04/11/2011 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today. I'm Lynda Hardy. And I'm Rob Smith.

Tonight's top stories: A new hope for the Pfizer site: The drugs

company announce they will now be keeping 650 research scientists

working at Sandwich. She spent �11,000 on a piece of

land she now believes is worthless. A Kent woman warns others of the

risks of getting involved in land bank schemes. Don't do it. Put your

money in the bank. Also in tonight's programme: An

artist's Olympic impression. Margate's Tracey Emin adds her take

to a series of posters marking the 2012 games. It is such a big event.

It doesn't really affect people who were into sport, it has to affect

people universally and culturally. Hoping for a window to success.

new scheme to dress up shops in a bid to boost trade.

And the mysterious and misunderstood seals of the South

East. A new discovery on the Goodwin Sands.

Good evening. The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is to retain an

additional 300 staff at its site in Sandwich. Last February, the

company announced it would pull off the side completely and lose 2,400

skilled jobs. Since then, the site has been renamed it discovery prion

-- Discovery Park. In total, nearly prices many jobs as previously

thought will be retained their. Our political editor reports. These are

the kind of highly skilled scientists who have been at the

cutting edge of science here since the 1950s. Last February, the

company announced it was to Pollard of East Kent with the loss of two

dozen 400 jobs. In June, they pledged to retain 350 staff, now it

has been announced six and and 50 jobs will be saved. When we

announced the move away from the side, we were exploring other

opportunities. We ultimately decided the best option was to

retain those scientists here at Discovery Park. Today's

announcement offers some relief after a lengthy battle to soften

the blow to the south-east's economy. In August, the area became

one of 13 in the UK to be cut -- granted enterprise zone status. It

was awarded �40 million in regional growth funds. We got a grant for

unique discoveries. We want people to enjoy the enormous success that

why they have had in Sandwich. During a visit to the side, George

Osborne said that enterprise zone status would encourage new start-up

businesses and other investors. But despite the optimism, 800 rolls

have already garnered Sandwich, with a further 700 Ross to go,

which means a total of 1,500 redundancies. -- with a further 700

to go. We have been actively working on marketing of this site,

of Discovery Park, in order to find new investors and users of the site,

to ensure that there is a successful moth the company future

here at Discovery Park. It is hoped that Pfizer's decision to retain

staff may encourage more spin-off companies to set up there as well.

Joining us now from Sandwich is the MP for Thanet South Laura Sandys -

some good news, but it is still really only a small slice of silver

lining in a huge black cloud. Some good news, but still only a small

slice of the silver lining? We have got almost 700 jobs bonfires on the

side. It is a great blow to lose so many jobs, but we are starting to

get a critical mass on the site that will actually take us to the

next stage in marketing the site and getting success. Do we know why

Pfizer have decided to do this? think they have looked at their

business model and decided that they need more support staff and

more business staff around the clinical and scientific side, that

they decided to keep on over the summer. I think it now we are in a

situation where, with 700 jobs on the side, we can start to look at

those spin out, former prize the people, look at attracting some a

small businesses. So you think would fight the spending more time

and effort there, the more likely other businesses are to move in?

Absolutely. What is important is that the smaller companies want to

be close to a big pharmaceutical company like Pfeiffer.

Inside Out have a special programme on Monday where they will be

looking at the future of the economy in east Kent after a

fighter. With interest rates at record lows,

some savers struggling to get a good return on their deposits are

taking unnecessary risks with their money by investing in a relatively

worthless but the bland. Trading standards are warning investors to

beware of what is known as land banking schemes, where plots of

land assault with the possibility of planning permission in the

future. Increasingly, that planning permission does not materialise and

investors lose out. This woman is the owner of a plot of land in

Warwickshire which she bought after being called called by a salesman.

She got it would be a good investment for her grandchildren.

