07/02/2014 BBC Oxford News

Hello and welcome to South Today from Oxford. In tonight's programme:

The floods are back ` with warnings up to a month's rain could fall in

the next two days. Parts of Buckinghamshire and

Oxfordshire are already under water ` and the Environment Agency says it

could become as bad as in 2007. The Fire Service is brought in to

help keep the water out of people's homes ` sandbags have arrived, but

they're simply not enough. Also tonight: Once the site of

protests over its future, the plans to turn a former boat yard into a

canal side development. And later on: Celebrating her 106th

birthday ` but what was Hilda's big birthday surprise?

We'd barely begun drying out after the January floods, and now it seems

more major disruption is inevitable. Heavy rainfall overnight caused

chaos this morning. Roads became rivers once again, and there have

been scores of incidents ` among them, a bus packed with school

children stranded in deep water for three hours. Sandbag deliveries have

been made ` but for many properties it was too little, and far too late.

Peter Cooke reports. Chalgrove in South Oxfordshire first

thing this morning ` and a wake`up call nobody wanted. Residents

frantically trying to protect their properties, and firefighters doing

what they could to help. But the pace of the water meant no escape,

and many homes were flooded. 28 years we have lived here, and this

is the worst we have ever seen easily. We have even chatted to folk

who have lived here longer and they say the same. The Village people are

absolutely great. Lots of people have been ringing to make sure that

we are safe. Dozens of sandbags arrived, but

there simply weren't enough to go round.

This is actually chargrilled high street, instead it looks like a

river, with some two to three foot of water. `` Chalgrove. There is no

`` with more bad weather to come, many are fearing the worst is yet to

come. Nearly 40 children from the King

Alfred Academy had to be rescued from their school bus near

Farringdon this morning, when it became stuck. The pupils were

trapped for more than three hours. Oxfordshire currently has six flood

warnings in place ` and dozens of road closures across the county.

Meanwhile in Buckinghamshire, motorists were forced to abandon

their cars in Aylesbury. The County Council has advised dozens of

homeowners in the town to evacuate before the weekend, and have opened

an emergency rest centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Today's sunny

skies brought a brief respite ` but worse is expected in the days ahead.

More heavy showers and gale force winds are headed our way.

As Peter mentioned, there's more heavy rain predicted this weekend

and into next week. And that's meant new and renewed

flood alerts and flood warnings right across our region. The

Environment Agency is updating its website and telephone information

line minute by minute. Those in areas at risk are being warned to

take action as soon as possible. There's real concern that this

latest flooding could be as bad, or worse, than the floods of 2007. A

short time ago Oxfordshire county councillor Rodney Rose told me the

authorities are as prepared as they can be.

In terms of protecting people I think we are slightly better off.

There are more hedge protectors in place, people know there are bags of

sand available if you are at risk of flooding. Make sure you know where

the local store is. Oxfordshire will have a share of ?40 million to help

with flooding in the future, but you need that money now, don't you? We

need to get on with short`term measures available to us recently

quit `` reasonably quickly, but longer term we need the bigger

schemes. That seems so far away for people who are having such a dismal

time at the moment. It is, my heart goes out to them. How frustrating is

it not to have the money you need from central Government to make the

changes you want to make? I am on a Thames wide board that has two

disburse, not enough money that `` enough money that `` that can be

disbursed. What have you learned from the last month's flooding?

What if you have to close the Abingdon and Botley roads? What we

have learned is don't cycle through water, don't drive through water,

just look after your own safety. Meanwhile Thames Water has defended

how it's been dealing with sewage discharge problems caused by the

recent flooding. Officials claim they're doing all they can ` but

some South Today viewers say it's still not enough. Earlier this week

we reported on how sewer systems in two villages had been overwhelmed,

spilling their contents into the street. Since then, many more of you

have been in touch. Adina Campbell reports.

While this man was out walking his dogs, other pet owners are choosing

to steer clear. That is because next to this waterlogged paddock, sewage

is bubbling up. This is the lowest part of the

village where all the sewage pipes come together and make their way

down there to the public system. That is where the main problem is.

People in this area says sewage has been overflowing for decades, and

usually it is caused by flooding. It is unpleasant to look at, excessive

bad smell and forces Manitowoc the Long way round. I walk my dog along

the footpath, obviously he is a very small dog and he cannot walk along

that any more. This means more work for Thames Water who are now dealing

with two big problems, staff have been meeting people here in

Cirencester is part of what they are calling the flood bus tour. If we

flush our downstairs toilet, the water comes right up to the rim.

