22/01/2014 Spotlight

Sunday. Make the most of Saturday because Sunday looks pretty

Swept out to sea, a man who had been fishing on rocks off North Cornwall.

Good evening and welcome to Spotlight.

A major search operation has been taking place but tonight coastguards

say hopes are fading. I have to say now, a number of hours into the

incident, unfortunately, we are looking at not a great outcome. The

chances of survival in these conditions are slim. Also tonight:

Concern over a big increase in the number of people struggling with

debt. And it is official, the South West has some of the best hotels in

the country. The search for a missing angler in

North Cornwall has been called off. The 22`year`old man, who is believed

to be from Plymouth, was washed into the sea from rocks near Polzeath

this morning. The incident happened between an

area behind me here and Rumps Point, which is further around the corner,

to the North East of Polzeath. At ten o'clock this morning, Chris

cards received a call `` Coastguards received a call from the man has a

friend, saying he had been washed away by a huge wave and that he was

swimming. The wave came right up and washed his friend ask off the ledge

and into the sea. A major search was started, using a Royal Naval

helicopter, lifeboats from surrounding areas on the and the all

weather lifeboat from Padstow, but after a round five hours, it was

called off, with nothing found. He was wearing jeans and trainers. A

number of hours into the incident, unfortunately, we are looking at not

a quite `` a good outcome. Conditions in these sea conditions

make survival quite slim. It is likely there will be a second search

tomorrow at low water. The number of people struggling with

debt problems across the region has increased dramatically. One debt

charity has seen calls to its helpline rise by nearly 40% in the

past year. Stepchange says one of the major factors compounding

people's debt problems is the use of pay day loans. Payday loans, more

popular than ever. This company is offering an interest rate of 365%,

but there are acts of choice on the high street, as the single mother

found out, to her cost. They ascertain how much income we had,

and they asked me what the purpose of the loan was, and I said,

survival, really, and that was it. They printed off a couple of forms

and offered me ?80 on the spot, explaining that I would be repaying

?104 a week later. My next payday. Her loan was offered by the Cheque

Centre in Exeter, and it equates to an annual interest rate of 1000%.

You are in a vicious circle now. You have borrowed the money and you have

paid back the money, and the X wiki Perl and the X we keep our another

?80, then you pay another ?104. `` the next week you borrow another

?80. Yes. How do you feel about that? When I look back over the last

few weeks since Christmas, and I add up how much I have paid to them

interest already, I feel, yeah, well, not very happy about it, but I

did not know what else to do at the time, and now I feel a bit trapped.

Increasingly desperate measures just compound the problem. We have seen a

huge rise in the number of people who have this type of loan, and it

is very dangerous, and we highly recommend that people do not take

out payday loans, because they can push you into a debt spiral and

leave you having to seek help. Alas, advice too late for some.

The BBC contacted Cheque Centre yesterday who felt they did not have

enough time to properly investigate this case, but they did give us the

following statement: Earlier I spoke to Peter Shears from

Plymouth University and asked him why more people were using pay day

loan companies. It may be the only route they have

got, and I have got to say that often, not always, but often, a

short`term loan to make this is a good thing. What worries me is that

people may not realise the implications. The transparency of

borrowing a few pounds now and then have to pay back a lot more, it is

perfectly clear, the company is not doing anything particularly wrong,

but for the borrower, for the consumer, if you like, the question

is, if you cannot pay it off when it is you, then you cannot afford it.

The key is, when you pay it off. If you do not pay it off when it is

due, you will be offered a rollover, which means another fee, and the

amount of money you are going to eventually will increase. If it too

easy for people to get these types of loans? What is the alternative?

Banks are gradually loosening their hold, and in fact, some of the

charges are not as high as some of the charges made by ranks on, say,

unauthorized overdrafts. If you cannot get out of the mess, I would

go forward debt counselling. We have had the recession, is this a knock

on effect, and is the situation going to get worse? It is not going

to get worse, but we are going to have a new watchdog that is going to

take over on the 1st of April. It is going to take over on the 1st of

April and it is called the financial conduct authority, and they are

immediately going to insist that there is an affordability check on

every load like this, that they will not be allowed to roll over these

any more than twice, and they will not be able to get into your bank

account, no matter what authority you give them, more than twice, but

what is more important, they are going to put a cap on the total cost

of credit. They have not done it yet. There has been a great outcry

about it. They are still working on it but they are not yet in

authority. They are the hope for the future. Watch this space. Thank you.

The National Farmers' Union says there's despair on the Somerset

Levels over flooding. People in some of the worst affected areas have

told us they've lost trust in the Environment Agency. The agency says

dredging can only do so much and won't solve the problems of

continuous heavy rain. People living here say it has been

this way for three weeks. They say they are angry and they feel

abandoned all stop we are trying to rush micro abandoned. We are trying

to exist in what `` we are trying to exist in basically a third world

country and we are dealing with consequences of 20 years of neglect.

