20/02/2017 Spotlight

How will Plymouth and south-west Devon look in 20 years' time?

A vision of the future will go before councillors next

week detailing planning ambitions for 2034.

The joint local plan is being seen as a model for the future

on everything from homes and jobs to transport,

The Plymouth South Hams and West Devon joined local plan

covers an area of more than 2,000 square kilometres.

The vast majority of that in the rural areas of West Devon

But 70% of the 400,000 population lives in the city,

so of the 27,000 planned new homes, around 19,000 will be in Plymouth

It should also create more than 30,000 jobs,

again with around 70% of those concentrated in and around the city.

It's a hugely ambitious plan, literally joined up thinking

between the city council and its neighbours.

We all have our part to play, we've all have come into this

as equal partners and the end result is a seamless plan that I think

is the first time I've ever seen it done this well.

My own view is this will be a model for the future.

One interesting change is that Plymouth City Council has turned up

the pressure of old campaigners hoping to reopen the airport.

Sutton Harbour wants to build a garden suburb on the site,

but the plan now is for aviation use until 2022, nine years less

There is sufficient land in the Plymouth area to meet

the needs of the city and the wider area.

Therefore, we are certain and adamant that the Plymouth

airport site should be reserved for aviation activity

and collectively we need to work towards bringing back airport use.

The city council also rejected 122 sites earmarked

for housing, including this one at Paradise Road in Stoke.

If approved by all three councils, a six-week consultation on the joint

Acts of antisemitism will not be tolerated.

The words of the vice chancellor of Exeter University

following the discovery of a swastika and racist

Today, dozens of students marched through the campus in an antifascist

protest as our Home Affairs correspondent Simon Hall reports.

About 100 students joined the march against fascism through the campus

It was organised after a swastika was carved into a door in a hall

of residence with a "rights for whites" sign nearby.

We want to take a march directly to the perpetrators and show them

that jokes are not OK and it all snow balls into real-life

fascism, which is not going to be OK on campus.

It's really important, however, I think this march won't be enough

to really change events that are happening worldwide.

But I think it's a very important step forwards.

The march is about raising solidarity with Jewish people

but overall creating an atmosphere of antiracism on campus,

In his first interview, the Vice Chancellor told me

As soon as we found out, we were appalled.

It doesn't fit with the character of the institution, this

I have been racking my brains, Over the last 14 years

as Vice Chancellor, I cannot think of a single complaint we have

received from a Jewish student about feeling unwelcome.

Students held a rally with a series of anti-fascism speeches.

There have been instances of anti-Semitism in other

All have generated negative publicity.

Anti-Semitism is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable issue

Exeter University say their investigations indicate

that the carving of the swastika and the rights for whites sign

may have been a deeply offensive attempt at a joke,

possibly parodying a television show.

Researchers are warning that Exeter's roads won't be able to cope

with the extra 14,000 car journeys that are predicted by 2026.

Now a community interest company is offering cash for ideas that

will get people out of their cars and end congestion.

Exeter City Futures is willing to invest up to ?15,000 per project.

The fact of the matter is the problems we face in Exeter

will not be solved by the public sector, because they simply do not

They have to be solved by businesses delivering better services

for people to move around in different ways.

Meanwhile, there are around 200 places in Dorset where people

are waiting for road schemes which campaigners

The county council says it can only afford a small number of projects

each year and that it prioritises cases based on safety.

Now one village, Winterborne Houghton,

is looking at paying for its own 30mph

I looked at the Department for Transport guidelines and it does

say that 30 miles should be the norm in a village, and it's quite

I thought, well, this is the village that time forgot.

We will just fill in, put the justification through and it

will really be a rubber-stamp job, but no, certainly not.

Councillors have today backed a bid for Dark Sky status on Bodmin Moor,

which involves putting controls in place to prevent light pollution.

An application will now be sent to the International

Dark Sky Association, with a decision expected by June.

As Tamsin Melville reports, there are already a number

of Dark Sky communities in the UK, including Exmoor National Park.

Switching off to send a message on light pollution.

The people of Dulverton were firmly on board when Exmoor became

the world's second dark sky reserve five years ago.

This official international recognition of the top-class quality

of Exmoor's night skies seems to be as popular as ever.

So many people in light polluted areas that it is wonderful for them

Getting children enthused about the stars is said to be one

big benefit and shops are happy with the footfall.

We as a business are aware of a lot of people who come

That is young families, that is other people,

so it is one of those things that has broad appeal and has attracted

An area with a lot of light pollution in the city might

Here on Exmoor, with a telescope you would see billions of stars.

Tourism is getting a boost with holiday accommodation

businesses offering telescopes for star gazing.

It is a bragging right for people to talk about and to make them

But it has genuine benefits in terms of bringing tourists to the area.

And now the top quality of the night sky recorded by experts over

Bodmin Moor has experts also reaching for the stars.

Cornwall councillors were today discussing a bid for the area

In Cornwall we have some of the darkest skies we have

We do not have a designation yet but one would hope that

if we have Bodmin Moor, other places will follow suit.

This is a great way of preserving something historical,

cultural that we can pass on to future generations.

It isn't just Bodmin Moor looking to follow in Exmoor's footsteps.

There are also plans for a similar bid in West Cornwall

Looks like it's getting stormy by the end of this week.

Good evening. More of the same is the story for the next two days of

the week ahead, but later we have somewhat of a change. It becomes

quite windy and starts to call down again. We have been blessed with

good temperatures the past couple of days. A mild start, it will turn

windy and cold by Friday. One weather system doesn't change its

position over the next 24 hours. By Wednesday it is still there but it

is developing an area of low pressure and that is the one that

will give us very windy conditions on Thursday and opens the door to

the winds from the north and north-west, which means lower

temperatures and a possible frost into Friday. Friday should be dry,

bright but colder. The mildness will continue overnight tonight. Must

re-winds feed in low cloud, the list, drizzle and fog. Temperatures

of eight or 9 degrees. Tomorrow is going to be a similar date to today.

Some breaks in the cloud to the east. Generally it is thick enough

for light rain and drizzle. Temperatures at 12 or 13 degrees and

a brisk westerly breeze for all of us. For Wednesday, the same sort of

day, drizzle in the wind and mild. Early rain on Thursday but the main

feature is it will feel cooler, it will be a brighter but it will be

windy. Strong north-west winds, by Friday the colder air is with us and

temperatures of no more than just seven or 8 degrees. Could Cornwall

soon become a hub for launching and tracking commercial satellites as

well as operating space flights? We will look at that tomorrow. See you

later. As you have just seen, after a day

in which some of you have been shedding the layers, you will be

putting them back on for the rest of this week. Big changes ahead, all

down to where the air has been coming from. Today, it originated in

the Caribbean, hence the name tropical maritime air. Temperatures

peaked at 18 degrees. But later this