19/03/2014 BBC London News

Welcome to BBC London News. So what more did the Chancellor

promise for London in his fifth budget? Amongst the measures

affecting people in the capital was an offer for "funding for

regeneration of some of the worse condition housing estates". Money

for a new air ambulance for London, and investment was promised to ease

the housing crisis. Brent Cross will be regenerated and Barking Riverside

will also benefit with scope for 11,000 new homes. But critics claim

that without money for new rail links no one will want to move

there. Here's our Political Editor Tim Donovan.

It's flat and it is large and it available, hugging the Thames in

east London. There's planning permission for 11,000 homes on the

Barking Riverside site. So far a few hundred have been built, a few

hundred more are in the pipeline, but the process has been stalling.

For those who live here already, the promise was for facilities and

transport links to follow. There isn't that much infrastructure

available for the school, for community purposes, for the

transport links. If you see the buses going in and out at the rush

hour, they're full and you are trying to put this place on a map

and people would move here and we would have a bigger and stronger

community. And we especially need a station. What she and others want is

trains overground and a new rail link from Barking to a new station

near their homes. So what did the Chancellor indicate today? In the

Commons there was a mention. In the south`east where the pressure is

greatest, we are going to build new homes in Barking Riverside. The

detail of the Budget documents said the Chancellor would work with the

mayor to develop proposals. That's not enough says the local council.

Very disappointed there's no guarantee and commitment to the

investment of ?180 million to deliver the extension of the Barking

London over to Barking Riverside. In terms of looking at it, that was the

similar position back in the Autumn Statement and we would've hoped the

Chancellor and the Treasury would have looked at the options now,

analysed and assessed the business case and delivered on the ?180

million. Here we have a ready`made solution. Unlocking the potential of

this place has become a priority for London's mayor. The Greater London

authority jointly owns the land. To the Mayor's critics his is belated

recognition in this area's importance. They say he's wasted a

few years. And they point out that Ken Livingstone before him had

wanted to extend the Docklands Light Railway out here, have three new

stations, but Boris Johnson scrapped those plans. The DLR option was too

expensive, said the mayor. Some put it at ?750 million, compared to 180

for his alternative. Today he claimed it was only a matter of time

before the Chancellor approved it. He will sign the check as soon as we

are in a position, reasonably to spend the money. From now on what

we've got to do, we've got to get the planning, Transport and Works

Act in the next couple of years. So discussions continue as to who

should pay what, and here they'll only believe it when they see it.

Well Tim's here now. So did this budget provide clear signs of

investment in more housing? Intentions, yes. But there is a gap

in the budget and there is an awful lot to do and agreements to be

signed between the Chancellor and the mayor. It is an important site,

there is another one, Brent Cross announced. For him to get affordable

housing targets, or closer to his targets, and in the case of Barking,

he owns the land. Is it possible talk of rivalry between the mayor

and the Chancellor as they think about their next political move?

People think it could affect things like that. Was it an expected to

invest in another air ambulance? Yes, a second air ambulance. It is

going to fill in for the one that is there now, when it is being

maintained. But it is for one year only so far. The service is much

appreciated and well needed. A cyclist who hit a pothole and

fractured his skull has been awarded nearly ?70,000 at the High Court.

Alan Curtis took Hertfordshire County Council to court. He went

over the handlebars of his bike while swerving to avoid a pothole

leaving him, his injuries left him with hearing and memory problems.

Richard Slee has more. They spent most of Sunday working on

the arm. There's two plates in there. Alan Curtis is still

suffering the effects of his accident four and a half years after

it happened. He also has hearing and memory loss. But says if he wasn't

wearing his helmet, it could have been much worse. I must have landed

on the left side of my head and the helmet took the impact. Completely

cracked, in fact there is a whole lump missing from that, but it did

its job. Alan was in training for a charity bike ride when he hit a

pothole here. The road surface was repaired a long time ago but the

basis of Alan's claim is that the council failed in its legal

obligation to look after the road properly. And at the High Court this

afternoon, a judge agreed. In awarding Alan ?69,000 in damages,

the judge said the pothole was a category one defect that should have

been repaired and that there was a breach of duty when the road was

inspected by council officials just a few months earlier. I have

suffered permanent injuries and they are a little bit life changing. I do

think that someone had to be held account for that. I think it's

appropriate the council have been found negligent. Alan's solicitor

said this judgement is good news for London's cyclists. This is a case

that will make the authorities sit up and take notice of the

obligations they have under the Highways Act 1980. In a statement

Hertfordshire County Council said simply, it was disappointed with the

judgement. No doubt it will soon be helping to spend some of the ?200

million for pothole repair that was announced in today's budget.

That's all from the late team. We're back in Breakfast tomorrow, but

here's the weather. There is a change on the way. After

the rain on Thursday night it will turn colder. We will see it clouding

over as the night goes on. A breeze blowing as well and it will be

pretty frost free. Five or six degrees and a bit of cloud to start

tomorrow. It looks like it will thin and break with brightness through

the morning. The wind will be picking up and it will become gusty

as the day goes on, it clearly as the rain draws closer. It will get

to London at five or six o'clock in the evening. As it goes through the

night it will be heavy in places. This is the

night it will be heavy in places. This is the outlook: Bright enough

for Friday and the weekend but much colder and some of the showers could

have a wintry nature. Cloud coming in from the Atlantic.

When it moves through we will get cooler conditions with lively

showers. But mild overnight with the south-westerly breeze dragging cloud

across England and Wales. As you can see the heaviest rain and strongest

winds overnight are confined to Scotland and northern Ireland. Wet

and windy here but it is an mild night with the cloud cover and

breeze. But, a miserable start to the day in Scotland. Wet and windy,

gusty wind through the central lowlands in the morning. Up to 60

miles an hour and maybe more than that over some of the hills. Not

pleasant in the morning rush-hour and not pleasant in Northern Ireland

either. In England and Wales,