23/09/2014 BBC London News

It's goodbye from me, and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

mansion tax will mostly affdct homes the capital.

I think if you paid 2 million for your house it is fair enough but not

if you are in our situation where we didn't pay any men near that amount

and we wouldn't be able to pay anywhere near that amount ``

anywhere near that amount. The Mayor says it's a

massive tax on family homes in Also tonight: Police

investigate the deaths of a mother and her young son killed after being

hit by a train in Slough. The worst cycle route in thd capital

is to get a ?25 million upgrade And the London buses that played

a military role in the Great War return to Belgium

as a tribute to the fallen. Welcome to BBC London

News with me Riz Lateef. That's how Mayor Boris Johnson

has described Ed Miliband's The majority of homeowners that will

be affected are concentrated here Property experts say nine ott of ten

who would pay the new chargd would be in London.

Critics say the plan will pdnalise middle class families and pdnsioners

But Labour say it would raise much needed cash for the NHS

House prices in the Borough of Lambeth have shot at 37% in the past

year according to nationwidd, the biggest increase in the caphtal

Caroline Hewitt has been making the most of more time at home shnce

losing her job a few months back. She bought her house 20 years ago

paying ?230,000. It's now rdckoned to be worth at least 2 millhon, so

she would have to pay this so`called mansion tax. I think if you have

paid 2 million for your house it's fair enough but not if you `re in

our situation where we didn't pay anywhere near that amount and we

wouldn't be able to pay that amount. And then I don't thhnk it is

fair and I don't think it is right. And it does not help... It helps

their cough was but it doesn't help the housing market and it doesn t

help first`time buyers. The average London has price has doubled over

the past decade and at ?428,000 it is now twice the national average.

It is claimed 87% of UK homds worth more than ?2 million are in the

capital and that 67% of a n`tional mansion tax would come from just

three boroughs, which are hotspots for foreign investors. But critics

claim nearly a third of the owners of London's ?2 million homes have

been there for at least a ddcade. It's a tax on London, it wotld be a

massive tax on family homes come on people who might be living hn an

expensive house whose value is it related `` is inflated throtgh no

fault of their own but don't have the income to pay the tax. Ht would

be deeply resented and a bad policy. This kind of property tax w`s

previously proposed by the Lib Dems but Labour wants the money collected

to fund the NHS and at this Lambeth Hospital there was support for the

idea. I think these people with these properties should be paying

more tax anyway. I'm benefiting from it terrifically and I think that is

a good way of doing it. If ht is going towards the NHS I think that

is fair and everyone overall would be quite happy for it to happen But

many Londoners would want a cast`iron guarantee that properties

under ?2 million would be affected. Labour is well aware that its

so`called mansion tax policx would have a disproportionate effdct on

the capital. Maybe in some of the seats it hopes to take next year, if

it is to return to government. So today there was a big effort to try

and reassure Londoners about this policy. We will consult on the

detail to ensure that that linority of people who are long`standing

residents in high`value properties have either relief or the ability to

defer the payment of this until that property is sold. A plan to make the

wealthy pay their share, or an unfair tax on those whose property

is their pension? The voters will decide. Nick Beake, BBC London News,

Lambeth. Well our Political Editor Thm

Donovan is in Manchester now. Tim ` a new tax,

raised mostly here in the c`pital ` but Ed Milliband does need to take

Tory seats in London To win an overall majority ht's

assumed he would be wanting to make headway in London, yes, and

certainly in the south`east. And so of course the popularity or

otherwise of this tax could make a difference. David Lambie, one of the

potential Labour mayoral candidates was quite open today that hd felt he

didn't like it and didn't lhke the signal that it sends. But what

Labour are calculating here is that they have put in place meastres

which will ease this. They say for instance, and they point out they

will only be a very small pdrcentage of people who will be in th`t kind

of asset rich but cash poor situation. They were going to get

?1.7 billion out of this tax. They have made it clear today thhs is

going to be 1.2 billion, and there will be arrangements to enstre that

you pay less in closer you `re to the 2 million, so there is no cliff

edge effect, there is a tapdring done instead. The key thing we heard

in Nick Beake's film is the calculation that this will be seen

as reasonable and a good idda because it is redistributing money

to the NHS, the valued NHS hn London, which Labour is putting

right at the heart of what ht wants to do and what it is saying between

now and the next election. Thank you for joining us.

And later in the programme we'll look at some of the potenti`l Labour

West Ham United have revealdd more images of what the Olympic Stadium

will look like as they redevelop it. They also tell the fans they can

select their seats using virtual reality.

A 48`year`old woman and her ten`year`old son have died `fter

being hit by a train in Slough.

British Transport Police sax they are investigating the inciddnt.

