19/03/2018 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 Victoria Hollins.

so it's goodbye from me.

The majority of hundreds

of squatters living in a central

London building have moved out

after a judge ruled they had

no right to be there.

The four-storey building

in Great Portland Street

was taken over by the group

during the cold weather.

But last week a judge

ruled that they should

leave by 12pm today.

Helen Drew reports.

Midday was the deadline given for

the homeless people who have been

sleeping here to leave. It came and

no bailiffs arrived to evict them.

They have been here since the

beginning of the month, about 150

people sleeping here. Activists took

over the four-storey building on

Great Portland Street in order to

provide shelter. Last week the

landlords of the building went to

court to get evicted and the judge

gave them that eviction notice. But

nobody came evict them. First thing

this morning there were about 150

people here. At the time of the

deadline noticed there was still

about 100 people here but since that

time has passed, despite the fact no

bailiffs have arrived, they have

volunteered to go, almost everybody

has left and most of the people you

can see over my shoulder our

volunteers. We don't know why the

bailiffs have not arrived. We have

spoken to the Mayor of London, his

office said that outreach workers

have attended this location at least

twice last week, the people here say

they don't feel they have had

support from the Mayor's office.

They also said at the bears of is

that there was an issue with workers

trying to access those staying here

but perhaps Westminster council can

give us more information. We spoke

to them and they said that this was

a matter for the property owner.

They also say they are aware of the

situation and have been offering

support to those with a genuine

housing need. They say their teams

are on stand-by to provide

additional help if an eviction takes

place but we have not seen any

evidence of that. The bailiffs are

not here, almost everybody has gone,

most people you can see our

volunteers. A couple of people are

left but I expect through the

afternoon they will be gone. What we

don't know is where everybody is

going. I have been speaking to

people all Monica but most don't

have a plan, some are hoping

charities can help them, others say

they expect to be out on the street

again tonight.

Police are looking for a man

who burgled an elderly

woman as she lay in bed.

The 90-year-old was in her home

in Blackbrook Lane in Bromley

when a man forced

open the window, climbed

inside and took her jewellery.

Her family had installed

CCTV in her home as she

suffers from Alzheimer's.

Anyone who recognises the man

is asked to contact the police.

Residents in Croydon were evacuated

from their homes overnight

after a car drove into an energy

plant and caused a gas leak.

Police were called to Whitestone Way

just before 8:30pm last night.

Cordons were put in place and much

of the disruption continued

throughout this morning.

The A23 has now reopened,

but many residents are not

being allowed to return home.

Box trees are a common feature

in the capital's gardens and they're

regularly cut into shapes.

Well, they're under threat

from the box tree caterpillar.

Now the RHS Wisley in Surrey says

it is trying to find the best

way to tackle the pest.

Here's our Environment

Correspondent, Tom Edwards.

The box tree caterpillar arrived

from China around 2011 and,

since then, it has been destroying

the capital's box trees,

leaving them looking like this.

Last summer this was eaten

completely by caterpillars

of the box tree moth.

And in particular it seems to be

a problem in gardens

in south-west London.

They can completely strip the plant

of leaves and they don't

look very attractive.

They cover them in webbing

and insect frass, that's insect poo.

It doesn't look or smell

very nice at all.

At the Royal Horticultural Society

in Wisley in Surrey they are now

breeding the caterpillars

as they want to test

the best way to tackle them.

That will include when and how

to apply insecticides or natural

control methods such as nematodes.

We'll probably start off quite

simple and basic with how well do

these nematode biological controls

work on the box trees caterpillar,

perhaps how well do some

pesticides work on them,

are there different ways

we can apply them to make

them more effective,

and eventually we would piece

together all of those separate

research projects into the advice

we can give to gardeners.

The other alternative, though,

for gardeners is to use

other types of hedges

that the caterpillars don't eat.

What with the disease

and the caterpillar,

they do make a mess,

they do eat the leaves and leave

bare sticks behind so lots of people

are beginning to make decisions

to other plants, to grow other

plants because they can

actually do that job,

they can have that low hedge

outside their front door.

Experts, though, believe these pests

will be difficult to get rid

of and we will see changes

to the capital's

gardens permanently.

Tom Edwards, BBC London News.

Whenever there's a new film out,

its stars hit the red carpet

or give interviews in posh

London hotel rooms.

That's what John Boyega is doing

at the moment for his new film.

As part of the BBC's School Report,

we sent two students

from Prendergast Ladywell School

in Lewisham to do the job.

And Wendy Hurrell went

along to help them out.

Welcome to the weird world of the

movie junket, into which we have

brought our intrepid School

reporters.

I am Azra, I'm missing

arts.

I am Azra and I'm missing

English.

We are here to interview

John Boyega about his new film.

In

which he plays Jake, fighting off

sea monsters in Pacific Rim

uprising.

We are in a small room at a posh

hotel filled with production staff

and a startling array of light,

sound and camera equipment.

I'm

really nervous!

It's an intimidating

situation even for a seasoned

journalist so in a holding room a

pep talk from me. They will be

people hiding in the corner and you

can ignore them. In they go, the

movie stars have sat there all day

answering pretty much the same

questions over and over, it is not

the done thing to go to off script

but taking presents always goes down

well.

We heard it was your birthday.

Yes! Other people keep on reminding

me and I have totally forgotten!

Thank you! Thank you so much.

You

are known as a Peckham Lloyd, is the

way you were put a help or graduate

down to help people build your

acting dreams -- Peckham boys.

I was

very blessed, I had a good time at

Theatre School and friends aiming

for the same thing I was, and I was

surrounded by a lot of motivation

and I was still in Peckham when I

got the biggest role of my life.

We

are Azra and Hari.

School report,

BBC London News.

Now the weather with Sara Thornton.

It has been dragging us down through

the weekend! This shows how confused

we all are, spring on one side,

winter at the bottom and all of us

have a bit of snow around and some

ice was a concern, especially

because we have the sunshine at the

moment and we have that for the rest

of the afternoon which means there

is a bit of a thaw and then a

refreeze and that can equal eyes.

The clearing skies in the south, but

pulling away nicely, the cloud. The

temperatures have not been

brilliant, still below par for the

time of year, but not quite as raw

at the weekend. When the sun sets we

will have a refreeze after the day

so watch out. The cloud comes in

overnight, maybe a couple of showers

and that will combine with the

temperatures below freezing to give

us a risk of ice first thing in the

morning and there is a weather

warning for the morning commute.

Watch out for ice first thing and

there will be some cloud around,

maybe a stray shower but the

emphasis tomorrow is feeling vastly

different to the past few days, even

with the cloud coming in at the end

of the afternoon, the temperatures

do look an awful lot better. Not

quite where we should beat still but

7-9dC. This is the air mass, yellow

is milder and that is pushing

towards us for the middle of the

week. Temperatures on the way up,

spring starts tomorrow!

Finally!

That's about it from me.

Louisa Preston will be here

with our 6:30pm evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.