25/01/2017 BBC Wales Today

Wales risks missing out on being a world leader in Tidal power.

The warning tonight from the company behind the billion pound

We need to develop the supply chain, deliver the jobs, deliver the value

across the supply chain throughout Wales and the UK. If we move out

other countries will follow. Not lead. Questions over the

multi-million pound race track planned in Ebbw Vale.

15-year-old Megan is recovering from a liver transplant

Her family want England to follow Wales on organ donation to presume

One person can donate several organs. Presumed consent can help so

much more than just opting in. Not enough people

Presumed consent can help so much more than just opting in.

We'll hear from some of the 28 couples who face losing

thousands of pounds, after their wedding venue

Find out why pedometers are being fitted to a herd of cows in Gwynedd.

Coach Rob Howley says he hopes big games won't be decided by red cards

Wales risks missing out on the chance to lead

the world in the development of new tidal power stations.

That's the warning from the company behind

Tidal Lagoon Power is waiting for the green light from the UK

government, on the ?1.3 billion project, but say other countries

It comes as the former energy minister, Charles Hendry,

who led an independent review into the lagoon urged the government

to give their backing "sooner rather than later".

With the details, here's our Environment correspondent,

It is the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon ever going to be more than a

computer-generated artist 's impression? The company behind plan

say they are ready to go. That building work has been held up due

to negotiations with the UK Government over the price they will

guarantee to pay for the electricity from the scheme to be fed into the

National Grid. In the meantime other countries like India, they claim,

are lying at the technology. We need to be a first mover. We need

to develop the supply chain. If we are a first mover other countries

will follow, not greed. It's been two weeks since its former

energy minister gave that visually big vote of confidence. Today

Charles Hendry was in Wales to meet politicians and business leaders who

gave evidence to the review about the viability of tidal lagoons. He

concluded they provide affordable green energy, and building one as a

test would be in the national interests.

We have to make decisions now for how we generate the power we know we

will need in 2020. We have 100 billion to invest in new energy and

infrastructure. If we don't do that we are going to have a real crisis.

We want the supply chain to invest in new jobs and we need to give them

signals to go forward. Charles Hendry said that what he

found striking was the level of enthusiasm shown by locals for what

is, in essence, a new power station on their doorstep. He'd never seen

anything like it, he said. He urged people to write to the Government

and Theresa May to make their views known.

This Welsh Tory MP also called on his own government to get a move on.

I can assure you that my colleagues in government of the expectation.

They've heard enough of it from me. I know my other colleagues,

cross-party, are doing the same thing. We will continue to that and

an announcement is made. The price tag is ?1.3 billion, the

company promises to spend half of that in Wales. They will also be

construction and manufacturing jobs. This Saville engineering firm hopes

they'll get a share of the work developing a turbine Assembly plant.

They've spent ?100,000 on the tendering project.

We've been frustrated waiting for a decision to be made, but we are

excited as well. This is a brilliant project for the region. We've got

skills that are drizzly transferable, to the tidal lagoon

project, and skills that, were in Tata as well.

Ministers say they are considering the findings of the review carefully

and will make a decision on whether to give the scheme backing in due

course. There are outstanding environmental concerns though, the

developers are yet to be granted a Marine license from natural

resources Wales. But the pressure is certainly mounting on all involved

to make clear where they stand. As the tidal lagoon which is to be

given the go-ahead there are serious questions tonight over the future of

the multi-million pound race track planned near Ebbw Vale. Those behind

the circuit of Wales have been given a two-week deadline by the Welsh

government to show they have enough financial backing for the scheme to

go ahead. Our business correspondent is with us.

How significant is this? It is a very significant move, ultimately,

it is the latest in signs of growing frustration from the Welsh

government about how this company has been approaching this project.

Initially the company came to the Welsh government and said it wanted

100% of the project. Now over ?400 million, and written by taxpayers.

The Government said Galway, look at that again and look at and writing

half of it. They still haven't heard anything concrete from the company

about who they are and whether they have the money. We've tried to speak

to the company to make but haven't heard anything from them. They have

been trying to get that extra funding.

They brought in people to find the extra investment, but it's now very

firmly back in their court. It has to be said there are many

people in the business community including investors who said they

are not sure about the strength of the business case for this project.

