:00:13. > :00:15.Hello, good evening. for the news where you are.
:00:16. > :00:17.There's hope tonight for the future
:00:18. > :00:22.of the Royal Marine base in North Devon.
:00:23. > :00:24.Chivenor employs more than 1,000 personnel and brings
:00:25. > :00:28.Last November the MoD announced plans to close it,
:00:29. > :00:31.but on a visit to the base today, the Defence Secretary said
:00:32. > :00:36.At Chivenor today Michael Fallon saw first hand
:00:37. > :00:39.what it's like to save a life on the battlefield.
:00:40. > :00:42.At the same time, the future of the place itself
:00:43. > :00:51.Speaking four months ago, it looked like a closure was inevitable.
:00:52. > :00:53.We are getting out of some of the more rural locations,
:00:54. > :01:05.We want to give everybody a time to explore the various
:01:06. > :01:07.options for these sites, and Chivenor is a very large site.
:01:08. > :01:10.The airfield is no longer used, for example, to discuss
:01:11. > :01:14.the future of the site, with the local community and come up
:01:15. > :01:16.with the best answer for the Royal Marines
:01:17. > :01:19.and the best answer for Chivenor itself.
:01:20. > :01:22.So no done deal on the closure of the base in Chivenor.
:01:23. > :01:31.I'm very pleased that he said what he said today, about what's
:01:32. > :01:34.happening, a second chance, if you like.
:01:35. > :01:39.Michael Fallon made clear the intention is that the
:01:40. > :01:41.Royal Marines will consolidate in Plymouth, but around
:01:42. > :01:44.that it seems to me there's a lot of options.
:01:45. > :01:46.For him not to have ruled out the future use of
:01:47. > :01:49.RMB Chivenor as a military site is a big step forward.
:01:50. > :01:51.Business leaders want more clarity on what happens
:01:52. > :01:53.next for a base that, according to
:01:54. > :01:58.generates ?40 million a year for the North Devon economy.
:01:59. > :02:02.If it's not a done deal, then obviously, we need to find out
:02:03. > :02:05.more about what could possibly happen, because if they are going
:02:06. > :02:07.to retain part of it, then that could be good.
:02:08. > :02:10.And then look at development for the rest of it.
:02:11. > :02:14.If it's all going to move to Plymouth, then we need to look
:02:15. > :02:21.And it is a big site, with 1200 military personnel
:02:22. > :02:24.There's been strong campaigning to keep the base open,
:02:25. > :02:33.but some say a closure is still on the cards.
:02:34. > :02:35.I think the Secretary of State was making as positive a
:02:36. > :02:38.noise as he could about working with the local community,
:02:39. > :02:46.but at the end of the day he's got to deliver the maximum capital
:02:47. > :02:48.receipt to the public purse, that, I fear will probably
:02:49. > :02:52.Done deal or not, a decision on the future of this base
:02:53. > :02:56.Almost 50 years on, the Torrey Canyon remains
:02:57. > :02:58.one of the world's worst environmental disasters.
:02:59. > :02:59.The supertanker hit rocks off Cornwall
:03:00. > :03:02.leaving beaches around the coastline covered in crude oil.
:03:03. > :03:04.Clare Woodling has been speaking to one of the pilots
:03:05. > :03:19.who was involved in the efforts to control the disaster.
