31/10/2011 BBC Channel Islands News

Hello, good evening, Welcome to BBC Channel Islands. Our top story

tonight: Why a change of heart over business tax leaves Guernsey with a

deepening financial black hole. Plus, Jersey's fibre optic future -

how faster internet speeds could give the island the edge.

And how wartime evacuees are passing their stories on to new

The way Guernsey taxes its businesses will be reviewed by the

European Union. The island's corporate tax policy is coming

under increasing scrutiny say. Guernsey intends to keep its

current zero ten policy which means many businesses will continue to

pay tax rather than a 10 % tax on all businesses. Without that, the

Ireland's black hole will continue to grow.

Guernsey may not be in the EU or the UK, but when it comes to tax,

their influence can be felt across the water. Zero ten was meant to

give the island a tax advantage but the EU thought it was unfair. So,

what is zero ten? At the moment, companies in the Channel Islands do

not pay tax on their profits, apart from banking and some business

deals. This makes the island very tempting to new business deals.

Something the EU has never really liked. Jersey and the Isle of Man

made some changes to their tax policy early in the year. Guernsey

had planned to scrap its tero ten policy and introduce a tax on

businesses. Now it has changed its mind and planned to keep it. It

will lead EU approval but it could create a black hole in Guernsey's

finances. There is a structural deficit in Guernsey, black hole. If

this is approved and we have to make that black hole bigger, we

have to look at how we will make up the revenues to make up the

shortfall. This, it will affect our deficit. But we will take other

action alongside that. In particular, we would probably widen

the 10 % tax rate band to include other businesses. Given that Jersey

and the Isle of Man have already had their policies approved, it

should be fairly straightforward for Guernsey to do the same. What

will not be easy will be filling that black hole.

Jersey will start making fresh water from sea water on Wednesday.

The island's desalination plant will be switched on for the first

time in five years. It is due to low rainfall this autumn and the

closure of the main reservoir. Jersey Water says the plant will be

producing under a third of the daily supplies. Our reservoir

levels are down to 36.5 %. We are concerned that while there are some

rainfall forecast, the amount of rainfall we will get is open to

debate. We have prepared the plant to run and now we are ready to

press the button. On Wednesday, we decided to give the Plan A test run

of running on 50 % of capacity. There are plans to tighten up rules

about bringing in endangered species to Jersey. The rules will

be in line with international standards. If passed by the States,

the rules will better list the movement of some species like

reptiles. Some pet shops are concerned about the cost of

licences which are currently free but bosses say there will be

consultation on the charge. We want to make sure it is a fair and

proportion of charge. We are not looking at anything to owners. They

are looking at working with potentially endangered species so

we think that is a reasonable expectation that people will pay

for the licences. Jersey's government is poised to

invest tens of millions of pounds to bring super-fast broadband to

every home in the land. A fibre- optic cables will replace copper

telephone wires. It is hoped it will make Guernsey a global leader.

Whether it is downloading, social networking or shopping, the

internet is increasingly a part of our lives. Now in Jersey it will be

faster than ever before. These workers are replacing the old

copper network with the latest technology offering gigabit

broadband. Every home in the island has a copper network -- a copper

connection to our network. That will change to fibre. What that

means is we will be able to develop faster speed broadband services

directly to our customers. They will be able to enjoy anything from

their current speeds up to gigabit speeds. But this latest technology

comes at a price. The BBC understands that will cost �40

million. A vital investment according to the Treasury Minister.

The internet is going to continue to accelerate change and I one

Jersey to be at the forefront of that change. I do not think there

is any jurisdiction in the world that has its whole community with

fibre optic networks. We could be the first. We are small enough,

nimble enough and we do not have the debt that other countries have.

They do not have a publicly-owned telephone service like we did.

the States will pay for it, the cables will be routed direct to

homes. That means a high-definition film will go from two hours to

download, two under a minute. means you will be unique in Europe.

You're the only area that has total fibre and that is the biggest draw

for businesses, for people and for existing residents. It means you

have something unique that you can utilise, track services and enjoy

the digital technology -- as it has grown. Today, British Telecom said

they would be speeding up the roll- out of their fibre optic network in

the UK. The race for the fastest broadband is speeding up.

You are watching the BBC in the Channel Islands. Later in

Spotlight: Spooking goings-on at an old museum hoping to cash in on its

wanted reputation. Now some sport. The Guernsey man

who took on the challenge of running 40 marathons in 40 days, is

back in the island but he has still got one marathon to do. This

amateur footage shows Stuart Hardie completing just a few of his 39

marathons which she has run in recent weeks. Doctors advised him

not to run on one day so he is now planning to run his final 26 miles

next weekend. The you quickly forget the pain and you do remember

the glorious days. Day 3 was just a beautiful day. Coming through the

Midlands of England, coming through Cumbria, even though the weather

was fairly unkind. Lots of lovely bits.

Tonight, the stories of the children evacuated from Guernsey to

the north of England during the Second World War were brought to

life at a special event this weekend. It was organised by a

historian in Manchester who spent years researching it and this was

her chance to show her work to the public.

It was a chance to reflect and share memories of an event which

shaped the life of so many people in Guernsey, as former evacuees

gathered here in Manchester. This event was also about passing on

those stories to younger generation. Children would go on an evacuation

ship. We have wartime music, a film on. We want to show all different

aspects so people can engage with the story. Stories like this little

girl's, who was one of hundreds of children evacuated from Guernsey.

This is a picture of camera. This what she was allowed to bring with

her, this little case. She had a photograph of her mum and dad and

cousin, a toothbrush, her mum's perfume bottle, a bar of soap and

this little spare dress which she had with her. There were many other

items on display to paint a picture of life for the evacuees and there

were many more memories. We had no money. We had only the clothes we

stood a pin and a change of clothes. We were allowed to go and see that

film in the cinema every month, used a bath every month, and so on.

They could not do more for us if they tried. For the researchers

behind this event, it is not just about giving people a chance to

learn about an important part of history, it is also about ensuring

it is not forgotten. Hello, good evening. If you are out

trick or treating this evening, expected to be showery, if not with

persistent rain. Quite a white knight. Quite breezy, too. This

rain band will come in this evening. It moves away fairly steadily.

Tomorrow is probably the best day of the week. A new area of low

pressure chases in hard to give us even more wet and windy weather as

we get into Wednesday. Initially dry across the islands but then the

wet weather turns up. It is quite steady fall while and then it

begins to peter out by dawn. 11 or 12 degrees will be the minimum

temperature. Tomorrow, we will have some morning showers. Then, some

sunshine in the afternoon. With light to winds we should see

More waves coming later in the week. As for the forecast through this

week, it does stay rather unsubtle. It will be windy on Wednesday. By

Thursday it the winds starts to Have a good evening.

We have some nice pictures To finish. Jersey's beaches were

transformed this weekend as sand artists took part in the inaugural