05/03/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

high-level talks to resume the Hello, welcome. The headlines.

From this to this. A six`storey glass`fronted office block will be

built on Jersey's Esplanade. Heritage campaigners say they are

outraged. I did not seriously imagine that a

building of this sort was going to be allowed to be built in this

important gateway position. Voters in Jersey go to the polls in

a by`election for two St Helier districts.

And, the ancient landscape around 10,000 years old that's been

uncovered in Guernsey. Listed buildings along Jersey's

Esplanade will be demolished to make room for this, a multistorey office

block. The island's planning minister has granted permission for

thousands of square metres of office space by local developers Dandara.

Their managing director says the project will create hundreds of

construction jobs, as well as grade A offices. But campaigners are

dismayed at the loss of the island's heritage.

This is the area Dandara have their eyes on. Old, worn, empty buildings.

Well, apart from some pigeons, along Jersey's Esplanade. They wanted to

replace it with this. But it was refused by the Planning Minister.

They've since made some modifications and have come up with

this, a slightly smaller six`storey office block. And it's been given

the thumbs up from the minister It has been modified successfully, and

the objections that were put forward have been taken into account, and I

have come out in favour of the development. But not everyone's

happy about it. One campaigner says it doesn't meet the design guidance

set by the department. One objective is to protect important heritage

buildings on the Esplanade. This consent involves demolishing a

listed building. They also emphasise the importance of maintaining the

grain and texture of St Helier. And making sure that new buildings and

developments integrate into the urban context and character of the

area. In my view, it is impossible to argue that the building for which

we now have consent satisfies those objectives. Let's be frank, it is a

sore thumb. Well, the planning department says it is still

following the general guidelines for the area, and some listed aspects of

the buildings will be preserved But the overall transformation from old

and shabby to chic and shiny is now inevitable, and work could start as

early as next month. Voters in St Helier have been

heading to the polls today for the St Helier districts one and two

by`election. Voting is open until 8pm this evening.

Remind us why a by election was needed.

Voters here have been choosing candidates for two seats vacated by

the former Deputies Trevor and Shona Pitman. Earlier this year, they were

declared bankrupt in the States and so automatically lost their seats.

Five candidates are standing for the seat made vacant by Trevor Pitman in

St Helier number one. They are lawyer Nick Le Cornu, Fort Regent

campaigner Roy Travert, former States Deputy Paul Le Claire,

businessman Gordon Forrest and IT expert Maureen Morgan.

Four people are up for Shona Pitman's seat in St Helier number

two. Reform Jersey campaigner Sam Mezec, St Helier centenier Paul

Huelin, Town Park campaigner Bernie Manning and former St Helier

greffier Ian Philpott. Deputies are elected by district,

but the outcome will affect the whole island, as the winners will

have an equal vote in the States, as all the other members. And all

States seats will be up for grabs again in October, as all of Jersey

goes to the polls for a general election. I'll have the results from

here in St Helier one and two in the late news at 10:25pm.

Join Jen and me later, and you can hear the results announced live on

BBC Radio Jersey with Christina Ghidoni from 8pm this evening.

Meanwhile, in Guernsey, Deputy Lyndon Trott has ruled himself out

of next week's Chief Minister elections. In a statement this

morning, he says he wants to avoid conflict, and believes a sitting

Minister would be the best way to achieve this. That leaves deputies

Allister Langlois and Jonathan Le Tocq as the two runners, with

nominations closing tomorrow at 5pm. Guernsey States' engineer says the

collapse of one of Guernsey's sea walls is unlikely to be down to

water which was being pumped out in the area.

Alderney's top civil servant is resigning. He will be Alderney in

June. In a statement, he said the decision to leave had been

difficult, and he wished his successor well.

Guernsey States' engineer says the collapse of one of Guernsey's sea

walls is unlikely to be down to water which was being pumped out in

the area. There was speculation it had affected the wall's foundations.

Work to secure the area and assess the damage has been taking place.

The Environment Department will now be looking at the cost of a

long`term fix. You are watching the BBC, still

ahead. Find out why they've been making as

much noise as possible in this fishing village.

