06/11/2013 BBC Wales Today

from the west That is

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines.

More than 200 potential victims come forward as part of the investigation

into historical child abuse in North Wales. Those individuals who have

been through this and who have either not had their voices

concerned or only now as adults feel they can release those concerns,

have had to go through a lifetime of anguish and guilt about what has

happened to them. Anglesey councillors tonight back a

major new leisure and housing development.

A major fire at a recycling plant, 45 fire-fighters were drafted in to

bring it under control. They have not met a cancer target is 2008.

Have not met in accident and emergency card -- target since

2009. Tonight, fire crews are still

working to make the area safe. The Prime Minister's stinging attack

on Labour's record on health in Wales. The Labour leader says he

doesn't know the facts. And offering vulnerable children a

new home. Why there's a shortage of parents ready to adopt.

Good evening. More than 200 potential victims have made

allegations of historical abuse relating to children's homes across

North Wales. The National Crime Agency, which launched Operation

Pallial a year ago, says 100 alleged offenders have been named. 14 people

have been arrested. Matthew Richards is at North Wales Police

Headquarters. Thanks. It was Mark Polin, the Chief

Constable of North Wales, who asked the National Crime Agency to

investigate fresh allegations relating to the care system here

dating back to the early '70s. Some of those identified as potential

abusers have died, but the Agency says they will still be investigated

so that victims can be kept informed of any developments.

Back in April the man leading the investigation, Ian Mulcahey, joined

the North Wales Chief Constable to give a progress report on Operation

Pallial. Six months on, even more progress has been made. 235 people

have now contacted the team. Full or partial names for 100 alleged

offenders have been received. 14 arrests have been made, one man John

Allen has been charged. The arrests relate to claims of sexual and

physical abuse against children at a number of former care homes in North

Wales. In the '70s and '80s these were the notorious institutions Bryn

Estyn, Gatewen Hall and Bryn Alyn. The publicity generated from the

revelations surrounding Jimmy Savile has encouraged many who have

previously remained silent to speak out, often turning to groups like

the NSPCC for help. The number of people are here now because of those

abusive experiences. Those individuals who have lived through

this have either had not their voices heard or only now as adults

feel that they can raise those concerns have had to go through a

lifetime of anguish and guilt about what has happened to them.

The National Crime Agency says that a quarter of the 100 alleged abusers

who've been named have died. Though they can't be prosecuted they will

still be investigated so that prosecutors can assess whether they

would have been charged if still alive. That's so that victims can

feel that their claims have been listened to and acted on.

This is still a very active and wide-ranging enquiry. The most

recent arrest was just a couple of weeks ago. It is not just in North

Wales, even though that are where most of the claims are centred. Many

of these alleged victims and in their 40s and 50s and have moved on

to other parts of the UK. Investigations and as far afield as

Scotland. It is not just the police who are involved, many of the

associated agencies like the NSPCC are working alongside the Crown

Prosecution Service, who say they will investigate people even if

these alleged abusers have died. Can we counsel -- Conwy council is

working with local authorities to do with people who are coming forward

with allegations. Why are we seeing so many potential

victims coming forward now? The publicity has a lot to do with

it. A lot of the poll had bottled these feelings for many years. Every

person who comes forward stimulator another person I saying if they can

do it is so can I. They feel that ultimately it is something that they

should do. I think the CPS has said they have changed and attitudes are

they looking at the specific allegations rather than the,

perhaps, the stability of the person making the allegation.

Anglesey council has given the green light to controversial plans which

developers say could bring up to 600 jobs to Holyhead, a month after they

rejected the same proposals. A company called Land and Lakes wants

to build a massive leisure park and housing development on the outskirts

of the town. As Roger Pinney reports it's an issue which has divided

people who live there. A wet day in Holyhead, the streets

are quiet. Speak to traders and that is often the case. Good jobs are

hard to fight the top prospect of a massive development on the outskirts

has split pin in -- opinion. Others are worried about the effect on the

Welsh language. I found both sides of the debate here. Definitely,

definitely. It is everything that will follow Everything Everything.

-- land and lakes. I am for rate and against this because of the Welsh

language. He pulled coming here from all over the place. It is the jobs

you want. Everyone seems to have an opinion. This woman has worked at

this bread shop for 18 years. We needed, not as, but for our

children's generation. It will just bring, not just the jobs there,

outside businesses is going to need to be supplying them. I think an

awful lot more business will comment. That is what Land and Lakes

has promised. It will employ 450 people with a further 150 jobs

generated locally. Whole project is underpinned by housing. It is to be

built on undeveloped land owned by Anglesey aluminium. The company

closed four years ago. Holyhead's economy was in the poor state even

before the closure of this plant. The loss of jobs made things much

worse. When the company he pulled out there was much talk about

legacy, they said they didn't want to leave the place with nothing. The

Land and Lakes development is part of that. Today, both sides were out

in force as Anglesey Council met for a second time to discuss the plan.

