Unison has condemned the appointment of a private company to run the NHS patient transport service in Suffolk and parts of Norfolk.

The decision comes just weeks after Essex-based Private Ambulance Service, which operated in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, went bust, leaving patients stranded and staff unpaid.

Unison regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said it was "beyond belief" that the clinical commissioning groups, which handed out the contract, were prepared to take on a private firm, E-Zec Medical Transport.

In 2014 there were complaints about the service provided by E-Zec in Dorset. At the time it said it was striving to make improvements.

Mr Jenkinson said: "The private sector has shown time after time that it is incapable of running NHS services.

"We cannot continue having our vital public services handed over to the lowest cost bidder in the hope they won't mess it up."

Wayne Spedding, operations director at E-Zec, said the contract showed "our service quality is being noticed in other parts of the country", adding it was the "largest and most consistent private ambulance service in the UK".

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Ipswich and East Suffolk, West Suffolk, and Great Yarmouth and Waveney clinical commissioning groups, said the process to appoint a new provider had been "rigorous and in-depth".

A former police officer who conned his former business partner and the taxman out of £140,000 has failed to overturn his convictions.

Ben Staff, 38, of Lucas Court, Norwich, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Norwich Crown Court in January.

He'd been found guilty of eight fraud-related charges at two previous trials.

The court heard that Staff, who'd resigned from Norfolk Police in 2008, used his connections to gain his victims' trust.

At the Court of Appeal today his lawyers argued that jurors at his trial in December 2016 should not have been told that he'd been found guilty of various offences at his trial in March.

Mr Justice Holroyde said he was satisfied the "convictions are safe" and dismissed the appeal.

Two men have been charged after three people were stabbed in Great Yarmouth on Wednesday.

Police were called to St Peter's Road shortly after 21:30 to reports of a street fight involving a number of people.

Three people were taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston for treatment for knife wounds. All have since been released.

Two men from the town, aged 20 and 21, were arrested and have now been charged with three counts of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.

They remain in police custody and will appear before magistrates tomorrow.

Cyclists have the chance to explore sections of Norwich's Northern Distributor Road before any motorists do.

The stretch between the A1067 Fakenham Road and the Drayton Lane roundabout is to open for just one day, on Sunday, as part of the Norfolk Walking and Cycling Festival.

This part of the road is not due to open to traffic until November.

John Birchall, public liaison officer for the bypass, said there had been many requests to run or cycle on the main carriageway before it opened to vehicles.

Runners will get their opportunity when the last sections of the route, north of Postwick, nears completion next Spring.

Non-emergency ambulance services in Suffolk and parts of Norfolk are going to be run by a new operator.

The service, currently run by the region's NHS ambulance trust, will be taken over by E-zec Medical Transport, external in April next year.

Health bosses signed a five-year contract with the firm to transport patients who have a medical condition which means they cannot use any other transport without risking their health.

Existing staff at the East of England Ambulance Service say they are concerned about their future, but have been told they will be supported by unions during the change.

Work to provide traffic calming in Weston Longville, ahead of the opening of the Northern Distributor Road, will see a road in the village closed from Monday for six weeks.

The Honingham Road, Church Street and Marl Hill Road stretch through the village will be shut, with a marked diversion in place.

Norfolk County Council says access to properties within the closure will be available on request at the points of closure. School buses will be allowed through to reduce disruption to pupils.

The traffic calming measures include road narrowings, improved passing bays on Marl Hill Road and a 20mph speed limit throughout the village.

Diss Express

A campaign to save an historic village pub has reached a big milestone, external after the building's purchase was agreed in principle.

Image source, Diss Express

Norfolk's mental health services for children and young people are being redesigned.

The county council and the local NHS commissioners say the current system doesn't meet the needs and rising demand being placed on it.

According to their own estimates, only about a third of the under 18s with mental health problems get the help they need.

Image source, Mike Page

A consultation, external on future changes runs until 12 November.

Tim Ayres, from Norfolk County Council's children's services department, says it's determined to get it right.

"We're getting quite a lot of feedback. We want more, and it's really really important that people engage in this consultation and discussion," he said.

"We have to design services from the end users' point of view otherwise we risk getting it terribly wrong."

Former Norfolk school girl, external Olivia Colman is taking on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the third and fourth seasons of royal period drama The Crown, Netflix has confirmed.

The Broadchurch star, 43, who went to Gresham's at Holt, will take over the reins from the programme's current leading star Claire Foy, who played the Queen in the first season and is to return in the forthcoming second season.

Image source, PA

...well, we've found out that an attempted break-in is being investigated in the city.

Police say they were called to Castle Meadow at about 10:00.

We'll bring you further details as and when we get them.