People are susceptible to illness is from this sort of thing.

At the moment Thames Water are using tankers to clear away sewage in

badly affected areas, but critics say they are too expensive and are

not up to the job. All of our sewage pumping stations are working flat

out. And this is not allowing the waist to get away.

Thames Water insists sewage is not harmful when mixed with floodwater,

but leaks should be reported. The owners of an Oxford comedy club

have won a long`running legal battle with the makers of the hit American

television show Glee. Comic Enterprises had argued that

the 20th Century Fox programme had breached its trademark rights to the

phrase "The Glee Club". The company owns this venue in Oxford and three

others. Although ruling in the comedy club's favour, a judge also

said the business had not suffered any damage.

For the first time in the UK, telescopic poles have been trialled

to show how tall proposed buildings in Oxford could be.

Eight poles were used on Elsfield Hall car park, where 17 affordable

homes are planned. A city councillor came up with the idea after hearing

how developers in Switzerland demonstrate the true scale of new

buildings. It shows you the true height, the true scale, and gives

people living nearby and example of what actually is intended to be

built here. Previous regeneration schemes have

come and gone ` some provoking angry protest. So there was much riding on

fresh plans to breathe new life into the run`down boat yard area at

Jericho in central Oxford. Those behind the proposals hope to win

wider public support by opening up the area with a new footbridge and a

"Venetian`style piazza". They'll offset the impact of new housing

with community facilities. This from Tom Turrell.

It's been the cause of much controversy.

This was 2006, but for more than a decade campaigners have battled

against various plans to develop Oxford's historic Jericho Wharf.

Now, though, there's a new attempt to turn this... Into this. If and

when this old boat Yard gets redeveloped, this area will be

turned into a piazza, over the bow will be a community boat Yard and

over there there will be restaurants and houses built.

In the nearby St Barnabas Church the architects' drawings were unveiled

for people to take a closer look. They show a new boat yard will be

built, along with a pre`school, cafe, town houses and flats. But how

would locals react? I realise they are all artists' impressions, but if

it is anything like it looks it will be great. In contrast to what we

have seen over the past number of years, this is a bit better, but it

is not as good as what is there now which is actually nothing.

The developer's hoping to spend around ?20 million on the project

and wants to start work next year. He says he's done all he can to

accommodate the needs of people living nearby. Over 60% of the land

will be put to public use, and it is always about striking the right

balance. It's one of Oxford's most

controversial development sights. So much so, in fact, that a special

group was set up to represent the local community. And now for the big

question ` do they feel listened to? There are still some issues that we

need to resolve and detail that we need to work up, but this is a good

opportunity, the best opportunity we have had for over a decade.

The plans must still get the go`ahead before any work can start,

but if that happens the diggers could be moving in in around a year.

That's all from me for the moment. I'll have the headlines at 8:00 and

a full bulletin at 10:25. Now, more of today's stories with Sally

Taylor. including sexual assault has been

sentenced to six years in prison. David Whittaker stepped down as a

Conservative councillor several years ago but took up a role as a

parish councillor in Newport. He denied all six charges but was found

guilty after a retrial. He will be placed on the sex offenders register

for life. There was a big celebration in

Portsmouth today. 202 years to the day since Charles Dickens was born

in the city, a statue of the writer was unveiled in Guildhall Square.

