10/04/2014 BBC Oxford News

Commons has been cleared of rape and other sex charges. Goodbye.

Good evening. Two high`profhle politicians have visited farms in

Oxfordshire today to see innovative methods being used that could be

taken up elsewhere. The Irish president Michael D Higgins was in

the area as part of a tour of Britain, before farming minhster

George Eustis visited a farl. At this farm, they pride thdmselves

on being forward thinkers. Today the farming minister heard dairx

products were sold not just in Oxfordshire but mainland Europe and

even America. There's huge potential for new markets in places lhke China

and India and British products are seen a premium product. Somd of the

best dairy product in the world There is a real opportunity there.

Fantastic cheeses, your guts, all sorts of dairy products. Thd visit

was seen as a welcome recognition for the farm's perseverance. We put

a lot of effort into farming organically. It isn't an easy way of

farming. We don't use sprays and fertilisers but we produce products

that we're very proud of. This farm wasn't the only one to welcome a

VIP. The President of Ireland is on a four`day state visit to Britain.

Michael D Higgins has come to this farm in Oxford to find out `bout

sustainable farming and also promote food made in his own countrx. This

initiative is one of several dotted around the world. The president who

grew up in a farm in County Clare, heard how the farm makes thd most of

the environment. We have a lot of wet flood meadows so we grow lots of

good grass. We try and find different ways of using that grass

so, for example, we feed our pigs on a silage `based diet. That's quite

unusual but means we are able to take the natural resource wd have

here with very little extra input. Oxygen's farms have had thehr

problems and many didn't make it through the recession. But for two

that are now flourishing, today there was something to crow about.

The mayor of Swindon has bedn found to have breached the Members' Code

of Conduct after allegedly calling disabled people "mongols".

Councillor Nick Martin has been told to make a public apology after an

assessment panel discussed his future. He's said to have m`de the

remark during a training session last year about the problems faced

by disabled adults. He accepts what he said was wrong and says he will

keep apologising. A man who beat in Aylesbury musician

to death has been told he m`y never leave a secure mental health

hospital. 53`year`old Mark Hospital died after the assault last January.

At Reading Crown Court todax, a 50`year`old man from Aylesbtry was

detained under a hospital order He can only be released by the

secretary of state or mental health tribunal.

Pupils with autism in Oxfordshire are being promised better access to

education with the opening of two of the first specialised schools in the

county. Although one is a private school, both will take pupils funded

by the local authority. Victoria Cook reports.

It's a building site at the moment but in September the doors will open

at LVS Oxford in Bembroke to children with autism and ass

burgers. It's the first timd a school in the county will c`ter to

these specific learning disabilities. `` and ass burgesses

drone. Children were forced to travel outside the county to get the

opportunities they needed. Ht will give children the opportunity to get

back into their community. We are helping them access new services.

Liam has just left the sistdr school to this. He credits the school's

teaching methods for cultiv`ting his career as a chef. You have short

lessons so you aren't concentrating for a long period of time. Xou

always have one teacher who will do all your lessons for you, which is

good. That isn't the only school opening this year. This sitd is

being converted into the McHntyre Academy, another specialist school

for children with autism. Education officials say they're not trying to

deliberately separate children and are keen to keep them mixed in a

classroom. In some severe c`ses that simply doesn't work, and a

specialist education is the only solution. It is thought that one in

every 100 is on the autistic spectrum. Of those, 40 per set of

autistic children are bullidd at school. One in five ends up being

excluded. That is why experts say these schools are must for oxygen.

It's hoped that with new schools come new opportunities for special

needs children in the countx. `` are a must for Oxfordshire. Sex workers

in Swindon's red`light district are to be given extra protection and

support. Prostitution has bden an ongoing issue in the town for years.

Now Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner is planning to spend

?35,000 to employ a specialhst to help get the women off the streets.

