21/11/2017 London News

That's all from the BBC News at One,

so it's goodbye from me.

And on BBC One, we now join

the BBC's news teams where you are.

Good afternoon, I'm Asad Ahmad.

Over £380 million is being spent

by councils across London in order

to make social housing safer.

It follows the Grenfell

Tower fire in June.

And BBC London has also found that

around half of London's local

authorities have asked for financial

help from government,

but not yet received a penny.

Our Political Correspondent

Susanna Mendonsa is in

Wandsworth to tell us more.

Susanna.

Councils are spending on a range of

things, for example removing

cladding, installing new fire doors

and sprinklers. Over half the

councils are talking about putting

them in, one of those is Wandsworth

where I join you from and the towers

behind me are among 99 that will get

sprinklers to the cost of the

Council of around £30 million. They

are covering the cost here but there

is a row across London about whether

it should be councils or the

Government that pay for the cost of

fire safety. I have been asking

people in Wandsworth what they

think.

I think it's the Government

who should, because people

are paying their taxes

and the council already

is doing a lot.

I think anybody who is able to pay

for it should be paying for it

because it's a dangerous situation

that could happen anywhere

in the country, particularly

in London, and it needs to be sorted

because people's lives are at stake.

This is going to cost a lot of

money, it is the budget tomorrow,

are the council is hopeful they

might get something out of it?

They

are hoping they might get something,

if not cash it might be changes that

mean they can borrow against their

assets. I have been speaking to

Tower Hamlets' elected mayor and he

told me it is time for the

Government to step up.

We're spending £7.5 million this

year on urgent actions to these

blocks, and we're spending

about another 30 over the next few

years to get up-to-date

with our basic fire safety.

That doesn't include sprinklers,

which we think will be about another

20 million on top of that.

That money doesn't grow on a tree.

We would have to either

put our rents up or borrow it

from somewhere, and safety

is not negotiable.

We need to get a move

on if the conclusion

is that we need to have sprinklers,

and yes, we would expect

funding for that.

The Government has said that

building owners are responsible for

the safety of their buildings so

essentially it is the council's

responsibility but they have said

there is some leeway potentially for

those that cannot afford essential

works. All eyes will be on whether

the Government gives them some cash

tomorrow.

Absolutely, and I know you

will be keeping a close eye on it.

Thank you.

A woman has died in a fire

in a block of flats in Hampstead.

Around 60 firefighters tackled

the blaze in the early

hours of this morning.

20 people managed to escape

but the woman died at the scene.

An investigation is under way.

BBC London

has found tube stations

being left unattended,

which is contrary to commitments

made by transport bosses

when they started to

close ticket offices.

In one instance, a station

was left unattended,

ten times in a month.

Here's our Transport

Correspondent, Tom Edwards.

At Wimbledon Park tube station, lots

of passengers and trains but not a

staff member in sight. It's 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 cards

and freedom pass does not work on

the machinery.

They are very thin on

the ground but it is always dad when

I am doing the commuting hours.

These are incident reporting forms,

they show the station was left

unattended on ten occasions in

October, for some cases for long

periods. In May ten-year-old boy who

was separated from his mother and

got off the train and ended up on

this platform but there was 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 how big the problem of

unattended stations is. They said

over a three-month period ten

stations were left unattended, they

included Hornchurch, north Harrow,

Houston and Wimbledon Park, but

insiders say the real problem is

much much worse.

All tube stations

will be controlled and staffed while

services are operating.

It promised

every station that was operational

would have staff.

The idea of London

stations are being left without

staff means passengers are being put

at risk, the gates are being left

open so they are losing some ticket

revenue and it looks like the Tube

service is short-staffed.

London

Underground said stations are only

left unattended as a last resort. In

October Wimbledon was left

unattended on ten occasions, it's

not rare is it?

We operate every day

of the year and we have nearly 5000

staff so in the context of the

system we operate it is a small

amount but something we want to

avoid.

The unions say it is a and on

safe legacy and London Underground

needs to get a grip.

Hannah Francis was just

18 years old when she died

after being diagnosed with the rare

type of bone cancer.

Horses had been her passion

and she founded a charity to help

others share in that joy.

Next month, the public can

see her horses for themselves

and they might be surprised

at the size of them.

Here's Chris Slegg.

Little and large.

Metropolitan Police horses Merlin

and Kyoti, joined on patrol

by Shetland ponies Teddy and Doris.

Next month they will all be

appearing at Olympia

for the London International Horse

Show.

I haven't performed at Olympia

before so this is my first time.

As you can imagine, extremely

pleased to be doing it

but extremely nervous.

You get that bond, you can't

help but get that bond

between rider and horse.

The horse can take

the feeling from you.

It knows if you are nervous,

it knows if you are brave.

Teddy and Doris will be

at Olympia as mascots

for the Wilbury Foundation,

a charity supporting vital

research into osteosarcoma.

It was founded by Hannah Francis,

who died aged 18 after being

diagnosed with the rare bone cancer.

Hannah lived to ride.

It would mean so much to her.

I mean Doris meant the absolute

world to her and helped her

through a lot of really hard times,

and Doris and Teddy love each other

and she loved seeing them together

so she would be smiling right

now, for sure.

And it seems the Met Police

horses were rather taken

by their new companions.

As we were walking down

I could definitely feel

there was a bit of mothering

and looking after the horse,

but yeah, there was definitely

a little bond.

Visitors to Olympia will be able

to see the Met Police activity ride

and meet Teddy and Doris

when the International Horse Show

begins on December 12th.

Now let's check on the

weather with Kate.

It has been another grey and Miles

day so far. We haven't seen too much

in the way of rain, maybe a spot

this morning. Most places gloomy.

This afternoon we will get some

cloud and brighter spells and it

will stay mild. These brighter

spells, you could see the cloud

break so some glimmers of sunshine

this afternoon, but temperatures

despite the cloud and strengthening

winds still getting up to 13 Celsius

so feeling very mild for November.

It will be a mild night overnight,

temperatures staying constant. The

south-westerly wind continues, the

minimum 12 Celsius so not changing

from today's maximum. Another grey

start tomorrow and the Met office

has issued a weather warning for a

strong wind so it will be windy for

Wednesday. Some spots of rain

potentially but mostly dry and in

the afternoon we could see the cloud

break up a little, so some sunny

spells if you can remember what

those are. The maximum temperature

15 Celsius so feeling quite warm.

The change for Thursday, more in the

way of sunshine. Feeling quite

breezy and on Friday things turn

wet, especially through the daytime,

temperatures dropping as we head

into the weekend.

That's it.

Riz will be here with our news

at 6.30 this evening.

I'll be back at the

same time tomorrow.

Have a good afternoon.