28/03/2012 Spotlight

Stuck in bedsit land. New figures reveal the scale of Cornwall's

homelessness problem. Welcome to Spotlight. More on that later. Also

tonight as the Prime Minister reveals he is partial to a

pastyings we investigate the plan to put VAT on the snack. -- pasties.

And high opera for a little audience. How a top touring company

is inspiring the musicians of tomorrow. It has been revealed that

Cornwall has the highest number of homeless people living in B&B

accommodationout side London. The figures have almost doubled in the

last 12 month. In 2010 already 63 people living in emergency B&Bs in

2011 this rose to 125. The figures show a large increase in the number

of people being officially registered as homeless. This is

Dave's world. His room is ten feet by nine and he has been living here

for 14 months. Food, there is a microwave provided. Washing

facilities in this particular place. Not when I first came here, they

have only been added along the way because I have told them these

things are necessary if that is what you need to be doing.

can't possibly live in this room all day, so what do you do? I do

live in this room all day, I go to gym up the road. I work out or come

back here after, generally quite a good citizen, keep myself about

myself. Try not to bother anybody else. But you must realise that the

situation of being homeless, and everybody else being homeless can

become tetchy at times and people have a go at each other. Social

expert says that staying in emergency temporary B&B

accommodation can have a huge detrimental effect on health,

education, and job opportunities. Cornwall Council say temporary B&B

accommodation is a last resort. Those who have got families we try

to move them out as quickly as possible, but the single people

accommodation, the one bedrooms apartments which used to be bedsits

are hard to get by now, and we have a growing number of people who,

with the university campus, we have students taking what would have

been the, those aments. Every week Dave goes to his council offices in

his quest for a home. But with 23,000 other people also on the

housing register, he says he knows his chances of getting a property

are slim. Tributes have been paid to a Royal Marine from Dorset who

was killed in Afghanistan. Sergeant Luke Taylor was shot dead by a

rogue Afghan soldier at the entrance to the UK headquarters in

Helmand province on Monday. A 33- year-old was married with a young

son. His commanding officer led the tributes, saying he was a natural

leader with inspirational flair and was devoted to his family. A man

who lost his mother and brother in the Penhallow Hotel fire in Newquay

is calling for changes to the way fire risk assessments are carried

ourt. John Hughes was speaking as a conference in Cornwall attended by

firefighters from across the country. He said there needs to be

more regulation in the way safety checks are done. The fire at the

Penhallow Hotel in August 2007 was described as Britain's worst hotel

fire for more than 40 years. Three people lost their live, including

86-year-old Monica Hughes and her son Peter. Today, Peter's brother

John attended this seminar at the Eden Project and called for further

improvements to hotel safety. you need is the hoteliers to be to

be able go to a body to say where is there a person who can do my

risk assessment. As the law stands the hotelier with do it himself. I

could do a fire risk assessment. I am not qualified but I could do one.

That is where it falls down. Cornwall's Fire and Rescue Service

hosted the Conference. They were here to learn lessons from the fire,

but could such a fire happen again? We have done fire safety audits in

hotels and hostels throughout the County, so I'm as satisfied as I

could be that this won't happen again. Last year, the company which

owned the Penhallow pleaded guilty to charges of failing to have the

correct fire detection and alarm equipment, and of failing to make a

suitable risk assessment. I would like people like the RA C&A A, as

prerequisite to getting any star at all to make sure these hotels have

full fire risk assessment in place. Lessons learned from this pyre will

be put into practise by fire teams in other parts of the country. --

fire. The Prime Minister has revealed he is a Cornish pasty love.

The admission follows plans to impose VAT on hot take away food. A

row is now brewing as campaigner says it would mean the cost of the

dish would rise by a fifth or add 50 phones a �2.50 pasty. To heat or

not to heat. If you buy a hot one of these now, you don't pay tax on

it. But with Government plans to tighten up on the 20% it adds to

other hot takeaway food, that could change in October. When I heard

about the budget it was oh my God. It is going to be a hard winter. Do

we shut the door in October and open up for the summer? We can't do

that. I have staff that are reliant on their jobs. We will have to try

and weather it somehow. It is about trying to have a sensible...

Prime Minister has admitted he is a big fan. I am a pasty eater myself.

I go to Cornwall. But when questioned by a Labour backbencher,

the Chancellor wasn't so sure. can't remember the last time I

bought a pasty in Greggs to answer your question. That sums it up.