A mother from Cheltenham has told this programme she's launched

a campaign calling for England to follow Wales' lead on organ

donation, after her teenage daughter needed a liver transplant.

It's been just over a year since the law was changed here,

to introduce a "deemed consent" system, where people who have

neither opted in, or out, are considered to be willing donors

Organs from Wales have been used to save lives right across the UK,

but if England followed suit, supporters say, many

For 15-year-old Megan Carson from Cheltenham just a simple pleasure of

going for a walk with her mum and her dog is something she's been too

weak to do for months. She is recovering from transplant

surgery. She became ill on a school trip last summer and medical

investigations revealed she had autoimmune hepatitis and needed a

donor liver. He match was found within a couple of months, but it

was an anxious time for Megan and her mum, Carey who is from North

Wales. The experience made them realise the shortage of organs could

be helped if England adopted the same system of presumed consent

already introduced in Wales. The more organs that are available

the more lives are saved. My daughter, Megan, had to wait just

less than two months and we were lucky to be able to get a donor that

quickly. I think presumed consent, there

aren't enough people donating in England. One person can donate

several organs. Presumed consent can help so much more than just opting

in. Not enough people opt in. The

problem is particularly acute for children's organs. Those aged under

20 make up just 4% of those on the donor register. Megan's mam, Carey,

is so convinced that England should adopt the system she's started a

campaign. It would enable people to make their

wishes known. I still believe they should have the choice, they can opt

out of a need to. It would ease the decisions that the upset relatives

need to make a bad time. One Welsh MP is already calling for

that change, Paul Flynn introducing Members Bill, that would see

presumed consent adopted UK wide. Every day that goes by, those in the

west of the United Kingdom had to suffer the anxiety of waiting for an

organ and the possibility that it will be delayed. In many cases,

tragically, they died before they get the organ. We should get the

advantages enjoyed by Wales to be enjoyed by the rest of the UK as

soon as possible. The Department of Health in England

said they had no plans to introduce an opt out system, but were waiting

to see how changes in legislation Wales impact on donations. They

added that they continue to work closely with the Welsh government to

identify ways to build on the significant increase of organ

donations already achieved since 2008.

Megan was one of the lucky ones. She got the liver transplant that saved

her life. She believes if England follow

Wales's lead many more lives could be saved.

Our Health Correspondent Owain Clarke joins me.

Owain, the Health Secretary in England says he's

keeping an eye on Wales, what has the impact been

The Welsh government has said that the change might lead to a 25%

increase in donors. These are the latest statistics we have, and they

show in the nine months between April and December last year they

were 39 deceased donors in Wales, in the 12 month period before which

straddled the change, they were 64. 60 deceased donors in the financial

year before that, what does that tell us? This certainly hasn't been

a dramatic increase. We might find out that the figures have dropped a

little bit after the change. Is that a failure? Not necessarily. The

figures vary from year to year due to be smaller numbers involved.

Maybe fewer people died in the right circumstances. Doctors and nurses

say that families in Wales are now far more aware of their loved one's

wishes, which means approaching the subject of organ donation is far

easier. Could a PR campaign have achieved that, who knows? France is

the latest company to go for an opt out system and many believes it

out system and many believes it saves lives.

The tainted blood scandal, which led to the deaths

of 70 people in Wales, should be made the subject

of a public inquiry according to a group of Assembly Members.

Thousands of people developed Hepatitis C and HIV,

after being given infected blood in the late 1970s and 80s.

Campaigners met politicians discussing the matter,

We are looking to have a public enquiry in the hope that we can get

parity with Scotland, a better offer than is being suggested, and that

the widows and the dependents get far better support in the future

than they have from the trust in the last, oh, ten or 12 years or more.

It's a real battle for some of these people to survive.

Emergency response times to the most critical calls fell in December

75.8 % of responses to red calls, arrived within eight minutes.

That's down from November but above the 65% target.

The Welsh Ambulance Service also received the highest average

daily number of calls on record, at 1,344.

Police searching for a missing man in Swansea have found a body.

18-year-old Marcin Porczyk was last seen in the Wind Street area

of the city in the early hours of Sunday.

The body has not been identified, but his family has been informed.

