30/03/2017 Channel Islands News

Good evening. I'm Charlie McArdle.

Welcome to BBC Channel Islands. These are Thursday's headlines:

Day two of Guernsey's Population Law debate and it's good news

for existing workers and the residents

Brexit begins to bite - warning that islanders will be

Saving parents thousands - Guernsey extends its trial offering

What is happening is that our suppliers, based in Europe or the

US, are unfortunately putting up prices.

Saving parents thousands - Guernsey extends its trial offering

And we have had a warm day today across the Channel Islands. The

average for this time of year should be 11 degrees. 19 today, fresh

tomorrow. More details later. Guernsey will introduce

a controversial new population control regime next week

after the government approved New laws governing who can live

and work in Guernsey are aiming to help manage the island's changing

population, as people are living longer and the working age

population continues to fall. The island also needs to do more

to be human rights compliant. It's a very complex

law but essentially: People will need

to have a certificate or a permit Currently, anyone from outside

Guernsey wanting to live and work must obtain a housing licence,

or make use of higher-priced The new law introduces

new work permits. It involves short, medium

and long-term work permits for one year, five years

and eight years respectively. This would allow anyone who has

lived continuously in local market property for eight years to live

in Guernsey indefinitely. Well, Mike Wilkins is

in our Guernsey newsroom. Mike, the short term permit has

come under particular criticism? Yes, Charlie. Many seasonal workers

spent nine months on the island in three months away, and the new law

will mean they will be able to work in Guernsey for a maximum of five

years. Many in the business community say will cause staff to

leave the island. Today, deputies voted to allow existing guest

workers who have already clocked up five seasons to continue with the

nine-month, three-month arrangement indefinitely. The man pushing for

the change says it is a short-term solution. It is a boy putting his

finger in the dyke, really. That is all it is. It is protecting the

people who are here with grandfather rights, not solving the problem.

And there was good news for the younger generation of Alderney and

Sark? Yes, restrictions are to be relaxed and people from those

islands who want to come and live and work in Guernsey.

But there are conditions attached, and one of Alderney's

representatives told me he wants to see more flexibility.

We want the Committee For Home Affairs to look at the proposition

again and to bring it back with less restriction. That is the message and

what we really need in Alderney to prevent the loss from the catchment

area of Guernsey of young talent. That does tend to leave Alderney and

had for the mainland, because it is so much easier.

The new population law will affect the way people can live and work

here, and a politician responsible told me it will be good for the

island. It is a very complex law, a

Fairlawn, but it is much better and Fairlawn, but it is much better and

has much more flexibility than our current housing control law, which

is outdated and not fit for purpose. We have spoken with businesses and

our community, and I think it is a good law.

Tomorrow, the state will return for a debate on the open market, but

today, they voted 26-13 in favour of the new population law. From Monday,

this legislation will affect many people in very different ways.

One of Jersey's biggest and oldest retailers is having to increase

Article 50 was triggered yesterday starting the UK's separation

Although it will take two years of negotiations,

it seems the weakened pound is already costing islanders more,

Online shopping is no longer retailers' biggest threat.

The impact political decisions across the water have had

on the pound are now affecting the foundations of

Certainly in our beauty department our suppliers have put up

prices pretty quickly, in our accessories area

I think our suppliers are waiting to see what happens but they have

told us that they are putting up their prices in the autumn -

and we have the same situation on the clothing side

And it's the customers who are paying for the rise in cost prices.

Not really. No, I don't. You ask, I do. It is cost on there.

Unfortunately, it goes on to the end consumer.

No, but we are all was going to get done, and we? Yes. Hopefully, they

will keep as much as possible away from the public, but at the same

time, I'm sure costs will go up greatly.

Jersey's Chief Minister agrees it's one of the challenges facing

the island as Brexit negotiations begin.

I've got no doubt that it will be uncertain and there will be

turbulence in the political world throughout this

turbulence in the political world throughout this negotiation,

but we in Jersey are in a very strong position,

We've got to continue to fight our corner,

make our case heard and look for opportunities I have no doubt

will arise throughout these number of years.

While the Government flies the flag to secure the island's position

over the next few years, shoppers will have to pay the price

for the UK's decision to leave the EU.

A 48-year-old man has been arrested in connection

with a burglary which occurred while the homeowners slept upstairs.

A laptop, two guitars, cameras and car keys were taken

The police later found the homeowners' stolen car

It's been confirmed that three- and four-year-olds in Guernsey

will continue to get 15 hours' free-preschool each week.