The station was closed for luch of the day but has now reopdned

Our reporter Marc Ashdown is there now.

This is one of the key commtter stations on the way into

Paddington, but it has been closed for much of the day. British

Transport Police were called here at 9:45am this morning to reports that

two people had been struck by a train. The local police and Dabolins

were called and it was confhrmed to people were hit by a high Street

train coming through here and this afternoon a short time ago the

police confirmed it was a 48`year`old woman and ten`ydar`old

boy who were mother and son and lived locally `` high`speed train.

Although the British Transport Police are treating this as

suspicious they are not looking for anyone else.

At this point in time we can confirm that there is

no suspicion of any third`p`rty involvement at the station.

Murder`suicide ` is that one line of enquiry?

That is a potential line of enquiry that our detectives are following

but it would be wrong to spdculate too much at this point in thme.

The investigation will conthnue until we are able to categorically

ascertain what happened herd this morning, and the reasons behind it.

This is a very busy station normally. Dozens of trains would

pass through here every day. Nothing has been stopping, though, today,

until about 3:30pm this aftdrnoon when the station reopened. First

Great Western which runs tr`ins from here has confirmed it will be slow

until things get back to normal The driver of the train is obviously

shaken up and is receiving help and treatment from the police. Hn terms

of this investigation, as the officer mentioned, the focus is on a

murder`suicide in quarry but they are keen to rule out everything

else. There are many witnesses on the back form `` enquiry. The

British Transport Police ard keen that people contact them as a matter

of urgency. Many thanks, Marc.

Police are to stage a reconstruction of the last known

movements of Alice Gross, the missing teenager from West London.

It comes as the mother`in`l`w of the main suspect in her disappe`rance

told the BBC ` she hopes Arnis Zalkalns will be caught soon.

In distant Latvia a mother shares the anguish over Alice Gross's

disappearance. Viktorija Zalkalns 's's daughter married the m`n who is

now a suspect in this case. Arnis Zalkalns who adopted his wife's

surname lured her to a forest two years after their wedding and used

an iron bar to murder her. TRANSLATION: A person like that is

sick. He should be put into a hospital. If someone does something

like that completely drunk, or being so jealous he can't control his

feelings, that you could allost forgive him, but doing it

consciously with a clear mind waiting for the moment to do your

dirty work that I can't unddrstand. 14`year`old Alice Gross was last

seen at the end of August, captured by CCTV walking across a brhdge by

the Grand Union Canal, the same camera filmed Arnis Zalkalns

crossing the bridge on a bike 1 minutes after Alice. He went missing

six days later. Police have been searching for clues in and `round

the canal and the overgrown banks of the River Brent. Yesterday they

recovered a 6 inch knife now being examined by forensics experts.

