19/02/2018 London News

And on BBC One, we now join

the BBC's news teams where you are.

Welcome to BBC London News.

the BBC's news teams where you are.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

the BBC's news teams where you are.

A recruitment drive to employ

more Prison Officers has

seen just 22 extra staff in London

in the last 18 months.

The government announced at the end

of 2016 that it intended to increase

numbers across the country.

The Prison Officer's Association

says the the issue isn't just

with recruitment but keeping staff

in the job.

Caroline Davies reports.

Wandsworth prison in 2016, at the

end of the year the government

announced it would recruit an extra

2500 new prison officers across the

country. So how many new officers

have been recruited? There has been

a net gain of only 22. Why? This

woman is an officer a London prison,

we have concealed her identity and

dubbed her voice.

I really enjoyed

it when I first started, then it

just rapidly changed. There are no

staff any more, they come in but

just as quickly people are leaving.

People have been there for 15 years

and remember when they're used to be

four officers on the landing and now

there is only one.

What's it like

when you're just the one?

You are

worried because what if you get

attacked and can get a whistle to

your mouth? You better hope the

prisoners like you because they will

be the ones saving your life.

People

will be shocked to hear you rely on

the prisoners to keep you safe.

But

it's the truth, if there is no one

with you in the staff you have to

rely on the prisoners.

Rachel used

to be a prison officer in London but

quit after 18 months and she is not

the only one.

On training we had 30

people for six weeks and died of

them I think there are five left in

the prison service which is insane.

Nobody from the Ministry of Justice

would talk to us today but a

statement said:

the BBC also understands the

government is launching a retention

strategy. So what would make a

difference to this prison officer?

Staff, to begin with anyway. I would

feel more secure with more staff.

Both sides are clear on what is

needed but whilst staff are leaving

because of staff shortages in the

prison system in London seems stuck

in a vicious cycle.

Get rid of the No Ball Game signs,

give young people a say

in housing developments,

and offer them all 100

hours of work experience.

Just a few of the suggestions from

a new report for Islington Council

launched this morning in their bid

to put children at the heart

of decision making in the borough.

Here's Karl Mercer.

At 14 and this girl can hold a

tuned, performing for political

leaders today but should she also be

telling them what she wants her

local area to look like? Her local

council thinks people like her

should be more involved. A reported

commission that recommended all

under 18 's should get 100 hours of

work experience for things like no

ball games signs being taken down

and that young people should be

consulted on big building project in

the area.

How can you get 100 hours,

will we be given it in school or do

we have to go out and find it?

Will

you put pressure on schools to teach

during lessons and during school

time how to manage money and

understanding the political system?

What actions do you expect for local

organisations to take so the

Islington guarantee for young people

is put into place?

How do you plan

to make use of the spaces around the

Islington community?

The report

author a former pupil here says he

hopes there will be action and not

just words.

It's happening time and

again where people come to the

community and want to do something

and then leave. I said this is not a

PR ploy, we are not going to use

this to try to win votes, we want to

make change in our community, we

want to involve children and young

people in the process and everyone

knows how difficult I am. I told the

council, I made a promise to people

I am serious about this.

I think

there will be around when we suggest

taking them the no ball signs but we

need that, the city belongs to young

people and it's about their future

and we need to put ourselves on

their side.

The words are done, the

song has been sung, the hardest part

is delivering on those promises,

that is yet to come.

It may still be three months away

but it seems Windsor

has stared to gear up

for the royal wedding.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

will be getting married on the 19th

May and already American TV

companies are moving in,

asking some locals to move out

to make way for them.

It's hoped the celebrations

will help increase visitor numbers,

reversing a recent decline.

Sarah Harris reports.

They have been coming here since

they started dating, this dramatic

little getaway outside of London.

The countdown is on in the USA to

the royal wedding featuring their

girl Meghan Markle. With the modern

couple already living and carrying

out engagements together, interest

in the nuptials is already at fever

pitch across the Atlantic. Kate

lives on the road in Windsor were

the carriage will process after the

ceremony with unparalleled views and

some neighbours being offered

6-figure sums for the properties to

move out during the week of the

wedding she is negotiating big bucks

for hers.

It's a bit strange, we got

back from a few days away and there

was a letter from NBC wedding from

us saying we would be interested in

renting your house, particularly the

garden outside. So I called them

straightaway and they were here

within half an hour.

The small rooms

above the horse and Groom pub

overlook the castle gates. American

TV giants have already signed them

up for the wedding week. It is

understood the asking price was

around £100,000.

This is really

popular with the Americans because

of the vantage point and a history

there is this old pub and it's a

great vantage point because you can

see the Royal wedding coming down.

For the town of Windsor it's self

the interest from across the pond is

welcome. It is hoped it will

encourage American tourists to keep

coming back.

The Americans have not

been coming and there are numbers

for a number of years and of course

that will reverse that trend. I

expect there will be a lot of

Americans coming into town. I

understand that all of the hotel

rooms are booked now.

Negotiations

are far from complete with three

months to go but vantage points for

the Royal wave are selling out fast

with the Americans prepared to pay

the most for the best views in time.

And still three months to go!

By the end of the week things will

be turning much colder but we start

the week with a different flavour,

cloud, outbreaks of rain, but milder

least. Mist and fog this morning,

further outbreaks of rain and that's

what we keep through the rest of the

afternoon. Little change, grey

skies, misty and Markey and still

quite damp with further outbreaks of

rain. You can see on the map through

the afternoon we keep that layer of

cloud, some patchy rain around, not

amounting to much. It is my old at

least, not much wind. This afternoon

is what we keep this evening and

overnight so cloud, patchy rain at

times, never really amounting to

much, damp rather lay overly wet.

This keeps temperatures up to 7-9.

Misty and Markey start, patchy fog

and quite damp, further outbreaks, a

stalling front across the region not

going anywhere fast, rain on and off

to the day. Driest and potentially

brightest further west you are. The

winds pick up a little bit more

tomorrow and that becomes a feature

as we go to the week, coming round

to the east we are back in the blue

colours, they called air towards the

end of the week. Slowly things turn

more dry and bright but the

temperature is to tumble and by the

weekend and into next week it will

be colder still. Goodbye.

That's about it from me.

Riz Lateef will be here

with our 6:30pm evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.