That makes sense, that is a good investment. I was so proud I had

done it. The paperwork came through and I was growing. I put it away

and I thought it was lovely. being paid to �11,500 for this plot

of land near Redditch. After she would do it -- receive the

paperwork, it was obvious to her that she would get planning -- that

she would not get planning permission. I thought it would be

lovely to have something to give the grandchildren when they are all

do. I felt violated, I felt like I had been stolen from. I had

discovered that the company which ultimately sold the land to Vivien

was investigated by the Insolvency Service in May this year. They

found that the company caused it customers to purchase the plots of

land at an excessive owner of -- over value, when they ought to have

known that there with little prospect of the land achieving

planning permission for residential development. As a result of this

investigation, those behind the company were disqualified as

directors. Just as you have a cold call are coming to your door to do

building work, don't trust anybody who calls for a good investment.

They don't go around writing to people or trying to get customers

in that way. The Purchaser will only use the land for farm land.

The Insolvency Service and -- estimates of that it has cost a lot

of money for those affected. In a moment: A tall order.

Campaigners commence battle to save Richborough's cooling towers from

demolition. Two people have been arrested in connection with an

elaborate bomb hoax which brought Canterbury city centre to a

standstill in August. A 41-year-old woman and a 52-year-old ban foreign

custody after police appealed for help on Crimewatch last night. One

suspicious package was found near railway line and another discovered

after a fire in a baby-changing room at Marks & Spencer.

Police are revisiting the scene of an attack in Sussex after a 15-

year-old boy was critically injured. Mohammed Bourner had been to a

beach party before he was punched in the La Warr Parade last Monday.

A man was rescued from the C 17 miles south of Eastbourne last

night. A lifeboat was called out to help search for the young man. He

needed hospital treatment after a spending half an hour in the water.

He probably would have died if his life jacket had not had a light on

A new scheme in Brighton and Hove is giving small shops advice in

using attractive window displays to boost trade. They are calling it

Dressed For Success and it is backed by the local council. It

provides training for shops ahead of what they are hoping will be a

The High Street was hit hard by the recession. Many shops crumbled

under the economic pressure. Even the government was seeking advice

from at retail guru Mary porters. You could have a dressing room

scene where she was getting ready... Now independent ride -- retailers

are fighting back as well. Christmas is a really big time.

Windows provide a huge opportunity for retailers, not just to attract

customers but to actively drive sales and create that trust with

the brand. Really create a wow factor for customers at Christmas.

This council backed scheme is helping retailers to maximise their

window displays ahead of the Christmas season. Just to have

support and ideas from outside of your normal working day, that is

just great. The most useful was pointing out little things where we

are going wrong, signs in the window over that we didn't have,

some people like to know how much things cost before they come in.

More than 30 retailers in Britain have signed up to this scheme.

love the colour and a century in the windows. The shop has been open

only 10 weeks but its location of the main shopping strip means its

windows have to catch the eye of everyone who walks past. We made

the classic mistake appointing all our display in front of the window,

when actually, people are walking away and past a building, so we

need to ankle I despise. The retail world is constantly moving. Keeping

up with it is the difference between cashing up and closing down.

-- we need to angle it. Is this really going to help retailers?

Shop windows are there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The trick is

capturing people's attention. The British high street, the figures

aren't looking good. Bacon shops have doubled in numbers in the last

two years. -- vacant shops. The trick will be measured in profit.

Thank you. Drugs company Pfizer have announced they will be keeping

an additional 300 jobs open at their site in Sandwich. It means in

total the pharmaceutical giant will keep 650 scientists at the

Discovery Park. The government granted the site Enterprise Zone

status after the company announced they were pulling out completely

last February. Also in tonight's programme, very

high stakes indeed. A Kent's man Vegas poker gamble, with a minimum

prize of nearly �200,000. And we have had some heavy, blustery

showers today. Will it be dry for You might not think a group of

giant concrete chimneys would excite a great deal of love, but a

group of people in East Kent have vowed to fight plans to demolish

the towers at Richborough Power Station. Locals have described them

as a landmark in the area and a monument to 1960s industry. On the

east coast of Kent near Sandwich, they've been out of use since 1996.

