13/06/2014 BBC Points West

A community under bombardment by flies.

Thousands of them infest Avonmouth as containers

We cover everything so the customers are happy but it is really really

but it is really really bad.

Tonight, as a public meeting's, held we find out what's being done

No fear of the law ` the criminals who've broken

The Bristol car that will ldave the rest behind.

Bone day this will be 1000 liles an hour car and we have had thd first

look inside the cockpit at the controls. And I have been ott

finding out how you have bedn enjoying the glorious weathdr. Could

this be the start of a long hot summer?

A public meeting's being held in Avonmouth tonight as reshdents

try to get rid of a fly infdstation that's plagued them for weeks.

It's so bad fly spray's being handed out to locals.

The source of the problem h`s been bags of waste sat on the docks at

It's become such an issue that the matter will be raised

Let?s join Scott Ellis in Avonmouth now.

Lovely weather but the flies are enjoying it.

That's the problem. Everyond is enjoying the warm summer evdning but

the warm weather has helped the flies to breed and homeowners have

been telling me they won't open their windows to let the brdeze in

because it lets the flies in. Helen and Sally, how bad is the shtuation?

Shocking. My house has been fumigated. Terrible, that flies

everywhere. The source of the problem is next door over the back

of this building is Avonmouth where the fly infestation has started I

have been looking around today to find out how bad this probldm is.

A regular household chore for Kevin Webb.

He's been sharing his home with flies for weeks.

There are 20 flies on there in a day. And another 15 in the

conservatory. I made a cup of coffee and I turned around and there were

were two in the coffee.

The local cafe is fighting the flies too.

It means staff have to clean more often ` and keep food coverdd.

It is really difficult and so frustrating. It is embarrassing for

the customers because you are going like that and trying to serve them

food without any flies being around. One family's even resorted to

dinner ` under a fly net. The problem's been bags of waste `

similar to these ` It's bound for Sweden to be used

as fuel but shipment was delayed. The bags split open

and the flies started feasthng. Today

the Environment Agency told us: Not everyone's convinced

the problem's over. And next week the area's MP will

demand reassurances from ministers. Residents don't have to wait weeks

and weeks while they squabble about who was responsible and say they can

do nothing. We need a plan so if it happens again residents get action

first and they can squabble later. As for Kevin, he has another killer

solution to the fly infestation A venus fly trap `

surely soon to be the best selling There is a public meeting in

Avonmouth to reassure residdnts here. The council says it whll

continue to hand out the flhghts break and they are fumigating homes

and they will look at food waste bins and other contaminated areas

and the Environment Agency hs reassuring residents the businesses

operating on Avonmouth docks will be checked to make sure they are

working within the operating licence.

A three`year`old was rescued from a car in Trowbridge yesterday

Police broke a window and the child was taken to the Royal Unitdd

The matter's been referred to social services.

More than forty officers and staff have now been intdrviewed

as part of the investigation into gross misconduct alleg`tions

against Avon Somerset's chief constable, Nick Gargan.

Mr Gargan was suspended last month following claims he m`de

inappropriate advances to junior female members of st`ff.

The Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens

said Mr Gargan denied the allegations and was dev`stated.

A man from Cirencester has been arrested

The child was taken to Bristol Children's Hospital

on Tuesday afternoon after emergency services were called

A Gloucestershire couple who admitted neglecting their children

and bringing them up in dirty, squalid conditions were due to be

sentenced today. But the cotrt case had to be postponed after the pair `

who can't be named for legal reasons ` had to be taken to hospit`l.

Here's our Gloucestershire reporter Steve Knibbs.

This has been a case that h`s shocked all involved. The couple

cared for nine children ` all of them the mother's but her htsband

had only fathered the three youngest ones. They pleaded guilty to

neglecting five of them ` charges relating to the other four will lie

on file. The children lived in filthy and unhygienic conditions `

matresses were soiled, bedrooms smelt of urine and animal f`eces.

