25/07/2011 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: Struggling to cope why staff

shortages have forced some maternity units to turn away

pregnant women. Why protecting this tiny sea snail

is causing a stir in Pagham. law is biased against people. It

does not bear scrutiny. Dorset heathland on fire, but this

time firefighters say it's all in a good cause.

And the gruelling three-day challenge to swim to the Isle of

Wight run round it and swim back again. The next three days of going

to be excruciatingly painful, but Maternity units in the South are

being regularly closed, some almost once a week. It means pregnant

women are being turned away from their local unit and sent elsewhere.

Figures for 2010 obtained by the BBC's Panorama programme also show

that midwives are having to deal with far more births than

recommended because of staff shortages. Overall, they paint a

picture of a service under serious pressure, particularly in this

regiona. Our health correspondent, David Fenton, reports.

There is a baby boom and hospitals of struggling to cope with the

highest number of birds in 20 years. It is particularly acute in the

south. This woman, who did not want to be identified, gave birth in

Reading last year. The midwife was brilliant Iraq and she stayed with

us and took care of us. -- was brilliant throughout. We were left

for about four hours after that. My baby wanted to feed so that was the

most traumatic thing because she was just screaming. Figures we have

seen showed just how pressured some units have become.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, all hospitals were asked how

often they close their maternity units because of staffing or other

Some hospitals did not give any figures.

One patient groups says mothers were often moved to other hospitals

because their local unit was full. Mothers are very anxious at that

stage and when they get diverted out the last minute, it is very

distressing. But the hospital right so to everyone who is affected like

that and points out the reason that the maternity unit was closed. It

is because they were dealing with a really urgent cases. Change in

maternity services is controversial and could become more so as NHS

savings begun to bite. With the cutbacks, with the recession, there

will not be much more money, but knowing about the problem will help

us start sorting it out and making sure we are bringing in more

midwives into the service. If we know about the problem, we can deal

with it. But with birthrate rising, the pressure on maternity units

looks likely to continue. I'm joined now by our Health

Correspondent David Fenton. These statistics reflect pretty badly on

some trusts? These figures are from a Panorama programme tonight and

they do suggest some hospitals are doing worse than others. What's

strange is that we see some places like Reading and Bournemouth

temporarily closing units - basically because they're full -

other hospitals saying not closed at all throughout year. Frankly, I

think that is odd, and it may not be whole picture. I should just say

that the Royal Berkshire didn't want to comment on these figures

today. Bournemouth came out worst for the number of closures in the

South - what do they have to say? Their unit is run by midwives for

low-risk pregnancies. They said they would only close the unit if

"all alternatives have been explored". Clearly it's not ideal

for a woman about to give birth to find her local unit closed and have

to go elsewhere. Thank you very much, David.

Panorama is tonight at 8.30pm on BBC 1. And you can find out how

your hospital fares by going to the news section of the BBC website.

Click on the health tab and follow the links to the maternity story.

From there, you can download all the figures including how many

midwife posts are vacant and midwife to birth ratios.

Southampton City Council staff are back on strike today in a long

running dispute over pay cuts and changes to their conditions. Talks

aimed at settling the dispute finished at lunchtime without

resolution. Street cleaners, parking wardens and toll collectors

on the Itchen bridge will all be off work for the next seven days.

Refuse collectors are working to rule. More talks are scheduled for

Wednesday. A strike by bus drivers, which

looked set to take vehicles off the road in Chichester, has been called

off after an agreement between unions and management. The drivers

voted by a substantial majority to accept a revised pay offer, which

gives them a 5% rise over two and a half years. They had planned a

three-day strike, but the UNITE union negotiated the basis of a

settlement with bus-operators Stagecoach.

A fire, which was started quite deliberately, has destroyed an area

of heathland near Dorchester this afternoon. And more such fires are

expected this week. What's more, they're happening with the full

approval of the authorities in Dorset. And perhaps not

surprisingly, they've attracted attention far beyond the South of

England. Roisin Gauson is in Dorset for us this evening to explain the

method behind this apparent madness. He may well call it madness because

this site is a dedicated site, a special scientific interest. It is

home to a huge variety of wildlife and plants, and yet today and Ariel

was destroyed by fire, a familiar problem during this time of year.

But the difference with this fire is that it was monitored,

controlled and is already being analysed by of researchers keen to

find out more about the way in which it burned.

He'd fires can decimate an environment in a matter of hours.

