23/02/2018 London News

brothers aged 62 who were killed in

a in a hit-and-run yesterday

afternoon.

Tonight on BBC London News:

Criticism and controversy -

how some London boroughs

are reacting to the Mayor's plans

for hundreds of

thousands of new homes.

As a Bexley resident

myself of over 30 years,

and I know people I talk

to and people I represent,

they are absolutely horrified.

Also coming up on BBC

London tonight:

Police say they are connecting three

stabbings in Camden on Tuesday

night. Two were fatal. We will have

the latest in the investigation.

The collapse of the bed

company Warren Evans leaves

customers out of pocket.

And spot your favourite

superhero in east London,

as some of the most famous costumes

and comics go on show

here for the first time.

Good evening and welcome

to the programme.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

There's no debate about

whether London needs more homes.

But how those homes are built

and where they are built is a much

more controversial issue.

The Mayor has plans to build 600,000

new properties in ten years.

But he's facing growing opposition

from outer London boroughs,

who say Sadiq Khan's plans

will threaten green spaces and lead

to uncontrolled development.

Gareth Furby reports.

In the borough of Richmond,

there's an old college playing field

where they've started digging,

and some green space

will be lost to make way

for new schools and a business hub.

But the council leader's

happy about it.

It's a development that works

because it's been thought through.

Local partners have been brought

together and we planned it.

But what hasn't been

thought through, he claims,

is the Mayor of London's plan

for many new homes,

which he believes could lead

to uncontrolled development that

wrecks the borough's character.

And he's written an open letter

to residents saying this.

This plan, if implemented

as currently proposed,

will have an enormous impact

on our borough.

The Mayor of London's plan

is for 600,000 new homes

in ten years, with 8000 in Richmond

borough, which is one

of the greenest in London.

But looking at the map,

the council leader says such a dash

for growth will come at a cost.

We've got playing fields and green

spaces under threat already,

so additional pressure of small site

development, local infill,

without the ability to strategically

plan, is going to put pressure

on all of our other remaining local

green spaces and playing fields.

And it's not just in Richmond

that they are rebelling.

Over in south-east London,

Bexley Council says its suburban

streets could be changed forever.

It certainly is a rebellion

against the Mayor's plan.

Councillor Bailey, who has lived

here for more than 30 years,

says in some areas developers

could just buy up and knock down

the semis like dominoes.

You see the houses behind me?

This would be an ideal location

for a developer to come along,

buy those two houses,

knock them down and put a block

of flats there with no parking.

I could see a lot of these houses

completely disappeared

and just be blocks of flats.

An independent calculation prepared

for some councils claims the target

in inner London is up 41%,

and in outer London it is up 114%.

So far, Richmond, Kingston, Bexley

and Bromley are known to be unhappy,

and it's understood at least eight

councils may make formal objections.

I think if boroughs are saying

they don't agree with our plan,

they are either saying

they would build on the green belt,

or they are saying they don't have

an answer to the housing crisis.

What we are saying is that we need

to massively increase the level

of housing that we are building

in the capital, and we've identified

a way to do that in London

without building on the green belt.

And that will involve

some large sites and it

will involve some small sites,

but with really clear

protections around open space,

green cover and crucially making

sure we've got more new and

genuinely affordable housing.

City Hall says it wants

to work with the boroughs.

Responses to the plan have to be

in by the end of the month.

Gareth Furby, BBC London News.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer is here now.

Karl, the mayor wants

to build 600,000 homes,

but do you think he will?

If I was a betting man I would not

stick my mortgage on it. Why not?

Let's look at the figures. London is

growing in terms of population by

100,000 per year, which leads the

mayor to say we need to build 66,000

homes every year. Over the last

couple of decades we have been

building nowhere near that,

something like 25,000 homes being

built fairly constantly across that

time. The mayor has promised not to

build on green belt land, which

means he has to go to the London

boroughs and say, I need your help.

Central London, a lot of stuff has

already been built and he says there

is more space in outer London

boroughs, so they will pick up a lot

of pressure, not just those in that

report but others around the edge of

London.

Can we read anything into

the timing?

