15/01/2014 BBC Wales Today

That's all from us. It's goodbye from me. And on

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines.

Cutbacks to council services sparked protests. But could the axe now fall

on the authorities themselves? Their numbers could be cut, costing

hundreds of millions of pounds, and tens of thousands of jobs. It is

going to have a huge negative had on the Welsh economy. To take our eyes

off that all been ordered to organise internally. It makes no

sense to me. With councils already struggling to

make savings, will making changes really be value for money?

Also tonight. The public are told to stay away as

hospital wards across South Wales are hit by norovirus.

The row over the future of Welsh rugby reaches the political arena.

The First Minister says he's prepared to meet bosses to help

resolve the dispute. Serving the lord of the manor. How

ancient property rights are becoming a very modern problem for

homeowners. As unique as Champagne and stilton

cheese. Anglesey Sea Salt is added to a prestigious list protected by

European status. Good evening. Council reorganisation

could lead to 15,000 job losses and cost more than ?250 million. That's

the assessment from the body which represents councils in Wales. The

claim comes just days before a commission is expected to publish a

review, calling for the number of local authorities to be reduced. Our

Political Editor Nick Servini has more. Councils across Wales are

facing big challenges as they try to balance the books. Cutbacks have

sparked demonstrations. That is something else on the agenda which

could bring in more change. That is the organisation of the councils

themselves. Getting the pieces to fit will not be easy. The last time

it happened was in 1996 when eight council areas became 22. The

criticism now is that some are too small and other big radiation is in

size. Cardiff has a population of around 300,000 while Merthyr Tydfil

has 50,000. The first Minister has already said he knows of nobody who

argues for the detention of everyone. The changes like this will

be controversial especially at a time of economic hardship. It will

have a huge negative hit on the Welsh economy. It is not in

anybody's interest for us as elected members and staff members will have

the expertise at the moment. We know what needs to be done on the

ground, to take our eye off that service delivery ball in order to

reorganise internally. It makes no sense to me. The main public sector

union accepts that a shake-up is inevitable. We are always concerned

about any of our members losing their jobs. In terms of the

long-term viability of local government going forward, it was

never sustainable to have 22 different varieties of social

services directors, directors of education and so on. At some stage,

we were expecting this to happen. There are 150,000 council workers in

Wales. The Welsh Local Government Association says that figure could

be reduced by 10%. There are also 1200 councillors. Any change is

likely to lead to a big reduction. The Labour Party will probably be

the hardest hit. The organisations do not come cheap. Local government

is heavily reliant on sophisticated information technology systems.

There will be legal costs in terms of changes to contract and

employment contract. They will be relocation costs, moving people from

building to building. There will be things like signage. You will have

two change the names of the authorities and the signs that go

with them. How attached to people feel to the local councils? They are

still relatively young organisations. I have come to the

edge of the smallest council area in Wales. One possibility here could be

that it joins forces with its larger neighbour. It is an example of the

kinds of issues that will be discussed across the country as this

process gets underway. The way the country is going, it is probably

best. Less councils and less money to be spent. It is too small to cope

because they do not give enough money to the council. Maybe it would

be better to be reorganised. The sheer complexity of the organisation

makes it costly. If it happens, all those involved will want to make

sure the pieces fit. Nick joins me now. The big question

will be why re-organise at a time when councils say they're struggling

to deal with cutbacks? That will be at the heart of it. We can expect to

hear things like how council staff are being asked to do more for less

and come with imaginative ways of providing services will stop yet, at

the same time, you are throwing in completely new for them and it will

affect their morale and motivation. Why would you try to turn around an

organisation that may not exist in a few years time? On the flip side,

people will say the age of austerity is the reason why there needs to be

less than 22. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the arguments, many

people accept that is a danger of demoralised workforces. As a result,

they will be some pressure on the bus government, but necessarily to

say what the figure should be, but to give some clarity on how long it

will take and what the process will be. It is a big and contradicted

business. It will require an element of cross-party support at the

assembly. The things people will want to know is what it could mean

for council tax and services? Take council tax, depending on where you

are. Pembrokeshire has one of the lowest rates in Wales. If they join

with Carmarthenshire, council tax is higher but it could rise. In terms

of services, the idea will be that in time, strip out the overheads and

senior management teams and that will -- that many will find its way

to front line services. The highly-contagious norovirus, has

hit hospital wards across South Wales and health chiefs are warning

the public to stay away. The virus causes severe vomiting which usually

only lasts a couple of days. So far, wards in Cardiff, Swansea and Neath

Port Talbot have been affected. At Swansea's Morriston Hospital, two

wards have been shut because of the norovirus, also known as the winter

vomiting bug. At Neath Port Talbot hospital, a ward there also has a

suspected case. As a result Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board has

