29/11/2017 London News

Here on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.

A very good evening.

London's housing crisis

is one of the biggest

challenges facing our city.

Today, as the Mayor set

out his vision for the capital,

he outlined how he'll tackle

the shortage of homes.

Sadiq Khan says he'll rip up

existing planning rules in order

to meet his target of building

65,000 homes a year -

half of them affordable.

And it could mean bigger housing

developments being built

in suburban town centres.

Here's our political

editor, Tim Donovan.

The station at Twickenham,

home of English rugby,

is finally being redeveloped.

But of the 115 homes to be

built here, precisely

none will be affordable,

a concession granted so the scheme

could be finished in time

for the World Cup in 2015.

At the time, the planning committee

were pressured to accept

a scheme with no affordable,

because they wanted the development

to be completed in time

for the Rugby World Cup.

You will notice...

In time for that?

That we are not quite on schedule.

Very disappointing,

very disappointing.

It seems absurd to me that

you couldn't provide some level

of affordable on a site this big.

It just really is a question of,

are you prepared to build

at a high enough density?

Are councils like Richmond,

with among the lowest building

rates in the capital,

now in the Mayor's sights?

You've got to make more

of opportunities like this

when they arise, believes the Mayor.

Build higher, certainly

here in the suburbs,

create more density.

And because this is a station,

it's a chance to change behaviour.

You can insist on fewer

cars by allowing fewer

car parking spaces.

Today he chose Barking Riverside,

the biggest regeneration project

in Europe, to outline his plans.

Experts have told him the capital

needs 43,000 affordable new homes

to be built each year.

He wants more small-scale

developers involved,

and the current restrictions

on density, how many homes that can

be squeezed onto sites, lifted.

What I'm saying to developers,

what I'm saying to councils,

what I'm saying to housing

associations is, it is possible,

with good design, to meet

the needs of Londoners.

That means high-density,

good-quality homes.

What about outer London

in particular - is that where

there's been the failure to now?

All councils will have targets,

all councils will know

what the expectations are.

Outer London, as well as in London,

and inner London had problems

around infrastructure.

One of the reasons we are here

in Barking Riverside is to see

the difference having

infrastructure can make.

If outer London boroughs

have the assistance they need,

I'm sure they can build good

quality, high density homes.

But to his opponents,

it's a threat to the suburbs.

Outer London is going to be made

to look like inner London.

Now, people live in the suburbs

because they like it,

because it's greener,

because there's more space.

And what he's actually

done is he has declared

war on outer London.

As a result of all these policies,

it's going to be browner,

more overcrowded and hard

to get around.

The mayor has pledged to strengthen

protection for the greenbelt.

That went down well

here in Ilford today.

What we did here, we got loads

and loads of people,

thousands of people involved.

Chris led a campaign to fight off

plans to turn the 60

acres of playing fields

into a housing estate.

As far as we're concerned,

it's now saved.

The council have taken the plan off

the shelf and said, that's no good,

we are saving Oakfield for sport

and for the community.

But the local council, Redbridge,

still wants to reclassify and build

on a tenth of its green belt,

saying it's the only way

to provide the houses needed.

Every available means should be used

to build new homes, says the Mayor.

Clashes over location, type

and scale seems certain to follow.

On average, 100 families are evicted

from their homes every day

in London and the South East.

We've spoken to two families

who say they feel helpless

and confused by the system.

Now charities are calling

on councils to intervene earlier

to support people in social housing

struggling to manage

their money before it reaches

the point of homelessness.

Chris Rogers reports.

Tomorrow morning, this

family could be homeless.

They have been evicted.

They have nowhere to go.

So, this is all of your belongings?

Yes.

And you haven't unpacked?

No, I haven't.

There's little point

in unpacking when you know

an eviction notice is coming.

This is my eviction letter.

Your temporary accommodation

at the above address

will end on Thursday,

the 30th of November.

Michael and Alison were

evicted from their social

housing home in Islington.

They fell thousands

of pounds behind in rent.

The council offered them this

house, 20 miles away,

in Purfleet, in Essex.

It says that it is your

fault you are homeless.

Yes, that is not true.

They say they're struggling

to understand the system,

their rights and obtain

the paperwork needed

to get housing benefit.

Alison has mental health problems

and can rarely leave the house.

Michael is struggling to get work

and focuses on taking

care of the children.

