27/06/2014 BBC Oxford News

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me

Hello, and welcome to South Today from Oxford.

A murder investigation is l`unched, after a man's body is found

Plans for a housing developlent on the edge of Oxford that would be

Three deserts, and 4500 milds, a former Marine takes an epic

motorcycle trip. Police in Swindon have launched

a murder investigation, after the body of a man was found

on a cycle path in the town. Officers say he'd been

stabbed multiple times. Forensic teams have continudd

working throughout the day, and the area, near the Hawkesworth Trading

Estate, has been cordoned off. A coroner's van leaving the scene

of the crime. The police say the man's body was

found shortly before midnight, on a cycle path which runs from

Rodbourne to Swindon town cdntre. The path was closed off

as forensics officers carridd out At a press conference this lorning,

the police said the man had been subjected to

a vicious stabbing attack. Really difficult investigathon,

it is going to be moving forward so I am appealing to

the public to help, telling us what has gone on, what have you heard

and seen, were you in the area? They said the murder happendd

sometime after after 10:30pl last night and the man

in his 60s was riding home. They think the attacker was

unknown to the victim. They hope the public can

help to find the culprit. I would imagine, if know thd person,

their behaviour may have ch`nged, They will be conscious we whll

have an interest in finding them. We are looking for people bdhaving

differently, changing where they go and getting rid of clothing or items

they had with them yesterdax. There will be extra patrols in the

centre of Swindon tonight, `s the police try to reassure the public in

the wake of this town centrd murder. A Berkshire man has died

after taking the drug Ketamhne Police confirmed the death of the

26`year`old from Reading earlier. He is thought to have suffered

an adverse reaction to Fresh attempts to build 4,000 new

homes in Oxford are in the pipeline. Previous attempts to build `t

Grenoble Road have failed, following opposition from campaigners who ve

pointed out the land is grednbelt. Now, talks are due to start again,

as Helen Catt reports. It takes just a few steps to get

from this south of Grenoble Road But does that make it a vit`l green

barrier, or an ideal place to build? For several years now, Oxford City

Council thinks it's the latter. Highly sustainable in terms

of transport to the city. And part

of an established community. And leisure and commercial

facilities. It makes it easy to develop

a community which will be wdll The city council owns some

of the land, as do Magdalen College The last attempt to get it darmarked

for development was overturned The field may be a stone's throw

from Blackbird Leys but thex are Its district council says that

must be remembered, historically And countryside campaigners

are opposed to it too. This, in real terms, is open

countryside on the doorsteps of the people who live there. Clearly, if

we covered it with houses, ht would lose its environmental valud, as

well as its value as green belt The city council will decidd next

week if it will start formal talks with other landowners

about developing here. It thinks

a recent study saying Oxfordshire needs another 100,000 homes by 031

will mean bits of the greenbelt will A man in Banbury's been handed

a five year jail sentence ` after carrying out what's bden

described as an "horrific unprovoked 55`year`old Denis Mawle,

who's from Warwickshire, It happened

at Banbury's reservoir last year when the 69`year`old victim was

punched, knocked down an embankment Npower has announced

the operation to demolish the cooling towers at the Didcot power

plant will take place betwedn 3am The controlled explosion will bring

the southern towers down The firm says the exact timd will be

determined by a number of f`ctors, including safety checks,

the weather, and advice South Oxfordshire District Council

says its `` it's "disappointed" at the

timings, and will ask Npower to We've all taken a wrong turn

at some point, but a driver in He's managed to get

his lorry stuck under the r`ilway The incident has caused traffic

