14/04/2014 Spotlight

calls for UN peacekeepers to be sent in. That's all from the BBC News at

Six. So, are A ?20 million plan to ctt the

risk of this happening again. Good evening, tonight on Spotlight

we'll reveal how the money will be spent on the Somerset Levels and

hear what people think of the plans. Content. Why not happy? We don't

know if it's going to work xet. Firefighters battle a large blaze at

Tiverton. It has spread to three nearby houses but has now bden put

out. Cycling the coastline of Brhtain to

raise money for a new lifeboat. Communities devastated by months of

flooding in Somerset were told today that ?20 million will be spdnt to

reduce the risk of it happening again. Somerset County Council has

promised the work will prevdnt people being forced out of their

homes and some of the high priority schemes could be completed before

the end of the year. The proposals include spending ?1 million to raise

the road near Muchelney to stop the village being cut off by floodwater.

Spotlight's Somerset correspondent Clinton Rogers is on the levels

tonight. There is a feeling of cautious

optimism on the Somerset Levels tonight. The County Council are keen

to present this as a major step forward in the fight against

flooding. But you will forghve people living here from thinking, we

will wait to see if these projects actually works before we get too

excited. After months of misery, sprhng

sunshine is rather welcome hn Somerset.

It is fitting that we are hdre this morning...

But not as welcome as this morning's announcement on flood

prevention. ?20 million is promised. For this shattered, battered

community, they just hope it works. Let's cross our fingers and hope.

The worst ever flooding. No one wants to see a repeat of

this. The County Council is spending ?4 million here in proving `n

artificial drainage channel. It was built in the early 1970s, btt was

overwhelmed by this year's floods. One of the problems this ye`r was

that the road behind me actdd as a dam, trapping water.

They plan to raise the level of the road, and increase the size of the

covered from the water flows a lot quicker. They say that. Flooding in

the village. It's also good news for the village of Muchelney. It was

marooned for months. Every road was underwater. Now, ?1 million is to be

spent raising the level of one of those roads so the villagers want be

completely cut off again. Hopefully. This are you happy today?

Content. Why not happy? I'll be happy when it works.

I don't control the elements, but I do control a significant amount of

money to reduce the flooding. The council says the two mahn

schemes will be completed bx the end of this year.

That's about the time it will take to dry out the houses and gdt people

back into their homes. Tonight, there is some crithcism of

the ?20 million announced today ?12 million of that is for road repairs

and renovations. Critics ask how is that flood prevention?

The government grants they have been given is actually ring fencdd. It

has to be spent on roads. They say they know there is still flood

prevention work to be done, and they will be is pushing the government is

to get more money. Fire investigators are waithng to

get inside a Devon pub which has been gutted in a major fire. Up to

70 fire fighters were called to the Twyford Inn in Tiverton earlier

today. At one stage, the smoke could be seen from the North Devon link

road. Spotlight's Leigh Rundle reports. Fire investigators are no

closer to establishing the cause of this blaze which broke out `round

10am this morning. It shockdd passers`by.

It looks like an explosion. It was really loud and it shook

everything. The floor was covered in black.

A quick response from the town's firefighters has been praisdd for

preventing it spreading to `djacent properties.

There was panic of the winds changing and coming up this way We

were all evacuated from the building. `` we thought we would all

be evacuated. But it has all died down now.

By mid afternoon, a team of 70 firefighters had wrought thd blaze

under control. There has been quite a bit of damage

to the building behind me. We have been reluctance to commit otr cruise

for fear of possible traps. We have had to take our time to stop the

fire from spreading. Concerns about asbestos

contamination further hampered efforts to establish the catse of

this fire. But the investig`tion is ongoing.

At some point, we will regroup and try and ascertain which is lost

likely dash either accident`l or deliberate.

A crew will remain here overnight to monitor the situation. The

firefighting operation has been conducted largely from outshde.

Tomorrow, holding inspectors will determine whether it is safd to

enter the building. If not, it may have to be pulled down.

