05/07/2017 London News

Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Good evening, I'm Asad Ahmad.

A specialist team is to take over the housing department

at Kensington and Chelsea council following criticism of its response

The Government says the task-force will include experts

But opponents say its not enough - and they want to see Commissioners

Here's our Political Editor, Tim Donovan.

There are so many things to do, so much help needed,

and not just for those in Grenfell Tower itself,

This man owns a flat in the block overlooking the tower.

He hasn't stayed there since the fire, where, he says,

When you feel safe when you see people, high vis officials informing

you, updating you what's going to happen, then

And at the moment, who are you seeing?

No detail yet about the new task force; how many people,

who and where from, but we do now know this.

The special focus of this recovery task force is going to be

on housing, regeneration and community engagement.

This seemed to one Conservative councillor in Kensington to be

The focus is on helping people in North Kensington,

not on issuing parking permits to people in Chelsea or whatever.

It's about helping the people of North Kensington,

that's where the resources should be concentrated.

So I think this is absolutely the right thing to do.

But Labour, including London's Mayor, argue it is not

enough, wanting a full-blown team of commissioners to take

over the whole council, well survivors say better

If that's improved in the proper way, we shouldn't have many

Because we're going to be linked, we're going to be one unit,

the communication is going to be more clear.

The councils face protest and criticism and with its own staff

stretched to the limit, this looks like vital relief.

You can't exist in an emergency situation for a very long time.

If Kensington and Chelsea need assistance, in respect of being able

to run business as usual and dealing with this disaster that

has landed slap bang in the heart of their community

in North Kensington, then that's absolutely

the right thing to do they would need that support.

There's no indication yet how long that support will be needed,

but nothing after this looks like being easy.

Well, earlier today, a building housing some offices -

which neighbours Grenfell Tower - was evacuated.

London Fire Brigade said there were concerns

about Fire Exits being blocked - because they backed

Some people working in the offices raised concerns about the length

of time it's taken the authorities to come to today's decision.

We were going about our normal daily business, saw some firemen doing

We were then advised to immediately evacuate, urgently.

Whilst outside, we spoke, a police officer spoke to me

and explained that the fire brigade had made a recommendation three

weeks ago, so the day after the fire, to the council

that the building was not safe for commercial use,

The rear fire escape is the crime scene.

My concern is, not only have we been in there for three weeks,

we've had clients, some from the tower, coming

And another major development regarding Grenfell, which BBC London

has discovered, is that more equipment

could be on the way to help tackle future fires.

Louisa Preston has more details.

This could be a major addition for the London Fire Brigade. It could.

You will remember during the night of that fire, we saw the shots of

the fireman on those aerial platforms but they couldn't get high

enough. That platform they were using on that night was actually

borrowed from Surrey, which could reach 42 metres. Now questions have

been asked since the fire, saying why doesn't London have the aerial

platforms that can reach the heights the New York Fire Department can

reach, 70 metres? BBC London has been to Finland where they have

ladders of 100 metres, and our reporters were talking to

manufacturers there, he said if they had ladders of 100 metres, it would

have made a big difference. We know London Fire Brigade is considering

higher aerial platforms as they are about to renew their fleet. It is

something the Fire Commissioner spoke to us about a few days ago. We

are fortunately just about to replace our aerial fleet, so as part

of that we will look at the new technology that will allow us to

have taller aerial platforms. The problem until now and London has

been the streets are quite narrow, there is weight loading and machines

are too big but now it will be one of our priorities. There seems to be

some movement on that as well? Yes, the Fire Commissioner and the Mayor

of London met last on Wednesday, and he has more or less said to her,

tell me what you need. Basically draw up a list. So an incident by

Grenfell can never happen again and she has done that, we are being

told. On that list consists three aerial platforms. They are not

cheap, it is a hefty price tag between 2.5- ?3 million and that no

one have to go to the government for that money. I've asked the London

Fire Brigade Commissioner to do an urgent review of what else she

thinks we need is a Fire Service in London to make sure we can deal with

fires and tower blocks. That will mean additional resources from

central government to pay for the additional equipment the London Fire

Brigade needs. What are the chances of getting that money? Many would

say this is a time to make that argument. I think many would be

extremely astonished if London Fire Brigade to get the money to provide

the equipment that they so desperately need. A lot of people

will have their eyes on what happens there. Thank you for that, Louisa.