Just last month, 140 acres was destroyed in a fire that was

started day -- a deliberately. This week, scientists will be staging a

number of research bones near Dorchester or to discover more

about fire behaviour in the summer conditions. If we can understand

the conditions in which Upton heath and burnt, we learnt a lot more and

we will understand the fires a lot better this way than other burns at

other times of year. It is a lot of preparation for a burnt that is

only going to last for two minutes, but the key is to get everything

done to perfection now because you only get one chance to collect the

data. High-tech monitoring equipment

provides vital information on everything from soil temperature,

the effects of wind and which vegetation is most susceptible to

burn. Every effort is made to ensure that wildlife is in court in

the fire. We have done everything we can. Prior to the burn, there is

a lot of activity from researchers everywhere preparing so they will

remove all the wildlife away. But we have a final walk across the

site to flush any wildlife away and do what we can to remove them.

Experienced teams will be on site to manage the burns throughout the

week. It is hoped that sacrificing small areas to research will lead

to greater understanding of how best to tackle large-scale fires in

the future. Work he continues this evening.

They have four fires a planned for this week, but they will continue

to monitor this area as it regenerate and turns green once

more to get a complete picture of how a fire can affect an area from

In the past hour, commuters at Brighton railway station have been

joining in a nationwide protest about rail fare increases.

Passengers and local politicians have joined a demonstration

organised by the lobby group Campaign for Better Transport. Next

year, a season ticket for a Brighton to London commute will go

up by over �250 to more than �3,500.o may have been seen there.

It will be expensive. I commute a lot, just to go up there every day,

you feel it because you travel during the peak times. As long as

they are investing in a decent facilities and better rail services,

then I can condone the increase. They are planning to raise rail

fares by 28 % over the next three years. That is difficult for people

commuting every day, getting around to see family and friends. Fares of

rising four times faster than wages so it is difficult for people to

get to work and also not a good idea in terms of pushing people

into their cars. Sporting ambition or a blatant

disregard for our heritage? Opposing views of two sides in a

planning row in Surrey. The National Small Bore Rifle

Association wants to build a hotel for people who come to shoot at

Bisley. But a living history museum on the site wants to preserve

buildings there. Tom Hepworth reports.

The battle lines are drawn, but this is a planning dispute with a

difference: It is about a shed, or rather a heart. It is home to Eddie

who runs the Trunch experience at living History Museum which

commemorates those who left -- lost their homes in World War One. The

heart was built in 1913 as a cookhouse when thousands of the

soldiers were trained at Bisley before being deployed to the

Western Front. It is owned by the National -- the National Small Bore

Rifle Association which wants to knock it down and build a 75

bedroom hotel exclusively for shooting parties. Secretly, I did

not believe that a hotel development here would work. There

is a special clause in the conditions for the use of the hotel

and that is it may only be used by shooters, people who are allied to

shooting. The idea of a hotel is meant to enhance the enjoyment of

the people who already come to Bisley to shoot. It is not meant to

attract members of the general public. If the general public, and

do the gates, it will affect the unique character of this place.

Nobody from the National Small Bore Rifle Association was available for

an interview on camera. They did tell me that they did not think

this building was of any historical significance. They say there is a

severe shortage of accommodation locally with many shooters having

to stay in Bracknell 9 miles away. The council granted planning

permission 12 years ago, but says no evidence was presented to show

the hut was of historical importance. Efforts are now

underway to get a building preservation order, the first step

to getting a listed. Eddie wants to stay, but has been

given two weeks notice so is Dorset police made more than �1

million in profit last year from its Driver Awareness Course. Its

offered to some motorists as an alternative to points on their

licence. Around 20,000 drivers pay �100 to take the course in Dorset

every year. The force says the A cannabis factory where up to 400

plants were being grown has been uncovered by police in Worthing.

They were called to the warehouse in Dale Road when a burglar alarm

went off over the weekend. Once inside, they found the drugs.

Officers are still searching the premises, but no arrests have yet

been made. They're appealing for any information about the factory

or people who may have been seen Within a few weeks, he is going

back to Colombia to set up a charity to help street children.

A two years ago, down was working as a teacher in a Colombian city.

During a holiday trip to the Amazon, he dived on to make sandbank and

fractured his neck. He was flown to hospital to begin his recovery. For

the last nine months, he has been living at his home. His mother

lives nearby. He has spent much of the time here planning to launch a

charity to help children who live on the streets. I feel a sense of

connection with these children, a sense of connection with Colombia.

