Latest East of England updates

A £500,000, two-year pilot scheme is to be launched in Suffolk to combat drug dealing and gang violence.

The funding for the scheme was secured after the county’s public sector leaders were told that an estimated 24 drug dealing operations had been identified in Suffolk.

Known as “district lines’’, they operate using mobile phone networks to extend drug dealing activities from London into the county. Thirteen have been identified in Ipswich, eight in west Suffolk and three in the east.

But a report to a meeting of public sector leaders and chief executives said the figures were “probably an underestimate’’ as there was evidence of activity in Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft, Newmarket, Haverhill, Leiston, Stowmarket and Kesgrave.

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Police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore said: “I do think this is a really serious threat to the county. We know there is plenty of evidence of this drug activity which I think has touched every single district and borough in the county.”

Leaders pledged £500,000 because of the need to act quickly and the wider economic impact.

A piece of card signed by The Beatles 55 years ago is expected to fetch up to £1,500 at auction.

Mike Nicholson, from King's Lynn, got the Fab Four's autographs at a concert in Great Yarmouth in 1963.

The business card, which was used by Mr Nicholson when he was a member of a band, will go under the hammer in Stowmarket on Saturday.

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Retired carpenter Mr Nicholson said he was the bassist in a local band called The Pagans when he went to see The Beatles on their first UK nationwide tour.

He said the band knew the stage manager who went to get Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison's autographs for them.

The signed card will be part of Bishop & Miller's toy and music memorabilia auction.

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Nearly 100 flats could be built above the former Marks & Spencer store in Bridge Street. Plans for 98 one and two bedroom units have been submitted to Peterborough City Council by Progressive Property Assets Ltd of Cygnet Park, Hampton.

A swan at the centre of a dramatic mid-blizzard rescue has been released back to her home after being treated by vets.

The female swan had a fishing hook stuck in her beak and tongue but had evaded capture at Bottisham Lock near Cambridge for several days.

She was eventually caught by the RSPCA and the fire service.

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"If she hadn’t have been caught it’s likely she would have eventually died a slow, painful death," said the RSPCA's Jane Folly, who asked Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service if they might be able to bring a rescue boat to help.

The swan was safely captured on 28 February which was "a pretty chilly day" with "blizzard conditions at some points", Ms Folly added.

She was treated at the RSPCA's East Winch hospital in Norfolk and safely released back to the lock earlier this week to return to her partner. They were later reported to be swimming happily together on the river.

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A city centre car park could be demolished and replaced by a hotel under new plans being presented to Cambridge City Council.

Park Street's multi-storey has spaces for 390 cars, but could be replaced by a hotel and an underground car park reducing the available spaces to 225.

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A rolling programme of refurbishments is under way at the car park while further plans for the possible long-term redevelopment of the site are being investigated.

As part of that, a proposal for the hotel will go before the council on 19 March.

The council's Labour leader, Lewis Herbert, said: “The reduction to 60% of current car capacity... meshes with plans to switch thousands more future journeys to public transport and improve local air quality.

"An apart-hotel will also increase the diversity of visitor accommodation to ensure the city can increase the length of stays and local benefit gained compared to one-day tourism."

A museum in Essex is hoping to buy part of a hoard of gold coins found hidden inside a piano in Shropshire.

The 913 gold sovereigns and half sovereigns were wrapped in bags and newspaper, but it's not clear who they belong to.

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The piano was made in London and originally sold to two music teachers in Saffron Walden in 1906.

It was later purchased by a family in the area in the 1980s and they donated it to Bishop's Castle Community College, in south Shropshire, in 2016.

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The coins were found by a piano tuner last year and after being declared treasure were offered up for purchase to the British Museum and the Saffron Walden Museum.

The museum in Essex is now looking to raise £3,000 to acquire 12 coins, along with the packaging they were found in and the piano.

When is a fire not a fire?

When it's a lot of bright orange light bulbs - that's when - as Coastguard volunteers discovered when they were called out to a boat on fire off the Norfolk coast this morning.

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Humber Coastguard alerted the Cromer and Sheringham teams at 02:15 following reports that a vessel was on fire to the east of Sheringham Shoal wind farm.

"On arrival at Cromer, a vessel with bright orange lights could be clearly seen. The vessel concerned is working on the new wind farm," the Coastguard later posted on social media.

There's no smoke without fire, as the saying goes, and although this call-out was logged as being made "with good intent" and the Coastguard teams stood down, on this occasion there was neither smoke, nor fire.