The children were reported `s being often dirty and smelly and suffered

badly with head lice infest`tions which the mother told policd she'd

treated with mayonnaise. Despite health and social agencies

attempting to intervene, it was only after the youngest child was

admitted to hospital with sdvere nappy rash which had left ulcers on

the skin that police arrestdd the couple. We can't identify them as we

have a legal duty to protect the children's identity but at `

previous hearing I asked thd father why he'd treated his childrdn so

We let our children down, wd never stopped loving them but we let them

down. Not in a neglectful w`y but development and growing up.

Did you believe the children were being treated properly and they were

being brought up in a clean and loving home?

I did, yes. I suppose that was a blinkered opinion. Looking back I

can see no. The couple were expecting to be

sentenced and sent to jail but it was delight `` delayed but this

morning the couple never arrived and the court was told they had been

admitted to hospital after taking an overdose. The judge said I have no

idea if this is attention sdeking, sympathy seeking or if this was a

genuine attempt `` to take their lives. Psychiatric teams ard working

with a couple to ensure no harm comes to them between now and next

week when they're expected to be sentenced.

It's emerged that a gang of criminals have broken

They drove a van through the barriers at Leyhill in South

Gloucestershire and stole tobacco worth nearly thirty thousand pounds.

But not content with that they struck again seven months l`ter

This exclusive report by out Home Affairs Correspondent,

This is the entrance at Leyhill ` it's not

designed to be escape proof`after all this is an open prison.

And these metal barriers are certainly not built

In October last year a gang got in and ram raided a building in

the prison's grounds where hnmates are employed to pack tobacco for

It is stupid to break into ` prison. They usually try to break ott!

It?s claimed that at the tile of the raid prison staff were

distracted by a large firework display outside the jail.

The gang made off with ?29,8000 worth of tobacco in a silver van.

But this was not the first time the prison's perimeter had been broken.

Seven months before a simil`r raid had taken place and tobacco

It seems a bold offence, brdaking in to a prison, strangely but ht was a

was a bold offence.

No`one from the Ministry of Justice would be interviewed about the

incidents but an official admitted a quantity of what were descrhbed as "

He claimed that security here has been improved but couldn't

We know both offences used stolen vehicles from the Midlands `rea the

vehicles were recovered. We have carried out extensive forensic

enquiries and where they were stolen from. That hasn't given `` given us

any clues. We have conducted extensive CCTV enquiries and with a

community to see if there w`s anything. Sadly, at this st`ge we

have not arrested anyone. The courier company DHL didn't want

to talk about this highly unusual btrglary

which also resulted in ?15,000 You're watching Friday's Pohnts West

on another beautiful day. We'll have

the weekend weather soon and keeping We're counting down to tomorrow s

World Cup tie but we'll meet some The final wish of a teenager from

North Dorset is coming true. David Langton`Gilks who was 16 had a brain

tumour and did all he could to make more people aware of the sylptoms.

After his death, his family continued the campaign and now, two

years on, they've got support from the Government. In a moment we'll be

talking to David's mum Sach`, but first our Health Corresponddnt

Matthew Hill reminds us abott this David found the energy to do this

interview a couple of months before he died. He was living with brain

cancer for five years. Before I was diagnosed I felt really weird, sick

and getting bad headaches. H thought it was just I was coming down with

something or it was normal. It came on so slowly and it became ` normal

thing. It took six weeks to diagnose, something his pardnts felt

could have been spotted much earlier. That's why his mother made

it her mission to deliver these pocket sized symptom cards to as

many schoolchildren as she could. For this to happen across the

country she enlisted the support of the government. It has taken months

to secure a meeting with thd minister for public health but this

letter from the MP confirms NHS England is contacting all dhrectors

of public health about the campaign to encourage schools throughout the

country to take part. I rel`psed several times which was fun. And now

I'm kind of stuffed. But, yds, hey, you can't win them all. Davhd raised

the profile of this disease to a much higher level. His final wish

has `` is that many families should know about the symptoms and it looks

How do you you feel? I am rdally relieved the minister... Yot cannot

get a new piece of informathon to the public domain from the bottom

up. You need help from government and public health is the best place

to get it from. They can get it into health visitors, baby clinics and

schoolbags and they can get it into pharmacies. You need as manx people

to be aware of the symptoms, like with meningitis.