Maybe when other areas that wonder, they will be wondering where they

went wrong. Can we ask you where you are going? How long have you been

doing this? Three weeks. We have been getting our furniture out. The

NFU says that urgent action is needed from the Environment Agency.

Until you have established a proper trust and communication, because I

tell you now, it has all broken down, because this is happening so

often and with such catastrophic if that, you have 11,000 hectares of

land covered, and it has become like a South West Lake District. After a

told us this was an issue for the Environment Agency. The agency says

that dredging could cost ?4 million for a first date, and then more

would be needed, and they say that dredging could make the matter

worse. There can be benefits. It is trying to work out what the wider

benefit is, and then you can justify a creature spend. It always has to

do with economics. Julian took us by tractor to his 98`year`old father's

house. It starts to be thoroughly miserable. There are people out

there getting seemingly angry. The RSPB says that community must now

write a micro unite `` unites. People need to use the system anyway

it is supposed to be used. Tonight, there are no sound `` signs of it

these conditions subsiding. There have been discussions today in

Parliament about the flooding in Somerset. Our political editor has

been following the debate, and joins us now from Westminster.

It is unusual to have the same debate simultaneously in the Lords

and in the Commons, but that is what has happened with the Somerset

floods today. A lot of MPs turned out. One and he was pressing for the

dredging of the rivers. He said the Environment Agency had to take a lot

of the blame for the problems because it has not dredged those

rivers. One person from the Environment Agency said they were

working to improve the situation, which could include dredging,

meanwhile, a Chief Executive of the Environment Agency was giving

evidence alongside the flooding minister. The Chief Executive

repeated that it would cost initially ?4 million to dredge the

rivers, but he said that if you look at the total amount of money

gathered together, including the cost from all of the local

authorities involved in Somerset, it is just when million pounds at the

moment, which is not enough. `` ?1 million. That kicks the ball back

into the government's court. Three people have been rescued after

a boat caught fire just outside Plymouth Sound this afternoon. The

lifeboat, MoD Police launch and a fire boat were sent to the scene.

The 20 foot launch has been severely damaged and was towed to shore.

The China clay company Imerys has announced plans to cut 70 jobs in

Cornwall. The restructure follows the merger of the Kaolin operations

of Imerys and Goonvean. The company says it hopes to achieve the

reductions through voluntary redundancy, but says compulsory

redundancies may also be necessary. Meanwhile, unemployment figures out

today paint a picture of continuing economic recovery in the region.

They show that most areas here have just had their lowest December

claimant count figure for five years or more.

The latest figures here are not bad compared to the rest of the country,

but at local level, we have to go by the number of people actually

getting benefit. On this measure, the overall UK rate is 2.9%. In

Cornwall, it was 2.2%. The rise of their looks purely routine for this

time of year. In Devon, it was 1.5%, and endorse it is was 1.3%. In

Somerset, it was 1.7%. In the urban unitary areas, the rates are more

like the national one. The men seized 2.6%, which quite a fallout

from November two December. Comparing the latest figures with

how they have been for the last few years, you can see just how far they

have fallen. Cornwall Palma `` Cornwall's leads to figure is 2.2%.

You have to go right back to 2007 to see a lower figure. You can see the

level for Torbay is the lowest it has been since 2007. Clear signs of

recovery. These days, we have lots of part`time working and so on, but

it looks like a welcome development nonetheless.

Residents and businesses in a Devon town are furious after part of a

building collapsed on the high street. They say the council should

have done more to sort out the derelict shop in Cullompton, and

that it's lucky no`one's been injured.

It has been an eyesore for years, but this derelict building finally

collapsed on Sunday night, with another tonne or so of rubble

following last night. It has been for years that we have been

campaigning to get something done about it. Unfortunately, it has come

to this. Very fortunately, there was nobody waiting there when it

happened. On one side, a pub, it has just reopened today after closing

over safety fears. I feel very angry, because I have been trying to

get this along for such a long time, and I have not had the support I

feel I should have had. On the other side, a church that cannot use its

front door. We were counting on the Council acting and we have been

doing that for four years. It is just not good enough. There is a lot

of anger here with the Council. In a statement today, it said it was

actively negotiating with the owner to get the demolition work done,

with the threat of possible enforcement action. Something now

will have to be done, and the expense, I am afraid, is something

that we might have to meet as local taxpayers. We left messages for the

owner of the building today, but were not able to make contact.

Volunteer Chaplains are about to start pounding the streets of Exeter

to provide help and support to shopkeepers who might find it hard

in the current economy. The aim to provide a listening ear to anyone

who needs help, regardless of their faith. Spotlight's John Ayres has

more. This man has to work hard to get

by. And this lady is an independent trader who is coping with the tough

economic climate and looks forward to the idea of having people to

listen when times are hard. We are often running businesses and working

completely on our Ronan so we are dealing with customers but not to

dealing with people we can talk to. Traders support each other with

business but when it is about other things and we are really struggling,

it is really important there is someone people can turn to.

