25/09/2013 BBC Oxford News

Hello and welcome to the programme. Coming up: The biggest housing

estate to be created in Oxford in 20 years. Almost 900 homes will be

built on this site, with almost half of them for social housing.

Also tonight, firefighters on strike — crews walk out for four hours over

planned changes to their pensions. And, the campaign to raise awareness

by the parents of a toddler with a genetic condition so rare he's the

only one in the world to have it. Good evening. It's been 20 years

since a housing estate of its size was built in Oxford. The City

Council says a new development that will expand Barton will provide much

needed homes. The estate, called Barton West, will have almost 900

homes, a supermarket, a primary school and possibly a hotel. A link

road across the A40 for buses will connect it to Oxford, but some

people on the other side of the ring road say they'll fight it. Jessica

Cooper reports. Barton, where 4,000 people cool

home. Soon to be home to hundreds of new residents. In fact, there are

close to 4,500 households on the waiting list. In the new

development, more than 300 homes will be affordable. It is a small

estate. There are a lot of people living in each house, so we could do

with new houses. It is the green belt being built on. In the end, it

will be all concrete and eggs. It is a very good idea. We need more

houses, the homeless need somewhere to live. There are 4500 households

on the waiting list in Oxford. In the new development, more than 300

homes will be social housing. There will be a new road junction across

the A40. We want to make sure there are link road and bus services into

the city centre. The idea is a proper community that is linked into

what is here already. The link road across this part of the A40 will

only be used by buses and emergency vehicles. But in Northway, some are

not convinced. The impact on this road coming through is that I cannot

open my front door and let my children cross the road on their

own. We will be watching for buses and cars coming of the dual

carriageway. They say it will be traffic controlled, but with what?

We'll have an glimpses, police cars and other emergency vehicles rushing

through our private estate, and I don't think it is safe. If

campaigners get their way, the link road could be in doubt. But, if all

goes to plan, from 2015, the new Barton residents will be moving in.

A man's been arrested following the rape of a 15—year—old girl in

Carterton. The girl was walking through Shilton Park between 2am and

4am when she was offered a lift home by a man who said he knew her. He

took her to an unknown location where he raped her. A 41—year—old

man was arrested last night and remains in police custody.

A man from Aylesbury has pleaded not guilty to murdering another man with

a crossbow. 44—year—old Darrell Farnham was found at his home in

Belgrave Road in June. He had been shot in the chest. 42—year—old

Russell Gill pleaded has guilty to manslaughter, but will be tried for

murder next month. Fire services across the region say

their plans for coping with the firefighters' strike have gone

according to plan. In Oxfordshire, 25 out of 34 fire engines were

operational. In Wiltshire, about half of staff were on strike.

Firefighters say if the dispute is not resolved, there will be further

action. Manning the picket line. As members

of the Fire Brigades union in Oxford walked out at lunchtime today,

emergency plans were immediately tested. Less than a minute into the

strike, there was a callout. We had a cool come in with a chemical

spillage north of the county. The local crews responded and well at

the scene within five minutes. They contained the chemical and worked

with our colleagues at the Environment Agency to clear the

spill. Across the region, plans were in place to keep services up and

running. In Aylesbury, services operated out of a nearby Territorial

Army base. We have had to move a number of appliances to different

parts of the county, which was what not normally happen. With large

instance we would have to cover areas without cover. We have made

George that our resources were in the right place at the right time.

In Wiltshire, half the staff were on strike. In Oxfordshire, two thirds

of engines were operational. Overall, the union say three

quarters of its members took part, unhappy over plans to change their

pensions. It is about pensions, the fact they have got to work until

they are 60, and the fact it is all about the penalty clauses that are

potentially going to be imposed on them, through no fault of their

own, through injury or other, and they would be sacked. The government

says the pension deal is one of the most generous in the public sector.

The union is not ruling out more industrial action if an agreement

cannot be reached. A man from Swindon is the first to

have a new operation to control high blood pressure. The procedure, which

was carried out at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading this

morning, targets nerves in the arteries, and disrupts signals to

the part of the brain that controls blood pressure. It will only be

suitable for a small number of patients whose blood pressure cannot

be controlled by medication. Eight new ambulances are being added

to the South Central ambulance fleet. They will be in place to

supplement the existing vehicle through the winter when the service

comes under the greatest pressure. The service has been criticised for

failing to meet all response targets. A collection of scrapbooks

covering the story of the Great Train Robbery have sold for more

than £10,000 at auction. 50 years ago, a police photographer

documented one of the most high profile robberies when it happened

near the village of Cheddington near Aylesbury. Former detective John

Bailey was one of the first on the scene. Adina Campbell reports.

In Durham prison there were three of the great train robbers... 1963, and

news coverage of the Great Train Robbery was one of the most talked

about stories. Some of the men involved were kept in this prison.