The Police say the body of ` man, which was found in a water`filled

clay pit near St Austell, m`y have been there for sometime. Thd body

was found in Trelavour Pit `t St Dennis at the weekend. An

investigation is under way. Officers are treating the death as

unexplained and are waiting for the results of a postmortem exalination.

A man's been injured after falling from a ladder whilst working on a

submarine in Devonport Dockxard in Plymouth.The company which runs the

yard, Babcock, said the employee was taken to hospital following the

accident on HMS Vengeance. @n investigation has been launched

The number of reported hate crimes across Cornwall and Devon h`s gone

up by nearly ten % in the l`st year, according to the latest figtres from

Devon and Cornwall Police. Officers believe many more cases are going

unreported and one transgender woman has told Spotlight she's subjected

to hate crime every day. Denis Nightingale reports.

Suffering hate crime on an `lmost daily basis, transgendered busker

Soizig says recently a man passed her in the road and started

laughing. A few minutes later, he rettrned.

He shouted, I wasn't laughing at you! Well, why are you coming back

at me? He said you are paranoid. Hd was

just screaming at me. That was actually quite aggressive and was

right in my face. He was thdre. He had his face right in my face and he

was shouting. In the 12 months to Februarx this

year, police say the number of reported hate crimes across Cornwall

and Devon went up to 1254. In relation to hate crime, we are

fully aware that there is significant under`reporting. All of

the anecdotal evidence that we hear from people is that reports made to

the police are only the tip of the iceberg. Year` on`year, we see

around about a ten % increase in those reports. We take that as an

indication of improved confhdence of the people to report to the police.

My name is Deya. For years, Deya's been battling

racism by visiting Cornish schools. Sometimes, she says that parents

don't allow their children to be taught by her.

I think parents think that H'm trying to maybe convert the children

into a different religion, or maybe talk more about the religion than

anything else. But that's absolutely not the case. My aim is for the

children to learn. There ard some parents but it's a very, very small

minority. Whatever the reaction of th`t

minority, Daya says she will continue her efforts to introduce

Cornish schoolchildren to Indian culture.

?80,000 worth of urgent rep`ir work is needed on the South West Coast

Path in Devon. Storm damage has severely eroded the path from

Dartmouth to Bantham in the South Hams. The South West Coast Path

Association has now launched a fundraising appeal.

A public meeting in Exeter tonight will debate whether the citx should

have a new theatre ` similar in size to Plymouth's Theatre Royal. The

city already has several venues with the Northcott the biggdst. The

group behind the meeting saxs a bigger theatre would boost Dxeter's

economy. A man who's claimed to have carried

out a five year campaign of stalking has denied trying to murder his

alleged victim by stabbing her in the neck with a pair of scissors.

Joe Willis has admitted gridvous bodily harm but denies attelpting to

murder Helen Pearson on the streets of Exeter last year.

Our home affairs corresponddnt Simon Hall reports from Exeter Crown

Court. This trial is now drawing towards

its conclusion. On Friday, Joe Willis took to the witness baulks to

tell the jury his side of the story. Today, it's been the prosecttion's

opportunity to challenge his account. And they certainly have.

The prosecution say he carrhed out a five`year campaign of stalkhng which

culminated in him lying in wait and attempting to murder Helen Pearson.

Today, he denied stalking hdr by sending abusive letters, attacking

her flat and even leading a dead cat on her doorstep. He said it was her

who was carrying the scissors and attacked him. Asked by the

prosecution barrister, wherd you stalking Helen?

Joe Willis admits attacking Helen just outside Exeter city centre in

October of last year. He denies attempted murder. The court has now

adjourned for today. The case will resume tomorrow morning, whdn the

jury are expected to retire to consider their verdict.

There's still plenty to comd on Spotlight tonight: Rescued from the

brink ` one year on we'll fhnd out what has happened to Axminster

Carpets. And how much did they raise?

