20/03/2018 London News

That's all from the BBC News at Six,

so it's goodbye from me

On BBC London News tonight.

£20 million and counting to house

Grenfell Fire victims in hotels,

as a number of residents say they're

still waiting - and wanting -

permanent homes.

Never mind the amount of money you

are rowing in there, listen to what

our needs were, that would have

saved time, a lot of monetary policy

and a lot of criticism as well and a

lot of unhappiness.

lot of unhappiness.

Labour accuses the Tory

council of "incompetence".

Also tonight.

The family of a builder who died

in hospital after routine surgery

want a new inquest into his death,

after the surgeon's conviction

for manslaughter was quashed.

There has been no justice, there has

been no full picture of what has

happened. We want the truth. We want

to know what happened, and we don't

want to to happen again.

want to to happen again.

The 24-hour a day nightmare

for residents in Fulham.

How building work on

London's "super-sewer"

is ruining their lives.

And we take a trip deep under

the Thames to discover

one of London's most

unusual performance spaces.

You won't believe where it is.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Over 20 million pounds has been paid

in hotel bills to keep survivors

of the Grenfell Tower

fire in accommodation.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has

met the cost, but it's understood

the Government will repay

about half of it.

71 people died in the fire in June,

with dozens of families

still in temporary accommodation.

The Council says it's doing

all it can to re-house them,

but opponents have called

the multi-million pound spend

"wasteful and incompetent".

Here's Marc Ashdown.

I managed to stop the smoke from

coming in.

An on the owe was one of

the last people rescued from

Grenfell Tower. As these pictures

show he lost everything. He has

finely been moved into a temporary

flat after spending seven months in

a hotel. Life is still on hold. He

thinks the council could have worked

better with residents.

Never mind

the amount of money you throw in

there, but you know, the advice is

that we could have given to them,

from day one, from day two, listen

to what our needs were, that would

have saved time, a lot of money and

a lot of criticism as well and a lot

of unhappiness on our behalf.

Since

the tragedy the council has spent 21

million on hotels for those

affected. 210 households needed

rehousing, so far 188 have accepted

a new home, some are temporary which

means 22 households have yet to

accept a home so are still in

emergency accommodation. According

to Labour Grenfell Tower would in

today's money have cost about £7

million to build so for the £21

million the council spent on hotel

rooms it could in theory have

rebuilt the tower three times over.

I condemn the Council for its

conduct before, during and after,

they shouldn't have made these

promises and give people unrealistic

expectations if they weren't capable

of delivering them. It is a

disgraceful waste of public money

and more importantly a terrible

letting down of people who were

still living in hotel, because I can

assure you no-one wants to carry on

living in hotels.

Council said they

have an army of staff working

round-the-clock to try and rehouse

families and they have spent 235

million securing more than 300 hopes

to give people the maximum choice.

So we are all individual, we are all

human beings, of a certain age as

well and therefore, we have to have

something that is really fitting and

suiting us.

Antonio counts himself

lucky, one day hopes to get on with

his life. Others were not so

fortunate.

Others were not so fortunate.

That's our top story this evening.

And this is what's still

to come on the programme.

A £600 million extension but can

this new vision in White City really

buck the downward trend of the high

street?

buck the downward trend

of the high street?

The family of a man who died

at a private hospital in Harrow

after undergoing routine

knee surgery is calling

for answers to what happened, eight

years after James Hughes' death.

Surgeon Dr David Sellu, who served

time for his manslaughter,

later had his conviction quashed

and was cleared last month

at a medical tribunal.

Now Mr Hughes' family

want a new inquest

to establish exactly what happened.

Our political editor, Tim Donovan

has been speaking to them.

He was the life and soul of every

party, he was very social, knew

people from every different walk of

life.

For gym Hugh's daughter it is

hard to understand let alone accept.

You know, absolutely devastating

impact on all of us for the rest of

our lives.

It was February 2010 and

her father was apparently recovering

well from his knee op which had been

done here, at the Clementine

Churchill hospital in harrow. Then

he got severe stomach pain, two days

past before he had surgery, for a

perforated bowel, he died a later,

why was nothing done sooner?

