01/03/2017 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines:

Over 1,000 jobs could go over the next four years

at Ford in Bridgend.

Unions say they'll fight "with all their might".

And two-year-old Sol lost his arm when he was a baby.

Now he has a new one, designed by his dad.

Good evening.

Unions say they'll fight plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs

at the Ford engine plant in Bridgend "with all their might".

The plant currently employs 1,760 workers, but a leaked document seen

by BBC Wales says this could be cut to 600.

Here's our Business Correspondent, Brian Meechan.

Workers arrived for the afternoon shift at Ford's Bridgend plant

to hear details of what the future could look like just as others left

from the morning shift having heard the news from unions.

Very disappointing.

A lot of people are down.

Obviously people with a couple of years service and that.

But we are not hearing anything from management,

only these leaked documents and nobody knows what's going on.

What do you think is going to happen?

A lot of men are going to finish.

And they will keep it to the bare minimum and I think Ford will then

run it down and shut the plant.

The Ford Bridgend plant opened in 1980 and has fought fierce

global competition to win investment over decades.

It currently makes 655,000 engines but those contracts are coming

to an end and there is only guaranteed work for

125,000 in future.

The union Unite says it will continue to fight to win work.

I am making a clear call to this company, stop attacking my members

and the workers here at Bridgend.

They are not responsible for what's going on here.

It's the company and the management who have controlled

this for many years.

Our determination now and we are in the process

of consulting with our members about what options we've got,

but our determination is to make certain we keep this plant open.

Ford argues more work will only be won if the plant

becomes more efficient.

The leaked document says this plant is underperforming in comparison

to other similar sites such as Ford Dagenham.

Over time, levels are more than double what they are at Dagenham

and that adds 6% to the cost of the engines produced.

The company blames absence, nonperformance and unusual work

practices including paying staff allowances they are not entitled to.

The First Minister, who is also the local Assembly Member,

voiced his concerns during a trip to Washington.

What's been outlined is a scenario that is the worst case scenario.

What would happen if no further projects came into Bridgend by 2021.

So what we need to do is work with Ford and the union to make sure

Bridgend does attract those new projects to make sure those jobs

are kept in Bridgend.

There are calls for the UK Government to do more and the future

of Ford in Bridgend came up in Prime Minister's questions.

Can I have an assurance from the Prime Minister

that she will arrange for her ministers to meet with Ford

and the union to see what can be done to support Ford to ensure

continuity of engine production in the Bridgend Ford plant.

We have had dialogue with Ford.

We will continue to have regular dialogue with Ford about the ways

in which government can help to make sure this success continues.

This plant has provided the Bridgend community and beyond with well-paid

stable jobs for almost 40 years.

The company, unions and workers have problems that need to be fixed

if it's to do the same for 40 more.

Staying with manufacturing and Wales has been chosen by GE Aviation

to provide maintenance and repairs for the world's largest and most

fuel-efficient jet-engine, the GE9X.

The work will take place at the firm's Nantgarw site,

which already employs 1,400 people,

with extra jobs likely to be created.

An inquiry into plans for a ?1 billion M4 relief road

around Newport has heard rush-hour traffic around the city can slow

to as low as 20 miles per hour.

The inquiry will consider up to 22 different proposals

to ease congestion around the Brynglas Tunnels,

including one of the world's longest underground road-tunnels.

Work has begun to dismantle part of Colwyn Bay's damaged pier.

More of the Grade II listed Victoria pier collapsed

into the sea last week, following Storm Doris.

It's thought the work will take around three weeks.

Nearly three-quarters of Welsh voters think only EU citizens

with the right skills should live and work in the UK after Brexit.

That's according to BBC Wales' St David's day poll.

19% think nothing should change at all.

But with some sectors like hospitality and agriculture

relying heavily on unskilled European workers,

there are concerns.

There is no point in saying that these people are coming

in and taking jobs from other people because there aren't many other

people, local people, that want these jobs.

So if the jobs are hear that other people don't want,

why not let some Eastern Europeans come over and take them on and let

us survive and prosper.

Two-year-old Sol Ryan from Anglesey lost his arm in an operation just

days after he was born.

To help him live as full a life as possible, his father Ben designed

an innovative prosthetic arm for him

and now he hopes other children can benefit too.

George Herd has been to meet them.

It's every parent's nightmare, being told your baby needs

life changing surgery.

At just ten days old young Sol Ryan from Anglesey had his left arm

amputated just below the elbow after developing a blood clot.

But today Sol is playing like any ordinary young

toddler after his father, Ben, took the extraordinary step

and built his son a new arm.

With the help of Bangor University's new innovation lab, he was able

to use the latest 3-D technology to come up with a ground-breaking

new design that can be made in days rather than months.

When I started to talk to Ben, and he is a likeable person as well,

about what he wanted to do and why he wanted to come here,

I was quite humbled really to be honest and I thought what better way

to put this new equipment that we have just moved into this

building to use than to help Ben with his project.

Ben has now quit his job as a psychology teacher and set

up his own company to develop the arm full-time.

Everybody I speak to just shows passion.

They can see it coming through from me and they're

passionate about the story with Sol.

The technology itself is cool as well.

3-D printing, hydraulics, supple components.

If you can help someone you are morally obliged to do

so and I can't think of a better way of spending my working career

than developing and distributing these to the kids that need them.

That is a reward in itself.

It's really cool.

Today Ben and his backers are launching a crowdfunding

campaign to raise ?150,000 to win medical approval for the new arms.

It will mean children around the world could soon benefit

from what the doting dad hopes will be a revolution

in childhood prosthetics.

Time for a look at the weather now. Sue Charles has the details.

Good evening.

The 1st of March, Saint Davids Day, also the start of meteorological

spring, but we're not quite done with winter yet with strong winds,

outbreaks of rain, even some snow over higher ground overnight.

The rain will continue to spread in from the west.

As it hits the cold air across North and Mid Wales it

will fall as snow for some, mainly on high ground,

but even some lower levels.

Drier in the South but increasingly windy.

Gale force westerly winds along the coast.

Temperatures between 1C and 5C.

Tomorrow, a cold windy start with rain and hill snow clearing

further north to leave drier and brighter conditions.

Across the UK that weakening band of wintry showers

moving from West to East, otherwise drier than recent days

and brighter with sunny spells and remaining very blustery

and starting to cloud over from the Southwest again later.

Highs of 6C in north-east Scotland and 11C in south-east England.

Across Wales, thicker cloud later.

Still a few bright spells.

But a few spots of patchy rain spilling in from the west.

Brisk westerly winds will eventually ease.

Highs of 7C in Gwynedd, 10C in Newport.

And it deteriorates later Thursday as this occlusion arrives

overnight into Friday, bringing further wet

and windy weather at times.

So outbreaks of rain on Friday spreading out from the south,

moving northwards, heavy bursts at times, brisk winds,

highs of 6C to 9C.

And we keep this mobile westerly flow for the end of the week

into the weekend with fronts coming in off the Atlantic,

bringing unsettled weather at times.

So March is coming in like a lion.

Strong winds, heavy rain on Friday, some dry spells over the weekend,

but with rain at times too.

And that's Wales Today.

We'll be back in Breakfast from 6:25am tomorrow morning.

Until then, from all of us on the late team, good night.