:00:00. > :00:12.upheaval of August 1914. That is all from us,
:00:13. > :00:18.Good evening. The environment minister has promised Somerset flood
:00:19. > :00:22.victims that action will be taken within six weeks. Owen Paterson was
:00:23. > :00:25.in the county today to make the announcement. But local people say
:00:26. > :00:29.they're used to empty promises and they'll believe it when they see it.
:00:30. > :00:33.In a moment we'll hear from one of those campaigning for a solution to
:00:34. > :00:38.the problem. First, to get a picture of the extent of the damage, we have
:00:39. > :00:41.been in a helicopter. When you get up here and look out
:00:42. > :00:50.over the whole area and you see how much of it has been flooded, it
:00:51. > :00:54.really is an astonishing sight. There's the island community and
:00:55. > :01:01.when you see it from the air, you realise just how cut off it is, with
:01:02. > :01:07.little boats having to take people backwards and forwards. We've seen
:01:08. > :01:15.homes entirely cut off as well, island communities in their own
:01:16. > :01:20.right. Thousands of acres of farmland utterly submerged ` how
:01:21. > :01:29.long is it going to be before this land can be used productively again?
:01:30. > :01:33.The flood water just goes on and on, mile after mile. You lose a sense of
:01:34. > :01:41.perspective really about what is a river, what is a field, almost where
:01:42. > :01:46.does the coast begin. It's a very strange sensation seeing this part
:01:47. > :01:53.of this county from the air. Joining me now from Somerset is Briony
:01:54. > :02:00.Saddler from a local campaign group. You have the nation's attention and
:02:01. > :02:06.Government promises, are you happy tonight? Half`and`half. We are, as a
:02:07. > :02:09.community, I think a little bit down that we didn't get to talk to him,
:02:10. > :02:13.that he didn't ask our opinion, but that's a bit of an ongoing thing
:02:14. > :02:19.that the locals haven't been asked and yet, it's us that are farming
:02:20. > :02:24.the land and conserving it for future generations. It's good and
:02:25. > :02:28.it's a bit sad too. Should you not wait for at least six weeks to find
:02:29. > :02:37.out what exactly happens before you be that sad? We've been pushing this
:02:38. > :02:42.for three weeks and we have worked so entirely hard, all of us
:02:43. > :02:46.together, as a community, as land owners, all of us have worked so
:02:47. > :02:52.hard to get to the point of where we've been today. It's great that it
:02:53. > :02:56.isn't six months. I am grateful to him for knocking it to six weeks,
:02:57. > :02:59.but, you know, then his decision after that, that could be another
:03:00. > :03:04.six weeks and then the work has still got to take place. So all in
:03:05. > :03:08.all, you know, we could be looking at summer again, if not longer. On
:03:09. > :03:14.the ground, how long do you think communities can cope with this?
:03:15. > :03:19.Well, you just have to take every day by every day. Some days the
:03:20. > :03:23.water is up a little. Some days it goes back a little, which is what
:03:24. > :03:29.happened this weekend. It's just a long`term, the long`term is things
:03:30. > :03:32.like getting nature people involved and everybody's got to be involved.
:03:33. > :03:36.Because this is for our future. This is for my children. I don't want to
:03:37. > :03:41.move. It's for everybody. Thank you very much for joining us.
:03:42. > :03:45.Now to other news. A three`year`old boy has died after being knocked
:03:46. > :03:48.down in the street in Bristol. The accident happened in Bedminster and
:03:49. > :03:53.involved a Land Rover, with a portable cabin being towed on a
:03:54. > :03:57.trailer. The boy was take ton Bristol Children's Hospital but
:03:58. > :04:00.doctors were unable to save him The driver of the car is helping police
:04:01. > :04:02.with inquiries but is not under arrest.
