13/09/2011 BBC Channel Islands News

Good evening. 18 jobs among a hundred ways to save �20 million -

the detail of Jersey's spending cuts.

Why living costs for pensioners in Guernsey are 40 % higher than the

And as the first tree takes root, the race is on to complete a

What to spend and where to save - that's at the heart of the 2012

business plan which started its passage through Jersey States today.

It outlines the government's spending intentions for the year

ahead. While it includes investing millions, ministers also want to

make over �20 million in savings. Heady spend nearly �700 million of

public money? That is what the business plan set out to do. It may

sound like a huge sum. It is actually �20 million less than last

year, part of a long-term plan to balance the books. The aim is to

deliver �65 million savings, which it promised to deliver over three

years. We are doing it in a way which also improves the delivery of

services to the public. But that means cuts, including losing 18

full-time States posts, joint health initiatives with Guernsey,

reducing sports grants, and the biggest - �10m worth of corporate

savings by rethinking pay and allowances and smarter buying to

provide services. Any organisation needs to become

more efficient. The States is not different. We need to demonstrate

we are efficient, that we are providing services for the least

cost. Today in the States, members debated amendments to the plan,

trying to save some of the cuts. Nearly all of them failed,

including one by Senator Ben Shenton to support the drugs and

alcohol service. We have a major drug and alcohol problem on the

island, which we do not seem to be addressing. The idea is to get

extra money for extra counselling, to save some more lives and get

people on the straight and narrow. There is, though, some investment

planed. Health gets �4.5 million for things like retaining and

recruiting doctors and nurses. And social housing will be improved as

will St Martin's School. There's a lot to discuss as the States

decides how to spend millions of public money. But people will

perhaps find it strange that many of those taking part in the money

debate, will be up for election in A new report has shown the cost of

living in Guernsey is considerably higher than in the UK. Pensioners

and young families are among those struggling to meet the basic cost

of living. Emma Thomas reports. Pensioners in Guernsey enjoying a

game of bingo. It is a rare treat. Many are struggling to meet the

basics. Fruit, meat and clothing. Most of the stuff, the groceries,

have gone up. It is hard to manage. We do not get a lot of money.

report has revealed pensioners need 40% more to live on than their

counterparts in the UK, to meet the basic standard of living for things

like food and rent. It's come as no surprise to many. They do not get

luxuries. They stick to the basics. They do not treat themselves to

some fruit. They have not got the money. Basically, their basic

everyday food to live. The heating, -- with the heating, they have to

cut back on something. The cost of living study looked at what it is

needed to live on, on the island. It means budgets needed by working

age households are typically between 20 and 30% higher.

wouldn't have expected such a big difference. But that's interesting

for us, and it helps us to do further work and come up with

benefit levels. We have not made any decisions. It may come as no

surprise the island can be an expensive place to live, but now

it's official groups like pensioners are hoping politicians

Polls open at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning for people in Sark to folk

macro in the by-election. -- vote. It's the first by-election since

the island's new system of government was introduced in 2008.

Four seats are being contested by six candidates - Paul Burgess,

Rosanne Byrne, John Donnelly, Hazel Fry, Simon Higgins and Stephen

Taylor. Voting takes place at the Island Hall and polls close at six.

Tourism bosses in Guernsey say the island experienced a boom in

visitors this spring. They say 20,000 more people visited the

Baliwick between this January and June, compared with the same period

in 2010. The majority came from the United Kingdom.

Blue Islands is re-instating its Channel Islands to Bournemouth air

link The airline pulled out of the route several years ago. But from

the beginning of November, it will start flying from Guernsey and

Jersey to the south coast airport once again. Flights will run on

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, after another aircraft was bought

by the parent company. A new campaign is being launched

over fears that thousands of women in Jersey aren't getting screened

for cervical cancer. You might soon see this poster all over the island.

The Health Department is worried that 7,000 women aren't having a

smear test every three years. They're particularly appealing to

those who've never been screened. Cervical screening tests, which

most women know as a smear test, detect abnormal changes in the

cervix. If they go undetected and untreated, they can become

cancerous. We want to encourage women to have this test because if

those changes are detected early and treated early, that can prevent

cervical cancer. You're watching the BBC in the Channel Islands.

Later in Spotlight with Simon and Victoria, meet Ferdinand the

footballing robot, recently crowned world champion at the Robo World

After a decade of hitches, the Millennium Town Park in Jersey

seems to finally be coming to life. The first mature tree was planted

at the site in St Helier today, and the whole project is due to be

completed next month. Will it make its deadline? Anisha Shah has been

finding out. Amongst the rubble, the first sign

of life has been injected TV for a car packed side, in a decade. The

Millennium Town Park was supposed to celebrate the millennium. Now,

more than a decade behind schedule, this Acer Rubrum tree is the first

of many to be planted over the coming weeks. It's hoped this will

be the root to new foundations at this site as greenery towers above

St Helier. The Transport and Technical Services Minister,

Constable Mike Jackson, spade in hand, was relieved to see the site

finally taking shape. It's been tarred with concerns about budget,

planning and parking, but work on the building site began earlier

this year. We have developed the park and I am very pleased it is

coming on line. There is furious activity. In the next few weeks it

will become green. We look forward to seeing that. The Minister hopes

the park will be finished by the Now the weather. Good evening. It

looks like we have some reasonable weather and the next few days. We

may see some showers tonight. Some isolated showers tomorrow. On the

whole, a fine day. The reason for the change is the area of low

pressure has moved away. This area of high pressure of the north-west

coast of Portugal and Spain is moving closer. By lunchtime on

Thursday, it is over southern Britain. A week whether from has

moved into northern France overnight. It should be clear on

Thursday. Overnight tonight, some clear skies. Later, the risk of

some showers. They will be widespread by the morning.

Temperatures no lower than 12-13. Tomorrow morning, showers in the

first half of the day. Most of those will disappear. Some sunshine.

Temperatures getting to 17 degrees. Still quite choppy for surface. --

surfers. The forecast for Thursday and Friday and into the weekend is