05/04/2017 Spotlight

Tonight, the South West charity which has been forced to cut jobs.

The Dame Hannah Rogers trust helps people with severe disabilities,

we'll be asking why it's had to take action to safeguard its future.

Also tonight, the joined-up thinking

There will be no character. It'll be like any housing estate anywhere,

and we are talking about square miles. We're not talking a few

houses, we're talking about 5000 new houses.

We'll look at the plans for new housing in mid-Devon.

first remote controlled power station.

We'll reveal why it's generating renewed interest.

why this working cockerpoo was given a room with a view.

One of the South West's biggest charities is cutting jobs

after getting into financial trouble.

- known as Hannah's - has a 250-year history of caring

for children and adults with severe physical and learning disabilities.

The charity has two bases at Ivybridge and Seal Hayne

by about 1,500 disabled people every year.

Our home affairs correspondent Simon Hall reports.

Hannah's provides training, work, education and care

But the charity has run into financial problems.

Up to 20 staff, won six of the total, are being made

Three of a charity's five trustees are being replaced.

We have support now in place for the future.

We certainly have been working very closely with our funders,

mainly the Co-operative Bank, and they are very much

behind the changes we are making to the charity.

And I have every reason to expect that we will.

About 1,500 disabled people use Hannah's services each year.

I was asked for an interview, but also took the opportunity

It's about the people who can come here and have a good time.

And you can buy things order lunch, and things.

Is a place where people can give back.

It is important to everybody, but especially when you are disabled.

She doesn't want to just be cared for, she wants to be equal

Hannah's 250-year history makes it one Briton's oldest charities.

Something that has received royal recognition with a visit

Hannah's problems stems from its purchase of the Seal Hayne site

This turnaround plan was designed to cut costs.

And to increase income, and so, to protect the services

Its work and commercial events like weddings

As the charity strives to extend the legacy

of Dame Hannah Rogers into the future.

A campaign has been launched in mid-Devon to fight plans for

a massive new housing development on green fields.

5,000 new homes are proposed for the Culm Garden Village

Campaigners say it'll destroy the rural character of the area

There are three Garden Villages and Towns planned

for the South West, Taunton and West Carglaze.

but designed to be high quality and environmentally friendly.

In a moment I'll be talking to Lord Taylor,

the former Liberal Democrat MP for Truro and St Austell,

who came up with the idea for new Garden Villages and Towns

Our Business Correspondent Carys Edwards has been to Mid-Devon

where the plans are proving controversial.

Nestled on the edge of the Blackdown Hills,

Kentisbeare has been described as a sleepy rural village.

But it's now the centre of a fundraising campaign to battle

against plans to build 5,000 houses on its doorstep.

Some residents believe it will destroy their way of life.

It is very much a rural idyll at the moment

It is going to be swamped with houses and concrete.

It is going to be a building site for 20, 30 years.

But that's only the start of the damage.

To the communities that are already here.

This map shows the location of Kentisbeare as it is now,

A Garden Village with 5,000 homes is planned here in an area

stretching from close to Kentisbeare right up to the M5 at Cullompton.

It will be like any other housing estate, and we are talking

We are not talking just a few houses, we are talking 5000 houses.

With a minimum of probably 10,000 people.

Phase one of this scheme, around junction 28, has now been

submitted to the government's planning inspectorate

It will include shops, schools and commercial space and

Growth will lead to a change in terms of the character,

but what we will do, we will take pains to make sure that

that is mitigated and quite sensitively approached.

And we will look at things like landscaping, green

infrastructure, allotments, parkland, there's a variety

of different ways that we actually do it.

The plans will double the size of Cullompton.

But many in the town are in favour of a new community.

It's going to expand the town here to a mad size, really.

We will be joining up with Tiverton in a minute.

I suppose it's better for the economy.

But the group RACE, Residents against Cullompton exploitation

So far, they've raised ?7,000 and will hire planning experts

to persuade the government to reject or at least tone down the plans

Lord Taylor is the former Truro and St Austell MP and has advised

Governments on housing policy, including so-called Garden Villages.

I asked him to address concerns that this proposal

will have an impact on nearby communities.

Every town that has ever been built has changed the landscape

I think the key concern that people have is that,

and we heard it echoed there, that this won't be a

proper, functioning community, in the traditional sense of a village

or town, it will just be a housing estate.

