04/02/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening, the headlines on BBC Newsline. The shake-up that will

make it harder for out of town shopping centres to get planning Two

men are jailed over the death of this police officer in a car crash.

Two men are jailed over the death of this police officer in a car crash.

A petrol bomb attack near the former Quinn headquarters cuts off phone

and internet services for hundreds of people. Also on the programme: We

look at how local newspapers are facing up to the challenges of the

digital age. As Six Nations silverware comes to Lisburn, we ask

a lion if they can do three in a row? And the next batch of wet and

windy weather is set to hit the shores tonight. I will be back with

a weather forecast. Major changes to the planning system are likely to

make it harder for out-of-town shopping developments to get

approval. A new policy by the Department of Environment will be

welcome news for town centres that have seen a big drain in business

over many years. This move and others are part of a shake-up which

will see local councils take control of most planning powers next year.

With the details here's John Campbell.

Town centres have suffered years. Figures suggest Carrickfergus has

suffered more than most. Research with the Department of the

Environment suggests one in five shops here are. The recession would

have played a part, and internet shopping. What about the decision by

Tesco to move further out-of-town? And the huge Abbey Centre is minutes

away. A retailer is bucking the trend. He has a new shop but is

aware of problems. This new policy aims to help shopkeepers like this

in places in Carrickfergus to make it tougher for big developments

out-of-town to get planning permission. The policy can be summed

up as town centres first. It says... Does this mean a blanket ban on

out-of-town development? It is not putting a moratorium on out-of-town

development from here on but it is important policy should look at how

we can revitalise city and town centres, which are suffering badly.

The policy was welcomed by the body that represents independent

retailers. But with some supermarket chains implying they have the big

stores they need already, is this too late? We have campaigned for

this for a dozen years. It will give new protection to town and city

centres and encourage large retailers to locate in the centres

where they will add to the vibrancy of the centres. This move could

throw big plans into doubt. A proposal to bring John Lewis to an

out-of-town site at Sprucefield is now more unlikely. Last year the

chain withdrew plans and has shown no rush to come up with a new

proposal. The intention to protect town and city centres rings planning

policies into line more with England. They have had this policy

for more than a year. There are questions that -- about whether

councils have applied the policy properly. The focus will soon be on

their decisions, also. The jury in the trial of three men

accused of a catalogue of sex offences against children will begin

considering its verdict tomorrow. The alleged victims are a brother

and sister who say they were abused by their father, uncle and a family

friend during the 1990s. Today the court in Coleraine heard the closing

speeches of defence barristers for two of the accused. The judge then

gave legal direction to the jury. The men face 56 charges which

include rape, indecent assault, gross indecency and cruelty. Two men

who had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs were today jailed for

their part in the death of a police officer almost a year ago. Constable

Philippa Reynolds was killed when her Police car was hit by a stolen

vehicle. Members of her family heard the judge describe the defendants as

cowards who'd been engaged in an act of serious recklessness. Here's

Keiron Tourish. Philippa Reynolds was described as

popular and friendly, committed to serving the community. Her car was

hit by a stolen vehicle on the 9th of February last year. 26-year-old

Shane Christopher Frane admitted charges including manslaughter.

Conor Tyrone Clarence Admitted aggravated vehicle taking causing

death. They had been drinking heavily and had consumed a large

amount of drugs. The judge said nothing he could say today could

take away from what he described as the terrible loss suffered by the

family of Philippa Reynolds. He said the two had been involved in grave

offending. And they had cared not a jot that the implications of what

they have been doing. Involved in a daylong range of drink and drugs.

Frane Was driving as -- at 80 mph, which the judge said was reckless.

He said they had behaved like cowards. The driver was given an

indeterminate sentence. Clarence was given a three and a half year

sentence and half of that will be spent in prison. The family of

Philippa Reynolds, back included her parents, and her sisters, sat

quietly in the public gallery as the judge handed down sentences. After,

a senior officer paid tribute to Philippa Reynolds. It is a tragic

loss. She was a vivacious young lady. She was very good at her job

and she is missed on a daily basis by those people in her section and

by the wider police community. I have rarely heard so many positive

comments about an individual, from the community and the police. The

family thank everybody for their support. There is plenty to come on

the programme, including what the future holds for local newspapers in

this internet age. Telephone and broadband services in County

Fermanagh have been affected by a petrol-bomb attack near the

headquarters of the former Quinn Group. Two BT cabinets in Derrylin

were destroyed. Julian Fowler has the story.

