26/01/2017 South Today - Oxford

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's so it's goodbye from me

In tonight's programme: Blocked from his own land -

the farmer who can't access his crops after Network Rail

But about unless you can aircraft a tractor in, we have no way of

farming. Also coming up, the campaign

against plans to build a garden town The kindness

of strangers, a heart-warming tale which all started when a Reading

woman spotted a note Campaigners claim plans

for a "garden Town" in Oxfordshire aren't living up to their name

because of proposals Didcot's one of a number

of new Garden Towns that've been announced in our region,

including Bicester and Aylesbury. Hundreds of people have now signed

a petition against building flats and a "technology campus"

on a section of Ladygrove It may be a cold January day,

but dogs, joggers and toddlers alike are still out enjoying

Ladygrove Park in Didcot. But there are fears this area

could soon look very different if newly released plans get

the go ahead. This field area is about the only

place we can go within walking distance when a whole family can let

off a bit of steam. We come along and bring our grandchildren here. We

need a bigger part cars it is very well used.

Not all of the park will be built on, but as the plans stand,

there will be a new road through the park, flats

and a "technology campus" on part of the space south of Tyne Avenue.

Campaigners say it's worrying and not in keeping with the idea

We will lose half of the place apart. This is enjoyed by mums and

their children, and we will have the loss of a garden in the middle of a

garden town. How can it be a garden town?

South Oxfordshire District Council says that overall the Garden Town

plan will mean more green space for Didcot and more

Plus there will be improvements at Ladygrove.

Gamut of new buildings is tiny in comparison to what is there already.

The vast majority of existing space will be exactly as it is, and there

will be many improvements. New facilities in terms of children play

areas and so forth. The public's now being asked

for their opinion on the draft plans A final version is set to be

published this spring. 19 people have been charged

following a series of police raids in Oxfordshire

and London on Tuesday. Nicknamed Operation Spires,

the raids were aimed at suspected 12 of those charged

are from Oxfordshire. They'll appear in court in Oxford

in the coming weeks. Six others arrested have been

released on police bail, whilst one was given

a police caution. A group of homeless people living

in a former car showroom in Oxford have been told they will need

to leave by the end of next month. The former dealership had been empty

for months before local residents Wadham College, which owns the site,

has been given planning permission to build student accommodation

on the site. Work is due to start

at the end of February. The Schools Minister Nick Gibb

has been visiting two Swindon secondary schools,

following criticism of the local education system

by Ofsted inspectors. They include Swindon Academy

and Nova Hreod Academy, The North Swindon MP

Justin Tomlinson's showed And you see schools like this that

are demonstrating the way ahead, and in the Swindon Academy,

where huge progress is being made in the last few years in transforming

those schools into places where children are learning,

where they are getting the qualifications,

where they are improving their life chances, and that is what we want

for every school in Swindon. A farmer from Aylesbury says he's

devastated after discovering he's been blocked from accessing 90 acres

of his own land. The Owners of Fleet Marston Farm

woke up this morning to find Network Rail putting up a metal

fence over a level crossing used to access their fields,

land which they say brings in more The latest recruits in four

generations of farming. For 80 years, the Hunters have sewn,

fertilised and harvested this land, with the wheat they grow

supporting their business, The 400-acre farm is

split by a railway line, For over a century,

the tractors and the tracks I got here to the farm,

heard a bit of noise, looked across the field

and saw what where a pair of gates I seen them cutting the signpost

down, cutting the gates off, For the last 150 years,

tractors have been using this Until November, when a three tonne

weight limit was enforced. Inconvenient, but not a massive

problem, because they could still use the level crossing

down there, until today. So now, the railway line

which once divided this farm The family say they were in talks

with Network Rail after receiving a letter last week,

but this morning's work They now have no way to harvest

the wheat they planted and face losing more than ?50,000,

an amount that will threaten I was actually born

in the spare room They cannot treat

farmers in this way. Network Rail failed to tell us

why they were doing the work, but did say they haven't yet

received a complaint from the farm, Windbag VCS has been closed for

safety reasons. The farmers disagree.

out, because it is not right, it is just devastating.

This week we've been running a series of reports celebrating

the tenth anniversary of the Oxford Children's Hospital.

Tonight we're taking you through the doors of one

of the most highly specialist surgical wards in the country.

