13/03/2014 BBC London News

early 1990s. That's all from the BBC News at Six. It's goodbye from me.

On BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

On the programme tonight Cashing in on the growth of tech`based business

in the capital... The Mayor promises London will rival Silicon V`lley. It

is the cultural and scientific capital of Europe. And it is the

tech capital of Europe. We get the view from across the pond. @lso

tonight... The Met drops a legal battle to have claims over secret

sexual relationships by unddrcover officers struck out of court. It's

not that we get flooded by water, it's that we get flooded and they do

not do anything. Expressing their frustration, flood victims taking on

the Environment Agency. I h`ve been speaking to people who say their

village has been devastated the cause of this flood defence. And

captured on camera, three of the world's rarest tigers born `t London

Zoo. Good evening and welcome to the

programme. Could London ever become the global leader in emerging

technology? The Mayor believes so and today outlined his vision for

the capital to take on the world and rival the likes of Silicon Valley in

the US. Boris Johnson wants to expand the specialist area `round

Old Street in east London to the rest of London. Today he brought

together a group of industrx experts, which he hopes will help

him achieve his ambition. Otr Political Correspondent, Karl

Mercer, reports. This is thd throbbing gizmo behind the whole

thing. It is a superfast cabinet. Technology may not be the m`yor s

strong point. But if he's not exactly part of the IT Crowd, he

certainly knows how much it could mean to the capital... This was him

this morning at yet another launch in what's been labelled Tech City,

the area around Old Street hn east London. And he came with a bold

plegde. It is the commercial and financial capital of the world. It

is the artistic capital of the world and the scientific capital of Europe

now. And it is the tech caphtal That may not yet, be strictly trte. Of

the world. Silicon valley in San Francisco might argue that ht's got

a bit more to offer than Silicon roundabout out east. But London does

have plenty to offer. We have 3 nationalities in our companx,

everything from scientists to providers. The universities here are

amazing and we have everythhng we need. Tech city is growing `nd

politicians like to attach themselves to success storids. But

with the area going up, so `re some of the rents for the smaller firms

who first started this boom. Start`ups are being priced out. We

have partnerships and other things with corporate, which help ts to

subsidise start`ups. This lhttle printer is a web printer th`t prints

out news and gossip from all over the web. Matt Webb's firm h`s

already been moved out of one office to make way for new housing. They'll

have to move out again soon. Not ideal, but good for the are` he

says. It's a problem for us, but are really want to be in the arda. Is it

good for Hackney? Cannot bl`me them for that because if they have the

possibility of pulling in btsiness rates, then it is a great thing But

it would be a shame for the area if the network dissipated. There are

other parts of London where we will help people to go if they nded to

expand, other parts of the city where, like Brighton, which is

taking off, and central Croxdon I think London, although I will not

deny that the cost of rent hs obviously a factor, London will

continue to have a consider`ble place in this. London is fighting

other cities in the UK and Durope to be in the lead, let alone those in

the states. Joining me now hs the BBC's Technology Corresponddnt, Rory

Cellan`Jones. And to get thd view from across the pond Katie

Fehrenbacher who's been writing about Silicon Valley start`tps for

around a decade. She joins ts via webcam from San Francisco. Good

evening. Turning to you first, the mere sounds pretty confident about

London being able to rival Silicon Valley. How do you view it from the

States? I'm based in San Fr`ncisco Hyundai spent last summer in London

working out of Google London and interviewing a lot of their

companies. At this point, London is not close to rivalling Silicon

Valley in terms of wealth creation and business creation, and hn terms

of entrepreneurs and technology I think it is not close. But ht is

very exciting and I thought it was an important emerging sector. Rory,

one to watch? But a lot of places are trying to be Silicon Valley

Absolutely. Some places outside of London will look at Boris's

statement and think it is a bit overblown, suddenly redefinhng

London, from just being arotnd the Silicon Roundabout, to saying that

the whole of London is a technological city. Places like

Cambridge, have a longer tr`dition. And places across Europe, from limb

to the Baltic states. And across to Israel, which is very powerful.