It's the life size version of the model we have here in the studio and

it's the first ever statue of Dickens in this country. David

Allard is with me ` there's quite a story behind this statue, isn't

there? Yes ` this is the original maquette that the artist Martin

Jennings created as the basis for the statue. Hundreds of people

around the world from Tokyo to Sarajevo to Philadelphia ` they've

all donated to help raise a ?140,000 to get this statue made. There was a

real carnival atmosphere in Guildhall Square today ` people

riding penny farthings, dressed up in costume ` and a big crowd to see

the statue unveiled. That was performed by Esher Abadin, a pupil

at Charles Dickens Primary School, and Oliver Dickens who is the

writer's great great great grandson. Oliver was one of about 50 members

of the Dickens family who were present there today. They were

joined by Dickens fans who had flown in from around the world, and of

course of plenty of local residents who were pleased to see Dickens

finally return home. I think it is a lovely positive thing for

Portsmouth. We have had a lot of bad news recently and this is cheering

everybody up. We came from the States because we have seen the

statue in Philadelphia but we have never seen the one in Australia, but

now we have seen two out of three. This is a way to remind people to

read more books, not just his novels but other people's. He is the

theatre of life. So many people, and Edward Fox was there as well? Yes,

he said that Dickens's heart would have swelled with pride at the

number of people who turned out today. It's taken a long time for

this day to come ` even in the past week the statue's been sprayed with

chemicals to give it a darker hue and withstand the elements. Here's

the story of how Charles Dickens finally came home. Writer, actor,

social campaigner. Charles Dickens was one of the first global

celebrities and a complex man. A new film delves into his relationship

with the actress Ellen turned on. This is my favourite time when the

day is creeping up on us... But Dickens left an extraordinary legacy

of work and that is why these men are waiting outside a foundry in the

cold in Gloucestershire. This man has been hoping to get a statue in

Portsmouth, this man is Charles Dickens' great great great grandson.

I am itching to see what it will look like but I think it will be

emotional. It will be gobsmacking. Miniversion was unveiled at the

bicentenary celebrations. The research for this is to read all of

his novels and biographies and what better fun can one have? May 2012,

this is Martin's studio and he first models the statue in clay on a steel

frame. There is something great about making people out of mud. This

is Dickens but before that it was Philip Larkin, the same clay before

that was Ronnie Barker, then John Betjeman, and Dickens. Not someone

who settled back, he was always on the go, so even though I am

representing him seated, I want to suggest he was a man who was about

to spring up. It is so strange not have a monument of Dickens in

Britain yet. It is often said Charles Dickens didn't want to

statue based on these words in his will.

Dickens didn't want to statue, he was categorical about it and he said

he wished to be remembered for his work. If you read the will in its

entirety, he was talking about his burial and grave, and we believe it

is 200 years overdue to have a statue that celebrates his life,

work and achievements. Ian has helped spearhead the drive to raise

the money, taking part in fundraising walk from London to

Portsmouth. Actress Gillian Anderson has added some star quality the

campaign. Hundreds of people have donated, they have got a share of

it. They can go along and say, this is my statue. January 2014, the

statue has been cast in bronze and it is ready for inspection. That is

extraordinary, isn't it? Aren't we glad! I love this little touch.

Portsmouth will be very proud. If it inspires a child walking past ` who

is that man? And if it encourages them to read, that will be

terrific. Fabulous. And to sport now, and the Winter Olympics

ceremony is still going on in Sochi. It seems that many of our sporting

athletes may not get that far, it will be a struggle and it is because

of financial reasons. Funding has been withdrawn for several sports,

one of those is synchronised swimming. They have pledged to fight

that funding cut saying it could mean the end of the sport at an

elite level. The athletes have been based in Aldershot since 2007 but

earlier this week it was announced that their entire ?4.3 million

budget was being withdrawn by UK Sport, after the retirement of key

athletes. It's part of a "no compromise" policy that rewards

sports financially if they win medals. GB rowing who are based at

Caversham lake maintained their ?32 million of funding after a year

where they won two gold and three bronze medal at the world

championships. And the Bisham Abbey`based national hockey squad

saw their funding increase after bronze medals in the world league.

Today the GB synchro squad were back in training in Guildford. Ed Sherry

reports. The Olympic dream is a medal in

Tokyo in 2020, but to get their will takes `` take six years of this for

up to 45 hours a week. I have made a lot of sacrifices but if I had to do

it again, I would. It means so much to me to train with such high

quality coaches and athletes. There is no other sport like it and it

means so much to compete for my country. But to have a national

squad costs. Athletes train so many hours there's no time for a job.

Coaches are employed, physios required. And while their HQ in

Aldershot is being refurbished the squad have to hire space in pools

like here at the Surrey Sports Centre. If they are not successful

with their appeal, it will cease to exist and Great Britain will go back

to how it functioned prior to funding before the 2012 games. They

will have to be happy with maybe a top 20 finish if any entries at all.

UK Sport say money is only be given to those sports that have medal

potential at the next two games. If we embarked on this journey to Rio,

it will cost more, and then onto 2024 then it would be a significant

public investment which is not affordable. We agree we are not a

medal target for Rio but we are very credible for 2020. GB Synchro are

now preparing to appeal the decision. Without financial support

the dreams of these young athletes could well be over.