Now managers of the site want to demolish them to make way for a

green energy park. Our environment correspondent, Yvette Austin, has

tonight's special report. It has been part of the landscape

for 50 years. For local photographer, Annie, it is a

passion. The wonderful thing about the powers is that they move. When

you think they are on your left, you go down in the car, and

suddenly, they are on your right. They change were the weather. They

become at mysterious in the autumn. They are fantastic. Richborough

Power Station opened in 1962, and for the next 40 years, boiled oil

and coal. Much of the Power Station has been reduced to a shelf. Some

say, they are a monument -- monument to 1960s industry, others

argue they are an eyesore. powers are beautiful objects in

their own right. They are sublime. They help people to navigate.

People feel like they are coming home. It will be nice to see them

go. They are a bit of a blot on the landscape. It would be fun watching

them come down. The last major demolition of such a

construction happened near Sheffield in 2008. A similar

spectacle is planned for Richborough to make way for green

energy park, turning waste into heat for local homes and businesses,

and PoW for the National Grid. don't have any historical

significance. They are structurally unsound. We are also tried to

create jobs for the area, so bringing them down brings the side

back into use, and hopefully, we will be able to put something else

that becomes a monument for the future. A public consultation has

just closed. It is well up to local councillors to decide their fate.

They are perhaps the least understood of Britain's seal

populations, and now, the mysterious seals of the South East

coast have been investigated. In the return of Autumnwatch to BBC

Two, wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones took a helicopter to

the Goodwin Sands in the Channel to put the seals under the spotlight.

Over 1,000 ships and more lives have been lost here. Offshore

sandbanks stretching 12 miles. The pressure is on, but as the tide

comes in, it is desolate desert island which turns to quicksand,

been engulfed by the sea. I found at our first seals, look!

They are just down here, by the serve. These are grey seals. There

is no doubt about it. They have parallel nostrils running down

their nose. It is an absolute giveaway.

It looks like a group of males with their long, white noses and dainty

looking females. But, there is something that doesn't add up. The

seals just can't be breeding here. This is the tidal sand bank, and

every few hours it is covered by water. They would be washed away.

The helicopter is returning. One of the very few local people looking

at these animals is this man. think these are non breeding

populations. They are trying out their interactions. So this is like

a youth club? I think it is! I was expecting to see some common seals

out here, but they don't seem to be any at all. Common seals have not

actually been a very common. Finding that the grey seals has

been a revelation. However, I have had a tip-off about more seals on

the mainland, and that is where I am headed.

To find out the answer, you'll need to catch up with Autumnwatch

tonight at 8:30pm on BBC Two. The official Olympic posters were

unveiled today, among them, a design by Tracey Emin. She says her

work will not make you think about sport immediately, but symbolise

"freedom and strength". On the one side, the new Olympic

poster designed by some of our top artists come on the other, press

and public. I like the circles. doesn't look very sporty to make,

that one. Each one a, an individual take on those iconic posters of

past Olympic Games. Many critical eyes were focused on what Tracey

Emin would offer to the party. has to affect people universally

and culturally, not just people into sport. I thought put in a

cultural love letters would be good. She designed her poster for the

Paralympics. She says she is a big supporter of both culture and sport,

at least in the armchair. I watch a lot of the track events, I love the

marathons, and I watch a lot of Paralympics, especially the

swimming. I like to watch it at home, on the TV. I have got some

tickets. From the comfort of her chair, perhaps, she may have the

satisfaction of thinking her art has drawn crowds to the real thing.

Lots of opinions I am sure will be Brighton will have to wait until

Sunday to try and end their ten- match run without a win but all the

other top teams are in action tomorrow. Charlton and Crawley and

both enjoying a rich vein of form but Gillingham could do with a win.