The debate has been set. Councillors have spoken of being dammed if you

do and dammed if you don't. The scepticism about the promised jobs.

Local jobs can be anywhere, there is a 90 minute radius for local jobs.

That could mean Liverpool. If they are Remploy from Liverpool, they are

considered local. There is talk of it being time to heal the wounds.

The population of Wales could increase by 4% in less than a decade

reaching almost 3.2 million. That's according to new figures from the

Office for National Statistics which also predict a 50% increase in the

number of people aged over 65 between 2012 and 2037. But

population growth is still expected to be lower here than in other parts

of the UK. Detectives are re-investigating the

disappearance of a mother of two, who went missing more than 30 years

ago. Susanne Llewellyn-Jones from Cardiff, pictured here as police

think she may look today, has not been seen since going to catch a

train in 1980. Police interviewed a 68-year-old man from the Vale of

Glamorgan in connection with her disappearance on Monday.

Nearly 19,000 people in Wales have had their job-seeker's Allowance

stopped or suspended, in order to make sure they actively seek work.

Since October 2012 claimants have faced sanctions ranging from

suspension of their benefits to a three-year ban if they don't look

for work. Firefighters remain at an industrial

estate in the Vale of Glamorgan tonight after a huge fire broke out

at a recycling plant. At one point people living close to the estate

were urged to close their windows and doors. Our reporter Natasha

Llewellyn is in Llandow for us tonight.

What is the latest? It is almost 24 hours since the fire broke out at

Llandow industrial estate behind me. Firefighters worked throughout the

night and all day today to try to bring the blaze under control and

that you can see they are still here. I have been here most of the

day myself on the weather conditions are poorer, the wind is very strong

and that means the smoke has spread around the estate and is causing

disruption for many businesses. It did not take long for this fire

to rip through the site. The building is full of general waste

and recycling materials, the flames spread quickly. At its height 45

firefighters tackling the blaze. When the first crews attended they

could see the fire developed at the back of the building. When the got

the water it had taken hold of the whole of the promises. -- premises.

It is a big area and the whole of the building was ablaze. Crews

managed to stop the fire spreading to other properties. There was

disruption to the industrial estate, the high winds meant the smoke

engulfed the site. By lunchtime workers are being sent home. It is

very, very smoky. Our building was full of smoke. The cars are going to

be smelling tomorrow. I have sent one lad home. It is going to be no

work and no earnings. People living nearby were also affected. They will

want to stay inside their homes and close all windows because there was

a potential risk of asbestos burning from site so. -- from the site.

Crews remain at the industrial estate to dampen down. The file

expected to learn for two or three days. That the fire is expected to

burn. The focus has been on the safety and bringing that blaze under

control. The next few days the attention will turn to the

investigation, find out what has happened and what caused the blaze.

Fire crews tell me they are not going to rule out anything at the

moment because it is in the early stages but they say the fact the

bonfire night happened last night is not being linked. Where expected to

find out over the next few days. Building new homes, recycling and

meals on wheels - all services we'd associate with our councils. But new

research shows housing associations are now providing them instead and

that's pumping hundreds of millions of pounds into the Welsh economy.

More from our business correspondent, Brian Meechan.

It is the changing face of public services in Wales. How do we provide

them as the squeeze on finances continues. House-building in the

private sector has been badly hit by the economic downturn and councils

are restricted in what they can do by budget and borrowing rules.

Projects like this one near Haverfordwest show they are not for

profit sector is continuing to build. Temperature Housing

Association has used a new finance model to go work going on 12 new

houses. Every time pounds we spend on housing the public purse was in

?3. -- for every ?10 we spend. We can basically built more homes for

less public money. It borrows from banks to fund the project well the

Welsh Government contributes to the repayment of the mortgage and local

contractors are used to love the houses. The supply chain is quite

large. For Pembrokeshire, a lovely project. For every building

contractor. New research shows building Association spent ?1

billion in the last year and increase of 8.7% from the previous

one. Most of that is being here. -- staying here. Housing associations

are taking on additional community work. One in North Wales is

providing meals on wheels service on Anglesey after the council withdrew

its provision. I couldn't cock. I rely on the meals. I can't cook. It

is affordable for us and sustainable. Not everyone is

convinced by the not-for-profit model. Residents voted against

transferring their homes to housing associations. Central and local

government can borrow money cheaper to do the same work. Experts say

more public borrowing is the last thing the government wants. Housing

associations can borrow, in the private sector, it can borrow for

social housing and it is and increase the national debt. It is

privately owned in that sense. It is in that attractive for governments

to off-load it, off-balance sheet in this way. What is less clear is how

future plans of the affected by the UK Government's benefit changes

which might affect the rents coming in.