problems for hundreds of drhvers A recovery operation's been

underway this afternoon. The importance

of a healthy lifestyle in old age was the subject of a special event

in Buckinghamshire today. Guests were invited to a zulba

class and other exercise sessions. There was also a series

of lectures about how to live The conference was organised

by a number of groups including the county council and

the hosts, Bucks New University The conference was organised

by a number of groups including the county council and

the hosts, Bucks New University You see lots of people who `re

overweight, who don't exerchse. I mean,

even in the younger generathon. What we need is to start yotng,

and get everybody really enjoying using their bodies doing solething

physical. Sometimes there is a bit

of resistance. But, when they actually get

into it and do it, Regular exercise for muscles,

which keeps us going, it makes us It?s been a controversial

development in east Oxford. But, today, people in Blackbird Leys

in the city have got a glimpse of the new ?9 million swimmhng

pool, planned for the area. The sports complex will eventually

replace the long`standing Steel frames have now been fitted

as part of the new`look More than ?9 million has bedn spent

by Oxford City Council to rddevelop And, after years of planning, the

site is a step closer to colpletion. The builders are now on a mhssion to

get this pool ready for members The site itself will featurd

two pools, including a 25`mdtre competition pool, a changeable

floor, and a cafe terrace. The pool isn't the only feature

attracting people here, thotgh. A new soft play area was officially

opened today, which councillors hope will be an incentive for parents who

use the creche service here. But there are concerns

about the council's decision to sell another leisure centre it rtns

nearby, to housing developers. Thousands of people over

the last five years have signed a petition to try and save Temple

Cowley Pool And Fitness Centre. Campaigners have described ht

as an asset of community value. Unfortunately, the Temple

Cowley Pool is not sustainable. It is the worst of all

in environmental terms. We could pour all

the money we had into keeping it open for another couple of decades,

or we could build a new pool here, ten minutes up the road by bus,

which would be available It needs a lot of money spending

on it now. I used to use Temple Cowley until I

started using the facilities here. It is very sad, but we live

in a world where we have to change. It is going to be a bigger `nd

better pool area, better for kids. Oxford City Council says thd

Temple Cowley Pool And Fitndss Centre won't be sold or demolished

until this pool is ready Finally, Oxford scientists have

been hosting a sumo wrestling event All of

the participants have been robots. The Robot Sumo Competition

at Brookes University has attracted The challenge given to programmers

was to design a machine that would push its robotic opponent ott

of a circle, without being directly The job marked on it in robotics

above market, the prices in components are coming down, they are

household items. This could lead to many jobs in this area.

It doesn't really destroy it, it pushes it.

Our robot is meant to push `nother out of the ring. I wouldn't call it

deadly, it wasn't exactly vdry good. But, at least we tried.

I'll have the headlines at 8pm, and a full bulletin at 10.24pm.

Now, more of today's stories with Sally Taylor.

Still to come in this evening's South Today:

Do you know, there is more people every single weekend in Britain that

goes in historic property than football matches? So technically,

history is bigger than football Think of the South Downs and you may

think of the rolling chalk hills which encapsulate the countryside

in our part of the world. But you might not realise that it's

also home to some precious heathland Now thanks to a grant

from the Heritage Lottery Ftnd, that rich habitat could soon be

protected as Sarah Farmer rdports. It may seem contradictory,

preserving our local wildlife by removing the land, at the South

Downs National Park authority is doing just that. They have launched

a new scheme to encourage the heathland within the park to thrive.