Our sports reporter, Neil Bell, joins us from Chatham, and Neil,

the Gills will run into a former player tomorrow? Yes, they do. The

player in question is Adebeyo Akinfenwa. He did a decent job up

front for the Gills last season before returning to Northampton,

and he will fancy his chances tomorrow at the Priestfield Stadium

against a Gills defence that has managed just one clean sheet in

their last 12 games. We have got to be harder to black. That is the

whole team. We have got to do better. That is something, if we

can get a better, then that can only help us get more results.

Brighton and Hove Albion are investigating whether the Amex

pitch could be to blame for a mounting injury crisis at the club.

The Seagulls take on Barnsley on Sunday afternoon, looking to win

for the first time in nine League matches. Gus Poyet insists his

Championship team will not abandon their passing game against the

visitors. Manager Chris Powell says Wright-Phillips is settled at the

Addicks, who take on Preston at the Valley on Saturday.

Crawley boss Steve Evans, who has just won the League Two Manager Of

The Month award, takes the Reds to Hereford knowing victory could take

them back to the top of the table. Kent County Cricket Club say they

are delighted and a little surprised by the number and quality

of applications for the post of head coach. Paul Farbrace left the

St Lawrence Ground in September after two years in the job

following a disappointing season which saw Kent finish second from

bottom in the County Championship. We always felt we would get a good

list of people, and that has proved to be the case. The next challenge

will be how we run a process with people all around the world that is

fair and gets a to the right person. But I am excited.

Dozens of the world's greenest cars have lined up in Brighton this

afternoon for a rally called the Future Car Challenge. In the

biggest event of its kind, the cars are driving to London's Regent

Street using as little energy, and with as few emissions, as possible.

Win or lose, it will be the game of a lifetime. He's only 22, but a

student-turned-professional poker player from Herstmonceux called Sam

Holden stands to take home least �190,000 this weekend. And if he

can actually win the World Series of Poker Championship, he will

pocket more than �2 million. That's not bad for someone who's only been

playing for little over a year! Well, Sam is in the home of poker,

Las Vegas, and he joins us live from there now. How are you

feeling? Very excited. I am in Las Vegas and walking through all the

casinos. You are going to be winning, even if you lose?

Absolutely. We are down to the final nine now. The worst I can do

is a ninth. I will be pretty happy with the experience, whatever

happens. You have only been playing for just over a year. How did you

get into it? I had been playing for over a year professionally. I have

been playing since university, and it helped to fund some of my

studies. I really enjoyed the game, and build my way up. When I

graduated, I was able to turn professional. We wish to the best

of luck. Nearly �200,000. All you spend money on? Hove Philippe,

towards my first flat or house. -- hopefully. Best of luck to give. I

am sure we will have a chat with We have had some blustery, heavy,

slow moving showers. Tomorrow, though, we are seeing it further

heavy rain. It will be increasingly dry as we move into Saturday night.

Today, these blustery, heavy showers had been drifting

northwards. Particularly heavy and Sussex. In the afternoon, pretty

damp and a good deal of cloud cover around. Those southerly winds,

still pretty breezy bus stop top temperatures still mild but this

time of year: 15 degrees. Tonight may well be the best night for

fireworks. More in the way of clear skies as we move through the night,

and a mild picture as well. Temperatures staying in double

figures. Not dropping below ten degrees. Unfortunately, as we move

into Saturday, we have got there is heavy rain that gross breading

north-westwards. The winds will be swinging towards a north direction.

Temperatures a little bit down on today, ranging between top-five

until 14 degrees. We this unsettled weather, it will be more cool than

the numbers suggest. -- top-14 degrees. By tomorrow night, if you

are planning fireworks, it will be a damp and breezy night. That rain

clearing eventually. Temperatures getting down to lows of around ten

degrees. As we move into Sunday, it will be a cloudy, and what they

cool field. Top temperature of 30 degrees. And looking ahead, it will

be increasingly settled as we move into the new week. -- 13 degrees. I