12/12/2017 London News

Here on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.

Good evening and welcome

to BBC London News.

Freezing overnight temperatures have

seen a surge in demand for beds

at homeless shelters in the capital.

One charity in central

London says last night

was its busiest this year.

It's estimated there are 1,000

people sleeping rough

but it can also be a struggle

to reach those in need,

as Chris Rogers report.

I'm going to come

and sit in with you.

Is that all right?

That's cool.

Meet Paulina and Martin from Poland.

And Ian from Scotland.

This doorway in Charing Cross

is their home tonight.

It is quite rough, depends how

you are going to prepare yourself

for that, you know what I mean,

that's the most important thing.

The most important thing that

you need to protect your body,

that's the first thing

and your mind.

You can't let yourself to run

to drugs or alcohol.

Despite the freezing temperatures,

many choose the streets rather

than a room with strangers

in a shelter.

It's warm, that's the first thing.

Anybody's better than this?

I don't know, because

like we stick together.

So we sleep side by side.

Basically, yeah.

Like a brother of

the blood, you know.

You look after each other.

I can sleep in doors

but I choose to sleep outside.

With us.

With him.

Merry Christmas.

Just 200 yards away,

there is a shelter with 45 beds.

But freezing temperatures do force

most to seek shelter.

Rough sleeping, like this,

is the most visual form

of homelessness but actually

collecting data to know how many

people are sleeping on our pavements

tonight is really difficult

because they come

and go from shelters.

But as the cold weather sets

in like it is tonight and has done

over the course of the week,

charities are able to get a clearer

idea of just how many people

are in need of a bed

because they come flooding into them

because of the cold weather.

The Connection Shelter is expecting

to be full to capacity tonight.

But there'll still be heading

out onto the streets.

They have various reasons for not

wanting to come indoors to night

centres or the general hostel routes

but we still maintain our attempts

to convince them otherwise,

understand their reasons for not

wanting to come inside and generally

doing checks to make sure

that they are physically capable

of staying out for the night

in these temperatures and also

mentally capable as well

in some cases.

On Christmas Day, Euston Station

will be transformed into a huge

shelter for 200 homeless.

While the number of rough

sleepers is down slightly,

it's because of more shelters,

not fewer people in need of them.

Chris Rogers, BBC London News.

Bereaved families have delivered

a petition to Downing Street calling

for an overhaul of the public

inquiry into the Grenfell Fire.

It comes as Kensington and Chelsea

says it's leading the biggest

house-purchasing programme by any

local authority in recent history -

promising to make 300 new properties

available by Christmas.

So far, less than a quarter

of the families affected

by the tragedy have moved

into permanent homes.

Frankie McCamley reports.

Bereaved families and a survivor

the fire at Grenfell tower

delivering a petition

to the Prime Minister

asking her to consider

changing the way Sir Martin

Moore-Bick runs the inquiry.

Their message is clear.

We're saying he needs

a diverse panel to help him.

We are for Sir Martin and he has

a lot of experience as a judge

and also about fire,

especially with commercial fires

and containers and things,

but we just feel that he just needs

a bit more information and support

to help him come

to a truthful conclusion.

Again, a lack of trust

between the Government,

the council and those affected

by the tragedy.

From the inquiry, to housing.

This is a two-bedroom flat

we have acquired this week.

It's going on the website.

Of the 208 households,

45 have so far moved into permanent

homes like this one but the council

is trying to change that.

Typically, you would either

have a couple who would have had

a two bedroom flat at Grenfell tower

or you will have a couple

with a child, single child

for a second bedroom.

Just over three miles

from Grenfell Tower this is one

of 70 two bedroom properties

the council are buying,

it hopes to acquire 300

by Christmas, spending £235 million.

The pace has been very slow.

But equally, we have been

gathering information as far

as people, what people want.

But we stress we have always run

at the pace of the individual,

not run at our pace or set

a dictation saying people must be

out by a certain time.

But many don't think they'll

be in these permanent

homes any time soon.

Hi, Tiago how are you doing.

So this is your room,

this is your home.

Yeah.

After escaping from the 13th

floor of Grenfell Tower,

Tiago Alves has lived in this hotel

for nearly six months.