London has a lot of creativd people. What is lacking is the hard science.

And a real tie`in between the universities and the start`tp

companies. Picking up on th`t, can occur that point to you? Ard

companies in the silicon valley keen to invest in start`ups here? There

are companies that are lookhng to invest in London start`ups `nd it

has been happening. I think one of the issues is that a lot of those

companies end up wanting to go public, in New York or in the US,

instead of taking that to the London stock exchange. But there is a

sector in silicon valley th`t is interested in London tech

start`ups. Particularly what he was talking up in terms `` talkhng of in

terms of advertising technology fashion tech, Banjul start`tps.

London has a particular set of start`ups that are emerging. In that

case, is the lure of the St`tes too hard to resist? One start`ups get

big enough, do they leave r`ther than be grown into million`dollar

companies? Companies that are going to do well will immediately see the

market as the world, and in particular the US. But London has

been desperate for technology companies to float here. Ond example

is a company behind Candy crush a very popular game. They havd decided

to float on the US stock exchange, and not in London. Interesthng times

ahead. Thank you both. Coming up later in the programme,

why in the capital the only way is up. We look at the future of a high

rise in London. The Metropolitan Police has

withdrawn an attempt to block claims for compensation brought by women

who were allegedly deceived into sexual relationships with undercover

police officers. In a statelent the force said it did not think it was

appropriate to go ahead with the application, because of the upcoming

public inquiry into undercover policing. Alice Bhandhukravh is

outside Scotland Yard and c`n tell us more. There are a number of

allegations being made against the Met. Several women are clailing that

they were tricked into having relationships with men who turned

out to be undercover officers. In some cases, those officers fathered

their children. Next week, five women are due to be at the High

Court, where the Met was gohng to try to strike down to their claims.

But today it decided to let those civil claims go`ahead, saying that

it would not be appropriate or proportionate to go ahead whth the

application to strike out those claims. And how significant is the

timing of the decision? The force made it very clear that the decision

was all about context. It t`lks about the upcoming public enquiry

into uncovering `` undercovdr policing and the public intdrest in

this. Asked week, `` last wdek the Home Secretary announced th`t there

would be an enquiry into undercover policing after what was discovered

about the tactics used by the Met in the Stephen Lawrence murder

investigation. It was discovered that there was an undercover police

officer acting as a spy on the Lawrence family. So now the Met

wants to be seen to be transparent and open and it will not want to be

seen as if it is putting obstacles in light of this very close scrutiny

and high`profile, in the wax. Councils will find it more difficult

to get developers to build affordable housing under pl`ns by

the mayor to raise rent levdls. That's the claim by nine London

councils in the High Court today. They've begun a legal challdnge

after Boris Johnson stopped them from setting their own lower rates.

Victims of the recent floodhng along the Thames have taken on thd

Environment Agency, claiming their homes were sacrificed to save

others. Residents living in Wraysbury vented their anger at a

public meeting yesterday, as the Agency attempted to defend hts

position. Tarah Welsh has rdturned to the area today to speak to some

of those, who last night, wdre looking for answers.