I am intrigued about that one! In sport, Jersey and Guernsey's

cricket teams are in Malaysia this week for the World Cricket League

Division Five tournament. As these pictures show, Jersey hosted the

Division Six competition last year and won it. They kick off their

campaign against Nigeria tomorrow morning. Guernsey face Cayman

Islands. The top two teams at the end of this week's tournament will

be promoted to Division Four. In other sporting feats in warmer

climes than our own, Jersey runner James Manners is training for the

gruelling Marathon Des Sables. It's a six`day, 156`mile ultra marathon

across the Sahara Desert. James is taking part to raise money for an

African charity, and for what he calls the ultimate running

challenge. I have done a couple of marathons

and half marathons and an ultra marathon. I like my running. This is

the pinnacle of a running race. You cannot get any better than this one.

The best of luck to him, we will let you know how he gets on.

An ancient landscape around 10, 00 years old has been uncovered in

Guernsey. The recent stormy weather has shifted the sand to reveal what

used to be a huge woodland on the island's west coast. Beautiful

sunshine greeted a group of London students in Jersey today.

A beautiful beach on a beautiful day, this is what many people

associate with here. If you look this way, this area has emerged in

the recent stormy weather. We have seen the remnants of an ancient

forest. One person who can tell us more is this former geography

teacher. About 10,000 years ago if you look that way, there would not

have been much to see in the wake of C, it would have been a great

plain, animals, trees, shrubs, bushes, possibly even mankind. Now,

when you come here, it has gone it has disappeared. It is quite unusual

to have wood within peat itself If you go to Scotland, Ireland, the

Somerset Levels, it is not really trees, it is Moss, Heather, small

stuff, which has been compressed. It takes about 1000 years to produce a

decent bed. Here, we have got trees. That is relatively unusual. But a

good storm will clear the sand away and it will reveal the bed, so

people in Guernsey can get up close and have a look at it. It is rare.

As she said, the sand has been swept away, but there is a high

probability that it will return in the summer.

Remarkable pictures. Beautiful sunshine greeted a group

of London students in Jersey today. But they chose to spend the day

underground, looking round the War Tunnels. 33 students from Greenwich

University Business School are visiting the island as part of their

coursework, to study aspects of the island's tourist sector. They'll

present their finding to tourism bosses later this week.

Based on what they have seen and people they have spoken to and the

things they have learned, they will be able to identify what some of the

issues are, maybe some of the gaps, and make recommendations, come up

with some fantastic ideas, hopefully, for the future, and maybe

some things that islanders have not brought about.

And, of course, the nice weather is always a good advert for the Channel

Islands. Is there more of it to come?

I think so. More cloud for tomorrow, but into the weekend, it

looks very promising, and warmer. The chance for things to try out and

for the farmers to get back on the field. At the moment, a reasonable

end to the gate. It will be higher than that in the coming days. More

cloud coming our way through the afternoon, and across Alderney and

Guernsey, it will produce a few spots of gristle or light rain. The

string of weather systems travels up the western coast of Britain, it

will carry on bringing outbreaks of rain here. Further south, the area

of high pressure over France, and it stays there all the way through We

expect a lot of dry weather and fine weather, especially at the weekend.

For tonight, enough clear sky around to get the temperature is pretty

low. What will help hobby temperatures above that will be more

cloud, and slightly more of a breeze developing from the South or

Southwest. Tomorrow, if anywhere keeps hold of sunny spells, it will

be Jersey. Further north, more cloud around.

For the surface, the Surf will not be very big, but usable. On Friday,

a similar day, and a lot of cloud at first, giving a few spots of

drizzle, brighter in the afternoon. The weather front moves away

overnight, Friday into Saturday and Saturday and Sunday, we have not

seen a weekend like it so far, and it will be good next week as well. I

think it will get warmer than that, especially next week, because the

high pressure is here to stay for a while. Good news all round.

