27/02/2017 Spotlight

Good evening. for the news where you are.

Torbay's planners have tonight agreed a controversial plan

for a hotel, flats and a car park on one of Torquay's

The scheme will include an 11-storey building and the regeneration

But objectors say it will ruin the site and are already

Well, Spotlight's John Ayres was there tonight

This decision is hugely controversial. Such was the passion

behind this that almost 200 people turned up to watch. The planning

officer described this as one of the most difficult decisions she has

been involved in. Why is it so controversial? The plan is to put an

11 story building right on the side of Torquay harbour for a hotel and

flats and a car park and it will see the rejuvenation of the Edwardian

pavilion which currently is closed. The default position for this

because it's in a conservation area would be to say no, but you can

approve an application like this when it is for the greater public

good and that being jobs and a boost to the economy. The developers have

been involved in this process with the planners for a very long time

and so there was great relief from them when it was approved this

evening. I think it was a very

thorough process. I have been to a lot of planning

meetings in my lifetime and I have not seen one like that before

with so many people. With half and half in the room,

you're never going to please everybody in this process

and I think the important thing now is to try and deliver

what we have said we would do. The protesters are very unhappy

about this. They turned up in force tonight and had a little

demonstration ahead of the meeting outside here. The reason they are so

unhappy is they do not believe the benefits are there, they do not

believe the jobs will be of value but in the end the plan was voted

6-4 so it did go through this evening.

A Labour city councillor from Plymouth says he apologises

unreservedly for making a Nazi salute during a council

Councillor Johnny Morris made the gesture during a debate

He told Spotlight that he'd been angry about the debate being closed

down and let that anger get the better of him

with an "inappropriate and offensive gesture".

The motion to raise council tax by almost 4.5% was later passed.

Cornwall is to push ahead with a controversial bid

for European Capital of Culture in 2023, despite critics branding

Senior councillors were voting for the second time today

after calls for further scrutiny of the proposals.

Cornwall's likely to be competing alongside Leeds,

Dundee and Milton Keynes for the title at a cost

The Liverpudlians launched in style when they won it

Now Cornwall is eyeing up this price.

With Truro at the heart of it, there will be a Cornwall-wide bid

to become the European Capital of Culture 2023.

We are coming out of the EU, but all but one senior counsellor

today gave the nod for the bid to go ahead at a cost of up to ?336,000

Given that we have just voted to come out of Europe to now

want to be European Capital of Culture seems,

Yes, it would be a lovely idea, but I think it's an awful lot

of money and we really need to think, do we need to spend

I think there is enough in Cornwall of different types of culture

Supporters point to the success of cultural projects like last

summer's Man Engine and say if this bid goes all the way,

the Cornish economy could get a boost of up to ?100 million.

The creative industries are one of our fastest growing sectors,

so supporting this is supporting that sector and supporting growth

The competition for the crown is likely to include Leeds,

Critics are branding it a waste of money when budgets are so tight

and question whether post-Brexit the UK will even get its turn.

Conservative opposition to the idea is coming from both

Had we stayed in the European Union we would be in a completely

different position, but this is part of our renegotiation

as we leave the European Union, we don't know if it's

going to survive, the government has made that clear.

And we could possibly create another competition

post-Brexit into which Cornwall could contribute, it's just

that this competition we're too late, we're not organised

When Liverpool's year ended, organisers insisted there

Those behind Cornwall's ambitions argue even taking part in this first

Fredrik Lindegren put the successful bid together for Umea, in Sweden,

which was the European Capital of Culture in 2014.

If you look at it from a cultural, political point of view,

I would say it is definitely worth it if you have an united agenda

There is always a possibility not to do it, but if you do it,

then do it together and do it with your own city and region

as the grounds for what you are trying to accomplish.

What sort of benefits have you experienced as a result

If you look at it from a tourist perspective, you can see a high

increase in overnight stays at hotels, you can see

an increase of investments, private investments in the city,

but for me, working as head of the culture department,

I would say that the most important is the awareness of how

investments in culture actually can make a difference

What do you make of a British county bidding for the title

of European Capital of Culture when we are working to leave the EU?

Well, of course it's a little bit puzzling,

but I think that the strongest connections we have in Europe

is within the culture field, so your decision,

despite your decisions, I think it's very wise to continue

to cooperate on a cultural level that will help us to unite further

A man has appeared at Plymouth Magistrates Court

in connection with an alleged attack on a special police constable

at the city's railway station on Saturday.

23-year-old Jonathan Feasey from East Taphouse, near Liskeard,

has been charged with causing actual bodily harm.

He was granted unconditional bail and ordered to appear

before magistrates again on the 20th of March.

Doctors in Cornwall are launching a new scheme to stop people

with long-term medical conditions becoming addicted

Contracts between the GPs and their patients will be drawn up

It comes after clinicians noticed a rise in patients being admitted

to the Royal Cornwall Hospital after overuse of painkillers.

What we began to notice was that many of the patients with long-term

painful conditions were displaying the same kind of features in how

they presented and how their lives were as I had seen when working

in a drug addiction service and that was a real concern.

The work of a forgotten poet from Devon, born

nearly 200 years ago, is being revived

Edward Capern was a postman and he won plaudits

from the Prime Minister and all the big literary

Liz Shakespeare is now publishing two new books about him -

a novel about his life and a selection of his poems.

Winter is not quite finished with us yet. There is more forced to come.

Certainly quite a cold night tonight and shower was around which gives us

the risk of ice and some frost first thing tomorrow. The week ahead is a

real mishmash. Lots happening, lots of changeable weather. It will

remain windy and cold. Showers and some sunshine but also the risk of

some frost around, certainly overnight tonight. One line of

showers clears southwards, another one approaches. Once that goes

through, some perhaps more persistent rain along the south

coast on Wednesday and then after that we get slightly less cold air

for a time, but once we get rid of the first batch of wet weather,

cooler conditions arrive from the north-west. Just about everything

over the next 24 hours. Wintry showers through the night to come.

The chance of some ice forming on untreated roads and pavements even

though temperatures may be a couple of degrees above freezing. Tomorrow

morning some sunshine, isolated showers then a line of perhaps more

frequent showers, some more persistent rain. That will please

past replaced by sunshine. Briscoe winds and eight or 9 degrees will be

the maximum. Thursday may well start of bright and drive but later on

that day we will see a range settling in. Thursday probably the

driest, more much whether on Friday. Temperatures up into double figures

them they start to lower. Next weekend it will be quite cold,

showers around and the continued risk of seeing some overnight frost.

Stay warm. Have a good night. More news and weather from the spot 19

tomorrow morning. Have a good evening.