16/04/2014 BBC London News

Korean ferry capsized. That's all from the BBC News at Six,

so it's goodbye from me, and on BBC One we now join the BBC's ndws teams

where you are. Tonight on BBC London News: An

anxious wait for parents as 20, 00 children in the capital miss out on

their first choice primary school. We were able to choose up to six

schools, which tells you th`t you really need to play along whth what

is available. For the first time in London there

were applications for more than 100,000 children. Also tonight:

Unemployment in the capital hits a five`year low, but concern remains

over the number of young people out of work.

The capital gets its own dolain name. How you can apply for your own

.london web address. Plus, Monty Python's Terry Jones

teams up with Simon Pegg to make a north London film. I lived hn Crouch

end until a couple of years ago literally about two streets from

this location, so had I still been living there, I could have just used

a skateboard. Good evening and welcome to the

programme. London's school population is soaring and the

pressure on places is growing. For the first time ever, the nulber of

applications for a primary place went over the 100,000 mark. And

figures released in the last hour show that 20% missed out on their

first choice, while 5,000 ptpils have not received an offer from any

of their top six choices. M`rc Ashdown reports. An anxious wait.

The fresh button is worn out waiting for an e`mail. It is everything

Starting her at four years old, both my husband and I stayed at

university for a long time, and we know this is just the beginning of a

really long career at school. You want to get it right. The shtuation

is only going to get worse. The Department for education estimates a

further 133,000 primary aged pupils will need a place in London alone

over the next few years. Thdy are going to need more of these. Lots

more of these. The Orion School in Barnett is brand`new, sort of. It

was a small school, but movds to a brand`new site with double the

capacity. We had children everywhere. Every part of the

building, we had learning groups, classes, we converted a hall into

two classrooms, we had over 600 children on a small site. Btt we

coped, but we were bursting at the seams. The council here has already

created thousands of extra places, and admits there is no let tp. But

local authorities can only do so much.

All new schools have to be `cademies or free schools, out of thehr

control. It is led to criticism is they don't always match supply with

demand. What is critical is free schools have to be supported by

local parents. They have to get parents to say, we want this school

in this area. They can't just pop up anywhere, they have to have parental

support. They also need new buildings, which is often a serious

stumbling block. We underst`nd the mayor is about to announced up to

ten sites for new schools, some recently closed police or fhre

stations. But today has been about keeping everyone busy and everything

crossed for a happy outcome. And Marc Ashdown joins me now. So

this year's figures have just come out. What else have we learned? A

record number of pupils applied this year, just over 102,000. Th`t is the

first time it has been the over 100,000. It is up 3% on last year.

Parents put down six choices, but it is all about that top choicd, which

is what everyone wants. This year, 20% didn't get their first choice.

That is about 20,000 pupils across London, and about the same `s last

year. But the figures are mtch better for those receiving one of

their top three, 90 2% recehving one of those, and overall across London,

about 95% of pupils have bedn allocated one of their chosdn six

schools. That means about 5000 pupils have no offer at all. And

what can they do? There will be a period of clearing, like whdn

University places come out. Some may not take up their places for various

reasons such as deciding to go to private schools. Kensington and

Chelsea, just 60% received their first choice, and figures wdre low

in Wandsworth, Islington and Lewisham. Parents who didn't get

what they want can appeal, but if you don't have an offer, don't

panic. Councils are legally obliged to provide a place for everx pupil,

even if it isn't the one yot want. And we'd love to hear from xou if

you've found out today about your child's place at primary school Was

it your first choice? What do you think should be done about the

crisis in school places? Yot can e`mail us at [email protected] or

get in touch on Twitter, th`t's @bbclondonews.

Lots more to come, including: The little stolen red hat and the

heartbreak of the mother who lost her baby daughter and wants it back.

It has got the most huge sentimental value to me. I know it is m`terial,

but it is my link to her. Unemployment in the capital is at a

five`year low, having fallen to 7.8%. The Office for Nation`l

Statistics says the overall jobless rate fell by 12,000 in the last

quarter. Despite the good ndws, London's unemployment rate hs higher

than the national average and there remain specific concerns ovdr levels

of youth unemployment. Our political correspondent Karl Mercer rdports.

Shall we just run through the agenda?

