27/09/2013 South Today

Welcome to South Today. In tonight's programme: A Southampton nurse is

disciplined after handing a vulnerable patient a razor blade.

More than 100 agency workers are laid off amid fears over the future

of shipbuilding in Portsmouth. The fact that those people are losing

their jobs today shows the uncertainty of the future of the

naval base and shipbuilding in the country in general.

We'll have a special report on fracking from America, as a firm

seeks permission to continue exploratory drilling in West Sussex.

And grappling with self defence — an international jujitsu competition is

held in Hampshire for the first time.

Last year it was on the bright lights of Las Vegas, this year it is

here. Join me later. A Southampton mental health nurse

has been cautioned for handing a patient a razor blade which she then

cut herself with. Katherine Quinn was working in the Antelope House

Mental Health unit when the incident took place. A disciplinary hearing

in London today found that she was still fit to keep practising as a

nurse. Our reporter Rob Powell was there and joins me now from London.

Rob, what happened? Well, Katherine Quinn, a mental

health nurse who had been practising in Southampton, admitted giving a

patient a razor blade while on shift in May 2011 and allowing her to

self—harm with it. The woman, who can only be referred to as patient

A, had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and

had a history of self—harming. So why did she do it?

Well, Quinn's line manager at the Antelope House Mental Health Unit

told the hearing that she had said she was trying to do her best for

the patient and that she was aware of other trusts that had policies

that allowed therapeutic self—harming. The panel today

decided that since 2011, Quinn had taken on extra training and

supervision at work. And that an incident like this was highly

unlikely to happen again. For this reason, it only issued her with a

caution. Do we know anything more about this

hospital? Well, an inspection carried out by

the Care Quality Commission in August 2011, shortly after this

incident, identified concerns with patient care plans at the unit. It

said: And how have charities reacted to

this? Today we spoke to the mental health

charity Sane. This is what they said.

We are waiting for very strong guidelines, which haven't yet

appeared. In the meantime, it is the patient that counts. Someone who is

so disturbed that the only way forward is to release that pain, as

somebody said to me once, I cut in order to breed. You can take away

their way of coping with severe distress.

What has the NHS Trust said about this? Well, Southern Health NHS

Foundation Trust had no—one available for an interview but in a

statement said: Work has started on a new rail

operations centre which will bring 500 jobs to Basingstoke.

It's one of three being built by Network Rail in the South, with

others at Didcot and Three Bridges. The centre will also train 300 rail

staff at a time. Our Transport Correspondent, Paul Clifton,

reports. A rundown disused car parked beside

the railway. It has look like this for years but not for much longer.

Work started this morning on a new control centre which will run on all

trains from London Waterloo to the south coast. It will enable much

more reliable, safe, cost—effective signalling and an additional

training facility for all 6000 of our employees. There will be a

training centre and space for 500 staff and 300 trainees.

The jobs will be new to Basingstoke but not many will be new posts. Most

will relocate from other sites. Bill—mac the jobs coming into the

site will get hairy benefits to the town.

Network Rail is a really important local employer and the effects for

the local economy will be significant.

12 sites will replace all 800 signal boxes nationwide. Three Bridges and

Didcot will be the others in the South.

This multimillion pound scheme is just one of many. Hot on the heels

of Waitrose and John Lewis coming to the scene, it shows that this town

is changing. This centre will control all trains

coming from London to the south coast and as far over as Exeter.

Energy company Cuadrilla has begun removing equipment from Balcombe as

it no longer plans to frack there and Sussex Police is winding down

its operation in the village after two months of protests. However, the

Government is still keen on fracking and Energy Minister Greg Barker is

in the States on a fact—finding mission. Our reporter Fiona Irving

travelled with him and sent this report from Pennsylvania.

The collared black gold and since fracking started here in

Pennsylvania in 2007, there has been a rush to drill. —— they call it

black gold. This is what they are drilling into 1.5 miles below our

feet. We below the ground water and

anything we need worry about. It has certainly busted some of the myths I

was worried about. But those worries feel very real for those living in

the countryside. People are worried about water

pollution and concreting the countryside. It is not safe. They

have continued to rack up violations.

It is a dinosaur which refuses to lay down and die. Their day is over.

This is 19th century energy. Coal and gas, fossil fuel.