What do you think? It is

all about the politics. It is no

coincidence that those four boroughs

mentioned in the report are

conservative boroughs. In a couple

of months, the 3rd of May, London

will be going to the elections.

Expect housing to be a key issue,

not just in Tory boroughs,

campaigning or read that -- already,

kicking out that message, but also

in all outer London boroughs.

More

of this to come. Thank you.

Lots more to come, including:

Should work experience make it back

on to the curriculum?

We'll hear from students

who would like to do more of it.

Police say they are linking three

stabbings in north London,

which led to the deaths

of two young men.

20-year-old Sadiq Mohammed

and 17-year-old Abdikarim Hassan

both died on Tuesday

night in Camden.

Another young man has been arrested

in connection with the attacks.

Let's get more on this from

Alpa Patel who's at Scotland Yard.

Yes, we were told today by the lead

detective in this case

that the three stabbings on Tuesday

night are all linked

by the geography, timing

and the ages of the victims.

The first stabbing happened

at 8pm on Aldenham Street.

A 16-year-old was found

with stab wounds.

He was taken to hospital

where he remains today.

The second stabbing happened

about half an hour later

on Bartholomew Road at 8:30pm,

where a 17-year-old

was found with stab wounds.

He has been named

as Abdelkarim Hassan.

The third stabbing happened

at 10:15pm on Malden Road.

A 20-year-old was found with stab

wounds and also died at the scene.

He has been identified

as Sadiq Aadam Mohammed.

I spoke to Detective Superintendent

Stuart Ryan a little earlier

who gave us this update

on the investigation.

So far, we have arrested four people

for the original stabbing,

although they have been released

under investigation,

they have been arrested

at the initial stage.

We arrested one person yesterday

for all three offences.

That we are dealing with an east

London at the moment

and were actively looking for other

people connected to this event.

And we will find them

and we will bring them to justice,

and hopefully that will give

the public confidence that that

violence will not occur again.

He also told me that the police

are looking for a blue

Ford Transit van which was seen

in the area that night.

The registration of

that van is ST13 CZC.

It was found later on fire

in Fletcher Court in

Ingestre Road in Camden.

Anyone with information

is being asked to come forward.

There are special officers in Camden

tonight with special powers.

And police will hold another meeting

tonight in Kentish Town, appealing

to the community for information.

It began life as a small London

company but became a business

that was advertised all over London,

with almost a dozen stores.

Now, after going into

administration, Warren Evans'

customers could be left

out of pocket.

The stores close tomorrow,

with many orders left unfulfilled.

Chris Rogers has the story.

Warren Evans was a London success

story. This promotional video showed

how it only sells and makes

ethically produced furniture, a firm

favourite for green buyers. Founded

in 1978 and funded with a couple of

hundred pounds borrowed from his

sister, it expanded to 14 showrooms

across the south-east.

I have been

making beds, selling quality

mattresses with them, and designing

under bed storage, chests of drawers

and all of this, for 32 years. It is

my passion to deliver quality.

But

the retailer became the latest

victim of the capital's nervous

spending and weak pound, it's

collapsed leaving 270 people without

a job and a trail of customers

without pre-ordered goods. Kath

Goodwin is heading to the warehouse

in Walthamstow to appeal to the

administrators face-to-face to

refund her £700 for a mattress she

will never get.

It did not seem 100%

sure I would get my money back

because I did not pay on a credit

card but a debit card instead. So,

yes, I am potentially set to lose

almost £800, which is too much to

lose, really. If I wanted to just

lose it, I would have thrown it in

the bin.

Where Warren Evans started

life in Camden, it also comes to an

end, with a closing down sale. The

company told us that only

off-the-shelf stock is being sold,

not made to order furniture like

Kath's mattress. For every victim in

a retailer's collapse, there are

winners. All the big stuff has gone?

Yes.

The advice is not to purchase

big orders like furniture on a debit

card or with cash.

Buy the items on

credit card. If it costs between

£100, and £30,000, the contracted

with the credit card company and if

the retailer fails and does not

deliver the goods, you can go to the

credit card company and ask for a

refund.

Advice that cafe and many

other customers did not take,

leaving at the mercy of their bank's

goodwill for reimbursement.

