20/02/2014 BBC Points West

And that is all from us for this evening. Now on BBC One,

Good evening. Somerset County Council is facing a

large legal bill following the departure of its chief executive.

Sheila Wheeler hasn't been at work since November and has now left by

mutual consent. There were rumours of a rift with the council leader.

Here's our political editor, Paul Barltrop.

In happier days, council leader John Osman side by side with the woman

appointed by Somerset's ruling Conservatives. Now they've parted

company. In fact Sheila Wheeler hasn't been seen at meetings since

November. Councillors were first told she was on sick leave, then

simply away. Yesterday it was announced she'd been given ?40, 00,

three months pay, to go. The council leader was talking but legally

restricted in what he'd say. A number of complaints were way ``

were made, these needed to be investigated, we have a duty to our

employees to investigate them and they had to be investigated fully.

That happened twice, once by a QC, owing to a government process had to

be followed, the QC had to investigate, that took a bit of time

and we cannot disclose personal information. 5000 people work for

the county council so not surprisingly there has been lots of

gossip about what might have happened.

All those who know have been sworn to secrecy by the lawyers. The sense

I get is that it is not as sensational as the rumours might

suggest. The mystery had prompted Somerset

MPs to raise it in Parliament. David Heath got no answers and remains

frustrated. Nobody was saying anything about

what is clearly a serious situation, one which had a cost to

council tax payers, and one which clearly going to have an effect on

the effectiveness of the county council, particularly over recent

months when dealing with the biggest crisis we have ever had.

So Sheila Wheeler becomes the second chief executive in five years paid

to leave by a council which says it's strapped for cash.

Well our political editor Paul Barltrop joins me now. Paul, that's

a lot of money at a time when the council is making cuts.

She is getting ?40,000, in lieu of three months notice, on top of

40,000 burnt for the last three months and if you throw in the legal

bills the total bill to the council will be well over ?100,000.

Yesterday it was overshadowed they were setting the budget, is

difficult cuts. New charges for elderly daycare, increased bus

fares, youth centres, some losing funding, reduction in support for

those who are in sheltered housing. Somerset are not the only ones

setting their budget at the moment. All councils are doing so around

now. South Gloucestershire putting their budget through. They have said

they have got to cut ?36 million by 20 24th, Cheltenham, as well. ``

2020. They are freezing council tax bills. The police forces are

increasing their budgets by a little bit. The big warning is this is a

difficult year, next year and a year after when things will get really

tough. A man has been charged with the

murder of a 20`year`old hairdresser who was killed in the salon where

she worked. Tributes are still being paid to Hollie Gazzard who was

stabbed at Fringe Benefits salon in Gloucester on Tuesday. 22`year`old

Asher Maslin was today charged with her murder.

Dredging will begin on the Somerset Levels next month. The Environment

Agency says the work will begin as soon as it's safe and will include

five key miles where the Rivers Tone and Parrett meet at Burrowbridge.

Huge pumps are now moving flood water back to the sea in preparation

for the dredging. But how long before the levels get back to

normal? Andrew Plant reports. Where was once a crop of prime

winter wheat now more pipes are appearing all the time. The damage

is already done to James's precious planting, months of works and he

washed away. It is 40 foot deep in some places so

we are not going to be doing anything with the land this year. It

will be a complete write`off. Stuart Fripp advises farmers to get the

most from their fields. He says the real damage here is deep

down in the soil. Once the water comes off the ground that is the

start of the problem. You are then looking at two or three years of

trying to get the land back into any kind of production.

Help is flowing in. These tractors left Essex yesterday afternoon, with

donations Intel. This is where all those donations are destined for.

Sedgemoor market. They are storing everything here. Hey wrapped up on

one side for animal feed, and straw for animal bedding over there. These

donations are coming from all across the UK, and I am told there is an

awful lot more still on the way This is only part of what we have

got left to send. Unbelievable how farmers are running round across the

country at the moment. If we don't get the feed down here the cattle

will not get fed, if they don't get fed they will die. The prices will

go up. Meanwhile dozens of farmers, dozens

of families, are relying on these donations to keep their animals and

their businesses alive. Now, just before we go to the

weather, there was an earthquake here in the West today! Its centre

was three miles under the Bristol Channel and it measured 4.1 on the

Richter scale. People living in Somerset, Bristol and

Gloucestershire said they felt it and experts say it could have been

triggered by the recent severe weather.

Some heavy showers around the Bristol Channel at the moment and

some of those drifting further inland this evening generally

speaking there will be some drier weather. Further showers gathering

towards the morning. Some of those could be wintry. It will be a cold

night than the last one, by a fair margin. Tomorrow will be turning

into a windy day, some dry, sunny weather about. As we head towards

the afternoon showers start to come in thick and fast. Some hail, wind,

a low threat of lightning. The showers will continue in places as

we head into the evening. Decent enough. Sunny spells. Here is a look

at the outlook. A decent day Saturday, not so on Sunday.

the outlook. On Sunday, we have grey skies and a bit of drizzle, too

Good evening. You may have had the latest from the Met Office about the

rainfall we have had this winter, the wettest winter on record. It is

sometimes difficult to visualise the numbers. Let me explain how much

rain we had. If you think about a stretch of land across the UK, we

had about half a metre of rainfall falling so far this winter. That is,

if the water didn't sleep into the ground. We have a huge amount of

water brought in by areas of low pressure. 15 of them have been big

storms, causing lots of damage. As far as the shorts is concerned, it

is just a breeze. We have a few shells on the horizon and that is

pretty much it. You can see where the weather is coming from the

moment. It has come in from the Atlantic. Just a few scatter shower

words here and there. It is going to be a bit colder tonight compared to

last night. Last night tempered as were about seven or eight degrees,