Dad had

to call his own GP from his hospital

bed op his mobile phone, to get

help. We know he was in agony

because he spoke to people, he told

people he was, on the phone, I can't

talk, I'm in agony, too much pain, I

can't talk. He talked about a

burning sensation, he felt like

there was flames, fire through his

abdomen.

For a while she thought she

had a partial explanation when

surgeon Dr David Sellu was jailed

for manslaughters. Last year, that

conviction was quashed on appeal.

And this month he was cleared of all

11 counts by a medical tribunal. It

wasn't held he should have

operatedier, a detailed written

judgment Maggie finds hard read and

accept. She says it was never just

about one doctor, the families

concerned at the general level of

care he got at the private hospital.

If he had been anywhere else,

absolutely anywhere else, if my dad

had been in Tesco, when his bowel

ruptured, he would probably have

been alive today. If he had actually

when he wasn't getting the response,

instead of staying in that hospital,

room, and phoning his own GP from

his hospital bed, if he had crawled

out into the street, he would

probably be alive today.

A much missed brother, father and

grandfather, Jim Hughes has begun

his retirement here near Portadown

in Ireland after running a

successful building firm in west

London. His which doe says she is

bewildered.

Just don't trust the

legal system. I have no trust in

anything, and I just think, well,

we're back right where we started

but I can't even, in my mind I can't

go back there, I can't think of it

so I am left going on from

day-to-day. But I am getting upset

now because I am thinking of it,

and, we are just... Nowhere to turn

any more and I don't want any

controversy, I just want to live a

life. I just want answers to know

why did he die?

Which is why Maggie

wants the inquest re-opened.

The

only person I can see that could be

interested in a big picture or have

the power to look at big picture

would be the coroner, I think there

is lots of failings and they need to

be accountable. It is not

retribution, we want the truth. We

don't want it brushed under the

carpet. My dad no way would have

accepted that.

Whether she gets her

wish will be up to the coroner, Dr

David Sellu said he would welcome a

new hearing. The hospital added

appreciated the family's lost was

felt as acutely now as when he died.

His daughter says she won't let the

matter rest. Testify

Testify

Actress Liz Hurley has urged

the public to share CCTV footage

of a car police want to trace,

after her nephew was stabbed two

weeks ago in Wandsworth.

21-year-old Miles Hurley,

lost four pints of blood

when he and a friend were attacked

by a group of men following a car

crash in Battersea.

The image was released

by Scotland Yard, who said

it was "sheer luck"

that they weren't more

seriously injured.

Detectives investigating the death

of murdered Russian businessman

Nikolai Glushkov in Malden

are appealing to drivers

and cyclists with dashcam or helmet

footage to contact them.

The former Aeroflot airline deputy

director was found strangled

at his terraced house last week.

Scotland Yard wants anyone

with footage near the 68-year-old's

home on the 11th or 12th of March -

to send it in.

It's a common complaint among

young people in London -

that there aren't enough places

to go to after school.

And today, it's been argued that

that leads to crime,

and cuts to London's youth services

in recent years is one of

the reasons knife crime is rising.

So the Mayor of London has decided

to tackle things head on,

while the government

says its doing its bit too.

Ayshea Buksh has more.

Since the 60 it was a place for

local children to hang out. But for

five years now, Grove Park Youth

Club has stood empty it was closed

by the council following cuts to its

budget from the Government. Local

resident Garfield Clark has five

sons and says some of them used to

go there.

Table tennis, school work,

activity, so many classes they used

to do there as well, after classes,

out door, indoor, it was very good.

So I don't know the reason they

close it down.

Campaigners hope to

bring it back to community use,

despite earlier interest shown by

property developers in the site.

Since it has been closed, we have

had anti-social behaviour, a number

of stabbings, including a fatality,

which think it atrocious, it would

probably cost £27,000 to open the

doors tomorrow.

New research shows

over the last seven years £39

million has been lost from youth

service budget, 81 centres have shut

down and 800 youth worker posts have

closed.

The austerity pressures from

national Government is the fact they

are not a statutory service, you

don't have to provide dedicated

youth centres, that is why they have

been cut. I think the mayor has

introduced a new fund, he is giving

45 million over three years

following campaigns I have run. The

Government need to step in, and fill

the rest of the gap.