Alice's disappearance has fhlled Arnis Zalkalns's mother`in`law in

Latvia with fear. If he has done this to one person he could probably

do it to another. It is almost a month since Alice went misshng and

still they wait to hear news of her safe return. Alice Bhandhukravi BBC

London News, in Hanwell. Detectives have arrested a

37`year`old man in North`West London for allegedly being involved in

making improvised explosive devices The police are now searching his

home and the man is being qtestioned by counter`terrorism officers

in a South London police st`tion. The worst cycle route in thd

capital is to get ?25 million Six cyclists have died

on Superhighway 2 in East London. The plan includes separate lanes

for cyclists. But it's been criticised

by some business groups who fear With more details here's our

transport correspondent Tom Edwards. Its London's most notorious cycle

route, and as we found todax it s Six cyclists have died along it

and cyclists Nobody recognises these lands,

people park in them, it's absolutely awful,

they should at least be raised, That could happen

if this upgrade goes ahead. I think we can do a lot to `llay the

fears of some of the businesses in Canary Wharf or the City or

wherever, by showing how we can smooth

the traffic and make it easher. But in the end what you havd got to

do we have got to do and yot have to get the information out there and we

have to blast ahead with thd cycle superhighways, it's what Londoners

want and what the city needs. The cycling has trebled

in the last few years and you've got to make it safer, that's thd

absolute imperative for our city. There has, though,

been a backlash against givhng more a lack of information

on the congestion they could cause. The trouble is,

because we haven't seen any data, we don't know how concerned we ought

to be, this is a known unknown Of course, if it has minor

consequences we are delightdd, If the consequences are major

then we are extremely worridd. As I say, this is the most hmportant

business centre in We have to sort pedestrians,

deliveries, coaches and cycling Others say lanes

for safer cycling are essential There are numerous benefits to

business, and to public health, buying encouraging

a shift to cycling on this route It is vital for the health

of our community, it's vital We have to avoid injuries

and we have to minimise risk. There is also concern the M`yor s

plans for more superhighways are He rushed into doing the first

round of cycle superhighways. They were badly done

and now time and money is h`ving to go into actually rebuild those

and redo them properly. Giving more space to cyclists in the

capital is now at a crucial stage. The first clinic in the UK to treat

young victims of Female Genhtal Mutilation has opened at London s

University College Hospital. Doctors say they'll treat

the emotional as well As Tarah Welsh reports some schools

are now training teachers how to What have we been learning `bout

this week? The rainbow fish. She is a teaching assistant and today's

lesson is how to tell what the characteristically feeling, but she

also educates adults about how to identify children that may be at

risk of FGM. They will not change in front of you. Academically they will

go down because they don't want to get involved. And then she tells her

own story. I was six years old when it happened to me and I wouldn't

want any six`year`old girl to go through that. It's the pain from

hell. And she's trying to Sheriff from teachers across Walthal Forest.

`` share it. She is passion`te about this issue and can go out to talk to

schools and head teachers and governors and also most importantly

the front`line staff dealing with the children. This is one woman in

one school in one borough and this sort of training for teachers is

rare, though there are plans to make it compulsory for some publhc sector

staff. She says we need to be much more forward about raising the

issue. We need to educate the parents. In secondary school if

these girls have rights tell them about FGM. Don't mince words, don't

use scientific words, use plain old English, otherwise I guarantee you

30 or 40 years down we will have liked rather children who grew up

and are now adults and say they were not protected. Many girls are taken

abroad to have the procedurd done. It's illegal but few girls speak out

because his family tradition. Though the adult clinic at UCH has seen an

increase in demand so has sdt one up just for children. They can be

examined if treatment is necessary and that can be provided. Clinic

will be set within paediatrhc services, so that it will h`ve all

the advantages of the paedi`tric clinic. FGM is being talked about

more and more and the government says it's doing a number of things

to try and prevent it, but ht wants to end it within a generation. But

that will be a challenge because this is a brutal tradition that

girls have had to put up with for hundreds and hundreds of ye`rs.

Tarah Welsh, BBC London News. Still to come: Dust off your

umbrella. You may soon need it. I will tell you when in the forecast

later. Join me with this unsung hero on the First World War battlefields

of Belgium, as we find out how the buses went to war.

With less than two years until the next mayoral election

the race to replace Boris Johnson is already gathering pace.

At the Labour Party Conference, many potential candidates are trying

to gather support, but most of them aren't prepared to admit whdther or

Our political editor, Tim Donovan, sent this report from Manchdster.

It's a long`haul to City Hall, in Manchester some have set off earlier

than others. The first of the MPs to declare, the man from Tottenham I

think that some people are hedging their bets. They are waiting to see

what happens after the general election. Is Labour going to win?

Are we going to form the Government. Am I going to be Secretary of

State... Isn't that fair to do that? That is up to them. I'm cle`r I want

to be Mayor of London that hs why I'm being honest with the electorate

about it. The other person to join the race is a transport journalist

who wants to draw others? They are jockeying for position whether they

want a ministerial approach. They don't want to embarrass thehr

electorates to say, we might go off and be Mayor. They have varhous

reasons. It's a great shame. London needs this debate. The fringe comes

alive as day turns to night, you have to keep to alert or it's easy

to miss as the potential candidates as they go from event to evdnt. Now,

we think a half dozen or so of these major Labour figures could be

interested in the position of next Mayor. Very few are prepared to put

their head above the parapet and declare before the the general

election. In relation to tr`nsport and infrastructure, relating to

justice and human rights. Trade union rights. These are important

issues for anybody who wants to serve out ` Would you like `nother

job? Listen, I enjoy thoroughly being the MP for Tooting. Sdrving my

constituents. No declaration seems imminent from this former Transport

Secretary. At the moment, I'm fully occupied by generating the policies

that we need to win in 2015`201 . Pro`growth policies that will see

that people's standards of living is advanced and that we're abld to deal

with, in London, huge popul`tion growth. The former Olympics Minister

appears to be the early frontrunner. It seems Evermore likely shd will

stand but... I don't want to sound coy about it. But I don't think it's

a time to decide or certainly not to declare. I am working on, you

know... If I stood for Labotr's nomination as Mayor of London, I'm

working on a detailed set of policies. Who knows what max emerge

hechl is not anointing anyone. `` the `` the only thing that will be

certain is that it's not hil. West Ham United have revealdd more

details of their development of the Olympic Stadium

in Stratford, including the news that fans will be able to sdlect

their seat using virtual re`lity. To explain more,

our sports reporter, Sara Orchard, Thank you. Starting off with bad

news. I can't bring you those virtual reality images. . They are

being kept exclusively for West Ham fans. If you have a season ticket or

lucky enough to be in corporation hospitality you will see thd seat

you sit`in and the sights of the pitch around you and behind you as

well. What I can share with you today is the brand new CGI hmages.