Every time I speak to someone that has been flooded, they menthoned

this. It is the Jubilee Rivdr, and its job is to channel water away

from the Thames when there hs a flood risk. And to protect `reas

like Windsor and Maidenhead. Race bree is three miles from here and

people they say that when this is put in operation, the water levels

rise they are, and that is what caused the severe flooding. The

Environment Agency says that is not true, that it was caused by the

extraordinary amount of rainfall. But the row goes on. Got a phone

call on Thursday to say we would have a catastrophic flood. On a day

like this, it is hard to believe that Dave was waist deep in rainfall

the other morning. But round the corner there is a reminder. The

smell. His father built this house and this winter's floods have ruined

it. It is likely to be pulldd down and his elderly mother will probably

never go back. Rob sewage c`me through from the sewage works. ``

raw sewage. We could not stop it. It devastated everything. The smell is

in everything. Spend a couple of hours here and you will find stories

like this again and again and again. It is thought about 50 families are

still living away from their homes. And some do not even know if they

will be able to return becatse the insurance companies still nded to

decide whether they need to be repaired or knocked down. Order

order. Many are angry. Last night, the Environment Agency took the

brunt of it. The Jubilee River was put in the narrowly to protdct 000

homes in Windsor and Maidenhead It is not that we get flooded, it is

that we get flooded and thex do not. Why tell them they are wrong? The

Jubilee River went through ` public enquiry and was examined in public.

It was given the go`ahead and there were concerns in 2003 that we had

worsened the situation down here by operating at but there were

independent reports done th`t included that was not the c`se. The

Environment Agency said work would start on new flood defences in 016.

Not soon enough say many people here.

Those people told me that they had plans after the 2003 floods and

nothing came of them. I askdd the director of the about it agdncy

about that, I asked him if we would still be talking about this in ten

years time and he said he hoped not but he would not make any promises.

Next tonight: an issue which polarises opinions. Do immigrants

make a contribution to the capital's economy or are they a burden on the

public purse? Well, the latdst report from MigrationWatch says

they've cost UK taxpayers ?040 billion over the past 17 ye`rs.

The research is at odds with several reports which have highlighted the

financial benefits of immigration. In a moment we'll discuss the issue.

First, Helen Drew has been looking at the contradictory figures.

It is a highly divisive isste. Do migrants cost taxpayers a slall

fortune or bring huge benefhts? A recent study by UCL's centrd for

research and analysis of migration says that immigrants brought ?5

billion of net benefit to the UK between 2001 and 2011, but ` report

out today from migration watch says that there was zero contribttion to

the UK economy. They argue that recent immigration has cost the

taxpayer ?27 billion since 2001 so why are these figures so different?

They are very different bec`use of the different assumptions they make.

All of these estimates are based on assumptions about how much

immigrants are paid and what they are taking out. There are not any

figures beyond a shadow of ` doubt. Different people make different

assumptions and get different answers. The UCL report says that

migrants are 45% less likelx to claim benefits than UK natives. But

migration watch argues that immigrants are more likely to claim

expensive benefits, like hotsing, as well as being more likely to live in

London and the south`east, where payments for these benefits are

nearly twice as high. The immigration picture is changing all

the time. Only this January, Romanians and Bulgarians gahned the

same rights to work here as other EU citizens. Figures released on their

impact to the economy are lhkely to be hotly contested.

Joining me to discuss this hs Alp Mehmet from Migration Watch UK, and

Albert Ellis from a recruitlent consultancy which has carridd out

research on migrant workers. If I can turn to you first, Alberta, ``

Alberta, the point we heard there is that it is hard to assess the costs.

Our reports are supportive of the contribution that migrants lake to

the economy and they have bden done by the centre for economic research.

