23/11/2017 Points West

he hopes to prove the earnings

forecasts wrong.

Welcome to Points West.

The headlines this lunchtime:

Attacked in his own home.

A 96-year-old man is hit

with a hammer by a stranger

at his front door.

Anger as EDF changes the way it

handles radioactive waste.

And Bath market opens but with extra

security in place this year.

Good afternoon.

A 96-year-old man has been attacked

with what's thought to be

a claw hammer by a burglar

at his home in Taunton.

He's in hospital

with serious injuries.

Lee Madan is there now.

Lee, what do we know?

Police say they believe the attacks

started as a distraction burglary.

Between four and 5pm yesterday, the

victim, 96 man answered his front

door to somebody asking if he wanted

work to be carried out on his home.

When he refused, the man attacked

him with what police say they

suspect was a claw hammer. The

victim received serious injuries to

his head and body and he felt the

floor. He managed to alert neighbour

who got him to hospital where he is

being treated with life threatening

injuries. We are told his family by

Hibs side. -- his side. The police

have told us about the man they are

looking for in connection with the

attack.

At the moment the

description given is a white male,

around 30 or 35 years of age,

clean-shaven, darkish hair,

described as athletic, stocky build.

No real accident noted. No height

was given. -- no real accident. He

was wearing jeans and dark clothing.

Neighbours I have spoken to this

lunchtime say they are shocked at

their street has been at the Centre

of such a brutal attack. The police

want anyone who might have seen

anything suspicious to get in touch

with them by calling 101 or

contacting Crimestoppers.

There's been a major police incident

in Swindon this morning.

Armed response officers were called

out to Devizes Road in Old Town.

Five people were arrested

and are currently in custody

at Gablecross Station.

Wiltshire Police say

they are still investigating.

The Vice Chancellor

of Bath University has narrowly won

a motion of no confidence.

Dame Glynis Breakwell faced

criticism over her salary

of £468,000.

350 staff called her for resignation

but in a meeting of the university

senate, she beat a motion of no

confidence by 19 votes

to 16 with two abstentions.

Plans by the French energy company

EDF to change the way it handles

high level radioactive waste

at Hinkley Point in Somerset

is causing anger locally.

The company wants to double the size

of a proposed waste store

on the Hinkley C site.

It also wants to introduce

a system of encasing

the waste in concrete blocks.

Clinton Rogers has been

assessing local reaction.

It's the idea that it is our

grandchildren's grandchildren that

will pick up the pieces.

There will

be ex-amount of nuclear waste that

will never go away.

And it is the

high-grade waste.

Among those who live

in the shadow of Hinkley Point

there is a mixture of fear and fury.

My concerns are about the long-term

effects of having a lump of concrete

on the edge of an area of

outstanding natural beauty that is

going to be there essentially for

ever because they haven't sorted out

what their going to do with the

nasty substance inside it.

EDF has always said that all high

level radioactive waste

produced by Hinkley C,

including spent fuel rods,

will need to be stored on site.

Right now there is nowhere else for

it to go.

But now it's applied to double

the size of its waste store and it

also wants to change

the way it handles high

level radioactive waste,

changing to a system

where it is encased in concrete.

In a statement, EDF has told us

that it is a safe and robust system

used across Europe and the USA.

But opponents say switching

from a method where the high level

waste is held in water to what's

known as a dry system has dangers.

The problem with a dry storages that

it relies on the integrity of a

concrete block, but a concrete block

containing waste material will last

for ever.

The leader of West Somerset Council

says he's more concerned

by the plans to increase the size

of the storage building.

It will be the last building left on

site. When the decommissioning takes

place, which is going to be a long

time from now, the reactors will go,

but that building will be left there

when the rest of the site has been

flattened.

when the rest of the site has been

flattened.

EDF says there is no plan

to increase the amount of waste

stored on the site merely

to change the system.

It's the Environment Department

which will make the final decision,

but that won't be for

some while yet.

The University of Bristol has

revealed plans for its new £300

million campus.

It says they wants to transform

the seven-acre site by Temple Meads

to create education and research

facilities and accommodation

for 1,500 students.

It will also be a car-free

zone with the aim

of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Extra security measures

are in place at this year's

Bath Christmas Market.

Large concrete bollards have been

positioned around the main

pedestrian areas for public safety.

It's in line with other

cities who've stepped

up their security as the UK

terror threat remains at severe.

Imogen Sellers reports.

From humble beginnings 17 years ago,

the Bath Christmas market has become

one of the UK's favourites. But with

that success comes increasing

security risks. Organisers have two

strike the balance between people

having fun and people staying safe.

This year lots of extra security has

been brought in, including Lance all

around the city centre.

You will

notice some differences as we have

put restricted access for vehicles

and we are working with the council

and Southgate to make sure that the

city is as face -- safe as we can

possibly make it. We are not under

any particular threat and we don't

think there is any additional

measure to take, but we want people

to be reassured that it is the

primary importance, visitor safety.

At the end of the day, come and

enjoy it, it's a wonderful city.

This year the market has extended to

three more streets in the hope that

it won't feel quite so busy, because

believe me, it gets absolutely

rammed. Thousands of tourists come

here every day, but some shopkeepers

worry that their trade is taken away

by the stalls at the Christmas

market. Dave Dixon is from the Bath

chamber of commerce. How do you

respond to those concerns?

We are

fortunate to have thousands of extra

people in the city centre. A great

response, someone walking by me

said, let's go up to the White

Company, here are the Christmas

market, but exploring what else the

city has two offer.

-- here for.

Very more coming from a festive

feeling Bath at half past six to

nine.

A little boy from Somerset is having

the birthday of a lifetime.

When Officers discovered 5 year

old Jayden was very poorly

and waiting for a heart transplant,

they decided to pull out

all the stops on his special day.

They picked him up from his home

in Midsomer Norton, and took him off

to practice being a policeman

for the day!

You can see just how it all went

on Points West tonight.

Isn't that glorious?

Now the weather with Alex Osborne.

Now the weather with Alex Osborne.

Turning colder through the rest of

the day but most of us will see

plenty of dry and bright weather,

and that is going to continue into

the afternoon. Staying dry for most

of us with good spells on sunshine.

A risk of an isolated shower in the

Bristol Channel but most of the

stage right, feeling chilly and

breezy with highs of 11 Celsius.

Through the evening and overnight,

it will be dry for a time, the cloud

will thicken and bring outbreaks of

rain, fairly rapidly clearing into

the early hours with a chilly night

to come with temperatures dropping

into low single figures. Friday is

mostly dry and bright, good spells

of sunshine, lighter winds but it

will feel noticeably colder with the

wind in the north-westerly direction

with temperatures only at eight

Celsius. Take care.

It's going to be getting colder and

Ian will have a good look at the

forecast this evening. A quick

update on travel.

And if you're taking the train

today, there are replacement buses

running between Swindon

and Didcot Parkway

in both directions.

That's it from us.

Join us again at 6:30 p:m.. Goodbye.