I don't really feel at home here.

This is basically

a place for me to sleep.

I've applied for 15 properties

permanently, and I've not had

the opportunity to go and see any

of these properties.

Now, the reason for that is,

there is a priority listing,

which I completely understand.

There are people who need

this house more than me,

but the way the council is trying

to say that, you know,

we are allowing people

to go at their own pace,

that's not the case.

I haven't been offered

a permanent property at all,

haven't even gone to see

any permanent properties.

What does that feel like,

when you're applying and applying

and you get no response?

It feels like they care more...

..about me as a number

than me as an individual.

It's all formal

like them being cold.

They really, really don't care.

The council has now given

Tiago a temporary home.

It says it's working round-the-clock

but rehousing bereaved and those

with children is its priority.

Tiago is looking forward to getting

out of here before Christmas.

Frankie McCamley, BBC London News.

The latest attempt to clean up

London's toxic air has seen

the launch of the capital's second

Low Emission Bus Zone.

It's been set up in one of the worst

polluted areas in London -

Brixton Road which runs

from Streatham to Brixton.

The road regularly breaches

EU pollution limits

on nitrogen dioxide levels.

He says his life's work has been

to protect cinema history.

A film fanatic whose love

of the big screen began

when he was just 15 years-old -

has created a treasure

trove of memorabilia,

including some dating back

to the 1920s.

But now, his cinema museum faces

an uncertain future,

as Alpa Patel explains.

It is a look into a forgotten past.

At the helm, 81-year-old

Ronald Grant.

Admission for one.

A fanatic collector

of cinema memorabilia.

It all began when he took a job as

a projectionist, at the age of 15.

I was in a warm place,

being paid to watch cowboy films.

It was paradise.

Almost 70 years on, Ronald has made

it his mission to acquire everything

and anything related to cinema.

His collection is vast

and includes this slide lantern,

dating back to the 1920s.

I can't focus it.

Oh, it's the...

This is the thing that's wrong.

It may have been lost if Ronald

hadn't given it a home.

You see the light?

Ronald set up the cinema room where

we meet Ronald's partner, Martin.

I went there and met Martin. You

found someone who shared your

passion for the past...

I.

I found someone entirely

different from myself.

I'm surprised we had

anything in common at all.

But it was a successful partnership.

They set about protecting

cinema history.

Because the cinema appeared to be

in decline, we were rescuing these

objects in order to keep a sense

of social history, so that we could

remember what it was like.

This piece of equipment

is for showing messages

on the screen, it's for showing

still slides which say -

is there a doctor in the house?

Will the person with car

number AV 254 move it?

Like any love story,

they are facing a huge obstacle.

The building's owners have

decided to sell so they

may no longer be able

to lease this space.

Absolutely crushing,

that's my life's work in the gutter.

Would you set up anywhere else?

No, no.

If it's the end, it's

the end, I'm afraid.

Alpa Patel, BBC London News.

Alpa Patel, BBC London News.

A real labour of love there. Time to

say good night and I will leave you

with the latest on the weather.

How is it looking? Thank you very

much. A different story to last

night. Last night bitterly cold, the

lowest temperatures of the season so

far. Tonight a different story. We

have a band of rain across our

region, going to bring some wet

weather for a while. Much milder as

well than last night. As it clears

skies end up clearing and looks like

temperatures will drop by the end of

the night, we could see ice in

places. Tomorrow it's going to be a

grey cold start with that early ice

risk. Then more rain later on with

sunshine to end the day. A mixture.

We start off on that cold night, a

lot of cloud around. Outbreaks of

rain pushing in. Some of it quite

heavy, maybe thunder as it pushes

through. Then sunshine will move in.

A milder day, nine to ten. We will

see a rash of showers pushing in

during Wednesday. It will remain

breezy. Again relatively mild

compared to recent nights. Thursday,

a dryer day. Some good sunny spells

around, a breezy one, one or two

showers but a touch cooler than

Wednesday. Things turn much colder

into Friday. We start to open the

gates to the Arctic. Northerly winds

move down. Five or six at best on

Friday. Then it's looking cold

towards the weekend with a return