But the energy company says that it is safe and it is a pure US

desperately needs. Under my feet, what they are drilling into is

thought to be 500 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

It has read to an American Revolution, falling unemployment and

low energy prices. The government won't face is that Mac want a slice

of this action. Are it could play it the role in combating climate

change. If it is half as polluting as coal, it could bring down

emissions globally. The arguments on both sides of the fracking debate

play out regularly in Pennsylvania. With only exploratory drilling so

far in Balcombe, those arguments are yet to reach their full force in the

UK. Well, large tracts of land in the

South which energy companies are eyeing up, in the hope they might be

suitable for fracking, are also traditional Tory strongholds. That

poses some big questions for David Cameron ahead of the Conservative

Party conference which starts this weekend. Our political editor, Peter

Henley, asked him if he'd been influenced by the protest in Sussex.

There are some people who literally do not want any form of fuel to be

discovered if it has got carbon in eight and I think they are being

incredibly frustrating and naive —— carbon and it. They are so opposed

to any form of carbon —based electricity that they cannot bear

it. I think they are being very stubborn and wrong. Some concerns

are coming from conservative areas. Are you listening to your grass

roots? I am. I think there needs to be

generalist payments to local areas, possibly up to £10 million per well

to say that communities can really benefit from this resource. Can I

ask about UK and Nigel Farage? Is there a possibility that he is more

in touch with the grassroots than you are?

I don't think so. We have had to make very difficult decisions. My

message is that it is worth it if we complete the job and bring a

recovery for everybody and show that if you work hard and do the right

thing, we are on your side. If you focus on the big task of turning the

country round, that is what we want. And Peter will be back with Sunday

Politics on Sunday at 11am. More children are being adopted in

the South. The numbers have increased since 2009, following a

shake—up of the system which had been criticised for being slow.

Still to come in this evening's South Today: We're at the World

Jujitsu Championship which is being held in Andover.

It is the art of self defence and it doesn't matter how big or small you

are. Join me later in the programme. It's been confirmed today that 115

agency workers at the BAE shipyard in Portsmouth have been laid off.

Many were employed through the Fareham—based Matchtech employment

company. There has been uncertainty at the future of shipbuilding in the

city since last year when BAE began a review of its warship business

across the UK. Steve Humphrey is with me now. Steve, why are these

jobs going now? This is all to do with the lack of

orders for new warships — both export orders and UK MoD orders. The

agency staff had been involved in building three corvettes for Royal

Oman Navy. It was a quite a decent—sized export contract but the

work is coming to an end. 115 agency workers have been told they are no

longer required. BAE says the contract workers were from a variety

of trades including mechanical fitters, painters and joiners.

And there has already been a question mark hanging over the long

term future of shipbuilding in Portsmouth.

Yes, last year BAE announced a review of its three warship building

bases — the one in Portsmouth and two on the Clyde in Scotland. The

review was launched because of the downturn in warship orders. The

yard's biggest contract at the moment is for sections of the Navy's

second aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales. That work in Portsmouth

will begin to wind down in 2015. BAE currently employs 3,200 of its own

staff at the naval base in Portsmouth of which 1,300 are

involved in shipbuilding. Today, unions repeated their calls for a

decision to be made about the future of the UK's warship building

industry. There does need to be a decision

about how shipbuilding is going to be configured in this country going

forward. Government clearly need to be part of making that decision but

we recognise there is a question over Scottish independence which may

be inhabiting that. But the longer it goes on, the more likely we are

to see people losing their jobs. So, Steve, what is BAE saying today?

Well, today, BAE issued a statement about the decision to lay off the

115 agency workers. It says: Meanwhile, the employment company

Matchtech has said it will be working with the people involved to

try to identify new opportunities. Cycling campaigners say a new bridge

across the River Thames in Berkshire, designed especially for

those walking or cycling, will be hopelessly inadequate to cope with

demand. Reading Borough Council has robustly defended the crossing which

will link Caversham and Reading. Nikki Mitchell reports.

It seems few cyclists are willing to risk cycling on the roads in this

area. The Newbridge will connect with the main roads by Reading

station. People can't walk. It's a good idea. It would be much easier.

It will be built at a cost of £21 million.

They believed the design is hopelessly inadequate. If you're

going to get hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians using the bread at

the same time then it is really important that the cyclists have

their own space and pedestrians have their own space. But the council

says that if cyclists know they are sharing the bread with people on

foot, they will slow down. There are 50 similar bridges that

have been built in the last ten years around England and none have a

sacred segregated facility. It will work extremely well and proved to be

very popular. The plans for this iconic structure and the sensitivity

of its location will be reviewed in detail later this year.

Andover is playing host to around 100 of the globe's top jujitsu

competitors as the World Championships take place. The

martial art involves opponents grappling, throwing and striking

each other. Alexis Green has been watching them in action and is live

at the event. Jujitsu is all about self defence

and it doesn't matter how big or how small you are, it's great for all

ages. The World Championships are taking place and today we learned

all about the technique of grappling.