Painshill is one of

the most famous landscape

gardens in the country.

But its future is uncertain

because of a massive proposed

road development nearby.

Some people say the changes

on the M25 could mean areas

of the 18th century garden are lost.

Tolu Adeoye has more.

It's a grade one listed landscape

stretching over 158 acres.

Is the very special

area of the park.

It has a number of historic trees.

Painshill Park in Surrey

is one of the UK's oldest

landscaped gardens dating back

to the 18th century.

Here we are at the top

of the Gothic tower.

But the park's trustees say it's

under threat because of plans

to widen the M25 junction

with the A3 at Wisley

to improve traffic flow in the area.

The current preferred option means

taking a slice of land

at the side of Painshill.

It's an incursion into

the historic landscape.

What we are arguing is that they can

come up with mitigating

things they can put in,

but they shouldn't be touching

the landscaped park.

From this side of the park,

you can quite clearly hear

traffic and no wonder.

Because there's the road.

Highways England say

around a 200 metre stretch

of land will be affected,

the equivalent of around

half a football pitch.

But Highways England says changes

are necessary to improve one

of the country's busiest junction.

We've got issues with

regard to traffic flow,

we are trying to improve

the junction for everybody.

We have to take the balance

of all the consultation we do

because there are other impacts

if we move the road in one

direction or the other,

we will affect other parties.

Bosses say they are listening

to people's objections.

There has already been a change

to a preferred route after concerns

were raised on the impact it

would have two nearby

Wisley Gardens, a public

consultation is currently underway.

The majority of people

were worried about the trees

being cut down in Wisley.

But they've gone past that now,

they're going to use a private bit

of land which is beyond Wisley.

That was one of my main concern.

They've got to widen some land,

it's got to happen somewhere.

It's a question of

where it's taken from.

There's not really

much of an option.

The consultation period finishes

at the end of March.

No final decision on the route

is due until the end of next year.

It's the most wonderful view

of the sweeping landscape.

Those who look after Painshill say

they won't allow any part of it

to be a victim of the project.

Still to come:

He was part of the last Arsenal team

to win the League Cup 25 years ago.

We speak to Paul Davis

ahead of Sunday's final

against Manchester City.

And Batman and Superman head

to east London as part

of a new exhibition from DC Comics.

Now, if you're of a certain age

you'll no doubt remember doing work

experience at school.

But five years ago the Government

took it off the curriculum

and since then many schools don't

have the time or money

to organise anything.

Well now a new survey has found that

nine out of ten London teenagers

want it brought back.

Our Education Reporter

Marc Ashdown has more.

Do you have any questions you'd

like to ask me about anything?

How long is my lunch hour?

An hour.

In practice, work experience does

tend to be a bit more productive.

Abdul is studying at Barking

and Dagenham College.

His work experience involves

designing and maintaining

websites for a company

with a mini office on-site.

I think it's very important

because it gives you a sense

of responsibility and independence

until you actually earn and work

things out for yourself.

Do you feel more ready

to go out and get a job?

Yes, I'm applying for part-time jobs

currently and obviously

in the future I'm applying

for bigger jobs.

All schools and colleges used

to have to organise work experience

for students but in 2012

the government took it off

the compulsory curriculum.

Now it's more ad hoc.

Here though they still

see it as a vital step

into the working world.

We have to make sure we are using

the software the industry

are using so we are researching

all the time making sure we're

doing the right thing.

We've got alumni students

who are working in the industry.

We contact them and they come

in and do workshops

as well, so, yeah...

Making them job ready?

Yes, that's what we want.

Employers like Sam tend to agree.

His firm develops and markets

independent video games.

When looking at a CV he says

a list of gradesl isn't

When looking at a CV he says

a list of grades isn't

the be all and end all.

Work experience means that they're

going to have a portfolio.

Especially within our industry.

They will be able to show

their talent and eagerness.

I think the initiative,

that work experience takes,

for us is very appealing.

So work experience is huge,

not just for our industry

but I think in industries

across the board.

So what do teenagers

themselves think?

The Career Colleges Trust asked 1000

of them and found in London 88% said

they want compulsory work experience

back in the curriculum.