And some of the mayor's extra

funding has gone to Brixton music

charity Raw Material it works with

hundreds of young people each year

At risk young people, educational

support work with special needs and

so on is just like, it doesn't seem

to be, you talk about it but there

isn't the money for it. So we still,

what we do is keep the best kind of

service going we can, and limit our

expenditure. Although I am faced

with staff cuts now.

Lewisham

Council says it continues to invest

in youth service while the

Government says it is funding

various programmes to help young

people.

various programmes

to help young people.

Westfield in White City -

has become Europe's largest shopping

centre, after opening

a new £600 million extension.

It comes almost a decade after it

opened its doors in west London -

but there are critics,

eEspecially local businesses

on the High Street and those

who question the very future

of retail stores.

Frankie McCamley is at Westfield

for us this evening with more.

Frankie.

Yes, can you believe Westfield

shopping sceptre is nearly ten years

old? We have in the new £600 million

extension, as you can see behind me

the brand-new John Lewis, Primark

will open soon, you can see shoppers

are here enjoying what they have got

to offer, but I have been asking a

few people what they miss from the

high street.

The high street it was local and

mostly local people you meant in the

high street as opposed to here,

there are a lot of people who have

come from everywhere else.

I don't

really Miss Anything about the high

street. I just think it is good that

everything is in one place.

We used

to socialise, we would have a walk

round but like I said, now we come

to the centres like malls or centres

like these where we do the same

thing we did on the high street.

As you can hear, some people saying,

talking about what they miss from

the high street. Joining me is a

representative from Westfield. Just

tell me, you have a lot of

competitor, you have still got the

high street, how you staying

relevant

By creating what you see

here today, which is a beautiful

combination of design, retail of

dining, leisure, entertainment, and

a real place where people can

connect with each other.

And, I

mean, this is another shopping

centre, are there are too many in

the country?

I think as long as you

deliver to what a consumer needs and

what is important to consumers now

and it is very much about creating

that experience, and that

destination, then, these types of

shopping centres really have a role

to play.

Jeremy Baker, you are a

retail expert, do you think they

have got it right, do you think it

is a thing of the past?

Think they

are doing very well here, they are

fighting with Oxford Street, and

there is Harrods out there,

Selfridge, they are in battle, and

they are taking on Oxford Street.

Do

you think it will stand the test of

time though?

Everything in retail

disappears in the end so in about 30

years' time we will come back,

lights are off, huge cobwebs

everywhere and we will think what

happened in 2018. At the moment it

is 2018 glamour.

Wonderful. Thank

you for joining us, whether it will

stem stand the test of time that is

yet to be seen.

Let us sigh what is still to come

tonight.

Using football to change live, how

Sport Relief has been helping

youngsters in south London.

And we take a trip deep under the

Thames to discover one of London's

most unusual performance spaces.

Residents in Fulham say their lives

have been ruined after construction

work on Thames Water's 'Super Sewer'

started going on through the night.

Last month, permission

was granted for workers

to operate 24 hours a day,

but residents complain

they can't sleepand the noise

they say is "like torture".

Victoria Cook has been

to the area to find out

what its like for herself.

Imagine trying to

sleep next to this.

Joel and Joe Watts flat overlooks

the Thames Tideway Tunnel

construction work.

They've been filming it

at night to capture the

noise levels.

The line's been crossed for us.

It's almost like

a human rights issue.

We just want to sleep.

You should be able to

sleep in your own flat.

Your own accommodation.

We want to sleep at night.

We want the noise to...

We want very little

noise if no noise.

No noise would be the

best outcome for us.

The Thames Tideway tunnel's a major

new super sewer for London

it's designed to stop the 39 million

tonnes of sewerage that currently

overflows into the

Thames every year.

Although construction has started,

the actual tunnelling is

due to begin later this year,

the works and noise will then

continue through to 2023.

What we're doing and what we

are continuing to do is

engage with the community.

Understand what it is we need to do.

We've done a whole series of

improvement measures already, from

greasing pieces of equipment,

from turning horns off and we will

continue to work with them

to understand what else we can do to

minimise any disruption.

Some residents, like

Marsha Brackett, have

been given sound proofing already.