And the answer to that is, that is precisely why

the approach of creating Garden Villages has been taken.

If you just build on the edge of every town and village, more and

more houses gradually, over time, it still amasses thousands of homes,

And then the question is, where are the shops, where's the pub?

If you take the decision to create a whole new community, all that will

be put in right from the start, upfront, and the value of the uplift

in land that we get through development will be put into

creating a fantastic community, rather than just making a few

Let me show you the map again that we saw in

that report, and look at

the scale of the proposed Garden Village, next

That is surely going to alter the community

that currently lives there. Something on that scale.

Look how much bigger that is to Cullompton and Kentisbeare.

80% of people move within ten miles of

This will be homes for people who live in,

Kentisbeare, children of the people in Cullompton.

Who, otherwise, wouldn't have a home, and other

what's to stop something the size of that Garden Village sucking the life

out of Kentisbeare and Cullompton, that they end up almost as ghost

towns, because that is such a big town, appearing in the middle,

that it will just suck the life from around it?

You heard the views from within Cullompton about how it would

What you actually see at the moment is, in the smaller

rural communities, shops and schools often struggling to exist.

By taking a big decision, and of course it is

going to be controversial, and of course it will affect some

some people negatively, because any development does, but,

by taking one big decision, you can actually plan properly for the

future and you can create a quality of place

And I can understand why people are worried about housing estate,

because that is all they see at the moment.

But I am absolutely determined that this should not look

And they mustn't be a housing estate.

And if that is all that people get, these

will not get built in the future, because everyone will say no, and

they would be right to say no, but that is not the plan.

Lord Taylor, thank you very much indeed.

Some other stories making the news in the South West tonight.

A soldier serving in Plymouth with 29 Commando Regiment

has been convicted of murdering his girlfriend.

Jay Nava stabbed Natasha Wake to death in October last year

while their children slept upstairs in their home

The crew of a Royal Navy helicopter from Culdrose

declared an emergency this morning off the Lizard.

It happened when a warning light showed on their Merlin Mark 2.

The helicopter was flying at 800 feet.

A spokeswoman said the helicopter later landed safely at Culdrose.

England rugby player Luke Cowan Dickie is to go on trial

at Exeter Crown Court for alleged speeding offences.

The 23-year-old, who plays with Exeter Chiefs, is claimed

to have exceeded the speed limit in a Mercedes AMG near Exeter

and to have later failed to declare who was driving the vehicle.

The longest running Sunday paper in the country,

the Sunday Independent, has ceased production

Up to 20 full-time staff will lose their jobs

and 300 freelance reporters will lose work.

Management at the newspaper say they're not giving up hope

that an 11th-hour investor will come in to save it.

Now, is the traditional fish and chip shop in decline?

New research suggests young people are shunning our traditional dish

in favour of sandwiches and other fast food.

The warning is that chippies could take a battering

unless they do something to appeal to the tastes of the under-30s.

We sent Scott Bingham to investigate.

Yes, I am a kingfisher fish and chips on the outskirts of Plymouth,

voted the number one chip shop in the UK. Everybody loves fish and

chips, don't they? If you answered yes, you could be giving away your

age, because new research shows that millennials, 18-34 -year-olds, are

shying away from the chip shop. Craig is the owner here. Is that

research surprise you? Very much so. I don't know what that research has

come from. Our customers range from six years old up to 86 years old. We

know it is a tradition and something that older people stick by. Is there

anything you can do to attract younger people? We all love fish and

chips, but we are catering for different needs. People who want a

like a bike can come here and have that, they can take that for work

and not have something too heavy on their stomach. They want a proper

meal for the evening that there's not a problem well. Research

suggests there has been a 4% drop in the number of young people eating

fish and chips over the last eight years. It says that they are more

likely to eat things like Sam midges. We have been out and about

implement speaking some people. I have not had fish and chips in ages.

The last time was when I went to the beach with my mum and dad. The

expense. I have got a child that did as well so if we all have fish and

chips that this ?15 out of the budget. With my family, I do it, but

we don't go, yes, let's go to fish and chips. Sadly, I fall just

outside the age range of the millennials, but I do enjoy fish and

chips and apparently I am not the only one. Despite the drop, there

were 327 million visits to chip shops across the UK last year. So it

is not all bad news. I want fish and chips now, don't you?

