27/01/2014 BBC Oxford News

upheaval of August 1914. That is all from us,

Good evening. There has been a dramatic fall in

the number of private sector jobs in Oxford. In fact, it's seen the

fastest drop of any major UK city ` down by more than 2,000 between 2011

and 2012. The Government has stressed economic recovery will be

driven by the private sector creating new employment. Unlike

Oxford, Swindon is seeing that much needed private sector investment. So

why the difference? Tom Turrell reports.

The construction industry has been hit hard by the recession. But you

wouldn't know it here. In the last five years, this Swindon firm has

taken on an extra 50 staff. Even during the recession there has been

a significant amount of building work going on. And over the last

four or five years, we have increased in size by about 50%. Last

year, our turnover was ?77 million. For every five jobs in Swindon in

2012, four of them were in the private sector. But the same can't

be said for its near neighbour, Oxford. Here, there has been a 4%

fall in the number of private sector jobs. That's more than 2,000 posts

lost and that's the worst for any UK city or major town. Would you put

your head office this Oxford where you know your staff were going to

take a good extra half an hour to get into work and your customers

can't get in to see you. No you tend to look at somewhere which had good

transport links. The regent circus development will be home to cinema,

restaurants and a supermarket creating up to 1,000 new jobs. So

why is Swindon succeeded where Oxford isn't? I think the

connectivity to London and other places, but also the availability of

the skilled and adaptable workforce are the two things that we hear from

the businesses that we talk to as to why they are here. There report is

by no means all bad news for Oxford. It showed its people are the second

most highly qualified in the UK and levels of inequality in the city are

relatively low. But if businesses are going to boom and there is

plenty of work to be done. A 93`year`old man has died following

a house fire in Abingdon. Part of Preston Road was closed off while

firefighters entered the smoke`filled house at around 6pm

last night. Police say the elderly occupant's death is being treated as

unexplained, but not suspicious. Work to renovate the Whitchurch toll

bridge over the River Thames will now take three months longer to

complete than first thought. Drivers have been forced to make a

frustrating detour since it was closed back in October. But

demolition and reconstruction work has been severely disrupted by weeks

of bad weather and the dangerously high and fast`flowing river levels.

Nikki Mitchell reports. Work to rebuild this crossing ground

to a halt before Christmas. The project is now three months behind

schedule. It is disappointing because it is a ten mile trip by car

extra if we want to go to there. Getting through Caversham is a

nightmare, but we are spending more money on fuel. I'm horrified. It

will have a big impact. The local businesses are suffering badly.

Another three months is not what they want to hear at all. My

customers who have been walking over really annoyed and it hit the trades

hard especially the food outlets. The weather being what it is, the

Thames has been at record flood levels, the flows are still high.

The contractor can't go on the river. That means you should not use

craft. The bridge company and local people wanted the project to be done

in the summer months, but the Environment Agency said no because

it would have been too disruptive for boaters. The contractors say

they are confident they are going to get the vertical columns installed

by the end of March so this section of the river can be opened to

boaters as planned before Easter. Drivers will have to wait until

July. After five years at the helm with

Oxford United, Chris Wilder has left the club. His reign, one of the

longest in English football, concluded in rather messy

circumstances with claim and counterclaim before a settlement was

reached. While he has already taken over at League Two rivals

Northampton Town, United have been left searching for a replacement.

The end of an era. By the time Saturday's 1`0 win was over, Chris

Wilder knew his time was too. Within 48 hours, he would be unveiled as

the manager of the Football League's bottom club, the security of a

three`and`a`half year contract going a long way to explain why Wilder

would leave United for a job at Northampton Town. I have got my

ambitions I said professionally and personal. I have been there for five

years and maybe the car was driving itself in on its own. Maybe I needed

that challeng Oxford were tough in their

negotiation, but we got there. We are delighted it is finally done.

Chris has done a fantastic job at the football club. We wish him well.

The ups and downs of the last 48 hours were fitting given Wilder's

emotional time in charge, the highlight a Wembley win in 2010 that

restored Football League status. Long celebrated wins over Swindon

also brought joy, but in other ways, progress was too slow for some fans

and Wilder's relationship with the owner grew fractious.

Now a look at the weather. Here's Alexis Green.

Good evening. There will be showers which could band together to form

longer spells of rain. The odd humble of thunder and hail with

temperatures around three to four Celsius. Frost`free and ice`free

tonight, but the showers will continue tomorrow. So the risk of

localised flooding, surface water on the roads as well. Limited

brightness and more cloud and rain than sunshine. The showers rattling

their way through on a brisk breeze, highs tomorrow of six Celsius. So

yes, in the next 24 hours there will be a lot of rain about. We are

looking at further rain on Wednesday. Turning colder later on

Wednesday into Thursday and Thursday there is the possibility of snow

showers even at lower levels through the region. Friday starts off dry,

but turning wet later on. Good night.

That's it from us. Good evening. It's going to get colder than it's

been all winter. Ahead of that, though, the showers keep going and

going through tonight and into tomorrow. Some of them heavy,

possibly thundery too. Here's the satellite. We can pick out the swirl

of cloud here. The bands of shower clouds that have been streaming into

the UK. All driven and wrapped around an area of low. That is the

driving force for the showers that we have at the moment. The centre

close to Northern Ireland, which is why it's been so wet earlier in the

evening. As the low drifts south, it takes more showers into England and

Wales. With fewer breaks in the cloud overnight, it won't be as cold