Are there any papers or evidence to suggest early diagnosis helps?

Yes, there is. That is why the campaign was set up by the brain

tumour charity to be collecting data as they went along so they could

prove it with data and colldcting it as we go along. We have cut by 5%

but we need 25% ago. The target is a five`week average diagnosis. It can

make all the difference. At five weeks, you can save 80% of the

children. This didn't exist when David was there. It was hugd. And

weeks seven where the average diagnosis time is now, they are dead

from a common cancer tumour. You have put so much energy and passion

into this. How has involvemdnt helped you? I think it has been

good... It is tempting and ht is hard to talk to other peopld, they

are so appalled and don't know what to say and we are not good `t

talking about death and death in children and cancer is even worse.

It is everybody's worst terror. The idea it could happen to you is awful

and you cannot deal with it. It is tempting to go home and go tnder the

duvet. I have two other children and David said to me before he died his

dementia got very bad, he dhdn't recognise me at the end and that

could have been stopped. With earlier diagnosis. He said to me,

you have to do this. You must keep going so I can't let him down. He

would be so proud of you. It is so inspirational and a super lhttle

boy. Thank you very much. After years of debate the idea

of building a barrage across the Severn Estuary m`y have

been largely ruled out. But another way

of using its tidal power to generate The scheme is called a tidal lagoon,

and councils are bidding for three million pounds to get it

kickstarted. It has one of the biggest thdes

in the world. The potential to produce renewable

energy for millions of homes. Now, the race is on to capttre

the power using a new technology. Turbines are housed

in a concrete lock which is set As the tide rushes in, and out,

it drives the turbines prodtcing This man leads a group of

businessmen with ambitious plans. Not only do they want to produce

power for half a million holes but they hope

a lagoon would regenerate the area. The power or give us the me`ns to

afford to have a ferry dock, we are talking about putting a wavd maker

in because the local youth would Local councils from Bristol to

West Somerset are also talkhng about how they can encouragd tidal

lagoons to make the area We have this great geographhc

anomaly which is the second Let's use that to

our best advantage. The council is putting in a bid

for ?3 million of European loney to It seems likely

the worlds first tidal lagoon will be built at Swansea but in Linehead

they could be the second. And we'll be discussing this more

on Sunday Politics West. The Bristol project to make the

world's first thousand mile an hour Today we've had

the first glimpse inside thd cockpit of the vehicle ` which they hope

will break the land speed rdcord. Richard Westcott's been to @vonmouth

to see the driver's controls. This is the first time anyone has

seen the cockpit ` Blood Hotnd will We will be speaking to the

man driving it but this is how it We will explain in a minute or so

if I am still conscious. To go nearly one and a half times

the speed of sound in a car. Finally, you need a 12 mile long

dried`out lake bed with voltnteers who have removed 23,000 tonnes

of stones by hand so it is smooth. The blood has gone back to ly feet,

you will be practising in that An exciting day,

the public launch of the cockpit. This is where I will sit,

200 kilogram piece of carbon fibre, very much jet fighter style

cockpit, a centre screen with performance information, spded, up

to 1000 miles an hour and the power The screens and the controls

for the power systems and I have two pedals, the jet dngine,

and the wheel brakes, so speed 200 miles an hour `nd the

steering wheel is moulded thtanium, printed in titanium with buttons

for systems and parachutes `nd most This is the throttle,

800 horsepower race car enghne and that will drive the rocket

which will be the thrust, 135,0 0 horsepower and at the other end of

the 12 mile desert in two mhnutes. He is proud of that, isn't he? Has

anyone told there is a 20 mhle an hour speed limit Bristol!

There are just over 30 hours to go until England's opening gamd

in Brazil, some of you have been preparing for

England, of course ` take on Italy ` and it'll be a tricky one to watch

for some of the Italians who live here in the West.

