04/01/2017 Spotlight

throughout the night with the BBC News Channel. Now it

Parts of Dartmoor and Exmoor could be "returned to the wild" according

The 25-year plan could see subsidies paid to farmers being cut,

allowing the areas to return to their natural state.

Our Environment Correspondent Adrian Campbell reports.

The wide open uplands of the south-west are

But when it comes to making a profit from this land,

Some farmers have benefited from subsidies, but since the Brexit

vote everything is suddenly up for debate.

However, it shouldn't be forgotten that the uplands

provide us with important and often hidden benefits.

This is sphagnum moss found here on the edge of Exmoor.

It is really useful to all of us, because it traps moisture

Once upon a time nobody put a price tag on this kind of thing,

Farmers and environmental groups such as the RSPB have worked closely

to protect this part of Exmoor over years, but they know

Robin Milton is an upland farmer and the vice-chairman

Let's remember it is a living, working landscape.

I think it would be very, very poor of us to consider actually

any forms of what could be construed as land abandonment.

I'm not entirely sure that would deliver what we expect.

But abandonment and re-wilding of the uplands may be on the agenda

as the Government considers how to manage our countryside

One option could be to plant more trees.

Wildlife organisations say the Government needs

The uplands should be the most favoured areas

for government investment, cos they deliver so much more

Flood protection, nature, all the incredible acts so that

people can spend their leisure time out here.

In a way they should be the favoured areas for farming investment.

We contacted Defra and asked them about their plans

They told us they couldn't say farming will continue as before.

That's because they've just started work on a 25-year plan

which they aim to publish at the end of the year.

Well, this comes at a time when the farming subsidies

and regulations could change as a result of the vote

Today the Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom pledged to cut

I will be looking at scrapping the rules that hold us back,

and focusing instead on what works best with the United Kingdom.

No more six-foot EU billboards littering the landscape.

No more existential debates to determine what counts

And no more ridiculous bureaucratic three-crop rule.

By cutting the red tape that comes out of Brussels,

we will free our farmers to grow more, sell more and export

The mother of a Devon man stabbed to death near Plymouth is calling

on the Prime Minister to provide answers over her son's killer.

27-year-old Tanis Bhandari died two years ago at Tamerton Foliot.

At the time of the murder one of his two killers,

Donald Pemberton, was out on licence from prison.

Tanis's mother Andrea Sharpe has petitioned the Prime Minister,

calling for a probation service report on Pemberton's

Police have criticised a decision to give a prolific south-west

drug smuggler Christmas release from prison.

Blake Donnellan absconded and is now on the run.

He'd been serving a 15-year sentence in prison in Derbyshire for bringing

huge quantities of Class A drugs into the south-west.

The Police Federation says such criminals should serve

Pressure is mounting at hospitals across the region with most now

at the highest level of alert - struggling to cope with

The Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske and Yeovil Hospital

in Somerset are now on Level Four - or Black Alert - and asking

people not to come to A unless it's life-threatening.

They're also having to consider cancelling some operations.

Torbay and Derriford Hospitals are both at Level Three.

Meanwhile the future of hospital care in North Devon drew hundreds

of people to a packed public meeting tonight.

Campaigners fear some acute services at North Devon District Hospital

could be closed and moved to Exeter or Plymouth.

Spotlight's Janine Jansen was at tonight's meeting in Northam.

Well, this is the fifth of 12 public meetings across North Devon,

More than 300 people have turned up in Northam.

It shows how worried people are about the future of the NHS.

There is no doubt the NHS is going to get a shake-up.

People here fear North Devon District Hospital in Barnstable

could lose some of its acute services, such as maternity,

I think it is our NHS, it is our National Health Service.

It doesn't belong to the executives in North Devon Hospital,

And I don't think we should ask them to keep our services open,

or the hospital, I think we should demand it.

We are not prepared to go to Derriford.

We don't have time to go to Exeter when somebody's ill.

We live in a rural environment and we want our hospital open,

North Devon District Hospital is the most remote full-service,

acute service District Hospital anywhere in England.

What that means is that if you close acute services,

the biggest proportion of the population would have

to travel more than 60 minutes to the next acute services hospital,

And that figure is nearly 92% in North Devon.

Health bosses say there are no planned changes

They expect to reveal their proposals in the summer.

Locals will get the chance to express their views.

Well, people tonight were warned that the NHS will only exist

for as long as people are prepared to defend it.

Two former Royal Marines from Devon are setting off tomorrow as part

of a five-man military team to climb the highest mountain in Antarctica.

Danny Claricoates and James Nightingale both

James was shot in the jaw, while Danny had post-traumatic

stress after witnessing two friends killed by a roadside bomb.

Johnny Rutherford has been to see how Danny's preparing

This was a spot of training for the five-man team

last year in Chamonix, France.

Their mission to raise money for the Royal Marines charity

by climbing the highest peak in Antarctica, Mount Vincent,

which is no mean feat at more than half the height of Mount

But for ex-Royal Marine Danny Claricoates it's much more

In 2007 he fought in Afghanistan and was awarded the Military Cross.

I've come home, 18 months later went back out to Afghanistan

And during that tour two lads, two friends of mine in my team

So, yeah, that was the turning point for me.

That's where it all sort of finished for me.

Post-traumatic stress disorder brought a premature end

There are days sometimes where I just don't want to get out of bed.

You just sort of pull the duvet over your head and just, you know,

you just want to give up on life, but by doing something

like this it gives me something to work towards,

Danny wants to use the expedition to make more people aware

It's about addressing the stigma, it's about educating that actually

We are able to own our own businesses and work for a living

The extreme challenge to get to the top of the bottom

There is a part of me that is a bit jealous,

I think the Antarctic would be a bit harsh for me.

Although Sarah herself is no stranger to physical challenges,

as she won a bronze medal at the Invictus Games last year.

I know for Danny with his PTSD, I have seen for myself

how much he benefits from being in the outdoors.

We've both been to Everest base camp together.

And personally for his rehabilitation, and just

for his self-confidence, his self-esteem, the benefits

Walking axe, sleeping bag, couple of water bottles...

The team hope to reach the summit by next Friday.

Cos once a Royal Marine, always a Royal Marine.

Time for the weather. How is it looking? There has been plenty of

talk today about the plummeting temperatures. It is a little bit

less dramatic here. Still low enough to form some frost and some bright

weather to start the day tomorrow. Further west you are at the quality

disguise and they mist frost. This weather front is slow-moving and it

is draped across western parts of Britain for much of tomorrow.

Keeping the sky is relatively cloudy. As we move into Friday it is

all change again. Westerly winds and a brother from driving bringing some

patchy rain. Clearer skies likely to be across eastern parts of Devon

into Somerset and Dorset. Could be as low as minus five or six Celsius.

Tomorrow it is split between West and East. The East has the fine

weather, sunshine, the West, clouds digs with us and drizzle. For Friday

it is a bit more uniform across the south-west. A chilly start.

Temperature is back into double figures. A lot of cloud around.

Westerly winds as we head into the weekend means wilder weather. Have a

good night. Our breakfast Bolton is at 6:25am tomorrow morning but from

us all, have a good night. -- bulletin.

Temperatures creeping up a notch or two and turning milder into the

weekend. A guarantee on your journey to work

tomorrow, if you are nipping out to the shop for a paper, somebody will