Although I had a terrible accident there, it was something I had in

mind before. It was not until arriving there and I had lived

there and went into the centre of the city and travelled around that

I realised the extent of poverty. The scale of need there is

incredible. Down and has set up the project with a voice activated

computer. He will be working with a partner charity based in Colombia

and has already attracted the attention of a couple of corporate

donors. He fears his physical recovery has stalled and plans to

undergo intensive rehabilitation at a clinic in Colombia during his two

month trip there. It will not be an easy journey, but he is getting

support from friends and family. Daniel is incredibly determined. It

is something he started before the accident. It is a very good for him,

he really has to do this. As a family, we have to make sure he can

do it. Going back to Colombia with the nostalgia and the friends that

I made there, having not been there since I had my accident, it will be

an extremely emotional time. Daniel is true to it before Colombia at

the end of Saddam. -- due to leave Today:

Work to restore a number of historic buildings in Salisbury

city centre which were partially destroyed during a fire in March,

is expected to take ten months. The fire began at the 18th-century

Market Inn pub. Investigators haven't been able to pinpoint what

caused the blaze. It's hoped the work will be completed before the

Olympic torch relay visits the City next July.

Dorset's Bovington Tank Museum has moved a step closer to securing

�2.7 million of Lottery funding. It's been given the go ahead to

draw up plans for a new conservation centre. It would house

up to 120 of its historic military Glorious Goodwood gets underway

tomorrow and there's the promise of an epic contest between two

I love my racing! You know more about the horses than

I do! I am going to read the link now,

but you do not need me for that. Frankel goes up against Canford

Cliffs for the first time on Wednesday, and as Mark Sanders

explains it's likely to be an It was raining like Hague on

Wednesday! It has always been is a fixture of the summer season has

come and visit the stage is set up for what has been billed as the jaw

on the Downs, a contest between two outstanding horses who have never

raised -- and raced against one another. On Wednesday, there is the

four year-old who won it last year. He will arrive at Goodwood at his

victory at Royal Ascot. He will be up against Frankel, a year younger

and unbeaten in all of his seven starts, including a brilliant

display in 2000. The competition is almost a two horse race. The big

two will be joined by just two other runners. Since he won last

year, he is unbeaten. But Frankel adds... He has been astonishing,

the weight he has won his races. He could be the best course I will

ever see. Partly, Wednesday is about proving that, how good is

Frankel? It promises to be the base at glorious Goodwood. The weather

was smiling on the South Downs, much to the relief of the clerk of

the course. Last week, I was worried because we had a lot of

brain. That was up until Friday and then it settled down. I was

concerned because I thought we would be racing on easier ground,

but it is lovely now. There has been a vintage racing at Goodwood

over the years, but Wednesday's meeting between these two basis --

courses promises to be a good encounter.

Lots more from Goodwood it later in the week, including the celebrity

race. That is on Thursday. The big race is on Wednesday.

Cricket, and Hampshire have been deducted eight County Championship

points for having a poor pitch in this week's match against

Nottinghamshire. They're now 36 points adrift at the bottom of

Division One. In football, Reading have signed 24-year-old South

African international defender Bongani Khumalo on a season-long

loan from Tottenham. Meanwhile, Crawley Town fans got

the chance to see the League Cup in person at the club's open training

session today. Crawley face the unusual prospect of a play-off

against fellow Football League new boys AFC Wimbledon on Friday for a

place in the first round proper of the competition.

Lots of people take on sporting challenges to raise money for good

causes. But there are sporting challenges. And then there are

sporting challenges. And two men from Hampshire are resting tonight

after the first leg of an epic odyssey. They're calling their goal

- to swim to and run round the Isle Two men, one mission. At 9:30am

this morning, it began. Dave and Martin have strong motives for

taking on this challenge. You would need to. A former professional

triathlete, Dave was diagnosed with suspected cancer two years ago.

is not uncommon... Very surreal. I could see people, I could see them

moving but I could not hear them. Martin only learnt to swim two

years ago. He is spurred on by the memory of his father who died

recently from pancreatic cancer. was early 63, but he was in good

health so that says a lot about pancreatic cancer and the fact that

it is one of those things that needs to be spotted and treated

early. The challenge facing the duo: Day 1's swim is followed by a

15 mile run. Tomorrow will see them running more than a marathon. They

will be stopping for the night in Newport. The final stage is on

Wednesday, Avon from Newport back to ride, just 10 miles, before the

final lung-bursting swim and another three miles back to where

it started in Gosport. Some may wonder why two super-fit of men

should need to push their bodies to the limit to provide equipment for

the NHS. But this is about excellence in more ways than one.