Coming up: special recognition for a special dog.

Niven has been honoured for his work with children

And we'll explore the ancient musical links between

A mini power station, installed on Dartmoor in 1959,

that was the first to be operated by remote control.

The idea was to provide back-up electricity

Nearly 60 years after it was built, only a shell of the original

building remains, but that could now be demolished to make way

Kirk England reports from Princetown.

There's a hint of something unusual, but nothing that really gives away

this building's ground-breaking history.

Here at Princetown, the South Western

Electricity Board has installed Britain's first robot power station.

This three megawatt generating plant,

the first of its kind in the

world, is capable of supplying a town that a population of 10,000.

Decommissioned years ago, this is all that remains.

The world's first unmanned pocket Power is extraordinary. And these

buildings are markers of how we produce energy. And the story of

energy production is of course hugely important. The operation of a

switch will start or stop the generator as required. The row

control technology was cutting edge at the time. But, the building and

another old power station next door, neither of which were considered

interesting enough to be listed, faced demolition, if plans for this

whiskey distillery go-ahead. The company behind the proposal declined

to comment. Views on the scheme are mixed. I have seen the artist 's

impression plans, and it looks very good. There was some concern about

the spire looking to Scottish, but it is a whiskey distillery. I've

objected on the grounds that it is going to be so large, and also, the

historic building, the power station, is going to be knocked

down. It will increase jobs available, and will improve tourism.

You cannot tell from the outside, but this building has an intriguing

history. But it is not one that is said to be interesting or

significant enough to save it from potential demolition, if the

distillery goes ahead, so it looks like this once ground-breaking

pocket power station could be about to end up on the scrapheap. Lovely

old film. Now you may remember Niven,

a hearing dog from Devon who we featured last year

as he helped children learning The Cockerpoo from Exmouth

is thought to be the first ever listening dog in a deaf school

and has been hailed a "hidden hero". And he's just been

rewarded for his work. A medal for an unsung hero. Niven

leaving dog has just won a luxury break at the Devon hotel. What could

be better, three days of walking? It is thanks to a Dorset charity called

Room two Reward which gets hotels to donate on but rooms, then the

charity donates them to deserving cases. We hear about human

volunteers being recognised for their work in the community, but it

is not often that we hear about an animal being rewarded for their hard

work. Overwhelmed, actually. It has just been amazing that we should be

singled out for this. It is lovely. He goes above and beyond any normal

service dog. Service dogs are incredible and do a great job but

Niven volunteers in his own walking time at the Exeter death Academy. He

volunteers with his death percipient palling at the National Trust and at

a local hospital audiology department. So he really does go

above and beyond. At the death Academy, children are happier

reading to Niven than they are to a teacher. He's very patient. And he

loves their company. -- at the deaf academy. Niven is keen to check out

his room and his very own bed. His owner, Pauline, says that she would

be lost without him. He makes life worth living. We go out for walks.

He makes me laugh. The charity says that Niven is their first

four-legged recipient. So, it is time to run and to have fun. Good

old Niven. It's a link that spans 3,500 miles

and hundreds of years. Two thirds of people living

in Canada's most easterly province of Newfoundland are thought to have

ancestors from Devon When settlers left our shores

in the 1500s they took with them Now in a new collaboration, some

of the songs, and their stories, Devon musicians Marilyn Tucker

and Paul Wilson are here who arrived here from Canada last

night to tell us more. Tell us how this collaboration came

about. It started 34 years ago. It is not exactly new. I came over here

with some other musicians in 1983 as part of the anniversary celebrations

of Sir Humphrey Gilbert arriving in Newfoundland back in 1583. And he

claimed it for Britain as its first colony. Whilst here, I went to a

folk club one night and I heard these guys playing. Paul was singing

pretty much the same song that I have learned many years earlier from

one of my great uncle 's with slight variations. It was a Eureka moment

for me in many ways. I knew that some of our traditional music game

over with the early settlers and in many cases, some of the lyrics had

been changed to reflect the circumstances of the new lifestyles

in Newfoundland or other parts of the New World. But it also

reinforced the idea that this music was part of a longer continuum,

400-500 years that English settlers had been in Newfoundland. We spoke

that night and one thing led to another. This must be maybe a dozen

also projects that we have done over that 30 year period, some of them

here in the West Country, and many of them in Newfoundland as well. We

have spoken before about the meaning of songs and where lyrics come from.

