08/05/2017 South Today - Oxford

Welcome to South Today. for the news where you are.

Coming up: The Green Party withdraws its candidate

in Oxford West and Abingdon and encourages supporters to vote

Liberal Democrat instead.

Also: The machinery that will harness the power of the Thames -

how a hydro-electric plant will supply 450 homes.

And this week there will be some sunny spells, chilly

nights and the chance of that much-needed rainfall.

Good evening.

The Green Party has withdrawn its candidate

from Oxford West and Abingdon ahead of the general election.

It's encouraging people to vote Liberal Democrat instead.

The seat was Lib Dem for 13 years before

the Conservatives won it in 2010.

Adina Campbell reports.

When it comes to politics, there are no guarantees.

But here in Oxford West and Abingdon, one thing is for sure -

the Green vote has gone.

In a bid to stop the Conservatives holding onto this parliamentary

seat, the Green Party is now backing yellow.

In what it calls the greater good, it's now removed its own candidate,

asking voters to support Layla Moran instead.

We decided that the best thing we could do was come up

with an approach that would stop that.

The simple fact is that Oxford West and Abingdon is the key marginal

and the candidate on the progressive side with the biggest chance

of winning is Leila Moran.

But some people we spoke to during the town's market

day weren't impressed.

They are playing one off against the other

and stalling for time.

It smacks of desperation.

Their views are not entirely similar, so why

would you join together?

They have got to get together to have any impact.

The Conservative prospective candidate Nicola Blackwood called it

"undemocratic" and a party spokesperson spends that this

was more proof of grubby deals to build a coalition of chaos.

Other parties have also voiced their concerns.

I am proud to be standing for the Labour Party in the general

election for Oxford West and Abingdon, standing of the Labour

values across the constituency, the protecting funding the schools,

ensuring we don't lose the EU funding for universities

and that we attain a better deal for the NHS and social care.

By joining forces with the Green Party, the Lib Dems hope

this will give them the best possible chance of beating

the Conservatives.

Up until 2010, the Lib Dems had retained this seat

for more than a decade, but since then it has been

in the hands of Conservatives.

Will this cross-party deal work?

We'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, following the local elections of last week,

negotiations are now underway to form a new cabinet

at Oxfordshire County Council.

The Conservatives failed to win a majority by one seat.

Previously they'd formed an alliance with independent counsellors.

Katharine Da Costa reports.

It was a case of "you win some, you lose some"

for the Conservatives last week.

The failure to increase their number of seats, missing out on a majority,

came as a bitter blow.

One of the major shocks of the night saw deputy leader Rodney Rose

lose his seat to the Lib Dems.

I have to say that going round on the doorstep,

there has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the way

things have been run by the county council and it's come

through on the vote.

The new makeup of the county council looks like this -

the Tories are still the largest party, while the Greens have been

completely wiped out, losing both their seats to Labour.

The reason for it is pretty clear.

We had the rise of the general election during the local elections

and people started to vote on party lines.

The results mean to stay in charge, the Tories will need

to form an alliance.

The leader of Oxfordshire County Council says he's

in talks with all parties.

This was the same position as we were in four years ago

and we joined with three independents to form

the Conservative Independents Alliance and that provided stable

administration over the last four years and I'm working

at the moment to see if we can reach similar agreements.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Did you increase your majority this time?

I think I did, yeah.

But this time Mark Gray, the independent county councillor

for Benson and Cholsey, doesn't think the negotiations

will be as straight forward.

We were prepared to join the Conservatives last

time because we knew there were going to be huge

cuts and that we needed a stable administration.

This time it's different because the cuts have mostly happened.

As it appears now, we're heading for less choppy waters,

so I don't think the need for the Conservatives

to have an absolute majority is necessarily there this time.

The Conservatives have seven days to try to form a new administration

before a full council meeting next Tuesday.

A van driver has been questioned on suspicion of causing the death

of a woman by dangerous driving in Buckinghamshire.

It happened on Station Road in Ivinghoe just after

6:30 yesterday morning.

The woman was a passenger in a car that was involved in a collision

with a Mercedes van.

The 22-year-old arrested has been released while the police

investigation continues.

Demolition work is due resume at a disused part of Didcot

power station next week.

It's 16 months since four men died after part of the site collapsed.

