20/02/2018 London News

Huw, we will find out next month at

the Camp Nou.

Natalie Perks with the

latest

Good evening from BBC London News.

Residents in a London borough

are patrolling the streets

after a series of

violent burglaries.

They say they've been forced to take

action because there aren't enough

local police officers.

Hundreds of people have signed up

to the group but the police have

warned them against taking matters

into their own hands.

Anna O'Neill reports.

He will be the driver and I will be

the patrol.

This is Rakesh and

Dhawan and by day, they work in

finance but by night, they work as

vigilantes. They say they have been

forced to take action because of an

increase in burglaries in Redbridge

and a lack of officers.

All we have is a group

of 250 members.

If we see anything suspicious...

Sorry to interrupt.

I spoke to those lads.

There are three of them.

There are a few of them walking

really strange in the avenue.

A few moments later

the people walking strangely

are nowhere to be found.

They were seen on the road

looking at people's houses.

And taking photos.

Taking photos?

So that what is meant

by walking suspiciously?

Yeah.

They are gone now.

This is why they are worried, home

CCTV footage of a violent attack on

a family at 6:30pm. A gang left with

jewellery, money and a car and left

a 17-year-old with a knife wound to

the head. Burglaries have doubled.

As soon as they walked in,

I had that sinking feeling.

I opened the bedroom

door, it was wide open,

and everything from my cupboard,

everything was on the floor,

on the bed.

This woman was also

burgled last month,

and most of her friends.

I have been sleeping with the phone

under my pillow and every now and

again I check that somebody is on

patrol and I feel OK.

The patrols

have the support of the local

council.

I think it is totally

justified because the police numbers

have gone down. The last statistic

was they are down to 1985 level and

Redbridge being the second fastest

borough, we are not, per capita, we

do not have enough policeman and the

residents have enough reason to be

unhappy.

I can't see us taking the

law into our own hands but again, we

don't want to do this, we are all

working people. If there were enough

police officers on the road, I

wouldn't want to patrol, I would

want to be at home.

Police are

launching a street watch scheme

later this month where local patrols

can be trained to operate under

their guidance. Police say they

admire the community spirit in the

area but want to make sure the

patrols remain within the law.

They

shouldn't have this worry, they

shouldn't have to feel like this.

Jeremy Corbyn has been

speaking about his plans

for the City of London,

promising a Labour government

would take decisive steps to make it

a "servant of industry".

Alpa Patel listened

to the speech earlier today.

Alpa, what did he say?

This was a hard-hitting speech in

front of a conference of

manufacturers in which Jeremy Corbyn

called for a fundamental rethink on

the way the city is regulated. He

said if he was Prime Minister, he

would end the out-of-control

financial wizardry and gambling of

bankers, as he put it. Here is a

little more of what he had to say.

We need a fundamental rethink

of who finance should serve and how

it should be regulated.

There can be no rebalancing

of our distorted, sluggish

and unequal economy without taking

on the unfettered power of finance.

Well, as you can imagine, his

comments has certainly raised

eyebrows. One leading industry

analyst said Jeremy Corbyn had

failed to understand the value of

the city and the contribution it

makes towards jobs and tax revenue,

but his speech of course plays into

a core message by Labour over social

inequality and that widening gap

between rich and poor. And let's not

forget that we are merely two months

away from local elections, this is

why this speech matters.

Thanks very

much.

Tickets, dinners and trips abroad -

are some of the hundreds of perks

a Westminster councillor has been

criticised for receiving.

The gifts and hospitality

were all fully declared -

but he's now referred himself

to the borough's monitoring board.

As our Political editor

Tim Donovan reports.

The application is

granted as advised.

Shame on you.

That was Robert Davis telling

an angry audience that his council

was backing the Garden Bridge.

For many years, he was

the councillor in charge

of planning in Westminster,

overseeing the look and feel

of the heart of the capital.

He is now deputy leader.

An analysis of council records shows

just how much entertainment,

hospitality and gifts he's received.

More than 500 occasions declared

on his register of interests

in the last three years.

It certainly proved to be a role

with the capacity for fine dining.

Councillor Davis has declared 296

meals over the three-year period,

including two here at the Ritz.

And four occasions at one

of London's most exclusive

restaurants, La Caprice.