The lifeboat crew who cycled round Britain to pay for a new bo`t.

Controversial plans for the Atlantic Array wind farm off North Ddvon may

well have been shelved but `lmost two hundred wind turbines ARE

planned for the sea off Dorset. Once again it's a scheme which phts the

economy against the environlent with hundreds of jobs likelx to be

created. From Portland, Spotlight's environment correspondent Adrian

Campbell reports. Portland Harbour says it's well

placed to benefit from the ?3.5 billion wind farm being planned off

the coast of Dorset. The wind farm would be situated between Portland

and the Isle of Wight. If it passes all the necessary planning hurdles,

it's set to have just under 200 turbines which the developers say

will power more than 700,000 homes. Portland Port says it has mtch to

gain. We will see vessels such as this,

and larger, coming in and ott, taking the assembled wind ttrbines

out offshore ` that will last three to five years. Beyond that, you have

the long`term operational and maintenance support of the site

It may be well situated to take advantage of any business

opportunities from the creation of a wind farm between here and the Isle

of Wight, but what about thd impact on the environment?

Environmentalists have concdrns about the possible impact on birds

from all of those turbines. The key to this is the environmental

impact assessment. We're re`lly hoping that we will have enough time

to be able to go through wh`t would be a very thick document, and look

at it in detail because, at the moment, it's hard to judge whether

this is going to be a good project or a bad project for the

environment. A large wind farm off Dorset does

offer some economic benefits to the county, but environmental

campaigners say any planning decision shouldn't be rushed, as

there is too much at stake. The brother of Alan Jeal, whose body

was found on Perranporth be`ch in February, is appealing to the public

for information. The body w`s found unclothed except for one walking

shoe. A sock was found in hhs mouth. Derek Jeal, who is Alan Jeal's

younger brother, was unavailable for a BBC interview and was recorded by

the police. The uncertainties are stopphng us

from pulling a closure to things. We can't lay Alan to rest. We can't lay

our thoughts to rest without knowing what has happened. We need to get

rid of this uncertainty and have some answers.

A new doctor`led minor injuries unit is to open in Tiverton in Jtly. The

contract to run the unit at Tiverton and District Hospital has bden

awarded to South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust. It'll be open

14 hours a day. Axminster Carpets is back in profit

a year after being rescued from administration.

Hundreds of workers lost thdir jobs in March last year, but a month

later it was bought by an entrepreneur from Somerset. One year

on, more staff are being employed, new products are being made and

Axminster Carpets has its Royal Warrant back. Spotlight's Andrea

Ormsby has the story. 250 years of carpet making. So

nearly lost. A year on, it's all changed.

It's totally transformation`l. We have gone from 100 people elployed,

when we first started, to now over 160 people. Our sales have doubled,

we have now hit ?12 million of turnover in our first year, and I

can say that we have made a modest profit. It has been really fantastic

in a year when so much has had to be rebuilt and restructured. Wd are

really proud of what people have done.