Another attack, apparently aimed at the communications network of the

event 's group. These BT cabinets opposite the company headquarters --

Aventus. Men were seen at 9:15pm last night. It appears boxers were

pushed over before petrol bombs were thrown. BT said there was

significant damage. The people who carried this out may have wanted to

attack the company, but, once again, the consequences of their

actions were felt in the wider community. Several hundred customers

lost telephone and broadband. It is the latest in a series of attacks on

properties formerly owned by the Quinn family, whose business empire

collapsed in 2011. The company is not commenting on the incident. The

attacks have been condemned. The first minister, Peter Robinson,

has said Protestants are free to learn any language they choose

including Irish. At the weekend, a senior Orangeman - George Chittick -

said Protestants who learn Irish are playing into, what he called, a

Republican agenda. playing into, what he called, a

whatever language they wish and to practice whatever language they

wish, and no one should attempt to indicate they are right or wrong in

doing it. It is a perfectly legitimate right for people to

uphold. Do you disagree with the comment? I would agree with the

official statement. Still to come.

How concerned should rugby fans be that captain Paul O'Connell sat out

the training session? We will be live in Lisburn. A Japanese car

parts firm, Ryobi, has announced an expansion in the workforce at its

factory in Carrickfergus. The ?32 million investment will mean an

extra 100 jobs. Ryobi Aluminium Castings, based just

outside Carrickfergus. They manufacture special car parts of the

European market. Most of the ?32 million comes from the company, with

investor Northern Ireland giving just over 2 million. The money will

be spent on the she -- machinery, to allow the expansion of its product

range. We will increase output by 25%, a big step in one year, and we

will see to increase in next five years. Our volume is increasing over

the next five years. It is a turnaround for the company. Eight

years ago, they were announcing job losses. These new jobs will bring

the workforce to over 300. -- 350. A lot of the jobs will be on the shop

floor and they will include engineering posts. The head of the

group came from Japan for the announcement and had a parting

message for the politicians and invest Northern Ireland. One not

good thing is that we need more money for investment. Please

understand. A former solicitor has admitted

stealing over ?800,000 from clients at his Belfast law firm. 50-year-old

Damien Murray, from Upper Dunmurry Lane, admitted a single charge of

stealing from clients of Damien Murray and Company Solicitors on

Botanic Avenue over a four-year period. A defence barrister told the

court the case was not straightforward and that he would be

providing medical evidence. Damien Murray, who was struck off as a

lawyer in 2011, was released on bail.

A judge has dismissed legal challenges to Chief Constable's

decisions to rehire retired RUC officers and hundreds of civilians

on temporary contracts. The largest public sector union and the mother

of a loyalist murder victim had claimed Matt Baggott acted

unlawfully. Members gathered at Belfast City

Hall to protest about pay. A short distance away the High Court, a

judge delivered his verdict on a legal action by the union. It claims

the Chief Constable acted unlawfully by awarding a contract to a private

company to hire more than 1000 temporary staff. The judge said it

was wrong. The judge said it was clear from the relevant legislation

the Chief Constable have the power to enter into the contract and was

authorised. Another legal action was taken against the Chief Constable by

a mother of a man killed. Legal teams in both cases had argued that

the policing board should have had the final say in the recruitment

policies. The judge said the role of the policing board was to have a

high level role in negotiating the police budget and holding the police

service to account, not to control spending decisions or the day-to-day

management of that budget. After, those who mounted the legal

challenges signalled it might not be the end of the issue. The policing

board will want to consider the outcome. We will have a legal

briefing with solicitors to decide on a course of action. I suspect it

is not the end of this and I imagine after consulting the client we will

be in a position to consider filing. They could have been a staffing

crisis if the judge had said Tempest are had been hired unlawfully. The

assembly's Justice committee is to write to the executive demanding no

change to the criteria for selecting a new Chief Constable. Controversy

was caused when it was said new criteria would you set for the post.

My responsibility in terms of setting the minimum criteria is

clear in that huge. If I were trying to tell the board which criteria

they should apply would be interference. My remit is for the

board to be setting the actual criteria. The Internet has changed

the way we live and how we spend our money. There are winners and losers

in business. Over the next couple of nights we will be focusing on them.

We want to get an idea of how much digital technology has taken over

what we do. Eight out of ten households now have access to the

Internet. Three in ten homes have a tablet computer. That figure has

trebled in a year. At the same time nearly half of mobile phone users

have a smartphone. More than half of us use social media and six out of

ten the online to shop, especially for close, shoes and holidays.

Tomorrow we look at how that change has effect did travel agencies. This

evening David Maxwell checks out how newspapers are basing up to the

challenges of the digital economy. Deliveries are still made to this

office, but there is no one to receive them. It is one of two

weekly newspapers that closed in January. The exact reasons are not

clear, that it is likely a four in the number of readers is the

problem. It is a problem faced by the newspaper industry as a whole.

The question is how to stop the rot? Is digital the road to ruin. A lot

of them are not engaging digitally because they don't see why they

should give their content away for free. There is a certain logic to

that argument. Why should you? If you give your content away for

free, you cannot make a profit. If you cannot make a profit, you cannot

run your business. And making newspapers is a big business. Paper,

printing and transport costs are increasing. Some newspapers are

moving away from traditional offices. That is not happening

here, but there is not happening here, but those in charge believe

that cutting back on a paper product would not be good for business.

