24/08/2017 London News

Coming up on the programme this evening

The derelict land that'll be used for hundreds of new homes -

with the Mayor insisting they all have to be "affordable".

A couple earning less than the love fruit -- London average wage can own

their own home in London, that is the difference.

But critics say the Mayor's record on affordable

Teenagers in London outperform the rest of the country -

in a year that saw tougher GCSEs introduced in English and Maths.

It's considered more harmful to the environment

than packaging but what's London doing about all its

And a trip underground - as we return to Roman Londonium -

Welcome to the programme, I'm Asad Ahmad.

There's probably not a bigger single issue affecting the day to day lives

of Londoners that affording a roof over their heads.

And now a possible solution to at least take some

It comes after a former industrial site in north London has become

the first piece of land - to be released for development

by the Greater London Authority - who insist all homes built on it -

With the details, here's our Poitical Correspondent, Karl Mercer.

This site hasn't changed much in seven years, perhaps the weeds have

gotten taller since the lamp factory shutdown. But perhaps these four

fellows might be up to change that. In Walthamstow with their chance --

plans to build new homes in five years. All, 100%, will be

affordable. So to first-time sickened by a share in their new

homes. ?350,000 but with a shared ownership offer it would enable

somebody to buy a share of the property for ?100,000 and gaining a

deposit for ?100,000 is affordable. City Hall bought the land last year

and sold it on to his two housing associations at a profit and also

with some rules. You can have this land for a sum of money on condition

that every single home on this land is affordable so a couple earning

less than the London average wage should be able to own their own

home. Walthamstow has seen plenty of signs of gentrification, expensive

flats have been going up around the area so the local council leader is

all in favour of setting homes aside. It is not unique to us, it is

happening across outer London. The test for us as political leaders is

what we do about that, do we sit back and let the private sector roll

into town and price everybody out or do we put up a strong fight for

affordable and social housing? Most welcome the plans but many would

like to see more homes for people to rent put up in areas like this. It

is true no council homes have been built. Yet again we see it with this

scheme so I think it is a start and we need to see new schemes in the

future actually prioritising affordable homes for rent that are

affordable like council homes. The mayor says homes have earned will

come in time, finding somewhere to live is likely to become the biggest

challenge for the next generation of Londoners providing the next

challenge for the politicians. Let's discuss this further and see

if the mayor has found a way I'm joined by Kath Scanlon

from the London School of Economics. Is this the start of a revolution

to tackle the housing crisis with a public body directly

intervening in the housing market? This is an interesting innovation

because what the mayor is doing is bringing land into the system at

less than the market price and given that the main contributor to the

cost of housing in London is the cost of the land, if we can get it

into the system cheap it makes it possible to create affordable

housing. And could central government look at this when they

sell off NHS and MoD land, they could stipulate setting conditions?

Yes, absolutely, potentially. In conjunction with the local

authorities in that area because they understand the land market in

their areas, they understand what demand looks like so I wouldn't

think it is a job in central government on its own but clearly

any public land that is suitable for housing they should be looking at

this option. London is diverse, the mix of Londoners, by making one

section of this land 100% for affordable housing, are we spoiling

that mix of people by not allowing certain types of people in and

having one set of people there? You have to remember this is 330 homes,

it is not entire neighbourhood, far less an entire borough. It will be

inserted into an area that is all ready diverse and mixed in terms of

housing but you are right, the history and the past of building

large single tenure Estates has not been a happy one and it is something

we want to be aware of in the future but London needs affordable homes

and to build them exclusively on public land in this case is a good

solution. Teenagers in London,

have outperformed the rest Figures were slightly

down on last year - but a lot less compared to other

parts of the country. Helen Drew has been meeting some

students in west London to find out if they've had tears of joy

- or sadness. Getting exam results is a familiar

sight but not at reach Academy, Feltham. They opened in 2012 so this

is the very first group to have sat GCSE is. It is also the first year

under the new grading system where some subjects are awarded numbers

nine to one, other traditional A, B, and C. I didn't expect so many a

stars. I got six a star. I feel fantastic, I got a nine in maths. I

passed English and maths, I got these. Reach Academy is a preschool

meaning its government funded but not controlled by the local

authority. It was set by a group of teachers who are delighted with the

results. Nationally and in area it is better than perhaps would have

been expected at the school that serves the community like ours but

it goes to show when you work hard and every person in the building

comes to work everyday loving their job and really diligently.

