18/01/2018 London News

Martin Bashir, BBC News.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Asad Ahmad.

Residents in a building

in Croydon say they're

having sleepless night -

over a bill they've received

for 2 million pounds, to replace

cladding on their building.

It failed safety tests

after the Grenfell Tower fire,

and so those living

in the privately owned tower block

have been told they have to foot

the huge bill between them.

Our Political Editor,

Tim Donovan has been down there.

The view outside the penthouse

may be great, the view

inside just now not so good.

The cost of either replacement

option is considerably higher

than the previous estimate.

The owner has just received

an unwelcome letter.

The total cost to renew and replace

the cladding are now estimated to be

between 1.8 million and 2 million.

Which has come as a shock,

to say the least, to him and 90

other leaseholders in this block

in Croydon, because they're

being asked to foot

the bill for new cladding.

That will mean between

£15,000 and £31,000 each.

There's anger clubbed

with frustration and we don't know

what to do, and there is this huge

amount of bill that

is being put forth.

After Grenfell Tower, the cladding

here was tested and it failed.

Residents have been told it's not

complying with building regulations.

They think the freeholder should

pay, with government help.

I think it should be the freeholder.

It should be the freeholder.

And if the freeholder does not have

access to the funds,

it should be the Government,

who has now changed the goalposts.

The managing agents for the block

now want the matter settled

at what's called a property

tribunal next month.

And while the Government is saying

that it should be landlords who foot

the bill for such refurbishment,

it's not at all clear yet

what the legal position is.

All of which makes this a time

of considerable anxiety here.

Everyone here having sleepless

nights, people are worried.

I've got messages saying I felt

like I'm going to get a heart

attack or something.

We were not expecting this increase,

like this £2 million bill suddenly.

Everyone is under shock, they are

completely shocked with that.

The agents managing

the block, First Port,

told us in a statement...

I'm gobsmacked, I don't know

what to say about it.

Because it's suddenly

like you're asking six months,

five months, eight months, or even

a yearly average annual salary

for people to churn out.

We don't know how

we will have to pay.

And the sting in the tale is that

for every week that goes

by with this unresolved,

it's costing £4,000 for fire

wardens to patrol here.

A bill that is being met

by the leaseholders.

Tim Donovan, BBC News.

Well we asked for a Government

Minister to address

the concerns of residents -

but we were told

no-one was available.

But we got a statement which says -

"We are clear we want to see private

sector landlords follow the lead

of the social sector and not pass

on the costs of essential cladding

replacement to leaseholders.

We are keeping the

situation under review."

This time yesterday,

you might have been

preparing to go to bed -

not realising the strength of winds

which were about to hit London.

By this morning, police and fire

crews were attending to the damage

and disruption it caused -

as Charlotte Franks

has been finding out.

Last night's storm caused trees

to blow over, blocking the roads

and frightening some residents.

On the railways, the morning

commute wasn't much better.

Many routes were affected

when overhead power lines

were damaged and trees were blown

onto the tracks.

The 5.58 train from New Beckenham

to Cannon Street hit a tree as it

pulled out of the station.

The driver came on the radio

and said we'd hit a tree.

He went to have a look at it

and when he came back,

he said he would need to wait

for Network Rail to arrive and

remove it from under the carriage.

At London Bridge, trains

were disrupted on the Southeastern

and Southern routes until around 11

o'clock this morning.

And on routes into Liverpool Street,

an object caught in the overhead

electric wires caused

cancellations and delays.

Services on South Western Railway

into Waterloo saw delays all morning

following a tree on the track.

The delays cleared on most lines

by the early afternoon,

as engineers were dispatched

to remove all the obstacles

as quickly as possible,

including some that had been

wedged under trains.

For us at Network Rail, we have

response teams available 24/7.

This morning, they

were kept very busy.

We have chainsaw teams who've been

chopping up trees and other large

branches that have fallen

onto the railway.

We've had fence panels, trampolines,

all sorts of things on the railway.

So we're moving them as quickly

and safely as possible to try

and keep passengers moving,

but there has been some disruption.

The Dartford Crossing was closed due

to the strong winds,

which led to heavy traffic

on the A13 as drivers diverted

towards the Dartford Tunnel.

The fire brigade took 16 calls

in the early hours of the morning

about collapsed roofs,

structures which had become unsafe

and trees which had fallen down

onto cars and property.

But there were no reports

of serious injury.

