02/10/2013 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Our top stories.

The £50 million science fund, paid for by taxpayers, under the

microscope tonight. Questions asked about how some of that money has

been spent. Controversial plans to transform

this park into a leisure resort are blocked by councillors on Anglesey.

BAFTA Cymru says sorry for giving an award to the wrong programme by

mistake on one of television's biggest nights.

Also tonight, Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin once graced this

Palace Theatre. Now concerns it's close to collapse.

And most of us are in for a good soaking. Torrential downpours, a

risk of flooding and poor travelling conditions on the way.

Good evening. A multi-million pound science fund run by the Welsh

Government is under scrutiny tonight. Questions are being asked

about how some of the money from it has been spent. The fund is chaired

by the Welsh businessman Sir Chris Evans. It's emerged £5 million from

the fund went to a company where he was a shareholder. Here's our

Political Editor, Nick Servini. Sir Chris Evans is a giant in the

world of starting up and growing companies that develop new drugs and

medical technology. Because of that expertise, the Port Talbot born

businessman became the chair of the Wales life science investment fund

which was set up by the Welsh government earlier in the year with

£50 million of public money. His role has come under the spotlight in

a major investment by the fund in a company which is developing a

pioneering use of stem cells for patients who have suffered strokes.

The investment is worth £5 million and that, together with an £8

million grant from the Welsh government, means they are due to

relocate from their current location to the Cardiff area. Sir Chris Evans

was an existing shareholder and he also made a personal investment,

buying shares worth £600,000, into the company after the friend had

decided to put money into it. In a letter, the auditor general for

Wales said his staff had made some initial enquiries and he was

satisfied that there appeared to be matters that warrant external audit

attention. It is also being looked at internally by the Welsh

government. That confirmation from auditors led to questions being

asked about the fund by Assembly Members this afternoon. Given this

is not the only Welsh government fund under review, what insurers is

Camberwell SCUD and provide two Welsh taxpayers that the

government's -- Welsh government provide to Welsh taxpayers? The

direct question that you asked me, this is now a Wales Audit Office

matter, therefore it is not a matter for me until the report has been

concluded and these matters have been dealt with. The fund was

managed by Finance Wales. I don't wish to be drawn further in case I

say anything that might be inappropriate. The future of the

fund may now depend on the outcome of the examination.

Nick Servini joins me now. Nick, what has Chris Evans had to say? A

strong defence. The main thrust is about transparency. He says he told

everyone about his close connections to the company and even stepped out

of the final decision-making meeting when they decided to put the money

into the company. On this issue of the personal investment, he said he

paid the full share price at the time and this was part of a larger

round of trying to attract investment to pay for the research

round of trying to attract for this company and he says other

investors asked him to put his own money into this company such as the

stature that he is held within the industry. He says he is at a loss to

explain why there is this examination because the Welsh

government have told him that proper procedures were followed and they

feel comfortable with that. At the heart of any enquiry or examination

into this will be about whether those proper procedures were

followed in the light of some of the questions you heard being raised in

the assembly this afternoon. He says that if the company does well, Wales

will benefit too. This company is doing some pioneering technology.

Industry experts say it has got good prospects and if it does very well,

all the investors are set to benefit, including the Welsh

taxpayer as we now own 11% in this company. The potential conflict is

that the life science investment fund is investing in this company

which can be notoriously unpredictable and expensive. I guess

it is about marrying at those demands with the fact that this is a

fund backed by the Welsh taxpayer and how those two can come together.

Plans for a new holiday complex on Anglesey which developers claim

could have created 600 jobs are in doubt tonight after councillors

rejected them. A company called Land and Lakes wants to build on land

around the former Anglesey Aluminium plant in Holyhead. It says it's

going to appeal. Here's Roger Pinney.