31% said they had not been

offered any by their school

or college and interestingly,

about half went out

and found some on their own.

Young people value and see

the value of work experience.

They feel that it's as important,

if not more important,

than a qualification degree.

And I think the message is that it

should be built back into the school

and college curriculum

as a compulsory element.

It's certainly something the young

people said they want.

With its new T levels focusing

on technical studies,

the government is promising

a skills revolution.

Today's teenagers have sent

a message that work experience

should be back centrestage.

Detectives investigating

the death of a woman

at Bestival have charged a man.

Louella Eve Fletcher-Michie's body

was found early in the morning

of 11th September in a wooded area

on the edge of the festival site.

A 28-year-old man from London

was arrested yesterday

and charged with manslaughter.

He will appear before Poole

Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

He will appear before

Poole Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

Londoners travelling

on the night tube will have more

choice from this evening.

The Overground line will run

to Canonbury and Highbury &

Islington linking it

with the Victoria line

for the first time.

It's hoped the move will benefit

thousands of people travelling

in north and east London.

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal meet

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City

in the League Cup final

at Wembley on Sunday.

It's a trophy the Gunners have only

ever won twice in their history.

Chris Slegg has been speaking

to a man who played in both those

victorious finals to assess

Arsenal's chances of another

triumph this weekend.

COMMENTATOR:

The final whistle,

Arsenal the winners.

It's 25 years since Arsenal last won

the League Cup but for Paul Davies,

who also lifted the trophy in 1987,

the memories of '93 are still vivid.

The crowd and the occasion,

you can't really describe

it all because it's

a mixture of everything.

Fear.

There's quite a lot of excitement

about playing, such an iconic ground

with saying much at stake.

The 93 final is perhaps best

remembered for Steve Morris

scoring the Arsenal winger

but breaking his arm

in the celebrations when his

team-mates lifted him up

and dropped him.

As he forgiven you guys for it?

Don't think so, he always brings it

up now and again when we're out.

But it was more Tony Adams than any

of us that really caused

the problems I believe,

was up on Tony Adams' shoulders.

The current generation of Arsenal

player suffered a humiliating

Europa League to Swedish side

Ostersunds last night,

but they limped through to

the last 16 on aggregate.

But Arsene Wenger is again

under fire from some fans

ahead of Sunday's final.

You go to the final,

you want to win it, you know.

It's true that I used

to always in this competition

have a youth team basically.

But for us it's an opportunity,

we play our older regular

players and you know,

we want to get to the cup

final, to get to Wembley.

You want to win it,

you want your friends

to go home and happy.

Manchester City suffered their own

embarrassment this week,

knocked out of the FA Cup

by League 1 Wigan.

But they are flying high

at the top of the league

favourites for Sunday's final.

What's your prediction for a score?

2-1.

Can go for Arsenal.

Confident?

Not really confident but 2-1.

Arsenal know all about the pain

and joy of this competition,

which will it be on Sunday?

The tragedy at Grenfell have now

inspired a play based

on interviews with local people.

Spid Theatre in Kensal Rise works

with young people interested

in theatre and performing arts.

It's hoped the play will shine

a light on the problems still facing

residents living in social housing.

Ayshea Buksh reports.

Nancy, can I get my usual?

One pint of lager coming up, love.

The setting is a pub in the shadow

of the Grenfell Tower.

The drama onstage is between locals

and housing officials in the lead up

to last summer's fire.

I was going to say your

boys, smashing glasses.

Oh, yes, boys will be boys, eh?

The actors all live locally.

One performer lost a close friend

in the fire and says taking part

in this production has been

a healing process.

It's helped me an awful lot

with grief and dealing

with what happened here

over the summer.

Just remember a couple of things

like the little moments where people

talk over each other.

It allows you to act out scenarios

and like deal with it in a way

that's different to just

talking about it.

The short play has been produced

by the Spid Theatre Company

in North Kensington.

It was written by the young

performers after interviewing

residents living on estates

in the area.

One of them was Rafael Joseph,

who lives on the Lancaster West

estate next to the Grenfell Tower.

We still feel like

nothing's being done.

We still feel like little has been

done in terms of support.

In terms of trying to

refurbish our flat as well.