The NHS funding is to provide a hate -- a high level quality of

care, not highly world-leading care. The efforts of these guys will

allow us to elevate the standards of care. They made it safely to the

end of the first day, but there is still a long way to go. This

extreme challenge is extremely personal.

They finished the day one about an hour ago. I rang them to find out

how they got on. One of them was waiting for the other one to catch

up. They are doing brilliantly. I am so pleased for them, but do

take care. Chris Castle took this vibrant

picture of a hoverfly basking in the sunshine and feeding on a

Helenium in her garden in Fleet in Hampshire. I almost believe I know

what I'm talking about there. But it does look lovely!

And Roger Bishop from Thame in Oxfordshire capture a Red Kite

enjoying the sunshine in a tree at Very warm day today. Let's take a

look at the temperatures. We've reached a high of 24 degrees in

Bournemouth and also in Southampton. Heading down the list, 21 in odium

and 20 degrees in Sussex. A lovely warm day although this afternoon we

saw an increase in cloud cover arriving from the north and west.

The Isle of Wight, Hampshire and parts of Dorset sort evening

showers, and they will continue until the morning. Patchy cloud and

a few clear spells, temperatures will be mild so expect lows of 12

or 14 degrees. An uncomfortable night for sleeping in towns and

cities. Single figures in the countryside. 8:00am tomorrow

morning, temperatures will be up to 15 degrees. The winds will be light

with the risk of a couple of showers, but most areas should be

dry. The showers should be few and far between and fairly light.

Tomorrow afternoon, the temperatures will rise a nicely,

but not as well as today. Expect a high of 21 or 22 degrees. May the

23 if you are lucky. We hold on to the cloud cover tomorrow. The

chance of a shower tomorrow evening, but most areas should stay dry.

Lows of 14 or 15 degrees. Once again, the winds will be light.

Wednesday will be a day like tomorrow: More cloud and not as

sunny as today. We will see a weather front edging in from the

West, but that should not affect us. It will produce more cloud

throughout the day. There will be a couple of sunny spells so expect a

bright start for some, increasing cloud, on Wednesday and some sunny

spells on Thursday and Friday thanks to high pressure building

from the Atlantic. Back to you. You lucky thing! Did a bit of

gardening and bleeding while you Are your children doing anything

this summer? This is a long stretch and parents of wondering, what do

we do? It is up for debate. A long debate, I would think. Do you

remember Charlie? Idea. It's the first week of the school

holidays for many children, but one 11-year-old from Crawley won't be

spending the summer on his X-box or out with his mates in the park.

Instead, Charlie Doherty's cycling from Brighton to Scotland, raising

thousands of pounds for charity. You may remember we've featured

Charlie before on South Today - he's the little boy who always

gives his presents away. John Young His mother is also going along for

the right. He wants to raise money for those less fortunate than

himself. Getting ready for a bike ride with

his mother, but this is no ordinary bike ride. There is a lot to carry,

tents, food, clothing and fund raising kit. Charlie has got the

wheels for the three-week long trip. It is really starlet, really easy

to stop. If the face on the right rings a bell, that is because on --

in February, we told him about his birthday party raising money for

the same cause. He has been handing his birthday money to charity for

as long as he remember, but why? There are starving children all

across the world and sometimes I think, whenever I think about it,

why do we have all of this? Wider why have days when some people have

nothing? They cannot afford food or drink or anything. I just can't get

it, how we live like this and they live like that. It is unfair.

has persuaded his school friends it is unfair as well. What do they

think of his challenge? Very good choice and extremely hard. Burke

were fit. I am amazed he is doing it. It sounds really hard. What is

so amazing is that he actually arranged the whole thing himself.

That is incredible, for a boy of his age to do that, it is brilliant.

He came up with the idea and has made it happen and that is Charlie

Theron through. And his mother is not going to argue with that. You

get the impression she does not like to argue with him. For months,

I was saying that I would not attend this journey. I do not know

how far we are going to get, but I have to give it a try. So now I am

trying. So off they go, Charlie in the lead and Mahmut following

behind. We have not heard the last of this fundraiser. We will let you

know how he gets on. Good luck, Charlie. Good luck to