Jujitsu was originally used by the Samurai soldiers in Japan, fighting

each other on horseback with swords. Once they lost their weapon, they

had to adapt, which is what today's sport is all about. The word jujitsu

can be translated to mean gentle art. There are rules, even so

competitors can kick or even choke each other. You are fighting for

points so you need control when you're doing standing up the rose.

But you're not too draw blood because we are not at war with

anybody. England are favourites to win but

not if the Canadians can help it. Our intention is to leave with the

gold. For me it is interesting to practice in an international

competition so I hope it will help me win.

Five countries, one gold medal. The grapple for gold is on.

That was about grappling but to tell us all about the other techniques is

the director of the sport in England. You are six levels higher

than a black belt, that's amazing. They are showing kicks and punches.

Carla and Neal, I mean Chris, are doing some throws. It is the place

to be. Can people come and watch? Yes, it is £10 for the day and

tomorrow is the big team event. England can win! Are you ready? How

was that? Very impressive. Tom this year with

the sport. Do you fancy a go at that?

I'm not sure. I think I heard the crunch of bones when he went down!

A crowd of more than 6000 saw England's women thrash Turkey 8—0 in

their World Cup qualifier at Fratton Park. Toni Duggan opened the scoring

in the first minute and went on to score a first—half hat—trick. It

follows England's 6—0 win against Belarus at Bournemouth. Let's have a

look at the goals. That's a tour of Bengal and England

have six. She scores and England have eight

goals. You have to go back to 2007 since we

saw more than eight goals in a game at Fratton Park, when Pompey beat

Reading 7—4 in the Premier League. Now, Southampton will look to build

on their victory at Liverpool last week. Saints host Crystal Palace at

St Mary's and will be hoping for their first Premier League win at

home since the end of March. Rickie Lambert scored twice the last time

the clubs met. And one Saints legend is tipping him to be on the plane to

Brazil should England qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

What he has done has been phenomenal. There's not too many

players who made their England debut after the age of 30, especially

taking that career path. He has a hero in Southampton and rightly so.

He has enough quality to make a difference at international level.

In the Championship, on—loan Saints striker Billy Sharp goes straight

into the Reading squad for their game against Birmingham. Bournemouth

host Blackburn and Brighton travel to Ipswich.

MK Dons host Stevenage and Swindon travel to Preston in League One. In

League Two, Portsmouth travel to York and Oxford head north as well

to Hartlepool. Commentary, as you'd expect, on your BBC Local radio

station and we'll have highlights here on Monday.

The basketball season gets underway this weekend in the BBL and Surrey

United begin this season's campaign under new ownership. Earlier this

month, the Surrey Sports Park and London United took over the

franchise based in Guildford. It's meant a third name change in as many

years but also access to a supply of talented young players.

Alan Hansen once said that she cannot win anything with kids.

Manchester United proved him wrong and Surrey United wants to do the

same. They have their pick of local young players. We want to get

players on scholarships. That should eradicate the issue of salaries. I

wouldn't say we will go for cheap players, we will go for young up and

coming players. We can act this 19—year—old hopes exposure in the

top flight will boost his international career and knows what

the motivation playing at this level can be for youngsters.

Everybody is hungry. They all wanted. 12 of the students

live together into student houses in Whickham. The manager is just hoping

they do not come down with the flu. They are considering entering a side

in one of the French regional leagues. But can they improve on

last year's fourth—place? You can win things with young players. Alan

Hansen was wrong. We can win with the kids. They start at home

tomorrow. Couple more brief lines for you:

Hampshire Cricket have signed all—rounder Matt Coles on a

permanent deal from Kent and Portsmouth boxer Ebonie Jones lost

her semi final on a split decision in the Women's Junior World Amateur

Boxing Championships in Bulgaria. The 15—year—old has claimed the

bronze medal though. Such a beautiful start to

from one contact sports to another because Alexis is at the world

jujitsu Championships. I want to see how you're getting on.

I just bet that one move because my back is hurting a little!

Let us look at the satellite picture from early on. The clouds broke up

nicely to give highs of 19 Celsius. Tonight, the cloud will gather in

places and there may be some showers. It will be cooler in the

north of the region. There is still the chance of a shower tomorrow but

most places will be dry during the morning. That risk of showers

increases in the afternoon. They could be heavy in places, maybe even

thundery, but there will be sunshine. Through the course of

tomorrow night, patchy cloud once again. The majority of places

staying dry. For the next few days, it is looking pretty good for most

areas but if you are unlucky to catch a shower, they could be on the

heavy side possibly with even some thunder. There are as lots of

uncertainty about these showers so stay chained to the forecast. ——

there is lots of uncertainty. That's it from us. Goodbye.