The success story continues across the capital, in England 66.1% of

students got a C and above but in London it is nearly 70%. And for

grade A and above, it is 19 point lead % in England and 24 points 6%

in London. Back in Feltham, one student who has overcome many

difficulties is Nikita. She barely spoke a primary school and was

incredibly shy when she came here five years ago. I got an upper case

a in history and RE and a star and English language and literature and

a B in physics and I thought I was terrible physics. Are you proud of

yourself? Yes. And to say her mum is proud is an understatement. Yeah,

she got from the bottom to the top. It is absolute fantastic. Across the

country the results have shown the biggest ever year-on-year decline.

In Feltham, tears of joy. Apologies for the blip in that report.

And Helen's now on the other side of London, in Forest Gate -

at the home of another student who's got an interesting

I am gate-crashing a family celebration because he has won

himself a ?76,000 scholarship to go to Eton. His school is forest gate

community School in new which is one of London's poorest boroughs and it

hit the headlines recently because its headteacher is strict but he has

certainly turned the fortunes of the school around.

She got herself a maths GCSE. I feel proud of myself that I got a good

grade. What would you like to be when you are older? I want to be a

scientist. Very proud. Every child is a genius if you have the right

tools. I'm joined now by Takeshi. Had you feel about eating? I'm truly

excited and thankful college has given me this opportunity and I'm

thankful for those who supported me, my friends and family and school but

also my parents who feared me in the right direction and prove to me

there is more that is possible. You got 11 GCSEs, how hard you work for

this? There is a state of mind that goes with students who really want

the grades nine. Most definitely, the work ethic has to be on top and

it proves how rideable you are as a student as well if you're willing to

sacrifice whatever it takes to get it and fortunately I put enough

working and it paid off. Now, your parents. A silly question, but how

proud are you of your son today? Very proud. I thank him for all his

hard work. What about you? Naturally we are proud parents. But more so we

are relieved because we had the offer since April 2017 and until now

it was a bit of touch and go because we did not know whether the results

would be in his favour or not so there was a lot of stress involved

but thankfully that is all over and his hard work has paid off. And how

proud are you of your Big Brother? I am very proud of my brother. His

hard work has paid off court. We will miss him when he is gone. You

must be excited to get ready to go? A little bit, I guess but also quite

scared moving away. Best of luck with everything, thank you for your

time. The family are off for celebrations with their extended

family. Police have launched a murder

investigation after a man The 54-year-old was found collapsed

on Westminster Road. Detectives are urging anyone

with information to come forward. Hopefully, you'll all

have smoke alarms. You might think that as long as it's

got a British Standard-approved kite mark, there isn't much difference

between them - but according In testing, response times varied -

and some didn't even go off. The consumer group Which?

tested 15 smoke alarms. They found significant variations

between different brands. Out of the 15 - this one

came top of the list - And took 5 minutes and 13

seconds to go off. devices in these tests -

were these two - the EI Electronics and First Alert alarms -

they cost ?13 and ?16, so they are cheaper -

but took 9mins 32seconds to go off Now four different tests

were carried out on the alarms - and here's some pictures to show

you how that was done. from from fires using wood, solvent,

plastic and cotton were used to set off the alarms -

and as you can see they go say one alarm didn't go off

at all in two tests - they names that device as the DEVOLO

Home Control Smoke Detector. Now

DEVOLO say the alarm has passed But they will investigate

these findings. As far

as Which? People rely on these safety devices

to give them an early warning when things are going wrong and they need

to have confidence in their alarms will do that. We want to see the

British standards Institute introduce tougher new criteria that

will reward those alarmed that have a faster response time and we have

issued a do not buy on the smoke alarm that failed to detect any

smoke in two of the tests put it through.

Now I've also been speaking to the London Fire Brigade.

They say it's more important to focus on where you put your

alarms than their response times They recommend 3 key points.

To have multiple smoke alarms all over your property -

especially in rooms where you have electrical appliances.

you should check them regularly - at least once a month they say...

