28/01/2014 BBC Points West

Good evening. People living on the flooded Somerset Levels have been

given six weeks to put together a plan for their future. They have

been given six weeks to come with a solution.

It is an area bigger than Bristol. 65 square miles. This is the

Somerset Levels, acre after acre of green fields. And this is that same

area now. He has given all of six weeks to come up with a plan. So

today in Westonzoyland, farmers residents, drainage boards and

councillors getting together and discussing the options. Everybody

except death and the amount `` Temple Micro and the Environment

Agency know what the problem is The rivers and man made channels have

been silted up. But people are adapting to circumstances. It

happened in the 70s but when it happened then, that is when they

judged the river. Getting around on the levels has become so difficult

because everything gets in the way. You can drive down these well used

roads and they seem fine but then abruptly, they end in fields full of

water and it means a ten minute journey can become an unexpected and

unwelcome 45 minute adventure. If things became much worse, losing

essential surprise is a real possibility. We had to do 12 miles

to get round here. Lots of people depend on that. It's everything

cooking, heating, everything. Without it, they have got nothing.

For many, it will feel like a very long six weeks until any plan is in

place. And that, they say, is just the very first step.

Earlier I spoke to David Heath who's MP for Somerton and Frome and asked

him if the cost of the clean`up should come from the taxpayer.

There are places in my constituency that a flood of this year that have

never flooded in living memory. `` that have flooded. And there are not

so many people in Somerset as in the big city and I understand previous

policy that meant the big money was always spent on protecting the

maximum number of properties but we deserve a fair deal and we deserve

to know that we will have at least whatever protection is available.

Dozens of railway bridges across the West may have to be removed to allow

Network Rail to install overhead power lines as part of the

electrification of the mainline to London. But one council claims the

work is already cutting off communities.

Electrifying nearly 300 miles of railway, to make it faster, greener

and quieter. This is how we'll soon be travelling

to London and South Wales. Electrifying the line will see

tired, old, diesel`powered trains replaced by a faster, more reliable

fleet. Journey times and carbon emissions will be slashed. Network

Rail's Swindon HQ is the nerve centre for this billion pound

project. The new broom at the helm is a

Californian, fresh from electrifying the West Coast Main Line and

redeveloping Reading station. Good to see you. How is the wedding area

looking today? Personally, I am excited about what

is coming because it will be much better than the existing system It

will transform this great Western into a new era of more efficient

delivery as we move forward into the next decade.

A souped`up version of this machine will lay the overhead cables. It

will work nights and weekends to cut down on disruption to rail

passengers. But it's those travelling by road who are first

noticing a difference. Dozens of bridges are having to be rebuilt or

replaced to allow the power`lines through. They've already started in

Wiltshire and councillors say they're running late. We have been

very disappointed in the preplanning. They haven't planned

the projects, we haven't found that the conditions of the wildlife

living under the bridges. This has led to delays. Whole communities are

blocked off from using the roads and there is a real problem for people

and we will call them to sort these out.

That's disputed by Network Rail which insists it has carried out the

right surveys and has been open with councils about its plans.

It was the age of steam that put Swindon on the railway map. Now it

is sad that electrification can restore some of that former glory.

`` now it is said that. The Bishop of Taunton is opposing

plans to rehouse the new Bishop of Bath and Wells away from the

traditional palace. The church says the incoming bishop will have more

privacy living away from the building in Wells. But the Right

Reverend Peter Maurice says he believes the decision to buy the

incoming bishop a new home has been badly handled.

To football, and it's been a busy but not very successful night for

our teams. In the Championship, Yeovil lost 3`2 away to

promotion`chasing Derby. There weren't any wins in League One

either with Swindon managing a `1 draw away at Walsall while Bristol

City failed to climb out of the relegation zone losing 3`1 at

Brentford. And in League Two, Bristol Rovers were at home but lost

1`0 to Accrington Stanley. Just before the weather, you may

have just seen that Bristol author Nathan Filer has tonight won the

Costa Book of the Year for his first novel. He is a former psychiatric

nurse and his story is about mental illness. Maybe it will change my

life, I don't know but it will certainly change the life of the

book and it will make more people aware of this story and when I was

writing it, I wrote it because I wanted to share it with people and I

didn't write it for me, I wrote it because I want people to read it and

I think winning a big prize like this means that more people will

hopefully do that. Now, to the weather. Same old story, I think?

Low`pressure moving south and stays like it has been for the past 2

hours but tomorrow, we will find the wins will get towards an easterly

component. An inherently cold feed for the next they also add the

showers remain eight constant part of the forecast as they will

tonight, temperatures between three and five Celsius. As the day wears

on, some dry if rather cloudy spells as wins shift and become Chile. More

rain spilling out from the south`east and they could be a

wintry component. Jeremy Paxman's got Newsnight on BBC

Two now, taking on the Treasury Secretary over the new growth

figures. From all of us here, goodbye.