temporarily stopped visiting to all wards affected except for parents of

children or relatives visiting patients who are at the end of their

life. They're also urging non-urgent patients to stay away from Accident

and Emergency. Norovirus is a common viral infection which causes

vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and aches and pains. Up to a million people

across Britain catch it every year and it's highly contagious. It is so

contagious because it is a virus that spreads when you vomit. It also

sets on carpet and furniture. If you touch something, you can pick it up.

When it gets into the hospital environment, it can close wards and

make ill people very ill. It causes all sorts of problems. If anyone has

any symptoms, they should stay away from any hospital or care home until

48 hours after they have recovered. Here at Llandough hospital, where

the latest outbreak began, they say the situation is improving though

two wards remain closed. Another two wards at the University Hospital in

Cardiff are also affected and the public are being asked to help stop

the spread of the bug over the coming weeks. The health board

director for disease control says it is very difficult to stop the spread

of the virus once it is in the hospital.

A court has heard how a woman was repeatedly stabbed by her boyfriend

in her home in Pembrokeshire. Joanna Hall died in hospital three weeks

after the attack in March last year. Swansea Crown Court heard she had

more than 40 wounds to her body. Steven Williams denies murder.

A Conservative Assembly Member and a Newport businessman have each won

?135,000 in libel damages from an Urdu newspaper and two of its staff.

The paper made a series of defamatory and unfounded allegations

about the behaviour of Mohammad Asghar and Abdul Rahman Mujahid. The

two men said they'd been ostracised by some members of the local Muslim

communities as a result. Mr Asghar said the award was a great relief.

They tried to destroy my credibility. I am the only one who

is a member of the Welsh Assembly and they almost succeeded. I am

pleased that justice has been done. It has been going on for the last

couple of years and it has affected my family.

Gwent Police have been concentrating on the riverfront area of Newport

today as they continue their search for missing teenager Nida Naseer.

Officers have been looking for the 18-year-old since she was reported

missing nearly three weeks ago. Nida Naseer disappeared after taking the

bins out, without shoes, money or a phone.

The UK Government is being urged to scrap a system of ancient property

rights which are worrying home owners across Wales. So-called

"Lords of the Manor" are having to register what are called Manorial

Rights on land which they don't own. Even though the rights are said to

be largely symbolic, it's claimed they've caused some people to have

difficulty arranging mortgages. Even the name, manorial rights, can jazz

up images of a different age. Peasants sowing their crops in the

fields. The powers, you could be forgiven for thinking, passed in the

mist of time. These rights to minerals and fish and hold markets

have never gone away. It is just that most of us have no idea that

they existed. What has changes for the first time, Lord of the manor

had to register their rights. On Anglesey, to communities fall within

the manner of one man. He is intent on registering his rights. Anglesey

councillor is among 4000 home owners to have received letters from the

land Registry telling him what the Lord of the Manor wants to do. It

does not mean much in practical terms. He has no rights to come onto

my land without my authority. I would not give. Older people have

been worried about this. They think it means a lot more than it actually

does. It did not take long to find others who have had letters. It is

worrying. We have just ignored it. It is not a good thing but that is

what we have done. Who are these lords of the Manor? When is the

Crown estate. Others have bought their titles online like a

personalised number plate. But it is now an issue exercising all

editions. The rights of the Manor and the Lords have been protected

for far too long. It is time we look at towards protecting freeholders

for the future. People have found it difficult to get mortgages. They

have proved to be very distressing in practice. Most would agree with

those sentiments. The Lord has said his title has brought in nothing but

expense and trouble. He said he wished he had never bought it.

Still to come in the programme this evening. Treating an exceptionally

rare genetic condition. How Cardiff is one of the few places in the

world where scientists could work on a pioneering trial.

Now Anglesey sea salt is protected, just like Champagne and Cornish

clotted cream. First Minister Carwyn Jones says

he's prepared to meet Welsh rugby bosses face-to-face if it would help

resolve the current dispute between the WRU and the regions. The two

sides were locked in another round of talks today, while over in

Cardiff Bay, Assembly Members debated the problems facing the

national game. Our sports reporter Ashleigh Crowter is at the Senedd.