Heather plants are not very tolerant of shade, so if we are not looking

after this area, for exampld, the bracken is starting to encroach the

birch and pine scrub will invade, and within ten or 20 years, this

could become poor quality sdcondary woodland. At the moment, he`thland

makes up 1% of the South Downs National Park, but the areas are

dotted about like islands, laking plants and animals and honotrable to

extinction. Without active management, controlling the bracken

by cutting or spraying with herbicide or cutting back the birch

scrub, and also by grazing, which helps maintain a more open

landscape, without this acthve management, the heather plants can

become shaded out and eventtally they will die off. The schele will

restore existing and recreate lost heathland the size of 1200 football

pitches. They will breathe new life into the habitat, and support

Endangered Species Act. The key species for us are the sand lizard,

which is confined to heathl`nds and Sandy and habitats in this country,

have a local population to the area have a local population to the area

of this project which has bden set up, and also this creature, which is

restricted to a few heathland site in the South of England. Thd project

has received a ?48,000 ran for the initial planning stages. Thd scheme

hopes to receive one and half million pounds from the orators in

the orators and to carry out the project over the next few ydars

Dash`macro Heritage lottery project. Motorists have been facing long

delays on the A27 through The Goodwood Festival of Spded is

attracting big crowds to sed the The queues come as campaigndrs

call for improvements to thd road. The A27 Action Group wants

the whole section to be improved, with construction of a bypass

for Arundel. Of all the thousands

of people travelling to Goodwood today, none would have had puite

the journey that Chris Short had. The wounded ex`serviceman h`s

completed an epic trip, that's seen him ride all thd way

from Afghanistan on a motorbike It took a month to reach hole

in West Sussex and involved crossing three deserts.

Chris started in Kabul. From Afghanistan, through K`zakhstan

to Georgia, and eventually through He finally reached

Goodwood this morning. Our transport correspondent

Paul Clifton reports. Leaving carpal. For a bike rider,

this is some of the most in hospitable to reign on earth. The

only thing you are thinking about is the next ten metres of road. Chris

Short used to be a Royal Marine You are thinking about is the ndxt ten

metres of road. Chris Short used to be a Royal Marine. Fantastic and

wonderful and terrifying. The geography of the place is completely

wonderful and beautiful. Many people you meet are just the same. Chris is

not alone. With him is support driver Dominic from New Orldans He

also has a cameraman, Lawrence Cameron. The driving standards are

nonexistent and the roads are appalling. They compete and they are

in combat with one another when they are driving. Extreme desert, searing

heat, dust that just manages to find its way into every single orifice

imaginable. Crossing three deserts in 17 countries, the journex has

taken 32 days and four and ` half thousand miles. I would say a good

80% of our journey from Afghanistan has been hard off`road. Everything

has been hard to this point, and it is meant to be hard. That the whole

point of it. If I am feeling it then the guys will just kind of

leave me to it, and they will come and offer help if they think it is

appropriate, and if not, thdy will let me crack on. The aim is to raise

money for Mission Motorsport, a charity that helps injured service

men recover and learn new skills. Beyond this stupid jolly

boysmulti`macro outing, there are people's lie to potentially could be

very different if we complete this and managed to raise as much money

as we are hoping to. Last nhght Chris finally reached London to meet

supporters. Very, very tired. Very tired, yes. One month after he

started, the finish at Goodwood was close. I am going to take about two

or three days off, and then I'm going to fly back to Afghanhstan and

go back to work. An incredible adventure. Let's stay

with motor vehicles. The fiftieth anniversary

of a supercar built The Gordon Keeble was developed

at Southampton Airport, in ` hangar 99 cars were built,

and most are still on the road as In 1964, Autocar magazine s`id this

was the most electrifying c`r ever seen, an elegant rival to

Aston Martin and Maserati. Remarkably, half a century later,

most of them are still on the road, and this morning,

49 Gordon Keebles gathered Today, it's the car park

at Southampton Airport. It combines three fantastic

elements, an English chassis designer who knew what he w`s doing,

an Italian stylist who knew what he It's certainly the world's largest

ever gathering of Gordon Kedbles, and I believe it will be thd world's

largest ever in the future too. I don't think we'll ever get this

many together again, Eastleigh was an unlikely

birthplace for a '60s supercar. Two brothers who helped build

every one of them came back today. I'm amazed they've lasted as long

as they have. We're just proud. Really proud that we are looking

at this now as they are. They're still like brand`new,

to look at them. Each masterpiece made in Eastleigh

is now worth 20 times that. A lot of people are passion`te about

the Gordon Keeble. Now onto sport. Tony husband is here. Everyone is in

a medical at the moment, thdy? Yes, absolutely, and they are passing

them as well. A clean sweep for those England players from

Southampton. All three are effectively as good as gone, and now

also, Adam Lallana on the w`y, because he was having a medhcal at

Liverpool as afternoon. and could complete his transfer to

Liverpool within the next 24 hours. It's been a day

which has brought a double whammy for Saints fans with Lallan` on

the way, just hours after Ltke Shaw completed his long expected move to

Manchester United, in a world record Their faces adorn the side of the

Saint Mary Stadium, but these are two saints who are heading north.

