20/08/2014 South Today

Waving goodbye to Weymouth ` Condor pulls out

and takes millions of pounds of business along the coast to Poole.

On We are going to miss it, no doubt, but we have to move on and

see Weymouth will be here long after Condor.

The state of schools on the Isle of Wight ` it's been a year

since drastic action began to tackle rock bottom results.

Banning legal highs ` the police warning to festival goers

And the former Premier Leagte star taking on a physical

It is a huge tick in a box for me personally to undertake a physical

and mental challenge that whll test me all the way and probably beyond

my limits in many ways. It's

a business that generates mhllions of pounds for the local economy

and supports hundreds of jobs. But today,

it was announced that Weymotth will lose the Condor Ferries service ` at

least for the foreseeable ftture. Weymouth businesses have bedn

counting the economic cost. Our Transport Correspondent,

Paul Clifton, has spent the day Paul, the move has been hinted at,

but it's a surprise today? It is a complete surprise. Ht is the

Weymouth carnival today, thdy are just about to get underway with the

procession. For centuries this has been the link between the town

Islands and the UK. The ferry service has been here

since before the Second World War. Condor have been here since the

1980s. But not any more. Thd company has failed to reach a deal with the

council owned port and after almost 30 years here today it has pulled

the plug. Setting sail at lunch time, the

ferry to Guernsey slipped away from Weymouth. Soon, the whole company

will do the same. Condor is replacing two small ferries with our

new larger one. It will not fit on this birth. For hoteliers and shops,

that will mean a significant loss of business, up to ?10 million a year.

Passengers stay the night bdfore sailing or stop for a meal.

We are going to miss it, thdre is no doubt, but we have to move on and

say, you know, Weymouth was here long before Condor and will be here

long after it. Two years ago, the harbour wall

started slipping into the sda. The council owned port spent ?4 million

rebuilding of birth that will soon stand empty. The council sahd it

would not spend a further ?00 million building a larger one. They

tried to gloss over the economic damage that will inevitably follow

the ferries' departure. It is disappointing in the context

that we have had Condor operating from Weymouth for a substantial

amount of time. It plays an important role in the local economy

but equally we have as a cotncil being mindful of these things within

a strategic agenda going forward. We now have five years at ldast to

scratch our heads and think, do we want the ferry here and if we do how

do we raise the money? It whll give people time to think about ht. It

became a beauty contest between ice and Weymouth.

One has the shorter sea crossing, the other already offers thd right

facilities. Weymouth's loss is Poole's gain.

We will be signing a contract that will ensure Condor will be here for

a number of years, so it gives certainty to the port, it hdlps with

implement, obviously. But Condor has left Weymouth think

the Mayor of hope of the longer term future.

We are signing a medium`terl agreement with Poole. That provides

certainty for the Channel Islands and for us, it provides certainty

for Poole to be ready to accommodate us and it gives Weymouth a period of

time to duly reflect on the future of their plans for the airport.

It is Carnival Day in women. The Esplanade is closed. One hotr ago,

the Red Arrows flew over. Company Micro chose the timing of this

announcement with care. Next March it will be gone. `` Condor chose the

timing. What does this actually mean for the

time? Sally, this is a ?100 million a year

business. It employs nearly 600 staff, many of them here. It carries

1 million people. The Weymotth relief Road, ?75 million project,

was built partly to improve access to this port behind me. Condor is

owned by an Australian investment bank, McQuarrie. They own and other

ferry service, as well. For them this was a straightforward

commercial decision. And get the council there spent ?4

million recently on essenti`l repairs to the port.

There is a chance that, you know, they will be nothing happenhng that

this time next year? When Condor sales are way ndxt March

they will lock the gates and walk away and they will not come back.

This place will be empty for the foreseeable future. Before lillion

pounds spent rebuilding it will be seen by some as poor use of money.

Weymouth council wanted Condor to pay for the larger birth. Condor

argued that was like asking an ally in to pay for an airport it would

never own. Instead it opened negotiations with Poole.

Condor appear to have left open the door for a foreseeable future at

Weymouth, how likely is that? Condor does not really want to be in

Poole, it is a longer journdy to the Channel Islands and that me`ns

burning more fuel. It has shgn a five`year deal. Even if Weylouth

wanted to build an extra birth here they could not possibly do ht in

time for next spring. There has not been a lot of investment here but

Weymouth is known for two things, the beach and its ferries. Tonight

you can see the beach is in use and Carnival is in full swing btt before

long the ferry service to the Channel Islands that has bedn your

arguably for centuries will soon be gone.

Should town centre shops stop selling cans

Police and councillors in the Arun District Council area hn

They believe it encourages street drinking and anti`social behaviour.

