04/01/2017 Spotlight

That's all from the BBC News at One - so it's goodbye from me -

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

The 25-year plan for nature could see subsidies paid

to farmers being cut, allowing the areas to return

It comes at a time when all subsidies for farming could change

as a result of the vote to leave the EU.

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's 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's really useful to all of us because it traps moisture

Now, 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 there

Robin Milton is an upland farmer and the vice-chairman

It is a farmed landscape, let's remember it is a living,

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, because they deliver so much more

for the whole public - flood protection, nature,

all the incredible access for people to spend their leisure time here -

so in a way they should be the favoured areas for our

We contacted Defra and asked them about their plans

They told us they couldn't say if 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.

A drugs baron who was banned from Devon and Cornwall for 10 years

is on the run after he failed to return from a Christmas

As our Home Affairs correspondent Simon Hall explains,

Blake Donnellan was serving a 15-year sentence for conspiracy

Blake Donnellan was supposed to be in prison at Sudbury in Derbyshire,

serving a 15-year sentence for smuggling drugs

But he was released for 24 hours on Christmas Day,

Donnellan was one of the leaders of a gang which made tens

of thousands of pounds bringing cocaine and other Class A drugs

At the time of his conviction in 2011, police said a major supply

ring had been broken by one of the biggest investigations

It involved more phone work than we've ever done before,

We arrested 38 people, so colossal by our standards.

Donnellan was described as a career criminal and was once banned

from Devon and Cornwall for ten years because of his activities.

Police began an extensive covert-surveillance operation

to convict him, along with four other members of his gang.

In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said...

All offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a full risk

assessment before being considered for release on temporary licence."

Anybody who thinks they see Donnellan is asked to call

Now a round-up of some of the other news this lunchtime.

27-year-old Tanis Bhandari was stabbed to death two years ago

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

Donald Pemberton, was out on licence from prison.

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

calling for a probation-service report on his supervision

Alison Hernandez, the Devon and Cornwall Police

and Crime Commissioner, has been questioned under caution

She is being investigated over allegations about election expenses

when she was the campaign agent for the Torbay

A report will be presented to the Independent Police

The first of two public meetings about possible cuts to services

at North Devon District Hospital is being held tonight in Northam.

The Town Council there says the plans could put lives at risk.

The Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust says the service is facing

challenges and change is needed to improve care for patients.

Life-saving rescue missions by Devon's air ambulance are now

Thanks to a ?1 million investment the pilots now have night-vision

goggles and the first of what will be hundreds of floodlit

Spotlight's Kirk England has been out with one

The golden lights of the North Devon town of Chulmleigh, as seen

Now the work of the pilots and paramedics on board doesn't

What's made flying at night possible is a growing number of floodlit

community landing sites, which make it easier, faster

No helipad here - Chulmleigh's playing field is good enough,

lit by a specially installed floodlight paid for by local people.

We are a rural community, a long way from hospitals,

Barnstable and Exeter are our two main hospitals.

Ambulances take 20, 30 minutes or so to get

I think a lot of people know how good and how valuable and essential

the services that we provide during the daylight.

The reality is that up until last month we couldn't do that at night.

People still have their accidents, they still get critically ill

at night, and we wanted to be able to respond to them even

when it was dark, and this network of community landing sites means

we can now help patients in Devon even when it's dark.

The helicopter has been adapted to fly at night,

pilots trained and supplied with special night-vision goggles.

At the moment teams clock off at midnight but it's hoped that

in the next few years they'll be responding to emergencies around

Holly is here with the weather. It has been rather grey this morning

so I thought we would look at yesterday evening's photos.

Keep those photos coming in, they are very lovely indeed. Today it has

been cloudier thanks to this weather front here. It is fairly weak,

pushing across us and behind it colder air. It will get stuck across

western Cornwall so here we keep cloudier, damper and milder

conditions. Fairly cloudy through the afternoon, bit of light rain and

drizzle. You might be lucky enough to see a few bright spells but they

will be in short supply. Temperatures around average, eight

or 9 degrees. Overnight this rain works westwards and gets stuck in

Western Cornwall. Further east the skies clear, risk of freezing mist

and fog patches. Huge difference in the from West to East, seven or

eight in the West, -1, -3, even minus six in the East. Very cold and

frosty in the morning, the risk of mist and freezing frog. The Western

Cornwall, cloudier conditions, more damp, and that continues through the

day. Further east, some lovely Sunshine hopefully on offer. For the

Channel Islands and we are in that warmer air mass. Taking a look at

the picture over the next few days, a lot of cloud rolling in for

Friday, it could be misty and foggy to start, and outbreaks of rain in

the afternoon. Looking mild into the weekend, a bit damp maybe but mostly

dry, but I suspect it will be fairly cloudy.

Phone in programmes are under way in ABC radio Devon and BBC Radio

Cornwall. -- BBC Radio Devon. I'll be back with Victoria Graham

for more on that and all the latest Panorama investigates

the deadly terrorist attack and should British tourists

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