:00:00. > :00:08.upheaval of August 1914. That is all from us,
:00:09. > :00:14.Good evening. There has been a dramatic fall in
:00:15. > :00:18.the number of private sector jobs in Oxford. In fact, it's seen the
:00:19. > :00:22.fastest drop of any major UK city ` down by more than 2,000 between 2011
:00:23. > :00:24.and 2012. The Government has stressed economic recovery will be
:00:25. > :00:28.driven by the private sector creating new employment. Unlike
:00:29. > :00:32.Oxford, Swindon is seeing that much needed private sector investment. So
:00:33. > :00:37.why the difference? Tom Turrell reports.
:00:38. > :00:42.The construction industry has been hit hard by the recession. But you
:00:43. > :00:45.wouldn't know it here. In the last five years, this Swindon firm has
:00:46. > :00:50.taken on an extra 50 staff. Even during the recession there has been
:00:51. > :00:54.a significant amount of building work going on. And over the last
:00:55. > :01:00.four or five years, we have increased in size by about 50%. Last
:01:01. > :01:07.year, our turnover was ?77 million. For every five jobs in Swindon in
:01:08. > :01:10.2012, four of them were in the private sector. But the same can't
:01:11. > :01:14.be said for its near neighbour, Oxford. Here, there has been a 4%
:01:15. > :01:21.fall in the number of private sector jobs. That's more than 2,000 posts
:01:22. > :01:26.lost and that's the worst for any UK city or major town. Would you put
:01:27. > :01:31.your head office this Oxford where you know your staff were going to
:01:32. > :01:35.take a good extra half an hour to get into work and your customers
:01:36. > :01:41.can't get in to see you. No you tend to look at somewhere which had good
:01:42. > :01:47.transport links. The regent circus development will be home to cinema,
:01:48. > :01:52.restaurants and a supermarket creating up to 1,000 new jobs. So
:01:53. > :01:57.why is Swindon succeeded where Oxford isn't? I think the
:01:58. > :02:03.connectivity to London and other places, but also the availability of
:02:04. > :02:07.the skilled and adaptable workforce are the two things that we hear from
:02:08. > :02:11.the businesses that we talk to as to why they are here. There report is
:02:12. > :02:15.by no means all bad news for Oxford. It showed its people are the second
:02:16. > :02:20.most highly qualified in the UK and levels of inequality in the city are
:02:21. > :02:22.relatively low. But if businesses are going to boom and there is
:02:23. > :02:32.plenty of work to be done. A 93`year`old man has died following
:02:33. > :02:34.a house fire in Abingdon. Part of Preston Road was closed off while
:02:35. > :02:37.firefighters entered the smoke`filled house at around 6pm
:02:38. > :02:45.last night. Police say the elderly occupant's death is being treated as
:02:46. > :02:48.unexplained, but not suspicious. Work to renovate the Whitchurch toll
:02:49. > :02:52.bridge over the River Thames will now take three months longer to
:02:53. > :02:55.complete than first thought. Drivers have been forced to make a
:02:56. > :02:57.frustrating detour since it was closed back in October. But
:02:58. > :03:01.demolition and reconstruction work has been severely disrupted by weeks
:03:02. > :03:02.of bad weather and the dangerously high and fast`flowing river levels.
:03:03. > :03:14.Nikki Mitchell reports. Work to rebuild this crossing ground
:03:15. > :03:19.to a halt before Christmas. The project is now three months behind
:03:20. > :03:28.schedule. It is disappointing because it is a ten mile trip by car
:03:29. > :03:32.extra if we want to go to there. Getting through Caversham is a
:03:33. > :03:38.nightmare, but we are spending more money on fuel. I'm horrified. It
:03:39. > :03:41.will have a big impact. The local businesses are suffering badly.
:03:42. > :03:46.Another three months is not what they want to hear at all. My
:03:47. > :03:54.customers who have been walking over really annoyed and it hit the trades
:03:55. > :03:57.hard especially the food outlets. The weather being what it is, the
:03:58. > :04:03.Thames has been at record flood levels, the flows are still high.
