Inside Out East - 22/11/2010

It's nearly 10 years since the Norfolk and Norwich University opened to a great fanfare. The old dilapidated building has now gone. In its place is a 900-bed state-of-the-art medical centre of excellence. It was the first public project to be paid for by a controversial new scheme called PFI. We reveal what it's really cost us and why it's being described by the hospital's own chairman as a bad deal for taxpayers. As the first patients arrive at Peterborough's own PFI hospital we ask if lessons have been learnt from Norwich. Could the answer to the decline of one of our most popular delicacies lie in Essex? Our native oyster has been breeding in West Mersea since Roman times. But the British native oyster is dying out, to the dismay of fishermen and conservationists, and unfortunately nobody knows exactly why. The most severe decline is in the West, but it is now also affecting beds in the South and Essex. When the Essex village of Althorne near Chelmsford lost its bus service the residents who relied on it were not about to take it lying down. If you are over 90, living on your own and independent, your lifeline is likely to be your local bus service. The bus company First found itself pitted against the might of 80 and 90-year-old campaigners like 92-year-old Laura Darley. Armed with stopwatches and determination they have vowed to get their bus back. But can they win?