Finally if you are concerned you should contact your

They can arrange a home visit and install a smoke alarm for you.

They also told me that the first five of the seven

fatal fires they attanded at the beginning of this year -

had no working smoke alarms at all, so it's really important to follow

Over a milion and a half tonnes of food is wasted

every year in London - that's the same as each of us

Most of it goes to landfill because only around half of our

Dan Freedman has been finding out what's being done to try

Food waste, hundreds of tonnes of it here at the largest food collection

site in London and yet this isn't even 1% of what we waste on a daily

basis. This is the latest delivery here, this is six tonnes of food

waste, they will get 30 deliveries just like this one every single day

and admittedly a lot of the food is rotten and really smells bad but

some of this food looks okayed to eat. Here, everything you see are

separated out of recycled producing gas, electricity and fertiliser

which can then be shipped out for profit. This is a tank and inside

here is the dye gestate material, the end product after the food waste

goes to our process. It is used as a rich fertiliser for farms in Surrey.

But he cannot understand why more London boroughs do not collect and

recycle such a valuable material. 4-3-3 local authorities in London,

only 18 of them at segregating their food waste and offering a segregated

food waste service to customers. That compares to cities like Milan

where they introduced a separated food waste collection service for

their residents and their recycling rates went up from 35% 2/56% within

a couple of years. Across town in Euston and they do understand the

value of food waste using smart technology they have cut it by 70%.

It is like a supermarket self checkout all the waste is weighed

and they have tell the computer what type of food it is. In this kitchen

we have reduced food waste by 70% preventing nearly four points five

tonnes per year food waste being thrown away. In the capital, ?2

billion of food waste ends up in landfill each year. The technology

exists it now needs the appetites to match.

You're with the BBC London team on BBC One.

Still to come in the next few minutes.

Gladiators will be fighting it out on this very spot. But it is what

below my feet that will find fascinating as well.

The world of professional football has been criticised

for some time now, for being 'slow' at accepting the idea

It's why Charlton Athletic has taken a stand and become affiliated

with a team which includes openly gay men.

Emma Jones has been to see if it'll help combat homophobia in the game.

A Charlton Athletic team training at the Valley. Nothing unusual about

that except these players are part of a team that includes openly gay

men. Their player manager says he could only really be himself in this

side. Most gay people really can be open at work and any other sport but

in football it seems there is a real stigma about being open and being a

gay footballer. I walked away from the game because they did not feel

comfortable playing and being myself because the closer you get your team

mates they questions about girlfriend and all of a sudden you

feel you are hiding who you are and I didn't want to be in that

position. Other clubs have partnerships with LGBT teams but

this is the first time a professional club has given its name

to a team. Homophobia remains a big issue in football, recent survey

found 72% of supporters had heard homophobic abuse at a live game. One

in five young people said they would feel embarrassed if their favourite

player came out but they are encouraging trends. 60% of young

people think it would be good for sport if they were

open LGBT players and almost two thirds wish more players were open

about their sexual orientation. Currently, there are no openly gay

men playing professional football in this country. This is a small step

but could it be a positive one towards that changing? If you found

a high profile person did come out it would probably lead to more

confidence that people can do it. Maybe until that happens they won't.

Hopefully they should feel they can and there will not be peer pressure

and abuse from the crowds but that is in people's minds holding them

back. These players say they hope a players sexual orientation will not

be an issue but in the meantime they will wear this badge with pride.

to return these old one pound coins before they're no longer legal

tender - but the process is going a little slower

than expected - because, believe it or not -

the company in Dagenham which is taking-in

all those old coins - says more people than expected

are actually returning the new ones instead.

You are seeing fewer of these, the traditional pound coins which are

about to go out of circulation. But have you ever wondered where they

go? A lot of them end up here in Dagenham. It is one of the UK is

largest plants sorting and recycling our money. Over a billion coins have

made their way through places like this were they are sorted and sent

back to the Royal Mint. What we can see here are the machines were used

to segregate out old and new coins. But a surprising number of new coins

are also coming here slowing the operation to remove the old money

from circulation. It takes a lot more time I have to employ extra

people to go through and segregate them out. I have had to purchase an

industrial strength machine to run full-time segregating old and new

coins. The government has stepped in and is urging businesses to be extra

careful while sorting through their coins. As we enter the last few

weeks of this, it is like the last few minutes of a football match that

really matter. We ask businesses to separate out the old pound coins

from the new pound coins to help the process enormously. For anyone in

any doubt about the new coin, the obvious difference is the new one

has 12 sides, it is lighter, it is thinner and also has an emblem of

the four nations on the back. In eight weeks' time you will not be up

to spend your old pound coins so check your loose change and make

sure you do not mix up the old with the new.

