07/02/2012 South Today

Hello, welcome to the programme. An American-style policing - at the

South gets the chance to vote in Police Commissioner. One person,

representing an Show and the Isle of Wight cannot be more accountable

than the 17 members that make up the police authority.

Partially blinded in an acid attack - the revolutionary operation that

has given Paty her side back. Surf may not be up, but has of the

reef of brought prosperity to Boscombe a?

And Portsmouth celebrate its most famous son, 200 years after his

It's just an expensive retirement package. That's the criticism

tonight by one of the South's council leaders after the

Government launched its plan to introduce American style police

commissioners. Police Minister Nick Herbert was in Portsmouth to show

off the new idea. Each person will be elected directly by the public

and voted in in November. There will be 41 across the country - one

for each force outside London. They will be elected for a period of

four years. Each will receive a salary of between �65,000-�100,000

a year. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Alex Forsyth has been

assessing how the new job will work. New York - where one all-powerful

police commissioner keeps up as his -- officers on track. Now there is

a symbol -- similar plan for England and Wales. The police

commissioner will be one person dominated by the public, and will

control each police force's multi- million pound budget. This will be

significant new role, it will give the public a say for the first time,

supporting the police, but also holding them to account for

stoppages are really important reform and the public are actually

going to have a say on 15th November. At the moment each force

has a police authority, a board of about 17 councillors who decide

what money is spent where and hold the Chief Constable to account.

They will be replaced by one commissioner. Hampshire's current

Police Authority chair says it is too much power of for one person.

Do I believe one person can be more visible than 17? No why don't.

Whichever way you look at it, it will politicise policing, because

the weather gets elected, whichever party, it will mean that they have

got elected on a political mandate. If you look at some of the American

states, they are looking at the British model at the moment and

reverting back to how we do things, but because corruption has been a

writer. - macro rife. She is one of a handful who have declared their

interest so far, mostly local councillors. Today, some were

present as Nick Herbert explained why the new role will work. But not

everyone is convinced. We will probably end up with somebody,

rural Hampshire will have no idea about what happens in the cities,

and all this seems to be is providing a retirement package for

a counsellor, to give them �100,000 a year, it is a waste of money, a

really bad idea. But the government insists having one elected person

in charge is the way to make sure police are doing what the public

want. So anyone could go for these jobs? In theory, yes. It is most

likely it will be people like councillors or former police

officers, but in theory, it could be anybody. It was reported that

Katie Price might be standing in camp Show. -- Hampshire. I hasten

to add she has denied that! It is worth remembering that these people

control budget, not operational policing, but if you look at the

different ways out of corpses have made budget cut, for example Sussex

have increased their budget and cut staff, whereas in Hampshire,

they're looking to get rid of some of their police stations. One

person can clearly have a real impact on the way the police

operate on the ground. I think people could see a real difference.

Thank you. A Hampshire woman partially blinded in an acid attack

has had her sight restored by revolutionary surgery. Katie Piper

suffered third degree burns when sulphuric acid was thrown in her

face by her former boyfriend in 2008. The incident left her scarred

for life. But her sight has now been restored, as Paul Siegert

reports. Katie Piper didn't think she would

ever see again after the acid attack in 2008. It left her badly

scarred and without sight in one eye. My eye was severely burnt and

it destroyed my cornea, which left me with no sight at all. I could

see dark and light, but I couldn't see some a wet, it was quite hard

to judge movement. Doctors held out little hope of her site ever being

restored, but thanks to pioneering surgery, the unthinkable happened.

We had T-cells manufactured by the eye bank in East Grinstead, and we

transplanted them onto her eye. The fascinating thing about this is

while we were taking tissue from somebody who has died, in the long

term, what we've found is there is no DNA from that individual, so we

expect in Katie's case for all the cells to disappear, and for them to

be replaced with her own cells. is one of the first people anywhere

in the will to have this operation, and the results were nothing short

of miraculous. It was quite strange, because I had resigned myself to

the fact that it is a permanent injury, and when a doctor or

surgeon tells you you are blind, very quickly, you think of

blindness as a permanent thing. So I never expected to be in this

position. To be seeing things with that I again. A very happy time.

total, she has had nearly 100 operations and the start it up her

own art foundation, making it easier to live with burns and scars.

