FN Newsletter 21-11-2024

Early November 2024 round up of news, features and comment

If you find this newsletter and our website useful, then please do consider making a donation so that we can cover the costs of producing it. Please get in touch if you want more details of how The Fitzrovia News is funded.

Please spare a thought for the thousands of people who are homeless and living on the street out in the open or in a tent in this cold weather. There was dreadful news earlier this week when a tent went up in flames. Please consider making a donation to the Soup Kitchen which provides food, warm clothing, and much more for those in need.

Great Portland Street post office is again under threat of closure.

Residents groups across Westminster have written to the Mayor of London in opposition to his Oxford Street plans.

Running a pub for nearly 50 years in Fitzrovia is quite an achievement. We have an obituary of a former manager of the Kings Arms, Johnny Andrews who died in August.

Surprisingly there are no licensing applications to report and only a single planning application in Fitzrovia West. But there are 28 planning applications in Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia East.

Health: Covid cases have continued to fall over the past two weeks — but hospitalisation rates are still higher than rates for flu — and are likely to rise again during December. Wear a face mask if your are indoors in public spaces, get vaccinated, and follow NHS advice to avoid catching and spreading the virus.

As usual there are lots of planning and licensing applications to pore over.

If you want to get in touch with us to tell us what you think of our reporting, have a question, or would like to contribute to Fitzrovia News please email us at news@fitzrovianews.com

— Linus Rees, editor

---

News

Great Portland Street post office under threat of closure, again

Great Portland Street post office is once again threatened with closure after the chairman of the company announced a series of changes to the organisation which could see more than 30 such closures across London.

Residents’ groups call on Mayor Khan to rethink Oxford Street take over

Residents’ groups in the City of Westminster have this week called on Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, to rethink his proposal to take control of Oxford Street away from Westminster Council.

Blaze destroys tent at Tottenham Court Road homeless encampment

A fire engulfed a tent from a homeless encampment on Tottenham Court Road on Sunday evening. No causalities have been reported.

Features

Obituary: Johnny Andrews (1942-2024)

Johnny Andrews, who died at the age of 81 in August this year, was an accounts clerk who became a long-running manager of the Kings Arms pub on Great Titchfield Street in Fitzrovia.

Film: London Recruits – the secret anti-apartheid struggle

A film about a significant aspect of the South African anti-apartheid struggle in London will be showing in cinemas across the UK from 22 November 2024.

Public consultations

Planning applications in Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia East, November 2024

Camden Council has registered a number of planning applications in Bloomsbury ward, which includes Fitzrovia East, so far during November 2024.

Local democracy reports

Camden Council to put new later hours licensing policy out for public consultation

Camden Council is forging ahead with controversial licensing policy changes despite public outcry from residents’ groups from across the borough.

Westminster Council seeks £20mn in ‘savings’ over next financial year

Westminster City Council is planning almost £20mn in “savings” over the next financial year, budget reports to councillors have revealed.

Pupil absences in Camden schools remains higher than national average

The number of pupils missing at least one in 10 school lessons in Camden is higher than the national average, Camden Council has said.

Westminster Council rated ‘good’ for adult social care

Westminster City Council’s adult social care services have been rated “Good” by the healthcare watchdog in one of London’s first inspections since greater scrutiny was brought in. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessed nine areas spread across four wider themes in its review of the council’s provision.

London Assembly member calls for rent controls to protect private tenants

A City Hall politician has thrown her weight behind rent controls in London — branding the abandoning of them in England over the last few decades “a failed experiment”.

Printed newspapers

Our next printed news-sheet will be out in December and available from outside Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street. See the newspaper archive for back issues of Fitzrovia News. We aim to produce a two-page, printed issue at least four times a year. Local weeklies the Camden New Journal and the Westminster Extra are also available outside the Community Centre and they also have an archive where you can view the full printed Camden and Westminster printed editions.