21/12/2016 North West Tonight

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Good evening. Greater Manchester councillors have tonight been

considering a 20 year plan to build 200,000 homes on green belt land.

Opponents of the so-called spatial framework claimed that thousands of

residents are being ignored, but Trafford councillors were told there

needs to be a coherent development policy, as our political editor

explains. This is a farm near Bolton. Michael

is feeding cows here, as his father did before him. Laura was hoping to

carry on the tradition, but now this land is vulnerable to development.

It'll just be a complete change of light. Everybody says what will I do

if we go, I don't have a clue, to be honest. This is all I have evidence

and is I was a child. Yeah. Michael's farm is currently part of

Greater Manchester's protected green belt land which makes up 47% of the

landmass. Under new developments, these are

areas in Orange will be freed to be built on, and if that happens,

Greater Manchester's green belt will drop to 43%.

This is the William Rowe golf course on the other side of Greater

Manchester in Trafford, and like Michael's farm it is earmarked for

development under the plan. The plan says that over the next two decades

Greater Manchester's population will go by almost 300000 and we need to

be ready, but to be ready, something has to give.

In all, 5000 hectares could be lost, but all ten council leaders say that

by taking control the remaining green space will be better

protected. The consequence of not having a plan

as we enter but development in an unconstrained way, I think it is

very aborted we are able to say that we know where development will be,

we plan for it so we can control it. New homes mean new pressures on

existing communities, and more than a dozen MPs got together to say they

are worried that already stretched public services could buckle.

There will be a substantial building of new houses, we need the

infrastructure to be improved as well. We need better roads,

provisions for schools, hospitals and doctors, it all needs to be

taken into account. Michael says he fully understands

that the world keeps moving and he must move with it or get left

behind. He just hopes his family does not have to give up its way of

life. At a meeting here in Trafford

tonight, Labour did their very best to convince their opponents that

that development on a golf caution not go ahead. But in a very heated

debate, they failed. The Conservatives here say there is a

chronic housing shortage failed to address it is to fail the next

generation. This is a tiny part of the huge

jigsaw that is the Greater Manchester spatial framework plan.

We can expect further tension over the coming months.

Two men have been arrested in Merseyside this evening

in connection with a robbery at the church where a priest

The masked men ordered the priest in St Helens to hand over cash

collected for a children's orphanage in Africa.

Our Merseyside reporter Andy Gill has the story.

Just before 6:30pm last night, three masked men rammed the doorbell

of the St Vincent de Paul presbytery in St Helens and demanded cash.

Then they ordered the priest, Father Peter Hannah,

to take them round to the church and empty the safe.

They made off on foot with cash which parishioners had raised

It's despicable, I mean you don't get much lower than that, really.

And to take the money and, you know, target a church at this time

Father Hannah was uninjured but left extremely shaken.

Police don't know if the handgun was real or a replica.

One woman who lives next door to the church expressed

It's just absolutely disgusting, you know?

The time of forgiveness, I'm sorry...

And the fact that the money that they've stolen

Catholic church, Christmas, good tidings?

I just hope that they find them and lock them away.

In a statement the Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool said that

such events are an attack on the whole of the worshipping

community who had given up weeks of their time to raise the money.

The statement went on to say that the repercussions of this act

A Rochdale company has promised to deliver Christmas gifts in time

after hundreds of people complained their online

Savvibuy says thousands of orders have been delivered.

But disgruntled customers have set up a Facebook page claiming they've

not received their good, or refunds have been hard to get.

Savvibuy says some of the criticism has been malicious but has

A Merseyside teenager who was the lookout as his brother

and friend beat a homeless man to death today lost his appeal

The victim, Kevin Bennett, was sleeping rough outside

an Iceland supermarket in Walton when he was attacked

Brandon Doran was today told he must continue to serve his minimum

Police are searching for a man caught on top of a train

He was seen climbing on to the Merseyrail train

between two carriages at Rock Ferry station in Wirral ten days ago.

