13/03/2014 BBC Oxford News

early 1990s. That's all from the BBC News at Six. It's goodbye from me.

Hello and welcome to South Today On

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

An extra lorry every 13 seconds Concerns about congestion on the A43

and other roads when work to build HS2 begins.

Meanwhile construction is underway to create a new rail line bdtween

Oxford and London Marylebond. Also tonight: From The Clash to

David Bowie. How Aylesbury's Friars Club is bringing its past into the

present. And later on: a major commuter route

closed during the floods reopens. Temporary repairs have been carried

out at Sonning Bridge ` but major improvements are needed.

Good evening. Construction work on the controversial high speed rail

line through Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire will bring thousands

of extra lorries to our reghon every day. Banbury, Aylesbury and

Buckingham are being out by HS2 Limited as places which will suffer

more jams over several years. Helen Catt has this report.

Before this, will come a lot more of this.

Thousands of lorries will nded to use the roads of Oxfordshird and

Buckinghamshire each day to build vital elements of the HS2 lhne, like

bridges and cuttings. According to HS2 Limited estimates

an average of one extra lorry will be going along this road evdry 3

seconds. A few miles away is the farl which

Rachel Halverson's family h`s worked for a century. She'll lose land to

construction ` but now worrhes the extra traffic will affect hdr daily

life and her shop too. It is school brands. It is my husband getting to

this nation. People will not bother coming. It will be one more hurdle.

Major jams are also predictdd at Banbury, two junctions of the M 0,

Aylesbury and Buckingham. And around Calvert the busidst

months will see 3,000 extra lorries and the same number of cars.

For people living in rural villages between these routes, the lorries

operated by HS2 may not be the biggest problem. They can bd

constrained by agreement, btt other traffic cannot. We are concdrned

that other traffic will seek to use the roads through our village.

HS2 Limited says it will put controls on what vehicles are used

and will work with local authorities to minimise disruption.

Meanwhile Cherwell District Council intends to petition MPs on the

issue. James Abbott is from Modern Railways

Magazine. A short time ago H asked him if the disruption reallx would

be that bad. This is a major construction project so we lust

expect some disruption. It hs going to be done by large building

companies who are used to this sort of thing so hopefully it will be

kept to a minimum. When the previous high speed rail

project was being built how much impact did it have? It was carefully

organised to minimise the disruption. A large real yard was

built to receive materials. That has now been returned to farmland. The

concern here is about lorrids. There will be some lorry traffic. That is

unavoidable on a construction project of this size. There is

planning going on to minimise the disruption. The difficulty for

people affected by HS2 is that they get all of the pain without any of

the direct gain. It is a problem. In Kent they were intermediate stations

that were served by the high`speed line. There is nothing like that

plan for HS2. But he must look at it from the point of view of the entire

country. For the cities of the North it is important that their

connections to the rest of the country be improved. For thdir

country as a whole it is important. Are you saying that the disruption

is worth it? It will regenerate the north. It will help our competitive

position. France, Germany, Htaly, Spain have high`speed lines. We need

that to compete in the 21st`century. Meanwhile, the Transport Secretary

has been to see work begin on the new rail line between Oxford and

London Marylebone. The ?300 million Evergreen project will conndct

Oxford to the capital, via `n upgraded station in Bicester. It's

the first rail project of its kind, linking London to a British city, in

100 years. Victoria Cook reports. By next summer this will be a fully

functioning really lying. Trains will come through at 100 mph. ``

fully functioning railway lhne. We are seeing the start of the first

new line between London and a British city for 100 years. This

will link Oxford and London by rail. Not only this, but the ?130 million

investment will see new stations being constructed. This 1940s

eyesore in Water Eaton was demolished last year to makd way for

the new Oxford Parkway stathon. Currently most commuters who live in

Oxford and work in London, tse the First Great Western line vi` Didcot

into London Paddington. Frol 20 6 they'll have the option of taking

the Chiltern Railways train via Bicester into London Marylebone

People living north of Oxford will be able to get on board at Oxford

Parkway. Today the Secretarx of State for Transport, Patrick

McLoughlin, was on site herd to see the start of work in Bicestdr. It

shows that we are investing in a modern railway. Passenger ntmbers

have gone from 750 million to 1 5 Ilion passengers per year. That

requires a huge light of investment and we are doing that. `` 1.5

billion. Although this is good news for

commuters, you won't be abld to get to London any faster. Travel time

from Oxford to Marylebone whll still be around 55 minutes. The ftll line

to Oxford will open in the summer of 2016.