:04:04. > :04:09.The contractor can't go on the river. That means you should not use
:04:10. > :04:13.craft. The bridge company and local people wanted the project to be done
:04:14. > :04:17.in the summer months, but the Environment Agency said no because
:04:18. > :04:21.it would have been too disruptive for boaters. The contractors say
:04:22. > :04:27.they are confident they are going to get the vertical columns installed
:04:28. > :04:31.by the end of March so this section of the river can be opened to
:04:32. > :04:33.boaters as planned before Easter. Drivers will have to wait until
:04:34. > :04:40.July. After five years at the helm with
:04:41. > :04:43.Oxford United, Chris Wilder has left the club. His reign, one of the
:04:44. > :04:45.longest in English football, concluded in rather messy
:04:46. > :04:50.circumstances with claim and counterclaim before a settlement was
:04:51. > :04:53.reached. While he has already taken over at League Two rivals
:04:54. > :05:00.Northampton Town, United have been left searching for a replacement.
:05:01. > :05:07.The end of an era. By the time Saturday's 1`0 win was over, Chris
:05:08. > :05:11.Wilder knew his time was too. Within 48 hours, he would be unveiled as
:05:12. > :05:14.the manager of the Football League's bottom club, the security of a
:05:15. > :05:21.three`and`a`half year contract going a long way to explain why Wilder
:05:22. > :05:26.would leave United for a job at Northampton Town. I have got my
:05:27. > :05:32.ambitions I said professionally and personal. I have been there for five
:05:33. > :05:37.years and maybe the car was driving itself in on its own. Maybe I needed
:05:38. > :05:41.that challeng Oxford were tough in their
:05:42. > :05:50.negotiation, but we got there. We are delighted it is finally done.
:05:51. > :05:56.Chris has done a fantastic job at the football club. We wish him well.
:05:57. > :06:01.The ups and downs of the last 48 hours were fitting given Wilder's
:06:02. > :06:13.emotional time in charge, the highlight a Wembley win in 2010 that
:06:14. > :06:19.restored Football League status. Long celebrated wins over Swindon
:06:20. > :06:23.also brought joy, but in other ways, progress was too slow for some fans
:06:24. > :06:30.and Wilder's relationship with the owner grew fractious.
:06:31. > :06:35.Now a look at the weather. Here's Alexis Green.
:06:36. > :06:42.Good evening. There will be showers which could band together to form
:06:43. > :06:45.longer spells of rain. The odd humble of thunder and hail with
:06:46. > :06:49.temperatures around three to four Celsius. Frost`free and ice`free
:06:50. > :06:53.tonight, but the showers will continue tomorrow. So the risk of
:06:54. > :06:57.localised flooding, surface water on the roads as well. Limited
:06:58. > :07:02.brightness and more cloud and rain than sunshine. The showers rattling
:07:03. > :07:08.their way through on a brisk breeze, highs tomorrow of six Celsius. So
:07:09. > :07:11.yes, in the next 24 hours there will be a lot of rain about. We are
:07:12. > :07:14.looking at further rain on Wednesday. Turning colder later on
:07:15. > :07:18.Wednesday into Thursday and Thursday there is the possibility of snow
:07:19. > :07:22.showers even at lower levels through the region. Friday starts off dry,
:07:23. > :07:23.but turning wet later on. Good night.
:07:24. > :07:43.That's it from us. Good evening. It's going to get colder than it's
:07:44. > :07:47.been all winter. Ahead of that, though, the showers keep going and
:07:48. > :07:52.going through tonight and into tomorrow. Some of them heavy,
:07:53. > :07:56.possibly thundery too. Here's the satellite. We can pick out the swirl
:07:57. > :08:01.of cloud here. The bands of shower clouds that have been streaming into
:08:02. > :08:04.the UK. All driven and wrapped around an area of low. That is the
:08:05. > :08:08.driving force for the showers that we have at the moment. The centre
:08:09. > :08:12.close to Northern Ireland, which is why it's been so wet earlier in the
:08:13. > :08:17.evening. As the low drifts south, it takes more showers into England and
:08:18. > :08:18.Wales. With fewer breaks in the cloud overnight, it won't be as cold