Changes are being introduced at Swindon's only recycling centre

to try to save the council ?100,000 a year.

The town's residents who want to use it will now have to show ID.

The site is also being closed on Wednesdays.

It's cost more than ?3 million pounds and will provide enough power

for about 500 homes.

Today, the last major components of a new hydroelectric power plant

on the River Thames at Sandford has been installed.

The plant is owned by residents who have bought

Slow and steady - the final piece of a multi-million pound project

to create more renewable energy in Oxfordshire.

There were three of these screws, each weighing more than 20 tonnes.

Needless to say, there was a sigh of relief

when they were all in place.

We always knew this was the most critical part of the project.

Getting the screws precisely in as they have been designed

and the installation is a very delicate job, so we

are very pleased.

The idea of making hydroelectricity here has been ten

years in the making.

Residents came up with the proposal before handing the reins

to the Low Carbon Hub.

It's been funded from a combination residents shares and a bank loan.

Liz Shatford was among the residents who came up with the idea

of using the weir to create energy.

It is majestic and goes round slowly and I think it

will be a of great beauty.

will be a thing of great beauty.

It has enhanced life enormously.

Workers now need to excavate the channel so water can

flow through the screws.

It's due to be finished around August.

Work to restore an 18th-century icehouse is underway near Oxford.

The brick building in Waterperry Gardens would have been

used to store ice cut from the lake in the winter.

Matt Graveling has the story.

This is an 18th century ice house and in the summer months,

a young man with a bucket and a candle would have gone

down that tunnel and got some ice for the house.

But there's a problem - the tunnel for this ice house

at Waterperry Gardens is collapsing and is in desperate need of repair.

The tunnel was accessed so that ice went in over winter

through a hole at the top.

Ten tonnes of it.

It's quite a magnificent effort filling the thing.

When in use, ice was cut from a frozen lake in the winter

and removed from the store in the summer.

But whether they were freezing meat, making ice cream or just

cooling your drink, the ice house was a status symbol

for the upper class.

The better ones were eggshaped, cos That ensured it was easier to get

the melted water draining away.

That was a big problem.

Entertaining was a big thing.

At that time you had these stately homes dotted around

and the in-thing was to have ice.

More than ?3,000 has been raised for the work,

but with 4,000 still to find, it's hoped people will continue

to dig deep so the ice house doesn't end up on the rocks.

That's it from us.

Alexis is next with the weather forecast for the week ahead.

Goodnight.

Good evening.

We have had some very dry weather recently,

but towards the end of this week, we are expecting some rainfall.

Dry at first and some sunshine but possible rain later

on from Thursday onwards.

Overnight night, the skies will clear in a few places,

but generally it'll be quite cloudy and temperatures in the countryside

where we have clearing skies could drop as low as freezing,

so there might be a frost first thing tomorrow morning.

These are temperatures under the cloud cover in urban areas

so quite a cloudy start of the day tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be like today - a good deal of cloud,

but it will be some brighter spells even there and temperatures tomorrow

in the bright spells could reach a high of 13,

maybe 14 Celsius with a fairly light wind.

Quite a cloudy day tomorrow in general.

Through tomorrow evening, the skies were clear and as a result

of this clearing sky, there may be a frost

in the countryside first thing on Wednesday morning.

Temperatures in towns and cities could drop as low as 4 Celsius

so it will be a chilly, potentially frosty start

to the day on Wednesday.

Wednesday is the best day this week in terms of sunshine

and it will stay dry.

Lots of sunshine on offer, patchy cloud arriving for northern

and eastern areas during the latter part of the day and temperatures

will reach a high of around 15, maybe up to 16 Celsius,

which will be higher than today and also tomorrow so a pleasantly

warm day on Wednesday.

Thursday, an area of low pressure will start to move up

from the south-west.

That will turn things slightly more unsettled during the second part

of Thursday with a chance of rain towards the afternoon

and into the evening, but not everyone will see

the rainfall, it will be very sporadic and patchy in nature.

There will be some rainfall for some of us also on Friday.

On Friday, the chance of heavy, thundery showers with warm air

moving up from the south and it will feel humid with temperatures

reaching a high of 14 Celsius.

Looking ahead to the weekend, it will unsettled, there

will be a breeze at times and it is the chance

of rain here and there.