10/08/2017 London News

Hundreds of residents in Southwark will be evacuated from their homes

It follows investigations carried out after the Grenfell Tower fire.

BBC London took a safety expert to inspect tower blocks

on the Ledbury Estate in July and their report said

the buildings could be at risk of a catastrophic collapse

Southwark Council said the experts were wrong -

but has now told residents their gas and water supplies will be turned

off, leaving them unable to cook and with no hot water or heating.

This was Ronan Point, a block of flats in Newham.

Because of the structure of the building, one

Homes were destroyed, four people died, and the law

was changed so that blocks with a similar design

But the fear nearly 50 years later is that this could happen again.

Tonight, at a different block of flats, the gas is about to be

turned off and all the residents will have to leave while they

A lot of the residents I've seen are very upset.

They want to know why has this happened.

They want to know why these problems weren't picked up sooner.

Do you think you've been safe during that time?

The Ledbury tower blocks are a similar construction to Ronan Point.

The council thought they were reinforced too,

After the Grenfell Tower fire they were being examined

by structural engineers to check they met fire safety measures,

but our independent expert was concerned by the gas supply.

The council should immediately cut off the gas supply until they know

that the building can withstand the blast of a gas explosion.

At the time the council told us the blocks were safe.

The four tower blocks on the Ledbury estate were actually

built after Ronan Point and are of a different design.

So therefore we feel that they are safe to have gas in them.

However, we have asked the structural engineers looking

Why are you keeping people in the buildings before

We said to people if they don't feel safe we will move them,

but a mass evacuation isn't the right thing at the moment.

We've put measures in place to ensure there is safety.

But today, residents heard that the council would turn off

the gas imminently and all of them would be asked to leave while repair

At every stage of this investigation we've put residents' safety first.

We've acted on the best information available.

Residents have been given hot plates and told they can shower

There's no word yet on when the gas will come back on.

What exactly does this mean for residents? If you are resident in

those tower blocks you will be temporarily moved out, you are

evacuated, only bit by bit. Not everyone will go in one moment. That

will be while they make the repair work. What about more widely, other

people in tower blocks tonight might be concerned about their own safety.

Well, at the moment we don't know. It was 50 years, nearly 50 years,

that this tower block was potentially dangerous and we didn't

hear about it. The council have alluded to that in their statement.