It has taken the taken several years to get together that no the

chaplains can offer pastoral care to people who might need some extra

support. We can make people have their

problems listen to and people can call a number of times to listen and

see what the help can be. There are many financial pressures on business

and always have been and always will be so any help we can give to limit

the concern of people in dealing with stress levels is very

important. These are stressful time for many people and if we can help

to alleviate those stress levels that must be good.

The church is reaching out but this is not about faith and will be no

attempt to draw people in the Christianity of those people want to

talk about this the church will be happy provide guidance.

Soon we will find out what some of the best places to stay are here in

the south`west and could Dartmouth be in line for a new royal honour?

Think of a luxury hotel and you probably think of travelling to

Paris or even the more please. But according to awards run by online

review site TripAdvisor, some of the best hotels are closer to stop Chloe

Axford has found out why Devon is the biggest winner in the UK after

London. Today I have been set to the

Gidleigh Park Hotel in Chagford to find out why this is the third most

luxurious hotel in Europe. Everything here from the quality of

the food to the service and every aspect of the hotel is superb. The

Gidleigh Park Hotel in Chagford is one of the 11 Devon hotels which won

an award on the trip advisor `` TripAdvisor website. Everyone is an

inspector these days. It is very rewarding to know the people

appreciate it when they come here. This couple run a guest post which

has been ranked the third best small hotel in Britain.

The public have given us the acknowledgement and that is

fantastic. We do our best to try to make their stay here as comfortable

as possible. Tourism bosses are delighted that

Devon has come out so well. These awards have not been granted

by any particular body but they are consumer reviews and to think the

Devon visitor has voted for this is what makes it so exciting.

Devon has also been named as having the three most romantic tells in the

whole of Britain. So you need to look no further than your own

backyard. She looks very much at home there.

Dartmouth has set its sights on being given a royal charter. If it

succeeds, it will become only the fourth town in England to receive

the state is. Wootton Bassett was given a royal charter in 2011 for

the win military funeral repatriations were marked as they

passed through town. Being given a royal charter is like

seeing by Royal Appointment. Dartmouth has links with the

Britannia Royal level college and it is here that significant moments

have been made in the lives of royal people.

You have Prince Philip here and Princess Elizabeth as she was. There

is an intimate moment. Just the two of them and the this is where they

met for the first time. When they visited, both of them made reference

to how special Dartmouth is to them. I think it is a wonderful idea

and we have a Hotel where Queen Victoria state. I think it is

important here. We would all be very proud to make this a royal place. In

1341, the town was given the right to elect mayors and the Queen comes

here every four years throughout the rain. There is a connection between

the people of Dartmouth and the Royal family.

It is hoped a royal charter would help to raise both the business and

tourism profile of the town. There will be blue sky tomorrow but

we will not get a dry spell for long. There is still the risk of

further rain and more rain on Friday and again on Sunday. Thank you for

the e`mails were the fantastic photographs that have been sent in.

We have a great pictures of whether both good and bad. Tomorrow is a dry

day but it will feel somewhat colder through the day. The main problem is

rain and there is more rain in the forecast. This is an early warning

for rainfall on Friday and there is also an early warning for rainfall

on Sunday. We will keep a close eye on these events. We have ploughed

around this evening but it is mainly dry overnight. Most of the activity

is on the other side of the Atlantic. Some showers will come

through the night and tomorrow morning but this front from Canada

will bring weather systems to us on Friday which could bring rain. The

showers we have this evening I fairly light and most of those are

disappearing so it becomes largely dry. Top temperatures will be close

to freezing and there will be missed in Falkirk. By the morning, showers

will move in and it will be somewhat of a great start. It will not be

much more than six degrees are seven degrees. Those showers will clear

and it will be dry for most of the day but with a cold wind so please

wrap up warmly. We should stay dry till the end of the day but some

cloud will come in well ahead of the low pressure system coming in across

the Atlantic. Temperatures will be between eight degrees and nine

degrees and with the wind chill it will feel colder. There will be

bright weather around but a breezy and cold day. Plymouth will have

high water at 941. The winds will be north`westerly tomorrow with showers

with moderate or good visibility. Because we have two rainy days

coming up, you can dial this number. There are still quite a few

flood warnings in force in the Environment Agency website has

details. Friday is a wet day but a much milder day with temperatures up

to 12 degrees and quite a windy day as well. Saturday will be dry but we

will need more than one day to dry out because Sunday will be a windy

day. Stage and to the forecast for further

what ever you do tonight, have a lovely evening. Good night.

We all have hopes and fears for the future