28 engaged couples who'd paid to get married at a popular Swansea hotel,

have been told the company has gone into liquidation, leaving them

The Gower Hotel in Bishopston closed unexpectedly on New Year's Eve.

The owners say it's because of ill health.

But for some of the couples, there will still be wedding bells,

It's the day many couples dream of. Walking down the aisle to marry the

perfect partner in the perfect location. After months of

preparation ritual and Jonathan from Swansea were planning to tie the

knot next month. What plans were in place to get married here at the

Gower Hotel in Bishopston. But six weeks before the big day, having

already paid ?1500 from the venue, they were told it was closing down.

It's pretty horrible news. We were intending that evening to pay final

balance. I was disappointed.

It was my father who had put the money down, and was paying for the

wedding. They feared they would have to cancel but managed to secure a

new venue. They will say I do on their planned date next month. 28

couples were left with their wedding plans in tatters. Today at a meeting

in Cardiff couples were told they are unlikely to get their money

back. Claire and Simon from Swansea have been together for eight years,

and have four young boys together. He proposed last year while they

were abseiling. He popped the question why we were

hanging from the ropes. The boys were excited. They were telling

everyone we'd got married. They thought that was the marriage.

They have managed to book another venue next year. But they paid a

deposit of ?500 to the Gower hotel, part of their wedding budget they

likely won't see again. Obviously we are upset over it,

because even though we know we are lucky, we didn't part with as much

as some, obviously, money we can ill afford to just lost. It's put a

little bit of a commie you know, a tarnish. It's made me, or less, more

paranoid to put interest about suppliers and venues.

The hotel is in liquidation with close to ?1 million in debt. They

say that after losing staff and suffering ill-health, the owners

were no longer able to run the venue. They are deeply sorry to the

couples who have lost out. The advice for engaged couples is to

take out wedding insurance, and pay on a credit card where possible to

make sure they, too, get their happily ever after.

It was one of last year's most popular presence, a wristwatch to

tell you how far you walk. Now they have pedometers foci was.

Now they have pedometers foci was.

although the new captain, Alun Wyn Jones, said he'd rather be

BBC Wales understands the chief executive of the patients' watchdog

has been suspended on full pay since February last year.

The Board of Community Health Councils is refusing to say why

The organisation is funded by the Welsh government and has

a budget of around ?4 million to represent NHS

Our political reporter Paul Martin is in Cardiff Bay.

He was appointed chief executive of the board back in July 20 15. He

told BBC Wales at the time he'd been put in place to make things happen.

If you translate the Government appointed a new chairman of the

organisation, Mr Merrill, after that Tony was suspended. No one is saying

why but said the resources they bear was tension between the two

individuals. Before he was suspended concerns had been raised that he had

been stopped doing media interviews and said she may have been

influenced in doing this by a meeting with a government minister.

The Welsh government isn't commenting on mad but Mr Merrill

says she doesn't accept the allegations in the males are

factually correct and says she can't comment further while the internal

processes going on. Which on ski says he's been instructed not to

comment. The publicly funded patient watchdog is without a permanent

chief executive and big questions remain over when the situation will

be resolved. Banking. Around 9,000 women a year in Wales

are diagnosed with cancer. Now, a wrist-worn tracker to measure

activity was one of last year's most popular presents,

but how about a pedometer for cows?! Well they've been attached to stock

at a Welsh farming college, to see if fitter cows

produce fitter calves. Quite possibly the latest innovation

in Welsh agriculture, The latest must have for the

high-fashion heifer, the cows may not know it but this is

high-tech stuff which could help make Welsh agriculture more

competitive. At this college they want to compare cows which spent the

winter indoors to those stay outside. Grid is predominantly a

college farm, so we only training centre for the new farmers of the

future. Rhodri Owen is the file manager. The ones outside will be

moving three, 400 metres a day. The ones in doors will only move may be

ten or 20 metres a day. We want to see the impact on the carving

process. -- carving process. So I wrote down cows fitter? -- saw

our outdoor cows fitter? In truth agriculture has always had to change

to adapt to new conditions. And all sorts of technology is coming

online, but Harper Adams University is researching the use of drones in

farm settings. We use them to do particular work for us, spraying,

the area we are researching here. And they are going to be used for

delivering parcels and other things. Within the agricultural environment.

