Weekly round-up: Five stories you may have missed

Harry Seager posted a photo of his find on Facebook

A story about an unusually smooth chocolate bar was among our most read stories in the south this week.

We have picked five stories from the past seven days in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and Oxfordshire to keep you up to date.

Star Wars filming impact on heritage site studied

Dorset's disused Winspit Quarry near Worth Matravers, was used as a film-set in 2021

A university academic has started researching the impact that a Star Wars series, filmed on the Jurassic Coast, had on the environment.

Dorset's disused Winspit Quarry near Worth Matravers, was used as a set for the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor in 2021.

Dr Rebecca Harrison, from the Open University's Film and Media department, wants people to take part in an online survey to help her investigate how filming affects the environment and local communities.

The senior lecturer said she would look at 14 sites across the UK.

Hotel's extension plan rejected over impact fears

The plan for the hotel - pictured here in 2019 - was previously rejected by Isle of Wight Council

A hotel’s hopes of expanding on the Isle of Wight have been dashed after a planning inspector dismissed its appeal.

The owners of Luccombe Manor Country House Hotel, in Shanklin, applied for permission to build a 10-bedroom extension and to build three other new bedrooms by reconfiguring its layout.

But Garden Isle Hotels had its initial application rejected by Isle of Wight Council and the appeal turned down by a planning inspector.

They said the extension’s design “would overwhelm the original manor house” which the hotel is based in.

Student suicide prompts 'cancel culture' warning

Alexander Rogers was in his third year at the University of Oxford

The suicide of a young man "cancelled" by his peers at university has prompted a coroner to write to the government warning about "self-policing" among some students.

Alexander Rogers, 20, was in his third year studying at the University of Oxford's Corpus Christi College when he took his own life in January.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Graham said Mr Rogers had been "ostracised" in the preceding days after a woman expressed discomfort about a sexual encounter between the pair.

In a Prevention of Future Deaths Report the coroner urged the Department for Education to take action to stop similar deaths occurring related to the harmful effects of being socially ostracised.

Airport chaos made worse by password issue - report

More than 2,000 flights were grounded in August 2023

An engineer's password problem hampered efforts to resolve Bank Holiday airport chaos caused by a flight data fault, a report has said.

More than 700,000 passengers suffered cancellations and delays in August 2023 due to the computer shutdown at NATS, the UK's air traffic control service.

The engineer was unable to reset the system from home and arrived at work more than three hours after the incident began, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

NATS said it would review its resilience plans and had ensured the fault could not happen again.

Man finds smooth Mars bar without signature ripple

Mars bars have been made in Slough since 1932

A man who discovered a Mars bar without its signature ripple on top said he found the reaction to it on social media "bizarre".

Harry Seager's photo of the chocolate has attracted over 11,000 reactions on the Dull Men's Club group on Facebook, with one person labelling it "hideous".

The 33-year-old said he posted the photo of the chocolate, which is manufactured in Slough, Berkshire, for "a laugh".

A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley UK said the smooth bar had "slipped" through the production line and confirmed the "classic swirl" on the top of its bars had not gone away.