Stuff like that.

Everything is going at a slow pace

but at the same we've just got to be

grateful for our lives

and keep moving forward.

The community theatre company

is based on a housing

estate in Kensal Rise.

And the artistic director says

they are passionate about giving

people in social housing a voice.

We want to raise the profile

of social housing.

We want to show the value

of council estates.

At the moment more than 100

of them in London have been

earmarked for demolition.

We believe that the people living

and working in social housing

need to be empowered.

I don't think you understand.

To them, we're the villains.

There is a sense of anger.

That's how we have to express

ourselves because this disaster

should never have happened.

Do you know what I mean?

So what can we do?

Are you all right, Pat?

The next step is to take the play,

called The Pig and Whistle,

and perform it out on location

around local estates close

to the Grenfell Tower.

Ayshea Buksh, BBC London News.

From Batman to Wonder Woman,

we're used to seeing super heroes

in films but now the ones made

famous by DC Comics

are coming to East London.

Fans will have the chance to see

a unique display of costumes

and comic books at the O2.

Victoria Cook reports.

The super heroes have landed in

London. For any fan of DC Comics,

this is heaven.

I never bothered to

the chance to see one costume but to

see all of them, it was a serious

back at this moment. I feel if I'm

wearing a Superman T-shirt it's my

duty to act accordingly, so if I'm

sat down, barely on today I was sat

on the tube, it was busy, and an old

lady got on and I thought, I have

got to stand up because I'm in a

Superman hat and I did and we had a

lovely chat.

This is the biggest

collection of artwork ever to come

together, from the sketches that

started it all off, to the original

costumes from the famous films.

There is something for the super

fans but for the casual moviegoers

well who like to see the props and

costumes. The drawings, costumes,

props, all of them are incredibly

rare and valuable, so the costumes,

these are the original costumes used

in the films and television series,

so everything is unique.

The artwork

is estimated to be worth more than

£30 million, but for fans,

everything is priceless.

When I saw

the costume of Catwoman, I was like,

oh my God. I was actually amazed she

could actually fit in there. I

thought, is that the actual size?

It

was so small. Every time you come

around the corny you think what's

going to be next?

I'm loving all the

panels and sing at the films are put

together.

This of course is

Christopher Reeve Mac was original

Superman costume. It's quite

incredible when you stand here and

see people's reaction to it as they

walk through the door and feared for

the first time. It seems, even for

the non-DC fans coming here today,

these pieces of history seem to be

inspiring the superhero in all of

us. Victoria cup, BBC London News.

Now the weather with Louise Lear.

Now the weather with Louise Lear.

Plenty to talk about as well, ladies

and gentlemen, getting colder this

weekend with dry weather around, as

well. Frost will be an issue and

spring plants are now starting to

show their hand. These are

snowdrops. We could see this over

the next few days but for today,

some nuisance cloud across East

Anglia and the south-east corner, so

it's been disappointing. Hopefully

that will clear off tomorrow and we

will have lots of sunshine. The

cloud should break up and through

the night tonight it will turn

pretty chilly, so in actual fact, we

could see quite a widespread frost

developing overnight with

temperatures likely to fall down as

low as -3 down to -5 in the morning,

hard frost first thing but it means

clear skies and plenty of sunshine,

so the sunshine will get to work and

nibble away at that frost through

the morning. The frost will slowly

disappear and we will see them

lovely sunshine coming through but

the breeze will make it feel chilly

at there. Not only for Saturday but

Sunday as well, so you have been

warned. A couple of extra layers if

you're out and about, I suspect. It

will feel colder than this. The

frost returns, a hard frost Saturday

into Sunday, and it will take time

to clear so it will be cold and

frosty on Sunday, more of a

noticeable breeze and it will feel

pretty chilly, so plenty of

sunshine, not that much in the way

of whether to talk about, but it

will feel pretty cold. 3-5. Probably

only feeling like -1 or minus two

degrees. The cold weather stays with

us and the potential for some snow

showers on Tuesday onwards. Thanks

very much indeed.

That's it.

I will be back later

during the ten o'clock news,

but for now from everyone

on the team have a lovely evening.

Goodbye.