The last day of production at Anglesey Aluminium and the

bitterness was there for all to see. Around 500 jobs lost, the

development around the site is seen as a legacy project, bringing

much-needed employment back to the area. This is one of three sites a

company called Land and Lakes want to develop. The company did not want

to be interviewed following today's decision but in a statement said it

is disappointed and will appeal. Land and Lakes have spent the last

three years working on the project alongside Anglesey Aluminium and

council officials. Plenty of time for opinion to divide. Not very

happy about it because it is going to lose this nice environment. We

shall miss it. Anything that produces work and a reasonable

standard of living has got to be a good thing. Land and Lakes has

produced artists impressions of what it proposes. 500 leisure lodges

along with spa and restaurants and they say public will still have

access to the beach and some woodland. Nearby, another 300 lodges

are proposed and a hotel. Initially, the company hopes the lodges will be

used by workers building the planned nuclear power station. And on a

third site, the developers want to build 360 houses. In total, the

development would cover an area equivalent to more than 300 football

pitches, prompting concern about scale, although there is scepticism

about the number of jobs it would bring. With developers, that is

always the issue. They always exaggerate the number of jobs. In

many circumstances, the number of jobs which were promised have

quartered, probably, and a lot of them have not gone to local people.

Today's decision does not quite send Land and Lakes back to the drawing

board but it does mean there is a pause for thought.

A prisoner has been given a second life sentence for attacking the man

who killed April Jones. A court heard how convicted murderer and

rapist Juvinal Ferreira slashed Mark Bridger from his temple to his chin

at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire in an attempt to get him

to reveal where the five-year-old's body is hidden. April was abducted

in Machynlleth last year. Her body has never been found.

An investigation has started into the cause of a fire which killed an

elderly woman at sheltered housing in Aberystwyth. It started in a

ground floor flat at Glyn Padarn yesterday evening. The woman is

thought to have been in bed when the fire broke out. 27 residents were

evacuated to safety, many of them disabled or confined to a bed.

As far as I am aware, it was only one flat where the fire occurred and

I don't think the other flats have suffered any more damage than smoke

damage. I am glad to say most of the residents are now back home which

suggests the damage was not too extensive, but it is very sad that

somebody has lost a life and I extend my sympathies to the family

there. A 49-year-old man involved in a

shooting incident in Newport in which his estranged wife died has

been released from hospital. The man has been receiving treatment at the

Royal Gwent Hospital since the shooting on sea breeze Avenue in

August. Police say they will speak to him as soon as he's well enough.

BAFTA Cymru has apologised after giving its top prize for news to the

wrong nominee. On Sunday night the award was presented to the BBC's

Welsh language programme Newyddion for its coverage of last year's

Olympics. But it's now emerged that the award should have gone to ITV

Wales. Our arts and media correspondent Huw Thomas is with me.

How did this happen? BAFTA Cymru are putting this down to a clerical

mistake by one of its staff. It is an annual ceremony which took place

in Cardiff on Sunday night and the News category included Newyddion,

BBC Wales Today and ITV Wales. On Sunday night, Newyddion took the

award home for its coverage of the Olympics, but it has since emerged

it should have gone to ITV Wales. The chair of BAFTA Cymru has told me

that the head of the jury which decided the award was at the

ceremony but that he first became aware that a mistake had happened in

the early hours of Monday morning. After checking the paperwork, the

error was confirmed and that confirmation received last night.

This morning, the award was presented to ITV Wales in Cardiff. I

asked him whether he or the BAFTA Cymru director would be resigning as

a result of this mistake but he said he felt they were both best place to

now oversee this investigation into what happened. And any word from ITV

Wales or BBC? ITV Wales says it is grateful to BAFTA Cymru for

correcting this mistake. The BBC have congratulated ITV Wales but

said the sense of disappointment was palpable.

You're watching Wales Today. Plenty still ahead.

Brought crashing down by strong winds - the 1,200-year-old oak tree

now being preserved. And this is coming our way in the

next few hours - Derek will have all the details.

Plans to scrap several bus routes in Mid and West Wales is a body blow

for rural communities and people will suffer. That's the warning

tonight from the Protection of Rural Wales campaign group. It comes after

Arriva announced a depot in Aberystwyth and bus stations in New

Quay, Lampeter and Dolgellau could close in December.

If you have not got a car, if you are living away from post offices,

if you are living away from doctors surgeries, if you want to go and see

people in hospitals, how are you going to do it? Inevitably, there

will be concern, irritation and anger that we have got to have a

system which provides for both the country and bourbon areas. -- urban

areas. So how will many parts of rural

Wales cope with fewer transport links? Cemlyn Davies has spent the

day in one town in Ceredigion which is expected to lose its local bus

service at the end of the year. It isn't hard to see why so many are

drawn to New Quay on holiday or to live. But now there are fears

locally that changes to public transport will lead to fewer

visitors, whilst people living here may also be forced to leave. After

yesterday's announcement, they say New Quay could become a ghost town.

