30/12/2016 Spotlight

Good evening. news where you are.

Business leaders have called for the south west to get a bigger

A rise in fares that will be introduced shortly will hit

all parts of the country equally, and the rail industry says billions

of pounds is being spent on improving the network.

But campaigners say that's unfair, given that less rail

Our business correspondent Neil Gallacher reports.

Rail fares will go up by an average of 2.3% from January 2nd.

That rise is being applied uniformly across the country.

On the face of it, that treats all regions equally.

Well, this is an inherently unfair system.

The price increase applies right across the country,

regardless of how much the cost is going back into the network.

The reality is we get about a tenth of the spend that the rest

And that is the reason why we have got such a fragile rail network.

The vulnerability of the rail link into Devon and Cornwall was keenly

felt at the start of December because of flooding at Cowley Bridge

outside Exeter, lending urgency to calls for more spending here.

But the picture is not all bad, according to the joint rail campaign

That is real investment in the south-west.

Every part of the country wants money.

We have just got to shout very, very loudly and make sure we are heard,

so that the investment comes to the south-west.

We really feel we are the forgotten south-west and that's why

we are saying to government, don't forget about us, we need

Record amounts are being spent upgrading Britain's railway

Some of that spending undeniably has knock-on

benefits back down the line, but it will soon be three years

since the collapse of the main route at Dawlish reminded everyone how

this region does not enjoy the sort of robust rail links that many other

parts of the country take for granted.

A roundup of some of the other stories

Police are warning that dangerous drugs which were stolen from three

vets practices in Cornwall in the last week could prove

The drugs including ketamine and apomorphine were taken

from practices in Treleigh, Redruth and Truro.

The family of a Devon man murdered in Tamerton Foliot on New Year's Day

in 2015 say there are unanswered questions about how the probation

service dealt with his killer in the weeks before the crime.

It's emerged that Donald Pemberton - one of the two men who stabbed

Tanis Bhandari to death - was out on licence from prison

when he was seen wielding meat cleavers two weeks

The Community Rehabilitation Company involved said his behaviour

The public are being asked to have their say about plans

for the reform of the NHS and social care system in Cornwall

The five-year plan could include the loss of hospital beds in favour

of more care at home with possible hospital closures and job losses.

A series of public meetings will be held throughout January.

National parks like Dartmoor are losing millions of pounds

in Government funding, according to figures

The Campaign for National Parks said staff working on Dartmoor had

The Government had promised to protect funding, but figures show

parks will be receiving much less by 2020 than a decade earlier.

It's a common complaint that there's not enough for young teenagers

Well, now in Dawlish, they have a youth club

Local church groups have got together to provide an inflatable

pop-up dome where young people can go on a Friday night.

At first glance, this doesn't look like a youth club but at some air

and hey presto. This is being run by church groups in Dawlish. It has

suffered from anti-social behaviour like drink and drugs.

We've been doing youth work in the towns for many

years and the youth clubs just weren't working.

We looked at something that was mobile, something that

And we just happened to stumble across a pop-up dome.

And we looked into other options like buses and they just

If you are a sporty person, there is a lot to do. But there isn't a lot

of things like this. I guess it is just somewhere for them to go that

is not out on this treats mixing with random people. It is a bit

safer. It is warm. Outside, it is cold. There are activities. Although

this is operated by church groups, it is not here to preach or convert.

It is currently running on Friday night and in the summer they hope to

find outdoor activities, too. Tonight sees the start

of a new television drama series, Delicious, which stars Dawn French,

was filmed at a number of locations Spotlight's John Danks has been

taking a look at it. Nothing. That is what changed.

Nothing. There were no signs. Nothing was to front. One day he was

my husband and the next day, he belonged to you. This new show is

billed as a story of love, lies and betrayal. Another seems worth filmed

here at this castle over the summer. It is really exciting to feet chair.

The tame and Valley has been overlooked but hopefully this will

be a chance for us to put our mark on the map, so to speak. It will be

interesting to see what happens. Portended was also used as a

location for the drama. Some risk destinations linked to the BBC's

Poldark series saw an increase of tourism. There is hope this will

happen here, too. It's time to check out the weather

now as the year draws to a close. Thank you. Generally, staying rather

cloudy at try as we entered the year. There is a band of rain

pushing through in the early hours of New Year's Day. High-pressure

builds. It will get to try and brighter and a lot colder. Still the

risk of a few full patches further east. A fair amount of cloud around

overnight. That will hold temperatures up a bit. Particularly

for western areas. Rather cloudy start to the day tomorrow. A few

brighter breaks up hospital anywhere but equally they are to be like rain

on drizzle on western facing slopes. Mild tomorrow, 10 Celsius, staying

dry into the evening but the rain comes through first on New Year's

Day. Behind it, a few showers. Generally brighter but cooler.

Thank you. We will be back with the late news at 10:50pm tonight. In the

meantime, have a good evening.