This programme has seen figures which show reported

acid attacks in London have more than doubled - since 2014.

One of the latest was in Beckton, as two cousins sat in

a car at traffic lights, with the window down.

Police are treating it as a hate crime,

and it's heightened fears in the Asian and Muslim

And a warning, that some viewers may find images

Two cousins out celebrating a birthday.

She was sitting in a car with her cousin, Jameel,

when acid was sprayed into their faces.

This shocking attack two weeks ago is being treated as a hate crime.

I can't sleep, I keep thinking this guy's going to come for me.

There's no reason why this wouldn't be racially motivated.

And ever since, has some in the Muslim and Asian

So many acid attacks occurring in London recently,

People can get hold of acid and attack people so, so easily.

Police are investigating a suspected acid attack

here in Mile End, where two people were taken to hospital.

The motivation of that attack is unknown, but it appears to be

It does make me worried, because I heard this on Facebook,

Whatsapp, Muslim people are getting attacked, they are being acid

I do feel scared sometimes, to go outside, because

People can go around me and they can throw acid on me.

Young people like us don't feel safe to go

out in London any more, because of things,

Overall, acid attacks have risen year-on-year.

In 2014-2015, 188 people were injured as a result

The following financial year it increased to 317.

And up until April this year, it jumped again to 398.

There seems to be a right and it's prevalent to East London,

The perception that it's being used more and more in hate crime,

I have no evidence to suggest that it's used

I've not seen that as an increase, and I would say if anybody

believes that's the case, then they need to tell us.

Sarmad Ismail set up a petition, calling for more restrictions

on household products which can be used in such attacks.

Just like family members being attacked, so hopefully try

and get some letters sent to some MPs, they will debate it

in Parliament, try and get a law put in place or some sort of deterrent

and then see a crackdown on the purchase of corrosive substances.

The hard evidence doesn't show a rise in acid being used in hate

crimes, but the perception after this attack is

Finally tonight, transport for London has launched a new map to

help people with claustrophobia and anxiety. The map will help them to

navigate the network more comfortably by showing brutes with

fewer tunnels and also highlight which services are in tunnels.

That's it for now from me, but lets find out what the weathers

It has been a lovely day to day weather-wise.

Yes, it was gorgeous. Temperatures got up to 30 degrees at both

Heathrow and Surrey. More of the same coming up over the next few

days. But, for some of us we might see some of these in the next 24

hours, so it won't be entirely dry. Overnight tonight, 23 degrees at the

moment outside. Those temperatures low to fall so another warm nights

sleeping. Later in the night we could start to see a few

thunderstorms move up from the north of France, moving across the forced

if the storms arrive in the morning it might be they don't have a huge

amount of rain. Not everyone will see a storm and there will be some

warm weather, it will feel hot and humid once again through the

afternoon, temperatures up to 30 degrees. I would say, if we see some

storms breaking out late in the day towards evening, they could be

torrential, but we think they will develop to the north-east of our

area. Looking at Friday, either way it looks like the weather will

become dry for everyone with plenty of sunshine. A familiar picture with

temperatures and the high 20s or low 30s. It looks like this hot weather

will last at least into the first part of the weekend as well.

will last at least into the first part of the weekend as well.

Temperatures should get up to about 28 on Saturday. That is the weather.

Good evening, I expect the Dave met or exceeded your July expectations

because it looked for the most part a bit like that in the southern

isles. One of the great parts would be it was 30 degrees in the London

area, or just about. Further north, 13 under quite a banner of cloud. We

don't care how arty you get with your weather