For those interested the website has been reworked today, found out because my bookmark to the local forecast did not work 8O So far I think it is an improvement, although people are saying on one UK newsgroup that it is not W3C compliant anymore 8O Does look to me like the local forecasts for a specific location are more detailed than they used to be.
Stuart
I saw they were updating the site, just had a quick look, looks ok…I was hopefull of some free data??
Stuart.G
Hahahahahahaha. Best joke I’ve heard all year!
How is the UK Met funded? Isn’t it taxpayer funded and if so how do they get away with not providing the information to those taxpayers?
-Bob
That’s not how it works over here, you pay your taxes and then you pay again, its the same for everything 
Stuart
They did have the following which might have got your hopes up…
In fulfilling its public task the Met Office has a broad remit to act in the public's best interest, and the requirement to protect life and property is at the centre of what we do.The Public Weather Service provides a coherent range of basic weather information and weather related warnings that enable the UK public to make informed decisions in their day to day activities. Such information is ‘free at the point of use’.
Public Weather Service scripts - Basic scripts provided to the pubic without charge and distributed through various channels including TV, radio and the Internet.
but their idea of “scripts” is not quite what I was thinking when I read it. Its simply web pages that you are “allowed” to view.