A proposed "expressway" between Oxford and Cambridge may cost up to £3.5bn, the government says.

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

We often hear about the NHS struggling to meet targets, but that's not the case today.

The ambulance service has responded to 80.6% of its highest priority R1 calls within eight minutes. 

That's above the national target of 75%. Those calls include cardiac arrests and patients not breathing. 

AFC Wimbledon and non-league Barrow provide the main stories in Sunday's FA Cup second-round action - relive it all here.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

Calls for a "more robust tax" on empty dwellings have been made as it emerges there could be more than 1,300 unoccupied homes in the city, reports the Cambridge News, external. 

A small store has made a direct appeal to the public for custom, after a relocation caused sales to plummet by 30%, according to the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, external. 

And the Wisbech Standard, external reports that police have warned motorcyclists to "expect the unexpected" on the roads. The message comes after a coroner heard two cases yesterday in which motorcyclists from Soham and King's Lynn died on the county's roads.

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

So far today, community first responders from the East Anglian Ambulance Service have attended to 16 patients in the East of England.

The service as a whole has been called to 176 patients who have had falls today, and attended 22 road traffic collisions.

So far the service has had call-outs for 18 cardiac arrests.

Just another day...

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

As of 13:00 today, the East of England Ambulance Service has received 1,223 emergency calls:

• 115 in Bedfordshire
• 169 in Cambridgeshire
• 383 in Essex
• 229 in Hertfordshire
• 177 in Norfolk; and
• 150 in Suffolk

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

A health and safety war is brewing on an unadopted road in St Neots.

First reported in The Sun, external, residents of West Street are being asked to wheel their bins to the end of the road for collection - or possibly face a financial penalty.

Huntingdonshire District Council, external is asking locals to sign indemnity forms to pay for any damage to lorries or injuries to bin collectors because of the potholes.

Image source, Google

Robin Carter, executive member for environment, street scene and operations, said: "West Street is not maintained and is in a poor condition. It has a hardcore surface with huge potholes that are getting worse. 

"We want to continue to collect refuse from West Street, but in order to do this the council has asked residents to sign an indemnity to agree that should any damage be caused by our heavy refuse vehicles they would not pursue the council for compensation."

But residents think the 200-yard (183m) stretch should be looked after by the council in the first place.

Barry Chapman, deputy mayor of St Neots, described the situation as "absolutely ludicrous". 

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

One of the things that's most striking about today is the social care that the East of England Ambulance Service crews provide.

They spent an hour and a half with Larry, who needed his wound glueing after he fell and banged his head on a radiator.

They then called social services, relatives, the GP, the sheltered housing unit and spoke to a neighbour.

It all takes time. It's their responsibility not to leave until they are sure he is OK.

We hope Larry is back to his old self soon.

BBC Weather Watchers

Jack Frost has been dancing round the county overnight.

But that's good news for our merry band of snappers braving the cold to send us these beautiful pictures.

Image source, EBB&FLOW / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, AJW / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, GINNY / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, WENDO68 / BBC Weather Watchers

It's going to stay cold for much of the day, with temperatures not edging beyond 5C (41F). 

So wrap up warm out there. BBC Weather has the full forecast here.

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

Up until 10:00 today, the East of England Ambulance Service received 771 emergency calls. Of those, 24 were R1 calls and 289 were R2s. 

An R1 or red 1 is a very serious call where a patient has suffered a cardiac arrest or stopped breathing. Two resources should be dispatched to these incidents where possible.

R2 is all other life-threatening emergencies and requires a response in eight minutes. 

Here's how they break down by county:

Seventy-six for Bedfordshire, 118 for Cambridgeshire, 219 in Essex, 139 in Hertfordshire, 113 in Norfolk and 106 in Suffolk.

Busy morning!

Martin Barber
BBC News

As our day with the East of England Ambulance Service crew continues, we're with Larry, who had a fall at his home in Watton.

As you can see he's doing fine now. He slipped off his push-along walker and banged his head on a radiator.

He was about to be picked up to go shopping when a taxi driver found him and called the ambulance service.

Larry says he was a rear gunner in a Lancaster and ran 42 missions in his plane, called Olivia.

He's really apologetic for having "bothered" the ambulance crew⁠⁠⁠.

"I feel a bloody nuisance at the moment," he said. "You've got people who are seriously ill."

