Tomasz