:03:20. > :03:26.exploded inside the ship. I have a exploded inside the ship. I have a
:03:27. > :03:31.very vivid picture in my mind. You could see the side of the ship for
:03:32. > :03:36.the North and the huge cloud of black smoke and flame coming
:03:37. > :03:41.shooting out and you must have gone up to about 1000 feet, but I felt as
:03:42. > :03:45.if it was chasing me along as I was going up was as fast as I could with
:03:46. > :03:46.my throttle fully open because I really did not want to be caught on
:03:47. > :04:08.that. We took off from Lossiemouth and as
:04:09. > :04:11.we got beyond the Scottish border flying south you could see in the
:04:12. > :04:17.distance a big cloud of black smoke right after about 30,000 feet. It
:04:18. > :04:23.was the most beautiful spring day. Lots of sunshine, no wind, and this
:04:24. > :04:29.huge column of smoke going up which got closer and closer as we got down
:04:30. > :04:33.there. The supertanker had run aground leading crude oil around the
:04:34. > :04:37.coast and into the sea. Thousands of sea birds died. It remains the worst
:04:38. > :04:43.environmental disaster in the country. Sir Jonathan maintains that
:04:44. > :04:46.bombing was the only option. If you want to stop the environmental
:04:47. > :04:53.disaster occurring you had to accept the risks that there was going to be
:04:54. > :04:57.damage to the in doing that. So Jonathan says his memories remain
:04:58. > :05:01.vivid 50 years on. Seeing the petition now he is still able to
:05:02. > :05:03.remain dispassionate. There was not much emotion to it, it was just the
:05:04. > :05:07.job that needed to be done. They've been flying the skies
:05:08. > :05:10.of the South West for decades but today the Royal Navy's Lynx
:05:11. > :05:14.helicopters began a farewell tour. They were based on Portland
:05:15. > :05:20.in Dorset before moving to Yeovilton
:05:21. > :05:22.in the late '90s. The aircraft saw action
:05:23. > :05:25.in the Falklands and in both Gulf Wars, and today
:05:26. > :05:27.they retraced their history flying before they're decommissioned
:05:28. > :05:40.at the end of the month. The joy of this aircraft, and does a
:05:41. > :05:43.little bit of everything, load lifting, winching, weaponry,
:05:44. > :05:48.anti-submarine weapons, and the service weapons, it is the eye in
:05:49. > :05:50.the sky, it is Search and Rescue, it can be troop movement, pretty much
:05:51. > :05:51.everything. Time now for the weather and David's
:05:52. > :05:54.here with the forecast. I cannot promise much in the way
:05:55. > :05:58.of sunshine this weekend, It is relatively mild
:05:59. > :06:03.and we should see temperatures There is some rain around and it
:06:04. > :06:09.will be quite breezy but it does Perhaps a little bit
:06:10. > :06:12.cooler by the time we get Several weather fronts draped
:06:13. > :06:16.across the northern half with enough moisture to generate
:06:17. > :06:20.some rain for us, as well. Perhaps, briefly, some brightness,
:06:21. > :06:23.but not much of that. With a weather front
:06:24. > :06:25.coming in on Monday, We could end up with
:06:26. > :06:33.some quite wet weather. And after that goes through,
:06:34. > :06:35.some slightly colder air. Some spots of light rain
:06:36. > :06:37.or drizzle overnight tonight, with some of that becoming more
:06:38. > :06:39.widespread and Brisk westerly winds
:06:40. > :06:42.and overnight temperatures It is a mild start and generally
:06:43. > :06:46.a mild day tomorrow, but unfortunately, there is a lot
:06:47. > :06:50.of cloud, spots of light rain or drizzle in the morning,
:06:51. > :06:52.gradually easing in the afternoon but not much in the way uprightness
:06:53. > :06:55.and 12, possibly 13 Celsius Lots of low cloud around, perhaps,
:06:56. > :07:01.briefly, some brightness but another weather front on Sunday with a top
:07:02. > :07:05.temperature of 12-13 Celsius. Next week it does
:07:06. > :07:08.start to cool down. We could have some wet weather
:07:09. > :07:10.around on Monday, turning showery
:07:11. > :07:17.and colder on Tuesday. Julia Peet will be back tomorrow
:07:18. > :07:20.at 5:50pm with all the latest news and sport from
:07:21. > :07:21.around the South West. But from the Spotlight
:07:22. > :07:34.late team, goodnight. it is rather breezy. Now for the
:07:35. > :07:44.national outlook. It was quite a wet day across many
:07:45. > :07:51.northern and western parts of the UK. This was the view in Lancashire
:07:52. > :07:56.not so long ago. For the weekend we are looking to see further rain, all
:07:57. > :07:57.coming from the west, so the further east you are, it should be