Lots of talking today, are we any closer to finding a solution? Maybe

just a little bit. The Welsh Rugby union and regional rugby are talking

and that is a cause for optimism. It appears that is some willingness to

compromise, to make changes on the edges of their position I guess that

gives some hope. It is fit to say we are still a long way away. There are

big stumbling blocks. The Welsh Rugby union wanted to hang onto the

existing Heineken cup model. Politicians are having their say. It

is interesting to see the intervention of the first Minister.

He has written to both sides in this dispute urging them to resolve it

quickly. He said he was willing to meet bosses on both or either side

in private if it would help to bring some resolution. It is important

that the voice of supporters is hurtful to people went to see an end

to this. Things have been quiet in the last week or two. Things are

moving behind the scenes and that is what people want to see. The union

has to keep control of the game. The regions need to be financially

sustainable. So do the clubs. It means that the league needs to be

more competitive. It would help to improve the game. We have to

remember, I do not believe that leaks and clubs outside Wales have

the best interest of Welsh rugby at heart. Concerns also expressed here

today. There was a debate about the future of Welsh rugby and it was

brought up by the Conservatives who are concerned about the deadlock in

the game. There was agreement across the floor between all parties about

the need to get something done. A number of members joked it was one

of the few conservative motions they were able to agree with. Here is a

flavour. I do think that is potentially a role for the National

Assembly in perhaps a committee enquiry to look at the governance

arrangements of the game in future in order to support its development

in the longer term. Some sort of review would help to make sure rugby

in Wales is open and transparent and people can access the finances of

the union when they went to so they can see exactly what is happening.

There are solid adamant and valid points on both sides. It is not our

job to sort that out. It has to be sorted out and it has to be sorted

out soon for the benefit of our national game and for the future of

Welsh rugby. An independent report by an assembly committee remains a

possibility. The chairman of the communities committee said she would

write to the parties involved. It's a rare and hereditary genetic

disease that can lead to blindness and physical abnormalities and

currently has no known cure. But medical experts in Cardiff have just

been told that the city could join the USA, France and Germany as sites

for a pioneering international trial. Carwyn Jones reports. There

are only a few thousand people in the world with Ectodermal Dysplasia.

Joe Pearson from Bridgend is one of them. He's undergone 30 years of

corrective surgery on his hands, feet and teeth. None of which

developed properly as a child. The middle finger on each hand. Bubbly

form. I had limited movement in my other fingers because of that. It

was decided to remove fat finger to leave me with three fingers and a

thumb. Scientists here at the Institute of Medical Genetics in

Cardiff are among the world's leading experts when it comes to

diagnosing Ectodermal Dysplasia. They're now poised to carry out a

trial which could change how the disease is treated. A drug developed

by scientists in the turbulent -- insert the land has proved

effective. Those tests have been carried out on animals. But now, in

the international trial will measure the results on human subjects. The

University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff has just been given

provision approval by the ethics committee to conduct that trial. It

will be one of only a handful of study sites in the world to test the

drug on mothers and newborn babies who are carrying a particular strain

of the disease. I am optimistic that this will make a major difference. I

hope babies born with this will have a much milder course of the problem

and are spared a lot of the problems that they can run into. The trial

could also benefit people with different forms of Ectodermal

Dysplasia like 15-year-old Daisy from Monmouth. The disease has left

her with limited vision and hair loss, which she covers with a wig.

If it did work for the board of symptoms, it would be fantastic but

I have seen what my family have had to go through. I would never want to

see my children go through this. Advances in DNA testing has led to a

greater understanding of what causes Ectodermal Dysplasia in people like

Daisy and Jo. It's hoped the genetic trial could change their lives and

those of their children. Many jobs at Wrexham's new

super-prison will go to local suppliers, according to the Prisons

Minister Jeremy Wright. He was visiting the site today with the

Welsh Secretary, David Jones. They were attending an event for

suppliers who hope to win contracts for work at the prison. The jail

will be built on the site of the former Firestone Factory. Mr Wright

said he hopes many jobs would go to local people. We think they will be

about 1000 jobs on offer on a long-term basis at the prison. I

hope many of those go to people who apply locally. There will be jobs

throughout the construction phase and many businesses we have been

seeing here today engaging in this exercise are bidding for jobs on the

construction of the prison. Two trains which have been stranded

in Barmouth for nearly two weeks have been taken to Chester by road.