Value for money or a damp squib? Researchers are trying to find out

how much benefit the artificial surf reef at Boscombe in Dorset has

been to the surrounding area. The reef has never functioned as

originally intended since it was constructed in 2009. But shops,

flats and cafes have been built and the seafront has improved. Chris

Coneybeer reports. On the main road into Bournemouth,

a sign directing visitors to the reef. Other signs along the way

look promising. But sadly, when you finally get there, the reef itself

is still off-limits. It has been damaged and isn't safe. The focus

today was not the reef but the seafront, which has been much

improved since the reef was built. We have seen a massive increase in

activity in this part of the seafront, it has gone from -- it

from being one of the shabbiest parts of Bournemouth to been one of

the best parts of the seafront. There are new shops and flats and a

beach party. I think the area has improved enormously, it is a great

shame about the reefer. I think it has improved a lot. Now an academic

survey aims to quantify the value the reef has brought to Boscombe.

The results could be of interest to other countries that are also

planning to build them. Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, it is

interesting for us internationally as much as the UK, the importance

of these structures to our economy. One lone surfer was out looking

away this today, but well clear of the reef. The underwater structure

should be repaired later this year. Meanwhile, Plymouth University is

keen to get people to take part in its survey, which can be done

online. We are in the final stages of the

2012 digital switchover, and if you watch from our Hannington

transmitter, things are about to change. So what do you need to do?

Earlier I spoke to Bill Taylor from Digital UK and asked him what will

happen. Tomorrow sees the stars -- start of a busy to months of

digital switch-over. Tomorrow, if your house get a TV signal from the

Hannington transmitter, you need to be ready for its which over. If you

still have an analogue telly, but a digital box. If you are watching

for review, retune your equipment. And if you are watching satellite

or cable, you don't need to do anything at all, that is already

digital. You say it is the beginning of a couple of months of

things being switched off, what happens after that? We are coming

up to a busy switch-over time, so tomorrow, the Hannington

transmitter begins, and then, starting on debris 29th, if you are

picking up a signal from Midhurst, For people watching this programme,

we will be freed by the end of March, but it is going to be busy.

A lot of media coverage, but people may still be concerned, who do they

contact? If you have any worries, Stay with us.

Still to come in this evening's South Today - Portsmouth celebrates

a special birthday David Allard is there. The stage is set for a gala

performance. Capping a day when hundreds helped celebrate 200 years

of chance Dickens. -- Charles Dickens.

Residents in Surrey are facing a council tax rise of almost three

per cent. The increase comes despite the offer of cash from the

Government which would have seen bills unchanged. But councillors

were told the extra money would only last for one year and would

mean the tax being increased by as much as six per cent next year.

School pupils in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight could soon get advice

from police on how to stay safe when going online. Hampshire

Constabulary is launching its own presentation on Internet and Cyber

Safety. It's already been trialled at schools in the north of the

county and could be more widely rolled out later this year. Alexis

Green has been finding out more. Today is a safe bet internet day,

an annual event which helps promote internet safety for young people.

Hampshire police are launching their own personal internet safety

presentation for schools across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The message from the police his parents need to be a bit more

understanding about technology in order to be able to protect their

children. How many have you know more about the internet that your

parents? The support of us have been instrumental in delivering the

message. Just be sensible. The internet can be a very fine

environment, just be aware, and did take everybody at face value.

one of the teachers here, today has been an eye-opener. I have learnt I

was quite naive, I didn't realise how many dangers there were online,

there are some nasty people out there and back who are not who they

say they are. It makes me aware of what voters I put on line. You can

only respond to someone you know what Trust. Never download a file

an issue Trust where it comes from. People online may not be who they

seemed. Your personal details should be kept secret. This has

been trialled in a number of schools in Hampshire, and it is

hoped it will be rolled out as an initiative in 2012.

Shopkeepers are calling for reductions in rents and business

rates to help revitalise town centres. It follows the publication

of a new report showing one in seven shops is empty. And in

Gosport one in ten retail properties is vacant. The

government's now making one million pounds available for pilot projects.

