09/03/2017 London News

The shocking reality of finding somewhere to live in London

What makes "no DSS" different from when they said no dogs,

no Blacks, no Irish, back in the 1970s?

On one website more than 99% specified no DSS. Also tonight,

praise for staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital as a couple were

stopped trying to take a baby from a ward.

Claims that an energy company carried out unauthorised

The Mayor launches the capital's first Low Emission Bus Zone -

the search to find a team to restore Clandon Park House, in Surrey,

Good evening and welcome to the programme with me,

Tonight, the shocking reality of finding somewhere to live in London.

Back in the 1970s people faced notices like the infamous

Now, it's people on housing benefit who are being refused.

Research by the BBC into one lettings website found that more

than 99% of rentals in the capital are not available to them.

In fact landlords were four times more likely to accept

people with pets, than those receiving housing benefits.

Competition for rental properties and rooms in London is fierce.

Potential tenants can search on websites for the best fit but

there's one way to almost guaranteed they won't get called for viewing in

London. I'm clicking the option for DSS. 16 results. Without, it's over

1000 results. Danny is one of those who has struggled to find a flat in

the past. He only secured this one with the help of a homeless charity.

As soon as you mention that you have to begin on housing benefit, or DSS

as they sort of call it, you just get no, straightaway. It's like any

form of discrimination. If you discriminate based on race or

religion, this is another form of discrimination and should be

illegal. Danny's situation is not uncommon. One woman told us she

didn't disclose her status to stand a better chance of getting a place.

Of over 5000 places available in London, just 43 were happy to accept

DSS applicants. The landlords Association says that they must

protect themselves against the risk posed by people not being able to

pay their rent. Any tenant who relies on housing benefit is looking

at a shortfall that they will have to fill through their own resources

and the chances are there's less available. Landlords don't want to

let to a tenant who they know is most likely to fall into rent

arrears and will look for someone who can pay in full and on time. The

charity Shelter has called for more to help those struggling to find

somewhere to live. It says the responsibility lies at the

government's door. The government has to stop cutting housing benefit.

Landlords need to make sure they are looking at tenants on a case-by-case

basis because some people cannot afford the rent. They may be working

and have a top up. We don't want to see blanket bans. We don't want to

just focus on the symptoms. What makes no DSS different from when

they said no dogs, no blacks, no Irish in the 1970s. No different.

It's the same. For now, landlords are legally able to say no to people

like Danny who have fallen into rent arrears.

Well, Tolu is here and can tell us more.