There is an intrinsic pleasure that you get from holding a newspaper

that you cannot get from a digital screen. The area is growing, but I

see the newspaper as very much the engine driver in all of this. But

one paper that is embracing the digital platform says doing so has

reverse the decline. In recent years we have used the Internet to market

our products. It is beneficial to the newspaper. Our circulation has

been pleasingly consistent and I think that is a ramification of

people responding to the local news that is being delivered locally to

them by a trusted source. Circulation figures have dropped

across the board over the last five years and advertising revenues are

also falling. Many papers complain about cuts in spending by government

departments, but Northern Ireland still has over 50 weekly titles.

Newspapers will have two learn to adapt their print version two

digital and crucially get people to pay for it at the same time. Already

this is starting to happen with tablets. If you have a Kindle or

another kind of tablets, you will pay to download certain

publications. I don't see why newspapers cannot plug into that

market. At some point this will have to switch to this. The question is,

who will make a success of that journey?

Now the sport, and Mark Sidebottom is with a rather important piece of

rugby silverware tonight. I'm at Lisburn Rugby Club where the

Six Nations Trophy has stopped off on tour tonight. And in a moment I

will be speaking to a star of Ulster and Ireland about the prospects of

both his province and country winning silverware this year. But

first, another vital cog in the Ravenhill machine, Ruan Pienaar, who

has been speaking exclusively The South African now committed to

another three years with Ulster and scored all of his side's points in

that stiring Heineken Cup victory at Leicester last monght. He is the man

that looks at home since he first set foot in Belfast. His next goal

is to conquer Europe. To be in the quarterfinal for beer in a row shows

how far we have come as a team. There is a lot of hard work still to

do, but we will give it our best shot. Almost four years after

joining, the Springbok feels the current Ulster squad is a perfect

mix of import it and home players. There is strength in the squad. If

you look at the youngsters that are coming through, they are great. Also

getting players with international experience strengthens the team. As

a squad it can only make it to. But Ulster's transformation of the field

has been even more staggering. I drove up to Ravenhill and I could

not believe it. My wife asked if that is where I was playing. It is

different to some of the arena is back home. However, Ravenhill has

developed over the last couple of months. The facilities are amazing.

It has been a massive step up since I was there last. I really am happy

to stay for a couple of years longer. With Ruan Pienaar on the

pitch, Ulster fans are getting used to expecting the unexpected. What an

asset to have. He is a world-class player and it is great to have him

here. To have him sign on for another three years is fantastic.

With regards to the six Nations, the captain did not train today. Is

there a course for concern? There isn't. The team is pretty blessed.

Andrew Trimble really put his hands up. He did. There is no better man

than Andrew Trimble to have on the wing. He scored a good try. No sign

of any cotton wool - how is the rehab going? It is great. I have

been back on the pitch for the last couple of weeks. The next three or

four weeks are big for me. I will be doing a lot more running. Hopefully

I will not be far away complain. So, how significant is it for major

players to stay here and not be used abroad? I thought they were going to

stay in Ireland. The majority of people thought that as well. It is

great to have our best players on board, especially with the World Cup

around the corner. Jimmy is playing week in, week out, like he always

has. He is captain of Ireland at the moment. He is misleading something

right. In a word, Ireland or Wells on Saturday? Of course it will be

Ireland. We will be staying in Lisbon for the rest of the sport.

Let's cross to Tommy Breslin. We have done really well to get within

touching distance. However, we just have not killed it off. Please give

us a wave. We'll have the result and tonights

other match between Coleraine and Ballianmallard on the later

bulletin. That's the sport tonight. We had a good day weather-wise. It

was bitty calm. The sun was out. But by the look at your -- of your

crystal ball, it is already going downhill? That is right. The rain

has already moved into Northern Ireland. The Met office have already

issued a wind warning. It is yet another area of low pressure that is

brewing to the south west of Ireland. It will bring high winds,

heavy rain and a high tide which will mean flooding across parts of

the Republic of Ireland. Also a risk of flooding across eastern counties

of Northern Ireland. You can see that wet weather makes its way

across Northern Ireland. An inch of rain falling in some parts. It will

probably ease off by the time most of us are up and about tomorrow, but

it will still be damp. Coastal hazards tonight. The high tide will

arrive tween two o'clock and three o'clock in the morning. There is a

risk of flooding. Probably not as bad as Monday because it will be

happening in the early hours. Tomorrow morning will still be

unpleasant with heavy rain not far-away as we leave for work. It

will become increasingly wet across many parts as the morning goes on.

It is going to be another nasty day. Nothing compared to today. The gales

will ease during the second half of the afternoon and it will continue

to quieten down on Wednesday. Most places will become dry. Some showers

through Thursday, but also a bit of sunshine. Not too bad on Friday, but

still quite cheaply. This is because of a ridge of high pressure, but

another area of low pressure will come in for the weekend. We will

have more wet, windy and unsettled conditions for the weekend. Pretty

nasty tomorrow, but nicer on Friday. Thank you for watching. That is it