09/02/2018 London News

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

A clinic committed to helping those

addicted to medication bought online

has opened in West London.

The NHS funded trial is thought

to be the first in the UK.

The team behind it say it's

in response to a rise in drugs

and prescription medication

being bought online,

often by teenagers.

Earlier this week, six girls

from a secondary school

in Wandsworth were taken to hospital

having taken what were thought

to be prescription drugs.

Here's Caroline Davis.

She was really intelligent, good

grades, never got into trouble ever.

She went from being a normally

behaved teenager to just

being a completely different person.

I didn't recognise the person

I was living with.

This woman, who we're calling

Michaela, found out last year

that her daughter was taking Xanax.

It's a medicine

prescribed for anxiety.

But like a worrying number

of teenagers and young people,

her daughter took it

without a prescription.

She was 14.

It was like she was

really drunk, zombified.

When the effects were wearing

off, she'd get angry,

aggressive, violent.

She said it was fun.

And then she said she was doing it

because it made her feel better.

Highly addictive, Xanax

is also a tranquilliser.

It's up to 20 times

stronger than Valium.

In America, it's well known

and sung about in rap songs.

But its dangers are

also well documented.

It's illegal in the UK

unless you have a prescription,

but there are worries that more

Londoners are buying it and other

perception medicines online,

which is why the NHS have funded

a clinic in Earls Court

to tackle the problem.

These additions are perception

medicines for a reason,

because they do have harms

if they're taken inappropriately.

The government told us:

Michaela's daughter was eventually

excluded from her school.

Now she's stopped taking Xanax.

That drug completely changes your

personality and how you behave.

And because she's not doing that

now, things are better.

They're looking brighter.

If you asked her what she would

do now, she'd say, no,

don't do it, don't take it.

It ruins your life.

Caroline Davies, BBC London News.

The new Education Secretary says

he recognises the financial

pressure being faced

by many London schools,

but insisted the government

is giving more money

to the education system.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer was in Hackney.

It was maths for these

nine-year-olds and for the man

who came to see them this morning.

Damian Hinds is the new education

Secretary, out and about today

to find out why London schools

perform better than anywhere

else in the country.

He has much to get to grips with.

Schools in the capital

may be performing well,

but all are facing challenges

of recruiting and keeping

staff and of funding,

with budgets not rising as fast

as their costs are.

Pretty much every headteacher

in London will tell you we do not

have enough money and our budget

is going to be cut?

Schools funding is going up,

but I totally recognise what you say

about the cost pressures that

schools have been facing

and continue to face.

And that's why we are putting

additional focus on helping schools,

to see what we can do to help

manage those budgets.

In particular in the part of

the budget which isn't staff cost.

Most of the cost of schools

of course is employing people

to teach the children,

which is the core business.

But there's other things

that maybe more can be done

to help manage those costs.

Despite the challenges it faces,

Woodbury Down is a high performing

school with technology at its heart.

But faces the money

and staffing problems faced

by most London schools.

As you've seen today,

we have lots of training

teachers in our school.

And one of the biggest issues

for them is the amount

of money they earn

every month and how much they've got

left after they've paid colossal

rent and they've had

to pay their travel to get to work.

The amount of money they have left

at the end of the month is not

going to get them very far.

So would more money

from government help?

I think everybody

would like more money!

That maybe a message

the new Secretary of State will have

to get used to hearing.

Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

A large block of ice

has fallen from the sky

onto a street in West London.

A taxi firm security camera caught

the moment the block landed

in Kew just after

nine o'clock on Wednesday.

It narrowly missed a street cleaner.

The road is under the Heathrow

flight path and it's believed

the block of ice fell from a plane.

It was the home of some of the best

known shows on British television.

But the doors of the former

headquarters of the BBC in West

London closed five years ago,

after it was sold for a reported

£200 million.

Now it's reopening after

a major redevelopment.

Tolu Adeoye has more.

Now, in this building,

the Television Centre,

which is the hub of BBC television,

over 4000 people work to make

television programmes.

For 60 years, Television Centre in

White City was the home of the BBC.

Get off me foot!

From Blue Peter to

the Record Breakers...

Hello again, welcome

back to Whistle Test,

back at TV Centre this week...

..and Old Grey Whistle Test, many

classic shows were recorded here.

It closed five years ago,

and after years of redevelopment,

its reopening, now housing

nearly a thousand flats, a gym,

shops, restaurants

and an exclusive members club.

But it is still a Television Centre.

Three refurbished TV studios

will be used to record shows,

including Graham Norton

and daytime ITV programmes.

We've done a lot of upgrade

in terms of the wiring

and all of the technology -

the floor, the seating.

The actual box,

the fabric of the building has

remained very similar.

For the architects behind

the project, working with such

an iconic existing building

presented challenges

but also opportunities.

We've recreated the original windows

using the original design intent

of the white operable panels

within the black frames

of the static ones.

We've repositioned and resupported

the original Helios statue

in the middle of the fountain there.

One of my favourite parts,

I think, is the stage door,

which is going to be

the new entrants for the apartments.

How we've managed to restore

the original assets and the piper

mural and the timber panelling

and Terrazzo floor,

I think it's all come together

in a really strong and vibrant way.

But there is quite

the price tag if you want to live

in the TVC building.

£650,000 for

the cheapest one-bedroom flat.

Apartments are limited

to one per buyer.

Just pricing the local

community out of it...

Tiana was one of the local

people invited to look

around the development,

so what did she make of it?

It's been nice to come

in and see it, it's lovely.

It makes the place

look a lot better.

White City was a bit,

you know, dreary before,

Wood Lane especially,

just you wouldn't really

stop, would you, apart

from Westfield coming in.

But I wouldn't say this

is for the community really, no.

The developers say 140 of

the 950 flats will be affordable,

sold at 25% of the market rate

to those living or working

in the area for five years.

Many who've bought, they say,

want to be close to broadcasting

history as the old Television Centre

gets its new lease of life.

Tolu Adeoye, BBC London News.

What a change.

Now the weather with Kate Kinsella.

Good afternoon.

We started the day on a much

milder note this morning.

But with this mild air comes

all the cloud and also the rain.

It was quite a damp start.

But towards the west

of London we're starting to

see the cloud break up a bit.

Blue sky and sunshine,

or at least some sunny

spells, as we head

through the afternoon.

As those filter in further,

it's actually going to start to feel

that little bit colder.

In the east, we have a bit of cloud

but it will start to break up.

In the West, sunshine.

Pretty chilly as that

breeze filters in.

Seven Celsius the

maximum temperature.

That cloud will continue

to move eastwards overnight,

leaving the sky clear and cold.

The minimum back down in negative

figures, between -2 and -5.

A cold crisp start to the weekend.

And a potentially quite

frosty one as well.

Yes, we start the day cold

and crisp, but this mild air

moving in from the south-west

through the course of Saturday

brings wet and windy weather.

But some milder temperatures.

Like I said, sunshine

in the morning, then

the cloud will filter in.

The wind will start

to strengthen, a south-westerly,

and then the rain arrives.

Yes, a sunny start, but a wet

and windy end to the day.

Temperatures are around nine

Celsius. A little bit milder.

For Sunday, we lose

the mild air very quickly.

It will turn a lot colder.

We filter in a westerly,

north-westerly breeze.

The temperature will feel chilly as

we head through Sunday.

Stays quite unsettled

as we head into next week.

That's about it from me.

Asad Ahmad will be here

with our 6:30 evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.