02/04/2014 BBC Points West

Welcome to BBC Points West with outlook is mixed. Thank you.

Welcome to BBC Points West with David Garmston and Alex Lovdll. Our

main story tonight: Back on the Levels ` residents return to their

houses, but it will be months before they're home and dry. I'm

accountable for everyone `` for everything I do and I would expect

that from others. We'll be speaking to victims ahead

of an expected visit by the Prime Minister later this week.

Our other headlines tonight: Over 50 and thinking of retirement ` could

buying property beat a penshon? How staying trim in middle `ge could

add years to your life, and life to your years.

And, in trouble on and off the pitch ` now Yeovil's plans for thdir

stadium are blocked. `` put on hold. Good evening. The Prime Minhster is

expected to visit Somerset this week to discuss the aftermath of flooding

with civic leaders. It comes just a few days after the dredging work he

ordered began on the Rivers Tone and Parrett.

The floodwater has all but gone now but the damage it caused will take

many months to repair. Our Somerset correspondent, Clinton Rogers, has

been back to the village of Moorland eight weeks after the emergdncy

evacuation. Spring in Moorland. Wherever you

look they are stripping plaster pulling down walls, rebuildhng homes

that were four feet deep in water. There is an army of builders in

Moorland. Right now these homes are uninhabitable and are likelx to

remain so for many months to come. It is why there is a high vhsibility

police presence here. And at night road blocks check everyone coming

into and leaving the villagd. Picture postcard from the ottside,

but step inside John Griffin's home and you see exactly what flood

recovery means ` pretty much starting from scratch. Back into

almost a state when I purch`sed it but the outside looks reasonable

compared to the inside. Coincidentally, the builder here ` a

former councillor ` is one of those people who'll be meeting thd Prime

Minister in Somerset tomorrow night. What will you say if you get a

chance to talk to him? Who will be accountable for what they h`ve

done. 130 homes destroyed and families displaced. Is someone going

to be held accountable? We're not sure if the Prime Minister will

visit flood victims while hd's here, but if he does come to Moorland I

would offer him a cup of te` if I had a kettle!

It's probably in the skip! BBC Somerset were broadcasting live from

Moorland today, hearing movhng stories of the mental effect of the

flooding. This mother says her children are still suffering.

Nightmares in the middle of the night and crying because shd wants

to go home. Not quite knowing where they are when they wake up. All that

is setting in noun. `` now. We have been sacrificed in favour of the

town. John Griffin has taken to verse to express his view that

Moorland was deliberately flooded to save the town of Bridgwater. The

Environment Agency says that's simply not true, excessive rain

caused the flooding. From the air you can see that Moorland is now

drying out. But here they are now calls for a public inquiry to

determine why the floods cale so quickly and lasted so long. `` they

are now calling for a public enquiry. Well, today MPs have been

investigating the floods. In Parliament, the Environmdnt

Committee heard from senior figures at the Environment Agency. Ht was

revealed that fewer jobs ard being cut, with a pledge that front line

staff will be protected. Thd chairman of the agency welcomed the

start of dredging, but warndd it won't stop all flooding.

If we had kept the rivers in that condition, it would almost certainly

not have prevented the Somerset Levels from being flooded. What it

would do is help us to clear the water away from the Somerset levels

`` the Somerset Levels fastdr. Councils in Somerset and

Gloucestershire have been awarded more than ?1 million to help them

merge services. The biggest winners are Taunton Deane and West Somerset

who're joining forces to st`ve off financial collapse.

It's a turnaround for their deal which a few months ago faced strong

criticism. Here's our polithcal editor, Paul Barltrop.

For the two councils that h`d been staring into the financial `byss,

today was very significant. Only five months ago, Taunton De`ne and

West Somerset were turned down for government funding to help them

merge all of their services. Critics said ministers weren't imprdssed.

But they applied again, and today got ?750,000 ` one of the bhggest

awards yet. Absolutely delighted. It is a real accolade for the Council.

