Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Big White Wall

People in Merton living with depression and other mental health conditions will be able to talk about their problems online, as well as face to face in future.

A new online therapy service has been set up to make more appointments available and to improve recovery rates in the borough.

The Big White Wall, external has been commissioned by Merton CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) as an interim solution to address below average access and recovery rates.

It has been commissioned alongside another online service called Ieso Digital Health.

Both services have contracts until April next year when the CCG is planning to change all of its IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) contracts.

Marko Arnautovic is "happy" at West Ham says manager Manuel Pellegrini, amid reports the Austrian forward could leave the club.

Image source, Jeff Eden/Kew

Kew Gardens has opened its annual illuminated trail for Christmas.

Image source, Jeff Eden/Kew

Over 100 people used more than one million lights to create the display in the south-west London gardens.

Image source, Jeff Eden/Kew

The display includes giant glowing Christmas wreaths standing at over 7m high, a Field of Light, made from 10,000 dancing multicoloured pixel mapped light spheres and the Palm House Grand Finale.

Image source, Jeff Eden/Kew

The event, which is in its sixth year, is on between Wednesdays and Sundays until 5 January 2019.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

The top job at Croydon Council was in the hands of a teenager yesterday, but just for one day.

As part of the Takeover Challenge 17-year-old Charlotte Earl took on the role of Jo Negrini, the council’s chief executive.

The pair had a packed day of meetings lined up where Charlotte got an insight into the day-to-day life of the council boss.

She said afterwards: “I’ve been allowed to gain a really good insight into what’s going on in the council.

“I’ve been at the heart of the operation and understand what it takes to work in local government.

“I think young people generally don’t take an interest in what’s going on at the foundations of the borough but going to all the meetings I’ve been able to see what happens.

“It seems very stressful but I guess it would be really cool to have a job like this.”

Inside Croydon

Transport for London yesterday launched a consultation on buses in Croydon town centre which proposes seriously curtailing 11 routes.

Full story, external

A 21-year-old was arrested on suspicion of murder after a 15-year-old boy died in a stabbing.

Image source, Getty Images

Motorists should be offered cheaper insurance if they take a course to make them more aware of cyclists on the roads, the government says.

The Department for Transport also wants to give councils more powers to tackle parking in cycling lanes.

It is proposing a series of 50 measures in a bid to reduce the number of cyclists and pedestrians killed.

Last year, 100 cyclists died on UK roads and 470 pedestrians were killed, an increase of 5%.

The force launches a recruitment drive as it marks 100 years of women serving as police officers.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

The number of fly-tipping reports in Harrow have increased by almost 30%, as the council continues to battle against the “filthy” practice.

Statistics released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) showed that there were more than 9,600 incidents of rubbish dumping reported to Harrow Council in 2017/18 – the equivalent of around 26 a day.

This represents a jump of 2,791 from the previous year and Cllr Varsha Parmar, responsible for the environment at the council, said it was disappointing to see so many incidents in Harrow.

But she believes the number of people reporting fly-tips can be viewed as a positive, as it shows those living in the borough want to see change.

She said: “I am pleased that reports have increased – it means people are reporting all instances of fly-tipping to us.

“We’ve made it easier to report them through the app and website and these figures show they are working.

“Like our residents I hate seeing fly-tipping happen on our streets, it’s filthy and carried out by disgusting people.

“Residents should continue report fly-tipping to us so that we can keep the borough clean and continue to catch those dumping waste.”

Siobhan Benita will challenge Labour's London mayor Sadiq Khan in the 2020 election.

MI5 admits for the first time it made a mistake in failing to track the 2017 Manchester bomber, MPs say.

Hannah Richardson
BBC News education and social affairs reporter

This year, 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain with the highest rate in London, analysis from housing charity Shelter suggests.

It is a rise of 13,000, or 4%, on last year's figures and equivalent to 36 new people becoming homeless every day.

While the capital as the highest rate of homelessness, but it is growing fastest in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and north-west England, the analysis says.

The government says it is investing £1.2bn to tackle homelessness.

BBC Weather

Through the day, the cloud in the east will filter westwards, but there will still be some bright spells. Chilly, but winds will generally be light. Maximum temperature: 5 to 8°C (41 to 46°F).

Abraham Badru, 26, had previously won a police bravery award for stopping a gang rape at a party.

Hayley Westcott
BBC News Online

Direct flights from Newquay to Heathrow from the spring will provide a "huge boost" for the economy in the South West, according to the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, who officially announced the news in the House of Commons on Thursday morning.

It comes after an agreement between Flybe, Heathrow and the government was secured last week.

Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

Image source, Met Police

At four o'clock in the afternoon a voice crackles across the police radio: "School fight... punch-up" and officers in the Violent Crime Task Force swing into action.

They switch on the siren and blue lights of their unmarked Vauxhall Insignia and start speeding across Croydon towards the incident at Norwood Junction station.

When they arrive, other police are already on the scene, talking to witnesses about what happened. For every officer in this huge south London borough, suppressing street violence is the priority.

In the last year, police in Croydon recorded almost 11,000 violent crimes and reports of people carrying knives and other weapons jumped by a fifth - with much of the violence apparently fuelled by feuds between drug gangs.

Across London there have been at least 123 homicides this year - including 70 stabbings - surpassing 2017's total of 116 deaths. Scotland Yard's answer to the surge in knife attacks has been to set up the city's Violent Crime Task Force.

Find out more about their work here.

Winter is coming - and the cameras are out to capture it.

Various religious items were taken during the break-in at the Shri Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple on 13 November.

Image source, Met Police

People living near the bus depot said they were woken by the sound of explosions.