The man concealed his face and told staff he was

An ex-serviceman who admitted attempting to burgle Wayne Rooney's

mansion in Cheshire has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Robert McNamara pleaded guilty to attempting to trespass

with intent to steal from the footballer's home.

The Manchester United striker was playing in his testimonial match

An appeal is being made tonight for more people to give

consent to donate parts of their eyes for transplant.

The campaign's being backed by a visually-impaired swimmer

from Preston who this year won gold at the Rio Paralympics.

Stephanie Slater, who suffers from a degenerative eye condition,

had her sight saved by a cornea transplant in Liverpool.

Stephanie Slater is used to overcoming adversity -

But while preparing for this summer's Paralympic Games

she was told she needed a life-saving cornea transplant.

I am very lucky, there is a shortage of corneas and I am very,

very lucky that I was able to get one when I did.

The cornea is a clear, dome shaped window at the front

of the eye that lets in light so we can see.

It protects the eyes from germs and some of the sun's UV rays.

When damaged it can become distorted, causing loss of vision.

A lot of people I have spoke to do not realise that you can

And I was like, no, it comes from a real donor.

But while corneal transplantation is more successful than any other

form of organ donation, getting donors,

Consultant surgeon Mark Batterbury carried out Stephanie's transplant.

We hit crises every now and again, and we cannot transplant

Most of them are psychological and cultural issues,

donors for example thinking that their whole eye may go

into a recipient and the recipient is thinking that they might resemble

At the University of Liverpool, a team of 40 work to tackle vision

loss and it is one of the biggest centres of its kind in Britain.

Here, eyes that are donated but cannot be used for transplant

will be used for research with the consent of the donor.

We are developing new therapies for treating eye diseases used

either here in the north-west or can be used globally

Three months on from her transplant, Stephanie's already preparing

It will help me in the pool, being able to spot the finish

or my turns, just getting vision back in two eyes will be amazing.

Her next big aim is to compete in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Ian Haslam, BBC North West Tonight, Liverpool

Marsh Lock - one of the largest locks on the River Weaver

in Cheshire - was drained today for the first time

The repair job, costing half-a-million pounds,

is part of a winter makeover by The Canal and River Trust.

Unlike most locks - which can only fit one

narrow boat at a time - this one is so big

Storm Barbra still on the way? Still looking ahead to Friday. Friday

looks like a very, very tricky day. Storm Barbara coming towards us,

bringing not just rain but very, very strong winds. At the minute,

relatively quiet. Since 7pm the showers have largely moved over the

Pennines and many places are dry. Many places are fairly clear.

Temperatures will not fall too far, for rural areas you might go down to

zero, maybe even the odd -1, not many places getting to -1,

temperatures between three and 5 degrees, a lot of clear weather

across the north-west of England tonight.

In more northern parts, the showers will continue to be a feature.

It will not be a bad day, I think you will seeing of sunshine,

particularly anywhere to the south of the River rebel.

Again, over the high ground, some showers could be just a little bit

livelier than you would want and there could be a flake of sleet at

times. The sunshine winds its way through

and if you out and about tomorrow it is not a bad picture, but when the

showers work through the temperatures for little bit.

For towns and cities, generally seven or 8 degrees, when the showers

push through the temperatures will gradually fall and you might end up

at around 5 degrees. But in the sunshine, that is the

best feature. Storm Barbara, the Met Office have

issued a yellow warning for most of the north-west of England. It is

really from parts of the Wirral North but we will see a very tricky

day. It is not just the rain working its

way through, it is the very strong winds. When Barbara moves through,

Saturday will be quieter, there is another Met Office weather warning

that Christmas Day will be rather windy, so keep your eyes and ears

across the forecast and there will be more on the National

windy weather on the way in the run-up to Christmas. The worst of

the weather to the northern half of the UK. We have a strengthening jet

out of North America that is propgating across the Atlantic.

Rushing our way. Picking up low pressure, deepening them, tracking

them to the