FN Newsletter 26-06-2025

Mid-June 2025 round up of news, features, comment, public consultations, and local democracy reports from The Fitzrovia News

I was not intending to produce a newsletter until the beginning of July as I wanted to take little bit of a break, and send it out once a month over the summer. But my best laid plans were scuppered by the usual goings on in the neighbourhood that I just cannot leave alone…

There are still events going on at the Fitzrovia Arts Festival, and the London Festival of Architecture in Fitzrovia.

Looking ahead to August there is the Fitzrovia Fete taking place, which is organised by the Fitzrovia Community Centre who are also seeking volunteers to help on the day.

Meanwhile Thames Water and other utilities seem to be digging holes everywhere and there are temporary traffic lights and a closed zebra crossing on Charlotte Street. Next week part of Warren Street and surrounding streets will be closed for some marketing stunt.

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Details of Sadiq Khan’s plan for the first stage of Oxford Street pedestrianisation are due to be revealed later this year, and presumably this will include how buses, taxis and other motor vehicles along with cyclists will be re-routed around the western section of the shopping street. Plans for the eastern section will be unveiled at a much later date.

Some time ago I designed a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) for Fitzrovia and aired it tentatively due to the inevitable backlash these sort of things create. It would cut out 100 per cent of east-west and west-east motor traffic but still allow access to every street address. Weeding out north-south traffic is more difficult. But it would not allow buses, taxis and other motor traffic to bypass Oxford Street by driving through Fitzrovia. However, an unintended consequence of a low traffic Fitzrovia is the creeping commercialisation advocated by the dreaded Fitzrovia Partnership business group who want to roll out more eating and drinking pens in our neighbourhood — exchanging one form of public nuisance for another. We need more trees and open space in Fitzrovia not more clutter, as I argued a few years ago.

I was told by a source inside Camden and Westminster that stopping motor traffic from using the neighbourhood as a short cut would be “very complicated”. But it would be a darn sight better than sending buses and taxis through Fitzrovia, which is likely under Khan’s Oxford Street scheme. Now London Cycling Campaign are pressing the Mayor for a low traffic West End. I would like to see how that would work.

The proposed Cleveland Street cycleway could become a reality within a year if Camden and Westminster get their act together. I want to see central London become like central Paris and cities in The Netherlands. I’d also like to see 24-7 parking controls brought in. And enforcement against engine idling!

Look after your and others’ health: Covid cases are slowly rising again, and repeated infections are leading to more cases of Long Covid. Wear a face mask if you are indoors in public spaces.

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 The Fitzrovia News please email us at news@fitzrovianews.com — and you can keep up with the latest by following us on Bluesky.

— Linus Rees, editor

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News

Developer plots revamp of Richard Gilbert Scott building on Ridgmount Street

Proposals for an extension and refurbishment of a commercial building on Ridgmount Street are being developed ahead of a planning application to be submitted to Camden Council possibly later this year.

Road closures in and around Warren Street for fashion show

Residents and businesses in and around Warren Street will face three days of disruption in early July due to a fashion show in the street.

Fitzrovia West neighbourhood forum gets another five years

Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum has been given the green light to carry on for another five years, after a renewal application by the local planning group was approved this month by Westminster Council.

Mayor to reveal details of Oxford Street pedestrianisation

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will publish plans later this year showing detailed proposals for the first stage of his vision to pedestrianise Oxford Street, after claiming a majority of people are in support of it.

Libraries to lead reading plan in London Borough of Camden

Camden Council has agreed a new plan to help people of all ages enjoy reading more and to address the problem of poor literacy skills in a borough where a fifth of adults struggle to read.

Features

Community centre seeks volunteers to assist with repair project

A repairing project is fast becoming one of the most popular activities at the Fitzrovia Community Centre in Foley Street.

Shakespeare in Fitzroy Square: The Taming of The Shrew

Shakespeare’s comedy battle of wits, wills and wild romance –The Taming of the Shrew — will be performed in Fitzroy Square Garden at an event at the end of June.

London Festival of Architecture in Fitzrovia 2025

Taking place throughout June, LFA in Fitzrovia is a series of events and installations revealing the thinking behind the practice of shaping the built environment.

Fitzrovia Arts Festival 2025

The Fitzrovia Arts Festival will be held from Saturday 21 to Friday 27 June.

Public consultations

Planning applications in Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia East, June 2025

Camden Council has registered nearly 40 planning applications so far during June 2025 in Bloomsbury ward, which includes Fitzrovia East.

Planning applications in Fitzrovia West, June 2025

Westminster Council has validated more than a dozen planning applications so far during June 2025 in Fitzrovia West.

Camden and Westminster issue traffic orders for Cleveland Street cycleway

Camden and Westminster councils have this month published traffic orders to create a new “semi-segregated” contraflow cycle lane on Cleveland Street running between Maple Street and Goodge Street, to enable a better connected and safer cycle route through Fitzrovia.

Local democracy reports

Camden Council wants to use AI to help shape decisions on adult social care

Camden Council is planning to roll out an artificial intelligence-driven public engagement scheme in the borough to help more residents participate in decisions around adult social care (ASC).

Tory on Westminster Council jumps ship to Reform UK

A member of Westminster Council has defected to Reform UK from the Conservatives claiming her former party had let the country down on issues like women’s rights and its net zero policy.

Mergers of five Westminster schools to be completed by start of autumn term

Two amalgamations involving five schools in the City of Westminster are to be implemented with preparations underway to ensure they are in place by the start of the autumn term this September.

Printed newspapers

Our next printed news-sheet will be available in September from outside Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street. See the newspaper archive for back issues of The 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 have an archive of the Camden and Westminster printed editions.

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