That year, the gang held up a Royal mail train on a bridge near

Teddington and escaped with more than £2.5 million, which is the

equivalent of about £40 million today. Earlier today, a collection

of archived documents about the robbery was sold for £10,500. We do

know who has bought it. They are an archive that wish to remain

anonymous. At some point in the future, it may be available for

public display. The scrapbooks were gathered by a former detective comes

to, John Bailey, who was a forensics officer and the crime scene

photographers. It was an interesting case because it went on and on.

Police faced a tough investigation, calling on the public to help search

for the offenders. They received about 400 calls a day to their

offices in Aylesbury. We are getting older, and I heard the other day

that to go into a home costs £1100 a week. Well, I haven't got that kind

of pension. 12 men were jailed in 1964 for their part in the robbery.

One was later proved innocent, but three others were eventually put in

prison. Some have never been caught. The actor Martin Clunes has opened a

route for disabled people to drive horse and carriages on the Ridgeway.

It's part of the Paralympic legacy to make the countryside more

accessible to people with physical limitations. The 12—mile circular

route is one of 20 across the country being developed by the

British Horse Society and the British Driving Society.

There's lots of visibility. You can do a short route, it is circular. It

highlights it, really. It highlights writing, being with horses, the

countryside. We don't have very many off road tracks. Less and less,

unfortunately. So this Paralympic legacy is an absolute boon.

Swindon Town were unable to cause a shock in last night's League Cup tie

against Chelsea at the County Ground. The Premier League side made

ten changes to their starting 11, including recalling Spanish

internationals Fernando Torres and Juan Mata. The £50 million striker

Torres scored the first goal for Chelsea, and set up the second for

Ramires in their 2—0 wind. That's all from me. I'll have the

headlines at 8pm and a full bulletin at 10:25pm. Now, more of today's

stories with Alex Forsyth. effect?

Sir Ben helps the US to a nail biting finish in the America's Cup.

The Brighton Pavilion MP, Caroline Lucas is to be prosecuted after

taking part in anti—fracking demonstrations. The Green MP was

arrested last month during protests outside the Cuadrilla drilling site

in Balcombe in West Sussex. She's been charged for obstructing the

highway and failing to comply with a police condition to move to a

specified protest area. She'll appear before magistrates in

October. Figures released today have given a

fresh picture of the number of mums in work. Across the country, just

over 35% of mums under 25 have a job. That rises to just over 60% for

women aged between 25 and 34. But the rate for women of the same age

who do not have children is considerably higher. The South does

have a high level of women in employment — but some new mums still

find it so hard to get back into work, they are deciding to set up

their own business from home. Katy Austin reports.

The biggest gift Eliza's wedding decor business gives her is

flexibility. She used to be a teacher, but when her second child

came along, she found it impossible to return to that job.

After my second, it became apparent that I would be working in order to

pay my child care costs, and I would not be getting anything in return. I

would literally be going to work in order to pay my childcare, which for

me did not balance. I really wanted some kind of balance for my family.

The picture for female employment in general has improved over recent

decades. But women without children are still much more likely to have

jobs than mothers. If we look at women with children,

it is important the age of child. If the child is in preschool age there

is a lower percentage of women in work. As the child gets older,

higher percentage of women do work. Childcare costs, inflexible hours

and redundancy are some barriers that can leave mums on benefits

rather than in work. But business networking groups like these help

mums to make money from home and support each other — and membership

has boomed in the South. One former financial adviser went self—employed

and hasn't looked back. There is more flexibility. Both my

children are quite demanding, one of them is in the autism spectrum and I

have had to be a lot more flexible for him. There is no way I could

hold down a job with my son and give him the support that he needs.

With some of our ladies we have people who have health issues, and

certainly for the younger babies and things like that, once they have

done maternity it is about returning to work, and then they find that

they either want to stay with their families, or it may be to do with

the childcare. There is a whole host of reasons.

The Shadow home secretary, with special responsibilities for women

and equalities, told the Labour party conference this week thousands

of women were losing their jobs after returning from maternity

leave. She thinks there's a lot more to be done to make the workplace

work for mums. They need support for the family,

but also to know that there is a affordable childcare available if

you want to go back to work. Too often there isn't, and that's why we

want to increase free childcare available.

But the government says it is introducing a new tax break for

childcare costs, worth up to £1,200 per child per year. It also has

plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees.

Permission has been granted for a solar farm.

We'd like to tell you now about a special little boy. Lewis Preuss

from Blandford is the only person in the world diagnosed with a rare

genetic disorder. Lewis, who's nearly two and a half, was

inexplicably born missing part of chromosome number eight. As a result

he suffers from a range of medical and developmental problems. Every

day is a learning curve for his parents, who are hoping to raise

awareness of such conditions. Jo Kent has been to meet the family.