A trial which was due to end in July has been extended for another year.

But will fewer providers be willing to offer it?

It's a great start, it gets them to socialise.

Great learning adventures, play activities, leaning numbers

Great learning adventures, play activities, learning numbers

and it gives the children a great start in their education.

And it's a start that is now more accessible to families.

Education's removed the financial barrier, offering 15 free hours

of pre-school the year before children start school.

Although funded by a cut in family allowance,

It's a good idea, and benefits lots of children who'd

I think the more they can learn, the more they develop, and the more they

can appreciate society and how we all interact together, form a

community, so I think it is a fantastic idea. I think it is great

for families. Whether it carries on or not

is a different story. There's still a question mark over

what happens in a year's time. One issue is that pre-schools

get a set rate of ?5.90 an hour from the States,

but some want to be able to charge Education says it needs

longer to look at it. It's a concern that some

providers may not be able to provide it at this price,

and some may have to pull out, but that is part of the process

of assessing what can be done So unlike this pre-school,

some may choose not to opt in. But Education says it wants

to build up more evidence A 7.5% rise in the price

of wholesale milk is to be passed on to customers

by many of Guernsey's retailers. A litre of milk currently costs

?1.18, but shops including Alliance, Marks and Spencer,

Sandpiper and the Co-op are planning a price hike,

blaming already low margins. Guernsey Dairy think customers

will see the wholesale We would like to think that we have

a loyal customer base and they understand the full economics of the

actual milk industry on the island. You are not only paying for a later

of milk per sale, you are sort of reinvesting money back into the

countryside, back into the breed, back into the structure of island,

and supporting one of the oldest industries remaining.

A collection of rare stamps and coins worth over ?1 million have

The luxury asset event is giving islanders a chance to see

for themselves the value of these rare prestigious collectibles.

The collection includes a block of tuppeny Blues worth

just under a million, a stamp with a printing

error valued at ?135,000, and the largest gold coin ever

These are little slices of history that stood the test of time. They

have lived through world wars, they have lived through global conflicts.

They have lived through periods of recession and financial instability

already, and they are still rare, they are still pressures, they still

resonate with history, and that's what gives them their value.

What a day for it - more than 450 boys from Jersey's De

la Salle College have been on their annual walk.

I say walk, but it's more like a hike, -

with a distance of 36 miles from start to finish.

These are the boys as they were just past St Catherine's

Last year, the college raised more than ?14,000 for charity.

Ah, that takes me back to my days at De La Salle.

I did that same walk far too many years ago to mention.

I remember I couldn't walk the next day.

Also, all the years I took part, it always rained.

David, it was a great day to be out and about?

It certainly was, yes, some pretty great temperatures. Normally, we

expect to see temperatures around 11-12 in the month of March. Today,

we soared up to 19 degrees. A little sunshine and warm air from the south

giving us is very good temperatures. Not quite so warm tomorrow. So the

rain, some sunny spells, and generally a bit fresher than it has

felt today. We have one when a friend coming in later tonight. It

will take its time to arrive, so pleasant and warm evening, and then

gradually through the night to come, this first weather system will

produce outbreaks of rain. Once that moves the other side of us, it

introduces, as I mentioned, slightly fresh air. Another one will follow,

but will really reach us to later in the evening. Between the two, some

fine weather, but by Saturday, risk of seeing some showers around a

little area of low pressure. So quite a lot happening in the weather

at the moment. Certainly, warm this evening. This is the rain now coming

especially. That will creep towards especially. That will creep towards

us through the night to come, but initially, a lovely evening, very

pleasant. Winds starting to freshen a little bit ahead of that band of

cloud and rain. Some of that rain cloud and rain. Some of that rain

becoming widespread by the morning. 10 degrees the overnight low, so

quite mild. Tomorrow, the rain will peter out quite quickly by

mid-to-late morning. The sunshine will be back out, and a fine day

with some spells of sunshine, patchy cloud floating by, and not as warm

as today, 14-15 the maximum temperature. Those are our times of

high water. And for our surfers, clean surfing

with southerly winds. Most of our favourable west or north west facing

beaches will be between 2-4 feet and clean, and the coastal waters for

gas, winds are self south-west of, force for- five, and the risk of

showers were generally moderate or good visibility. This looks quite

rain overnight tomorrow night, gone rain overnight tomorrow night, gone

by Saturday morning. Saturday predominantly dry, slightly cooler,

the risk of if you showers. Sunday high pressure comes back, so lovely,

settled day, more on Monday. settled day, more on Monday.

