04/01/2017 South Today - Oxford

us, you can keep up to date throughout the night with the

Coming up: Hundreds of homes planned, but would they help

The opposition to building on fields near Aylesbury.

Campaigners have branded the developers as greedy.

Also: A rise in flytipping as changes are made to the way

And the fans and the tributes keep coming.

10 days after his death flowers are still being left outside

Campaigners in a Buckinghamshire village have reacted with anger over

fresh plans to build hundreds of new homes there.

They'd be in addition to 400 houses that have already been

Protestors say not enough thought's been given as to how schools,

GP's surgeries and roads will cope with the growing population.

It comes as Aylesbury has been selected by the government

to become a new garden town, receiving more than ?1 million

This development in Aston Clinton sits next to another site where

Residents say there isn't the infrastructure to cope.

We understand the need for houses but these houses

have not been planned, they've been put in piecemeal,

ad hoc, and they've rode roughshot over planning laws and the Council

and the government need to stand up to developers

Around 700 homes are planned for Aston Clinton, meaning

I've just taken a short walk down the road and you can see

the building work has already started on this site behind me.

In fact we walked past two potential development sites just to get here,

15,000 homes are planned for Aylesbury alone.

Come into Aylesbury any morning at nine o'clock,

traffic miles back down towards Aston Clinton.

It's got to be rethought, it really has.

House prices are just priced so way out.

The kids, my children are 28 and 30 and they cannot get

onto the property ladder for love nor money.

I think it's very good that they are building

these properties now, it's just the cost

Aylesbury was recently granted garden town status.

Now a masterplan for the town will look at existing housing

proposals, infrastructure, parks and cycleways.

We are in a position, particularly with our emerging local plan,

but also with the garden town status where we can actually plan

for future development and not have it more or less thrust

upon us on a site-by-site basis, as has been happening in the past.

Back in Aston Clinton residents have one week to comment

on this application, and shape the direction

As we heard there Aylesbury is one of the latest places

A short time ago our political reporter Bethan Phillips told me

It's an idea that's been around since Victorian times,

stop urban sprawl by building new communities and protecting

And the plan behind these new garden towns remains pretty much the same.

The government says it wants to create distinct new places,

Two garden towns have already been announced in our area,

at Didcot and Bicester, now a new garden town

All three will have more than 10,000 homes each.

The government also wants to create 14 smaller garden villages,

including one next to Eynsham, that's currently being called

What's been the reaction to the announcement about all these

They've been welcomed by some, but concern from others.

Bicester and Didcot have already caused controversy, with some

residents worried that the idea of a garden town isn't being adhered to,

and that green spaces are under threat.

Housing expert Professor Danny Dorling hit out yesterday

at the garden village next to Eynsham, saying the homes

were really needed in Oxford, and that this would

But West Oxfordshire District Council say it

These garden towns and villages are an attractive idea for councils

because they get extra government funding for them.

In fact the government says there's been a high level

of interest in the idea, and it may open up

a new round of bids for Garden Villages later this year.

The impact of Brexit on farming is one of the key

topics being discussed at the Oxford Farming

Andrea Leadsom, who campaigned to leave the EU, is Secretary

of State for the Environment, and MP for South Northamptonshire.

She says she's committed to giving farmers access to the seasonal

migrant workers they'll need to harvest their crops,

I want to pay tribute to the many workers from Europe who contribute

so much to our farming industry and rural communities.

Access to labour is very much an important part of

our current discussions and we are committed to working

with you to make sure you have the right people

with the right skills, a strong skilled workforce will allow you to

focus on how the latest technology can transform your business.

Cases of fly-tipping in Reading have gone up by 20% since a new permit

scheme was introduced for dumping waste.

Last year, West Berkshire council withdrew funding

for its tip near Reading, leaving some people travelling up

Nobody wants to work in a dump but that is what this precinct

outside Reading is being turned into because of fly-tipping.

We have mattresses, beds, several mattresses.

People have obviously had a clearout.

Alison owns the travel agency and is worried this

We have had settees dumped in the precinct, toilets, bass,

We have had settees dumped in the precinct, toilets, baths,

all sorts of things, you wouldn't believe

In the latter half of 2014 there were about 1200 reported

fly-tipping incidents across the borough.

Last year that had risen to just shy of 1700, an increase of 37%

It seems there's no real limit as to just what can be dumped

in and around Reading but no matter what is in each individual fly-tip

it costs the council ?60.50 on average for each incident.

That's a total for the year of more than ?100,000.

I came to the precinct in 1988 and I've been working here since.

No, in the early days we never had anything like this,

this is in the last two to three years.

Many put this increase in dumping down to new rules at the town's

Last month residents were given a special permit to use it

but even though they are just a few miles away, tens of thousands

living over the border in West Berkshire have been shut out

Our neighbour authorities have not reported any particular increase

but we knew there was likely to be a spike so it is no surprise has

been some increase but we built that into our budgeting

The land owners remove all tipped rubbish as soon as it is reported

but locals here hope the council will not discard their concerns.

Bees and butterfly numbers have plummeted over the last decade

according to the Swindon based National Trust

The organisation's been reviewing wildlife on its estates.

It says unsettled weather has led to a boom in grass growth,

at the expense of the wildflower habitats required by

Ten days after his death, tributes are continuing to pour

in at the Oxfordshire home of George Michael.

The singer and songwriter died at his home in

It's still not known what led to his death, but it isn't

Fans of George Michael, not just here in Goring

but from all over the world, have been paying their respects

There must have been thousands of people.

You know every day there are something like several

It takes comfort a little bit really just to understand how much it

meant everyone really, just to see the messages and to see

what he meant to so many people from different walks of life.

Just couldn't get over it for ages, I couldn't stop crying.

He was just such a brilliant, brilliant man.

Despite living here for a number of years, George Michael

The news of his death shocked many, including local businesses.

We've had people from all over the country coming in,

talking about their memories of George Michael.

I can't believe the impact he had on people's lives and

We have had people from all over the country and

they are leaving all sorts of tributes, there are pineapples down

It's still not clear how George Michael died.

Police say the 53-year-old's death is being treated as unexplained,

Post-mortem results have come back inconclusive.

More tests are being done over the next few weeks.

Adina Campbell, BBC South Today in Goring on Thames.

We're back in BBC Breakfast tomorrow morning, but for now, goodnight,

and with the weather, here's Alexis Green.

As a trustee like the colour temperature is potentially plunging

down as far as minus eight Celsius and there may be fog patches during

the morning. Even in urban areas we are looking at lows of -30 minus

four degrees. A bitterly cold night to come with fairly light winds. It

will be a very frosty start the day tomorrow, very chilly, but warming

up during the course of the day. Temperature struggle to rise to a

height of three or five in some parts. In some areas it will only

reach two with a fairly light winds but there will be plenty of sunshine

on offer. Clear skies during the course of tomorrow afternoon and

into tomorrow evening. Overnight tomorrow there is a chance of frost

patches where we have clearing skies but the weather front moves in on

Friday lunchtime and it will produce rain on Friday and it may be heavy

at times. With it south-westerly breeze. The cloud increases on

Friday morning with increasing fog in the morning but with increasing

cloud we are expecting rain to arrive later on. Frosty start to day

tomorrow. Rain Temperatures creeping up a notch or

two and turning milder into the weekend.

A guarantee on your journey to work tomorrow, if you are nipping out to

the shop for