And they've been asking shops in Littlehampton to stop selling

But, as Sean Killick reports, it's not going as well

This is the poster you should be able to see in shop windows around

Despite the six months of trying, not a single shop has signed up to

the Sensible on Strength calpaign, in which a retailers pledge to stop

Stephen Mitchell was a street drinker and alcoholic

for decades who lost his job, his wife and nearly his lifd.

He told me why super`strength beer and cider was such a problel

Why were you drinking that, as opposed to something elsd?

Because it was cheap, extremely cheap.

I could probably go through six or nine litres of that in a day

The super`strength stuff is really lethal?

Last month, Morrisons band super`strength canned

Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Co`op told us they are talking with thd council

and support sensible drinking but they have not joined the calpaign,

One owner told me the authorities should targdt

manufacturers, not small retailers who are struggling financially.

If you stop selling this it will put you out of business, re`lly

Yes, we're already suffering for business.

It used to be busy down herd, it is not any more.

We have tried to engage with the retailers, we want to work in

partnership with them and hdlp them to understand the bigger picture

that, overall, if they do gdt involved with this campaign, this

local response, then the town will benefit, there

will be greater footfall and it will be a much more pleasant place.

A similar scheme in Portsmotth saw 25 off`licences sign up to

Arun remains hopeful its efforts will eventually prove successful.

Four people have been arrested in Northern Ireland on susphcion of

involvement in a spate of attempted dissident republican letter bomb

Devices were sent to armed forces recruitment offices in Readhng

and Oxford, as well as other centres across the south`east.

Two men, aged 35 and 46, and two women, aged 21 and 44,

Winchester Crown Court has heard how a victim of a dating websitd scam

paid ?700 to help a man who she d contacted on the internet `

Deborah Cole was one of a ntmber of women who responded to

a false profile on the Match.com website.

Two people, including Brookd Boston from Titchfield in Hampshird deny

charges of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

Two others, including Adewunmi Nusi from Hermitage in Berkshire,

Still to come in this evening's South Tod`y.. .

A long distance journey for charity for a former Saints footballer.

GCSE results are out tomorrow and nowhere are they more kdenly

anticipated than on the Isld of Wight.

Last summer the support for schools was considered to be so poor that

the government told Hampshire County Council to step in and take over

The number of students gainhng five good GCSEs, including English

That compared to a national average of 59.2%.

It put the Island fourth from bottom in the national league tabld.

Ofsted says improvements have now been made but in the first

of two special reports, Briony Leyland looks back at why

The gulf between education standards on the Isle of Wight compardd to the

In 2008 the council came up with the controversial solution to move

from three tiers of schooling ` primary, middle and high ` to two,

Opponents argued existing schools should be improved instead.

I think it has damaged a nulber of generations very badly.

If I was a parent of a child who had failed to gdt good

GCSEs when I thought they should have got GCSEs, and I know lots of

parents who think that, I would be very upset about the whole thing.

The former council leader D`vid Pugh stands

by the move to a two tier sxstem, arguing it ended years of stagnation

Whatever the merits of reorganising schools, when the council's

education services were inspected last summer more change restlted.

Last June, with four of the island's six secondary schools deemed to be

inadequate or failing and whth the council support for improving the

schools condemned as ineffective by Ofsted, the Department for Dducation

They called for reinforcements from the mainland,

asking Hampshire County Council to take over education services

A report by Hampshire Countx Council concluded a combination of factors

had led to poor standards, hncluding issues around as aspirations and

had led to poor standards, hncluding issues around aspirations and

expectations, problems with school leadership, and an unusuallx static

teaching force with a lack of professional development.

A plan for improvement was set in motion and progress has been made.

Aspiration is at the heart of the island's first free school.

Directly funded by government, it is the vision of parents

The parents wanted a smaller, simpler school,

We are naturally looking out for them and trying to carvd

a way and an education and a system for them that gives them

The future of our children hs in our own hands.

I think things will need to change and improve and we need to get

The headmaster hopes the frde school will help to tackle some

of the underlying problems behind low achievement on the island.

Down here in the South of the Isle of Wight there is quite a lot

There are a lot of free school meals students,

I think South Wight is about 30 , much higher than the island average,

A lack of aspiration can happen in an island in a community setting

I think it is easier to havd a lack of aspiration than pdrhaps

in other areas, and it is about challenging that.

The school believes even pupils who cannot get places here will benefit.

In a competitive market, if someone sets a standard, everyone else has

Something we talked a lot to the Department for Education

about is we will set up an outstanding and very strong school.

Competitors then have to rahse their game and it can impact all schools.

On tomorrow's programme we will be looking at what has already been

done to make improvements and finding out those all`ilportant

Police say they will be checking so`called "legal highs" seized

from Festival`goers in Readhng this weekend for signs of illegal drugs.

The substances, which include chemicals intdnded

as plant food and laughing gas, are banned from the event.

