Browse content similar to 08/08/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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from Oxford. In tonight's programme: Reducing delays and creating jobs - | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
how �33 million is being spent improving the rail network through | :00:08. | :00:15. | |
Swindon and the Thames Valley. Also tonight: East meets West - why | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
a delegation from China has been in the Cotswolds. | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
And later on: River safety - another warning to stay out of waterways in | :00:23. | :00:33. | |
:00:33. | :00:43. | ||
A Wiltshire company has won the contract to make all the brakes on | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
the next generation of inter-city trains, securing hundreds of jobs | :00:45. | :00:52. | |
for years to come. Meanwhile, Network Rail is spending millions of | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
pounds on every structure, which is creating hundreds of jobs and should | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
reduce delays. This factory makes brakes. Soon it | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
will start making them for the new intercity express trains built by | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
Hitachi. For technicians like Mark Bullock, that means long-term job | :01:09. | :01:18. | |
security. It is basically a valve that communicates with the train, | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
tells the train what braking pressure to apply. This is not just | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
an order to hit the brakes on 600 carriages, more importantly, it is | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
about a contract to maintain those systems for the next three decades. | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
The trains will make their first appearance on the Great Western in | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
three years' time. This is a mainline train replacement, which is | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
very rare in the UK. This has been quite a long time coming, it is a | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
very large contract. Refurbishment of a bridge over the | :01:51. | :02:01. | |
:02:01. | :02:01. | ||
Thames is getting under way at Bourne End. Effectively, we are | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
carrying out structural steel repairs. Network Rail says �1.3 | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
billion are being spent this year in the Southeast to improve | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
infrastructure. There are 39 schemes in the Thames | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Valley alone. Network Rail has 34,000 staff and reckons this keeps | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
another 90,000 people in work. But only last week it was told off by | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
the Rail Regulator for not doing enough maintenance and, in | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
particular, making the tracks more resilient to extreme weather. | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
bridge you can see behind me is one of several projects that has been | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
brought forward, it is a �33 million investment in the South and in the | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
Thames Valley. It is stimulus money, which means that it goes to the | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
local economy and to help local businesses. | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
Network Rail's point is this - spending on infrastructure does more | :02:45. | :02:53. | |
than make journeys better, it also puts money into the wider economy. | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
A driver who knocked down and killed a cyclist while he was eating at the | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
wheel has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving. Joseph | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
Wilkins was cycling on a country road near Abingdon last May when he | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
was struck. Paul Brown, seen here arriving at court this morning, | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
admitted he'd been eating a sandwich between five to ten seconds before | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
he hit him. He says his eyes were on the road but Mr Wilkins had no | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
lights or reflectors. Paul Brown had already admitted causing death by | :03:18. | :03:27. | |
careless driving. He'll be sentenced in September. The jury in this case | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
decided that the facts amounted to a count of careless driving as opposed | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
to dangerous driving. I would urge all drivers to think about their | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
driving and the actions behind the wheel so that this kind of thing | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
does not happen. Fatal collisions are very often avoidable and this | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
case was no different at all. A motorcyclist has been injured in | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
the centre of Oxford after an accident involving a taxi. Ambulance | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
crews were called to St Giles shortly after 3pm. Paramedics | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
treated the man at the roadside before he was taken to hospital with | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
minor injuries. A delegation from China have been in | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
the Cotswolds to find out how the the UK tackles poverty in rural | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
areas. China has a growing gap between the rich and the poor and | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
the Government wants to address the problem urgently. The delegation met | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
with Action With Communities In Rural England, who are based in | :04:14. | :04:23. | |
Cirencester. Steve Knibbs reports. Chinese visitors to the Cotswolds | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
are not unusual but this group was more interested in aspects of rural | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
life, not on the tourist map. is a national voluntary network... | :04:32. | :04:40. | |
It would be interesting to know what those are in rural China. -- what | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
those issues are in rural China. But we have been told there are no | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
interviews. To give you some idea, this is southern China, the poorest | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
province. While in the major cities the economy is booming, like he | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
could not be more different. Lu Da Yi is a farmer, Yaz not earned any | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
money for a year. He is living below the poverty line along with millions | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