It's a pretty grim situation for people on housing benefit. One

website we asked said that the government has lost sight of what

housing benefit is for. They say it's function seems to be to prop up

sky-high rents. Another website said landlords face of the barriers, for

example ensuring its policies might not allow DSS tenants and their

mortgage lenders might not. Nobody from the government was put forward

for interview. Their statement said, under universal credit housing costs

are paid directly to the claim that and not landlords. Effectively, they

are saying that you don't need to tell landlords that you receive

benefits in order to go forward for a property but many people would be

uncomfortable with holding that information. They say that they want

to make sure that the Private rental sector better meet the needs of both

tenants and landlords. A man and woman have been arrested

on suspicion of trying to abduct a newborn baby

from Great Ormond Street Hospital. Our reporter Emma North is outside

the hospital for us now and can There's been nothing but praise for

the staff of Great Ormond Street Hospital for the speed at which they

reacted on Monday afternoon. A couple arrived at about 2pm carrying

a piece of paper with a picture of a baby in an incubator. They told

Stafford was a child that had been born at 21 weeks at the Royal London

Hospital in Whitechapel and transferred here. Staff looked at

records and contacted the Royal London and there was no such baby so

they rang police. A 31-year-old man and 26 rolled woman were arrested

here on suspicion of conspiracy to abduct a child. It turned out that a

couple matching their description tried to do the same thing at the

Royal London in Whitechapel about a week ago. Police heaped praise on

the Great Ormond Street Hospital saying they acted towards all their

cheques and called the police when needed. Staff at the hospital have

said that nothing to their knowledge like this has happened before and

they acted correctly according to procedures. The couple have been

released on bail. Could London learn from these

eco-friendly buildings in Milan? Oliver Tetlow was shot dead in

north-west London a year ago today Although four men were

charged over his death the trial collapsed

and now detectives are making He was 27 and in the wrong place at

the wrong time. Oliver Tetlow was murdered in a gangland style

shooting. This was the moment captured on a mobile phone when his

mother discovered he'd been killed. There are still flowers on the

roadside to mark the spot where Oliver Tetlow was killed exactly one

year ago today. Police say he was shot at by someone in a blacked out

vehicle with a sub machine gun. He wasn't connected to local gangs and

had never been in trouble. This was a case of mistaken identity. The

trial of four men charged with the murder collapsed after a judge ruled

there was insufficient evidence. All four men denied the charges. One of

the men was a well-known grime musician. After, he conducted this

interview. Did you do much writing in prison? Not writing, just

thinking. His lawyers said that he felt aggrieved at spending eight

months in jail and extended his sympathies to the family of Oliver

Tetlow. The family are struggling to come to terms with why Oliver was

murdered. I can say that Oliver had no connections to gangs. He was

minding his own business. One of the reasons for doing the appeal today

is to appeal to those family and friends who are shielding Oliver's

killers, may be out on a sense of loyalty, to come forward and speak

to us. A reward of ?10,000 has been offered to help secure a successful

conviction of those responsible for the murder of Oliver Tetlow.

Surrey County Council claims that a company has carried out

unauthorised drilling in green belt land in Surrey.

Angus Energy has drilled a new side well at

The council says it's 'deeply disappointed'

Angus Energy which announced last week that new reserves of oil

were found at the site - denies the claims.

Convoys of trucks carrying heavy equipment for the oil site started

arriving last December. Some activists didn't give them a warm

welcome. An activist filmed this allegedly when they company had no

permission to operate at night. Angus Energy said this was

maintenance, called a work over. The council granted permission and sent

officials to the site to check. They were assured that it was preparing

work. It now appears that another well was being drilled. The council

now says this was unauthorised. They say that the company then admitted

to drilling a new sidetrack well. A council spokesman said they had been

misled. In a statement they said... We met one local councillor who has

been trying for months to find out exactly what is going on at the

site. It removes from me all faith in the way these companies operate.

If we don't know what they are doing or how they are going about it how

can we measure whether it is done properly. A spokesman for Angus

Energy said... However, Surrey County Council says

that this meeting has yet to take place. Most of those we spoke to in

Brockham were relaxed about the current oil operation. We asked some

people at a lunchtime yoga class what they thought now. We think it

is being monitored quite well. If anyone has concerns, they could ask

questions. Everyone has to abide by planning rules, certainly a company

drilling for oil. The potential oil could be vital to the UK's energy

into -- independence. However, the ethics of one of the companies

drilling has been called into question.