So, where do you think you're

going to end up next?

We're not sure what's

going to happen, as we say,

because we're only now looking

into other services like Shelter.

We asked Islington Council why

the family were being held

responsible for their homelessness.

They told us it could have done more

if it had been contacted

earlier in the process.

Kim Stewart is an outreach

worker with the charity

School Home Support.

Michael and Alison are one of 10,000

struggling families her charity has

tried to help this year.

Homelessness,

overcrowding and eviction.

I mean, it's very confined

in this place anyway.

So the only place they can play

in here is in the corridors.

This is the second time Kim

has had to help Stacey,

a single parent with four children.

This room, with no toilet

or kitchen, is all she can afford.

In rent arrears, she was evicted

from her council house in August.

Now this landlord wants her out

because of her son's behaviour.

So basically they're

going to give you an eviction

notice because your son...

Touched a fire extinguisher.

This is a son that's got ADHD?

And autism, yes.

High rents, welfare reform and life

choices all play their part.

But is eviction always necessary?

There's a lack of communication

and home visits, if you've

done a home visit.

If the housing association,

the council had done a home visit

when things start building up,

if you've got a debt you get

people writing you a letter

saying we've got a debt.

That gets building up.

Go do a home visit,

see what's going on.

Actually understand

what the families are going through.

On average, 100 families

are evicted every day.

Chris Rodgers, BBC London News.

Since the Grenfell tragedy brought

fire safety into the spotlight,

BBC London has revealed several

safety issues with tower

blocks across the capital.

Now structural problems have been

found in another estate,

this time in Fulham,

where fire wardens are

on patrol 24 hours a day.

Gareth Furby has this

exclusive report.

Two 1960s tower blocks in Fulham.

But are they safe?

Perhaps not.

In an empty flat, structural

engineers have now cut away concrete

to expose cracking where the floors

join the walls.

A fire safety expert we've spoken

to, who is not connected

with the structural investigation,

says this is an alarming discovery.

Because such cracking is seen

throughout the blocks,

it may mean a fire could not be

contained in a flat.

Instead, he says, it could spread

throughout the building.

What could happen here is,

because of the lack of fire

stopping, the smoke and fire

could spread from flat

to flat, vertically.

Following the structural

investigation and the discovery

of the cracking, fire safety wardens

have now started patrolling

the tower blocks 24 hours a day.

Their brief is to get

residents out as quickly

as possible if a fire starts.

But some residents are concerned.

Hammersmith and Fulham council

insists with wardens in place

the residents are safe.

But last night they faced

some tough questions.

And, for this woman, Lexa Reid,

it was repeating a scene

that the BBC filmed back in 1984.

How does this message get back that

some of us want out?

Even then, she was worried

about the safety of these blocks.

Will you tell me that these flats

are going to be safe?

In July, after the Grenfell

disaster, she wrote

to the London Fire Brigade demanding

an urgent investigation

into the safety of the blocks.

Now, fire wardens are

patrolling outside her flat.

It always takes a disaster

before anything is done

anywhere, doesn't it?

Whatever it may be, whether it

be a fire or whatever.

I believe that we did everything

we can to keep residents safe.

The worst thing we could do is cause

panic among our own residents

and put them out of a home if we can

make them safe with fire

wardens, extra precautions,

which is what we've been

doing to date.

The council says next week

a new alarm system will be fitted

in the blocks and the Fire Brigade

is going to check every

flat for fire safety.

I'll say goodnight now

and it's over to Nick Miller

for a check on the weather.

I think the picture behind you says

it all?

I can't hide it from you,

temperatures have not dropped too

far this evening but they have

further to go. We have seen a bit of

cloud across, but I think after

midnight a lot of that will

disappear. Frost taking over the

map. We will be at or just below

freezing as Thursday begins. Another

frosty start to the day. Under clear

skies, the first part of the day,

there will be a lot of sunshine,

more than we have seen today. Into

the afternoon, there will be some

patchy cloud coming through from

time to time. Temperatures, just

heading up to about three or four

micro degrees. The wind is making it

feel colder. Tomorrow evening,

especially tomorrow night, turning

more interesting as we start to see

some wintry showers beginning to

move across. If you icy patches

developing is well into Friday

morning. Sunshine following during

Friday. The showers start to fade

away. A change of wind direction

going into the weekend. Milder air

starting to move in, but with plenty

of