I might even get the shorts out We are back at 8pm and 10:25pm. Now,

more from Spotlight. Goodbye for now.

important new tool to tackle that problem. It is hoped more will be

put forward to receive the treatment. Still to come in

Spotlight tonight: What lies beneath the Cornish sand. Work to uncover

what may be the oldest Christian building in the UK. And how to

banish bad spirits into the sea ` the Lenten tradition in one fishing

village. People in Topsham are warning their

only road in could be entirely cut off unless work is carried out to

repair coastal defences. The western bank of the River Clyst was breached

during recent storms, and continues to leak at high tide. Emma Ruminski

reports. This river bank is the only thing

holding back the River Clyst but it is struggling. It was breached in

several places during recent storms live in this area vulnerable during

high tides. Saltwater is blowing `` flowing into the nature reserve but

it is the nearby road that residents are worried about. It has flooded

many times. If these are left to float, we will be removed ruined

down here only able to access our properties on a low tide. The

existing road will in fact become a public causeway. Exeter City Council

owned the Marsh and they lease it as they nature reserve. They say it is

uneconomical to repair this area. The embankment has been breached in

that corner. Rob lives closest and he has already suffered problems. He

says the Environment Agency have told them they will not be fixing

the river bank. We feel there is no long`term plan for the site and we

feel some work should have been done to shore up the wall and we will

have some comfort at least. The RSPB say many make a visit to this area

and it is an important habitat. We getting salt water into a freshwater

system. The birds come over at high tide to feed on the system. We don't

know what effect it is having and we're not yet finding out what will

happen. People are also worried about their property. Will the

Environment Agency fixed the holes? We have a very long list of repairs

that need to be carried out. We have to prioritise those. We have to do

the work where it is of most benefit to people and their houses first.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the Marsh may not be high up that list.

An engineer will report back this week to tell and how much the

repairs will cost and if the scheme is viable. There is still a

possibility that the involved parties will get together to

contribute. In the last couple of hours, Exeter

City Council has announced it will carry out the repairs.

The city council owns the wall in question and we will go ahead and

make the necessary repairs and get the money back from central

government. There will be heavy machinery needed and we need to get

a workforce in place. We have to get on with it as soon as we can to

reassure the residence and the longer we leave it, the longer it

will be to make the repairs. A month on from the violent storm

which destroyed the line at Dawlish, Network Rail has released a time

lapse video of the work that's been done to re`build the sea wall. These

pictures show how shipping containers were put in as a

temporary breakwater to protect the site but even they were swamped

during further storms, delaying the repair works. Since then nearly

5,000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel have been used. A

team of more than 300 engineers have been working around the clock to get

the line open again on the fourth of April before the Easter holidays.

Meanwhile, as that work continues many families still don't know if or

when they'll be allowed home. 12 households are still living in

temporary accommodation. Sophie Pierce has been to meet some of

them. All the work is progressing well, things don't look so good for

Shane. He does know when he will be able to return home and can only get

to his house fire this special walkway. I can't say anything up. It

is not knowing what is going to happen, to know how long you will be

out of the house, to no information coming in. You are left in limbo. At

a local caravan park, Bev Green is in a similar position. It is an

awkward predicament. Until they get the track and all the workings down

the front at the way, they can't get the immunity is back on properly.

Peter is one of the lucky ones. He is worried about the future and says

the sea wall is weaker here because back when the line was built, Brunel

had to make concession to a local landowner. The wall had to be made

considerably lower as the owner of the house didn't want to be

overlooked. Whatever else you do is not going to be sustainable unless

you deal with what is crucially the weak point. If this engineering work

is done to the right specification, I am not worried. I am happy to live

the rest of my life here. Network Rail says it is aware of the

weakness but its priority is to get the line open and look at its

resilience as a whole. Meanwhile, for the people still living in

temporary accommodation, life is in limbo.