They were loaded onto lorries this morning. The trains became stuck

when track was damaged by storms at the beginning of the month. They'll

undergo routine safety checks before being put back into operation.

Anglesey is famed for its beautiful beaches and its distinctive sea

salt. Now that's been added to a prestigious list of food and drink,

which includes Parma Ham, Stilton Cheese and Champagne. It means its

authenticity is guaranteed and prevents imitation products from

using its name. The European Union's Protected Food Name status will be

shown on packaging to prove that it's the genuine article. The waters

around Anglesey provide an inexhaustible supply of the latest

ingredient to get European protection. Sea water collected from

here is evaporated until only the salt crystals remain. Their jewel

like appearance and pure taste are what's earned them the accolade.

Anglesey Sea Salt or Halen Mon will now rank alongside the Cornish

Pasty, Melton Mowbray pork Pie and Wensleydale Cheese as an

indisputable unique product. It is the purity of the sea and the way we

make our sea salt. Our workers are an incredible band of workers. They

have the initials on each band. It is the flavour and the feel of the

flake in your mouth. It is the appearance. People have likened it

to diamonds from the sea. Anglesey Sea Salt hasn't always been this

pure, in the late eighteenth century it was bolstered by rock salt from

Cheshire. But since its resurgence on the island its reputation has

grown with celebrity chefs and even presidents singing its praises. This

status confirms what people have known for many years that it has a

unique taste, texture and comes from a special place. But holding onto

that crown can be difficult with pretenders to the throne selling

cheap imitations like this Spanish sea salt claiming to be Halen Mon

from England. As a consequence, the project will be allowed a set of big

Asian to be put on the product and that will indicate to consumers that

this has protected status. As a consequence of this, the company

will be allowed to take action against third parties who infringe

that protected name. Welsh Lamb and Beef already enjoy protection and

today they're joined by their West Country cousins on the list. More

than 60 UK products are now protected. This helps significantly

particularly in overseas markets. Something that is recognised as

coming from a geographical area, it gives it a distinct advantage. On

Anglesey, Halen Mon is expanding to meet increased demand now that it

has become the latest flavour of the month.

Lets get the weather forecast now. Derek it seemed a little milder

We've all seen some rain today and quite mild as well. Temperatures

nine to 11 Celsius. Tomorrow temperatures will be a little lower

but far from cold with a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. This

evening rain in the north and east will clear. Dry for a time but

showers will spread from the southwest later in the evening and

overnight. Temperatures staying above freezing. Chilly in parts of

Mid and North Wales with a ground frost. Tomorrow's chart shows low

pressure on our door step and that means showers or longer spells of

rain but some dry spells as well. Here's the picture for eight in the

morning. A chilly start inland. Parts of the north, Powys and

Monmouthshire dry but further south and west there will be showers. The

showers extending north through Cardigan Bay into Gwynedd. During

the day showers will become more widespread. Heavy downpours in

places too with hail and thunder but in between the showers some dry

weather and sunshine. Temperatures a little lower than today. Seven to

nine Celsius with a south to southeasterly breeze. The wind gusty

in the heavy showers. In Neath Port Talbot. Breezy with showers. Some

dry spells as well. A little sunshine with a high of nine Celsius

in Briton Ferry. Similar in Conwy. A few showers but some dry, bright

weather as well. Eight Celsius in Betws y Coed. Tomorrow night lots

more showers. Heavy and prolonged in places with hail and gusty winds.

Temperatures staying above freezing. Friday a trough will bring yet more

showers. Heavy in places with hail and thunder possible. Generally

drier in the evening. As for the weekend, rain on Saturday will clear

during the afternoon. Drier on Sunday with some sunshine a few

scattered showers. Temperatures around average with lighter winds.

Some overnight frost and a few fog patches. Still no sign of any really

cold weather or significant snow heading our way. Watch out for the

heavy showers tomorrow. The main news again.

15,000 jobs could go if plans go ahead to reorganise councils in

Wales. The WLGA say the move would cost more than ?250 million.

The highly contagious norovirus, which causes severe vomiting, has

hit hospital wards across South Wales. Health chiefs are warning the

public to stay away. First Minister Carwyn Jones says

he's prepared to meet Welsh rugby bosses face to face if it would help

to resolve the row between the WRU and the regions. You can hear a full

interview with the First Minister tonight on Y Sgwrs on S4C at 9.30pm.

That is Wales Today. We'll have an update at eight, more news at

10.25pm. For now though, from all of us on the programme, thanks for

watching. Have a good evening.