First out, Luke Shaw, Manchdster United paying ?27 million, with a

further 4 million in add`ons to make this 18`year`old left back the most

expensive teenager in footb`ll history. That is a point Sotthampton

were keen to highlight later, and they transferred that fans new was

coming. He's a good player, but I don't think he was worth th`t much,

so yes, take the money, I rdckon. It wasn't a bad decision, but `s long

as we use it wisely. And not very happy about it, but you can't stand

in a young lad's way. Let's hope we get someone who is as good, if not

better. I think you have to be a London club to keep all your

youngsters or your team is tp north. Social media has been abuzz.

Most people thought it was good business for a young player, but

many also asked who would rdplace Luke Shaw and how the money would be

reinvested under the new boss. The ink had barely dried and Luke

Shaw's contract when news broke that Adam Lallana was having a mddical at

Liverpool. The reported ?25 million fee a hammer blow for Saints fans,

but a gift for Bournemouth, he received compensation, having signed

him as a youth. They start preseason with a somewhat depleted sqtad next

week, largely due to the World Cup. The manager was consulted over the

transfers, and Saint say thd money from Luke Shaw will be reinvested.

He faces some key decisions in his earliest days in the job. A

four`year contract for Luke Shaw, and he has told Manchester Tnited's

official website today, I h`ve been a Southampton since I was ehght

years old, and I would like to thank them and the fans for everything

they have done for me, and H would like to continue to progress my

career. Manchester United is the ideal place to do that.

Brighton and Hove Albion have named former Liverpool midfielder

Sammy Lee as their new assistant manager.

Lee links up with Sami Hyppha, who was appointed last month.

He's been a manager himself, having had a short spell as manager

Six players from Reading hockey club were named in the men's and women's

squads for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.

Kate Richardson Walsh leads the women who are looking to bounce

back from a disastrous World Cup tournament, it's her fourth Games.

Alex Danson is among the others while the men,

who narrowly missed out on ` medal in the Hague include Simon Lantell.

Now, there's no denying it's a big year for history, with

the centenary of the First World War and the 70th anniversary of D`Day.

In the south, we have no shortage of commemorative events going on.

But did you know that we also have the country's biggest

The Chalke Valley History Fdstival has been underway all week.

Affectionately known as the historians' Glastonbtry,

it brings together talks and debates, with living history

We sent our reporter Chrissx Sturt to find out more.

Lying west of Salisbury, thd Chalke Valley is usually one of thd

quietest locations in southdrn England. But for one week, thousands

of people from all over the country are at ending a unique event

organised by local resident James Holland. What is the big idda here?

There are a lot of festivals around the country, lots of art and music

festivals, but no one festival dedicated to history, so we thought

we would be the first. It mhght be a slightly harder sell than

Glastonbury, but you get lots of living history, you have thd trench

experience, jousting, beer will s storytelling around the fird, and

lots of historic vehicles. There is food and drink a lot. This hs a

proper festival, but just a festival of history. While a music fdstival

has bands, this one has public figures. People were dropping bombs

on our parents and friendsmulti`macro and our

grandparentsmulti`macro houses. I have joined my own school to watch

John Dan Snow. So when my whfe says, you have lost the car keys, I say,

it could be worse. Did you think history could be funny like he makes

it? Not like he makes it, btt I have a history teacher who makes lots of

jokes, so it is similar. Thdy are the sort of people you seek to be

like in later life. For A`ldvel students, it is really diffhcult to

find something that is really meaningful for them, and I think

this is. Lots of talks by dhfferent historians, and a real breath of

history which will really hdlp them. People say to me, you will

never get young people interested in history.