Proposals for a statue

of Margaret Thatcher

in Parliament Square,

look set to be rejected.

Her supporters had hoped

she'd be the first woman

to have a statue in the Square.

But our Reporter, Ayshea Buksh

can tell us why that

might not be the case.

Ayshea.

This is, if it gets the go-ahead,

what the statue may look like.

£300,000 has already been raised but

Westminster Council officials have

apparently issued guidance to say it

shouldn't be permitted. They point

to a 10-year wait after somebody's

death, the exception made for Nelson

Mandela. There are concerns about

potential vandalism. There was an

occasion at the Guildhall when a

statue of Lady Thatcher put on

public display was attacked. On

this, there have been official

objections from quarters such as

Royal Parks and her family are said

not to be in favour. This comes

ahead of a planning meeting next

week. The Council officially say

we'll have to wait for them. Let's

not forget there will be the first

female statue this year in front of

thousands of Parliament, the

suffragist listed for set, to

celebrate the centenary of women

getting the vote.

Politicians know they're often

likened to young students

or children bickering when it comes

to debates in Parliament.

But down the road, in City Hall -

the Mayor of London's Question Time

got the same accusation thrown at it

today - by -- young students.

They'd been invited to witness

democracy in action.

The impression they went away with -

was - well, Nick Beake can tell you.

Can I welcome to the public

gallery students and staff

from St Dominic's Sixth

Form College, Harrow!

It started so well,

the A-level politics students

taking their places to watch

the mayor in the hot seat,

taking questions on tackling knife

crime, including his plans

for the police to stop

and search more suspects.

Are you going to guarantee young

black Londoners

that they will not be targeted?

But the pupils who'd swapped

the classroom for City Hall soon

found it got rather personal.

Do your homework before

you ask the questions.

I am doing my homework.

You're not answering the question.

Abusing me doesn't save Londoners.

This is actually

about life and death.

And now we get the sanctimoniousness

from this politician.

At one point, they could be forgiven

for thinking pantomime season

was still in full flow.

He says you're not

answering his question.

As things currently stand,

I'm the mayor, not you.

It's for me to answer the questions

how I want to answer them.

So what exactly did the pupils

from St Dominic's Sixth Form

College in Harrow make of it?

It felt like being in

a playground for a minute.

They got really childish,

throwing insults.

So you were the ones

saying "Come on, grow up"?

Yeah, we were all looking

a bit embarrassed.

Like, we didn't come to see

something we could have stayed

in primary school to go watch.

Others were not impressed

with Sadiq Khan's performance.

All that he's willing to do

is to throw political insults

at Conservatives and even some

of his own Labour colleagues,

so I think he needs to step up

to his responsibility or stand down.

I don't think you can guarantee a

black people will be targeted less.

All that he's willing to do

is to throw political insults

at Conservatives and even some

of his own Labour colleagues,

so I think he needs to step up

to his responsibility or stand down.

Looking at the politicians

in action, did your respect

for them go up or down?

Down.

Significantly decreased.

Is anyone going to come back to city

water watch this again?

It was a nice day off

school, wasn't it?

So we might, yeah.

Sometimes young people just say it

as it is.

Finally, Lumiere London is back.

The light festival is even bigger

than it was a couple of years

ago when over a million people went

to visit the free artworks

around London's landmarks.

Over 50 spectacular designs

are in place - until Sunday.

But if you want to pop into town

to see them, right now.

Don't.

The lights switch off at 10.30.

But they are back

on tomorrow evening.

Now after the winds of last night,

let's get the weather

forecast from Chris.

People wondering what it'll

People wondering what it'll be like

tonight. You might run the last week

I was talking about strong winds

that could blow trees down, boy were

they strong. Top costs 72 mph and

London City Airport. The area of low

pressure right now is gone all the

way across the Poland, moving very

quickly. It leaves us with a quiet

night. A dry night with clear skies,

temperatures close to freezing, but

quite a breeze blowing, meaning

temperatures would dip too far

below, if indeed they do get down to

freezing. Tamara Sunny spells keep

the cold wind blowing all day. The

afternoon will see more clout

arriving from the West, which could

bring one to showers with an odd bit

of hail mixed in. Many having a dry

but chilly day. Temperatures

reaching a high between four and

seven Celsius. Make the most of that

dry weather with sunshine because

the weather will turn more

unsettled. Saturday threatening

rain, maybe snow on the northern

edge and over hills. By Sunday turn

smiled with heavy outbreaks of rain

on the way.