14/02/2012 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Our top stories.

The number of fluent Welsh speakers is in steady decline. Is the

language in danger of disappearing? Our other headlines tonight. The

Zac Smith weighed in at 50 stolen before radical surgery in India. A

call for more funding to tackle obesity.

Protesters in court. They took over a disused hotel saying it would

help the community. Tonight, they are told to check out.

After 136 years you can finally get on your bike on Llandudno promenade.

How about this for a romantic dinner destination? Cardiff prison

considers going into the restaurant trade.

Good evening. The number of fluent Welsh speakers is in steady decline

according to the organisation set up to promote the language. The

Welsh Language Board is preparing to hand over its duties to the

Welsh government. Its final report says there are 3,000 fewer Welsh

speakers every year. As well as people dying, migration is seen as

a key factor. Around 55,000 people moving to Wales each year, while

more than 5,000 Welsh because believe Wales each year, with a

third of those never returning. In a moment we will speak to the

report's of there, but first a reporter has been to Llandysul in

Ceredigion to test the strength of the language there. Nestling on the

banks of this river, this busy town is named after son David's first

cousin. It is also a Welsh-language stronghold. According to the 2001

census, 70% of the town's population can speak Welsh. Even

here, the language isn't safe. The Welsh Language Board expects last

year's census results to show a fall in the number of Welsh because

living in its northern and western hardens. One of the main reasons

for that is migration. Many Welsh speakers are choosing to leave the

country and at the same time, only a small percentage of those moving

in that can speak the language or choose to learn it. Historically,

over the past 70 are 80 years, Welsh people have continually left

in order to find a better standard of pay and better quality of

employment. There is a larger amount of English people who have

found Wales over the last 20 or 25 years and regarded as a desirable

place to live. As opposed to many areas of England, it is cheaper as

well. Wells is still the main language for many around this town,

but what does the future hold? keep it going, it is a concern. It

is very difficult, children tend to play in English out on the streets

any way, you notice them walking along, speaking in English. I think

it is quite strong, because we have the skilled and the secondary

school here and it is Welsh- speaking, so I think we have a

strong community, but strong Welsh community. And this may be another

reason for being optimistic. This man has been learning Welsh since

he moved to the area two years ago. A know someone said it is like

having a house with one window in it, when you learn a language she

had two windows. I am sure it is. Every now and again, when I am

learning Welsh, I get these little glimpses of something on the other

side if you like. I just want to get there. The Welsh Language Board

report suggests that there just are not enough people like this man

making the effort to learn Welsh and that could have serious

implications for the next generation of Welsh speakers. Back

in 1,400, the men here were the first to fight... Today as the

future of the Welsh language is placed in further doubt, it may be

for Llandysul to get ready for another battle. Let us lot -- talk

to the report's also. People may be surprised, Welsh is in our schools

and public life, on our TV screens and radios, it seems entrenched in

life in Wales, but not so you are suggesting? It is certainly well

entrenched, it is our or historical language. It is in danger. The

demographic factors are what determines the future of the

language and demographic factors are still not in our favour. We are

making ground in education, Welsh medium education, is insuring that

two-thirds of the children who can speak Welsh now, actually speak

Welsh, not as the language of a home. We are winning on that front.

