23/02/2018 London News

particularly across parts of East

Anglia. That is all from

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Alex Bushill.

The Mayor of London is facing

growing opposition from outer London

boroughs over plans to build 600,000

new homes in ten years.

City Hall says its an answer

to the housing crisis.

But some boroughs say

Sadiq Khan's plans will threaten

green spaces and lead

to uncontrolled development.

In the borough of Richmond there is

an old college playing field where

they have started digging, and some

green space will be lost to make way

for new schools and business hub.

But the council leader is happy

about it.

It is a development that

works because it has been thought

through, local partners have been

brought together and we have planned

it.

But what has not been thought

through, he claims, is the Mayor of

London's plans for many new homes,

which he believes could

lead to uncontrolled development

that wrecks the borough's character.

He has written an open letter to

residents saying this. This plan, if

implemented as currently proposed,

will have an enormous impact on our

borough. The Mayor of London's plan

is for 600,000 new homes in ten

years, with 8000 in Richmond

Borough, one of the greenest in

London. But looking at the map the

council leader says such a dash for

growth will come at a cost.

We have

got playing fields and green spaces

which are under threat already so

additional pressure of small site

development, local infill, without

the ability to strategically plan is

going to put pressure on all of our

other remaining local green spaces

and playing fields.

And it is not

just in Richmond that they are

rebelling. Over in south-east

London, Bexley Council says it's

suburban streets could be changed

forever.

It certainly is a rebellion

against the plan.

The counsellor,

who has lived here for more than 30

years, says in some areas developers

could just buy up and knock down the

semis like dominoes.

You see the

houses behind big? This would be an

ideal location for a developer to

come along and buy those two houses,

knock them down and put a block of

flats there with no parking. I could

see a lot of these houses completely

disappeared, just blocks of flats.

An independent calculation prepared

for some councils claims the target

in inner

London is up 41% and in outer London

it is up 114%. So far, Richmond,

Kingston, Bexley and Bromley are

known to be unhappy, and it is

understood at least eight councils

are making formal objections.

If

bloggers are saying they do not

agree with the plan they are either

saying build on the green belt or

they do not have an answer to the

housing crisis.

Responses to the

plan have to be in by the end of the

month, then City Hall will consider

its final strategy.

Plans to increase the number

of passengers using Stansted Airport

have been lodged with

the local council.

Managers want to raise the cap

limiting the maximum number

of passengers a year.

But a campaign group in opposition

to expansion says the existing noise

is already bad enough.

Richard Smith sent this report.

In the heart of the terminal at

Stansted today, builders are making

space for new check-in desks outside

the first of 20 new ad Kraft stands

are taking place. The start of a

£600 million transformation,

including a new arrivals terminal.

All vital, they say, to prepare

Stanstead Airport for future growth.

What we are doing is matching the

timing of our development with

demand, and we think now is the

right time to start planning for

that demand, the right time to give

airlines and stakeholders the

confidence and clarity as to what

Stansted is going to be for the next

ten to 15 years.

Stanstead Airport

handles around 26 million passengers

a year. It is allowed to handle up

to 35 million. It is applying to

lift that capped a 43 million

passengers a year, close to the

capacity of its current single

runway. A decade ago Stanstead

Airport went through a public

inquiry and a long legal battle for

permission to increase passenger

numbers. The campaign group which

opposed that expansion is

considering the airport's new

request to grow.

It is bad enough as

it is now with the planes flying in,

lots of complaints about the noise.

And the number of flights would go

up, as I say, by 45% so you can

imagine the impact that would have.

If its applications are approved,

Stanstead Airport could operate more

flights, although no more than

currently allowed. The airport seeks

no change to noise limits and

believes the impact on communities

would be minimal. Stansted says 2018

will break records, Emirates will

begin flying from Stansted in June,

transatlantic flights resume in

weeks thanks to a Danish carrier.

The district council will now

consider Stansted's application.

Richard Smith reporting there.

What's the best way to remember

those who died at Grenfell

and ensure promises made to support

the survivors are honoured?

Well, a nearby theatre company

thinks they can help by staging

a play based on the views of locals

living near Grenfell Tower.

Ayshea Buksh reports.

Nancy come again I get my usual?

One

pint of lager coming up.

The setting

is a pub in the shadow of Grenfell

Tower, the drama onstage between

locals and housing officials in the

lead up to last summer's fire.

You

boys, smashing glasses...

Boys Will

be boys!

The actors all live

locally, one performer lost a close

friend in the fire and says taking

part in the production has been a

healing process.

It is tough, the

Greeks are dealing with what

happened over the summer.

Just

remember a couple of things, moment

where people talk over each other...

It allows you to act out scenarios

and deal with it in a way that is

different to just talking about it.

The short play has been produced by

a theatre company in North

Kensington, Britain by young

performers after interviewing

residents on a state in the area.

Raphael Joseph was one of them, he

lives on the Lancaster West Estate

next to the Grenfell Tower.

We still

feel like nothing has been done,

even the lots. In terms of support,

but in terms of trying to refurbish

our flat as well, everything is

going at a slower pace but at the

same time we have to be grateful for

our lives and just keep on moving

forward.

The community Theatre

company is based in a housing estate

in Kensal rise and the artistic

director says they are passionate

about giving people in social

housing a voice.

We want to raise

the profile of social housing, we

want to show the value of council

estates. At the moment more than 100

of them in London are being

earmarked for demolition.

We believe

that the people living and working

in social housing need to be

empowered. The next step is to take

the play and perform it out on

location, and around local estates

close to the Grenfell Tower.

Now, with a warning of snow

and sub-zero temperatures

on the way, here's Elizabeth Ritzini

with a look at the weekend weather.

Good afternoon, it was a cold and

frosty start to the day, a

widespread frost of course earlier

on this morning, Tom temperatures as

low as minus five Celsius. There is

still some sunshine for the rest of

the day but also an awful lot of

cloud, the best of the sunshine is

in the West and we have a chilly

easterly wind as well. Temperatures

only fall five Celsius, it will of

course look older than that with the

wind chill and quite bitter,

particularly where we have the cloud

out

towards central and eastern areas

for the most part but at least it

will stay dry. Overnight tonight the

skies will largely clear once more

and once again we are looking at a

widespread hard frost into tomorrow

morning. Temperatures could get as

low as -4 -5 once more but tomorrow,

a cold and frosty start but actually

it is going to be quite a pretty

looking day with lots of sunshine

around, as you can see on the map,

hardly a cloud in the sky but what

you cannot see is the strengthening

easterly wind, that will pick up

through the day, an awful lot of

wind chill tomorrow afternoon coming

in from the east. We will see

temperatures between four and seven

Celsius but in reality it could be

subzero for much of the day. Even

colder air coming our way on Sunday,

pushing in from Siberia, so it will

feel absolutely bitter, temperatures

only one or two Celsius, feeling

subzero all-day, that is where the

temperatures will stake as we head

into the start of next week and we

have a Met Office weather warning

out for some snow showers on Monday

and Tuesday.

That's about it from me.

Victoria will be here

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