A greeting to make any parent's de, but it means so much more to Leanne

and Darren. Last week when I picked him up from

nursery, he saw me, and it is the first time he recognised me, and he

smiled and came over to me and give me a kiss, and, yes... It was

lovely. I remember Darren and Leanne

saying, will he ever recognise us? It's a question we can't really

answer, and then one day is like a light bulb going on, and he knows

that it is his mum and dad and he's got a run to them and cuddle them.

Lewis was diagnosed at six weeks old. A charity has puts the parents

in touch with others who have suffered genetic disorders.

Genetic disorders individually are very rare, but when you put them

together, the affect one in 25 children in the UK, which is 30,000

children born every year. When you group these conditions together,

they actually become quite common. It is now time for lunch. Lewis's

stomach does not work properly, so he is fed through a tube. This is

something he will endure for life. It is a number of issues he faces.

He has two holes in the heart, he has an airway obstruction, he has

high probability, so all of his joint move in ways that they

shouldn't. He has developmental delay, severe developmental delay.

Lewis's condition is not life limiting, but no one can predict how

he will develop. The family takes each day as it comes.

There is no cure for what Lewis has, all we can do is cheer his symptoms.

And sometimes to realise that there is no cure is quite hard and

heartbreaking. The only hope I have this happiness.

That's all I want. We just want him to be happy.

Unmanned flights — by drones as they're often known — have

predominantly been used by the military. They've been used

extensively in areas where it's considered too dangerous to send a

plane with a crew. But there's a growing tendency to use what are

very sophisticated model aeroplanes for civilian uses, such as search

and rescue, farming and climate research. One of those leading the

charge on this development is Professor Jim Scanlan at the

University of Southampton. And 3D printers are playing a big part as

well. He joined me in the studio a little earlier, and I asked him what

they were working on at Southampton. We do quite a lot of research in the

field of aeronautical engineering, and this is part of our research and

undergraduate teaching. You have brought a couple of these models in

with you today. Talk me through what we have today.

The small aeroplane sitting in front of us is a demonstrator which we

produced about 18 months ago. That is the world's first printed

aeroplane. Rented with a 3—D printer, is that

right? That's right. You plot the printer

directly into your computer, and very like a normal printer, you say

print, and sometime later, out come the parts.

Not the big one, surely? That wasn't printed? Yes stop the first one led

directly to the second aeroplane, which is a serious aeroplane design

to do a job. Two thirds of that structure is

printed technology. The way they are made is fascinating, but they also

have an important use. Tell me what they can do. Our

interest at Southampton is in civil applications of unmanned aircraft.

Things like agriculture, search and rescue, scientific use, climate

change. Anything that needs to carry a sensor to produce useful data.

So you could put a camera on these and they could fly across fields and

pick up important images, that type of thing?

That is what they are designed to do, yes.

What market have you had for them? The large aircraft as part of a

European project which is going to be trialled by the Kent police. They

wanted to go out over the sea to look for pollution, to check that

people aren't doing illegal diving. To protect wind farms, and suchlike.

They have a serious need to fly an aircraft like this. It is a lot

cheaper than helicopters. And because there are no pilots,

they can go in areas where people perhaps wouldn't want to.

Yes, it is the dull, dirty, dangerous missions. We are ideally

suited for those sort of missions. Much of this high—end technology has

its start in life in the military. We know the use of drones has been

quite controversial in military terms. That is quite funny not what

you are doing in Southampton. Our interest is in exploiting it in

the civil arena, largely because that is with the big demand will be.

There will be an explosion in use of these things over the next five or

ten years. That will dwarf military use.

We really are looking at the future. I believe so, yes.

Professor, thank you for being with us. Thank you.

Jim Scanlan talking to me earlier with his impressive model planes.

Now the sport. Now, this is all about the America's Cup. I watched a

bit of it last night, and I can't pretend to understand it, but it is

thrilling. It has been a thrilling few days.

Basically, whoever wins the final race of the series either Emirates

team New Zealand Oracle team USA, wins the whole thing. New Zealand

were 81 ahead, now it is a tall. But a local man has been playing an

important part in all of that. Ben Ainslie, now his comeback in the

America's Cup after Olympic golds. Four Olympic golds in his CV, but

sailing people will tell you this is the one he wants to end his career

on. Hampshire sailor Sir Ben Ainslie

stands on the brink of another remarkable sporting feat, as the

America's Cup enters its final chapter this evening. The quadruple

Olympic champion from Lymington, has helped his Team Oracle USA boat

level the series, setting up a winner—takes—all deciding race this

evening. Here's Katherine Downes. Boats skimming across the water at

up to 50 miles an hour, riding the wind for yachting's biggest price.