But the noise is still

getting through.

The flats actually shake like an

earthquake and my

daughter, who is only

four, she has nightmares

and she wakes up in

the

night and asks - "mum,

can I sleep with you?"

She has to be in my bed

for quite a while.

The decision to allow 24 hour

works here was given

by central government.

It says it's imposed strict

controls on the noise

levels here, but the local

authority, Hammersmith and Fulham,

says the type of noise coming

from the site means the locals

are still disrupted.

It says it's now helping people

with claims of compensation

and, where it's possible,

it will try and relocate

people temporarily.

Victoria Cook, BBC London News.

We're half-way through Sport Relief

week, with millions of pounds

hopefully being raised

for vulnerable people

across the UK and the world.

But you only need to look around

London to see how some of the money

from previous years has been

spent right here.

Like the BigKid Foundation

in Stockwell.

Chris Slegg has been down

there to find-out what they do.

Hey, listen, there's

zero communication going

on with you lot as well.

Shaninga Marasha set up a mentoring

scheme when he was still at school,

it later became known as the BigKid

Foundation.

Now 35, he has helped

transform the lives of scores

of youngsters in south London.

A lot of these young people come

from really challenging backgrounds

and what we try and do is create

a safe environment for the,

a space where they can

freely express themselves.

But at the same time,

we try and give them

opportunities to volunteer,

to really give back to the local

community, to give back to the young

people that they work with.

17-year-old Weze says he struggled

with anger management issues

until these sessions helped bring

structure to his life.

I've been here for three

or four years and it's

changed me because me,

I have a little bit of a temper,

so it's helped me to control it and,

you know, be welcoming to people

who are new to football,

especially here.

The work being done here is made

possible thanks to money raised

by Sport Relief and funding

from the National Lottery and

Government through the iwill fund.

The money from Sport Relief

and the iwill fund has helped us

tremendously because what it does

is, it makes the programme

sustainable and what the young

people need is consistency.

It's allowed us to engage

with their parents, engage

with other local organisations.

Also give the young people

opportunities to grow with us.

18-year-old Nuno says

sport has provided him

with a vital outlet,

having grown up in

an urban environment.

It's changed my life because I've

been a really cooped up

kid when I was younger,

and it was going to continue to be

the same until I found BigKid

and I started coming out a lot more

to training sessions

and we're going on trips.

I've just been enjoying the whole

three years of my experience here.

The work of the BigKid Foundation

and Sport Relief -

proof of football's power to change

the lives of young

people for the better.

Chris Slegg, BBC London News.

Terrific work being done there and

elsewhere.

You can watch Sport Relief

on BBC One this Friday.

Good luck if you're taking part

in any activities to raise money.

Every penny goes to help

those most in need.

Major League Baseball is a step

closer to coming to London

after the New York Yankees

and Boston Red Sox announced

they are "very close" to agreeing

a deal to play a series

here next year.

The venue for the games will be

the London Stadium in Stratford and,

if it goes ahead, the fixtures

would be the first MLB games

to be played in Europe.

The Queen went to the Royal Academy

today to look at artwork

which would have been hers if it

wasn't sold off a few

hundred years ago.

She was shown paintings collected

by King Charles I which were sold

off after his execution in 1649.

While there, the Queen

opened a new redevelopment

at the Academy and then she left,

but didn't take any of her

ancestor's artwork with her.

Good job too.

This, believe it or not, is one

of London's most famous landmarks.

But don't be surprised

if you don't recognise it -

I'd be surprised if you did.

Because this is Tower Bridge -

underground and underwater.

The huge chamber is being converted

into a performance space.

Emma North has been to take a look.

Below the grace and the grandeur,

these are the guts

beneath Tower Bridge.

Normally out of bounds to you or me,

but this week this is the giant

bascule chamber, transformed

into a huge cinema screen.

It looks like we're going to have

to accept that the streets

where we live and work are also

going to be battlefields.

Blackout tells the story

of the work of two London

policemen during the Blitz.

Their job was to wait until the all

clear sounded after an air-raid,

and then to head out

to document the destruction.

Hi, I'm Rury, a third year student

at The Guildhall School and I'm

a designer for the project.