As the report mentioned, migration is still a problem. Vast amounts of

public money has been spent over decades and decades promoting and

safeguarding the language, or trying to, but this is a problem

about more than funding isn't it? It is about more than money and

Investment? Certainly. Attitudes are in favour, but money... All it

has been spent on the language has been on education, educating

children. What we need to do is get these children who can speak Welsh

Under able to speak Welsh, to persuade them to use Welsh as their

own language. I do very much. us talk to Guto Bebb who joins us

from our studio in Bangor. On this question of money, the evidence is

that decades of Investment has done very little to help Welsh as a

living language, used in the community? And that is an

interesting question. The expenditure on the line which has

been successful in many ways. We have seen an emphasis on language

rights an emphasis on legal rights for the Welsh language and what has

been missing is an appreciation that to survive, it has to be a

community language and has to be spoken across all groups in that

community and to do that you need to have a thriving economy. In many

parts of Wales, and there are plans, we have not got that thriving

economy and we have a very poor economy. We are losing young people

from Welsh-speaking areas at an alarming rate. Her in that case, do

we need a complete rethink on the way we look at this? I think we

have had huge changes in the wake will language is seen within the

public sector. I think Welsh because themselves need to ask

themselves what is the way forward and I think in constituencies like

mine, I feel that we need to see people who do believe strongly in

the future of Welsh-speaking communities and see them say that

they are willing to make a future for themselves. To do that, the

need to see a future economically outside the public sector, and in

order to create it implement, we need thriving businesses. That is a

key way in which the language can be strengthened within the

traditional communities. Thank you. This time last year at Zac Smith

from the Vale of Glamorgan was one of the biggest men in Britain,

weighing 50-stone. Turned down by the NHS in Wales, he was forced to

pay for a private weight loss operation and decided to go to

India for it. After one year, he is on target to lose more than half

his body weight. Tonight, the Chief Medical Officer has called for more

funding to tackle obesity. There was hardly a man a bigger than Zac

Smith in the UK just over one year ago. After a lifetime of over 18,

he hit 50-stone and was desperate. Because of strict rationing of

weight-loss surgery in Wales, he had to go private. He borrowed his

mother's life savings of �9,000 and made the journey on his own to

India to get a gastric sleeve operation. It reduces stomach size

and the amount the patient can eat. Zac vowed to lose 30 stone and we

have been following him since the operation. Tonight, we will reveal

the full extent of his extraordinary weight loss and how

he did it. It has been a tough journey, with highs and lows, and

he kept a diary. On what are two occasions, the feeling, I was

overwhelmed by my emotions. I would reach for fluid, which I have not

done and the first time I have experienced it. I was scared.

Surgery like a Zac had is rationed in Wales. 5,000 qualify for it, but

only about 100 get it. The vast majority done here at Swansea's

Morriston Hospital. There is evidence showing these procedures

save the NHS money by preventing other diseases like diabetes. The

Welsh government is undertaking a review of the rationing criteria.

If we need to find the resources to support that, we need to identify

where they welcome from. We are in a very tight financial situation,

so the question is where will we stop? Wells's top of the city

Surgeons as more effort needs to stop people from getting seriously

overweight in the first place. Nutrition is badly taught at

medical schools, it isn't taught in a lot of postgraduate areas and I

think the average doctor in the NHS knows very little about nutrition.

In order to slow down the inexhaustible rise of patients

coming our way, a much greater emphasis should be put it on good

nutritional advice. We do need almost like an Nutrition Sark this.

We need someone to tell us what we should be putting in our miles.

Sack is concentrating on the future. My life is turning around. It can

only get better, God willing. Speak to you soon. You can see more on

sack's weight loss journey on tonight's Week In Week Out after

the 10pm news. Education services in tour Viner

falling below expected standards, according it to the school's

watchdog. The 30 is one of him in Wales to be inspected so far and it

has been assessed as unsatisfactory, the lowest possible rating. But

said that performance in primary schools has improved in recent

years, but performance at GCSE level is among the lowest in Wales.

The council has 50 days to come up with an action plan. The most

critically, we know where our problems lie and we are working

with all our partners and with a watchdog to make those changes, so

that parents can be reassured that in here and the whole of Wales,

their children will receive the best possible education and our

teachers know that we will be supporting them and trying with the

delivery of those services. police are investigating after a

man died in a caravan fire. Fire crews were called to a caravan park

just before midnight. The man is thought to be in his 40s and he was

found inside. The fire service has stressed the importance of fitting

smoke alarms in caravans. Environmental campaigners have lost

their fight against ships carrying lick of fight and natural gas into

Milford Haven. The European Court of Human Rights rejected claims

that the two terminals at Milford posed a risk to the life of local

people. A group which set up a community

centre in an empty Swansea hotel have been told they must leave. A

judge said the Cwtch Community Centre grip must be a key at the

hotel within 24 hours of an order been served a risk of breaking the

It is wrong to have empty buildings in a city centre. It is bringing

down the energy and is making the place look like elected. It is

affecting people's spirits. It was a 60 bedroom hotel but the group

argue it has been empty for two years and they have given a day per

despite turning it into a cafe where everyone is welcome. I been

on the streets for seven years. It is a new experience for people like

us. Today, the group marched the court to see if they could stay at

the hotel to the owners said he was urgently trying to let it but could

not while they were in there. The judge agreed with the owner and

said they had to leave and if they did and within 24 hours, there

would be breaking the law. He did recognise that the work was

benefiting the community. It was very disappointing. We feel it has

been unfairly done but we are peaceful and we will go about our

business. I a modest a disappointed. -- I am obviously disappointed. It

would have been better far as to stem provide the service until the

actual hearing. They have not received notice to leave but once

they have, they are prepared to go immediately. If the fight to stay

here is over, it is not the end for the community group. They say they

are fully formed for -- in Swansea and will continue their work in the

future. Later in the programme. Cardiff

City newest eatery, the prison, is considering going into the

restaurant business. And just the head coach of the

Ospreys Sean Holly look -- looks set to leave the region.