Amanda Bainbridge's daughter goes to school in Aberystwyth, some 23 miles

away. The bus service she uses to get there would be scrapped under

Arriva's plans. There would be no way my daughter could get home from

school so I would have to get to Aberystwyth everyday which means I

could not work at all. I don't know what I am going to do now. In the

could not work at all. I don't know local post office there were further

concerns. It is absolutely disgusting really, because people

can't get here, people come to do the coastal path, they will be able

to do that, and, obviously, my customers are a lot of elderly

people so they can't get to hospital appointments. It is scary enough as

it is. In the winter it gets appointments. It is scary enough as

isolated anyway. The elderly are going to get even more so. Rural

communities like this one often rely on tourism and the potential impact

on visitor numbers is another worry. Louise Bujeja works in a local cafe

and runs a guest house. She's already been affected by the

decision to scrap Sunday buses. We have guests who would come on the

train and needed to go back to Aberystwyth so I needed to drive

them in the end otherwise they would not have got their train back. If we

had told them they were no bus services, they would have cancelled

the booking and we would have lost money. Is that something you are

worried will happen more often? Yes, of course. Arriva says the financial

pressure on its operations in Ceredigion is unsustainable and so

its current services in the area can't continue. Whilst that

announcement has angered and disappointed many here, it hasn't

come as a surprise to everyone. It was bound to happen. The buses have

been running NT four years. I have not used the buses for 50 years. It

is unfortunate for people who can't drive because they need the buses.

But I would not be able to afford to run the buses carrying three or four

people. But for those who do use the service, its loss would be a bitter

blow. The last Arriva bus is expected to leave New Quay on

December 21st. Staying with transport, more than

£40 million is to be spent improving rail links between North and South

Wales. The new lines are expected to take 16 minutes off journey times

and the single line between Wrexham and Chester will be doubled. Work is

likely to finish by spring 2015. A peaceful protest has taken place

at a site in the Vale of Glamorgan which could potentially be used for

exploratory drilling for gas reserves. People against the plans

demonstrated as councillors visited the site at Llantrithyd.

It's a theatre steeped in history - one of the UK's only Victorian music

halls still standing. But tonight there are concerns Swansea's Palace

Theatre is on the verge of collapse. The council says it's doing all it

can to save the building, but says it simply doesn't have the money to

restore it. Carwyn Jones reports. It first opened its doors in 1888 is

a bustling music Hall. In its heyday at the turn of the last century, it

hosted performances by Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy Dom but

the halcyon days of the Palace Theatre are now a distant memory. It

has become a decaying wreck in the heart of Swansea. It is difficult to

imagine the glory days of the Palace Theatre. That has led to a stark

warning tonight by the theatre's trust. The advisory body that

safeguards Theatre is across the UK. Each year, it has become

increasingly more derelict, more abandoned, more neglected, and the

water is coming in and that is weakening the structure of the

building. The longer it is left in that condition, the weaker the

building becomes and eventually, it will fall down. The Palace Theatre

has been closed since 2006. The last time a theatrical performance was

staged here was 11 years ago. We should be really battering on the

doors of the council and saying, you have got to do something about it.

It is a Grade-II listed buildings so it should not be left to decay.

Swansea council says it is doing all it can to safeguard the building's

future. It recently commissioned a feasibility study to explore

possible uses for the theatre, but the council is in a tricky position.

I am surprised it has not been broken into. It is in private

ownership. One option could be to serve a compulsory purchase order,

but it admits it does not have the millions of pounds needed to fund

the restoration. There are even doubts about its viability as a

theatre. This building has particular challenges which would

not be easily reconciled with the needs of modern theatre in terms of

health and safety and access and so on. Unfortunately, the architecture

of the building makes a theatre use very problematic. But an online

campaign to save the building is gathering momentum. By registering

as a charity, it could access grant funding which the council can't.

Hundreds of local people have already voiced their support. The

history of the building tells a lot about the history of Swansea. This

building more than any other has been used by the people of Swansea.