We will tell you about that at 10:25pm. Earlier I asked Sarah

Walker from the English Collective of Prostitutes, who campaign to

scrap the laws on prostituthon, what she thought of the plans. Wd think

services are very, very important. Things like housing, help whth debt,

with claiming benefits. But those services can't substitute for

changes in the law, because it's the fact that prostitution is

criminalised ` that is what's driving women underground. Ht makes

it much harder to report. And violent men know this and,

therefore, target sex workers for violence. Is violence the bhggest

danger that sex workers facd? Yes, we would say safety is the very top

priority. And the problem women face is that if they try to report to the

police, they're often treatdd as criminals. And therefore, m`ny women

do not come forward and, thdrefore, violent men feel that they can get

away with it. So what's the simplest change that could improve their

safety? We think that the shmplest, the most important and the lost

urgent change needed is to decriminalise prostitution, to

abolish the laws so that wolen can work together safely indoors, and

can leave prostitution without having a criminal record. That's

what's trapping so many womdn in prostitution in the first place

That might not happen any thme soon, though, so what could happen

short`term to improve their safety? That can happen short`term.

Decriminalisation can happen right now. The Government, at this moment,

is reviewing the prostitution laws and we're pressing them and urging

the public to press them to go for decriminalisation. Because that is

the only way to ensure women's safety. Sarah Walker, thank you

The Road Dahl Museum in Buckinghamshire has won its case

against HM Revenue and Customs over a wrong tax payment. The museum and

story centre in Great Missenden claimed tax paid on its ?500,00

revamp had been incorrectly classified. A tribunal dismhssed

claims about several payments ` but said VAT was wrongly categorised on

money spent creating a book about the hut where Roald Dahl wrote his

stories. Campaigners fighting a long`running

battle to save a swimming pool in Oxford have six months to bty it.

The city council approved S`ve Temple Cowley Pool's bid to be

listed as a community asset because it's well used in the local area.

The group will have six months before the pool can be sold on the

open market. Maudlin bridge will be open to

pedestrians when the May Dax celebrations take place in Oxford

this year. It's the fourth xear running the bridge will be open to

pedestrians and closed to traffic from 3am until 9am to enabld

everyone to enjoy the singing in comfort and safety. The bridge will

reopen to traffic as soon it's safe to do so.

Changes to parking charges hn Buckingham are going to become a

permanent fixture, following a trial. The district council

introduced the charges last summer and says free parking at two car

parks is also encouraging pdople to stay in the town centre for longer.

The freedom of the city of Oxford is to be awarded to the director of the

Ashmolean museum, Professor Christopher Brown. You'll bd

presented with the ceremoni`l scroll at an event in the town hall in

July. He is due to retire l`ter this year and says he's absolutely

thrilled to be honoured in that way. If you'd like to get in touch with

us and tell us about the stories you think we should be covering, you can

e`mail us. You can also join in the conversation on Facebook and

Twitter. That's all from me for the loment.

The waters may have gone but residents here are still talking

about what happened in their community. I still say that the

amount of properties that wdre lost in such a small area was

disgraceful. People round hdre have been crying as they have bedn coming

out of their bungalows. This is heartbreaking. When the floods came,

tens of thousands of pounds were spent on measures to try to limit

the harm they cause. The qudstion now is whether this could h`ve been

avoided. I've got roughly 120. Today residents were taking a dossier to

the county council, setting out details of the early warning signs

dating back years that they feel were ignored. From 2008, thdy've

ignored what they were told and people are angry, devastated. What

more can I say? They're horrified. That's a long time to know something

and not put any plans into `ction to prevent it happening. They should be

ashamed of themselves. The dossier has been delivered to the

authorities by opposition politicians. Here in Basingstoke,

those who run the council s`y a review is already planned to see

what lessons can be learned. This tune will mark the 70th

anniversary of the D`day landings. 2500 Allied troops died in the

operation that paved the wax for the end of the Second World War.

Portsmouth played an import`nt role. Veterans came to the city's D`day

museum today as the programle of events marking the important

anniversary was announced. It was probably the worst 24 hours

of my life. The smell of engine oil was dreadful. Frank took part in the

second wave of the landings in 944. His memories haven't faded. Today he

was reunited with World War II Jeep as Portsmouth officially announced

its anniversary events. The city was a key strategic location on D`day.

This was the centre of the operation and Portsmouth was never evdr found

to remember D`day. This year's 0th anniversary will be marked by events

from June five to June eight. Because of the age of the vdterans

that are still alive, it cotld be the last time we had a chance to

honour and commemorate this anniversary. For D`day veterans the

importance of remembering c`n't be overstated. They were so yotng. 18

and 19`year`old boys. Richest people do not realise how free thex are. ``

British people. In June we are planning a special

series of reports to commemorate D`day and we need your help on one.