Would a hike if price put people off buying them? It is a lot of

money to pay for just a heating up of a pasty. It is outrageous, I

suppose, yes. Think people would be prepared to pay for it. Because

they dom Cornwall for a pasty, 50 pence on top isn't going to make

that much difference ch. We bought one today, and I bought one for my

husband yesterday. I am not going to buy a family of five one.

pasty is worth plls to the local economy. The Government swhais it

is trying to do is close a hot tax takeaway loophole what those in the

industry say is what they will end up taking away is their business.

So the row over the so-called pasty tax has gone to the top of

Government. Our political editor joins us now live from Westminster.

Politicians from both sides have been rushing to establish their

pasty credentials today, after the Chancellor was forced to admit he

couldn't really remember the last time he bought one, at least from

Greggs, the national bakery chain. This morning we heard the Prime

Minister declaring himself a lover of hot patties -- pasties. The two

Ed, Miliband and Balls maibg made sure they were caught on camera

tucking into a bag of sausage rolls. All of this tends to boil down to a

debate about whether or not the taxman should have a bigger or

smaller slice of the pie or the cake though, and in that event,

although united in their passion for pastries they are very much

divided on the issue of how much he should get. The Chancellor has said

it is down to the amient temperature and whether or not the

pasty is hotter than weather. So that means some days you might pay

VAT, an extra 20% and some days you won't. It is nonsense. I won't work.

A lot of Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs in the south-west

have told me they would fight this tooth and nail. One Tory MP from

Plymouth, launched a stout defence of the plans. What they are seeking

to try and do is to clear up an anomaly, where you can buy fish and

chips and pay VAT on that, but when you buy your sausage roll or pasty,

you will have to pay VAT on that as well. It just seeps to my mind this

is a matter of clearing up what has been a mess for the last 20 or 30

years. Theman opponents of changes have until consultation ends on May

4th to make their case to George Osborne and the Treasury. And if

you have an opinion on the plan s for a so-called pasty tax get in

touch with us. A firm that owns 27 business parks across the region

has gone into administration. London & Westcountry Estates based

at Faraday Mill in Plymouth is still trading, the administrators

plan the find buyer for the property empire which hit problems

when interest rates fell during the recession. The information

commission has ruled in favour of Cornwall Council over its refusal

to identify four councillors who are taking to court before they

paid their council tax. In January their names were found in court

records, the Commission said it was for the courts and not the council

to decide on disclosure. Following a knee replacement patient as she

undergoing surgery today. That coming up in a moment.

Reconstructing history. Why this mummy has been to hospital for a CT

scan, and... Join me later from Taunton racecourse. It is the

popular annual and very colourful Ladies' Day. Now a new way to help

people prepare for and recover from joint surgery is being pioneered at

a south-west hospital. Derriford's joint school gives patients more

involvement in their treatment and surgeons say they get better faster.

In second of her reports on this new approach other health

correspondent catches up with one patient on the day of her operation.

The operation can't come soon enough for Elizabeth. She has had

her right knee replaced but she is in constant pain and needs the left

one done too. I had my leg marked, what knee they're going to do. Now

I am waiting to go down to theatre to have it done. Within the hour,

conscious Elizabeth is on the operating table. A few days earlier

she was at joint school. We will help you. Nurses physios and

therapists talk hip and knee patients through all aspects of

treatment, care and recovery. The school is part of the hospital's

enhanced recovery programme. A national idea that der fod has made

its own.In' involving the patients early on and asking them to

participate in their rehabilitation and in their recovery care is vital.

They are much more inform and I am sure they are getting better

quicker. Just a few days after the op and Elizabeth sup and about: At

joint school she learned she would be given daily goals to help get

her moving with her new knee.. was more prepared, although I had

the right one doe before, I was more prepared because I went to the

joint school, and learned a little bit more, what was going to happen.

So mot going into the unknown. -- not. The orthopaedic team says

patients have responded so well to being more involved in their care

other specialities and hospitals are likely to follow in their

footsteps. Work has begun in north devoon a �3 million project to

improve internationally important habitats. The North Devon biosphere

reserve and Devon Wildlife Trust have won funding as part of a

scheme that works with farmers and land owners. Adrian, tell us why

this area is so special? It is a very remote part of North Devon,

that has been part of the saving grace. It is what kept everyone so

special. The UN designated a biosphere there some while ago. It

is a important area because of the grassland all kinds o habitat for

wild flower, insects. A special area. The Wildlife Trust are saying

this area will benefit from what they are doing but everyone else

will benefit as well. Management of the catchment is critical in terms

of water quality, but it is really important from flood management

perspective as well. If we are able to rewet and allow our soils in our

catchments to absorb water all the of communities downstream will be

influenced in terms of less flood events. So this funding is

wonderful news. �3 million. How will it be spent? There is all

kinds of different ways farmers can benefit. They were looking at fence

posts for example. There are other things such as long horn cattle.

