05/01/2018 London News

That's all from the BBC News at One

so it's goodbye from me

Welcome to BBC London News.

so it's goodbye from me

I'm Alex Bushill.

so it's goodbye from me

Islington Council is

demanding that at least half

of the homes built on the site

of Holloway Prison will

have to be affordable.

It says it won't give the green

light for any plans to go ahead

unless there are guarantees that

local people will get homes.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer reports.

The lights are on but no 1's home.

In fact, no 1's been here at

Holloway prison since it shut 18

months ago. A prime site near

central London looking less than its

best. The Ministry of Justice owns

this plot and is currently looking

for developers to buy it.

Now the local council in Islington

has laid down the law

on what it wants here.

It says it won't back any plan

that doesn't have 50%

genuinely affordable

housing on it.

It's very clear you can get 50%

genuinely affordable housing onto

this site. There is a housing

crisis. We've got 18,000 people on

our housing register and the reality

is that working people, who work in

this borough, simply can't afford to

rent or buy in the borough at market

rates.

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Behind the green wall

Stock-macro

Holloway was London's only all-women

from 1903 until it closed.

It had housed the suffragettes

when they were jailed.

Today, local campaigners say

they want that history reflected too

in what comes next for the site.

But they also say any new homes must

be available to local people.

look behind you. That's modern

housing.

Nobody in this area can

afford to move into these modern

housing development is behind you.

Young people can't afford to live

here, to rent or to buy, and they

are desperate for change.

The Ministry of Justice said bidding

had now closed and it hoped

to announce the new owner

of the Holloway site in the spring.

It said the amount of affordable

housing would then be worked

out by the new owner

and the council.

A 20-year-old who was stabbed

to death on New Year's Day has been

named as Steve Frank Narvaez-Arias.

He was killed in Old Street

and was one of four young men to die

in separate stabbings

across the capital amid

New Year's celebrations.

Two teenagers were

arrested yesterday

on suspicion of his murder.

A second victim who was stabbed

in the same incident remains

in hospital in a critical

but stable condition.

For those with dementia,

getting out and enjoying a social

life can seem pretty impossible -

not just for those

with the condition,

but also for their carers.

Now a theatre in Havering,

north west of London,

is trying to break down social

barriers - putting on a range

of special productions,

including dementia-friendly panto.

Helen Mulroy reports.

A day out at the theatre -

a rare treat for husband

and wife of 52 years,

Margaret and Ken.

Since Ken's dementia

diagnosis two years ago,

getting out and about has become

much more challenging.

We did a lot of things, but we did

a lot of things on our own -

which now we don't do.

Now our lives are very

much more together,

because he needs the back-up.

That's what I'm there for.

But it's possible because here

at the Queens Theatre in Havering

they put on a range of accessible

performances for audiences

with a number of different needs.

Today's is their dementia friendly

pantomime, Beauty and the Beast.

As you can see our house lights

are on and the house lights

will remain on during the course

of the performance so people are

free to move around if they require.

You will see the band are on stage

for the duration and sound

levels will be reduced,

just to avoid any shock or higher

levels that might be uncomfortable,

and elements such as pyrotechnics

and smoke are removed

from the production,

to cause any confusion or distress.

More than just changes

to the performance on stage

the theatre actually put

up extra signage.

They also have more highly

visible and trained staff

on hand to help patrons.

Further to that, the Havering

Dementia Action Alliance set up

an information table for those

wanting further support.

For those running a local

dementia community group,

events like this are invaluable.

You have a lot of isolation

because initially you don't know

where you can go and they haven't

got a label on their forehead saying

"I've got dementia".

It's very important that people

socialise if you've got dementia

and also for the carers to be able

to take someone to places

where they don't feel embarrassed

if they do something silly

or something embarrassing.

Bringing a group or people

to a thing that's set up

for dementia is great.

It's not just the audience that

recognise the benefits.

It's one of the reasons why

we going to this sort of business,

because it should be for everybody,

it's about bringing stories

and music and it's not

about bringing it to one

type of audience.

How's it going?

It's good fun.

It's nice to have some

audience participation.

The Queens Theatre is planning more

accessible shows this year.

They hope to inspire other

theatres to follow suit.

This week nearly 1.5

million of us watched

a relative unknown, Rob Cross,

sweep to victory in the World

Darts Championships.

This weekend it's the turn

of the women and rival dart

organisation the BDO

at the Lakeside.

Sara Orchard has

been speaking to Tricia Wright,

from Mitcham, who's qualified

for the first time.

She asked her about women's

darts' growing popularity.

(TX Next)

And parity on earnings with men. The

British darts Organisation has

helped their championships at the

Lakeside Country Club at Frimley

Green in siree since 1986. They've

had a women's tournament since 2001

and after 16 years of trying, Tricia

Wright has qualified to compete.

It's just where that tournament has

always been, you know, from what I

can remember, and the atmosphere is

good. It's run well and as you can

see from the crowds of people that

go, the tickets are booked up well

in advance. People stay the whole

week and they thoroughly enjoyed.

Whoever is crowned the 2018 women's

world champion will take home a

cheque for £12,000. The men's world

champion gets eight times more,

£100,000, and at the recent PDC

championship, the rival

organisation, champion Rob Cross

took home £400,000.

We've been

arguing this for years, you know,

and I can't see where it's going to

change.

And when it comes to Michael

van Gerwen, who competed in the PDC,

he says women will never be as good

as men at the darts. Do you see that

changing?

Possibly, if women didn't

have to go to work and everything

else, you know will stop for the

professional men, they've got more

time, if they are full professional,

to just stand that board and hammer

it all day long.

Tricia has competed

against men, with some success. She

once pushed three-time world

champion semifinalist Darryl Fitton

to near defeat and words were

whispered at the oche.

Are not

allowed to repeat it! He did say a

few words but all in good fun, all

in good fun.

The BDO World

Championship starts tomorrow.

Now the calm after the storm.

Let's find out what the

weekend weather is doing

after the recent storms.

Here's Elizabeth Rizzini.

Hello, good afternoon. The weather

is a lot quieter today than it was

yesterday. The winds are a lot

lighter. We've had some showers

earlier on this morning, but also

some brighter spells. It should be

mostly dry for the rest of the

afternoon, although I wouldn't rule

out the possibility of one or two

showers, maybe towards the

north-west. Mainly dry. Some

brightness. The winds easing down.

Top temperatures 6-8, cooler than it

was yesterday. Overnight tonight we

will stay dry for a time. There may

be some showers working their way in

from the south as we had through the

small hours of tomorrow morning.

Mostly dry towards Northern Home

Counties and here we see the lowest

temperatures, down as low as 1-3,

maybe a touch of rule frost but it's

unlikely. Further south some cloud,

possibly some showers around

tomorrow morning. There will be

quite a cloudy day tomorrow. We

start a draw in a north-easterly

wind. Quite a lot of wind chill to

factor in. Mostly cloudy morning

with some showers during the

afternoon and possibly a wet end to

the day, particularly for southern

areas. This is the cold air coming

down from the north. Temperatures

6-7. By the time we get on Sunday

the cold air should be with us but

expect it to be quite a cold start

of the day, possibly a frosty one,

but there should be lots of sunshine

around on Sunday. The best of that

towards Northern areas. Tom

temperatures around seven, but it

will feel colder than that with the

wind-chill and chilly start to the

new working week. Cloudier on

Monday.

That's about it from me.

That's about it from me.

Louisa Preston will be here

with our 6:30pm evening programme.

There is much more news, travel and

weather and all of our stories on

the lunchtime bulletin on our

website at the usual address.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.

Have a fabulous weekend, bye-bye.