On June two, 1940 four, four days before the invasion, a group of

tanks were parked up in Waterlooville waiting to go. Have a

look at this picture. This little girl was then called Janet Coleman

and was out with her mum. She was filmed being made a fuss of by the

tank commander who even sat her on a tank. We're trying to find her. We

think she is about 34`macro here so she will probably be in her late 70s

and stop `` three or four. She might have got married or changed her name

but did you know where Janet Coleman is now? If you've got any idea where

she is, you can contact us by e`mail, Twitter or on Facebook.

Tony is here with a look at the sport and some golf news but also

the Poole Pirates are beginning to fence off their title. `` ddfence

of. The next four nights will bd very

exciting. A tremendous event. We have Justin Rose flying the flag for

Hampshire. He won the US opdn title last year. He is eighth in the world

and heads out on the first tee later. He said he is in the prime of

his career. He will team up with Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson and the

experience will help him. You come here looking at increasing xour

tally of major championships. At least you know you've faced those

emotions before and come through. It's a huge benefit, turning up here

this week. Last week, Poole Pirates' new Polish double `ct

helped them get off to a flxing start last night. They starred in

the 52`37 victory which included this in heat 15 to wrap up `

convincing win. It is a boost for the Pirates, who are without one of

their team through injury. Now for the second in our sdries of

reports on women in sport coaching. Female coaching numbers rem`in low

in the UK. In an effort to change that, an initiative offering females

the chance to gains Bortz qualifications in coaching `` sport

qualifications in coaching hs taking place and if successful will be

rolled out across the country. Short sprint intervals.

At 68, Rita is a late startdr in sports coaching. For the past five

years, she's been an inform`l mental for her fellow female runners. Now,

thanks to project 500, she has an official qualification as a sports

coach. When the opportunity came, I jumped at the chance becausd it will

give me the skills and knowledge to do that hopefully more succdssfully.

Evita has inspired many womdn to get active and challenge themselves

When we moved to Didcot, I didn t know anyone there and now I've run

the half marathon and she's been supportive all the time. Thd project

is active across the South `nd encourages women of all ages and

abilities to take up sports coaching. John Driscoll is the

executive director of sports coach UK which runs the project. The

obstacles are time and cost because the majority of coaches, both men

and women, are volunteers. Hf you are giving up your time to coach,

you don't also want to give up your time and money, away from your

family, to gain qualifications. Much better. Lindsay is a former Olympic

diver. She's now a coach and thinks that when today's professional

athlete retired, they won't be attracted by the of coaching. The

athletes at the top end get paid quite a lot of money so for them to

go into coaching, they would have to be very, very committed to the

sport. We all were because we didn't get paid when we were diving or

coaching to start with. She has been a torch bearer for coaching. To

start with, there were prob`bly only five women coaches out of 200 at a

particular event and this ydar, I would say there were 25%. So it s

increasing. Netball is percdived as an all`female sport and the

proportion of female coaches has always been high. Kim was optimistic

that with the help of this project, where netball leads others will

follow. There is a lot of hope for women in coaching. They may not

realise what is out there. This is saying, come and have a go `nd get

the best out of your sport. A very interesting series. Do you think

things are changing? I think they are and with the help of thhs

project, it's going to incrdase even more, which is the good news.

Hopefully they'll make it a countrywide thing. We all rdmember

our first coaches. I remembdr my first cricket coach, Chris

Cotterill. He taught me how to play a defensive shot. Ten years later I

played club cricket. I remelber my football coach. He used to tie the

goalkeeper's shoelaces together to make him dive, usually on frosty

ground. A few years back, Roger Finn spent a

couple of summers indulging his passion for the countryside, with

regular features looking at wildlife and some of the country characters

who share his love. This spring he at it again and he's starting this

evening with the story of a much loved but very endangered lhttle

creature. One of the few parts of the country where it still has a

stronghold is in a small corner of the West Sussex coast.

A foggy morning. A team of conservationists are checking traps.

For Britain's fastest declining mammal, the water vole. Last

September, she was the only adult female that we caught and wd tagged

and we can see that she's still here so she was the only adult fdmale

that we caught and we tagged and we can see that she's still here so

she's survived they can havd up to five or six litters a year, so a

single water vole camp equal 10 falls quite quickly. Water voles are

being studied because last September their habitat changed dramatically.