Work to uncover St Piran's Oratory is well underway in Cornwall. The

ancient church, which may be the oldest Christian building in the UK,

was buried in sand to protect it in 1980. Legend says it was built at

the place where St Piran first came ashore in Cornwall. Spotlight's

David George has made a St Piran's Day visit to see the work taking

place. Many people still call this the lost

church. In amongst the sand dunes, the four stone walls and arched

doorway on more than 1000 years old and it is likely the remains of an

evil old building a library. Volunteers have been helping the

archaeologists clear hundreds of tonnes of sand by hand. We think

there is a piece of stone work that is probably earlier than the retreat

in origin that might hint at something that is even older than

me Oratory. We need to find it and see what it says. This is the first

time eater 1`macro has been excavated. It was covered in a

massive concrete shell in 1910. This is the lost church. A Spotlight

report and most of the concrete was removed in 1980 and the delicate

site to be buried in sand for its own protection, they said at the

time. The new excavation comes after a lengthy campaign to uncover the

spot where St Piran is said to have come ashore. It is known that he

came over from Ireland. He floated and landed on Perranporth beach.

Here, he built a little place of worship because he wanted to calm

the wild peasants of Cornwall. Did he succeed? No. When they finish,

the building will be temporarily covered until experts decide on its

long`term conservation. The hope is it will be open to visitors in the

future, perhaps on St Piran's Day. We have been talking about pancakes.

Now many families will have enjoyed a pancake or two last night.

We had chicken, bacon and spinach. Lemon and sugar for May. We all know

that particular tradition on Shrove Tuesday, but there's another, you

might not know about. Yes, it's been going on for

generations in Clovelly, it's called Lanshard and is said to rid the

fishing village of all the bad things from the year before. Well

this curious custom got underway at five o'clock last night and our

North Devon reporter, Andrea Ormsby, was there to see it in action. It is

noisy and it is meant to be. This is a riot of sound to banish the bad

spirits into the sea for Lent today. Children tie tin cans to

pieces of string or anything metal, anything that makes a suitable

racket. They have to make as much noise as possible. It is said that

noise scares away the evil spirits and the bad things from the previous

year. For generations, the children of Clovelly have taken part in this

curious custom. It was really loud and something that goes crazy in

your ears. It was scary because if someone came in, the cans go over

your head if you go too fast. It was very fun. Once the cans go into the

harbour, they are thrown into the sea. Don't worry, they are all

collected again and recycled. This tradition has been running in my

family all the years I have lived here. My daughter came out from the

age of two. Now I am out with my granddaughter. I have been doing

this for a very long time. It is something we want to keep going.

Made the blessing of God Almighty be with you all. Well done. When it is

all over, that other little tradition, a pancake for all the

children who took part. That is a way to have a pancake. A

bit of pancake with your cream! David, pancakes in your house?

We love pancakes. Today, I managed to get some washing

on the line. It didn't end up in south Wales and it was dry by the

end of the morning. The forecast for tomorrow is milder. There is some

drizzle in the wind. This great stripe of cloud is where the wet

weather is. The areas of low pressure which we have been getting

so used to travelling across Greenland and weigh up to the north

of Scotland. For us, we have a ridge of high pressure. It is stretching

from Scandinavia down through friends and it is that area of high

pressure that will be around for the next few days. As we move into the

weekend, high pressure comes back. This was the satellite picture from

earlier today. We have a fair amount of cloud coming in and we did have

plenty of sunshine. This was Cornwall where we had blue sky. We

have light winds to start the day. It is a different feel compared to

what we have been used to. Here, we have seen a little bit of cloud

moving in. There is more cloud the further inland we have been. In

Dartmoor, it has been dry. That cloud is thickening and it will

produce some outbreaks of rain. It will move through and by dawn we are

expecting to see some patchy rain and drizzle. Overnight temperatures

not too low. Initially down to four Celsius. They will climb back up to

around nine Celsius. Tomorrow morning, there is a lot of hill fog.

This rain is light and patchy and it is mostly drizzle coming out of the

sky. It does remain with us through much of the day. Temperatures around

11 Celsius. For the Isles of Scilly, it is misty and mild.

Friday is another cloudy day but it brightens up in the afternoon.

Saturday is the better of the two days of the week in the high

pressure is coming back so there is no real rain in the forecast from

Thursday onwards. We see some more cloud for Sunday. Next week, it

might be even warmer than that. I have this image of you hanging the

washing out now. That is at `` that is it for tonight. We leave you with

some of the celebrations taking place across Cornwall today. Good

night.