Great Yarmouth's Marina Leisure Centre could be pulled down, with a new sports centre built on land next door.

It's one of several options that borough councillors are due to look at next week.

Image source, Google

The multimillion-pound scheme could see several businesses nearby flattened, including a crazy golf course.

Billy Daniels, who owns the course, thinks the plans are terrible.

"They're proposing to turn the existing site into a car park," he said.

"Now why would you build more car parks right in the middle of the seafront when in actual fact you want leisure attractions, not car parks?

"Car parks don't draw tourists."

Work to complete the Northern Distributor Road (NDR) around Norwich has been held up by the discovery of some mysterious pipes.

They were uncovered at the new junction with Wroxham Road, near Rackheath.

Green Lane West was due to close this weekend to connect a new junction, but the mystery discovery means this now won't go ahead.

NDR spokesman John Birchall says they have no idea what the pipes are, and they can't carry on regardless.

"We have to treat them as 'live'... you have to find out what it's doing, whether it's just something that's been in the ground for years and hasn't been used for years or whether it's actually still a private supply of some sort that we've then got to divert... either way, it's causing a delay and frustration." he said.

But it's better news for the western end of the new dual carriageway, which will run from Postwick to the A1047.

A date has been set for the opening from the A1067 Fakenham Road to A140 Cromer Road - Saturday, 11 November.

Police are appealing for witnesses to a collision between a car and a motorcyclist.

It happened shortly before midday, in Summer Road, Hepworth.

The male motorcyclist sustained injuries and has been taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital.

Summer Road and Clay Lane were closed at the junctino of the A143 following the collision, but have now reopened.

If you saw a police pursuit on the A47 this morning, officers would like to hear from you.

A grey coloured Ford Mondeo failed to stop for roads policing officers at around 09:45 on the A47 Acle Straight, heading east towards Great Yarmouth.

The vehicle was last seen going in the direction of Bradwell, on Gapton Hall Road, where the pursuit was aborted for safety reasons.

The Prime Minister Theresa May has been in south Norfolk today to coincide with the publication of a new report on mental health.

The document, called Thriving At Work - The Stevenson/Farmer Review of Mental Health And Employers - was commissioned by the government.

She went to a construction site in Old Buckenham, where a school is being built by a company which says it takes the issue of mental health among its workers very seriously.

Image source, PA

Mrs May says employers have an important role to play.

A Lowestoft man has been sentenced to eight months in prison, for viewing indecent images on the internet, despite being banned from doing so.

Nathan Coleman, 24, of Suffolk Road, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court earlier today.

He had admitted the charge at an appearance before magistrates in Great Yarmouth last month.

A plan to use hundreds of tonnes of sand to protect the coastline, external from Bacton to Walcott has been given £500,000 raised from business rates.

North Norfolk District Council wants to use a technique called "sandscaping" to improve the sea defences, and it would also protect the Bacton gas terminal.

The total cost of the scheme is estimated to be between £17m and £19m.

Image source, Geograph/Malcolm Tebbit

Norwich Evening News

The front page of the Norwich Evening News, external: Club launches probe as boxer suffers racism from a fellow Canaries fan.

Image source, Archant

The last commercially wind-operated mill in Norfolk has been added to the register of the most "At Risk" buildings in the East of England.

Billingford Windmill, near Scole, closed in 1956.

It's made its way on to the Historic England list, external because parts of the five-storey tower are structurally unsound, it has water leaks, and needs structural repairs before the restored cap and sails can be reinstated.

Two churches also make their way on to the register, external.

All Saints in North Runcton, which is a complete 1713 rebuilding of a medieval church on the site, is suffering with damp and poor drainage.

Image source, Historic England

The historic features of the Church of St Mary in North Tuddenham are threatened by a leaking roof and poor ground drainage.

Historic England says more than half the places that were either removed to added to the register this year are in Norfolk.

Image source, Google

The archaeological site of Moot Hall, Wymondham, a large medieval ring motte, has been added to the list.

West Acre Priory, which was once one of Norfolk's largest Augustinian Priories, and dates from the mid-12th Century, has been removed from the list.

Image source, Google

Four churches have also been taken off the list, including those in Honing, East Lexham, Reepham (pictured), and Old Costessey.

Image source, Google

The information has been released by Historic England.

Spokesman Simon Buteux says the register helps them target resources to the sites that are most threatened.

Two men have been arrested following a stabbing in Great Yarmouth last night.

Police were called to St Peter's Road shortly after 21:30 following reports of a street fight involving a number of people.

Three people with knife wounds, one serious and two minor, were taken to the James Paget University Hospital for treatment.

Two men, aged 20 and 21, were detained by officers at an address in St Peter's Road and remain in custody for questioning.