English fans don't like plaxing football against Italy becatse

they lose but while football isn't a favourite Italian culture is.

Here in the Italian city of Bath they are getting into it.

It is like Bill Shankly oncd said, football is not a matter

We Italians absolutely agree with the statement.

And in the World Cup there are surprises.

And the English team has, for the first time, lots of young t`lent.

The big clubs in Italy were founded by English

It will be a big game but it isn't as big as it used to be.

How is this for someone with a foot in both camps?

When we played in the year rose it was a funny feeling because you

wanted to score but at the dnd of the day it is early stagds.

And at least one person will be happy whatever the result.

It's been another beautiful day across the West.

The pools have been packed, the suncream's been out and after

a wet, wet, winter, plenty of you have been making the most of it

Sarah`Jane Bungay is down at the Harbourside in Bristol now, enjoying

It has clouded over slightlx but still green mild, plenty of people

out and about enjoying a drhnk, if you glasses of wine after work and I

have had an enviable job, I have been out and about finding out

however one has been enjoying themselves. Diving into sumler. This

is more like it. We live in Tenerife so we have come back. I told him I

would bring the weather and I did. It is a nice view, a nice bht of

sun. The fact you are outside makes a change, we swim regularly in

indoor pools so it is nice to be out in the weather. Who said Frhday the

13th was unlucky, not for this butcher. It is barbecue season. When

the weather predicts sun and off it goes and we are making stuff

nonstop. Taunton looked tritmphant in the sun. Rewind a year, ht barely

reached 16 Celsius hair. `` here. And Gloucestershire glistendd under

blue skies. The temperature reached 24 points six. I predict thhs

weekend will cool down a little but then lovely 14 days of warm sunny

weather. And you are never too young, or too small, to enjoy a few

rays. Yes, it was lovely today, lots of people enjoying themselvds. I

hope you get out and about `nd enjoy the sunshine. Down here at the

harbour`side, the BBC Festival of nature, plenty going on espdcially

if you have little people and it keeps them entertained. Lots for the

adults as well. Whether it has been the hottest day so far, a couple of

minutes and you will find ott, 4.9 Celsius was recorded on the 19th of

May, David and Amanda, are xou going to bet a fiver? I know the `nswer.

We will leave Sarah Jane to sit down with those people enjoying the last

rays and we go up to the roof where Ian can tell a bit about wh`t is to

come. A decent enough weekends, pleasantly warm, temperaturds down

compared to today but we should reach the low 20s. We have had a

nice story in terms of tempdratures of 23 and 24 Celsius. We will find

later on this evening and increasing chance of showers, they will be an

aspect of the weather furthdr towards the east of the reghon.

Through Saturday, still a fdw showers around but nothing scary, no

desperately heavy showers, lany areas of avoiding them. Brightness

and Sunday should be dry through the course of the day. The rainfall

radar has picked up showers over Northern Ireland, they are critical

because with time they will migrate down to the West Midlands, crossing

Gloucestershire through Wiltshire and Bristol at midnight onw`rds A

sprinkling of heavy showers not expecting any thundery ones in

amongst that and through thd cause of the evening and overnight they

will drift away. This is looking through the wider scene of the

course of the weekend and as I mentioned, the chance of a few

showers popping up through the course of tomorrow afternoon and

further afield towards Sund`y, a day of variable cloud and some shine

with light wind for both daxs. The rest of this evening, one to showers

on the radar all ready across areas but later tonight we will sde

heavier ones marching slowlx southwards and by daybreak tomorrow

they should be out of the w`y in the south and a mild night of 14 or 15

Celsius. Tomorrow, a dry and fairly bright start, a competition between

`` between cloud cover and sunshine. A few showers around through the

course of the afternoon. Temperatures tomorrow up to around

21 or 22, the North Somerset coast to be warm.

Has it been the hottest day? No, we wish I of it, 24.9 wd had to

beat. Not bad at all. The cricketdrs are

guests at Long Ashton. It is also Father's Day. Good night.

Make the most of your weekend, wherever you are.