The sea defence was deliber`tely breached. The idea is that the power

of the waves will now be so`ked up by the land but an earth bank in

land is the final barrier. Not just a radical new sea defence btt

Britain's newest nature resdrve too. It has a sea water inshde and

fresh water outside. Water voles love fresh water so for the little

fellas that live on this side of the bank whether sea water is coming in,

there's a real problem. The water over here is getting more s`lty so

the hope is that they will ligrate over the earth bank to hear, where

they will find a freshly made Paradise waiting for them. Ht's

quite low`lying and flat land. Farming has drained the land with

drainage ditches and they'rd all connected and snake across the

landscape. It's an amazing habitat. New meanders have been created with

the sort of vegetation water voles love. Today the team are looking for

evidence that the voles havd moved in.

This is the water vole. It has been put in a nice neat pile and is about

the size of a small suite. They mark their territory. There are little

shards of green vegetation. They've been out and found something quite

green and lush so they came back. So they're here in strength!

Encouraging signs and water voles badly need some good news. @cross

Britain, populations have bden decimated, largely due to md. This

could be a real stronghold for them. In Sussex over the last dec`de,

we've had and 90% increase `` deepfreeze water voles. There are

only a few sites that we sthll have them naturally occurring. This is

one of them and they are st`rting to breed. When we come back in

September, hopefully this whll all have come up. It's suitable for

voles and also otherworldly. The new salt marshes are already proving

popular. `` and other wildlhfe. The research project will follow the

water voles for five years, looking at the new habitat and the well

established ones nearby. Thhs is what we call our control ditch,

where we compare everything else that's happening with water voles

across the site. We look at how many are here, males and females, and at

territory. It's really important that we look after and consdrve them

because they are a few of the ovulation that we have left. ``

population. More from Roger next week btt in the

mean time, here are some of the curious items and tools that he

found while he was filming. They were used in years gone by.

In this series, we've got an extra interactive treat ` a mystery object

found here. This is the first one. What is it? You can make a guess on

our Facebook page and everything will be revealed next week.

I'm perplexed! It looks a bht like a bell. Or one of those mallets they

use in auction houses. We'd better let the viewers have the call on

that. More on that on our F`cebook page. Gilbert suggests that it is an

mallet and Steve thinks it's for tolling bell. They're all wrong

Roger is going to give you the answer next week. Time for ` look at

the weather and, Alexis, yot don't need any coaching on the we`ther

forecast. No, it's quiet and that's good news

because we'll have lots of sunshine. Dave captured this sunrise

in Swanage. Carey took this photo of a red squirrel. And this is Barney

who is enjoying the bluebells. Thanks to Roy for that.

A quiet period over the next few days thanks to high pressurd.

Tonight we are looking at mhst and fog patches with, perhaps, some mist

and fog in places. Fog not for everyone but it will be where we

have the clear skies. As we head through the night, there is a chance

of maybe a spot of rain. Temperatures will fall to around six

or seven. Temperatures slightly lower in the countryside. A foggy,

misty start tomorrow. It won't stay that way ` mist and fog will lift

swiftly and we will see sunshine across the region. Variable amounts

of cloud so not wall`to`wall sunshine but in the sunshind, expect

highs of 14 or 15. Maybe evdn 1 in areas closer to London. Cle`r skies

tomorrow night, like last nhght and tonight. There is the risk of a

touch of frost first thing on Saturday. There will be somd cloud

but under clear skies, tempdrature is good for a notch lower than

tonight. Lows of five. Slightly milder along the South coast. A dry

start to Saturday and high pressure remains in charge. Later on Saturday

we see this cold front move its way southwards across the country,

introducing slightly more cloud so the sunshine could turn hazx through

the afternoon, but it will stay dry for much of the daylight hotrs.

Saturday and Sunday are both pretty good. If you're running the London

Marathon on Sunday, we could see highs in the afternoon for the

strugglers of 17. There will be a cold and perhaps cloudy start for

the marathon. We are expecthng a lot of cloud to start each day. There

may be mist and fog as well but it won't stay that way. There will be

sunny spells breaking through. On Sunday we could see temperatures

soar after a cloudy start up to around 15 to 17.

Looking good! Long may it continue. That's all from us. You can keep

up`to`date on the BBC News website but from all of the team here, have

a good one. Goodbye for now.