A vote of confidence in the two councils business plans and I

particularly thank all the staff for the teamwork and huge amount of work

they put in putting this pl`n together and, in fact, impldmenting

it. They'd met the minister sevdral

times. Now what they're doing in Somerset will be held up as an

example for others. There are big opportunities to save the t`xpayer

locally and then that money can be spent on front line services. From a

central government point of view, it is a better use of taxpayers money

and we will do what we can to help authorities deliver on that for the

benefit of local people. Also being helped: A partnership

involving the Forest of Dean, Cheltenham, Cotswold and West

Oxfordshire councils. They're getting half a million pounds. They

already share departments lhke finance and payroll and thex'll now

go further. For the staff involved it can be unsettling. In Tatnton

they're having to familiarise themselves with a new area. The pace

of change is about to pick tp. It's a pension really the bdst way

to save for your retirement should `` retirement or would you be better

off buying a house or flat to rent out?

This week, we have been looking at the cost of growing older whth a

pensions expert. Tonight, otr business correspondent challenges

him to challenge the altern`tives to the traditional pension pot. All

week, I've been out with a lan passionate about pensions.

Does it worry you about what you will live on in retirement? We took

him to a Cheltenham care hole where they understand the cost of growing

old. Yesterday, the entire workforce signed up to a new company pension

scheme. And your employer ptts money and so it means you get mord

savings. Yes. But this could be a tougher challenge. It is tile for

Tom McPhail to meet his critics Not everyone thinks the pension industry

is so clever. I want you to meet some people who think your hndustry

is, frankly, a rip`off. We were working on pensions commisshon s

systems and I could see how much these guys were getting paid. For

Robin and Terry this is thehr pension pot ` bricks and mortar

They saw the pension industry from the inside, writing the computer

code that generates commisshon for the sales calls. They are on up to

3% of initial commission followed by years of trails commissions and that

got me in the gut. Quite galling. What gives you the most fear is that

you are putting money into ` black hole and you don't see it until

retirement age. This has had one external photo and 30 applicants

viewed the property. It is `n easy place to market. So, for thd

pensions and Pusey asked, hdre is a guided tour of an alternative. Robin

and his friends have set up a small firm helping ordinary peopld by

ordinary houses and make wh`t they claim are extraordinary profits We

have a paramedic in Cheltenham who is now living in Spain. He has seven

properties now. He said we have pulled forward his retirement plans

by five years. He is living off the rental income and is able to buy

another one soon. Do you have to be minted to get into property? I am

not. If you have some equitx somewhere along the line yot can

invest it in property. So otr houses the route to happiness in old age?

Unsurprisingly, the pension man has his doubts. Everyone puts all their

chips on blacks. I have bought my own home and I will leave it to

generate spare cash to buy `nother home. If anything goes wrong with

the property market I am sunk. How much did your parents pay for their

first has and what is it worth today? Could you have saved that

money any other way? It is not accessible for most people. If you

are on a salary, the most sdnsible thing you can do is join thd

employment pension scheme. Ly challenge is that most people in

their 30s or 40s need to put a sizeable amount away every lonth. Up

to ?500 to amount to any kind of pension. I `` I challenge whether

people can find that extra cash these days. It is a huge galble as

you are borrowing to invest. They argued back and forth. What do you

think? Pension or property, which do you trust?

I've been reading through the e`mails and a lot of them echoed

both sides of the argument. However you choose to fund your rethrement

it is equally important, in fact more important, to have your health.

More than three quarters of you think that retirement is solething

to look forward to. So we sdnt our health correspondent on the train to

Minehead to find out what you can do now to stay fit in later life.

The West Somerset Railway couldn't run if it didn't have volunteers.

Many are retired. They find it a good way of keeping active,

physically and mentally, and perhaps there are lessons I can learn.

People in West Somerset leave `` live on average to an older age than

anyone else in the country. Up the line, they live longer than anywhere

else in Europe. I am coming here to get my health checked out to see

what I can do to look forward to a healthier and happier old age. My

first stop is at Minehead's main surgery. We will check your blood

pressure. The government paxs deep peas to have health checks for

people like me. The computer gives me a 6% chance of heart att`ck or

stroke over the next decade. Apart from avoiding ladders, how can I

improve my chances of a healthy retirement? If you lost somd weight

that would effectively change your blood pressure, it would fall a bit,

and you would be less likelx to become diabetic. It could rhsk ``

push the small risk down evdn further. It is something th`t

everyone, as they get older, should be thinking about as they gdt into

their 40s if they want a long and happy life. They should look at

their lifestyle. In Somerset, less than 4% of eligible adults `re given

these tests. Doctor Ford thhnk it's better to help patients if they have

specific concerns rather th`n test the worried well. There may be

something else that is not diabetes. It may be a prost`te

problem for someone in their 40s or 50s but it is worth exploring this

with someone who is a health care professional to think, what do I

need at this point in time, rather than something that could bd seen as

a politically targeted drivdn screening check. For those patients

who reach a ripe old age like this 96`year`old patient, taking exercise

is a vital ingredient. It is to keep everyone active and they have a lot

of fun. It brings the community together and it keeps peopld

flexible and be able to comb hair, reach cupboards and so on.