The capital's first Low Emission Bus Zone has been

launched this morning meaning only cleaner buses can run

The Mayor says he needs more help from Central government to clean up

Our Environment Correspondent Tom Edwards is in Putney

This is one of the most polluted streets in London. The problem in

the past has been the number of buses and the nitrogen dioxide that

they emit. Getting stuck in between these buildings. Is this the answer,

a low emission bus so. Part of the Mayor's plan to clean up London. The

question is, will it work? The mayor has made tackling

pollution one of his priorities. Now only the cleanest buses will run

here on the polluted 11 more low emission bus zones

will follow by 2020. It is hoped they'll reduce pollution

on those routes by 80%. Won't it just move

the dirtier buses elsewhere? What were doing is phasing out

the diesel buses across London. From next year, we will only be

buying either hybrid or zero We've started addressing those parts

of London which have the worst air. The first ever low

emission bus zone. We'll be doing other parts

of London once we've brought Across London, when it comes

to pollution, the mood is changing. Shazia and her children had

to endure busy, toxic I really welcome

Sadiq Khan's proposals. I think he wants to do

something about it. I think there's a will

there I think, though, And he needs support from central

government, as well. So he needs things like

the government introducing the diesel scrappage scheme

to enable people to get rid of their old very

polluting diesel cars. And this isn't solely

an urban issue. In the Home Counties

and the suburbs, people This is the beautiful village

of Sonning in Berkshire where the Prime Minister Theresa May

lives. Even here, traffic and

pollution is a concern. Sean Harris lives here and,

as it is one of the main routes into Reading,

in rush hour it gets very congested. I could be stuck in

traffic for half an hour. I could be seeing my house

and I can't get to it. What about air

pollution, air quality? I would imagine that the amount

of car engines spewing out as they go over that bridge

would be quite bad. This week, we saw the human cost

of pollution in the asthma ward of the Brompton and Harefield

Hospital. For children here, lung growth

is being affected by pollution. The mayor has plans for other

schemes but he says he needs help. I'm saying to the government,

it can't be right that you are introducing a national

diesel scrappage fund. You're not talking about a clean air

act for the purposes I'm doing all that I can but

you've got to do much, much more. Tackling pollution

is a huge challenge. The question is now what all

elements of government So the problem is clear -

too much pollution. Well, putting greenery

on the outside of buildings is one Anna O'Neill reports now

on London's Living Buildings. 21 metres high and containing

thousands of plants. This living, breathing wall

in Victoria is the largest It's one of a growing

number of similar projects in the capital put up

to try to counter air pollution. A study being carried out

at Middlesex University is looking at how plants absorb the pollutants

in the air. It's showing some

encouraging results. Plants on living walls can absorb

the particulate matter and, therefore, reduce the amount of this

harmful pollutant in the air. And we've also seen some reduction

in local nitrogen dioxide. London is getting clever about where

it can add more greenery. There are more than 200,000

square metres of green rooftops here in London,

like this one here at And more than a million

across the city as a whole, making London one of the green

rooftop capitals in the world. Over in Milan, they've taken

the concept even further. The bosco verticale,

or vertical forest skyscraper won Best tall building

worldwide in 2015. TRANSLATION: We bought it off plan

in 2014 and I remember that, one day, I was passing

by and it was the day that they were bringing

the plants up to the terraces. All the roads were blocked

and I looked up at this incredible Its creator says it's an example

of how architecture can help It's quite a strong contribution

in terms of a reduction of CO2, production of oxygen

and, what is more important, the absorption of the dust,

the micro particles If we increase the surface

for forests inside our cities, we are deciding to fight

in the field of pollution. Back in London, while living walls

are breathing life into the city, the root to the problem

still needs tackling. If you want to sort air

pollution out in London, you focus on the sources,

rather than trying to So, if you want to sort air

quality, sort the cars. Once we get Rudolf diesel

and you get the residual air pollution, the greenroom is,

like the walls, like the trees, like the parks will actually help

ameliorate the residual air As London grows, improving air

quality is becoming more urgent. Greenroom samples have

an ever-growing part to play in improving the air

that we breathe. With me now is Simon Alcock

from Client Earth, lawyers who use environmental law

to protect the environment. How well is the Mayor doing in

tacking London's pollution problem? a world of difference from the last

mayor. He has good policies, however

we think he needs to go further. With regards to the Ultra Low