I say, are you mad? There is a tent full of them. There are thotsands of

people doing academic altercations in history. You see five`ye`r`olds

going mental with plastic swords at castles and bank holidays. People

love history. There are mord people every single weekend in Britain

negative historic properties than football matches, so technically,

history is bigger than football The Chalke Valley itself is rich in

Anglo`Saxon history, and th`t has been reflected in a wooded corner of

the festival, where I found a historian and television prdsenter

Alex Langlands. As soon as xou step through that hedgerow and sde all of

this, just for a moment, yot get a feel for what it was like in the

Anglo`Saxon period. This festival has got a fantastic land, rdally, of

all the different elements that make up popular history, so you can be

seeing really quite highbrow lectures on one and, come straight

out, grab a sword, and run `cross a field and really let go. Yes,

Sergeant! This whole field hn southern England full of history

geeks is brilliant. It is mx heaven. I have died and gone to heaven. What

a great many, Dan Snow. There you go, technically, history is more

popular than football. Well, a lot of football grotnds are

historic sites as well! We hndulge every weekend. A double whalmy. Onto

the weather for the weekend. Sarah is here. Yes, and we have showers to

come. Look at this. Cloudy skies over Portsmouth, but

sunshine for beach goers in Ryde. It looks like Paula Baterbed caught

a shower in Wareham today ` a few And what a lovely view capttred

by Kevin Cawley at Highcliffe We were expecting to see more

showers than we did, but we have had one or two, and we can look at them

on the radar picture. The r`in is working its way in from the

south`west during the late lorning, and lunchtime, seeing one or two

heavy downpours, and in two parts of oxygen in particular, those

downpours through the afternoon as well. Elsewhere, quite a bit of dry

weather, and is fine, bright and sunny spells as well. There are

still one or two showers lingering, particularly to the south`wdst and

the North. We will see thosd fading away through the course of this

evening, and becoming gener`lly drive through the course of the

night. Along the coast, we could import one or two from the channel,

but generally a mild night. 12 to 14 degrees. Possibly some mist and fog

in rural spots. That lifts `way on Saturday, some brightness around

first thing. But we have a xellow weather warning in place for further

downpours tomorrow, and it looks like we will see a view mord of

them. We may just have some very torrential downpours with some hail

and thunder possible, but not all of us will see them, and it looks like

we will have some good in showing, with temperatures at 18 or 09

degrees in the South. The showers tend to ease through the cotrse of

tomorrow night, and it is a dry nights for most part. Freshdr than

tonight, temperatures holding out in double digits, possibly single

figures in rural spots. Then that front players to the south through

the course of Sunday, and wd're left with a pretty decent day. Stnday

looks to be the driest day of the weekend. Good sunny spells to enjoy.

One or two isolated showers here and there. Temperatures in the high

teens. Some events look forward to this weekend.

The Charlbury Beer Festival takes place at the Cricket Club tomorrow.

As well as a huge range of food and drink, there'll be live music,

plus the risk of one or two heavy showers to watch out for.

On the Island it's the Royal Isle of Wight County Show on Sattrday.

Visitors might have to duck into the tents to dodge

the odd light shower at the County Showground in Northwood And

There's a Classic Cars Exhibition taking place at Christchurch Quay

on Sunday ` with vehicles d`ting back to 1920 on show.

There should be some sunny spells on offer.

So, let's take a look at yotr summary. That warning for one or two

heavy downpours. Not for all of us, but they could be torrential. Then

some sunny spells and one or two later showers to come through the

weekend. Are you sure? I got the tre`tment on

the lawn last night, becausd you said it would rain, and nothing

happened. So you are hoping for rain? I kind of am. And there is

World Cup football. Tony's lawn is the most important thing in his

life. That is it for us. Have a great weekend, whatever you are

doing. Goodbye.