They have been very useful in North Devon before, and they are set to

be again there is a herd being planned which can roam round and be

lent to farmers. Farmers seem to think it's a good idea. What it

means is the animals can be moved round on a regular basis. They are

not going to be overgrazing. It means that you don't overgraze the

site, you don't undergraze a site and it gives you the flexibility to

move the animals to where they are needed. This is a very significant

coup for North Devon. There aren't many of these areas in Britain. We

have one, it is something very special to be celebrated. One of

Devon's leading engineering firms is hopes a joint venture with the

RNL. It will help secure jobs. Supacat is well-known for its

military all terrain vehicles but now it has designed a lifeboat

launchers. -- launcher. This is kind of lifeboat that will be

stationed in St Ives next year. New all weather lifeboat needs a new

lifeboat launcher, and this one is built in the south-west, and it is

a bit special. It is a mobile slipway. The system could be used

on a variety of beach, some of which have demanding circumstances,

very steep gradient for example, very thick mud, a very long run out

to the sea to launch the boat. launch has taken the best part of

ten years to develop. The key factor is the RNLI aims to launch

lifeboats within ten minutes of a shout. This piece of equipment

enables the boat to be taken from his boat house to the launch site,

in probably 30% quicker time than the old rig. Supacat employs 110

people, it made its name building military vehicles. This new machine

with half its component suppliers based in the south-west sees the

company moving with the times. the current squeeze on defence

budgets, it is important for us to continue to grow our business, and

in is an area where we can use our engineering expertise and skills to

fill that hole. 20 launchers are due to be built for the RNLI,

helping a national life-saving charity and flying the flag for

south-west engineering innovation. Now it is not every day an Egyptian

mummy is taken to hospital for a CT scan, but that is what stap at

Truro's Royal Cornwall museum have done. The information will be used

to create a model of how he would have looked when he was alive. This

was an Egyptian priest who lived more than 2,000 years ago. Today

this is his resting place. The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

know he was aged about 65, from the style of his coffins and also his

teeth and the fact he had arthritis. He is about five foot tall but I

think the process of mummification and display, and wrapping may have

shrunk him. But historians are hoping with the help of modern

technology they can find out more about him. They want to recreate

his face and show how he looked and to do that they need some help from

experts at the nearby Duchy hospital. Today, he has been x-

rayed in this CT scanner. Within minutes, the immediate results

surprise everyone. It is the first time I have been asked to scan a

mummy of any kind, believe me. But the principle is the same. The way

we scan a normal head to scanning this is the same principle. It

amazes me how life like it looks. I didn't expect it to look so intact.

This will be sent to London where a replica skull will be made. When it

is completed an expert in Manchester will add the muscles and

a face. Eventually the head will form part of a major new exhibition.

All the artefacts from the museums ancient civilisation collection

will be moved into this new gallery and the priest mummy will be used

to tell the story. Amazing. Well, it has been another gorgeous day,

perfect for racegoers at Taunton. Dave has been there to sample their

popular and colourful Ladies' Day. There are prizes for the best

dressed lady, gentleman, and of course, for the best hat. On this

wonderful day here at Taunton, we are here to soak up not only the

sun but the atmosphere. At this annual and highly popular event

called Ladies' Day. A summer's day in March? Taunton racecourse lapped

it up. As temperatures hofrd round 20C. Occasions like daidr laid days

-- Ladies' Day brings tout people who like to see what the sport is

all about. I was quite excited. It should be good. Do you know a lot

about horse racing. I know nothing but Becky does. Turn to Becky then,

how much do you know about the sport? Quite a lot. My parents have

a racehorse. Running today? No, it is only a point to point racehorse.

So are you doing well on the betting stakes? Not to start with.

A bit of a spontaneous bet. First time. How is it going? Loving it.

You look very nice. Everyone is relaxed, friendly, it is a

wonderful day out. In is the local course of top trainer David Pipe

and his father Martin they got off to a good start with Arab League

winning the second race on a day splashed by colourful attire.

win. Loves the drier ground and Francis gave him a great ride.

Despite the lack of rain we have had. Pipe's stable jockey Tom

Scudamore isn't too concerned about the firm going which reduced the

number of horses running in the seven races. There is lots of

horses out there that like the ground and appreciate the better

going, that the summer and better weather bring. So for the best hat

award. Very nice too. The best dressed gentleman. Good effort Sir.