They said they didn't own the tower block when it was constructed, so

they are reliant on records that are about 50 years old. They also said

in a statement that they have referred this matter to the

government, whether or not this will affect other buildings around the

rest of UK and potentially London, that doesn't mean people should

panic about it. It just means that we might see further investigations

into the strength of some of these buildings structurally in the

future. Very much. Meanwhile, London Fire Brigade

won't receive any more money from the government to fund

lifesaving equipment - following the Grenfell tragedy -

despite a request from the Mayor. He'd written to the Home Secretary

asking for help to buy, among other things, new breathing

apparatus for firefighters, But Amber Rudd says

they have the resources they need and it's up to City Hall to decide

how it's spent. Jeremy Corbyn has told

this programme he wants Here's our political

correspondent, Karl Mercer. The Grenfell fire led

to calls for London's They had to borrow an aerial

ladder from Surrey and a drone from Kent to

help tackle the blaze. London's Fire Commissioner then drew

up a list of new equipment Top of the list, three

new aerial platforms, 1200 new breathing

apparatus sets and two new drones,

along with more masks, The mayor has said he will raid

savings to pay for now, but wants the Government

to cover the cost. I've had, this week, an initial

response from the Home Secretary which I regret to say is not

encouraging and stresses that it is a matter

for the GLA to manage within its existing

funding arrangements. This is the letter the Home

Secretary sent to the mayor. "Funding of the Fire Brigade is a

matter for you," and says City Hall already gets

enough money from Government. She signs off with,

"Best wishes, Amber." The message from the Home Secretary

to the mayor is a blunt one. She said, in the wake

of the Grenfell fire, if London's Fire Brigade wants

more kit, City Hall will The worry here at City Hall is that

paying for it now will leave a black hole in the finances

in years to come. How can we afford all this

if the Government doesn't help? I think this will be a serious

problem in the future, about balancing the books

for the London Fire Brigade. Let's fund our Fire Service properly

and recognise how vital I ask the Home Secretary,

think again. Sadiq Khan has been

elected Mayor of London. He understands the

situation in London. He's making that call,

he's doing it for a reason The mayor says paying

for the new kit could mean scenes with the potential for fire station

closures and the loss of jobs as was seen three years ago,

when similar savings had to be made. The Home Secretary's letter says

City Hall is getting enough money Police believe a van driver may have

been killed on the M11 in Essex after a lump of concrete was thrown

from the bridge. Detectives say the object hit his windscreen as he was

driving close to Stansted Airport yesterday afternoon. The man, in his

60s, lost control of the van, feared off the road and hit a tree. He

Three people have been treated for minor injuries

after an "unidentified substance" was delivered in an envelope to a

The Metropolitan Police said the incident is not

An investigation's under way after a double-decker crashed

into a shop in south-west London during this morning's rush hour.

Two passengers trapped on board had to be cut free.

A nurse who was on the bus, claims the driver told her he had blacked

At the start of rush hour in south London,

A passenger travelling on this number 77 bus along Lavender Hill

in Clapham described how it veered off the road and into a shop.

There was a lot of screaming from passengers on the bus.

There was a lady wedged in the front right seat, you could only see

She was screaming for help, there was a lot of blood.

Went to try and help her, the first reaction was to try to

pull her out but it was physically impossible to pull her out

It was then up to the London Fire Brigade to save her.

She and another woman also on the top deck were rescued

That's an aerial ladder platform which is a height vehicle

which we use to reach either tall buildings or in this case,

when we have casualties trapped on the upper deck of the bus,

as in this situation, we can use it to provide

to bring the casualties down, which is what we've done.

Other passengers on board were treated by paramedics at the scene.

And the driver was also taken to hospital.

It has been claimed he had some sort of seizure

I didn't see the bus driver but I heard from other passengers

Another lady on the bus said she saw him slack-jawed,

No one was inside the shop as it hasn't yet opened.

The upmarket kitchen showroom said in a statement that its thoughts

As the bus is meticulously and slowly taken away, you can see

the full extent of the damage and how the front top end of the bus

Transport for London along with the Met police are now

A cinema that's been shut for more than 30 years is to be restored.

The Savoy Cinema in Hackney was built in the '30s, but shut in 1984.

The new owners are going to turn it into a cultural hub for film,

theatre and music, to be called the Hackney Arts Centre.

That's it for now from me, but let's find out what the weather's

Good evening. After yesterday's deluge, today came as something of a

relief, because there was a lot of dry weather and gradually things

brightened up. We saw some sunshine. That's how tomorrow starts off. It

will be dry, there will be spelt of some sunshine around. Staying dry

through the rest of the night. There could be the odd mist patch under

clear skies. It will turn a bit chilly, 13 in the centre of London,

but out in the countryside some spots could get down towards single

digits. Tomorrow, a cracking start. Blue skies and sunshine for the most

part. We'll see some high cloud streaming in from the West. It will

turn the sunshine hazy around lunchtime, I suspect, and the cloud

macro will thicken up in the afternoon, maybe some rain in the

west later. 22 top temperature. We will see some patchy rain moves

through during Friday night. We'll keep a lot of cloud on spots of

drizzle on Saturday. Temperatures around 20. Sunday should be a

brighter day. We'll see some spells of sunshine. If you are heading

further afield, let's check the National forecast with Helen

Willetts. Good evening. A much nicer day after

yesterday's deluge across southern and eastern areas. As you can see,

it has already been a wet month. A very wet month across southern and

eastern