:00:00. > :00:10.And that is all from us for this evening. Now on BBC One,
:00:11. > :00:14.Good evening. Somerset County Council is facing a
:00:15. > :00:18.large legal bill following the departure of its chief executive.
:00:19. > :00:22.Sheila Wheeler hasn't been at work since November and has now left by
:00:23. > :00:25.mutual consent. There were rumours of a rift with the council leader.
:00:26. > :00:29.Here's our political editor, Paul Barltrop.
:00:30. > :00:32.In happier days, council leader John Osman side by side with the woman
:00:33. > :00:37.appointed by Somerset's ruling Conservatives. Now they've parted
:00:38. > :00:41.company. In fact Sheila Wheeler hasn't been seen at meetings since
:00:42. > :00:45.November. Councillors were first told she was on sick leave, then
:00:46. > :00:50.simply away. Yesterday it was announced she'd been given ?40, 00,
:00:51. > :00:58.three months pay, to go. The council leader was talking but legally
:00:59. > :01:05.restricted in what he'd say. A number of complaints were way ``
:01:06. > :01:10.were made, these needed to be investigated, we have a duty to our
:01:11. > :01:15.employees to investigate them and they had to be investigated fully.
:01:16. > :01:21.That happened twice, once by a QC, owing to a government process had to
:01:22. > :01:25.be followed, the QC had to investigate, that took a bit of time
:01:26. > :01:28.and we cannot disclose personal information. 5000 people work for
:01:29. > :01:30.the county council so not surprisingly there has been lots of
:01:31. > :01:33.gossip about what might have happened.
:01:34. > :01:38.All those who know have been sworn to secrecy by the lawyers. The sense
:01:39. > :01:39.I get is that it is not as sensational as the rumours might
:01:40. > :01:42.suggest. The mystery had prompted Somerset
:01:43. > :01:48.MPs to raise it in Parliament. David Heath got no answers and remains
:01:49. > :01:53.frustrated. Nobody was saying anything about
:01:54. > :01:58.what is clearly a serious situation, one which had a cost to
:01:59. > :02:03.council tax payers, and one which clearly going to have an effect on
:02:04. > :02:07.the effectiveness of the county council, particularly over recent
:02:08. > :02:09.months when dealing with the biggest crisis we have ever had.
:02:10. > :02:13.So Sheila Wheeler becomes the second chief executive in five years paid
:02:14. > :02:15.to leave by a council which says it's strapped for cash.
:02:16. > :02:19.Well our political editor Paul Barltrop joins me now. Paul, that's
:02:20. > :02:26.a lot of money at a time when the council is making cuts.
:02:27. > :02:30.She is getting ?40,000, in lieu of three months notice, on top of
:02:31. > :02:34.40,000 burnt for the last three months and if you throw in the legal
:02:35. > :02:37.bills the total bill to the council will be well over ?100,000.
:02:38. > :02:45.Yesterday it was overshadowed they were setting the budget, is
:02:46. > :02:50.difficult cuts. New charges for elderly daycare, increased bus
:02:51. > :02:57.fares, youth centres, some losing funding, reduction in support for
:02:58. > :03:00.those who are in sheltered housing. Somerset are not the only ones
:03:01. > :03:04.setting their budget at the moment. All councils are doing so around
:03:05. > :03:10.now. South Gloucestershire putting their budget through. They have said
:03:11. > :03:18.they have got to cut ?36 million by 20 24th, Cheltenham, as well. ``
:03:19. > :03:25.2020. They are freezing council tax bills. The police forces are
:03:26. > :03:31.increasing their budgets by a little bit. The big warning is this is a
:03:32. > :03:33.difficult year, next year and a year after when things will get really
:03:34. > :03:37.tough. A man has been charged with the
:03:38. > :03:42.murder of a 20`year`old hairdresser who was killed in the salon where
:03:43. > :03:45.she worked. Tributes are still being paid to Hollie Gazzard who was
:03:46. > :03:52.stabbed at Fringe Benefits salon in Gloucester on Tuesday. 22`year`old
:03:53. > :04:00.Asher Maslin was today charged with her murder.
:04:01. > :04:03.Dredging will begin on the Somerset Levels next month. The Environment
:04:04. > :04:07.Agency says the work will begin as soon as it's safe and will include
:04:08. > :04:10.five key miles where the Rivers Tone and Parrett meet at Burrowbridge.