19`year`old Halina is just hnto her second week at her new job, a job

that's seeing her helping other young people into work. Help she

once got from a charity that came into her school to help her when she

started going off the rails. I'm not sure if I want to get back hnto

childcare or carry on as administrative assistant. I am

really enjoying my role. I'l deciding what to do next. H`lina's

now encouraging others to follow her path. Today's figures show that

might be getting easier. Unemployment in the capital has

fallen to a five year low. 343, 00 people out of work in the l`st

quarter, fall of 2000. Long`term unemployment has gone down since

1998, so these are very good employment figures. You havd more

women into work, youth unemployment has fallen for seven conservative

months, businesses are feelhng buoyant. We have 600,000 vacancies

in the labour market. The nded for headline figures, youth unelployment

is highest in London, nearlx a quarter without work. London is a

highly skilled economy and `ttract highly skilled people, so young

people leaving school in London if they don't have the experience in

the labour market, and a relatively low level of qualification, they

really struggle to compete with these highly skilled young people.

Despite today's encouraging statistics, more will need to be

done. There have been some developments

today in the story of alleg`tions of how public money was spent `t Tower

Hamlets council. It follows claims by the BBC's Panorama progr`mme that

the mayor was favouring Bengalis run charities with council fundhng.

You might remember that thex Panorama programme contained

allegations that the council had diverted more than ?350 million of

grant to Somali and Bangladdshi charities. In return for political

support. At the time, the dhrectly elected mayor of Tower Hamldts

denied that, and said that they had been races on the part of the

Panorama programme. Earlier on today, the Metropolitan polhce

issued a statement saying it had looked at various evidence passed to

it by the Government, and that there would be no criminal investhgation.

However, I can tell you in the last few minutes I have been givdn a

police statement, press reldase from the Metropolitan police, and it does

confirm that there is a polhce investigation under way in Tower

Hamlets. It's me read you what it says. A report was made to Tower

Hamlets police on the 20th of March by Tower Hamlets Council. The report

concerned an irregularity whth regards to money being awarded to

the Brady youth Forum in January and April 2013, and that was iddntified

by an internal review. This investigation is being carrhed out

by Tower Hamlets CID, said the Metropolitan police confirmhng

tonight that I are looking hnto a potentially criminal activity. I did

speak to the directly electdd mayor of Tower Hamlets earlier on in light

of the initial statement th`t no criminal investigation had been

taken place. We have not bedn able to contact the administration since

we got word from the Met police in the last few minutes. As thd

Panorama, they made the initial allegations of wrongdoing. They have

been at pains to say that they stand by their journalism, and thdy draw a

distinction between criminal activity and what they say they

reported. They say they nevdr alleged any sort of fraud, that the

allegations related to what is potentially unlawful expendhture. So

where are tonight? There is the police investigation that wd have

just learned, and also auditors who have been sent in by the colmunities

secretary Eric Pickles. Thex are now looking at the council's finances

over the past four years or so, and told to report back by the dnd of

June. This is one development in a story which will continue to run.

Thank you for bringing us up to date. There are elections in London

on May 22, including for thd elected mayor of Tower Hamlets. The close of

nominations is next week. The capital is one of the fhrst

cities in the world to get hts own Internet domain, and from the end of

the month, thousands of bushnesses can apply for a web address ending

intent back one. `` ending hn .london. There is concern that small

companies could lose out. The way they trade here hasn't

changed much for hundreds of years, but even this most traditional

business is keeping up with the times. We want to be part of the

London going forward, so we have plans for a new market, and it seems

that to have a new domain n`me would be part of that. London is one of

the first cities to get its own domain, and it has some high`profile

supporters. You get this funny thing going on where people want to say

they are from London, so it is much simpler way you can just sax, my

business .london. But is thhs just nice to have or essential for

businesses? The naming systdm has become quite clogged in the last few

years. For many small busindsses in London, it is difficult to get their

name because someone is alrdady using it. So .london is an

opportunity for them to get a relevant name.

.london is one of a thousand new domains in addition to the old ones

like .co .uk and .com. I am told most of them will be under ?50, but

the big ones like hotel dot London are likely to be more.

Where you have a generic nale is where the bidding wars happdn, and

ultimately, the only winners of the people who get the money from that

bidding war. They will want the .london domain name, but thdy might

be up against other businesses. Anyone anywhere in the world can

register for a .london addrdss, but for the first three months, people

based in the capital will bd prioritised. We know that artists

around the world search for music services specifically in London

because of its reputation, so being directly aligned with London with

the .london domain name will hope the ensure that we are inextricably

linked. Those behind .london will be hoping for good take`up and it goes

live on the 29th of April. London Underground says Tubd

travellers will face disruption this Easter. Sections of the Bakdrloo,

district, and Piccadilly lines will be shut at times over the holiday

weekend. Improvement work is being carried out.

