15/05/2014 BBC London News

Good evening and welcome. Victims of this winter's flooding say they've

been "let`down" by the Environment Agency. Some residents in Wraysbury

say an official document, written 20 years ago and seen by BBC London,

supports their claims that dredging the Thames would have reduced

flooding. But the Environment Agency argues it's better to invest money

in new flood prevention schemes. Gareth Furby reports. Were on the

River Thames near Chertsey, looking for new sandbags. It doesn't take

long to find one. Were coming up to the first one, its beach now. The

man at the wheel is Johnny, he's worked on the river all his life.

Were looking at a shoal that appeared in the last floods. It's

never as bad as this. In another location in the middle of the

river, we almost run aground. It's going fast now. I'm halfway up the

stick, which is about there. If you hold that against me, it under the

meter. The reason he's showing us this is because he doesn't believe

the Environment Agency's claim that the Thames itself. We're learning

you don't believe everything you hear from the Environment Agency.

Bob is a former official who worked on the Thames dredgers since sold

off, and he's kept a document. 11th of January 1993, it's the Thames

stretching strategic review. It lists how much the river's discharge

could increase if it was dredged by half a metre. Teddington, 20%,

Chertsey, 14%, old Windsor, 10%. They are telling us that dredging

the main river will increase the rate of flow. We showed this

Would it have been more than that? Wraysbury. They are not happy.

Would it have been more than that? You cannot dredge beyond the depth

of that. Were dredging does bring benefits, but where it does bring

benefits and flood prevention, then I firmly believe it should be for

local people to take that decision. The Environment Agency insists major

flood prevention schemes are better value. Some flood victims still

disagree. A coroner has said she will raise concerns about the design

of a swimming pool at a hotel in Essex where a couple drowned last

year. Komba Kpakiwa and Josephine Foday were discovered in the pool at

the Down Hall Country House Hotel in Hatfield Heath last April. An

inquest jury ruled that they died as a result of an accident. But the

family of one of the victims said the deaths could have been avoided

if a lifeguard had been present. A row has broken out over plans to

build a cancer care centre at Barts Hospital because campaigners claim

the new centre's modern design isn't in`keeping with the historic Great

Hall, which dates back to 1738. But the charity behind it say thousands

of cancer patients in the capital will benefit. Karl Mercer has the

story. There's a reason they call it the great Hall. Close to 300 years

it's been at the heart of Barts. Its Georgian walls decorated with the

names of those who donated to the hospital. It makes an unlikely

battle ground, these unlikely campaigners who want to redevelop

the hall and keep to its Georgian heritage. The hospital, though, and

a cancer charity wants something more modern. It's a battle being

played out in rival videos. For nearly three centuries, this

magnificent room has stood here virtually unchanged in the heart of

the city of. We have the oldest hospital, to really respect the

authenticity of historic architecture you must make an

authentically new piece. This is what the controversy is about, a

plan by a charity for a new building attached to the great Hall. Millar

the centre undoubtedly does good, but there are other places it could

be better suited to be built, without destroying the opportunity

to really keep this building living under live for centuries to come.

But this is the sort of help the centre wants to offer at Barts. This

is their only other London new route `` unit at Charing Cross. They could

do it without harm to the great Hall, they say. We've worked hard

with organisations to make sure the great Hall is safe and secure.

Maggie's has been working with all of the groups and it doesn't

jeopardise the future of the Great Wall now or whatever might happen to

it in the future. The decision will be made by the hospital, probably

later this year. It says it wants to protect the Great Hall and see the

Maggie's centre built. A glorious day. Heathrow was 22

degrees. Many areas seeing top teams. Tomorrow, look at this, the

next few days, with confidence, sunny spells and a fair amount of

warmth as well. If you were with me last night, you will remember

perhaps I was worried about the temperatures struggling away in the

countryside. I don't think it will be a problem tonight. Not too much

in the way of cloud to start off the new day on Friday. Rather like

today, we may just find a bit of Fairweather cumulus bubbling up, but

that won't stop the temperature is probably exceeding the sort of

values we saw today. Just a little bit of a breeze perhaps out East.

I'll leave you with a cheery prospect for the weekend, which

shows we keep it prospect for the weekend, which

shows we keep it fine, dry and warm. And we can leave you with the

national picture. More warm weather on the way, today

almost felt like June across the country. Temperatures did hover

around 22 degrees, the average for June.

If you've been following our forecast for the last couple of

days, it will come as no surprise to you that more warm sunshine is on

the way for tomorrow and the next few days. Tonight and into the early

hours of Friday, not much happening on the weather front, just like Nast

dashed back last night and the night