It was the Romans who gave our city the name -

'Londonium' - and this weekend 'Gladiators' will once again return

The arena in Guildhall Yard - couldn't be better placed

because just below the feet - of those who'll be

re-enacting the drama - is where the original competitors

battled to the death all those years ago.

For centuries, in the heart of the city. I cannot believe this was

undiscovered so long. Lie what became one of our most remaining --

amazing archaeological finds, 2000 -year-old lavatorial amphitheatre.

We are walking in the footsteps of the gladiators. Yes, this is the

entranceway they would have entered through. You can imagine the raw

getting louder and louder as you walk towards the arena. Yes, up

above us and all around us would have been thousands of spectators.

It is not long before its gruesome past is clear. There are

indentations there. Yes, that gives us clues as to what it might have

been used for. A trapdoor that would have come down here and could have

been raised up and so the thinking is this run may have been used to

keeping animals in. We are talking lions. Bears. Bears, definitely.

Possibly wolves. It was 1988 during excavation work when archaeologists

began to find odd shaped walls then a moment of inspiration. It was a

rainy day on-site whether staff got together and planned out of these

funny shaped walls and somebody had the Eureka moment of saying, could

this be an amphitheatre and that is what it was. It is difficult to

comprehend just how popular gladiatorial games would have been

in Roman Britain but across the country there were several arenas

like this. Here, 10,000 people would have crammed in cheering, baying for

blood. This weekend you might not find Russell Crowe at the Guildhall

but the re-enactors who were in the film will be fighting it out. The

amphitheatre stretches all the way around this site and is as yet

unexcavated so this is putting on the spot what once happened here in

the place it happened. Fortunately, Mortal Kombat isn't compulsory but

it will certainly feel like Roman Britain.

Last night a lovely sunset. Did you catch it? I heard about it. We have

some gorgeous photos of it. A beautiful sunset last night and I

weather watchers were out capturing it for us. This photo sent in by

Sonny Susanna and have a glorious photo sent in by Joanna. Today we

started off quite bright but we have seen more cloud pushing in from the

West, some bright intervals and sunny spells around and the main

part it has been dry. Tomorrow, a bit of a repeat of today, more in

the way of bright weather and more warmth as well. We have an area of

high pressure sitting across the south of the UK pushing its way

northwards meaning it is fairly settled as we move to the next few

days. So, to this evening, late spells of sunshine and overnight

staying dry with clear spells and with clear skies we could see one of

two patches of missed developing into the early hours, temperatures

falling to lows of 12 to 14 Celsius. Tomorrow, a bright start, the best

of the sunshine first thing, cloud bubbling up as we move through the

day but holding onto brightness and good spells of sunshine and feeling

a touch warmer than today. That leads us into the bank holiday

weekend and it looks like a lot of dry and bright weather around,

Saturday will start off with more cloud but it will fit in and break

for sunny spells. Temperatures not doing too badly, a maximum of 25

Celsius. As we move into Sunday, a largely dry day, the chance of

isolated showers, low pressure is pushing into the North as we move

into Monday, isobars beginning to squeeze so whilst Monday will be

largely dry, it could turn more breezy as we move into the afternoon

but some nice warm temperatures and plenty of brightness. Warm

temperatures for the Notting Hill Carnival.

a reminder of the stories making the headlines today -

Net migration to the UK has fallen to its lowest

Official estimates show the difference between the numbers

of people moving TO Britain - and those LEAVING -

was down by over 80 thousand, on the previous twelve months.

There's been a slight fall in the top

grades awarded in Maths, English Literature and English

Language in England - following the introduction

But teenagers in London, still managed to outperform

That is it. You can check out our Facebook page and Twitter for more

news from across London. I will be back at 10:30pm on BBC One. Join me

then. Goodbye for now.