Still to come. Ann and Sally say they had trouble adopting five years

ago. Now a drive to dispel the myths over who can adopt and make it

easier. Adoption agencies and looking out for people of all sorts

of agents and in all sorts of family situations because that is a

shortage of parents out there. Did children. -- for adopted children.

The Prime Minister has criticised the Welsh Government's record on the

NHS. David Cameron told MPs at question time there was "a crisis

every day of the week in Wales". He said the performance of the health

service here was worse than in England. We don't have to remember

the labour record of the past, we can look at the Labour record in

Wales. They have been running the Welsh health service, they cut the

budget by 8.5%, they have not met a cancer target since 2008, have not

met a A target since 2009. He is too weak to stand up to the poor

management of the NHS in Wales just as he is too weak to sack his Health

Secretary. Our parliamentary correspondent, David Cornock, is at

Westminster. David, what prompted the Prime Minister's attack?

David Cameron was responding to a question from the Labour -- leader.

As you have heard, the Prime Minister chose to respond by talking

about the NHS in Wales because he believes that Labour are formidable

over their records and the fact that in Wales, until now, Labour has

tended to freeze spending on the NHS whereas in England it has sort of,

in line with inflation. What has the Welsh Government had to say? The

Welsh Government has issued a statement. It says are faced with

serious questions about redundancies and the NHS in England, it is

regrettable that the Prime Minister chose to launch an inaccurate attack

on the NHS in Wales. The last government says that the Welsh

Government says it has been meeting its cancer targets. Question Time in

the Assembly, First Minister 's questions, Carwyn Jones was using

question Time to launch an attack on the coalition government's record on

the NHS in England. It looks as if the First Minister was getting his

retaliation in first. Next year, the American president

will be arriving in Newport for the NATO summit. It's thought to be the

first time that a sitting US president will have come to Wales in

an official capacity. Today, the new American Ambassador to the UK came

to get the lay og the and during an official visit. Nick Servini went to

meet him. 1990, Margaret Thatcher was prime

minister and it was the last time a NATO summit was held in Britain.

Fast forward 22 years and this was Chicago last year, a summit which

was said to have generated millions for the local economy. Wales has

never welcomed an American president formula -- formerly. Today, Wales

welcomed the American ambassador, Matthew Barzun on his first official

visit here. He is in no doubt about the potential benefits for the

country. I think this NATO summit is going to be a major moment as in the

future we will reflect back on this moment. It puts it in the

international spotlight, all these Americans are going to be looking at

Newport, at Cardiff and all of Wales. It is a wonderful opportunity

to showcase what is happening here. The Celtic Manor reportedly beat off

competition from 80 other venues to host the summit. In marks a Triumph

for Sir Terry Matthews after the Celtic Manor hosted the Ryder Cup

three years ago. This will feel very different from other sporting events

that has happened in the past because the subject for this one

will the international politics. Next year, the withdrawal of troops

from Afghanistan. Most of the discussions surrounding this event

will take place in places like this, the University of South Wales which

the ambassador is visiting today. He gave the student and mini

presentation as President Obama's election campaign. I asked some of

them how they felt about major the dramatic events being held on their

doorstep. I like the fact that something so big is coming to Wales

because I feel Wales is sometimes ignored. We have a lot of passionate

people here. You have got the American bass into here today you

have got the American president here next year. What are the big issues

you will be looking out for? I guess it will be privacy, how far you can

go with tapping phones and so on. There is a fine balance between how

far you should go when is enough enough? This'll be his job next year

when he has to tell the most powerful man in the world, the

American president, about the country he is about to visit.

The Welsh Field of Remembrance has been unveiled in the grounds of

Cardiff Castle. 15,000 wooden crosses, each with its own poppy and

message, remember the men and women who've lost their lives while

serving in the armed forces. Some of our most vulnerable children

are being let down because of a "significant shortage" of people

coming forward to adopt. That's the warning from the British Association

of Adoption and Fostering. There are nearly 6,000 children in care in

Wales. Confusion over the way the adoption process works means there

aren't enough people coming forward to offer children a new home. Carwyn

Jones reports. Sally and Anne from Swansea have

been in a same sex relationship for 30 years. They're also the adoptive

parents of six-year-old Nathan. Being a gay couple in their fifties

means they were just as eligible to adopt a little boy as anyone else.

Things have changed in the last five years. Adoption agencies actively

looking out for people of all sorts of ages and in all sorts of family

situations. There is a real shortage of parents out there.