This is something an organisation AMs to bring innovation to the

countryside is keen on promoting. It's also backing the cow pedometer

research. We don't usually associate digital

technology with the agricultural world. Digital technology affects

all our lives at the moment, and will do much more in the future.

I took a research to cut the cost of production. In that, farming is no

different to any other industry. In that, farming is no different

to any other industry. One man who's always steps ahead,

here's Tomos with tonight's Sport. Rugby, and Wales' interim

Head Coach says he hopes games in the Six Nations won't be decided

by red cards. Speaking at the launch

of the Championship, Rob Howley revealed he'll

have a briefing from referee Nigel Owens after stricter sanctions

were brought-in around high tackles. They won't be quite so jovial next

month when rivalries will be renewed once again. The coaches gathered

ahead of a changed six Nations. This year teams will be rewarded with

more points for scoring more tries. And since the beginning of the month

stricter punishments have been introduced for certain tackles.

Reckless high tackles, obviously they are going to be red cards. We

are mindful of that and hope that big games on is decided by red

cards, because it's ultimately from a player,

coach and fun perspective it would be a shame. No smiles from the new

captain today. Alun Wyn Jones said he would rather be training. The

coach has no doubt he will flourish in this role, leading is God with

seven uncapped players. We've got used, we've got experience, is a man

capped players with a point to prove. Guys will be in good form,

some that happened. People will point to prove. They will have to be

at their best to beat England who won every single match last year.

England's's players are preparing in Portugal, but by the look of Eddie

Jones they might have overdone it. I have to ask, what happened? Tough

old training camp. I slipped over and got my head cut in training. No

big deal. Always mysteries with the media Jones said he fell in the

shower. Whatever happens he says he's ready and England are ready for

a successive grand slam while Wales, who last got their hands on the

trophy four years ago are expecting the most competitive championship

many years. London Welsh say they're "extremely

disappointed" by the RFU's decision to expel them

from the English Championship, effectively ending their existence

as a professional club. enough to satisfy criteria

for a new licence to play on -- Football, and the Cardiff City

manager, Neil Warnock, says signing a striker before

the transfer window closes The Bluebirds failed

to take their chances last night. They lost 1-nil at promotion

challengers Brighton. Tomer Hemed got the goal,

Cardiff remain 8 points above The Swansea City under 21s,

who were the last remaining academy side in the Checkatrade Trophy

were knocked out by Coventry It was 1-all after 90 minutes,

Oliver McBurnie gave Swansea the lead from the penalty spot

but went on to lose on penalties. And a site to delight Welsh fans

Gareth Bale back running after surgery on his ankle last year.

There was a brief thumbs up for the camera, he remains on course to be

fit for the crucial World Cup qualifier against the Republic of

Ireland at the end of the end of March.

Time for the weather, Derek's here with the weather.

Blue sky and sunshine in Silian,Ceredigion.

Similar in Penrhyn Bay with a high of 10C.

The satellite picture shows much of Wales clear but cloud over

So clouding over from the South East tonight.

Temperatures on higher ground dropping as low as -3.

So here's the picture for 8 in the morning.

Brighter in the North West with some sunshine.

So colder tomorrow with a biting wind.

Frozen drizzle or snow grains like bits of rice

Sunshine in the North West and parts of the south and west may

Temperatures lower than today, 1 to 5C and feeling more

For the Heads of the Valleys tomorrow, not as nice as today.

The wind lighter an dry with a good deal of sunshine.

If you're thinking of going-up Cadair Idris tomorrow,be

Temperatures a little higher on the south coast.

A lot of dry weather but a few showers around.

Maybe some rain later in the south and east.

Dry with some sunshine and lighter winds.

Overnight frost and the odd fog patch.

It reminds of our top stories. The company behind plans for a tidal

lagoon in Swansea Bay says Wales would deliver risks missing out in

being a leader. Tidal lagoon power are waiting for the UK Government to

give the 1.4 billion project the go-ahead, but the other countries

are working on similar plans. And the company behind the multi-million

pound slipped of Wales race track planned for Ebbw Vale have been

given a fortnight by the Welsh government to show they have enough

financial backing for the project. I'll have a quick update

at 8 and a full round up