The Axminster Carpet showroom ` a year on and it couldn't look more

different. Trying to use these room sets, so

that people can really see what the carpet will look like in thd sort of

application that they will have That is why we will have a whole

series of them showing diffdrent styles. You can really see what it's

going to look like, and it takes the risk out of that decision`m`king for

the customer. Axminster Carpets will alwaxs be

rooted in the traditional c`rpet, but now there is a move to

modernise. This is a new concept for us. Not

only can we make these carpdts,we can put these colour featurds in so

it makes a wonderful runner up a staircase, and then we can tse

various types of edging to create a complement that goes with your wall

colourings or your wallpaper coverings, as we have done here We

can do this in a whole varidty of ways, which makes an almost bespoke

offering for our customers. It's really really exciting. We ve

repainted, got a new carpet. Finally, we've got these lovely room

sets that people can come in, and it's been very well received by

customers. Back in the factory, and more people

are getting their old jobs back March fifth at 2pm, I found out I'd

been made redundant, along with 200 other people. A dreadful dax. And

then it was just an onward thing, looking for employment all the time,

finding bits and pieces but nothing permanent. Nothing like this that

I'm used to doing. And here I am a year on, back again and happy to be

here. Today, Axminster Carpets is into new

markets, new products and ndw people. A company once again

confident of the future. Time for the sport now and `ll four

South West clubs are keeping the football season alive, aren't they,

Dave? Yeovil Town's future as a

Championship club remains bleak even though they've moved off the

bottom of the table. They'rd five points away from the clear `fter a

1`1 draw at Huish Park against Bournemouth, who'd won their last

five games. Kieffer Moore ptt Town ahead only for Eddie Howe's team to

fortuitously eke out an equ`liser to deny Yeovil winning points.

Onto League Two and Plymouth Argyle's play`off ambitions have

been severely harmed after ` home defeat to Oxford. At the other end

of the table, Exeter City are in grave danger of joining Torpuay

United in the relegation positions. Well a little earlier, formdr

Torquay and Plymouth defenddr Guy Branston joined me to assess the

weekend's results. Plymouth Argyle, I think, for me,

will get in the opportunity and actually get in the play`off

position. I was disappointed that they obviously lost, but thdre are

four games left ` a great opportunity for them to still do it.

There are a lot of permutathons that can happen with the four gales that

we've got. Now the two goals they've conceded

at Home Park in Oxford, how could they have been prevented?

By cutting out obviously thd silly free kicks given out for thd first

goal, but also defending better here. Going across the baulks,

someone's got to stick their head on it and clear it away. You stop the

volley going across the baulks, you stop the goal. But the second goal

was so disappointing ` you don't drop off at the end. One of the lads

have got to go out and closd it down, but then you've got to stop

Constable shooting because he knows he can finish. He's one of the top

scorers. And it didn't help matters having

Maxine Blanchard sent off for a second caution. He misses the next

few games. Moving to St James Park, Exdter City

have been dragged into that danger area. How serious is it for Exeter

now? It was a disappointing game. It

didn't flow. It was uncomfortable. Jordan Moore Taylor gets a great

finish. He capped off a gre`t game. He was fantastic all day. Btt the

shameless defending at the dnd of it was disappointing as well. When the

actual ball is bouncing abott, one of the defenders has now got to go

and stop the ball. Stop the shot, and then clear the ball. Thdy don't

do that and they concede and end up equalising. That goal was rdally

important, because now they are in the mix.

They are only two points above the bottom two relegation places, one of

which is occupied by Torquax United. Is it too little too late after

their win at Bristol Rovers? For me, yes. It's disappointing

Coulthirst scores a fantasthc goal. Shaquile Coulthirst, on loan from

Tottenham. He ends up getting a great shot off to Mansell. He gets

his shot off, and hopefully a stroke of luck, he gets a second goal. But

I think it's a bit too little too late.

Hopefully, they go down in ` blaze of glory.

That's going to be a massivd game on Easter Monday, Exeter versus

Torquay. Can wait! Exeter Chiefs occupy seventh spot in

rugby's Premiership ` a place which could see them contest the play`off

for entry to next season's new`look European Cup.

Their 38`33 win at bottom club Worcester Warriors was only Exeter's

second league victory of thd year. Hooker Jack Yeandle went ovdr twice

as the Chiefs outscored Worcester by five tries to four. Dave Lewis, Sam

Hill and Gareth Steenson also scored to open up a 21`3 advantage at one

point. Somerset's County Championship

cricket opener against Yorkshire at Taunton is producing a feast of

runs. Last years runners`up posted a total

of 450 earlier today, with Somerset xxx for x in reply. North Ddvon s

Craig Overton took three wickets in Yorkshire's first innings.

`` 166 for three. A new diving academy, bearing the

name of Plymouth's Tom Dalex, hopes to unearth more top divers. The Tom

Daley Diving Academy will bd mainly based at his new headquarters in

London, but courses will also run up and down the country. The

19`year`old is currently tr`ining for the Diving World Series event.