Emission Zone we are pleased the Mayor has brought it in sooner

than planned but it should cover the whole of Greater London

as there are pollution hotspots The Government say they have

announced ?290m to support electric vehicles, low emission buses

and taxis, and alternative fuels. The government have been hopeless on

this. We need help and support to switch from diesel to cleaner

vehicles. That is how we will succeed by tackling the dirtiest

vehicles. We saw earlier this week that electric black cabs are being

trialled in Norway. Should we be doing that in London? We should be

looking at everything. If the technology is here, we should be

looking at them. The reason is the cost. They are prohibitively

expensive. But the effect on health is so bad, particularly in children,

that we have to do something about it. It's not going to happen

overnight but we have to start phasing in these policies. What

about people who are concerned, they would like to use more eco-friendly

vehicles but they are too expensive and frankly making ends meet is the

priority. This is why we need government to step in. Other

countries are doing this. Los Angeles has a scrappage scheme where

the poorest people get huge grants to buy cleaner vehicles. These

people need their help and support from the government. Thank you very

much for coming in this evening. We asked the government to come

into the studio today but they said They did tell us they are continuing

to work with the Mayor to improve air quality in the capital

as quickly as possible. That statement from the government

this evening. When fire raged through

Clandon Park House in Surrey almost two years ago,

the 18th Century mansion The National Trust says that

restoring the stately home will be its biggest conservation

effort in a generation. Today it's launching a campaign

to find the team to take April 2015 and fire rips

through Clandon Park. It burned all night

and much of the next day. A masterpiece of

the 1720s, devastated From the front, it looks

deceptively unscathed. Much of its prized collection

have been destroyed. And, yet, experts

say the structure of Despite the obvious damage, a melted

lamp, a precariously hanging fireplace, the National Trust say

the ground floor will be completely The salvage effort

completed in the summer. Some of the debris in here

was eight feet high. You can imagine the scenes that

greeted the salvage team when they first came

into the building. The salvage operation

here was painstaking. Teams of archaeologists sifted

through ash and debris for An architecture competition opens

today for designers to come up exhibition space on the

upper floors. We have huge collections

across the National Trust. We can create spaces

here that the trust It will take five

or six years but the Clandon Park will

rise from the ashes. Alfie Lunn will probably be

reminded his behaviour today for the rest of his life,

although he's only two years old. His job was to present the Queen

with a bunch of flowers but today's well rehearsed manoeuvre

didn't go quite to plan. His father, Serjeant Mark Lunn

who was awarded a military cross for his actions in Basra

and his Corporal Mother were attending the unveiling

of a new memorial to remember those who died in the Afghanistan

and Iraq conflicts. Now let's get the weather forecast

from Tomas Schafernaker. What a glorious day it was. I know.

It was stunning. Clear blue skies, fluffy clouds, temperatures up to

17. We haven't quite beaten the highest we have had so far this

year. We have had around 18. We got up to 17.5 today. Unfortunately, if

you didn't make use of it today, look at the headline. It's turning

cooler and cloudier. This evening, the clouds streaming in off the

Atlantic. Starting to see more of those clouds. It's not downhill from

now onwards because we are not in for rough weather but it is not

going to be as nice tomorrow. Pretty chilly towards the east of the

capital to night. It. Around three or 4 degrees in the far east.

Tomorrow, the cloud rolls in. A layer of grey. You will notice,

little bits of drizzle here and there. I suspect the cloud at times

will break up a little bit. Maybe we'll will get more than 12. But not

much more. A little more optimistic for Saturday. The clouds should

break up. My bet is that we will get up to around 17 Celsius on Saturday.

Come Sunday, things are starting to change a little bit. Weather fronts

coming of the Atlantic. Little spots of rain. The outlook is looking a

little bit mixed. The best day looks like it will be Saturday with maybe

17 degrees. You will get your sunshine. Fingers crossed.

A reminder of what's making the headlines -

The Chancellor has been forced to defend his budget

and the controversial decision to increase

National Insurance contributions for self employed workers.

That's despite a Tory manifesto pledge

The Prime Minister has arrived in Brussels to attend what's

expected to be her final EU summit before triggering the UK's departure

Research by the BBC has found that people on housing benefit are

refused access to rental properties in London.

And a man and woman have been arrested on suspicion of trying

to abduct a newborn baby from Great Ormond Street Hospital.

We will be back later during the ten o'clock news,

but for now from everyone on the team have a lovely evening.