The Oxford Craniofacial Unit is one of only four in the UK

and uses ground-breaking techniques to treat rare genetic conditions.

It's the day after the big operation.

Hannah are Tom are waiting for news on their

She was born with an unusually shaped head and referred

to a specialist unit at the Oxford Children's Hospital.

Yesterday was possibly the longest seven hours of my life waiting for

I knew what she was going through and the

potential risks that had been spelt out.

The fact that her dad had had something

similar, and that was his worst fear, that Lucy would end up with

Then you wonder what the implications are for her,

Conditions like this are extremely rare but can cause headaches,

The children's hospital is one of four in the country

with a department for what's called craniofacial treatment.

Surgeons move bone and skin to alter a patient's features.

There are many examples where I've been

doing things for the very first time.

A lot of conditions where you are having

to think on your feet, almost design new operations

About 100 operations take place every year,

Brianne was born with a unique mix of disorders.

If someone had it the same as Brianne then we could compare them

But because no one else has got that

missing genome, they don't know what it is, so, future-wise,

We don't know if she's going to develop normally,

or if it will affect any aspect of

her life, which is quite a scary place to be in.

Brianne's been through several operations.

Psychologists, genetisists and speech therarapists

Her forehead has been rebuilt, and surgeons are hoping

to bring her eyes closer together when she's older.

Back on the ward, there's good news about Lucy.

We took the bottom two centimetres of the bone of the

What is really wonderful is going and seeing

the family afterwards and seeing the parents and telling them that

Watching the emotion change in their face to absolute relief.

We have just been blown away by the care they have given us.

We are so indebted to them that we got her

back yesterday, and she is doing so wonderfully well.

Mr Johnson has just done an absolutely amazing job.

We couldn't have hoped for better, and she couldn't

Patients from all over the country come here.

Her mum and dad say it was well worth the journey as,

like many other children, the treatment Kirsty's

getting in Oxford is setting her up for a happy and healthy life.

This week, people in and around Milton Keynes are celebrating

It's one of the fastest growing places in the UK.

But among those who don't live in the area or have never been

there, a few rather unkind stereotypes have developed.

Clare Burton has been out and about, trying to bust

Welcome to one of Milton Keynes' many roundabouts, and it is the

foundation of myth number one, that Milton Keynes is no more than a

As you can see, there are parks and lakes everywhere.

It is a fantastic place for everybody.

There is nobody that lives more than a quarter of a

mile from a piece of lovely, good quality Park, open space,

We've got it all here, and it really does make for a fantastic

And there is even greenery in the shopping centre, and

it is here that you find myth number two, that it is all chain stores and

chain restaurants, to be blunt, that it is a bit bland with no real

Well, it turns out that Milton Keynes has got

quite a lot of old shops, too, here at the Museum.

Anne, tell us a bit about this place.

Here we are in the heart of Victorian Milton Keynes.

If you go a little bit further down the road to one of the

old coaching towns, you will still find an old-fashioned ironmongers

that people from all over the region come to, because you can get

So, Milton Keynes has its quirks and plenty of

independent traders, but what about the people that live here?

Myth number three would have it that they

haven't got a shared identity, any shared passion.

Not according to the editor of the local paper, the MK Citizen.

People are really passionate about it, particularly

But of course the community is now made up of so many

more people who have come here on the back of a job or move

here because it is a lovely place to live.

When we need to, we do get together and we pull together, so

And finally, the biggest myth of all, that this place is a city.

Milton Keynes, officially, is a town.

I've known Milton Keynes right from the beginning.

I think, with the size of it, it qualifies as a city, but

We call it Milk and Beans, because we are old and, you know...

Everyone here seems to refer to it as a city and that is

If we think it's a city, and we call it a city, it is a city.

Sales of George Michael's music have soared since the pop star's death

The 53-year-old singer was found dead at his home

Thousands of tributes have been placed outside by fans

Since his death, nearly 150,000 albums and more

than 400,000 singles have been sold or downloaded.

I'll have the headlines at eight and a full bulletin at 10.30pm.

Now, more of today's stories with Sally Taylor.

Join us later when we'll be talking about how we become

global and we'll be showing you some of our moves.

Onto sport now and one story dominates tonight.

Southampton are into a major cup final for the first time

since losing the FA Cup final in Cardiff in 2003.

able to go to see them in the EFL Cup final next month?