:04:03. > :04:06.Parliament has tonight debated whether to increase sentences for
:04:07. > :04:12.drivers who are repeatedly convicted of dangerous driving. The debate,
:04:13. > :04:17.led by Bristol MP, comes exactly a year after Ross and Clare Simons
:04:18. > :04:21.died when a serial offender crashed into their tandem while they were
:04:22. > :04:27.out cycling. A year ago today, Ross and Clare
:04:28. > :04:31.Simons had just completed a course of IVF treatment, when Nicholas
:04:32. > :04:35.Lovel smashed into them. Serial offender, Lovel, who had previously
:04:36. > :04:40.been disqualified 11 times, was yet again driving without a license He
:04:41. > :04:44.was found to have taken a cocktail of drugs, including cocaine. He was
:04:45. > :04:48.jailed for ten`and`a`half years The longest sentence available to the
:04:49. > :04:53.judge. We've actually been told he's going to be released in May 201 .
:04:54. > :04:58.That's five years, five years for killing two innocent people. Ross'
:04:59. > :05:03.father and mother are determined that repeat offenders like Lovel
:05:04. > :05:09.should face stiffer sentences. Their campaign has attracted 13,000
:05:10. > :05:11.signatures to a petition demanding new legislation. They now hope that
:05:12. > :05:16.tonight's debate will put pressure on the Government to act. This was a
:05:17. > :05:19.ticking timebomb, this man. The offence that's he caused, the number
:05:20. > :05:24.of offences that he caused meant that it was inevitable, as he
:05:25. > :05:28.predicted himself, that he was, one day, going to cause death by
:05:29. > :05:32.dangerous driving. Lawyers say that any change in the law must make
:05:33. > :05:35.clear the difference between prolific offenders like Lovel and
:05:36. > :05:41.motorists caught newspaper a momentary lapse of concentration. I
:05:42. > :05:44.think you need, in looking at these offences, to discriminate between
:05:45. > :05:49.the two and legislation needs to be passed to make them entirely
:05:50. > :05:53.separate types of offence. For the Simons, the birth of a second
:05:54. > :06:00.grandson, Josh what, has given them one happy moment in an other`wise
:06:01. > :06:04.grief`stricken year. A new report claims that Bristol
:06:05. > :06:09.lost more jobs in the recession than anywhere in the UK between 2010 and
:06:10. > :06:15.2012. The figures show London, Edinburgh and Birmingham came out
:06:16. > :06:19.top, with over 250,000 jobs created, but in Bristol, nearly 14,000 jobs
:06:20. > :06:23.were lost. Today local business leaders and even a Government
:06:24. > :06:26.minister rejected the research, but the group behind the report stood by
:06:27. > :06:33.its findings. Let's get the weather now.
:06:34. > :06:37.Low pressure remains close at hand and circulating around us to the
:06:38. > :06:40.south come these bands of showers. Much as today. It's a similar
:06:41. > :06:45.pattern through tonight. We pick up exactly that same theme tomorrow.
:06:46. > :06:48.There will be drier interludes. For many of you showers coming through
:06:49. > :06:51.thick and fast at times. Some of them will be heavy. Tonight
:06:52. > :06:54.temperatures drop to between two to four Celsius, for the most part By
:06:55. > :06:58.tomorrow morning, already showers from the word go. We have a Met
:06:59. > :07:03.Office yellow warning across southern districts where the
:07:04. > :07:07.rainfall might have more impact perhaps up to 22 millimetres of rain
:07:08. > :07:15.falling through the day. Less than an inch, but nonetheless bothersome.
:07:16. > :07:18.Blustery beneath the showers. Temperatures six to eight Celsius.
:07:19. > :07:21.That's it from us tonight. We're back with you in breakfast. For now,
:07:22. > :07:44.from all of us, good night. It's going to get colder than it's
:07:45. > :07:48.been all winter. Ahead of that, though, the showers keep going and
:07:49. > :07:53.going through tonight and into tomorrow. Some of them heavy,
:07:54. > :07:57.possibly thundery too. Here's the satellite. We can pick out the swirl
:07:58. > :08:02.of cloud here. The bands of shower clouds that have been streaming into
:08:03. > :08:05.the UK. All driven and wrapped around an area of low. That is the
:08:06. > :08:09.driving force for the showers that we have at the moment. The centre
:08:10. > :08:13.close to Northern Ireland, which is why it's been so wet earlier in the
:08:14. > :08:16.evening. As the low drifts south, it takes more showers into England and
:08:17. > :08:21.Wales. With fewer breaks in the cloud overnight, it won't be as cold
:08:22. > :08:22.as last night. The ice risk restricted