Neighbourhood news, features, and comment
Camden Federation of Private Tenants (CFPT) will hold its annual general meeting this month, and like most meetings it will be held online due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. The 2020 AGM will be a virtual meeting. CFPT represents Camden’s private renters, housing association tenants, and leaseholders. They campaign for a better and fairer relationship …
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The City of Westminster has the largest private rented sector in England with an estimated 52,700 properties making up 43 percent of all its housing. Westminster’s private rented homes are concentrated in central and north western areas of the city. Source: Westminster City Council: Private Rented Sector: Housing Stock Condition and Stressors Report, August 2019. …
Continue reading "Westminster council seeks views on a new private rented sector strategy"
Residents will have the opportunity this month to quiz the leader of Westminster council and cabinet members on the council's plans to create a greener and cleaner city. The online event will discuss plans for a greener and cleaner city. The "Open Forum" online event will give people the chance to talk directly to elected …
The NHS Blood and Transplant service is appealing for donations from people who have recovered from coronavirus to help save lives as London moves from "medium" to "high" alert. NHS Blood Donor Centre, 26 Margaret Street. “If you’ve had coronavirus, donation is a way you can help London during the lockdown," says an NHS Blood …
An application has been made to Westminster council for a new premises licence at 41 Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1W 7PG. Maria Pozzuto Di Iulio has applied for the sale by retail of alcohol on and off the premises, Monday to Sunday from 09:00 to 20:00. The premises is a delicatessen selling hot and …
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The premiere of the first act of the new musical drama Silence and Joy by local playwright Sue Blundell will be shown at the end of the month on YouTube. Lloyd Morris. Ben Scheck. Matthew Coulton. The story begins in April 1803 when George Bridgetower, a young virtuoso violinist, has just arrived in Vienna and …
This year’s BFI London Film Festival features full-length movies, many short films to watch free online, and plenty of free events including screen talks (one with musician David Byrne, amongst many others), Q and As and much more both online and in person. Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite. This Saturday, 17 October, sees …
Westminster council is carrying out a review of its licensing policy including changing its West End cumulative impact zone, tackling racial discrimination at licensed premises, and is holding a public consultation before finalising its new policy. Proposed cumulative impact zone. While licensed premises contribute a huge amount to the local economy they can also create …
In June, 2013, I wrote in Fitzrovia News about an important art collection, then in a private house in Fitzrovia, that included works by Vanessa Bell, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Maurice Denis, Duncan Grant, Amadeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Graham Sutherland and Alfred Wallis. Duncan Grant, self portrait. Image source: In the public domain. The collection had been …
Continue reading "Lost stash of 400 erotic drawings by Duncan Grant comes to light"
Fitzrovia’s wonderful Cartoon Museum in Wells Street has caught the spirit of the times with a very topical exhibition: Hail to the Chief!? It features witty and revealing caricature portraits by award winning political cartoonist Martin Rowson, and insightful and acerbic pen portraits by Andrew Gimson, author of The Rise of Boris Johnson. President Trump, …
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On Thursday night 22-year-old Mo Maynard cycled through London for 12 hours from 8pm until 8am Friday, raised money for charity, and created a piece of digital art at the same time. Mo Maynard pausing on one of the Thames bridges during her overnight cycle ride. As she rode through the streets her cycle computer …
Derwent London, the property development company who eleven years ago said "we want to get rid of the idea that we will come in and knock everything down", is planning to knock down yet another large building, adding to the pile of rubble it has already trucked out of Fitzrovia. The Network Building on the …
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Criticism of Camden Council’s planning department is mounting due to the way it is dealing with an application to increase the number of rooms in an underground hotel below a side street off Tottenham Court Road. The underground hotel is being built in a former car park underneath the St Giles Hotel and Central YMCA. …
Newly released archive material has revealed how an international diplomatic campaign averted the demolition of a row of Georgian houses on Grafton Way, Fitzrovia. Embassy and cultural buildings of Venezuela on Grafton Way were saved from demolition. Richard Osley reports in the Westminster Extra that the buildings were "within a whisker of being bulldozed" in …
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Westminster City Council is updating its busking and street entertainment policy, and is seeking the public's views before finalising the document. Westminster council is consulting on an updated street entertainment and busking policy. "In January this year, we consulted on proposals to introduce regulation in key busking hotspots in the West End," says the Council. …
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Camden Council is seeking guidance from the public on the future of shopping streets, the state of nature in the borough, and on updating its planning guidance. The council has launched three "commonplace engagements" -- a crowd-sourced form of public consultation -- where the public can place virtual sticky notes on a map with suggestions …
Continue reading "Camden Council seeks guidance on high streets, biodiversity, and planning"
There were 10 planning applications validated by Westminster Council in Fitzrovia West during September 2020. Most of the applications are minor alterations and conditions connected with existing planning consents and advertising applications, and there are air conditioning units proposed at Mortimer Street. There is also a planning appeal in relation to an application refused at …
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There were 39 planning applications registered by Camden Council in Bloomsbury ward during September 2020. Most of the applications are for minor alterations and to satisfy conditions, some advertising consents, and there are several pavement licences under the "streateries" scheme. There is an application to demolish and redevelop 52 Tottenham Street, an extension proposed at …
Continue reading "Planning applications in Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia, September 2020"
An application has been made to Westminster Council for a new premises licence at 22 Berners Street, London W1T 3LP. Fora, 22 Berners Street. The application made by Fora Space Limited seeks permission for the sale of alcohol on the premises from 10am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 11.30pm on Sundays. …
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Pollock’s Toy Museum will be re-emerging from its lockdown closure this autumn with reduced opening times but with the addition of weekly guided tours to whet the appetite of fans of historical playthings. Three men and a dog. Seth, Haggis, Eddy, and Jack prepare to re-open Pollocks Toy Museum. Since 1968 Pollock’s Toy Museum has …
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