Well, this afternoon, the club announced that they have got just

over 31,400 tickets for the match against Manchester United or Hull.

That will be on your last Sunday February next month. At the moment,

it is due to be a 4:30pm kick-off. Going into the semifinal,

Southampton were the underdogs. A lot of people felt Liverpool would

be too strong for them. Here, they beat them 1-0. There, they beat 1-0.

Klopp and the Kop no match for Southampton.

Liverpool, with their fair share of ex-Southampton players,

got out of Saint Mary's fortunate to only be a goal

Last night, the expected onslaught for

the Saints' defence, minus Virgil Van Dijk,

Instead, Saints had other chances to bury the tie early on.

But cup heroics come in many shapes and sizes.

Southampton's six foot seven goalkeeper Fraser Forster

used every inch to deny the reds a breakthrough.

A heart stopping moment saw young defender Jack Stephens cleared

They can finish the job here, it's Shane

When we ran out at the start of the game, we could

Obviously they've carried is over the line,

Saints players today were digesting the drama at the training

It was a really big night from me in my career, because it's a

Really difficult game for us, but I'm so

It's 14 years since Southampton's last major cup final, defeat against

Seven years ago, they played at the new Wembley in a Johnstons paint

Trophy, winning in front of nearly 14,000 travelling supporters.

Many of those fans will beginning of victory next month.

As you would expect, social media has gone crazy over this. There was

a video posted of the Saints' dressing room. Look at them going

mad. It is buying the scenes stuff, people love to see it, of course.

All the team celebrating there. We also have some tweets from the

players. Shane Long posting a photo. A lot of fans start in traffic on

the', M6 at the time. I think you've got some tweets to weed out as well.

Yes, very busy day, the timeline flying around but I picked out a

couple. Jamie said he was really happy with the performance. He said

the club and fans deserve this moment and they want to now go and

wind it. More treats are appearing on screen for you now. That gives

you the kind of feeling of global appeal from football these days.

Talking of global appeal, India lost their cricket and we saw something

special to date when Tymal Mills took his first wicket for his

country playing in England's T20 victory today.

Mills dismissed Hardik Pandya, who was caught on the boundary

as England reduced the home side to 147 for seven

A great time for Tymal Mills. However, memorable times at

Southampton here. Still talk of the Franco will be invested from the

Chinese. Also looking at the prospect of the Europa League, which

we saw Southampton in this year against Inter Milan. The League Cup

is probably bottom of their priorities, taking into account the

league as well. They played a stronger side and there are now into

the final. The condition many fans might have written off is the one

that could actually fulfil their dreams for this season and many to

come. Football, a funny old game sometimes. Yeah, top priority now.