The fight for it has produced yachting's biggest comeback. That's

the biggest comeback any sport has seen. One week ago, the American

Team Oracle was one race away from losing the America's Cup. But the

Americans made changes to their board and crew, bringing in

Britain's most decorated sailor, Ben Ainslie, as tactician to conjure a

comeback from the waves of San Francisco Bay. And it has worked.

They have won seven successive races ahead of today's final contest. The

series is tied at eight all. Like every race, the guys will give

it everything, all the way to the end. Executing everything as you

would do in every other race. It has been a long fight, hit by delays.

British sailor Andrew Simpson died in May while training for the

competition with a Swedish team. Since then, organisers have

cancelled racing if the winds are too strong. Then Ainslie was also

training on the day that his great friend was killed. He said at the

time that he would remember Simpson for inspiration when he was on the

water. We see Ben operating at a very

different level. You have seen him on his own in a boat, winning, and

now we see him going into the team making a difference working as a

team. That is fabulous to see on these massive boards on this massive

stage. Today it comes down to tactics and conditions.

New Zealand's pride and American ambition. At the moment, there is

barely a droplet of water between them.

There will be highlights of that tonight.

Southampton are the region's sole representatives remaining in the

Capital One Cup. They justified their favourites tag to knock out

League One strugglers Bristol City in the third round. With Saints

making a full eleven changes from their Premier League win at

Liverpool, a first half sizzler from Uruguayan international Gaston

Ramirez lit up a tepid match. Bristol City had chances after the

break, but Dutch defender Jos Hooiveld bundled in Saints' second

late on, to put his side into tonight's fourth round draw.

We are happy about the result, because it was hard at the end of

the game. That is a lesson for the future, because we know it is

difficult to play with so many changes.

Staying with football, and League Two Portsmouth have appointed

experienced striker David Connolly to a player—coach role at the club.

The 36—year—old has been with Pompey since January. He'll now combine

playing, with a coaching position with the first team, alongside the

existing management pair of Guy Whittingham and Alan McLoughlin.

It's been the second day of the final round of County Championship

cricket matches. Sussex are taking on the newly—crowned champions

Durham at Hove. Sussex built a good first innings lead, thanks to Luke

Wright's 87. Durham will begin day three 162 behind. At the Oval,

relegated Surrey are looking to end their stay in Division One with a

win. Replying to Yorkshire's first innings of 434, Surrey reached 172

for one. And at the Ageas Bowl, Adam Wheater reached a century for

Hampshire against his old club Essex, who've been forced to follow

on. Hampshire's loan signing Matt Coles took six for 71, in the

visitors' first innings. Essex closed on 44 for zero, second time

around. The day started with Cricket weather, and finished with

non—Cricket weather. Thank you, Chris. You know, we know

it is often annoyed want we're sunny as it should be, but it is really

foggy. It is called radiation fog. We have

the strength of the sun beating down on the ground, and with light winds,

the sun disappears, the air cools and we have a lot of moisture in the

air causing that Fox. It was a foggy start to the day in

Littlehampton. Mavis Hortin captured the harbour view or what there was

of it. An inquisitive swan was photographed by Greg Wood on the

river Hamble. And Peter Raw captured the Needles under blue skies before

the thick mist rolled in. There will be some showers and some

fog patches overnight tonight. It could be quite dense in a few

places. That fog and mist lapping the south coast and also hilltop

areas. A few showers as well, drifting along the south coast, they

could edge inland as they are doing. It should become drier as we had

through the night. Still the risk of fog patches, and temperatures a

mild, 15 degrees 16 Celsius. A marquee and damp start. Rain will

continue along the south coast. Showers drifting northwards.

Sunshine for Northern areas during the morning, and sunshine for

southernmost areas in the afternoon. Highs of just 18 Celsius. A few

degrees lower than today. For tomorrow evening, some showers, but

it will be a night where we will see an improving picture, maybe one or

two showers on the south coast by Dawn on Friday, and temperatures

will fall to 13 up to 15 Celsius. Another Monday night to come. The

low pressure is not going anywhere. It is stuck in the Atlantic. That

pushes the areas where the funds towards us, so rain at various

times. Friday should stay dry there could be rain first thing, but it

will dry out later on in the day. Low pressure will mean a change for

the weekend, and unfortunately for the south of England we are

expecting some heavy showers. There could even be thunder on Saturday

and Sunday. An unsettled picture as we had through the rest of the week

towards the weekend. A lot of fog around tomorrow. MIDI some sunshine

for some of us. But wins start to increase and pick up speed as we had

through the week. And grey start on Friday, but an improving picture.

Thunderstorms could move up from the south on Saturday and Sunday.

That's all from us. We will be back at 8pm and 10:25pm. Good evening.