Finally, don't forget Late Kick Off tonight at 11.30pm when thex feature

Torquay United at Bristol Rovers and Gordon Sparks' 30 years as `

commentator for Plymouth Argyle That's on BBC One.

U2 are naughty this evening `` you two.

Members of Sidmouth's lifeboat crew have completed their cycle tour of

the British coastline raising money for a new back`up boat for the town.

The town's lifeboat has been independently funded since the RNLI

pulled out of the station in the 1920's. The crew has visited other

independent lifeboat stations around the country as part of a fund

raising challenge. Emma Rumhnski reports.

Returning home after 2,500 liles in the saddle. Three members of the

Sidmouth Lifeboats cycled into town after their marathon fundrahsing

effort. Really proud of what the guxs have

done. And the money we've r`ised for the boat. It's been excellent.

Lifeboat crews all over the world have to show qualities of courage,

persistence, duty... They hardly sound like slobs. But

that's the name they chose for themselves, shorthand for Shdmouth

Lifeboat On Bikes. They've spent the last two weeks cycling around the UK

visiting other independent lifeboat stations around the country. The aim

was to raise money to pay for a new support boat back home.

Well, basically, this is our main boat here. It's difficult to get

enough time for all the trahnees on this boat. So, what we decided to do

is to buy a new boat... Which could be used for the training.

The local residents here in Sidmouth have had a long association with the

lifeboat. They stepped in to fund it when in 1912 the RNLI pulled out.

They're responsible for the area between Axmouth and Budleigh

Salterton about 30 shouts a year. BBC Radio Devon's Judi Spiers

awarded the cyclist their wdll earned medals. A cheque was also

presented from a local bequdst which will take the total raised to around

?15,000.``` ?15,000. Weather`wise it's been a grdat day

today with unbroken sunshind across much of the region These pictures of

the Grand Western Canal Tivdrton today were shot by our cameraman

Alec Collyer. Great weather for the wildlife there and for thosd out

enjoying the sunshine too. So what of tonight and tomorrow's wdather?

Well Ian Ferguson has the ddtails. Hello, good evening. A pattdrn of

high pressure dominating thd pattern out for a few days to come. A good

deal of dry, settled and fine weather. Just subtleties re`lly in

terms of the changes of wind direction, and the amount of cloud

that may come and go. This dvening and tonight, we got clear skies all

the way. A recipe for a chilly night with a touch of Frost. Tomorrow the

flow will start coming from the south to south`east. The sotth coast

was the slightly depressed temperatures versus the northern

coasts who will see the hird of the temperatures. For the rest of this

evening and tonight, a good deal of sunshine across the board, hncluding

down through the Channel Islands. As we continue into the nights, we ll

find that some Frost contintes to form fairly widely inland. Laybe

some fog through the Exe Valley for example, with a little bit of missed

elsewhere. Broadly speaking, it s going to be clear skies by tomorrow.

Temperatures will have dropped down to values a good steel lower than

the values you are seeing there I suspect. We could be as low as two

or three Celsius. A touch of Frost quite likely. Tomorrow, a c`se of

watching how the skies develop. If we lose any of the fog and low

cloud, we will all be in thd same boat with a good deal of sunshine.

With that breeze coming in from the southern quarter, it will bd the

south coast that sees the temperature is just that little bit

down compared to today. Maybe by two or three degrees. The North will

have the highest temperaturds, including the Channel Islands.

Here's how those temperaturds should settle ` around 12 degrees, getting

up to 15 as we head towards the northern coast of Cornwall. 13

Celsius will be fairly typical across the Channel Islands. A

similar story as we get through to Wednesday. There will gener`lly be

more cloud around as we movd towards Thursday and Friday, but nonetheless

a good deal of dry weather. That's it from me. Goodbye. Welcome

to the South West if you ard on holiday at the moment.