19/03/2017 London News

Jose Mourinho jumping for joy -- gifted United the result.

That's it, I will be back with the late News at Ten PM, now time for

the news where you are on BBC One. Goodbye.

Hello and welcome to BBC London News, I'm Alpa Patel.

More than 200 police officers have carried out the first major

counter-terrorism exercise on the River Thames.

Emergency services were tested on their ability to tackle a lethal

attack on the water - in which dozens of people

Our home affairs correspondent Nick Beake was watching.

A chilling sight on the River Thames.

Terrorists have hijacked a tourist boat and taken dozens of

But someone manages to raise the alarm and help

More than a dozen armed officers hurtle along the river to

It's a race to reach the hijackers who are heading

for the City of London to launch an attack.

the elite marksmen catch up and open fire.

One terrorist is down, now they must take out the others.

So they board the boat, neutralise the

threat and secure the terrified hostages on board.

This is the first major exercise the Met and its

partners have carried out on the Thames.

London is prepared, we train and work and firearms officers are

trained to the highest levels to go forward

and confront this kind of threat.

You know, there is no intelligence that this is going to

take place but we want to make sure we are prepared, we are ready for it

and we can keep Londoners safe if that's what's required.

Scotland Yard says there is no intelligence

to suggest anyone is planning this sort of specific attack for real.

But last year an independent report commissioned by the Mayor of London

said security on the River Thames should be improved.

By inviting the cameras to watch this exercise this

morning the police are trying to achieve two things.

First, show they're prepared for a terrorist

attack, and second, remind the public that the threat level

remains severe meaning an attack is highly likely.

The 200 police officers and other staff involved in this

exercise will have seen the shooting of a terror suspect at a Paris

Yet another reminder of why the Met and others

Nick Beake, BBC London News, on the banks of the

A man has been charged on suspicion of causing criminal damage

to a valuable painting at the National Gallery.

The gallery has confirmed that the painting in question

is 'The Morning Walk' by Thomas Gainsborough.

Keith Gregory who's 63 and of no fixed abode was charged today.

Now this might come as a surprise but London is one of the least

densely populated metropolises in the world.

But the desperate need for more housing may soon change that.

With more here's our

Millharbour, just south of Canary Wharf.

is the most densely populated part of the UK

In six out of the last seven years the homes built in the

capital have exceeded the recommended City Hall

This, I think, is the pattern of the future and not only

If you look in places like Wembley and

Harrow even, you begin to see not things quite as dense as this but

things that are beginning to look more like this.

The downside is that you do end up, and certainly have here,

with sometimes, if it's not really beautifully designed, quite gloomy

properties that overlook each other and it feels crowded.

And for many people, obviously not the people who

live here, but for many people this area would probably

Certainly compared with much of the rest of London,

Small is beautiful believes the developer behind hundreds of

flats like this one which are 400 square

feet and on sale for an average ?250,000.

That is not the view of people in their 20s,

their 30s, 40s, who are absolutely critical to the London

economy and they want a different kind of housing.

They have fewer possessions, they want to get

into the centre of town faster, they want to have buildings that

So I think actually the garden may be for a

for pressure on London to be relieved.

GLA Conservatives, we've been arguing for a long time

that the Government needs to ramp up the idea

south-east to solve the problems of the south-east.

It's not just London's housing problems.

If you go to other parts of the south-east

outside London they've equally got problems.

We have to start building again and we have to start giving

the opportunities for people to develop.

But there seems no signs soon of space becoming a prime

Time for the weather here's Elizabeth Rizzini.

It's a mild and a windy start to the new working week.

We're likely to see some outbreaks of light, patchy rain and

drizzle through the morning rush hour at times.

Lots of dry spells but the rain will be on and off for

much of the rest of the day tomorrow.

Possibly heavier through the afternoon, temperatures up to a

Still windy on Monday, it will feel significantly

colder by Tuesday but there will still be some sunshine.

That's it, I'm back at 10:20pm tonight and I hope you can join me

again then. But from the afternoon team, do have a lovely evening. Bye

bye. Hello. For most of March so far it

has felt quite mild and springlike but we are in for a bit of a shock

next week as we will have a blast of Arctic air across the UK making it

feel much cooler than it has of late with wintry showers and a return to

overnight frosts for a while. The pressure chart shows more weather

fronts pushing into many central and southern parts of the country this