My GP told me it can also bd a mistake to be attracted to the sea

air and retire here if you don't know anyone as that can lead to

isolation and mental illness. Keep in the mind exercised with difficult

challenges is also essential. For me, retirement seems a long way off

but according to people likd Doctor Ford you cannot start plannhng

things in terms of your health soon enough.

So, the message from Matthew's GP is very much you can't start planning

too early for your old age. With us in the studio is Grdg

Thorley who is the Director of Life Academy. They run pre`retirdment

courses helping people to plan for all aspects of retirement, not just

financial. You are independdnt. So what are the main concerns people

come to you with. Finance is the main concern. Whilst

that is important, we help them understand broader issues to

consider for retirement. Such as, the extra time they will have and

the effect of retirement on their relationships. Also, the loss of

status and social circles `` circle circles associated with a

workplace. How early should people plan? People think about it in their

50s and we are encouraging people to think it `` think about it darlier,

say in their 30s. 30 or 40 xears ahead? We have to think abott

longevity as we are all livhng longer so retirement very often can

be as long as some people 's working lives. But you don't want to live ``

wish your life away either? I am not suggesting you focus all yotr time

on it but financial education should start in schools. We all tend to

leave it. We all think of cliff edge retirement, we reach retirelent

having not thought about it. Why is that? We live in a culture where we

can do things pretty immedi`tely in the moment. At least in the last 25

years. With the recent financial situation, that has changed to some

degree as people have got used to planning. So it is a product of our

times and recently we have dnjoyed holidays and cars etc. That is good

but we need to help people to think of tomorrow.

It is interesting what you say about lifestyle changes. Coming up a

little later in the programle: One of the original grumpy old women,

Jenny Eclair shares her thotghts on growing older. At 54, it is not too

bad. There will be some at home saying, she looks older!

It's "Onesie Wednesday", a day for stepping out of your ordinary

clothes and into something lore comfortable, like a onesie or

pyjamas. The idea is to show support for anyone with autism by bding

"different" for the day. Around 700,000 people have the

condition in the UK, but it remains a largely unknown and misunderstood

disability. Zoe Gough reports. Tea, cakes and onesies. Tod`y is

about taking people out of their comfort zone on World Autisl

Awareness Day because doing things differently is a way of lifd for

some. I don't get embarrassdd easily. Sometimes I say things I

shouldn't. Sometimes people tend to walk out and I tend to throw what

they would call a strop. Get too close to people. Touch them when

they don't want to be touchdd. Yet. In Taunton, sleepwear was m`tched

with chains of office as thd mayor and senior councillors also took

part. It's a really good catse to support and make people stop and

think twice about being mean to somebody who looks different.

It's thought around 67 millhon people worldwide have autisl. In the

UK, it's more than one in 100. There's no medical detection or

cure, but early diagnosis ilproves outcomes. Today is about helping

those with the condition be less misunderstood. Everybody is

different and I would just say respect everybody. You will then get

respect back no matter what the problem is, I think.

An inquest into a motorway crash that killed seven people in Somerset

has heard from members of the near where it `` nearby rugby cltb which

hosted a firework display the same evening. The organiser has been

cleared of wrong doing alre`dy. Today, an inquest into the deaths

heard how the club was unable to find an original risk assessment for

the display and Howard calldd an emergency committee meeting after

news of the crash filtered through. The inquest continues.

An Avon Somerset police officer is to stand trial accused of assaulting

magistrates heard how PC Gary magistrates heard how PC Gary

Tester, seen here in the julper was arrested after Wiltshire Police

officers were called to the Premier Inn during the early hours of

January 19th following a disturbance. PC Tester, who pleaded

appear before Chippenham magistrates Sullivan, by beating, was b`iled to

appear before Chippenham magistrates in August.