It includes the leadup to the stadium and images of that digital

wrap that West Ham want to get approved around the outside of it,

not confirmed yet though. If we remind ourselves of where wd are

with the Olympic Stadium. It was awarded to West Ham in March 20 3.

The original cost of building it for the Olympics was ?429 million. Then

up to ?190 million is expected to be the cost of developing it into West

Ham's ground, that includes rearranging and reducing thd seating

and adding a roof. What did the club have to say today? Much has been

made in recent weeks of Tottenham Hotspurs' current predicament. They

will be out of their stadiul when they have to redevelop Whitd Hart

Lane it had been muted they might come here to use West Ham's ground.

That was blown out of the w`ter by the Vice Chair who tongue`in`cheek

said that would not be happdning. It was all about the fans. It was ebbed

by the vice captain, Mark Noble One of the best obviously

in the country. Hopefully,

one of the best in Europe. I mean, it's an amazing thing

for a fan to come What an amazing place to go

and watch football and you're in the heart of London and ht's

going to be a lovely place. A source within the stadium had told

a construction website cracks had appeared in the wheeling whdre the

stadium roof will be taking up. I spoke to the company delivering the

stadium to West Ham they didn't deny the cracks. They played down the

significance saying the stadium transformation remains on track and

there is no question the long`term construction will be delivered on

time. Back to you. Thank yot very much.

Now they may seem like an unlikely mode of military

transport, but the allied w`r effort of 1914 was so great that mhlitary

commanders mobilised London buses to carry troops on the Western Front.

Only a handful of these survive and one of them is back on the road in

Belgium as a tribute to the crews and vehicles that never camd home.

Under the great arch of Yprds' Menin Gate, the evening remembrance

On the pavements, heads turn to watch a visitor

Rumbling over the cobbles for the first time in a century

The B`type bus was a regular sight on London's streets.

In 1914, it was recruited for the war effort.

This is one of only four which survive.

1,000 buses, each bus could carry about 25 soldiers,

So 25 soldiers in each bus, being ferried to and from locations

day in, day out, obviously puite a sizeable number of troops.

This bus, like those before it, has been transformed.

The windows boarded up, gloss paint and brass smothdred

Going to war was a hazardous business for thd buses,

which struggled on narrow mtddy lanes and for volunteer drivers

This is the voice of the late George Gwynn.

After the Government made the Bill, London buses really did get really

A man in a bus in front of me was killed.

We like, through that very personal story

of London busmen, volunteerhng, bringing their buses to the front,

open up a fresh insight into the nature of the First World War.

bus will retrace a very different route.

Eventually, this war veteran will regain its civilian splendotr, but

for now its sight and sound provide a new way for locals and visitors to

Wonderful stuff. Robert Hall with that report.

It's that time of the evening for a check on the weather,

Tonight is the highest chance of getting rain. You can see the stripe

of cloud over northern Engl`nd. You can see another one coming hnto

Northern Ireland and Scotland here. All of that is sinking south, as we

go through the next few hours. It will produce rain here and there,

even into tomorrow afternoon for some of us. In the meantime though,

we have some clear skies. Once again, in the first part of tonight,

the temperature really will fall back quite quickly. We may just be

in single figures for a timd. It will be feeling quite nippy after

sunset. Then the cloud will come in. That will lift the temperattre, if

anything. By the end of the night, many of us will be at around 10`11

degrees, something like that. The rain will come through in the early

hours. We will wake up to it tomorrow. There might be thd need of

a brolly first thing for thd commute. It is moving slowlx

south`eastwards. As we go through the afternoon the cloud will break,

we will see sunny spells. There may also be one or two showers breaking

out, even into the afternoon. They could be on the heavy side luch they

will be well isolated. Tempdratures, 18`19 degrees at the top end. On

Thursday, with all the sunshine we are going to have, it will be higher

than that, London itself getting to 21 degrees Celsius. Nice looking day

on Thursday. As we go through the week to Friday though there will be

more cloud in the sky. Noer weather front comes through. That is going

to be weakening all the timd. Cloudy, rather than wet. Thd fine,

dry weather and the warm we`ther will stay into the weekend. Lovely,

Wendy, thank you very much hndeed. America and Arab allies havd

launched air strikes into Sxria against the extremist group,

the so`called Islamic State. At least 70 IS militants ard

reported dead, along with 50 Labour are pledging to create 3 ,000

more health and care jobs if they Ed Miliband made the promisd

at the party's annual conference Money to pay for this will come

from a mansion tax on properties More on the day's stories

on our website. Until then, from us here, thanks for

watching and have a lovely dvening.