Charlie. You are saying quite promising. I know rain for tomorrow,

but Saturday and Sunday, the temperatures are way down. Quite

disappointing, as today has been so gorgeous. Thank you very much.

And it we go, quickly gets bored. Ahead of their big cup game on

Sunday, Jersey Reds have announced their former hooker will be legal's

new forward coach. He will arrive from Australia in the summer to

start work on the next season. That is your lot for me from the

time being. I'm back just before 8,

then again at 10:25. The upgrading of the Georgian

Library Roof and other work on the Devon and Exeter Institution

will help to protect it's collection of rare

books and newspapers - some dating back

to the 16th century. As Hamish Marshall reports,

the old roof was so heavy it was in danger of bringing

the building down. As good as new, but still true

to its original design. It's taken five years,

but now the library of the Institution, which has an important

collection of local books, can have daylight again -

the way those who created it two They were designed to let

the natural light into the library and 200 years ago they depended

on natural light more

than anything else. So it's really put us back

on a very solid footing. This was the scene last

summer when we saw the project - funded by Historic England

and the Heritage Lottery Fund - But now this is no

longer a building site. It was quite daunting

looking at the work that was needed to do, with

the unknown aspects of this job. Again with the people

you had, it does This crane wasn't here last summer,

it's part of demolition of the In fact, builders and staff

stood by here on the Institution's roof during the fire

last autumn, in case it spread. Well, the roof is now

covered with this copper Before this was lead, which was

actually so heavy the building was actually moving and here

we have got a mixture of the the old and the

new. These are the slates that came off

when the work began. There wasn't quite

enough to cover the building at the end,

so some new ones have been And inside, a growing number

of students like Oscar are Here it has other people

doing other things. It has not just students working

on essays, it's sort of a more Times may have changed,

but now we have a new chapter in the battle to protect

and preserve this rare collection of books,

charting the South West Next on Spotlight a first glimpse

inside one of the South West's main tourist attractions

after its refurbishment. And later - seen on TV for the first

time, how one family captured on film the horror

of the Torrey Canyon disaster. And sculpting in sand -

we'll reveal the finished works After an eighteen month closure,

the refurbished Tate St Ives The new extension is still under

construction and won't open until the Autumn, but the existing

building is hosting a brand new exhibition

and Spotlight's Lucie Fisher has So this is Jessica Warboy's sea

paintings and whenever she is commissioned by art galleries

or museums to create a work, she goes to the nearest sea, bit of sea

or ocean, to get the natural She throws them in the sea

and she actually makes the sea a participant in the work,

the sea makes the work. Absolutely and this is a mix

of really ceramic art by young contemporary artists,

we also have a lot of the potters like Jill Crowley here with some

of her absolutely amazing and crazy

if I may say teapot. You have got Denise Wren,

all she did was elephants. And in here what we have

got is the Californian Clay Revolution from

the 1950s and '60s. This work is in part a response

to the way in which these other artists, these west

coast ceramacists work, response - saying people

like Barbera Hepworth is as present in my work as much

as one of these other Mark Osterfield told me

what a relief it is to finally be opening

This is our core purpose and this is the first step.

So we will be open over the summer, we will have this excellent

show for all our visitors and the local community in the summer.

But come the autumn, we will be launching

the new Tate St Ives and

And that step change is well under way outside.

On the right we have the new loading bay, which is of a

scale that means we can bring in huge artworks to Cornwall,

And we've got a really good lift in order to

bring them into the gallery and to lower them down

and to the left you can just see the edge of the roofscape above our

So we have a 500 square metre gallery

space, which is the equivalent of all or other gallery spaces

And this is the new activity room for families.

Come tomorrow it will be a "clayground"

After 18 months of closure, everybody here is full of

excitement for the new opening tomorrow.

Now you may remember a couple of weeks ago we covered the 50th

anniversary of the day the Torrey Canyon supertanker ran

aground on rocks between Lands End and the Isles of Scilly.

Well today marks the day the ship - which polluted much of the Cornish

coast causing Britain's biggest ever oil spill -

A former fireman has now come forward with some previously unseen

footage that was recorded on his family's cine camera

and Eleanor Parkinson has been to meet him.