:04:11. > :04:14.Huge pumps are now moving flood water back to the sea in preparation
:04:15. > :04:16.for the dredging. But how long before the levels get back to
:04:17. > :04:20.normal? Andrew Plant reports. Where was once a crop of prime
:04:21. > :04:28.winter wheat now more pipes are appearing all the time. The damage
:04:29. > :04:34.is already done to James's precious planting, months of works and he
:04:35. > :04:37.washed away. It is 40 foot deep in some places so
:04:38. > :04:43.we are not going to be doing anything with the land this year. It
:04:44. > :04:45.will be a complete write`off. Stuart Fripp advises farmers to get the
:04:46. > :04:51.most from their fields. He says the real damage here is deep
:04:52. > :04:55.down in the soil. Once the water comes off the ground that is the
:04:56. > :04:58.start of the problem. You are then looking at two or three years of
:04:59. > :05:04.trying to get the land back into any kind of production.
:05:05. > :05:12.Help is flowing in. These tractors left Essex yesterday afternoon, with
:05:13. > :05:17.donations Intel. This is where all those donations are destined for.
:05:18. > :05:20.Sedgemoor market. They are storing everything here. Hey wrapped up on
:05:21. > :05:25.one side for animal feed, and straw for animal bedding over there. These
:05:26. > :05:32.donations are coming from all across the UK, and I am told there is an
:05:33. > :05:37.awful lot more still on the way This is only part of what we have
:05:38. > :05:43.got left to send. Unbelievable how farmers are running round across the
:05:44. > :05:46.country at the moment. If we don't get the feed down here the cattle
:05:47. > :05:53.will not get fed, if they don't get fed they will die. The prices will
:05:54. > :05:57.go up. Meanwhile dozens of farmers, dozens
:05:58. > :06:02.of families, are relying on these donations to keep their animals and
:06:03. > :06:05.their businesses alive. Now, just before we go to the
:06:06. > :06:09.weather, there was an earthquake here in the West today! Its centre
:06:10. > :06:13.was three miles under the Bristol Channel and it measured 4.1 on the
:06:14. > :06:15.Richter scale. People living in Somerset, Bristol and
:06:16. > :06:18.Gloucestershire said they felt it and experts say it could have been
:06:19. > :06:22.triggered by the recent severe weather.
:06:23. > :06:35.Some heavy showers around the Bristol Channel at the moment and
:06:36. > :06:44.some of those drifting further inland this evening generally
:06:45. > :06:47.speaking there will be some drier weather. Further showers gathering
:06:48. > :06:55.towards the morning. Some of those could be wintry. It will be a cold
:06:56. > :07:02.night than the last one, by a fair margin. Tomorrow will be turning
:07:03. > :07:07.into a windy day, some dry, sunny weather about. As we head towards
:07:08. > :07:16.the afternoon showers start to come in thick and fast. Some hail, wind,
:07:17. > :07:19.a low threat of lightning. The showers will continue in places as
:07:20. > :07:25.we head into the evening. Decent enough. Sunny spells. Here is a look
:07:26. > :07:32.at the outlook. A decent day Saturday, not so on Sunday.
:07:33. > :07:39.the outlook. On Sunday, we have grey skies and a bit of drizzle, too
:07:40. > :07:45.Good evening. You may have had the latest from the Met Office about the
:07:46. > :07:50.rainfall we have had this winter, the wettest winter on record. It is
:07:51. > :07:54.sometimes difficult to visualise the numbers. Let me explain how much
:07:55. > :07:59.rain we had. If you think about a stretch of land across the UK, we
:08:00. > :08:04.had about half a metre of rainfall falling so far this winter. That is,
:08:05. > :08:09.if the water didn't sleep into the ground. We have a huge amount of
:08:10. > :08:14.water brought in by areas of low pressure. 15 of them have been big
:08:15. > :08:17.storms, causing lots of damage. As far as the shorts is concerned, it
:08:18. > :08:21.is just a breeze. We have a few shells on the horizon and that is
:08:22. > :08:25.pretty much it. You can see where the weather is coming from the
:08:26. > :08:28.moment. It has come in from the Atlantic. Just a few scatter shower
:08:29. > :08:35.words here and there. It is going to be a bit colder tonight compared to
:08:36. > :08:36.last night. Last night tempered as were about seven or eight degrees,