Police are hunting two men who held up a bookmakers in Headington this

morning with what's believed to have been a gun. It happened at the Stan

James shop in Roundway at around 11.30 this morning. The men

threatened a member of staff and then left with money in a sports

bag. A Conservative peer who worked on

code`breaking intelligence `t Bletchley Park during World War Two,

has expressed concern over the future of the site. Speaking at a

debate in the House of Lords, Baroness Trumpington said she hoped

the historic visitor centre wouldn't be turned into a "Disney thdme

park." The centre is currently the subject of a dispute between the two

charities which manage the site the National Museum of Computing and the

Bletchley Park Trust. I hopd that those involved will avoid creating a

theme park experience for the visitor. Currently the Hollxwood

films that are being made their little resemblance to the Bletchley

I recall. An Oxford company has developed a

new system that lets companhes find out how safe their vehicles are just

by rolling over a special p`d. Wheel Right is based in Begbroke. They say

they've designed the world's first machine that weighs trucks `nd

checks tyre pressure and temperature. Every year hundreds of

accidents on our roads are caused by drivers not keeping an eye on the

condition of their tyres. Now it may not be as famous as the

Cavern Club in Liverpool but it helped launch the careers of some of

rock music's most iconic st`rs. The Friars Club in Aylesbury is

45`year`old ` and to commemorate, some of its famous memorabilia is

going on display for the public to enjoy. Peter Cooke went to have a

look. Rock music is not necessarily my

first choice, but for thous`nds of fans it was a firm favouritd. The

man behind this exhibition hs here. We have been trying to put on this

exhibition for 20 years. We started the club in 1969. We are sthll going

strong. We were heavily involved with people like David Bowid,

Genesis, Lou Reed. It is all here for people to see. You have some

great items on display. We have Mike Rutherford's twin necked guhtar We

got a text from the David Bowie We are very excited about that. We have

Pink Floyd's junket. `` drul kit. Tell me why this bit of cloth means

so much? It was from the David Bowie Gate in July 1972. We were right at

the front of the stage. Tow`rds the end of the gate David Bowie was

doing an encore, he took his shirt off, and threw it out. I cale away

with it and I have had it for 4 years.

This venue gave us the opportunity to see groups that we would not have

had the opportunity to see. If you want to see some of this am`zing

exhibition it is on until Jtly. Tomorrow night the Ashmolean museum

will be joining Oxford Brookes university its 150th anniversary

with an event called Wisdom, Wonders and Widgets. This robot ` c`lled

Artie ` will be one of the attractions on display. He will be

showing off his singing abilities, thespian skills ` and even guessing

people's ages. Although he tried to guess mine this week when hd visited

BBC Radio Oxford and wasn't quite on the money. You are a 32`year`old

man. Look into my eyes. You are `

32`year`old man. Your face hs happy. At least he was right about my face.

And we'll have more with Artie in our programme tomorrow evenhng.

That's all from me for the loment. I'll have the headlines at 8pm and a

full bulletin at 10.25. Now more of today's stories with Sally Taylor.

getting better themselves. Still to come: Drama on the ice brings the

Bisons their first silverware in 14 years. A new system for dealing with

bullying and abuse cases in the Armed Forces has been descrhbed as a

whitewash by the campaign group Liberty. It helped represent the

family of Bournemouth soldidr Anne`Marie Ellement who comlitted

suicide at Bulford Barracks after bullying and the mental imp`ct of an

alleged rape. However, the Linistry of Defence says under the ndw

ombudsman system complaints will be handled fairly and effectivdly.

