The new main light for the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse was due to be tested last night.was notable to confirm from Marine and Port Services but it is believed that the auxiliary light at the lighthouse based in Southampton will be switched off once the main fibre-optic light is running satisfactorily.

New clutch bearings have been introduced and the operating motors were expected to undergo a nine-hour testing period.

The light beam can be seen by ships 40 miles away and from a distance of 120 miles by a plane flying at 10,000 feet.

A plan for a new seniors home in Smith's Parish was refused by the Development Applications Board last week.

Dudley Fubler's application to change the use of No. 5 Crest View Road to an old folks home was refused because details of the elderly care facility were insufficient for a review by the Department of Health, the DAB said. It also said the plan involved a three-storey element when the maximum height permitted was two storeys or 24 feet.

"The Board wishes to advise that the site currently enjoys three assessment numbers and would only be permitted two dwelling units under the current plan," it said. "The proposed elderly care facility is considered to be an intensification of an existing non-conforming situation."

Trustees of Wesley Methodist Church have sought planning approval to build 24 new graves on Cemetery Road, Pembroke.

Trustee Vernon Rawlins said the church needed the new graves as 48 graves installed at the cemetery in 1990 had been sold.

"We have no graves left," Mr. Rawlins said. "Every few years they are sold off and we need to build new graves."

The Island's three Methodist churches, including Emmanuel in Whale Bay and Ebenezer in St. George's, each have their own graveyard.

A thief stole $950 and ?15 in cash from a car parked outside a Morgan Road, Warwick residence early yesterday morning.

The victim said sometime between 10 p.m. Thursday and 6.30 a.m. yesterday a thief gained entry into her unattended car parked outside her residence.

Paget resident Delmont Brown was refused permission to install a hair salon in his Valley Road home by the Development Applications Board (DAB) because the application did not include staff nmbers, hours of operation or expected client per hour.

Car owners have been urged to claim vehicles seized by Police.

Officers this week released a list of cars recently impounded amid a recent rise in the number of removals. A Police spokesman said some of the vehicles seized had been dumped or were parked illegally.

The cars are: a white Toyota Yaris, registration 03106; a grey Mazda 323, registration 29402; a grey Subaru Impreza station wagon, registration 38294; a silver/grey Opel Astra, registration 32583 and a white Subaru J10, registration 09611. Anyone with information about the vehicles should call the Vehicle Crime Unit on 295-0011.