This isn't an ordinary film, it is a record of a piece of history. In

1967 the supertanker Torrey Canyon spills her cargo of oil and locals

can smell it reaching the shore. The home video was shot by Ray Ireland.

I wint out in the garden and I could smell it. I said, the oil's coming

in. That is the beach. You can see it is just one mass of tar. It is

absolutely, like... Melted chocolate. Hundreds of thousands of

tonnes of detergent is brought in to try and break up the oil. In some

locations it is brought by helicopter. This is the early stages

of spraying, they had no automatic pumps. They had a manual pump. Until

things progressed and they increased and got some better equipment.

Despite their best efforts the detergent didn't work and it wasn't

good for those handling it. I know one fire man, after he said, I had

to leave the service, he showed his hands and they were bad. As the days

passed it was clear the impact on wildlife was huge. Look at that

bird. Poor thing can't move, can it? It was all the flying birds that go

into the water and that then. It was quite a mess. There was only one

place for them - bye-bye. A decision was made to bomb the tanker and she

sank. But the coastline took years to recover. Even ten years after the

Torrey Canyon, you could remember coming home from a day on the beach

and having to sit and scrape the tar off your feet with a lollipop stick.

The memories are still as strong as the day of the disaster.

And if you want to hear more about the Torrey Canyon disaster,

there's a documentary currently available on the BBC Radio iplayer

called "Torrey Canyon and the Toxic Tides".

I can remember scraping tar off my feet as well.

Now, if you've ever been on the beach and tried to impress

the family by making something out of sand, you'll know

So prepare to be completely blown away by the pros!

Artists at an attraction in Dorset have even been painting their sand

The team in Weymouth is led by Mark Anderson whose family

The idea of using colour was a tribute to my grandfather who

started painting with the sand. That was a first. He started with Kong

and nearly all of them were made. We are doing the tiger that. Was one of

his first. And then Kong as well. We are doing that and that will be

coloured throughout the season. Because it is not supporting

anything, we wet it down, pack it into place and carve it out using

typically a trowel of some sort and then I use a couple of different

types of brush to get the effect of an animal, and the fur. A bit of a

change this year. We have been asked many times when, if the people can

see the sculptors working. We have changed a few from last year and we

are going to keep a couple of the most popular ones and change a

through and hopefully there is always somebody here working. So we

are under a roof and nothing gets washed away. No issues with the

weather. Hopefully. The British weather. The good old British

weather. Incredible. The detail was incredible. And the good old British

weather, but it has been warm today. It has been lovely Daid. Ly --

today. We have had some really good temperatures, certainly the warmest

day of the year so far. St Helier was top at 19 degrees. Well above

the average for the time of year. Where we have had the cloud and rain

its around 12 degrees. This stripe of blue, the rain, has been trouble

and it has been back and forth across Cornwall. More to come

tonight. And ahead of it some breaks in the cloud, but some showers. Not

a bad evening for some of us. The forecast tomorrow is not quite so

warm A fresher feel to the day. Some sunshine, but also some showers. If

anything more persistent rain later in the day. We have a weather front

that will move through steadily and by lunch tooichl tomorrow it is

across the central part of Britain. We have two systems. This will bring

more rain tomorrow night. But it should be going through by the time

we get into the start of weekend. Plenty of showers on Saturday. Some

hail and thunder. And then high pressure comes back for Sunday. So

of two days, Sunday is the better day. That is the picture that we

have had tonight with that rain coming and going. It will move

across us. But before that we have had some pleasant late sunshine.

This was this afternoon in Okehampton. We have had some warmth

from the sun and it has been a pleasant day. There is the risk of

some showers tonight. But many of us getting away with a dry start to the

night. But rain will come in fairly swiftly through the night and be

across us by the morning. These pictures filmed by our cameraman,

Alex. Thank you for those. Tonight the cloud will produce some rain and

continue eastwards. It is mild night at ten or 11 degrees. Some rain in

the morning, but moving quickly and the skies will clear, the sun will

come out. Before that line of more persistent rain returns late in the

day. So a reasonable day. Not a warm as today. 14 the maximum

temperature. The Isles of Scilly a bright first half of the day and

then it will cloud over. There is the times of high water. Plymouth is

9.02. Some reasonable waves for the surfers.

Some sharp showers on Saturday. Sunday is a fine day. Monday also

fine and dry. Just a bit more cloud. Have a good evening. Thank you,

David. We have put that film of Torrey Canyon on our Facebook page

and we will be back at 6.30 tomorrow. Good night.