16/03/2018 London News

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.

Welcome to BBC London News.

news teams where you are.

I'm Alex Bushill.

news teams where you are.

Every year 250 tonnes of mostly

plastic is pulled out

of the River Thames.

The Port of London Authority says

the issue of plastic bottles

in particular is getting worse.

And it' having an impact

on marine life.

Here's our environment

correspondent Tom Edwards.

Benefit more from a cochlear

Scooped out of the Thames. This is

the type of rubbish they regularly

pull out of the river. The majority

of the debris is now disposable

plastic bottles.

They still call this the drift wood

service, they used to mainly pull

floating wood out. Now the main

problem causing their collectors is

plastic.

You can see from the actual

surface of the water, mainly the

plastic bottles of various type,

bits of straw, plastic cups, and

also bits of plastic bag.

Tania

works for the port of London

authority. She says the amount of

plastic is increasing and it will

have an impact on marine life in the

Thames, the estuary and the North

Sea.

There is a lot of concern round

it being in the sediment and what

animals are feeding on. We are

starting to see through studies that

some of the crabs and fish are

starting to eat it and it is filling

their stomachs so they are not

starting to eat it and it is filling

their stomachs so they are not able

to feed. We are working with

academics along the Thames as to how

that transfers into the fish, birds

and mammals so we have more seals

and porpoises using the Thames, how

that might affect then.

Most of the

plastic that finds its away in has

been used only once. Some is dumped.

Other smaller bits come through the

sewage system.

Theers perts have

measured how many plastic bottles

are going in to collections and it

is about 15 every hour. They pull

out about 250 tonnes of waste every

year. And that is just a fraction

what goes into the river.

These tiny white spots are

polystyrene that has broken down in

the river.

This is a snail that more

typically would live in the upper

ends of the tidal Thames so

Teddington way, and that is

obviously been disturbed and brought

down this far, scooped up and caught

up in the debris but also on the

pieces of plastic.

Now the authorities want people to

think much more about using plastic.

And crucially, how they get rid of

it.

The cost of clearing up rubbish left

by flytippers in London is rising,

with reported cases more

than doubling in

the last five years.

Government figures show

that there were more than 1,000

incidents reported each day

in the last year, creating a cost

of more than £18 million.

The family of a toddler

from Carshalton say they need

to find £80,000 to fund

treatment - before he loses

his hearing altogether.

Their son needs cochlear implants,

but they can't be funded by the NHS

under current guidelines.

Paul Murphy Kasp has the story.

Benji runs around like any other

three-year-old, but since six weeks

old he has worn hearing aids

because of a genetic condition.

He is completely deaf

in his right ear and the hearing

in his left oar is failing.

His doctors decided

he needed cochlear implants

in able to hear properly.

But while he still has limited

haring, the NHS won't pay for them.

We're so incredibly frustrated.

Some families don't decide

to implant their child,

and that's fine, but we feel

because of the expert advice we've

got from a brilliant implant centre,

that that would give him the best

chance of acquiring language,

which he feel he deserves.

With Benji unable to talk properly,

his family have been learning

sign language to try

and communicate with him.

The NHS told his mother

that he won't be eligible

for cochlear implants until he's

completely deaf, and now his parents

fear by the time he gets him

the ongoing support would end up

costing the taxpayer more.

NHS England told us they fund

cochlear implans for patients

who benefit the most based

on Government guidelines.

They said doctors can apply

for individual funding for those

who they feel have a strong case,

but that they have to

treat everyone fairly.

And Benji's doctors have

told his mum he fits that criteria.

They sent off a really strong

application which showed

why he deserved it.

We don't understand why there isn't

a priority to have that one off

spending of this operation in order

to avoid lots of future

spending for Ben.

Now experts want the rules to be

relaxed to allow more people

to reap the benefits.

The guidelines were written

nearly ten years ago,

and it is very clear

from the research evidence both

from the UK and overseas,

that there are children with less

severe hearing losses

who would benefit more

from a cochlear implant than they do

from their hearing aids.

The Government is in the process

of reviewing the guidelines

round cochlear implants,

but Benji's parents wore worry any

change will come too late for him.

One of the most famous

sights on the Thames is be

celebrating its 80th

anniversary this weekend.

HMS Belfast is one of Britain's most

significant surviving

World War II warships -

and from tomorrow visitors will be

able to take part in special

activities to mark it's anniversary.

Matt Taylor has been

on board this morning.

It has been a prominent London

landmark since 1971 but HMS Belfast

has a very important celebration

this weekend. It is 80 years since

she was launched by the then Prime

Minister Neville Chamberlain's wife.

In charge of keeping the ship such

ship shape is Kevin price who joins

us. What goes into keeping it in

such good working order?

Lots of

people. And volunteer, we have a

good crew onboard, we have got a

good team that work day in, day out,

but the volunteers they are the

icing on cake if you like.

Let us

take back to its operational day,

how many people would have been

onboard here?

If you look at say

1942, 43 there was 861, conditions

were really cramped and during the

Arctic Convoys the weather was very

rough, so 60 foot wave, a lot of

seasickness and very wet.

Hard to

imagine even in these day, big

celebrations this weekend, what have

you got planned?

Got lots. The

children are going to love it. There

is family tacktivety, we have

signals at sea. Morris code, face

painting, nautical tattooing and

lots of cake if they are quick

enough!

Sign me up. We like the cake

bit. 15 years since you have been in

charge so a big celebration for you

at the end of the month. Yfrnts

Yes,

my department, I wouldn't say in

charge.

Good luck with this weekend,

you can get yourself down here, you

know where it is, it has been round

since 1971 but a big weekend as HMS

Belfast celebrates 80 yore years.

Noo

as HMS Belfast celebrates

80 yore years.

Noo

Now the weather with

Elizabeth Rizzini.

it will turn cold, we will see a

chilly easterly wind and many areas

of capital will see some snow fall.

You wouldn't expect it from the

conditions at the moment. Lots more

blue sky and sunshine for the rest

of the afternoon. Temperatures not

too unpleasant at 13 or 14 degrees

Celsius. There will be be some heavy

thundery slow-moving showers, across

the capital too, but plenty of dry

weather and certainly in the

sunshine it is not feeling too bad,

the winds are fairly light. Thursday

this evening and overnight it is set

to change, we are starting to get

cold air feeding in the from the

east. Wind will feel bitter, and

there could be snow showers into the

start of the day in Essex, Kent and

parts of Hertfordshire as well,

maybe a couple of centimetres here.

The further south and west you are,

the more likely you are to stay

above freezing into tomorrow morning

but temperatures will drop further

over the weekend. We have weather

warning out for snow, and ice, so do

take care and those warnings have

been escalated on Saturday evening.

Saturday we are likely to see

further snow shower, even further

west. A bitterly cold breeze,

temperatures only between one and

three degrees Celsius. Some won't

get above freezing, and on Saturday

evening, if you are within this

amber warning area you could expect

to see disruption caused by the snow

and ice into Sunday morning, Sunday,

however is looking drier but there

could be lying snow round of

coursing and as we head into Monday,

the temperatures will slowly start

to recover.

That is about it from me. Me. Have a

very good afternoon and a fabulous

weekend. Bye.