There's been further speculation today about the fate of the

clothing chain Peacocks. The future of the retailer, which went into

administration last month, is likely to become known by the end

of the week. It's been reported that only one company, an Indian

clothing firm calls SKNL, remains in the race, although the

administrators have refused to comment. Richard Perks is a

director at the market research company, Mintel. We are not sure

about the accuracy of this report but a limited number of large

foreign companies have been linked to Peacocks so far. If this goes

ahead, would it be good for Peacocks? Absolutely. It is the

duty of the administrators to get the best possible price for the

business and I can only assume this Indian company has come up with the

highest bid. What Peacocks needs his stable ownership and it needs

to get rid of its debt and it needs money put into it. One of the

problems for the business is that because it took on all of the debt,

it could not invest in the stores in the way that it should. There

are hundreds of staff in Wales and customers wondering about the long-

term future of Peacocks. How do you see its long-term future? It should

have perfectly reasonable long-term future. Any clothing retailer, the

success is down to the manager doing the right things but Peacocks

has been a successful business. have got the headquarters in Wales

and the distribution network. What about the prospects of retaining

those in Wales? If the business carries on as it is at the moment

then all of those jobs and all of that distribution network should be

safe. Time to get the lycra out and

saddle up. For the first time in over 130 years, cyclists will be

able to use the Promenade in Llandudno. Since it was built in

1876, there's always been a ban on bikes. But today, Conwy Council

voted to lift it. Here's Matt Murray.

From its Victorian boom to it's hay days of the 1950's, when holiday

makers flocked to Llandudno. The town has seen many changes since

then but there's been one constant. For over 130 years, the promenade

has been a no go area for cyclists. Today, that all changed.

Councillors voted in favour to lift the ban. Cyclist, Stewart Harvey,

believes it's long overdue. If you cycle on the road, it is horrendous.

The hotel trade is excellent and that needs supporting but in the

summertime, the amount of coaches you have and the bonnet of traffic

you have here and if you cycle on the road it is dangerous. For the

adults, it's not so bad but there's no way the kids can cycle on it.

While the cyclists will feel safer on the promenade, some fear the

safety of people walking is being put in jeopardy. It is a promenade

and a wide expanse for people to promenade and for people to walk on.

I don't think cyclists and people go together very well. They try to

get around in a short space of time and it could take people unawares.

There will be a warning sign alerting people that cyclists will

be allowed onto this promenade and there will also be CCTV to monitor

the whole situation because this will be a 12 month trial. For

families using the Promenade today, there was still concern about the

green light for cyclists. When it's a summer break or there may

extravaganza, I don't think it will work having cyclists on the

promenade. It will be a hazard to children. It is not a good

situation to have cyclists and lots of people together. I would like

for there to be cycling on the prom but I don't want lots and lots of

people cycling on it. So striking a happy balance maybe difficult, but

it's hoped both walkers and cyclists can now make the most of

this Welsh tourist attraction. Retrospective planning permission

has been granted for farm buildings to be used as dog breeding kennels

in Carmarthenshire. This morning, campaigners opposed to puppy

farming protested outside Penparc Farm in Llangynin, where

councillors were holding a site visit before making their decision.

Rugby, and Ospreys head coach Sean Holley looks set to leave the

region after almost nine years at the Liberty Stadium. The Ospreys

are already having to plan for a future without director of coaching

Scott Johnson, who leaves at the end of the season.

Sean Holley has been at the Ospreys since the region's inception back

in 2003. He's been a fixture of the coaching team with his highlight as

head coach coming with the Celtic League title two years ago. However,

despite having two and a half years left on his contract, BBC Wales

understands Holley is to leave with immediate effect. There has been no

official confirmation from the region who will also see director

of rugby Scott Johnson depart at the end of the season for a role

with Scotland. Down the road from the Ospreys, Scarlets head coach

Nigel Davies has issued a hands-off warning for clubs hoping to sign

Ben Morgan. The England number eight made his international debut

in this year's Six Nations and has been linked with a move to

Gloucester. He has a contract with us for another season. We are in

the middle of renegotiating contracts and putting together a

squad for next year. We are looking at all the possibility of what's

available to us and over the next few months, we will put that squad

together. Meanwhile, Wales' preparations for their Triple Crown

clash against England are continuing. Tomorrow, the squad

will hold an open free training session at the Millennium Stadium.