They say it's going to destroy local wildlife. Residents living in

a village near Worthing are fighting plans to stop treated

waste from entering into a nearby stream. The proposal is part of a

planned supermarket development by Asda. The company says its

treatment plant would exceed all Environment Agency and European

standards, and water will NOT be hazardous or odorous. Sean Killick

has been following the story. It is a small stream in a quiet

village, but trouble is bubbling up here. ASDA wants to build a

superstore on a site on the main road, that would discharge sewage

into the stream, and that has upset some locals. Why an enormous store

report to be environmentally friendly propose to put Cilic into

a tiny stream like this? They should be finding some other method

in this day and age. It is a recreation area. There are good

parts. People walk their dogs, bring their children up here. It is

a precious part of our environment, and the site of Local Nature

Conservation. It is a classified site, and needs protection does up

there is also concerned because the stream runs onto the beach. But as

to say they would install a highly efficient treatment plan on the

supermarket site, making it sustainable and avoiding

increasingly followed on public The company is holding public

meetings in the village hall on Friday and Saturday.

Sport now, Tony Husband is in the studio. We start with Portsmouth

and what is happening once again off the field.

It is the ongoing issue, it is probably the single biggest thing

that Pompey fans ask me about, what is going on? Why are Portsmouth

having these problems again? Administration, liquidation or last

ditch buy-out, those are the most likely scenarios facing Portsmouth

tonight. With a winding-up petition due to be heard in just under four,

the club is running out of time to secure its future. But why is

finding a buyer so difficult for a club that has played in Europe and

won the FA Cup in the last five years?

England's elite football clubs have feasted on cash in the games boom

period. For seven years, Portsmouth died at the top table. But as they

seek another new owner, they must deal with past. -- Portsmouth dined.

Fratton Park, it is well past its sell-by date as a professional

football stadium of the 21st century. But it is that stadium and

this land all around that holds the key to this latest sale of the club.

Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai led Portsmouth -- lent

boards the �70 million. Chainrai himself became an honoured twice,

but he has never got his money back. To protect it, he took the stadium

and other assets as security. The money owed to his company is

highlighted in the administrator's report into Portsmouth's last

owners, who went into administration in November. He is

holding the club to ransom, saying to any prospective buyer, you will

have to pay me my �70 million. -- �17 million. The land belongs to

another former owner. The clock is ticking for Pompey, with a winding-

up petition being heard on February the 20. He nothing else happen, the

company will be put into liquidation. And all of the

contracts will come to an end. Mr Chainrai's assets will be worth

even less. Something has to happen, either a buyer has to come in or it

has to go into administration so that an administrator can sell it.

Enough is enough, we need to make sure that this time, Portsmouth is

sorted out once and for all and the club can go for it and actually

create the club with integrity that all the fans want. Administration

would mean an instant 10 points deduction for Portsmouth. The

Football League say they are monitoring the varmints closely.

Balram Chainrai is due in the UK they speak and says he wants to

help the club and get his money back.

But we have asked him when he arrived he will talk to us, he said

he was to help the club out of their difficulties. Portsmouth go

to Birmingham tonight for this -- de latest championship game.

Southampton had to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup, playing all in

a fourth-round replay in kinder conditions than those at Birmingham

on Saturday. In League 1, Bournemouth restage the game at

Exeter at Dean Court which was postponed on Saturday. In League 2,

Crawley have an intriguing clash with fellow promotion chasers

Cheltenham tonight. And we will have the goals tomorrow.

Danny bricks, the 20-year-old Hampshire left-arm spinner has

received his first call up in the England one-day squad. -- Danny

Briggs. He had a real break out season in the Hampshire side last

year. The the back story with Danny

bricks is that when he was a toddler, he played against some of

us and the Isle of Wight and he was pretty good.

A remember! He gets embarrassed when we remind

him. Most of you know, 200 years ago,

Charles Dickens Osborne. In Portsmouth. Today they have been

celebrations to mark the occasion. As one of our most famous figures,

he generates a huge amount of cash for the UK economy. �280 million a

year. Sales of his books and books about him are almost �3 million.

Theatrical productions associated with Dickens, �64 million. David

Allard takes up the story once again tonight, from the Portsmouth

New Theatre Royal. Hello. In a few minutes, the actor

Simon Callow and young performers will take to the stage for a

dickens birthday celebration. This is the magnificent dickens Berti

cake that was Cup here earlier this afternoon. -- Charles Dickens

birthday cake. People have been turning out to events across the

city to mark the bicentenary. In the place where it all began, a

celebration of Dickens birth and enduring achievements. Bringing

together fans from the air and four. But you are Portsmouth person?

and bred and we love our history. That is where we are here. I came

here because I read a lot of his novels, back in China. I am also a

great fan of draws dickens, so today is a good chance any to be

here at the celebrations. Dickens has long attracted devoted

followers, who fought of the possible demolition of the House in

1903. Today, Simon Callow let the rejoicing in the dickens legacy.

Three cheers for that great man, Charles Dickens. Here, head! Re!