One of the south's winter Olympians has had to withdraw from the Games

in Sochi after suffering a slipped disc during training. Craig

Pickering from Milton Keynes had been selected as part of the British

Bobsleigh team. He's a former Olympic sprinter, switching from

athletics to bobsleigh just over a year ago with the aim of winning

selection to a second Olympics. He would have been only the eighth

British athlete to compete for Team GB at both a Summer and Winter

Olympics. It is difficult to replace an athlete of his calibre, and it is

very disappointing for everybody. In football, Southampton play Stoke at

St Mary's tomorrow. Saints come off the back of a 3`0 win at Fulham last

weekend. They're now unbeaten in four games as they go into the match

against Stoke, two places below them. Southampton are currently

ninth. In the Championship Reading could further boost their play off

chances. Currently in the sixth spot the Royals play bottom half

Sheffield Wednesday at the Madjeski stadium. Bournemouth are away at

Bolton, while Brighton host Doncaster. In League One, MK Dons

are away at Walsall while Swindon are at Port Vale. And in League Two

Oxford go to Bristol Rovers. Meanwhile, with things tight at the

bottom of League Two, Portsmouth remain dangerously close to the

relegation zone. Pompey have tightened up their defence, but

suffered a disappointing 1`0 defeat to Torquay last weekend. They're

away at Exeter, where a win would put some distance between them and

the bottom places. We could do with a few more goals. We had an issue in

terms of conceding them before and I'm not saying we have 100% solved

that but we would like to think we have become harder to score against

and harder to beat. We need to turn that around and move it on from

harder to beat to winning more football matches. The bottom ten may

be is probably as close as I have ever seen. Anybody who can put a run

together will probably come out of the bottom half very quickly. Full

commentary of those games on BBC local radio and the goals are on the

football league show tomorrow night. And there's a big game tomorrow

night for the Worthing Thunder basketball team ` the Thunder are

unbeaten at home so far in 2014 and they'll be looking to hang onto that

as they play Manchester Magic in the National Trophy semi final. Tip off

at Worthing Leisure Centre is at 7.30.

This is the moment you have all been waiting for, you want to know what

will happen with the weather tonight. How bad is it going to be?

We have another storm and an amber warning with wet weather, roughly an

inch of rain fall through a six`hour period overnight tonight. That

doesn't sound like a huge amount but when you have the sodden ground, it

is really bad news. Yes, stay tuned to your local forecast. Today we

have had some respite and it seems a long time since we have had blue

skies and sunshine. More flooding of course at Bicester, thank you for

this picture. After that dry weather, we are already starting to

see signs of the wet weather arriving from the west. An amber

warning in place through this evening and into tomorrow morning as

well. Roughly an inch of rain fall in sunspots. The band of rain proper

sweeps through the course of tonight and it will bring some gusty winds

with it as well. By the time we reached Dawn, it has pretty much

cleared and we will see some showers cropping up. We do see a windy one

through the day tomorrow. That weather front has cleared through

but you can see this area of low pressure and be isobars attached to

it mean that we will have strong winds because they are tightly

packed together. Tomorrow the winds are key concern, 70 mph along the

coast. Very blustery day, some showers with hail or blunder,

temperatures up to 10 degrees but that is academic because it will

feel miserable with the wet and windy weather. The windy weather is

with us through the overnight period as well. Temperatures at around four

degrees through the overnight spell. With that wet weather on top

of the sodden ground already, the potential for further disruption.

Into Sunday, we still have some wet weather to come. Further showery

conditions and a breeze as well, but becoming drier and less windy into

the afternoon, so just darting to see a slight respite. Then Monday,

the winds drop out a touch but not for long because the next system

arriving through the overnight period in situ stay will be

arriving. It looks set to stay the same for the next couple of weeks.

Now we all know we're living longer, but still 106 is going some isn't

it? And what on earth do you give someone who's had that many

birthdays? Well, you're never too old to have the ride of your life.

And that's what happened to the lovely Hilda Baybutt. Katie Austin

explains. It wasn't the sort of present you

could wrap, Elder was treated to a surprise helicopter ride, the oldest

ever president of this care home. `` resident. Her first flight was at

the couple 's flying Circus on Blackpool beach. She is an

incredible woman. Helder and her husband moved to Bournemouth to run

a hotel and they never left. 84 years, you must like it. I love it!

World War II left some bitter memories. Five planes came over and

hit everything, and then went back again. A bomb went through Beales,

that went up in flames. They used to be a very high`class furniture shop

across, that was on fire. But today was all about celebrating a special

lady's birthday. The helicopter ride took Hilda to a cream tea. It has

turned out quite different, very exciting. Hilda's family will have a

job eating this birthday present next year!

How wonderful, all of the candles out! We were just chatting, what is

your secret because you look fabulous! Have a good weekend, stay

safe with all of this weather coming our way. Goodbye.

It's your job to keep law and order, isn't it?

It must be exciting being a policewoman. It has its moments.