21/11/2017 London News

be able to comprehend what's just

happened is when I wake

Good evening, I'm Riz Lateef.

First tonight, a BBC London

investigation has revealed

the multi million pound bill facing

Councils to improve fire

safety for tenants.

Following the Grenfell tragedy,

a total of £383 million will be

spent by local authorities.

More than half of those contacted

by this programme say

they can't meet the costs

and need financial help.

The Government has yet to agree

to pay, but says it will listen

to concerns over funding.

Susana Mendonca has

this exclusive report.

Hello, Mr Rahman,

very good to see you.

How do you feel about

your new front door?

A personal inspection from the man

holding the purse strings here.

This family is among the first

to get a brand-new fire door

in Tower Hamlets and it has made

them feel safer.

I am very happy at the moment

because there is a new door coming

in and it means more

safety and I am happy.

His block is one of six towers

on the Cranbrook estate where fire

resistant panels have also

been going in.

The work is being done to improve

fire safety for almost 300 flats

here after the Grenfell fire.

But Tower Hamlets does not

have the budget to put sprinklers

in right now and it says it is time

for the government to stump up some

cash to help councils

in tomorrow's budget.

We are spending £7.5 million this

year on urgent actions to these

blocks and we are spending

about another 30 over the next few

years to get up-to-date

with our basic fire safety.

That does not include sprinklers

which we think will be

about another 20 on top of that.

That money does not grow on a tree,

we would either have to put our rent

up or borrow it from somewhere.

Safety is not negotiable.

We need to get a move on if we need

to have sprinklers and, yes,

we would expect funding for that.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire

the government said it would do

whatever it took to make high-rise

building safe, but our research

shows that most London boroughs

are facing mounting costs.

Councils across London have told us

that they are spending more

than £383 million on fire safety

measures as a direct result

of the Grenfell Tower fire.

They include things like removing

cladding, installing new fire doors

and also putting in sprinklers

and 15 of the councils we spoke

to said they had written

to the government asking for help

which has so far not

been forthcoming.

In Wandsworth the council is fitting

sprinklers to 99 of its tower blocks

at a cost of £30 million.

Its Conservative leader says that's

what his budget reserves are for,

although he too would like to see

the Chancellor offer some

help to councils tomorrow.

Wandsworth has been very

prudent with its management

of the housing account.

We have the resources in fact to put

money aside for the fire

safety requirements.

But we would certainly like help

so we could actually ease the burden

and cover any other unforeseen costs

in the blocks.

The government said it

would consider financial

flexibilities for councils that

are doing essential safety work.

Cash-strapped London boroughs

will be wondering whether that means

they will have anything to cheer

about after the budget.

It was a promise made to passengers

by transport bosses, that all

stations would be staffed whilst

services were running.

Well, we've seen documents showing

that underground stations

are being left unattended,

in one case ten times

in just a month.

Here's our Transport Correspondent,

Tom Edwards, with the story.

At Wimbledon Park Tube station lots

of passengers and trains, but not a

staff member insight. It is just

coming up to midday at Wimbledon

Park station and we cannot find any

station staff on duty. The barriers

are all open, there is no one here

to help if you have got any kind of

problem.

I cannot get in. The card

and the Freedom pass does not work

on the machinery.

They are very thin

on the ground, but it is always

staffed during the commuting hours.

These are incident reporting forms.

They showed the station was left

unattended on ten occasions in

October. In some cases for long

periods. The documents also show

that in many a ten-year-old boy was

separated from his mother and got

off a train and ended up on this

platform, but there was no one here

to help as the station was

unattended. He was found later by a

train driver who had to stop his

train to search for the boy. One

document says there is an endemic

staff shortage. Using the Freedom of

Information Act we asked Transport

for London just how big the problem

of unattended stations is. They said

over a three-month period ten

stations were left unattended. They

included Hornchurch, it can, North

Harrow, Harlesden and Wimbledon

Park. Insiders say the real problem

is much worse.

All Tube stations

will be controlled and starved while

services are operating.

