27/03/2017 Spotlight


27/03/2017

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LineFromTo

The train journey from Exeter to London's Waterloo

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Hong Kong company MTR and First Group have won

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the franchise for South West trains and take over in August.

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They're set to invest ?1.2 billion across the network.

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The Waterloo line is picturesque but slow.

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The news of this investment, with new and more frequent

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trains cutting journey times from the south-west to London

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by up to 15 minutes, has been welcomed by passengers.

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It would mean that we could get up there quicker to go to the theatre,

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which is what we like to do, go there with the children at

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It would be excellent to give more options for people to travel

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It's a long journey and there's a lot of stops there,

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which leaves us all out in the sticks a little bit

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and I believe, obviously, a direct train between Exeter

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and London that was a lot faster would be useful for people.

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Importantly, the Waterloo line is less vulnerable to flooding.

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It doesn't travel through the Cowley Bridge junction,

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north of Exeter, or the Somerset Levels, both

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But there is no news of investment at Dawlish where the line has

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repeatedly been cut by storms or further in to Devon and Cornwall.

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We need to have a second reliable, resilient rail network

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here in the south-west and whilst this is definitely a positive move,

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it is not something we should be taking focus of.

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We need to continue with the efforts of the south-west campaign,

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the peninsular task force and keep very much the government's feet

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The new franchise for the Waterloo line has been won by First Group.

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They also run trains on the Paddington line,

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leading some to raise concerns about a lack of competition.

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The new service will begin operating from here to Waterloo in August.

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In the next few months, the government are due

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to announce their proposals regarding what to do

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Interesting and important times are ahead for

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While passengers in Devon and the east of the region might

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welcome today's rail announcement, there's little, if any benefit

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for those travelling by train from Cornwall.

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Passengers in the county have been promised faster journey times

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on the mainline to Paddington, but that's still some time off.

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John Ayres has been gauging reaction.

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Rail passengers here, like fare payers right

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across the country, want to feel like they are being treated equally.

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Here in Penzance, it can feel like the nation's capital is a very

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Any rail investment will be welcomed by passengers, but Cornwall

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Penzance via Exeter via Tiverton Parkway and up

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to Paddington is definitely the route that needs

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I suppose if that part becomes very fast, I would probably go to Exeter

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It is much more economical and better for me to go

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The problem with rail travel in Cornwall is how long it

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It is about 180 miles from London Paddington to Exeter.

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The fastest train does it in just two hours,

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that's an average speed of 90 mph, but then from Exeter

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to Penzance it's 120 miles and that takes three hours,

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so the average speed has more than halved.

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What we need to do is get a time in the morning

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where a train goes from Truro, St Austell, Exeter and on to London,

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that will stop all those stops, so a real commuter line if you like,

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for business people travelling up to London and one on the way

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That will open up Cornwall to business in the

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The investment this time is private money from the franchise operators.

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The Transport Minister, Paul Maynard, says this announcement

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is about the South Western trains franchise and rail passengers

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in Cornwall will see improvements to rolling stock by the end

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NHS managers in Devon involved in controversial proposed cuts

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to the health service are being subjected to unacceptable

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levels of abuse, according to one local health commisioning group.

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Whilst there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing, the new Devon CCG claims

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senior staff have been verbally abused at some public

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meetings and in the street, and says some online comments use

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language that is physically threatening.

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We are seeing online postings of threatening and abusive behaviour,

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staff are experiencing abusive and threatening behaviour at public

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meetings and much more worryingly, staff are being verbally abused when

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they are going about their business, when they are not on work time and

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that is wholly inappropriate. Now a brief roundup of other stories

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making the news tonight. The case of a young mother

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who was killed by a speeding driver in a head-on crash near Bodmin,

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was heard at Truro Sabrina Bellman, who was on holiday

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from Hampshire, was on her way home from a Christmas pantomime

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with her family when 31-year-old Daniel Smith from St Teath hit them

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on Boxing Day in 2015. He's admitted causing death

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by careless driving, The trial began today of a Plymouth

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soldier accused of stabbing 26-year-old Jay Nava

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of the Royal Citadel is charged with murdering 26-year-old

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Natasha Wake in Winchester Crown Court heard Natasha

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was stabbed after she discovered he was being investigated

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for a sexual offence. Four small banks in Devon

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are closing this week because they say they're getting

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fewer customers through the door Lloyds is shutting its branches

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in Dartmouth, Salcombe, It's starting a new mobile service

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in the areas affected. Work starts tonight on a ?250,000

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scheme to install average speed cameras on the A38 and A380

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at Splatford Split, near Exeter. Highways England says the cameras

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along a two and a half mile stretch of the eastbound carriageway

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will improve safety. They're famous for building dams

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and now it's claimed beavers could be the answer

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to our flooding problems. A six-year trial at a secret

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location in Devon has Our environment correspondent

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Adrian Campbell has been The return of beavers

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to the River Otter in East Devon has But in another part of Devon,

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at a secret location sealed off by electric fencing,

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another group of beavers The results of their hard work over

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the past six years can There has been a dramatic change

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in the landscape where they have been living and working,

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with the creation of This is one of 13 dams along a 200

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metre stretch of this watercourse and you can see there is evidence

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of recent activity When you look closely you can

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see how big and deep Researchers from the University

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of Exeter have been monitoring the way the beavers have

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changed the watercourse. The black lines represent

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the new dams and the areas of blue are new pools which all slow down

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the flow of water. You can see the dam that runs

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along the face there. Mark Elliott says this project has

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shown how beavers can provide When water surges at the top

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of a site during a flood, those ponds and the dams hold

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the water back and it comes out here much slower as the dams

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are slowing the flow of flood water It can only help to reduce the speed

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of flood water coming down into the communities that live

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in the lower parts of the catchment, The University of Exeter's

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data shows flooding can The chopping down of trees

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and building of dams seems to work. Conservationists are keen

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to persuade politicians that areas of flooding might benefit from this

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type of natural engineering. Time to take a look at the weather.

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We have had some gorgeous weather, David. We have had temperatures

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today, 16, 17 degrees. Will that last? Probably, but not necessarily

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dry with sunshine. A change perhaps to more unsettled weather and we are

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expecting to see some showers tomorrow. Some sunny spells during

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the course of the week and right at the end, it turns colder. One

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weather front coming in by the end of the night. It will produce a

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fuchsia was. It brushes past us on its way northwards. What follows is

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more persistent rain which will be around tomorrow evening and

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Wednesday. Thursday we draw up some warmth from Spain and Portugal so

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temperatures slightly higher by Thursday. Higher temperatures

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through western France crossing the Channel towards us and we could be

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up to 16, 17 degrees. A weather front will move through on Friday

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introducing colder air. It is not particularly warm tonight.

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Temperatures not as low as last night but certainly five or 6

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degrees in a few places. Showers will trick trickle across northern

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parts of Devon into South Wales and what replaces that is brighter skies

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for a time. 14, 15 the top temperature. More persistent rain to

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end the day. The same weather system will be with us on Wednesday, so

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they could be a rather cloudy day with patchy rain around. Some warmth

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and brighter weather on Thursday and then that fresher, cold air arriving

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by the end of the week. Have a good night. The breakfast bulletins

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stopped just before 6:30am tomorrow morning. Goodbye.

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showery on Saturday, dry and brighter on Sunday and if we go back

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to the temperatures in the next couple days, you see those highs on

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Thursday. He is John Hammond with the national

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this cyclone Debbie crashes onto the Queensland coast with

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