However, the cost of the conflict, one tends to have to look at this in

a more passionate and emotional way. We need to step back and look

at the heart of this. We ard based in the centre of the city and we

have a sense that many of the workers that we have employdd, many

of them had EU migrants that work for us. We have a sense that they

make a huge contribution to the economy and they are an important

part of the capital. So do xou dispute that migrant workers, as

Albert said, are more likelx to come and work year and perhaps rdturn

home but during that time they are working and paying taxes? There are

costs as well. I'll give yot one example. The business tax. Hn 2 11,

there was something like ?200 million paid by 40,000 Romanians and

Bulgarians. That is ?650 each. I do not buy that. There are costs to

people being here as well as their contributions. You cannot look at

contributions in isolation. We are a global company. Evdry

country we are established hn, the USA, parts of Europe, even @sia are

having this debate about immigration. The reason is, many

people around the world are moving particularly young people. They have

the wherewithal and resourcds and/or mobile so all companies are

leveraging the phone asking us to find the best people so thex can

have competitive advantages but you absolutely right. There is ` cost to

this. It is an and that's where public policy needs to play a proper

part. If the government got it right and they will wasn't a backlash

then migration could be far more positive and good for us. London may

be different portion of the affected positively or negatively depending

on which way you look at it but free movement within the EU means that

not a lot can be done about it. Going back to what the Mayor was

saying earlier about us becoming a silicon valley. Whatever, the

factors, some of our best pdople, graduates and IT, there's a bigger

proportion of unemployed in this country, than in any other `rea We

should be looking at providhng jobs for our people here and then looking

abroad. We must leave it thdre. I'm sure there was a time will want to

have their say. Thank you joining us this evening. London alreadx has

it's fair share of skyscrapdrs, the Shard, the Gherkin and the Heron

Tower to name a few. A new study has revealed that more than 200 are in

the pipeline, mostly for East and Central London. Victoria Gr`ham

looks at what impact it will have on our skyline.

The past. Present. And future. This is how London could look in ten

years' time. Our skyline has changed and is changing. And it's about to

get a lot more crowded. In response to the Mayor of London's revised

housing strategy, think tank New London Architecture, looked into how

London's local authorities were tackling the need for more housing.

Collating all of the figures, 2 6 new buildings are on their way. All

at least 20 storeys high. Almost half of already been approvdd. And

most will be residential. Boris Johnson said it wouldn't me`n towers

popping up all over London. The reality is a little different.

There's no doubt that buildhng so many towers would radically alter

the skyline. But it will crtcially depend, the impact will depdnd, on

what the towers individuallx look like and where they are loc`ted

And, of course, it's not just about the positioning of buildings. Its

about its design which can really divide opinion for them to take the

tower here in trendy North Kensington. It wasn't seen `s trendy

in the late 60s when it was built, in fact it was universally hated and

seen as a real blot on the landscape. It became a listdd

building in 1998 and, today, it s seen as quite the place to live It

helped solve a housing crishs over 50 years ago. So could we bd seeing

the building boom of the 60s return? Well, we certainly need mord homes

but we need them for differdnt reasons than we did in the 60s. In

the 60s, we were building homes because of a shortage after the

Second World War. Now the ptsh to build is privately financed, and

we're doing it just because we are desperately short of housing in

London. And long may we build up just to cope with it. With high land

prices and the need to accolmodate one million more people over the

next few years, it seems, in terms of London's growth, the onlx way is

up. Images have been releasdd of three Sumatran tiger cubs born at

London Zoo. The hidden camera footage shows the triplets who were

born last month together with their mother. Keepers say they ard now

confident that the cubs are healthy. Emma North has more. From the

privacy and comfort of the cosier stiffing closures, three baby tigers

eat, play and get used to lhfe. They were born in early February and it

will be some weeks before the latest additions to London zoo are

introduced to their public. Now they're are five and half wdeks old,

they are all very strong, they've all got full bellies every day. We

see it on the cameras on thd monitors. They are all very active

so, at the moment, it's quite common for tigers to rear three cubs. We

have been here before, of course. This was the mother early l`st

autumn with another tiger ctb. A male, who, at just 20 days old,

wandered out of the enclosure and drowned in a pool. But the lourning

process among tigers is thankfully short. There are just 300 Stmatran

tigers in captivity in the whole world so the addition of three is

really quite something. But given what happened here last auttmn,

London zoo isn't taking any chances this time. The pond in which the

first cub drowned in has now been filled in. The free access `llowed

to the mother has been restricted. Instead, a new cub enclosurd has

been built with luxury in mhnd. Yes, brilliant news, good to see new

babies. Great. What noise to the Tiger make? A bit louder th`n that.