When London

Underground closed ticket offices it

promised every station that was

operational would have staff.

The

idea that around London stations are

being left with no staff means

passengers are being put at risk,

the gates are left open so they are

losing ticket revenue and it looks

like the Tube service is

short-staffed.

London Underground

says it is recruiting 320 more staff

and stations are only left

unattended as a last resort.

Wimbledon Park in October

on ten occasions was left

unattended.

We operate the service

364 days a year, we operate night

chips, nearly 5000 staff. In the

context of the system we operate it

is a small amount.

The unions say

this is an unsafe legacy and London

Underground now needs to get a grip.

Underground now needs to get a grip.

All eyes will be on Number 11

tomorrow when the Chancellor reveals

his Government spending plans.

Watching closely will be London

businesses, some of whom are growing

increasingly anxious over

uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

So what do they want

from Philip Hammond?

Here's Katharine Carpenter.

For London's small businesses

the pre-Christmas spending spree

should bring plenty of cheer,

but at this festive fair at Olympia

it is the traders themselves looking

for gifts from the Chancellor,

particularly ones which will help

them meet the challenges

thrown up by Brexit.

I think it would be really great

if they could reduce the VAT

rate back down to 17.5%.

Everything is costing more for us

to buy but then we are passing

the cost on to the consumer.

From recently going to Spain

on a buyer's trip I noticed that

at every conversation Brexit got

brought up and I think they are just

worried to trade with not so much

the big businesses which are already

established, but the small

businesses like us who are

kind of up and coming.

When Brexit happened

there were so many promises

with regard to small businesses

and that probably swung

a lot of the voters.

At the moment we are importing

from Asia, but we want to switch

to a European manufacturer

and we are very worried that post

Brexit we will not be able to do

that because there will be larger

import costs bringing it

in from Europe.

It is not just smaller

companies hoping they will

like what is unwrapped tomorrow.

Big business has been setting

out its Brexit budget wish list too,

including a timetable

for a transition period

so the city can stay competitive,

and to keep up the momentum

on infrastructure projects.

He should probably focus on things

like better rail infrastructure,

reduce congestion on the roads,

as well as better Internet,

as well as more housing,

especially affordable housing,

for workers in London.

Back at the fair those

dependent on markets

beyond Europe were more bullish.

With a weaker pound it will help

exporters and I am looking forward

to a continuation of it.

Is there anything you are looking

for from the Chancellor?

Not really, no.

No, he can cut the tax rate

for us, that is for small,

individual businesses,

but, no, good luck really.

Whether businesses are excited

by the opportunities

of Brexit or concerned by it,

there does seem to be agreement

that this is a period of great

uncertainty and what they do not

want from the Chancellor

when he unwraps his budget

are any big surprises.

That's it for now from me,

but lets find out what the weather's

up to with Sara Thornton.

It is looking rather pretty. I was

trying to brighten up what has been

a cloudy day and there is more cloud

in the forecast for tonight as well

and with that the mild air. But I

want to talk about the wind because

they are becoming a key feature of

the weather through the next 36

hours. An area of low pressure just

tracks its way off to the north and

east. When you see these white lines

across the map that means we are in

for some windy weather. The rain

will hold off for much of the day

tomorrow but the wind will be

picking up and we have a Met Office

weather warning which runs from nine

o'clock tomorrow morning until the

early hours of Thursday and affects

us really towards the end of

tomorrow. It is mild at 12 Celsius.

When the numbers go up that is the

wind increasing. Up to 40 miles an

hour by the end of the day. It will

be a mild day and it will stay dry

for the majority of the day. It is

only in the evening that we will see

some rain. It is overnight tomorrow

night into Thursday when we get that

real squeeze on the isobars and they

really come through. We could see

wind gusts of 50 miles an hour for a

time but as that system pulls away

on Thursday it should turn into a

fine day. In the outlook you will

notice it stars to turn quite a bit

cooler and by the weekend we will be

talking about frost and something

maybe even