There was a special thanksgiving service. The newest member of the

dickens dynasty, his great great great grandson, Joe Allen Charles.

And though the singing might be rude, it was real. And sounded more

musical to Oliver's ears, at least, than any he had ever heard in any

church before. Poor Smith's deacons celebrations do not end here. What

is to be the UK's first statue of him was unveiled today.

research for this is to Rick -- read all his novels and biographies

of him. A larger than life-size Charles Dickens will take up

residence in the Guildhall Square later this year, a homecoming the

city proudly a waits. The celebrations have not been

confined to Portsmouth and Westminster Abbey. Dickens is a

global phenomenon. In his day, he was treated like a rock star

wherever he travelled the many events have been taking place

across the globe to mark the anniversary.

Dickens visited Philadelphia twice, he made quite an impact. 100 years

ago, a glamourous ball marked the centenary of his birth. Now, the

city is celebrating all things English. Another couple of attempts,

a birthday wreath adorns the statue of the writer in Clarke park. In

Christchurch, New Zealand, a Dickens Fellowship Group dresses up

for a gala deliver. -- gala dinner. Youngsters in Turkey marking the

bicentenary with a special school project. A birthday Lecture draws a

huge crowd of University of Oslo students in Norway. While

Australia's celebration is focused around the world's only other

statue of Dickens in Centennial Park in Sydney.

The performance tonight is in aid of the Portsmouth Diggin stature

and I am joined by Simon Callow. -- Dickens statue. What was that that

first gripped you about his work? Warmth, comedy, bigness of spirit,

fantastic use of language. A complete writer. A most thrilling

storyteller. And this great feeling for mankind at the centre of it.

and your new book, it looks at the theatrical side of Dickens, actors

love to play in his roles. What it is -- what is it about that that

actors respond to? He adored the theatre, he said the video of his

life for three whole years when he was young, he put those characters

into the books, theatrical types. They have a can of energy. He

himself was a wonderful actor and director. You feel that the books

are being performed for you by a master actor. He rejoices in his

brilliant different voices and the comic timing. It is very personal

and that is one of the other things we like. And this is your first

visit to Portsmouth, what do you make of the city's celebrations?

Fantastic. Starting at his birthplace and going on to the

place where he was baptised, then here in the theatre, cutting cakes

and children reciting dickens, wonderful, he would have adored

every second. A the performance tonight is a sell-out, but if you

want to find out more about Dickens in Portsmouth, cut to the website.

Clipping those people who are going to the theatre to what Simon Callow,

make sure you wrap up warm. It could well be really chilly

tonight, minus 15 up north, minus six or seven, possibly called it,

in our region. in our region.

We have radical day today. The catkins are out at Longstock in

Hampshire. A dramatic sunset here over Didcot, thanks to Rich

Blenkinsop. We finished the the reflect a photo taken by Sean

Aherne in Chichester, just as the ice was starting to melt.

A very cold forecast ahead, we are already at minus three at Chelwood

in Surrey. We have an ice warning in place from the Met Office. A

yellow warning For icy conditions on untreated surfaces. From the

satellite picture, you can see eastern parts of the region got

some sunshine. Further west, quite a bit of cloud. Tonight, the cloud

continues the journey out towards the West. We'll see clear spells at

times. Temperatures across the region set to plummet down to minus

three or four. Two were three degrees cooler out in the

countryside. We will see more cloud building in from the Eastern the

early hours. One or two wintry forays could crop up in eastern

parts. -- forays. First thing tomorrow, quite a bit in of cloud,

a great start to the day. A few holes developing. Temperatures two-

to-three degrees, feeling more like minus three or minus four because

we have very fresh easterly and north easterly breezes. A very cold

day in store for tomorrow. Tomorrow night is also set to be cold. We

still expect a widespread frost, temperatures down to minus to and

three, but more cloud in the picture. Damage has not tumbling

quite as far. Thursday, quite a bit of cloud. Some brighter breaks at

times. This evening into Friday, this is when the uncertainty will

rise. More of these fronts heading in from the Atlantic, against that

cold air. Another battleground situation. Some uncertainty, but it

looks like that band of rain has it beats the cooler air could turn to

snow. We will keep you posted. There could be the potential to see

There could be the potential to see some snow for Friday.