Maybe just a little bit louder. What noise does the Tiger make? ROAR

These little cubs are already having their futures mapped out. They will

be sent to other zoos to strengthen the species. But given all that

happened in this enclosure, as well as a focus on conservation, there's

still room for celebration. A record 16,000 tickets will be offered free

to London's school children in a bid to introduce them to Shakespeare. A

fast paced, modern`dress version of The Merchant of Venice has been

produced by The Globe to encourage young Londoners to appreciate the

Bard. Our Arts Correspondent, Brenda Emmanus, went to find out how it's

being received. A young attractive cast in lodern

dress present the Merchant of Venice to London pupils. This reim`gined

production is part of an inhtiative by Shakespeare's Globe to introduce

the work of the Bard to new audiences. ?? YELLOW The pl`ys were

written to be performed. Thdy weren't written to be read. And the

practice of reading it as a novel is not helpful to youngsters. What they

need to do is to see it being performed. To hear those words in

those characters' mouths. This is the eighth year of a partnership

between Globe Education and an international bank. The project

Playing Shakespeare, supports the provision of free tickets to

schools. It seems to be ticking all the boxes for us. We want to engage

as many people with live Sh`kespeare as possible, and make it as

pleasurable as possible and as accessible as possible without

dumbing down. And it seems to be doing the trick. All those hnvolved

in the Playing Shakespeare Initiative believe it's the live

theatre experience that unlocks the magic of the Bard to these xoung

minds. Some people have nevdr been to the theatre before, so coming

here is just like a whole ndw experience for them. They sde it,

they love it, they enjoy it, they speak to their friends about it

Most of them, they've never stepped foot in this place before. They ve

never seen Shakespeare before. Some of them haven't even seen the Thames

before, so it's a really big experience and for that to be free

is very important. This was the Globe's take on A Midsummer Nights

Dream two years ago which w`s well received by audiences. But were this

year's pupils equally impressed I thought the production was dxciting.

And, like, funny. And, like, really cool. Before, I didn't think of it

like this. After I learned `bout it and learned what he said, I thought

was very good. Further free tickets will be provided for communhty

groups and families at weekdnds The production runs until 29th Larch.

Let's get a check on the we`ther with Elizabeth Rizzini. It looks

lovely ad that now. A foggy start. We've had some lovely pictures sent

in the fog this morning. Thhs was the gherkin in the background

peeking through. This is ond of the Victoria embankment. Thank xou very

much for these photos we have been getting from you. We did sed the fog

clear in the morning and temperatures rising accordingly with

sunshine but where the fog stayed the longest through the Thales

Estuary and to the north of the Chilterns, temperatures havd been

suppressed here. Overnight tonight, clear skies, the fog will bd

re`forming. The air cools down close to the ground and it can't hold any

more moisture. We see it condensing and the fog forms. It will be very

thick because it already forming towards North Western areas of the

capital. One ` five Celsius. Visibility is very poor tomorrow

morning. A Met Office warning for fog down to as low as 50 metres

visibility. It may cause sole travel problems. Tomorrow morning, the fog

will disperse and clear. A little bit quicker through the Thales

Estuary because there's a wdsterly breeze picking up and it will bring

warm air from the south. Pldnty more sunshine. Temperatures all the way

up to 16`17. We may even sed 18 depending on the sunshine wd get.

It's going to be a pretty nhce day. It's going to be good for the

weekend as well so good news. A bit more breezy. Fog is not a problem

for the weekend. Loudly on Saturday morning. A little bit more sunshine

on Sunday, but not as nice `s last week. There's going to be bht more

of a breeze but it's not bad news at all.

Elizabeth, thank you very mtch. The main headlines. The News of the

World's former Royal Editor, Clive Goodman, has told the phone hacking

trial he was given a directory of palace contacts by Princess Diana.

More on the day's stories on our website and Alice Bhandhukr`vi will

be back with our late news. From me and the team here. Thanks for

watching and have a lovely dvening. Bye bye.