And the best dressed lady. Top of class Madame and well deserved. And

a good day was had by nearly all, including some of the successful

horses, and winning jockeys owners and trainers. Now, what was your

favourite lesson at school? Today there was much excitement in one

particular classroom when reading and writing we are exchanged for a

musical show and tell. Sing esers and musicians from the English

Touring Opera came to inspire the children and encourage future

musical talent. -- singers. This is Verdi's opera as you may never have

seen it before. Although hopefully none of this audience are drinking.

The singers and musicians from English Touring Opera are used to

playing before full theatre, today it's the hall at this school near

Helstone. You get a sense of being close to your audience members, you

can really interact with them and have more fun, and then the pay

back is very immediate, because you really get to see a close up, you

know, the expressions on the children's fai, how it is going and

they will let you know if they don't like it they will tell you.

If they do, they will let you know, so it is great actually. I quite

often get some of the children to put their hand on the bottom of

cello because they can feel the vibrations and feel where the sound

is coming from. It gets them up close, and you know, hopefully

there isn't that distance that you sometimes get in a normal

performance. It is very interactive. The show takes the children through

a world where sunflowers are followed by winter snows. The hope

is it will inspire future musicians, singers and perhaps conductors.

school is about experiences, it is about building memories that the

children will take away with them forever. If we can use this

opportunity to enthuse them, about music and performing arts. Then we

will have achieved our goal. might imagine these youngsters

would be more into the can can kl - - Wiggles, but there is no ou doubt

that the show put on by the English Touring Opera has captured their

imagination. It looks like good fun. The weather has been glorious,

wall-to-wall sunshine for many, but wall-to-wall sunshine for many, but

extremely dry day. No rain in the forecast. We thought we might see

some in the weekend, but that is not likely. Some are concerned

about the lack of rain and I think for the rest of the week we will

continue in the same vain with plenty of sunshine. We reached a

top temperature today of 21 degree, that equals the record high setback

in 1965 in the 30th March. It was Exeter today that got 21 degrees.

If you think back to the summer of 2011, we were lucky to see

temperatures anywhere near those figures so it is surprisingly warm.

The big satellite picture doesn't look that much different, however

it is because there is a lot more cloud coming in across Scotland and

Northern Ireland. It is from that trekion, we will see the change, as

schooler -- cooler cloudier conditions flood down. It will take

its time for that to happen. Another fine day tomorrow, another

fine day with high pressure on Friday. But the high pressure is

beginning to weaken on Saturday, which brings the change. That cloud

appears here. It is going to be clear and fine. Slightly colder

than it has been tonight, with quickly temperatures into single

figures, and across parts of East Devon, we could see temperatures

fairly low tonight. Two or three degree, which will be just about

cold enough for a touch of frost. Now, with all this sunshine, we

have had blossom comingous everywhere. This was earlier today,

in Plymouth. Where we had the blossom in some of our avenues

coming out on the cherry trees, as well as the flora and fauna

beginning to come alive. All the spring sunshine we have seen has

got things moving along nicely. Although as I mentioned it is

chilly during the night time. The blue skies continue tomorrow and

the clear skies tonight mean it will be a relatively cold one. The

sort of temperatures we are talking about are fairly low, but a fine

start to the day tomorrow, some lovely sunshine, all day really

from dawn till dusk, there is little change in that. The high

level cloud won't come in until Friday. We will see temperatures

getting up to 20, possibly 21 degree, so we may equal the record

tomorrow. A bit cooler in North Devon as the northerly breeze

starts to develop. It is that breeze that will bring the

temperatures down through Friday and into Saturday and Sunday. The

sunshine has brought out the tree pollen, so if you are a sufferer,

unfortunately the pollen index or count is high for the next couple

of days and likely to remain that way as we move to the weekend. For

the Isles of Scilly we have 15 degrees today. Another fine dry and

sunny day. Northerly wind so a bit cool on the north facing beaches.

Times of high water. Plymouth, 1012 and as for our surfer, the surf

hasn't been big, it is useful. We have had three feet. Less surf on

the south coast but the sea is chilly, and for the coastal waters

forecast, the winds are northerly tomorrow, force two or three, fair

but moderate visibility because of that haze. The outlook, well, dry,

that is for sure, but also more cloud and cooler conditions, by

Saturday we are down to 16 degrees and a lot of cloud on Sunday brings

the temperatures back down to 13. That is still above Avram for the

time of year. Have a good evening. Back to you. Before we go, some of

your comments about that story about plans to put VAT on pasties,

Charles say what planet do these people live on? Beer and tobacco

are overtaxed, now pasty. Peter says the solution to the situation

is simply. -- simple you buy and pay for it and hand it back to heat