It's still not known if Yeovil Town Football Club will be able to fund

the redevelopment of its ground The club wants to build a large

supermarket on land next to Huish Park to pay for a new all sdater

stand. But Councillors in South Solerset

have deferred a decision on whether to grant planning permission for the

store. Our sports editor, Alistair Durden, is at Huish Park now.

This has been Yeovil Town's home since 1990. He wished part, since

the days they were a non`le`gue club. They have now risen up the

league and that is why the club says they need to upgrade their

facilities. They think they have found a way to pay for it. This is

brand`new all`seater stand to the ambition for Yeovil Town,

brand`new all`seater stand to replace the ageing open terraces.

The club says is it `` it is at a crossroads and the redevelopment is

essential if it is to sustahn its success. If we are going to keep

progressing and be a club for the fans where they are comfort`ble and

in a nice environment, the ground is tatty at the moment. We are talking

about level playing fields but we haven't got one. Today, club

officials and fans filled the chamber to see the plan approved but

local councillors wanted thd scheme rejected because of concerns over

traffic and the effect on the town centre. Also, the loss of a public

open space despite the football club offering ?2 million to find an

alternative. South Somerset council agreed to defer the verdict for two

months to address those concerns. It is the best news we could h`ve

received to date. The attempt to keep up with a rapid

rise is proving a hard challenge. Yeovil Town might consider today as

something of a moral victorx. They didn't have much support amongst the

town and parish councillors but now they have two months to refhne the

News today about Bristol Rovers News today about Bristol Rovers

redevelopment plans as well? Yes, the campaigners who were

objecting to a Sainsbury is being built at the Memorial Staditm have

confirmed they will not takd their case to the Court of Appeal which,

effectively, is the last obstacle gone for Bristol Rovers so they can

start work on building the stadium. I am told they hope to have that

started on time this summer. They have a battle on the pitch to sort

out first. Last night 's defeat means there is the little threat of

above the drop zone with six games above the drop zone with six games

left of the season. Some work to do there.

Thank you Alasdair. This week we have been hearhng about

getting older and from some of our best loved `` loved comedians. Jenny

eclair will be launching her show, "Grumpy Old Women". We asked if

growing older models `` bothers her. It doesn't really bother me. I am

representing the youthful end of the ageing spectrum at the moment. But

daily it is getting worse! Ht is something you can't deny so you have

to kind of get on with it. That s my mother says, it is not for sissies.

I'm 54 so it is not too bad. At this point there will be people `t home

saying oh, she looks older. Jenny, how do you approach getting

older? There are days when I don't think

about it, but other days my knees plate like gunfire as I get out of

bed and I am reminded. Then I walk past the "mean mirror" is in my

bathroom and that reminds md. Basically, if you want to ignore it

you can take your glasses. Stand further away from the mirror and

dimmer switches can be very kind. But there are perks. I do no more

staff and I am not afraid to use that knowledge. I do feel vdry much

that I am allowed to... Not throw my road `` wait around because that

sounds nasty, although I have moments, but I am allowed to say,

know I am rather `` I write because I know such and such.

We have put that on our Facdbook page if you want to see it `gain.

Let us cross to Ian who is on the roof.

Thanks very much. Generally, the further west you are you will see

the bulk of the weather. Further eastwards, less so. There whll be a

lot of cloud around. A broadly dried picture now but we usher showers

from the south later tonight and more particularly in the early

hours. They will pass prettx much directly over Bristol. After that,

Exmoor could get quite a so`king. And the uplands of West Somdrset.

Broadly dried this evening but one or two showers feed up as the night

wears on. It will be towards daybreak that the next set of

whether shows from the south. Mild temperatures tonight. Tomorrow we

start with a lot of cloud. Generally dried towards the east but dven a

few showers here. Showers in the West will be quite heavy at times

with a possible rumble of thunder. Late afternoon, the showers will

drift away and things will dry out. Dry conditions for Friday. Lower

temperatures tomorrow than today. Beyond tomorrow, Friday will be

better with light rain on S`turday. Sunday will turn a good deal wet and

windy. Thank you. BBC Two in a few minutes

Nigel Clegg and Nigel Farah drilled debate over the EU.

See later.