Age and sexuality aren't barriers in the way of adoption, but plenty of

us still seem to think so. Figures show that one in two of use believe

that being overweight, unemployed or over the age of 40 means that we

can't adopt. And those misconceptions are leading to a

shortage of adopters here. There are currently more than 5,700

children in the care system in Wales, that figure's risen by nearly

a quarter over the last five years. Around 300 of those children will

need to be placed in adoptive homes each year but with fewer people

coming forward, there are fears that some of our most vulnerable children

are being let down. Penny Jeffreys from Cardiff has gone through the

adoption process. She adopted her son as a single 43-year-old and

found that her circumstances weren't an issue. A family is a family

whether it has got one parent or two parents. As long as you can provide

a good, loving and stable home you are the perfect choice for some

children. In England there's been a huge push

by Westminster for the adoption process to be made easier. By next

year Wales will have a National Adoption service, which will aim to

streamline the process and make it more consistent, no matter where in

the country you live. But with many of us harbouring outdated

misconceptions of who can adopt and how there are fears that hundreds of

children will be stuck in the care system instead of finding a long

term home. I'm joined by Wendy Keidan, who's

Director of the British Association of Adoption and Fostering in Wales.

We heard about some of the misconceptions surrounding adoption.

Why do you think this seems to be this confusion? I think

misconceptions grow up over time I get embedded into society. Even

though adoption agencies have in saying that there are very few legal

requirements to adopting, you have to be over 21, you have to be

resident in the UK for a year before you are eligible to apply to adopt

and criminal convictions against children with event April from

adopting. There are few legal requirements. People get confused

and if they don't approach adoption agencies that is where we get the

problems and those myths get in bed it. What this research has

demonstrated is those misconceptions, despite a lot of

work winning out there to dispel the myths, they still exist today. This

must be a real worry for you with that big increase in children in

care in the last five years alone. Not enough people are coming forward

to adopt. You must be worried. We are really concerned, there has been

a rise over the last five years. About a quarter rise in children

entering the care system. We ever understanding more about what

happens to children and their development. If they remain in

families where they are not being appropriately looked after. There is

an imbalance of the number of people requiring. Sharon and the number of

doctors coming forward. -- number of children requiring adoption.

Football. John Hartson has stood down as Wales' Assistant Coach to

spend more time with his family. He was part of Chris Coleman's backroom

staff during the recent World Cup qualifying campaign. The former

striker, who was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, has announced

he'll become a father again next year.

Rugby. Time for the weather now and how's

it shaping up for the match on Saturday, Derek?

It will be a case of dodging the showers but some sunshine as well.

Sadly, no sunshine today. Just more rain and drizzle. Strong to gale

force winds on the Bristol channel coast this afternoon with a gust of

51mph at Mumbles Head. And a range in temperatures today. 14 Celsius in

Saundersfoot. Only 9C in Llanfairfechan. This evening, a wet

start. Some heavy rain and mist but gradually clearing. So drying up

after midnight. The wind in the south easing. Lowest temperatures in

the north. Dropping to 4C inland. Tomorrow promises to be a better

day. Drier and brighter with just a few showers. Here's the picture for

8am in the morning. Much clearer compared to today. Fresh and cool

but most places dry and bright with sunshine. Good visibility as well.

More cloud in Pembrokeshire with a few showers. During the day a few

showers will spread across the country. If you catch one it could

be quite sharp but hit and miss. Some places will miss them and stay

dry. Top temperatures nine to 12 Celsius with a south west breeze.

The wind becoming strong in the northwest with gusts around 45mph.

In south west Wales tomorrow. Much better day than today. Drier with

sunny spells. A few showers and breezy, especially on the coast with

a high of 11 in Newcastle Emlyn. Tomorrow evening most places dry and

clear. Just a few a showers near the coast. After midnight, though, a

trough will bring showery rain. Heavy in places. Friday breezy.

Further showers. Heavy in places with hail and thunder but some dry

weather and sunshine as well. On Saturday it's a similar story. A

mixture of sunshine and scattered showers. Again the showers heavy in

places with thunder and hail. On Sunday, it's all change. A warm

front bringing cloud, rain and drizzle. Turning milder and misty

with hill fog. The main news from the BBC. More

than 500 years of ship will be will come to an end in Portsmouth next

year after the defence giants, BAE Systems, announced job cuts. Almost

1800 jobs will go in total. It has been revealed that more than

200 potential victims have made allegations of historical abuse

relating to children's homes across North Wales.

And that is Wales Today. We'll have a quick update at 8pm with more news

at 10.25pm. For now though from all of us on the programme, have a good

evening.