of other Chinese will stop transmission macro it is not fair, | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
-- TRANSLATION: It is not fair, I have been to the city, they live | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
better there. The Chinese governorate have made it | :05:16. | :05:23. | |
a priority to tackle rural poverty. While many difficulties we may face | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
in the UK do not apply to China, there are similarities. There are | :05:27. | :05:34. | |
issues around poor housing and poor sanitation. There are different | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
issues but they can look at where we are now to look at the voluntary | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
network to see how they can make changes. He was a coincidence. Qing | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
Lin looks after me was of the Chinese committee in the area. She | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
hopes that this will help back home. It is a time bomb waiting to | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
explode. I hope they learn from us to see how they can tackle the Asian | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
society problem, they are the same as everyone else. It will not be the | :06:08. | :06:17. | |
last visit from Chinese officials. The start of maybe a longer term | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
relationship between East and West countries. | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
Campaigners fighting plans for student flats next to Port Meadow in | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
Oxford have won the right for their case to be heard in front of a | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
judge. The Campaign to Protect Rural England has raised more than �20,000 | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
to fight the case. If they're successful, a judge will review the | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
decision by City Council to grant planning permission for the Castle | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
Mill development. Oxford University intends to finish the buildings by | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
October. A hydroelectric power scheme is to | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
be built at Blenheim Palace. The project involves installing an | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
Archimedean screw, similar to this one on the River Thames in | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
Berkshire, on the River Glyme at Bladon Dam. It should reduce the | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
Palace's electricity bill and is part of plans to make Blenheim one | :06:58. | :07:07. | |
of Britain's greenest stately homes. The generator will produce around | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
60,000 kWh of energy every year. That is equivalent to about 18 homes | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
worth of energy. Piping that or conducting that into the estate and | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
being able to run all of their operation from this renewable | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
energy, it makes absolute sense. 50 years ago today, a gang of | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
robbers stopped an overnight train in Buckinghamshire and stole more | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
than �2.5 million pounds. The heist became known as The Great Train | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
Robbery. South Today viewer Jenny Mackie's husband, Ken, worked for | :07:34. | :07:41. | |
the police at the time. She sent us these pictures. Here's Ken holding | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
the loud-hailer as police carryied out investigations the day after the | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
robbery. And he's on the right in this photo with a member of the gang | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
as they left the magistrates' court. What amazing pictures to have. Thank | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
you, Jenny, for sending them in. Sadly, Ken has died but, 50 years | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
on, officers who investigated the Great Train Robbery have been | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
commended for their role in solving the case. Victoria Cook has been to | :08:02. | :08:12. | |
:08:12. | :08:13. | ||
meet them. In Durham prison, there were three of the Great Train | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
Robbery 's. The news from 1963 - as keen to | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
discuss this infamous crime then as it is today. It was a raid like | :08:19. | :08:26. | |
no-one had seen before - amounts of money stolen that were unheard of. | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
And this is where it all happened. It was this bridge here in the quiet | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
village of Cheddington where the gang stopped the Royal Mail train. | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
They then attacked the driver and made off with over �2 million in | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
cash. The police officers involved 50 years ago faced a long | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
investigation without the aid of computers or modern forensics. Now | :08:43. | :08:52. | |
they've been awarded for their work. I could not have believed that | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
whilst I was listening to this and reading about it in my little police | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
station at Rhyl, the perpetrators were celebrating and counting the | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
money, no more than a mile, as the crow flies, from my little office. | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
Keith Milner was a detective constable at the time. He remembers | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
being told that a train had been stolen before the real truth | :09:13. | :09:21. | |
emerged. A reporter shouted up the embankment to me, is it true �1 | :09:21. | :09:31. | |
:09:31. | :09:32. | ||
million has gone? And I had no idea. �1 million was a huge amount. My | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
whole salary was �974, one shilling and 4p. Over the last five decades, | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
the gang have become famous - Ronnie Biggs' escape from prison and his 36 | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
years on the run kept the story in the headlines. The Chief Constable | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
of Thames Valley believes it's time the attention turned to the police | :09:49. | :09:59. | |
:09:59. | :09:59. | ||
who were involved. What has always struck me is the fact it the focus | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
is was on the offender is. I want to balance that by recognising the work | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
of the police staff 50 years ago who helped to solve the Great Train | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
Robbery. Many of these officers have now retired but they do so knowing | :10:15. | :10:19. |