Around 8,000 people, taking advantage of the half term break,

have already booked their place. Cardiff City and Newport County are

in action tonight. Wales has a proud boxing tradition,

but Olympic success has been elusive. No medals for a Welshman

since 1972. Tomorrow night, we'll be sparring with two boxers who

have already qualified for the London Games. We've been to meet

Fred Evans and Andrew Selby at their training base in Sheffield.

They're hoping to be the first Welshmen to pick up an Olympic

medal for 40 years. It's not clear whether porridge

would be on the menu, but on Valentine's day, what could be more

romantic than a table for two behind the walls of Cardiff Prison?

Plans have been submitted to open a restaurant on the prison grounds.

Jordan Davies has more. It could be the latest Michelin

Star restaurant, gracing any swanky highstreet. In fact, it's in Her

Majesty's Prison Highdown in Surrey. "The Clink" is a proper restaurant,

open to the public, where you can dine on starters of Cornish crab,

mains of fresh fish and home made ice cream. The difference being

inmates are being paid �14 a week to do the cooking. And now the

charity behind it want to bring it here. It is a very high standard

and we serve a full Alla carte menu. All the ingredients are fresh and

farmed locally. We hope that couple of the Welsh prisons will produce

some of the livestock and crops. may not be the most relaxed

gastronomic experience behind these walls - CCTV, plastic cutlery and

no alcohol. So how many customers could it expect? I would not go for

Valentine's night. I would try it out of curiosity. Not particularly.

I have been inside there on a visit. It is a bit scary when they close

the doors. If it's cheaper and it tastes good, why not? Prisoners

involved in the Surrey restaurant have gone on to work in catering

all over the country. The charity says it's reduced offending by 20%.

But before the cooking begins, the inmates have to satisfy certain

requirements. Once the prison has taken them through security

clearance and then meet our criteria as well which means they

have to have six to 18 months left to serve. We then get them straight

into work. The prison service says it backs inmates learning new

skills but plans for a restaurant are in the early stages. However,

by this time next year, who knows? A table could be yours, behind

these walls. Let's get the weather forecast now.

It's Valentine's night and if you're heading out for a romantic

meal, it's going to be cloudy and breezy. That's the story for the

next 24 hours. North-westerly winds bringing plenty of cloud. So

tonight will be cloudy. The cloud thick enough for a few spots of

light rain or drizzle. Mainly in the north and west, Conwy,

Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. But otherwise, it'll be dry. Now last

night was cold enough in parts of Mid Wales and the southeast for a

ground frost. Trawsgoed in Ceredigion was one of the coldest

spots. But tonight, temperatures will be higher. The lowest, around

4C or 5C. Nearer 7C on the coast. Tomorrow's chart shows high

pressure over the Atlantic and that means north-westerly winds for the

UK and Ireland. This cold front over Europe will bring fresh snow

to the Alps. So tomorrow morning will be cloudy in the north and

west. Spots of light and drizzle in the wind. Some low cloud and hill

fog in Snowdonia. Spots of drizzle in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire

as well. Further south and east will be drier with temperatures

around 5C in Merthyr and Brecon. So a good deal of cloud tomorrow. Damp

in places too. Spots of light rain and drizzle but not amounting to

much. Sheltered parts of the south and east will be largely dry.

Generally cloudy, but if you're lucky, you may see a glimpse of the

sun. Top temperatures around 7C to 10C with a north-westerly wind. In

Gwynedd tomorrow, cloudy snd damp at times, especially on the

mountains. Temperatures in Maentwrog rising to 9C with a

north-westerly breeze. Tomorrow night into Thursday, very little

change. The odd spot of rain or drizzle but otherwise dry. Often

cloudy, but the sun should break through in places. Temperatures

average or above with a west to north-westerly breeze. Beyond that,

signs of a change. Cloudy on Friday with outbreaks of rain and drizzle.

Some rain Saturday as well but this will clear, followed by much

brighter, colder weather. Some sunshine and frost. Our picture

tonight is from is from Gerry Pierce. Sunset at Criccieth Beach.

Thanks Gerry. Don't forget to check Tonight's main headlines. Inflation

is down to its lowest level for more than a year. It now stands at

3.6 %. The falling cost of clothing, footwear and some household goods

helped to bring inflation down although it still remains above the

Bank of England target. The number of a fluent Welsh

speakers is in steady decline according to the organisation set

up to promote the language. Nearly 80 % of the population could speak

it during the 1800s. The Welsh Language Board is preparing to hand

over -- handover its duties to the last government.