While there does seem to be widespread concern, finding a

solution will take time. That is the one thing this building does not

have. We've been warned of some miserable

weather. How bad is it going to get? Wales is in the firing line for some

very heavy rain in the next 24 hours. There is a Met Office warning

in force covering the whole country, valid until the end of tomorrow.

It's a yellow warning which means be aware. 20mm to 50mm of rain in

places in just a few hours. Possibly more on higher ground. Drains

blocked by leaves and small streams may be unable to cope with the

torrential rain. There is a risk of flooding. Poor travelling conditions

as well. This evening and tonight, flooding. Poor travelling conditions

some dry weather, but also showers or longer spells of rain. Heavy and

thundery in places. Temperatures not falling much. 15 or 16 Celsius.

Feeling muggy with a breeze. Here's the picture for 8.00am in the

morning. Parts of north, mid Wales and the Marches dry but make the

most of it. It won't last. There is the potential for some very heavy

rain. Further south and west, there will be showers. Rain in

Pembrokeshire with a brisk southeasterly wind on the coast.

Later in the morning, heavy rain will reach the south and west and

this will spread across the rest of the country during the afternoon.

Turning very wet. Some torrential downpours and you may hear thunder.

Despite the heavy rain, still feeling mild and muggy. Temperatures

above average. 17 to 20 Celsius with a southeasterly breeze. In Rhondda

Cynon Taff, turning wet tomorrow. Some torrential rain in the

afternoon with a high of 18 Celsius in Pontypridd. Tomorrow evening, the

heaviest rain will clear, so turning drier, but still some rain and

scattered showers overnight. And remaining mild. Friday, further rain

and showers, but some drier, brighter spells as well and feeling

fresher. Better news for the weekend. High pressure on the way

and that means much drier, more settled weather. Some sunshine and

lighter winds. Cooler nights too, with mist and fog patches. In the

meantime, there is more rain on the way. Some torrential downpours

tomorrow afternoon. Take extra care if you're travelling and keep an eye

on the forecast. You can keep up-to-date with the weather on our

website. Back in April, we brought you the

story of the 1200 -year-old oak tree, which was one of the oldest in

Europe, and was blown down in a storm. The ancient tree is being

preserved in a number of ways, including being turned into art,

jewellery and ornaments. The tree was already 350 years old

when the Welsh prince rallied his armour under its branches in 1157

before defeating King Henry the second in a battle nearby. It was

not the military that brought it down, however, but 60 mph winds.

Many conservationists wanted to preserve it and one of those ways

involved chopping it into small pieces. I need a piece of wood which

is shaped something like that. I then cut it in half and then I draw

the axe so it is all cut out of wood. After I have drawn the axe, I

roughly saw it down. And then I start carving it with this. The drug

could be redirected elsewhere in Pontfadog but the best hope of

resurrecting the tree comes from a cutting which has been successfully

grafted onto a young oak. It will incorporate the ochre's DNA which

could mean an impressive life span. For a tree to grow to 1200 years old

means it is special. It has got very hearty jeans. If people look after

them, it will last for ever. Eventually, we will have a new trees

arriving Phoenix like from the old tree. When this mighty oak was

brought down, many local people were deeply saddened, but thanks to the

carving skills of Stuart Jones, this ancient tree will it again.

The main news again from the BBC. David Cameron has given the clearest

signal that of a clear policy that he would campaign at the next

election. Speaking at the end of the Conservative party conference in

Manchester, the Prime Minister said under 25 is could lose their

automatic entitlement to benefits. He said the Conservatives should be

allowed to finish the job they began.

The last few years have been a real struggle but what people want to

know is this, was the struggle with it? And here is the honest answer,

the struggle will only be worth it if we as a country finish the job we

have started. Questions are being asked about how

some of the many paid for by taxpayers to develop companies in

the science industry has been spent. The fund is cheered by the Welsh

businessmen Sir Chris Evans. It has emerged a major investment went to a

company where he was a shareholder. He insists he declared his interest

in full. Plans for new homes and a holiday

congress on Anglesey which developers claim could have created

600 jobs are in doubt tonight after councillors rejected them. The

company, called Land and Lakes, wants to build on land around the

Anglesey Aluminium plant in Holyhead. It said it is going to

appeal. If you have got a story for us get

in touch. That's it for now. More from me at

8.00pm and at 10.25pm. From all of us here, have a good evening.