24/01/2017 South Today

Hello and welcome to South Today, I'm Edward Sault.

Class A crackdown; arrests are made after morning drugs

The anxious wait for poultry farmers to see if bird flu restrictions

will mean their eggs lose free range status.

And, taking a trip down memory lane; are Trams set to make a return

Thames Valley police raided more than 20 addresses this morning

targeting organised drug dealing in Oxfordshire.

At least 12 suspects were arrested at houses in Oxford,

Operation Stronghold is aiming to stop drugs coming

Organised policing tackling organised crime.

This Oxford address one of 21 raided by Thames Valley police in Oxford,

Over 200 officers were involved in what is called Operation Stronghold.

The start of a campaign to stop the flow of Class A drugs

We've made some good arrests today which will have a disruption impact

on those wanting to deal drugs in our city. We work closely with

partners to protect the vulnerable people and moving into the future we

target kilocations that we know the groups have operated within to make

sure that it's really difficult for them to come back.

Detectives say gangs from the capital come to the county

These locations, the police say, are often the homes

We have criminals operating from the London area that send runners out

into the counties, for want of a better phrase, and dealing drugs in

our area. These operations are very organised. They target vulnerable

people, probably the most vulnerable people in our communities, and

obviously are a real threat to the local policing of the area.

Police are continuing to patrol in the areas where the raids took

place this morning in an effort to reassure the public.

The force says there'll be similar operations in the future to stop

drugs gangs operating in the Thames Valley.

Poultry farmers are waiting anxiously to find out if restriction

imposed because of bird flu will mean their eggs no longer

At the moment flocks are being kept undercover to stop them having

contact with wild birds who may be carrying the bird flu virus.

These are very challenging times for egg producers. Since the start of

December, they have had to keep their flocks under cover because of

the restrictions associated with bird flu. The real fear now is that

producers could lose their free range egg status. That's a big

problem because these eggs sell for about 40p a dozen more than other

categories of egg. The man who runs this farm is Phillip Shepherd. At

the moment we are running up to that cut-off point, how concerned are

you? I'm very concerned because we sell our eggs as free range, we get

a good price for them because they're free range. What do you

think should happen? Well, it's not our fault, it's not the chickens'

fault, we are doing it for the well-being of the chickens, so I

think honestly they should allow us to carry on in the UK. Otherwise you

would lose a substantial amount of your income? Yes, because if they

have to go to status of barn, they are not worth the same money. Most

at the moment are very understanding, the customers, and

they understand it's for the birds, not for us.

Thank you very much. Discussions are going on at the moment between the

NFU and DEFRA to try to find a way forward.

The Civil Aviation Authority has accepted all 21 safety

recommendations made in the wake of the Shoreham air crash.

11 men were killed when a Hawker Hunter jet crashed during a display

Air accident investigators made a series of recommendations

about the way former military aircraft are inspected and assessed.

These will now be adopted by April next year.

The final report into the crash, has still not been published.

National survey of passenger satisfaction on the railways shows

Southern is by far the worst in the country down by 12%

Most passengers felt the company was not good at dealing with delays.

A majority thought punctuality was unacceptable.

A three day strike by a small number of drivers in the RMT

Meanwhile talks to end strikes by the main drivers' union, Aslef,

Southern says it is running a full timetable for the first time

School pupils on Hayling island are taking part in a virtual reality

trial with Google which could change the way some lessons are taught.

Pupils have been given headsets which fit smartphones after staff

The virtual reality lessons give them an immersive

experience inside the heart, on a World War One

Teachers say it's a good way to gain and keep their pupils attention.

It's vital to get the kids' attention. Give them something

interactive, tangible that they can touch, feel and see. It beats

sitting there looking at a power point slide at the beginning of

every single lesson. It's been more than half a century

since the last tram ran in Southampton but business leaders

and politicians are now thinking It comes amid claims traffic

congestion will increase The journey home can take about 40

minutes to an hour. It was quieter today. I've had to change my hours

to go in earlier than I can. Fewer than one in ten go to work on public

transport in the Solent. The feasibility group is looking at

running trams alongside existing railway tracks through the airport

to St Mary's, then to a ferry interchange and Central Station with

later plans to create Park and Ride sites. Isn't this all

pie-in-the-sky? I think the investment is probably hundreds of

millions of pounds, but this region's been significantly

under-invested in by the Government in the recent past. We need to

change that dynamic. Trams have run for 25 years here in Manchester, 60

miles of track link the city centre with nearby towns. Where there are

tram stops, house prices have gone up and there's been a boost for

businesses. Manchester's turned itself around from a declining

industrial city to a thriving 21st century mixed economy and

Metrolink's been an integral part of it. Southampton lost its trams in

1949. The city council and the LEP want to see six trams an hour

running between Eastleigh and the city centre in the next few years.

Getting the plan up and running will require ambition and an awful lot of

money. Now the weather forecast with Holly. It was a cold start to the

day, minus five in some places. This weather watchers picture shows fog

on the grass in Southampton. You can see mist in the background too. For

many, it was a misty, foggy start and, for many, that mist and fog

still lingers. The Met Office has issued a fog and ice warning valid

from 6pm this evening. The weather is how it is because of high

pressure, but gradually over the next few days, it pushes out into

the continent. By Thursday, we've got a strong southerly or

south-easterly developing and that will make it feel increasingly cold.

Some of us could hang on to the mist and fog. In general for most, a

bright picture with sunny spells around. Temperatures are tending to

struggle. If you keep the fog, the

temperatures really low. Dense patches of fog in places as well as

ice as temperatures fall towards freezing, so there could be some

difficult driving conditions as we head into tomorrow morning. In

general, that mist and fog will lift and much like today we should tend

to find the visibility improving. The difference for tomorrow is, we

have cloudier skies overhead, so a greyer day in general, temperatures

on par. The winds whip up into Thursday making it feel

significantly colder. Have a good afternoon. Keep that fog away! That

is it from me. Thank you very much for your company. We are back at 6.

30. Goodbye.