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

Forget halfpennies and bottle tops - imagine your metal detector beeping at this bit of bling...

Image source, Dominic Lipinski/PA

It's a Bronze Age "torc", or collar, and weighs 732 grams (1.6lb) of pure gold. It's thought to be about 3,000 years old.

Found near the historic Must Farm site on the edge of Peterborough, the British Museum, external estimates it's one of the most extraordinary pieces of its kind ever found. 

Most torcs were worn around the neck, but this one is wider than an extra-large man's waistline. 

The thinking is it might have been worn by a heavily-pregnant woman for protection, or even draped around an animal.

The torc is still being valued, but Ely Museum, external is hoping to acquire it.

The East of England Ambulance Service is hoping its taking part in a trial to improve response times will also lead to the target system being reviewed.

Kevin Brown, director of service delivery, said: "With the eight minute target, if we see someone within seven minutes and 59 seconds, it's seen as a success and if we get there at eight minutes and one second, then it's a failure, regardless of the outcome for the patient.

"What we would like to see as a measure is the outcome for the patient." 

Andrew Woodger
BBC News

As part of a trial, the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) control room operators are to get an extra 240 seconds to assess 999 calls.

It's an attempt to reach the eight minute response time target.

Kevin Brown, EEAS director of service delivery, said: "It's allowing us to target the right resource to the right patient. We have an extra 240 seconds to respond to that from the time of the call."

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

Cambridgeshire's Football Association has reassured parents and families that there is now a safe environment for the "10,000 young players in the grassroots game". 

It follows a Cambridgeshire Police statement revealing it's been made aware of "multiple historical allegations from the NSPCC of abuse related to football in Cambridgeshire".

Today the MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, described the news as "very sad".

He said parents today should feel reassured that tougher safeguarding procedures are now in place compared to decades ago. 

Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Dotty McLeod, he paid tribute to the "brave people who have come forward and made it possible for others to come forward too".

He said he'd spoken to senior officials at Cambridge United, external last night, which was named in the allegations along with Peterborough United. 

Cambridgeshire Police, external is the latest English police force to receive allegations after a number of professional players from other parts of the country waived their right to anonymity to reveal they were abused as youngsters.

Martin Barber
BBC News

John has been telling me that only about 8-10% of the workload with the East of England Ambulance Service crew is dealing with traumas. The rest is acute medical emergencies and care of the elderly, as we're an ageing population.

We're just approaching the hospital - it's taken about 25 minutes.

We're in no hurry as our patient is stable and comfortable. Upon arrival at the N&N the patient will be given an X-ray and ECG. 

It's not yet possible to take an X-ray on the ambulances, but some of the vehicles do have ultrasound facilities.

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

Sharon is 40 years old. She's a student paramedic and a qualified emergency medical technician. Before that she worked for a pub management company.  

Being a paramedic is her dream job. She likes the variety of the job and meeting new people. The East of England Ambulance Service really needs people like her, as it has a real shortage of paramedics.

John says his age is "just a number". He's been working as a paramedic for 24 years and did 13 years with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. He now works part-time and says "it's all about the patients". 

"It's about making a difference, not just about the worse case scenarios but those social care cases, the care of the elderly and helping to create care pathways'," he said.

Robby West
BBC Look East

The reason our reporters are out on an ambulance today is because the BBC is looking at the current state of the services around the country.

New figures collected by the BBC show the percentage of calls to the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) that took more than 12 minutes to respond to has risen from 14% to 22% since 2013 - the second highest in the country. 

Emergency calls to the ambulance service are broken down into red 1 calls, covering patients who are not breathing and don't have a pulse, and red 2 calls for patients in a serious condition but who are less immediately time critical, such as those who have had a stroke or fit.

Since 2013, EEAS has responded to 208,136 red 1 and red 2 calls that took over 12 minutes to respond to.

In our region, average response times for red 1 calls have increased from six minutes 39 seconds to seven minutes 30 seconds.

Average response times for red 2 calls have increased from seven minutes 12 seconds to nine minutes 17 seconds.

Martin Barber
BBC News

These units are integral in helping the ambulance teams with diagnosis. They can also send data directly to the hospital, so by the time the patient arrives the hospital already has a full set of observations.

The units cost about £17,000, and the East of England Ambulance Service has about 400 of them.

They are based in ambulances and rapid response vehicles.