Heavy machinery rolled into the little Hampshire village of

Hambledon today to start reloving thousands of soggy sandbags. With

124 homes flooded in the winter storms, it was among the worst hit

communities in the south. The cost of ten long weeks of pumping,

defending homes and road closures is thought to have added up to a

whopping ?4million pounds. Chrissy Sturt reports. It is a serious

clean`up job. Dozens of workmen moved into the picture postcard

village today to start the clearance. We have deployed 70, 00

sandbags in the past few months and sandbags in the past few months and

put simply, we want them back. We want to take them away for

recycling. This woman had mdters of pipework and six pumps moving water

from her house. There is a lassive clean`up going on now, the removal

of thousands of sandbags, trying to put their homes back togethdr,

carpets and furniture being removed. This is just one of the homds where

the dehumidifiers are still working hard. They had sewage water coming

in here and it has very badly affected the house. They had to take

up carpets in several of thd rooms. This houses thousands of ye`rs old

meaning they will have to ptt plaster on these walls, the bill is

likely to cost ?10,000. There is a ?3 million pipe required. Btt areas

do not qualify for flood defence money. After eight trip to

Westminster they are still positive. We cannot have half the pipd, it has

got to be all pipe running through the length of the village. H remain

confident that later this ydar the bulldozers will move in and start

doing the work. Despite the efforts to return to normal here and there

are still several road clostres in place and there has been water in

the streets for so long that there is no algae growing all the way down

the sides of the pavements. After months of traffic chaos and long

queues through Reading, a m`jor commuter route over the Rivdr Thames

has reopened this afternoon. It follows temporary repairs to the

flood damaged road at Sonning Bridge. The council needs to carry

out work, but has come under intense criticism from drivers and

politicians for not acting puickly enough. Nikki Mitchell reports.

Emergency repairs began this morning saw one carriageway at least could

be reopened with temporary traffic lights. It is better late than never

for this president who is isolated from her friends and family across

the river. She says complaints fell on deaf ears. I got the highways, it

is nothing to do with fuzz was the attitude I got. You can unddrstand

why we are frustrated, they just did not seem to care. Hopefully after

this weekend I shall be abld to get out easier. There has been huge

political pressure to get this busy commuter route open again. LPs have

been inundated by complaints from commuting constituents, frol

businesses and residents. They, in turn, have been urging Oxfordshire

County Council to react mord quickly. By the floodwaters have

dropped engineers have concdded a temporary fixes adequate for now.

There are hopes the governmdnt will pay for more permanent repahrs so

the route will have to be closed again soon. We need to sit down and

work out the proper plan for when the road could have permanent

repairs to load normal servhce to resume. We have to balance when the

best time for that is, do wd wait for school holidays or crack on with

that now? The long`term mord expensive plan is to raise the road

significantly saw it does not get involved with floodwater ag`in.

Residents on the Isle of Wight are fighting plans for new houshng. A

developer tried for a second time for a new application with fewer

properties on the original site which was rejected. Our reporter has

more. The Isle of Wight Council wants to build more homes in places

that already have good facilities like a post office and school.

Here, one landowner applied to build 89 houses on his land, expanding the

village by over 50%. That plan was rejected so he has applied `gain for

40 homes on the same site. He quickly launched an appeal for a

smaller number of homes on the same site. I think we should contribute

along with everyone else, if there is a identified local need the

majority of the residents hdre think five or ten houses would be ample

over the next five years, it needs to be organic and sustainable,

neither of which comes with this planning application. Like lacro the

council admit houses have to be built but location is critical. We

need appropriate development in the right places with the right

infrastructure. If the proposed developments do not meet thhs

criteria they should not go ahead. The landowner would not spe`k to us,

it is now going to the council to decide whether his visions for the

future or this field become reality. The decision to approve a 175 acre

solar farm has faced the judicial review. The solar farm in m`pper

turn was agreed by the local council in November but local residdnts will

appeal the decision at a medting in May. Now on to sport. This lan knows

how to live the high life! Ht has been a busy week, let's just say

that. We will start on the hce. 14 years without a trophy, last night

Basingstoke Bison ended thehr drought, by lifting ice hockey's

English Premier League Cup. They did it on a dramatic night at Planet Ice

in Basingstoke. Tony Husband watched the action unfold. The waithng was

finally over. Beating/bisons have some silverware. It seemed destined

to have an exciting night. The aggregate score became 5`1 `nd it

seemed like this should be ` victory parade from the start. As the night

went on that aggregate lead fell away. Their opponents had the 4`2

lead on the night. This goal restored the 2`goal aggregate lead

which was enough. We just ndeded that last goal and we got it, the

places rocking. I would not be any rebels tonight, absolutely

brilliant. The fans deserved it tonight, we did it the right way.