I wanted to feel a real sense

of what it was like to live

during the blitz, to be in that

space, to be among the falling bombs

and the shock and awe of it all,

and the community spirit

that was born out of that.

Astonishingly, this

is a student project.

The challenge set was a double one -

create something of a professional

standard, but do it

in an impossible place.

My name is Dan Shorten,

and I'm a lecturer in video

at The Guildhall School

of Music and Drama.

It's underground, it's dark, damp,

there's a lot of stairs involved

in the descent down to the chamber.

We have to bring in the power,

we have to bring in all

the equipment, so there's

lots of physical challenges,

but also creatively,

when you're in a building like this

that is so awe-inspiring

in its own right, you have

to make sure that you're,

the work you put in there does

justice to the environment.

Mixed in with the show

are the sounds of the traffic

above and the boats chugging

by on the other side of the walls.

It's impossible to

forget where you are.

It's not the most conventional

of theatre spaces.

For starters, the audience

sits below water level,

so it's so cold in here you can

see your breath, and

above us is the bascule.

That's the counter weight

to the bridge, so that

when Tower Bridge opens,

that great ceiling,

which is actually part of a road,

sweeps down through this chamber.

Give the little ones a kiss

on the way out the door.

But they do get 24 hours

notice before it moves,

and the performance only lasts 20

minutes to stop everyone

from getting too cold.

There are 16 performances

of Blackout scheduled,

subject to river traffic.

Emma North, BBC London News.

That looks fabulous. Emma said it

was freezing, but above ground it

was like spring.

At long last.

was freezing, but above ground it

was like spring.

At long last.

After

the recent snow all those spring

flowers out there, at last starting

to respond. They are in for a shock

as we go through tonight. I will

show you. Clear skies across

Scotland and Northern Ireland. They

are working towards us. We have

cloud drifting southwards across

central parts of England. That may

produce isolated showers during the

first half of the night. Most will

be dry. Clearer skies later on as

well. With winds remaining lighter

through the night, particularly to

the north and west of London, this

is where temperatures will start to

drop the furthest. We could see a

widespread frost and around the

Downs to the west and Chilterns hfrs

2 and -3. Chilly commute. Mist and

fog first thing. They will shift

away. Lovely day in store. Best of

the sunshine in the morning. A

breeze picking up a touch through

the afternoon. It will come from

from the north-west rather than the

north-east. Temperatures up to 10

maybe 11 degrees. Sunny spells into

the afternoon. The evening will

cloud over. A cloudier night, patchy

drizzle to take us through Wednesday

night and into Thursday. It means we

should be largely frost-free. Not as

cold as it will be this coming

night. It should be a frost-free

start to Thursday morning. Thursday

morning, well, best of the sunshine

during the first part of the day. It

will cloud over from the west later

on. Sunshine turning hazier.

Thursday another dry day, even if

the skies turn grey towards the west

lair on. With hazy sunshine around

we could see temperatures hit 12 or

13 Celsius. There will be a mild

night to take us through Thursday

night into Friday. Outbreaks of rain

spreading eastwards. The rest of the

week we will between weather systems

and into the weekend most places

will stay dry and temperatures into

double figures. Improvement of last

week.

It certainly is.

Thank you for

that.

Just before we go,

a reminder of the day's

main BBC news headlines.

Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg,

has been called to appear before MPs

to give evidence about the firm's

security over personal data.

It comes after claims

that the London based firm,

Cambridge Analytica,

used personal data to influence

the US presidential elections.

Russian diplomats and

their families have left

Stansted Airport for Moscow.

They were expelled by

the British Government over

the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

An engineer from the Red Arrows

aerobatic display team has died

after a military jet crashed

near RAF Valley on Anglesey.

The pilot of the aircraft

survived the impact

and is receiving medical care.

The cost of housing survivors

of the Grenfell Tower fire in hotels

is more than £20 million.

Dozens of families are still

in emergency accommodation

after the blaze, that claimed 71

lives in June.

That's it.

If you did, join me

again tonight at 10.30pm

or the same time tomorrow.

If you didn't, let us know why

on Twitter or Facebook.

Whatever you're doing tonight,

have a very good night.

Goodbye.