The family of a runner who died after competing in the London

Marathon say they are overwhelmed by the heartfelt messages of stpport

they have received. 42`year`old Robert Berry collapsed at the

finishing line on Sunday and was later announced to be dead. More

than ?600,000 has been donated via his page.

The first facility in the world is to convert landfill waste into jet

fuel will be created in Essdx. It will be built on the site of a

former oil refinery in Thurrock It will create up to 150 permanent

jobs. This is very much arotnd our long`term sustainability in terms of

the impact on climate changd, and we recognise that aviation, like all

forms of transport, does have an impact on climate change, ghven that

we produce CO2, and any step that we can take to reduce that production

is a positive, so we are very excited indeed about this.

Still to come: I am in Purldy, where the couple who live here were hoping

to lay a new driveway this Daster, until workmen found a human skull

under the old one. Police h`ve launched an investigation.

And the film he almost forgot. Terry Jones tells about his new work ahead

of the Monty Python reunion this summer.

Imagine losing your child and then having the one thing that lhnked you

to her stolen from you. Kathe McGregor lost her baby daughter when

she was born prematurely. Two weeks ago the little red hat she was

wearing when she died was stolen. And as Emma North reports, thousands

of Londoners have now taken to social media to try and help her get

it back. It was a tiny red hat, just five

centimetres wide, but it has brought together thousands. It was

reassurance. It was hers and she was mine and that is it really. It was

recognition that I am a mother and she was there with me. Katid

McGregor's daughter Isabel was born premature. When she died shd was

wearing this little red hat. `` red hat. Katie had her bag stoldn from

Tottenham Court Road and inside was the hat. It had huge sentimdntal

value for me. If I was at work I would make sure it was in the bag.

It is my link to her and now it is gone. Katie immediately turned to

social media to help find Isabel's hat. What happened next astonished

her. There were 600 members within a couple of hours. I have had messages

from America, New Zealand, ` lady in Bali has messaged me. It is the

nominal. Sorry, it is so overwhelming, the way peopld have

picked up on it and they re`lly want to help. It just macro if I can get

that hat back, it would mean the world to me. It is from this

outpouring of goodwill that Katie has founded a charity to help put

parents who have lost a babx in touch. I do believe there are

wonderful people out there. Hopefully this will really help

people. Ideally in the UK fdstival but if it can spread and help

mothers anywhere in the world who are going through this, my life s

work is done. I will be a vdry happy lady. The charity launches tonight.

Whether the hat is found or not this makes sure Isobel's melory will

not be lost. Human bones, including what is

believed to be a skull, havd been found by workmen underneath a

driveway in Surrey. The house in Purley has been cordoned off and is

being treated as a crime scdne while a team of experts investigate how

old the remains are. Victorha Graham is there for us now. Victorha, what

more do we know? The discovery was made here on

Monday. The landscape gardeners would digging up the drivew`y to lay

a new one. They found what they thought was a coconut. On closer

inspection it was a skull. They found other bones nearby. They

downed tools and called the owners who were out at the time. A strange

phone call to get? Yes, quite strange and shopping. When we

realised the bones were quite old we thought we had a piece of hhstory in

our garden. This is still a crime scene while they investigatd? Yes,

it is. We are waiting to he`r from the police. They are doing carbon

dating to work out how old the bones are. We are keen to find out what

the procedure is and what wd need to do and show the proper respdct. I

work for a firm of criminal defence solicitors and used to dealhng with

grisly things but you never expect to find something like this in your

front dry. It is like a trip to the museum for the kids. What an Easter

holiday. What did you think? I thought it was really excithng

because nothing like this ever happens. Big news to go to school

with. What are the neighbours saying? The neighbours have been

filling us in on local history. We have only lived here for three

years. This is still a crimd scene. Burial sites have been found a close

here. Time will tell what the bones are. Intriguing, thank you.

Now if you were on Blackheath today you might have noticed rathdr a lot

of clowns. They were holding their annual general meeting, app`rently,

and where else but at Zippo's Circus. Gareth Furby went down to

find out what was top of thdir agenda.

London, home to the mother of Parliaments and now this. Mdeting

today in Blackheath was the world's oldest organisation for clowns.

Think of this scene as a reconstruction. But in the real

events, something serious w`s discussed. We are actually trying to

keep the art of clowning alhve and keep the history alive. Othdrwise

everything becomes a dying `rt. One thing that is happening is

membership of the Clowns International organisation hs being

widened to beyond circus performance. Whether that is tempted

circuses or people who work at children's birthday parties and

fetes and fester. Macro one report suggests clowning is not so popular

today with children so what was the view here today on Blackheath? They

did not make me laugh. They did funny things. And today, soleone who

was afraid of clowns as a boy but has decided to make a career out of

it. At the age of eight I ddcided to get over the fear with the help of

another professional clown. I like clowning and making people smile.

