08/03/2017 London News

So the Chancellor's big announcement as far as we're concerned,

was for London to have more devolved power.

But on analysing the details it seems there's not that much

Yes, Local Authorities will start to keep their business rates,

but when it comes to funding police and projects like

Our political editor Tim Donovan can explain more about it.

He is in Westminster for us tonight. Anyone expecting a sudden transfer

of responsibility to the mayor or to the boroughs or anyone expecting

grand projects would have been disappointed. Having said that it's

clear a sizeable chunk of the extra money made available will go to

London councils and councils in the home Counties to help them deal with

this acute issue of caring for the elderly and providing help for

people with complex needs. It's also clear that a sizeable amount of this

hardship fund dealing with business rates for businesses in the capital

will have a disproportionate impact in the capital because it is in the

capital where we have seen thousands of businesses affected by sudden big

rises because this is where rents have risen so high. Carl Mercer now

reports. There is one further area

in which I can announce action The Communities Secretary and I have

listened to the concerns raised The revaluation has undoubtedly

raised some hard cases. While the Chancellor

was on his feet in the Commons, Hackney's Brewers were on theirs

on the bottling line. Two small firms, like hundreds

across London, who are facing big You go from the right,

four in, that's my grandad. Bob Cooke was born in the flat

above his Hackney pie and mash shop. At 69, he is still

making 700 pies a day. But, from April, his business rates

are set to go up nearly ?2,000. I said to my wife, it's

a terrible thing, I don't know We will probably pay it, but it's

sucking the life out of us, really. Just around the corner, it's

a similar story at this brewery. Four years old tomorrow, they, too,

will see their rates go up. In Hackney itself,

the average is 46% rate hike. And these are all people that make

up our local community. They are neighbours,

they are our friends, Today, the Chancellor announced

a little help for London. ?72 million will come to London's

councils to help businesses hardest My first impressions

are it's not enough. I've been speaking to small

businesses across London over the last few weeks and months,

including those who represent The Chancellor appears to have

listened a bit but his announcement My worry is that small

businesses in London, who worked their socks off,

may go under. London will remain as one of only

two cities in the UK where business The majority of cities, actually,

business rates will go down. What we see is in the most

successful cities, London and Reading, actually,

business rates will go up. What that means for businesses

in London, particularly large businesses, is they are the ones

that will bear the brunt Details of the scheme to help

firms affected will be The devolution deal announced by the

Chancellor could be one for the purists, there was a suggestion in

there that councils could be able to raise money from developers on land

they hold on to to pay for infrastructure projects, a taskforce

looking at that. There is a suggestion there's going to be a

devolution of health powers, an announcement that be to do with

property and land and housing and then a suggestion some criminal

justice powers, maybe over youth offending or the probation service,

could be more of a role for the boroughs and the mayor there. The

mayor said he was the half-full kind of mayor and this was a step in the

right direction. Analysts said hang on, all looks a bit wooly. The

Minister for London was positive. I think we got a lot of concrete

things in this budget. We heard extra funding for social

care, it's a huge issue in London. We had extra help from

the Chancellor on top of the existing transitional relief

for our small businesses and for our We had extra funding for new schools

and extra money for maintenance We also had this important step

forward on devolution. So I think there's a lot in here

that Londoners should welcome. An overall verdict, maybe pending,

to be confirmed because we have to see what proportion, what amount in

this national pot is going to come to local authorities. There is a

suggestion from some that the Government is focussing on its mid

engine, that's where the Chancellor will be from tomorrow morning,

perhaps the emphasis has moved away from London. Certainly on devolution

the talk is of a taskforces and of future announcements but not really

much there about London being able to react to its problems and issues

and raising money to deal with them. Thank you.

In other news, the Crown Prosecution Service says it'll

review its decision not to prosecute a far-right activist

for a speech he made at the Cenotaph in Westminster.

Jeremy Bedford-Turner has links to Nazi symphathisers and was filmed

making a speech to supporters two years ago.

The CPS decided not to prosecute him for alleged anti-Semitism but that

decision was challenged by the Campaign

An Independent Police Complaints Commission Commissioner has stepped

down from her duties while police investigate criminal allegations.

Jennifer Izekor was in charge of the inquiry into three Met police

The case collapsed and all were all cleared last July.

Police Scotland has confirmed they're looking at two criminal

The IPCC says Ms Izekor's suspension does not indicate any concern

Children as young as 13 bought knives in London when teenager

volunteers were used to test if shops were complying

In the undercover operation Police and Trading Standards found more

than one in ten stores breaking the law by selling

The tests were carried out as part of the Metropolitan Police's

Operation Sceptre initiative aimed at reducing knife crime.

The construction industry is thought to be responsible for more air

pollution than you might think, especially when it comes

Generators and inefficient vehicles are being blamed but now

alternatives are being sourced as Jim Wheble has been finding out.

The careful dismantling of Ford's stamping plant at Dagenham.

But amidst the mess is a quiet, clean revolution in construction.

This is one of our normal diesel generators that's running

And this is one of our hybrid generators, which,

when it is running, is completely silent.

Before the hybrids, only diesel generators would have supplied

the electricity to this type of site.

And considering just clearing all this lot will take 2.5 years,

that's a great deal less diesel being consumed.

We've been using our hybrids here for one month and we've already

saved over 3000 litres of diesel we haven't had to use to power

And that's probably about ten tonnes of carbon that we've

saved from being emitted into the atmosphere.

It's estimated that up to 7% of London's and nitrogen oxides

It's estimated that up to 7% of London's nitrogen oxides

Because since the VW omissions scandal, there is now doubt

What we're doing now with the project is figuring out

on the sites and we're doing something called PEMS, portable

emissions measurement systems, and we're taking total emissions

measurements from those engines to see how they perform in

In 2015, City Hall did ban the use of older types of polluting

But they are pushing for more broader powers.

So, what we'd like is the powers akin to what we're using for the low

emission zone, so the ability to enforce emissions

standards across London, like we do with vehicles,

but to do it for construction machinery, machinery used

In the shadow of the ultimate symbol of green energy.

Powering demolition this way might be the stuff of Mad Max movies,

but it's hoped the dawn of a cleaner age in construction

Transport for London has scrapped its standing-only escalators scheme

The convention is for customers to stand on the right allowing

But a six-month trial at Holborn station where all passengers stood

saw peak-time congestion reduced by 30%.

Nevertheless, TfL says it won't be rolling out the scheme.

A look at the weather now with Louise. A nice day as far as

temperatures go, but not sunny. It was messy really. That's the

word! Really messy. Mild, yes, 15 at

Heathrow but a lot of cloud and drizzly rain and showers.

Tomorrow is going to be better, sunny spells and very mild for all

of us. Through the night we keep that cloud, thick enough still for

the odd spot of drizzly rain, particularly down to the south of

the Thames. That will ease during the early hours of the morning. It's

going to be a mild night after that mild day. The difference with

tomorrow is the cloud should break up and we will get a little more

sunshine. It's going to be a promising day, more sun means that

temperatures will peak at around 14-15. One or two might see highs of

around 16. Let's look at the general outlook, staying mild and Nick has

the bigger picture across outlook, staying mild and Nick has

the bigger picture across the UK. Hello. Spring is in the air with

temperatures reaching 14 or 15 in a few spots today as they will again

over the next few days. Very pleasant in the sun. The daffodils

were loving that in York. More places under blue sky tomorrow and

dry. Tonight heavy showers moving across Scotland on strong to gale

force winds, some may clip Northern Ireland. It's a mild night in

southern England and South Wales but damp and