:00:00. > :00:10.gone wrong with Wales? But now on BBC One, it's
:00:11. > :00:16.Good evening. Plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs from councils in the West
:00:17. > :00:19.have tonight been confirmed. Three of our big local authorities met to
:00:20. > :00:23.set their budgets, with all having to reduce spending. The biggest cuts
:00:24. > :00:31.are in Bristol, which is also raising council tax. With me is our
:00:32. > :00:35.political editor, Paul Barltrop This is obviously quite
:00:36. > :00:40.controversial. ?18 million of cuts they want to find in the next few
:00:41. > :00:45.years. Hundreds of jobs are going. The meeting was over council tax.
:00:46. > :00:54.George Ferguson wants to put it up by 2%. The Lib Dems tried to stop
:00:55. > :00:56.that. The men needed to win the support of other councillors to get
:00:57. > :01:03.it through. Did that mean making concessions? Before the meeting
:01:04. > :01:07.George Ferguson had already soften some of his measures. He also made
:01:08. > :01:16.concessions to Labour amendment which meant that Labour came on
:01:17. > :01:20.board and it passed. They were a few shenanigans to get it passed. There
:01:21. > :01:28.is nothing I feel uncomfortable with. Children's centres, better
:01:29. > :01:31.park maintenance. Why should I not allowed to go forward in order to
:01:32. > :01:39.make sure we had an agreement at this meeting. Bristol is not the
:01:40. > :01:48.only place. What about the other two big authorities? Bath and North East
:01:49. > :01:57.Somerset, for example. They have a solid majority. The budget went
:01:58. > :02:00.through a few hours ago. There is a Lib Dem minority administration As
:02:01. > :02:05.they arrived, there were a lot of protests. They would talk of cuts to
:02:06. > :02:12.children centres and 300 jobs going. The meeting started at 6:30pm. Four
:02:13. > :02:15.hours later, it is still going on. They need the support of other
:02:16. > :02:20.councillors to get the budget through. At the moment, it could go
:02:21. > :02:24.on until 1am. We will be talking to you tomorrow. Some other news now.
:02:25. > :02:27.A murder investigation is underway after a 20`year`old woman was
:02:28. > :02:30.stabbed in Gloucester this evening. Police say they were called to
:02:31. > :02:34.reports of a man attacking a woman at a shop on Southgate Street just
:02:35. > :02:38.before 6pm. The victim was taken to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
:02:39. > :02:41.but sadly died. The hard talk about the future for
:02:42. > :02:44.residents and farmers on the Somerset Levels has started in
:02:45. > :02:47.earnest. Last night's BBC Panorama programme included views of some
:02:48. > :02:51.commentators who think parts of the land may have to be abandoned if
:02:52. > :02:59.there's a repeat of this year's rainfall. Scott Ellis reports.
:03:00. > :03:02.The leader of the opposition meeting flood victims in Fordgate today Ed
:03:03. > :03:10.Milband also wading into the debate about what's happened on Somerset's
:03:11. > :03:14.Levels and Moors. I'm afraid what I've heard from people here is they
:03:15. > :03:17.feel the response was too slow and the Government was too slow to
:03:18. > :03:21.realise the seriousness of the situation facing people here.
:03:22. > :03:24.Lessons have to be learned from what happened there. Last night, the
:03:25. > :03:28.BBC's Panorama asked whether more could be done to protect the UK s
:03:29. > :03:35.towns and villages. Or should the Government now be making tough
:03:36. > :03:39.choices about which places to save? What is the answer in your opinion?
:03:40. > :03:44.I don't think there is one answer but I do think there will be
:03:45. > :03:48.communities on the Somerset Levels where it is hard to see how they
:03:49. > :03:52.will remain viable if we keep getting hit by stuff like this.
:03:53. > :03:55.Today, something of a backlash in Burrowbridge. The centre of the
:03:56. > :04:00.floodzone, where waters are still rising and volunteers are hard at
:04:01. > :04:03.work. I think there is hope for the future but what I really object to
:04:04. > :04:10.is the tens of millions of pounds being spent instead of doing revenge
:04:11. > :04:15.on last year, trying to get us back to a level playing field and then
:04:16. > :04:18.tens of millions of pounds more to do the corrective action. That is my
:04:19. > :04:21.tax money wasted. Generations of people throughout these rivers
:04:22. > :04:30.understand that they need to talk to these people, not me, they need to
:04:31. > :04:34.talk to who `` needed up to the people who really understand how it
:04:35. > :04:37.works. Then we'll get something happening. Dredging's been promised.