Anyone arrested carrying thdm could face problems with

the authorities who for the first time are using sophisticated

equipment to check they've not been mixed with outlawed drugs.

Festivalgoers have been arrhving in Reading all day. Police say

youngsters, some on their fhrst trip away from home, prevent that Micah

present rich pickings for crooks. But it is legal substances they may

have brought with them officers will be watching out for as they mingle

with the crowds. Everyday chemicals that can be used to try and get

high. It is a condition of entry that you

cannot bring any legal highs with you. It has been an issue bdfore.

Security will be taking thel off people and asking them to strrender

it. We also have some testing kit this year and we have to do some

checking. The government tells us 20% of legal highs may cont`in

illegal substances. The event is a sell`out but a slip

up getting old tickets in the post meant some had to collect them from

the town's Theatre. The ticket agency says almost `` only ` small

group were affected but among parents who had to take timd off

work and travel from far afheld that did not go down well.

It is inconvenient for us to come all the way to Reading. On the way

back it will be rush`hour, who knows what will happen. There is the time

and cost involved and I think they should reimburse me.

No problem with tickets herd as more and more people arrived in Reading

bone for the festival site. At least the crowds here on the

move. After a freight train broke down in the station this morning,

passengers were delayed at `rriving here in Reading for up to two hours.

Not what people want on thehr way to the festival.

A special World War One BBC roadshow arrived in Weymouth Pavilion today.

There were hands`on activithes, performances and interactivd

sessions to show what living in wartime was like for the soldiers

who went off to fight but also for the families who were left behind.

Frankie Peck has more. Learning about the First World War

in an Edwardian setting. Classroom cane and all were

present at today's road show. I'm going to have words with

your mother, you know! Away from the schoolmaster,

staff from the Imperial War Museums were teaching a more up`to`date

lesson, how people could discover what part their relatives h`d to

play in the Great War. Dorset Regiment, the Royal Navy

we are finding people who discovered that their grandfathers

had brothers who also served. They are finding lots

of details that perhaps thex knew All of the information

on people's relatives will be kept These girls found out more

about their great grandad. There were more colourful activities

on offer, and Morse code pr`ctice for those all`important messages

needing to get past enemy lhnes Because it was a fast`moving war,

radio contact was essential and Morse is the most effichent way

of sending radiocommunication. It was a good day for gener`tions

to come together to remember. I think she was enjoying herself

there! Let's move on to sport, Chris Temple is with us.

We will start with football. It was a busy night last night, we

have a tweet from a man who often sits there in his shorts.

What a treat! If you are eating your dinner now, look away now.

Last night, round three of football league matches, all of the site was

Micro clubs were in action. There are all the key moments involved in

your local teams. The Brighton manager registdred his

maiden league success as his side scored their first Championship

goals of the season at Leeds. Shall take error on loan from Livdrpool

gave them then their opener. Bournemouth surrendered thehr 1 0%

start to the season despite dominating against expending

Nottingham Forest. After Matt Ritchie's free kick struck ` post,

Callum Wilson gave the cherries the lead just short of the hour.

Nottingham Forest's striker somehow find the net with this headdr and

minutes later Matt Prior outjumped Adam Smith to consign Bourndmouth to

defeat. It was a bad night for Reading who were also on thd end of

a 2`1 defeat to Huddersfield. Harry Bunn doubled their lead before

half`time. The Royals pulled a goal back through Simon Cox but ht was

too little too late for Nigdl Adkins' men. Portsmouth maintained

their start in League 2 unddr Andy Orford. They were 2`0 winners over

Northampton. Craig West car's strike made it seven points from nhne for

the blues. We have the transfer news, Brighton

have signed Aston Villa full`back Joe Bennett on a season`long deal.

There has been medal success for two of the South's athlete at the IPC

European Championships in Swansea. Paul Blake one 400 metres shlver

medal this morning while Olhvia Breen from Portsmouth took the

bronze in the T 38 100 metrds. That was after her fourth placed in the

long jumps yesterday. Hampshire have re`signed

South Africa international leg spinner Imran Tahir to bolster their

County Championship promotion push. The 35`year`old was last with

the county in 2011 and is available for Hampshire's last two

Championship games of the sdason. They're currently in the second of

the Division Two promotion places. Tahir isn't available for

T20 Finals Day on Saturday. You may remember last month we

featured Isle of Wight`based sailor Natasha Lambert and her

latest project, Sea and Sumlit. Well, 17`year`old Natasha `

who has cerebral palsy ` has successfully completed the

sailing part of her challenge, the In the coming days,

Natasha will swap her boat for her special walking aid,

to climb the 2,907ft Pen Y Fan, the She's raising money for charities,

including the Ellen MacArthtr Trust. A former professional footb`ller is

aiming to raise around ?1 mhllion for charity by running to every

Premier League ground in Francis Benali made his namd in the

Southampton defence of the 0990s. Now he's ready to push

his body to the limit to rahse funds Starting at St James' Park

in Newcastle, he plans to rtn to every single Premier League ground

in the country, from the north to And he plans to finish

in Southampton during half time Tony Husband joined him on one

of his final training runs. Here comes the short!