Thanks very much. Now, here's a tale to restore your

faith in human nature. It starts with a letter taped

to an empty bike rack The letter was addressed

to the thief who'd stolen a brand new bike, belonging to someone who'd

saved-up for a year to buy it. A passer-by saw the note,

and decided to do something Flapping from an empty bike rack,

in this letter caught Rachel's eye as she was walking along

Reading's Broad Street on Tuesday. Dear bike thief, have you ever

thought that you make You might have seen

that the bike is new and Less you know that I could only

afford that back after one year of I was saving and dreaming

of having a new bike one day. Well, it's a pretty forlorn looking

little note, as you can see. Everything I read just

make me made me feel sad It was signed from Alex, who had

added that he or she would wait by the bike rack at 6pm each evening

this week in the hope the bike I have lived here for coming on 17

years now and I think we're That's what motivated

me to do something. Within half an hour,

Rachel had set up an online appeal, aiming to collect

enough money to buy a 24 hours later, the total had

already reached over ?700. I've got no idea,

but Alex said they will I don't know whether Alex

is male or female, even. I will be here at 6pm,

hoping to give Alex Alex understandably wary at first

was deeply moved to know It has given back my

faith in humanity. All the money left over from buying

a new bike and a decent lock will go to a cycling charity,

helping provide affordable bikes for A charity which Alex now says he'd

like to join as a volunteer. Trying to give back that help

that society gave to me and hopefully, by receiving

and giving back help, So, hopefully everyone will be able

to do that and learn from this unfortunate

event at the same time. The world can be a lonely,

old place but, if everyone chips in, it can be

really, really lovely. I would like to say thank you very

much to everyone who contributed and also "Welcome

to Reading" for Alex. We love stories like that. Well

done, Rachel. What a truly lovely person. Now, we are revisiting a

story you might remember. At the end of last year,

we told you about Fatboyz Dance. They are a group of young

dancers who rehearsed That was until they got spotted

and were chosen to perform at one of the biggest events

in the sporting calender - Well, their performance has put them

on the worldwide stage and they've Earlier, I spoke to Liam

and Shivani from Fatboyz. They told you about their experience

in Abu Dhabi. It was on a completely different level. Our expectations

were here. When we got there, it was there. It was incredible. From the

very get go, get in on the plane, to the minute we stepped off the plane,

to the whole experience. It was nonstop, continuous, get from one

place to the other. The audience kept on bombarding us when we got

there. It was crazy. We're what the fans show up at the. Shivani, think

of the world for you since, haven't they? Yet, since we came back, the

support has been incredible. Local. Seven people coming up to us. It has

been so nice. People asking for our picture. Similar people inviting us

to invent. We've got a festival coming up and a world tour as well.

Wow. You're until? Gill again, our own world tour. We are starting with

the locals of everyone can see our performances and stuff and it is in

Winchester the minute. Natalie May 13. If you want to see it, come

along. We would love to. Have you been surprised by your success? Have

I been surprised? Well, Shivani and me have been working really hard at

this specifically. San Miguel, we work so hard. We haven't expected it

but everything that happens, we are like, well, how is this happening?

But we work hard for it and we don't stop working hard for it. We enjoy

every minute. Thank you so much for coming in. Thank you. Weren't a

great? Really well deserved and they are so talented. You saw a bit of it

then, but very exciting. They done a performance in the studio this

afternoon so, at the end of the programme, you can see them do their

moves. Now, time for the weather

with Alexis Green. It has been freezing today, hasn't

it? Bitterly cold. I will tell you about the temperatures in the

forecast. First, let's have a look at the photographs.

Rachel Baker took this photo of the sun trying

to poke through the cloud at Hamworthy Park in Poole.

Steve Miller took this picture of a New Forest Pony in the cold.

And Longstock, Hants - Sandy Burnfield.

Now, through the course of the day, chilly conditions. Three Celsius the

overall temperature. Tomorrow, looking like it'll be up to eight

Celsius. Duties if you don't like the cold. A frost developing,

though, in the early hours of the morning. Risk winds from the south

and south-east from clear skies. We will see one or two missed catches

and the is an ice warning for Sussex and Surrey, where we will see

someone three showers that could cause problems on untreated roads.

-- slippery. A cold, frosty, potentially IT started the day

tomorrow. Some brightness initially but, three course of the day, travel

increase and we see some patchy rain arriving from the south. That is on

a southerly breeze and the breeze will be strong tomorrow with

cabbages reaching 5-8 C. Through the course of tomorrow night, the rain

will disappear but further rain arrives, more persistent and of rain

during the early hours of Saturday morning. -- temperatures. Milder

temperatures as well. A lot milder than today's values, seven Celsius

now. A mild weekend and staying mild throughout the weekend into the

start of next week. Saturday, patchy rain at times. Thunderstorms during

the course of the day. Some bright and sunny spells and a brisk,

south-westerly winds. As we head to best of the week, tomorrow will be

an icy start in places, frost in the morning. Brightness during the

morning but then clouding over with patchy rain arriving through the

afternoon. Sunshine and the potential for thundery showers to

Saturday. Some rain about on Sunday had quite a cloudy day on Sunday

with further rain possible on Monday. If you're out and about

anywhere, do send us your weather pictures. Thanks very much, Alexis.

Mansell from us evening but, before we get a fantasy that balance

performance the promised you. Being a special performance in all studio,

Basingstoke -based Fatboyz Dance! Einstein replaced Newton's theory

of universal gravitation with a more accurate theory -

general relativity. So, why's my apple falling?

Well, it's not. It is the ground that accelerates up

to meet the apple. So that's why the chair

that I'm sitting on now that actually feels

as if it's accelerating up It's really changed my relationship

with this chair. Mm-hm. The FA People's Cup -

a free five-a-side tournament For information,

go to the Get Inspired website.