:04:38. > :04:40.And the public's views are still be sought on a 20`year action plan for
:04:41. > :04:43.the Levels. It's a debate not just about homes but agriculture, too.
:04:44. > :04:49.Farmers helping gather feed for their flooded colleagues say their
:04:50. > :04:54.livelihoods need protecting, too. We have to go back to basics and see
:04:55. > :04:56.what we actually want. Do we want to feed the nation, look after people,
:04:57. > :05:00.look after the growing population or will we forget about human beings
:05:01. > :05:04.and look after wildlife? With the Dutch pumps at Dunball back
:05:05. > :05:07.on today, everyone's hoping water levels will soon drop. The short
:05:08. > :05:14.term's about getting back to normal. The long term is more complex,
:05:15. > :05:19.ensuring this never happens again. So plenty of issues to debate about
:05:20. > :05:22.the future of the Levels and how the emergency's been handled. And we're
:05:23. > :05:26.going to be doing just that in a special programme here in the West
:05:27. > :05:30.in a few weeks' time. If you'd like to take part, go to the Somerset
:05:31. > :05:35.page on the BBC website and Click on "Inside Out's Flood Special tickets"
:05:36. > :05:38.for more information. And flooding continues to impact
:05:39. > :05:42.across our region, despite the break in the rain today. One of the main
:05:43. > :05:46.commuter routes between Bristol and Bath is still closed at Kelston due
:05:47. > :05:50.to subsidence. Specialist engineers have been there all day and say
:05:51. > :05:55.it'll be Sunday evening at the very earliest before it can reopen. Some
:05:56. > :05:58.bus services are being diverted via Saltford.
:05:59. > :06:01.Wiltshire's Paula Walker is in 2th place at the halfway stage of the
:06:02. > :06:05.women's bobsleigh competition at the Winter Olympics. Paula, who lives in
:06:06. > :06:08.Trowbridge, is paired with Bex Wilson from Bath, with whom she won
:06:09. > :06:13.the Junior World Championships three years ago. The final two runs are
:06:14. > :06:18.tomorrow and they're hoping to finish in the top ten.
:06:19. > :06:24.Yeovil remain at the bottom of the Championship table tonight after
:06:25. > :06:28.they drew 0`0 against Watford. The Glovers have mustered just one win
:06:29. > :06:34.in their last 11 league games. For Watford, this was their eighth draw
:06:35. > :06:37.in their last nine away games. There's more on those stories on the
:06:38. > :06:40.BBC Website and, of course, your local BBC Radio stations. We'll be
:06:41. > :06:46.back tomorrow during Breakfast, but now let's get the latest weather
:06:47. > :06:50.with Alexis Green. Good evening. A few showers in the
:06:51. > :06:54.forecasts tonight as well as some mist and fog patches and those will
:06:55. > :07:00.become quite dense through the Mendips. Tonight, temperatures will
:07:01. > :07:05.drop to around four or five Celsius. The wind will be like, hence why we
:07:06. > :07:08.have a few mist and fog patches We'll have a brief respite during
:07:09. > :07:12.the middle part of the day from the showers, with some spells. The next
:07:13. > :07:16.batch of rain and strong winds which is in mater. The wind develops from
:07:17. > :07:22.the South. Gale force winds tomorrow night into the early hours of
:07:23. > :07:26.Thursday morning. Highs tomorrow of ten or 11 Celsius. What can we
:07:27. > :07:31.expect tomorrow? Sunshine and showers at times was the mist and
:07:32. > :07:34.fog patches to start the day and a band of rain later. Up next
:07:35. > :07:40.heavy. More international weather next.
:07:41. > :07:47.Good evening. Whilst today did bring some heavy showers, they moved
:07:48. > :07:52.through quite quickly. For much of tomorrow, it will stay dry if a bit
:07:53. > :07:55.cloudy and relatively mild. Patchy cloud at the moment.