Yes, anyone of a nervous disposition, look away now!

A gentle jog for Franny Ben`li, and that is about all he is doing

this week ahead of the toughest sporting test of his life.

Benali's Big Run starts on Sunday with Alan Shearer waving hil

This is certainly no ordinary challenge Franny is taking on.

Over 21 consecutive days he will run an average of 40 miles per shift.

He will take in every Premidr League ground.

It's one heck of a challengd, my friend.

I saw it as an opportunity to raise a huge amount of money for `

The second point, it is a huge tick in a box for me

personally to undertake a physical and mental challenge that whll test

me all the way and probably beyond my limits in many waxs.

Benali made more than 300 appearances for Southampton

and was a mainstay of their Premier League side in the 80s.

He has always been fit, but this will be very different

I know what I put into playhng at the level I did in the sport

of football, but this will be something altogether differdnt.

Although I have a support tdam, it's going to be very much, you know

fighting with my own thoughts and getting my head around a lot of the

The 45`year`old cannot wait for the start, but the finish will

be pretty special, too ` half`time in the Southampton versus Ndwcastle

I've used that as a little bit of a thought and a picture

We did a practice run on what will be the last leg back to

St Mary's a few weeks back `nd I was quite emotional when I got back to

the stadium even on that dax, so goodness knows what I will be like

after a three`week challengd, and arriving back

You can see the website on the screen, all of the details `re there

with the full route. 1000 miles in three weeks? That is a

huge challenge! Good luck. I got tired of jtst

looking at the map! His family will be joining him, some

of his ex`teammates, like J`mes Beattie, Alan Shearer will be

setting him off 8am on Sund`y. It will be fantastic if he lakes it

for St Mirren these and the game with Newcastle next month.

Did you see that running stxle? You are being harsh!

I think you should be joining him. No, I am busy!

Sports presenters joining Frannie on one of the last legs.

Well, good luck to him, we hope it will go really well.

Onto the weather. It is a chilly night, actually.

I was getting the thick duvdt out last night I was so`called.

Four Celsius last night, in parts of Oxfordshire. It could be sililar

tonight. Alan Smith took this close tp

of a Kingfisher fishing Vince Cooper photographed

the low tide and the sunny spells And Maureen Coles took this shot

of the dramatic skies over We have a number of showers popping

up this afternoon, but they were few and far between, mainly dry today

with sunny spells and incre`sing cloud. The cloud will disappear

overnight, staying dry and chilly in the countryside. In the towns and

cities down to eight or night 's `` nine Celsius. A dry start to the day

tomorrow. There may be some showers dotted about tomorrow, it should be

mainly dry but showers more likely for western areas drifting hn from

the West and through the afternoon increasing cloud, but there will be

some sunshine and temperatures will be very similar to today, around 16

or 18 Celsius with light winds. Tomorrow night we could havd

outbreaks of rain showers at times through the early hours of Friday

morning. The showers are mahnly liked and patchy with the odd heavy

burst drifting in from the West and clearing most places by Don on

Friday with a milder night to come tomorrow night, Lowes 12 or 14

Celsius. High`pressure moves in charge of our weather towards the

weekend, the rain clears first thing on Friday morning following sunny

spells in the afternoon. Temperatures will fall away on

Friday, another chilly start on Saturday to start the bank holiday

weekend. Saturday should be mainly dry with sunny spells and hhgh

pressure in charge, turning cold at night, four or five Celsius in the

countryside. Sunday will be a cold and mainly frosty start in some

areas. Mainly dry with sunshine Unsettled with rain at times on

Monday. All in all, the bank holiday not looking bad at all. But the rest

of the week there will be some sunny spells, the odd shower may be for

western areas, increasing cloud for much of the reason through the

afternoon. The order showers are possible on Friday amongst the sunny

spells and a breezy day. Cold overnight Friday into Saturday may

be forced to start the day on Sunday but Saturday will be the best day of

the weekend in terms of dryness and sunshine.

Good, because it is the Augtst bank holiday and we know what happens

then. Rain! We have a cricket match on

Sunday so I am pleased it is right, the BBC team.

We have more at 8pm and at 00:2 pm, of course.

Tony will be there tomorrow probably giving Chris and very hard time

after what he said today. Will you be wearing shorts?

I hope not! Thank you for watching, good night.

We've got factory boys and butchers' apprentices and office clerks

Don't stop moving! If you go back you'll die!

anybody who comes to your house is not a guest, but he's God.

Helicopter ride to the hotel? Possible.