While this has been his

most regular haunt.

He's been entertained 20 times

at this upmarket steak

restaurant just up the road

from the council offices.

Very clearly he has

an approach we disagree with.

We think it needs to change.

And we want there to be higher

standards of transparency for anyone

that has responsibility

for making planning decisions.

Look, he's not broken the rules,

but the rules need to change.

Rarely a week goes

by without some perk.

Like 12 bottles of wine

received in December 2015.

Or tickets to Wimbledon

in July 2016.

A few weeks later, lunch

with the theatre impresario

Andrew Lloyd Webber at his

home in Mallorca.

While more recently, last December,

he gets his hands on a much

sought-after ticket to the musical

Hamilton.

One industry body has entertained

Councillor Davis 15 times.

But says it's open and transparent,

just a forum for discussing

complex planning issues.

There is no exchange of money.

These are, every single event

that the Westminster Property

Association has hosted,

has been for a politician

or an officer both to actually speak

and engage and have a discussion

on emerging policy,

which impacts central London,

one of the most economically

productive parts of the UK.

Robert Davis hasn't been speaking

publicly about this today.

But this afternoon, he said he had

referred himself to the town hall

official who monitors

the conduct of councillors.

He said in a statement,

"I'm absolutely clear I have

not broken any rules.

"But given recent attention,

I believe this is the right step

"to take so that can be

shown to be the case,

"and to reassure residents."

In the meantime, the council

is saying that as the chair

of the country's biggest planning

authority, it's not surprising

Councillor Davis had

so many meetings.

Tim Donovan, BBC London news.

Next, the families living in a block

in Enfield who say they've endured

months of living living with mould,

damp and leaky pipes -

which is now affecting their health.

They feel the council landlord has

turned its back on them.

It has apologised and rehoused some

of the worst affected residents.

Gareth Furby reports.

Sian is a mother of two

who has had to move out

of her council flat because of this.

It is a water leak pouring

onto the electric fuse box.

It is going over the plug

sockets, the fuse box...

No one was electrocuted but she says

the council only two complaints

No one was electrocuted but she says

the council only took her complaints

about damp and mauled seriously

when she showed them this recording.

I think it is absolutely awful.

I was told that it was sewage water.

But I don't know where it is coming

from.

Upstairs, there is mould

in the bedrooms, and with conditions

like this, it is not surprisingly

has been few visitors.

Yes, there has been

rats in this property.

And she is not in the -- the only

one with problems that this block in

Edmonton. Husna has also moved out.

This was her ten-year-old's

daughter's bedroom.

I have been

living like this three-year, it

comes from the water, the leaks.

Horrible feeling, depression, sad.

45 flats in this block, we were

shown for conditions in three,

some residents claim that almost

every flat is affected by damp.

They believe there may

be something wrong

with the block's structure,

pointing to this crack.

I'm concerned there's subsidence,

if the property suffers subsidence,

there is an issue, they need

to decant all the residents

and have a thorough

investigation carried out.

Enfield Council says

it is working hard to find out

where the water is coming

from and if it is a problem

with the whole block

or just a few properties.

But it is proving difficult because

the pipes all run internally.

The council says...

For now, the two

mothers have been moved

to separate rooms in the same hotel

and it may be dry with no mould,

but, with their children,

it is very cramped and they

want a solution soon.

I will say good night out and leave

you with Phil Avery for a check on

the weather. What have you got for

us? Quite a lot of cloud, if the

truth be known. That is the

us? Quite a lot of cloud, if the

truth be known. That is the way we

started across many central and

eastern parts, bits and pieces of

rain as well. Blue sky bab assured

me that things were cheering up when

he took this picture at Orpington

and it is not too bad at the moment.

The last of the day's rain fizzling

away overnight and so to sum up the

cloud, which will make for a chilly

night than last night and if your

skies remain clear for any length of

time, you may be scraping the car

first up on the new day. This is the

way things shape up, a lot of dry

weather around, just enough in a way

of cloud to drag a shower down

towards the Kent area if you are

heading that way or if you're going

further north towards the Midlands

but if you are staying close to

home, it is not too bad. Looking at

a high of around eight or 9 degrees.

I have to tell you that things are

going to get much cooler over the

next few