Today, Clowns International presented its first`ever lifetime

achievement award to three performers from Italy whose clowning

heritage dates back seven generations. If the clowns here have

their way, this is a perforling style which will continue for many

more. What wonderful eccentric 's.

Monty Python fans have lots to look forward to ` this summer thd Pythons

are reuniting, but before hd joins them on stage, Terry Jones has a new

film out, his first for mord than a decade. Absolutely Anything was shot

in north London, stars Simon Pegg, and the script was originally thrown

out by Terry Jones 20 years ago Our entertainment correspondent, Brenda

Emmanus has been on set. An early morning in north London and

Terry Jones directs a crowd scene at the races. It is one of sevdral

being shot today for his latest project, Absolutely Anything.

Revived from a script the Monty Python star had sitting on ` chair

at home, it is his first tile in the director's chair for the first time

in 16 years. I find it extr`ordinary that your editing when you `re

filming. It takes a bit of time but it fills in the time actually.

Filming is constantly waiting around for lighting to happen. It fills in

the time. The film stars Silon Pegg as a hapless teacher and thdre are

Terry's Monty Python colleagues as the voices of aliens. He will be

back with a live show at thd O2 in the summer. How excited are you

about the reunion? Is it distracting you from the job at hand? No, I am

not really thinking about it. I am not thinking about it at all. Not in

the slightest bit nervous or anxious? Well, maybe! It is a day of

stunts and silliness for Silon Pegg as the teacher with magic powers. He

admits he had loved the acthon but he is really enjoying filming in the

capital. I lived in Crouch dnd until a couple of years ago. I literally

lived two streets away from this location. I could have skatdboard

did to work. Absolutely Anything should be released next sprhng.

Now let's get a check on thd weather with Nick Miller.

It was a blue sky bonanza and warm after a chilly start. With `ll of

the sunshine, you will notice across the northern half of the UK, there

are some cloud around and some of that will eventually come otr way

tomorrow. It is not here yet. You will find after the Sun has gone,

with light winds, the temperatures will dip away. It will turn out to

be chilly night. Not quite `s cold as it was last night. No single

figures in the countryside possible. Tomorrow is another day. Yot will

need your jacket first thing. It will turn out to be a warm day

compared with today even with a bit more cloud around. There will be

some high cloud making the sunshine hazy but plenty more dry and sunny

weather to come. Later on there will be more cloud coming our wax in the

evening. The temperatures whll feel very pleasant indeed. Going out and

about tomorrow evening, don't expect the blue sky because there will be

more cloud. That takes us to the Easter weekend. Will it last? For

Friday and Saturday it will but on Sunday there is a change coling our

way. We will see a band of rain coming in from the east. Thd wind

will pick up as well. It will feel colder. There will be some showers

falling on behind. Friday and Saturday are looking dry. The best

day of the holiday weekend with a fair amount of sunshine and the

outside chance of a shower. Easter Day looks like a day when it will be

turning whiter. It is a holhday weekend so we had to expect rain at

sometime! Back to our top story. 20,000 people

lost out on their first chohce of Reimer School. You have been getting

in touch. Hazel Slade from Hillingdon says they have not been

offering a place. She says the services they need are not

available. Her daughter will get a place eventually but it will be at a

school they really do not w`nt for her. Vladimir says they havd been

offered a place in a Church of England school in Mill Hill which is

three miles away. It is an `bsolute joke. The selection has not been

done by a human being but bx a computer.

Now the main news headlines: Teams of divers are searching the upturned

hull of a South Korean ferrx, which sank with nearly 500 people on

board. Five people are known to have died and nearly 300 are missing

Unemployment in the UK has fallen by 77,000 in the three months to

February, to just under two`and`a`quarter million. The

jobless rate in the capital is now at a five`year low.

NATO is to deploy more forcds in eastern Europe, as the crishs in

Ukraine deepens. Convoys of Ukrainian troops have been seen in

the east of the country, whdre pro`Russia gunmen have occupied

government buildings. The Metropolitan Police says it is

carrying out an investigation into Tower Hamlets Council. Council say

they will not comment on thd development.

That is it, I will be back later during the ten o'clock News. From

everyone on the team, have ` lovely evening.

In 1750, two visionaries were brought together

This was a benefit concert on a massive scale.

This evening was about to make history.

And became a model for how art music and philanthropy