20/03/2014 BBC Oxford News

that a court that a fork` lhft truck driver from Oxfordshire warned

"someone's going to die" thd day before he was killed. Mark Williams,

from Nuneham Courtenay, died in 2011 when the machine he was operating

toppled onto him. He was working on the Parkway Shopping Centre

development in Newbury. Joe Campbell was in court.

Mark Williams' stark warning of "someone is going to die" h`d

brought a site safety meeting to a halt. The woman responsible for

health and safety on the Parkway construction project had called a

follow`up meeting in the arda where he was actually working. But Amy

Dixon said that his worries had not been about his own safety btt that

of others. He had raised his concerns after safety barridrs had

been moved, and he was alarled that somebody might be struck by the

Telehandler the machine that he was using to move materials arotnd the

construction site. Mr Willi`ms had also asked for another piecd of

plant to be moved away from the area, but people working for Costain

said they were unaware that that was because he had any concerns about

the limited space he was behng asked to operate in. 24 hours latdr, the

father of two young girls w`s dead, after the piece of equipment he had

been operating toppled over. Costain today also called expert testimony

from Lawrence Waterman, who had been head of health and safety on the

2012 Olympic construction shte. He said he had been angered to hear in

court claims that workers mhght have cut corners when it came to safety.

In the past, he admitted, the industry had been on record as

having a problem with peopld had raised concerns about safetx,

tending, as he put it, to shoot the messenger, but Costain had done much

to turn that reputation arotnd. Both they and their subcontractors,

Attleys Roofing, deny breaching health and safety laws.

150 people are now back at their homes after a gas leak in Bhcester

this afternoon. Police cordoned off areas around London Road following a

pipe damaged by railway workers building the new Oxford`to`London

line. The area is now safe. After the disruption and devastation

brought by this year's flooding plans are being fine`tuned for a

flood alleviation scheme in Oxfordshire. A summit being held

tomorrow to talk about creating a channel which would take excess

water away from Oxford. Jerdmy Stern reports.

Peter Rawcliffe lives in Sotth Hinksey. The village has bedn

repeatedly flooded. Temporary barriers were put up in Jantary but

Peter says Oxford needs far more substantial protection. His group,

the Oxford Flood Alliance, wants a channel built called the Western

Conveyance. It would take floodwater away from the city centre towards

South Oxfordshire. It is vital that something is done and the only plan

on the table that is going to work is the channel. In January we had

bad floods. Transport was dhsrupted. This has been happening verx

frequently. The idea is to dig into the fields around the streal,

creating gradual slips into a V shaped channel. It would mostly look

as it does now, with river banks and grass most of the time, but if it

ever flooded, this hot area would become a waterway heading towards

the Thames. `` this whole area. Tomorrow, members of the Flood

Alliance will meet with loc`l councillors, Thames Water and First

Great Western to discuss thd ?1 5 million project. Could therd be a

more simple answer? Tom Ballance has worked on the Thames for most of his

life. He is convinced improving existing streams and blocking off

the A34's underpasses from flood water, would do the job ` at a

fraction of the cost. It can be done quickly in the next couple of years.

I do not see any problem. ?3 million to ?5 million would easily deal with

it. But the Oxford Flood Alliance believe only their channel will make

the difference, and say tomorrow could go down in history as the day

the city's longstanding flooding problem was finally solved.

Councils in our region are being given a share of more than ?180

million from the Government to fix potholes caused by one of the

wettest winters on record. Lore than ?4 million has been allocatdd to

Oxfordshire. Buckinghamshird will get ?2.5 million and Swindon will

receive a quarter of a millhon. The Department for Transport saxs it

hopes most of the repairs whll be complete before the summer.

There are calls to suspend plans allowing airport`bound coaches to

pick up passengers in the Oxfordshire village of Lewknor, amid

claims there'll be parking chaos. The London`bound Oxford Tubd service

already stops there. From ndxt month, it'll also become a stop for

coaches heading to Heathrow and Gatwick. Tom Turrell has thd story.

Quintessentially English ` the village of Lewknor, around 20

minutes from Oxford. But thd people here say it's being used as a giant

car park for commuters catching the Oxford Tube to London. The problem

is, the bus service is very popular now. There are more cars th`t can

physically park on the vergd is available to them at present outside

of the village. There are 40 cars into the village, which is laking

the village congested. And there are worries things are about to get a

lot worse. At the moment, these coaches ferry people to Heathrow and

Gatwick, picking up and dropping off here at Thornhill park`and`ride in

Oxford. But the service is changing and in two weeks, the 150 coaches

will soon be stopping at Lewknor every day as well. I have written

both to the traffic Commisshoner and to the Secretary of State for

transport to say, hang on a minute, let's put a stop on this for a while

until we sort out the basic infrastructure problem, which is the

provision of car parking sp`ces So how does the coach company feel

about the impact it might h`ve? We do not want people to park there and

would you want to risk misshng your plane because you missed thd coach

because you could not park there because it was full? There hs

limited parking in the vill`ge and it is full from very early hn the

morning. We do not want people to park there. The extra coach pick`up

point is a service which will be welcomed by many, but not ` it seems

` by all. Question Time is on the way here on

BBC One. That is all from us for now. Now the weather. Goodbxe.

Cold air is paying us a visht in the next few days. Clearing skids

tonight and that is after wd have had a band of rain pushed its way

through in the first part of the night. Colder air sets in bdhind

that, with lows of three to four Celsius. This temperatures `re half

what they were last night, so a chilly start to the day tomorrow. A

few showers developing throtgh the course of the day but a lot of

places staying dry with somd sunshine. Showers could be on the

fairly cool stuff, showers coming through and that's the theme. I will

leave you with that summary. Good evening. The skies were clear for

most parts of the UK and it will turn quite cold but we have to get

rid of the band of rain slipping its way southwards through the day.

Gusty wind. Also a temperature