01/04/2014 BBC London News

Dan, thank you. That's all from us. Now,

Good evening. The mayor of Tower Hamlets, accused of diverting public

grants for electoral gain, has hit back at the BBC claiming the

allegations are driven by racism and Islamophobia. Last night's Panorama

found that Lutfur Rahman, the Bangladeshi mayor of Tower Hamlets,

has more than doubled funding for Bengali and Somali`run charities and

cut funding for other organisations. Mr Rahman categorically denies that

this was done in return for support in a forthcoming election. Alex

Bushill reports. It is a borough whose politics has long been mired

in controversy and today its mayor and the BBC exchanged allegations of

cronyism and racism. I shall work for you and each and every member of

Tower Hamlets. Lutfur Rahman is the independent mayor who stands accused

by Panorama of favouring Bengali and Somali charities with council

funding, rising by 140% from ?1.5 million to ?3.6 million. While other

organisations saw their's drop by 25%. Not so say one of the biggest

beneficiaries, Saint Peter's Bengali Association. It runs this lunch club

and its manager told us they've been favoured by councils of all

political persuasions. Not just this mayor. Before him, Labour was here.

They fund us. Before them, the Lib Dems were here. They fund us. I

think it's racist what they are saying because he's Bangladeshi.

They think he only gives only to the Bangladeshi. What about the white

organisations? He gives to everyone. This charity worker has lived in the

borough for over 30 years. He worries if he speaks out his

organisation will have its funding cut further. And told me the process

of applying is now unaccountable and confusing. There was no comment from

Tower Hamlets Town Hall today. The mayor refusing to be interviewed.

Instead he released a statement saying the picture painted by

Panorama bore no resemblance to any auditor inspection which has been

carried out. He said actually, far from favouring the Bengal or Somali

community, they receive less than half the amount of grants that they

should as a proportion of the overall population of the borough.

He went on to accuse the BBC of Islamaphobia and campaigning on

behalf of his opponents in next month's local and mayoral elections.

Last night the BBC apologised unreservedly after a list of secret

sources from the documentary were leaked to him by one of the

researchers. Nonetheless, the programme makers defended their

journalism. We have checked our figures on a number of occasions and

we are satisfied they are robust. And, in the course of time, they

will be presented to the Department of Communities of local government

and no doubt the Secretary of State's own experts will decide

whether they are right or wrong. Tonight, the local MP and Labour

politician weighed in as well. I think it's irresponsible for the

mayor of Tower Hamlets to go around making accusations of racism. He's

done it to the Labour Party. He's done it now to the BBC. He's going

to run out of people that he doesn't consider racist. The Government has

said it will look at Panorama's claims and confirmed it could send

inspectors into the borough to investigate. Thousands of people

whose homes were flooded over the winter will have access to

Government funding from today to help protect their properties.

Homeowners can get up to ?5,000 as part of the scheme on top of any

money they get from insurers. Alice Bhandhukravi reports. Maggie Hill

has her work cut out. Since her home in Old Windsor was flooded, the

entire ground floor has had to be stripped and she has had to move

out. This was the kitchen. You can see everything is gone. Cupboards,

walls, all the units. And that's likely to be expensive, so she will

be taking up the Government offer of a grant. I can't say it wouldn't

help, but I don't know how far it will go. It's an enormously

expensive operation. The whole place had to be gutted on the ground

floor. And the plasterboard taken off in rooms it affected. The

remnants of the flooding here are as visible as much outdoors as in, from

sandbags to sodden lawns. Leonard and June, whose floor had to be

replaced, will also be hoping for some financial help. We haven't

fully realised how much we need because we haven't finished. So any

help is likely to be good for you? Yeah. The carpet was ?1,000. The

Abbots, like other homeowners and businesses, will have to apply for

the repair and renew grant through their local council. There is a very

simple online application form that they fill in and they present to us

what their plan is for a resilience or resistance measure and then we

processed that application and then we recover the money from the

government. We've already had 13 applications as of an hour ago for

something which only went live today. So no shortage of applicants

in this borough. Maggie is getting a little help from their friends, and

hopefully, a little bit of cash from her council. I am nervous but I have

to look forward and hope that things get better soon. Maggie Hill in Old

Windsor there. Let's cross to Tarah Welsh, who's in Marlow tonight. Just

clarify the details of this scheme? Many areas including this one were

affected by those winter floods, but these grants are more about

prevention rather than cure. So they will pay for things like flood

reducing measures, and that could mean installing a barrier in your

driveway or moving your sockets to a higher, safer level. People can

claim back for work already done, so who is eligible? Any homeowner or

business that was flooded between the 1st of December and yesterday.

The government as people don't have to keep that ?5,000 for themselves,

communities can invest in something for the entire area. Ultimately,

local authorities will administer that money hopefully being some

comfort to those affected by the floods. Thank you. More on that

story on the BBC News website. It's a very goodnight from me. I'll hand

you over to Wendy for the weather. All the warmth has been brought by

southeasterly wind but the pollution has as well and tomorrow, across the

Home Counties and London, the read it you can see on the map are

showing the high pollution levels. Come Thursday, subtle change in the

wind direction becomes less of a problem. As we go through the rest

of this evening and overnight, there will be some cloud around. One or

two showers, but for most of the night, it will be dry with clear

skies and the warmth continues into the night as many places settle in

double figures. We start tomorrow with some sunshine. It will turn

progressively more hazy as we go through the day. The wind will be

liked. It will feel warm again thanks to the southeasterly

direction. Temperatures will get into the mid to high teens once

again. London, 21`22. 102 showers in the afternoon. The outlook, rather

cloudy with some rain on Thursday. Good evening. Before we get to the

weather details, little bit about the pollution which we have been

talking about in the weather reports over the last couple of days. The

pollution levels actually during the course of Wednesday, tomorrow,