Those sales annually from the shores of the South West to Newfoundland.

They went in April and came back and hold on. That is reflected in the

songs. Yes, lots of stuff about the sea, and coming and going. It was a

while before people spent winter in Newfoundland. They would go

seasonally, and come back. So the boys was the thing. People would

have friends and family and make connections at either end, lots of

stuff about the sea. What is happening now? How are you combining

the songs and their history and the link between Canada and the South

West in this mutual? The centrepiece of this is the Devonshire symposium

and the Devon Newfoundland story happening at the weekend. We are

touring with the songs and stories. We have done a mash up, sometimes,

pushing the songs together, so that Jim sings one verse, Paul sings

another post, then I sing the song and for the instrumental break, we

use the tune from the version collected in Newfoundland. Sometimes

we just sing the song and then Jim says, this reminds me of this, and

one or two verses that have the same imagery. We are going to hear a song

and a moment. What is the song? Originally the English version of an

old song called Spanish ladies. I collected a version in Sidmouth.

That was from a lady who was part of the family, the fisherman 's family

there, the bullies. It is better known by the first line of the

chorus, which is that we will write and draw like true Newfoundlanders.

It is an unofficial anthem and everybody knows it. Good luck with

the tour. Someone else likes to rant and raw at times is David. He is

bringing the weather now! Isn't that fantastic? Looking out

across Plymouth Sound. Visibility is good at the moment. We've had

sunshine over most of the South West today. It was so nice we sent our

cameraman, Tristan, to Newquay, to enjoy some lovely weather. It has

been a beautiful day. The breeze from the North has kept temperatures

down but generally it has been pretty good. And the fine, dry

weather has brought some people out. The sea temperatures at the moment,

round about 10 degrees. You have to be pretty hardy to be in the water

without a wet suit at the moment. But the sunshine or perhaps bring

out slightly higher sea surface temperatures. Over the next couple

of days, this is the forecast tomorrow. Some more cloud drifting

in towards us tonight, and that will be around posting tomorrow. It will

break up, but don't expect much blue sky to start the day. Spells of

sunshine developing later in the day. We have a big area of high

pressure bringing settled weather. By the middle of tomorrow it is

hardly new position. By Friday it starts to move a little to the east.

Into the weekend, the high-pressure weakens and moves out of the way.

What will happen is that we start to suck up some warmth from the south.

Temperatures across Spain and Portugal at the moment are pretty

good. By Sunday, we have a pool of warm air travelling towards us.

We're looking at high temperatures, possibly up to 19 Celsius. That

could be on Sunday afternoon. Not quite as warm as that at the moment.

It is bracing with a gentle breeze. You can see the cloud coming in from

the north. That will gently drift across us tonight. It will cloud

over. Not quite as cold as it was last night. The cloud breaking in a

few places. Around five Celsius will be the minimum temperature overnight

tonight. Tomorrow, more cloud to start with but it will brighten up.

Don't be too disappointed by the look of the day posting. The cloud

will gradually break to allow the sunshine in. Then, temperatures will

get up to around 12, 13 degrees. It could be doing with being a little

bit warmer. For the Isles of Scilly, cloud should break to allow the

sunshine through. There are the times of high water... And for our

surfers, the waves are not as big as they have been but they are usable

and clean on the north coast. And the coastal waters forecast... Let's

look at the outlook. We will see higher temperatures but we will have

to be patient before that happens. Relatively cool until we reach

Saturday and Sunday, then some warmth and sunshine, and we could

see those temperatures reaching 18 degrees. Warmer than it is now

appear on the roof. Back to you did. It looks breezy but sunny up there.

-- back to you two. The concert we were talking about is called Shore

to shore revisited. We will leave you tonight with a song called

Spanish ladies. Farewell and that you do you Spanish ladies, Farewell

and adieu to you ladies of Spain. For we have received orders to self

old England, and we hope in a long time we will see you again. We'll

rant and we will roar all over the wild ocean, we will rank and we will

roar over the wild sea. Until we strike down in the channel of old

England,... We will rank and we will roar like true Newfoundlanders.

We will write and we will roar like true Newfoundlanders.

CHILD: This is a major scientific breakthrough.

Hello. It's All Round to Mrs Brown's, where my guests will be