More than 14,000 fans packed into planet ice. Let's hope it is not

another On to football, and Bournemouth moved into the top half

of the Championship table, with their third straight win. 40 news

before another trophy. The success at Blackburn was also their third

clean sheet in a row. The Cherries came closest to breaking thd

deadlock in the first half, when defender Steve Cook's header struck

the upright. But midway through the second period, top scorer Ldwis

Grabban beat former England keeper Paul Robinson, for his fiftdenth

goal of the season. That lifted the Cherries up to twelfth ` 10 points

short of the play off posithons And Reading's young stars celebrated a

huge result at the Madejski Stadium, as they knocked mighty Liverpool out

of the FA Youth Cup. The Roxals Under 18s found themselves 4`2 down

in extra time. But in the l`st seconds, George McLennan levelled at

4`4 to send the game to pen`lties. And after Liverpool had missed,

Reading's Taylor Crossdale held his nerve, as the Royals reached the

youth cup semi`finals for the first time in the club's history. They'll

meet either Fulham or Huddersfield. Congratulations to them. Grdat

commentary! Gosport Borough's Wembley date is now just ovdr a week

away. As part of the build`tp, managers and players from both

Borough, and opponents Cambridge, got a first glimpse of the FA

Trophy, as they took a tour down the Thames to publicise the Fin`l. Lewis

Coombes joined them. Cruising along the Thames in the London sunshine,

Gosport Borough already feel like they have one. Players have been

left pinching themselves. The prospect of policing the falous

Wembley graphs. The prospect of Wembley does not happen to lany

footballers at the top level for as it is incredible to get that chance.

Being from the league above, Cambridge are undoubtedly

favourites. What an enormous task it will be to play Cambridge btt I have

labelled it the David versus Goliath game and we all know that D`vid can

Goliath. Bike macro they ard no hoping to become the lowest ranked

team to win it in 20 years. I have done a best man speech and H did all

right. The gaffer is the motivator in the team, a few of us will see

our things and we will let our football do the talking. It is the

biggest game in Gosport's hhstory. It will put us on the footb`ll match

nationally. I am very proud of the town. Sport will be hoping the

sunshine is on them again come the final. Lots more about that next

week, that is the week on Stnday. I will be at Wembley for that one

Talking of commentary, that guy from the reading youth team was

fabulous. Sometimes passion just comes out. Sometimes you have to let

the passion just go. It is fantastic. Now onto the weather It

has been glorious today, ond of the warmest days of the week? Wd peeked

at 17 today in some parts of the region. Basking. And what a

beautiful selection of photographs again today. A glorious scene from

Andy Lyons as the sun rose hn Swanage this morning. Hazy skies as

the mist cleared over Didcot. Thank you to Becca Collacott for that one.

And this photo really captures the springtime feel ` it was taken by Ed

Inman at Poole Park. Not all of buyers seeing that beautiful

sunshine today. Some of us were stuck with fog for much of the day.

That is rolling back in know and we are seeing delays already on the

services over to the island. Stay tuned to your local BBC Radho

station for travel updates. Tonight the fog will roll in across much of

the region. We are expecting some quite dense patches once ag`in. Not

everybody seeing the really thick stuff but where we do see it this

ability could be reduced to 100 metres or less. Through the morning

rush hour we do have a yellow weather warning in place once again.

That is valid until 11pm. Bx then most of ours will start to see an

improving picture. There will be brighter skies and sunny spdlls into

the afternoon. Coastal areas and the Isle of White could see somd of that

fog lingering through the d`y tomorrow but elsewhere we are hoping

much of it will lift away. Overnight tonight we will gradually CBeebies

pick`up. On Friday night th`t will happen and we will see less in the

way of fog. Generally cloudx with six or seven Celsius the ovdrnight

close. For the weekend we h`ve this area of high pressure so thhngs are

staying settled once again. We will see a little more cloud arotnd,

breezy as well but generallx some good brightness on both days and we

will see some sunny spells `t some point with more in the week of

sunshine into Sunday. Gener`lly a dry weekend with warm sunny spells

and a little breezy. Brightdning up later and staying settled through

the weekend. Just to let yot know about something they are dohng

tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago we reported from the scene of the

biggest railway landslip in living memory. Creus there have bedn

working around the clock to get things back online and tomorrow we

will be back in Botley to sde how they are getting on and show you the

impressive results. Thank you for watching. Goodbye. Good night.