Neighbourhood news, features, and comment
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Drivers are being advised to avoid the area around Tottenham Court Road due to the resurfacing works that are being carried out on Gower Street from today until Sunday 8 March, and Bloomsbury Street until Sunday 30 March. Camden Council says that it will "begin the resurfacing work on Gower Street, Bloomsbury Street and around …
Part of Tottenham Court Road was closed this evening after a police car struck a woman who was crossing the road. Camden police issued a statement saying that road closures are in place at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Chenies Street after a police vehicle "collided with a 19 year old female pedestrian …
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Contractors McGee working for American private equity firm Westbrook Partners apologised to local residents after they ignored environmental protection regulations to erect a crane on a street in Fitzrovia overnight denying local people the chance to sleep. Residents contacted Fitzrovia News after they endured a noisy weekend where operators of huge vehicles ran diesel engines …
Continue reading "Sleepless residents’ anger makes McGee apologise for overnight work"
Designers behind a massive sun-seeking terrace in Fitzrovia have stunned locals by omitting its crucial south-facing vista from photos sent to planners. Applicants renovating 60 Charlotte Street withdrew plans late last year for their third story piazza after residents with privacy concerns wrote to Camden Council. Now the same Luxembourg-based firm has resubmitted plans for …
Continue reading "Plans for roof-high office chill-zone give local residents the creeps"
The department of environment is forecasting high air pollution over inner London today. Defra says "light winds and areas of fog in the south may inhibit dispersal of locally-generated pollution and lead to areas of High air pollution". Air pollution is predicted to drop on Tuesday but rise again to moderate levels on Wednesday. The …
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A hawthorn tree in a public park in Fitzrovia is already showing off some blossom, yet it is only the first week of January. The Friends of Fitzrovia Parks have reported that the tree in Crabtree Fields on the corner of Colville Place and Whitfield Street is showing signs of blossom four months before it …
The Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum is seeking to renew its status as a recognised neighbourhood planning body and has applied to Westminster council to continue its role for another five years. The Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Area was designated in March 2014 and the Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum (also known as FitzWest) was designated in February …
Continue reading "Public consultation on Fitzrovia West Neighbourhood Forum renewal application"
Westminster council wants people to help it improve air quality by reporting drivers running their engines when parked but hasn’t got a clue where the worst offenders are located, according to a Freedom of Information request made by a Fitzrovia resident. Yet despite what the FOI response revealed the council maintains it does keep a …
Continue reading "Westminster council has a problem with air pollution and FOI requests"
People living on Grafton Way as well as staff and patients at University College Hospital are taking the brunt of the current traffic diversions as Camden Council's West End Project grinds towards its final act. The air on TfL's gyratory around the hospital is thick with traffic fumes and drivers and cyclists are confronted with …
Continue reading "Gower Street resurfacing and a confusing set of diversions"
Community groups in Fitzrovia and Marylebone are bracing themselves for another battle with Westminster council in advance of crucial decisions being taken on the future of Oxford Street this autumn and winter. While full pedestrianisation of Oxford Street is off the agenda the council have been pushing forward with a plan to pedestrianise part of …
More than five months after Tottenham Court Road changed from one-way to two-way traffic a woman has become the fourth person to be struck by a southbound bus on the same pedestrian crossing. The woman, who has not been named, was hit by a route 29 bus operated by Arriva driven southbound on the central …
Camden Council has signed off plans that will see greenery cut back at Whitfield Gardens public open space in what the local authority says is an effort to save money on maintenance and stamp out public nuisance. It is only eight years since Whitfield Gardens on Tottenham Court Road was last refurbished but everything apart …
Continue reading "Greenery at public open space will be slashed under refurbishment plans"
Friday's climate strike saw thousands of adults join the movement started by young people taking action against climate change and species extinction. These included many architects and engineers in Fitzrovia. "More than 100 assembled outside London’s Building Centre before going on to a rally in Westminster, while outside the capital, architects took part in protests …
Westminster council has finally a got around to consider a 20 miles per hour speed limit across the city with the announcement this week of a public consultation on the plans. If given the go ahead it will mean an end to the two different speed limits in operation on several streets in Fitzrovia on …
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A light-controlled crossing on Tottenham Court Road has become a collision hot spot after three pedestrians were seriously injured after being struck by buses in almost identical circumstances. Since April emergency services and collision investigators have attended the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Torrington Place on three separate occasions. On the morning of Tuesday …
Continue reading "Pedestrian crossing on Tottenham Court Road has become a collision hot spot"
An archaeological investigation at the Middlesex Hospital Annex and former Strand Union Workhouse site has recovered 55 intact human burials dating from 1780 to 1853 from three test trenches dug into the ground. The findings are revealed in a report by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) which concludes that "archaeological deposits survive extensively across the …
It's a little late in the day but Camden's planners have finally woken up to the fact that a pestilence of planning applications and property development south of the Euston Road is having a negative impact on everyone's lives. Camden's strategic planners may be a decade or more behind the times but they are seeking …
Continue reading "Camden seeks views on the cumulative impact of construction projects"
A pedestrian has been seriously injured after being struck by a southbound bus on Tottenham Court Road on Monday 2 September, the third such collision since the street was converted to two-way traffic in April. Fitzrovia News understands that a southbound doubledecker bus operated by Arriva for Transport for London struck a pedestrian near the …
We've asked time and time again for Camden Council to only carry out hedge cutting with machinery during the autumn and winter months to protect wildlife. Yet despite our efforts we continue to be ignored by a council that seems to be hell bent on carrying out work just to spite us. They did it …
Another pedestrian has been seriously injured after a collision with a southbound bus on Tottenham Court Road today. In what appears to be nearly identical circumstances to a collision last Tuesday, a pedestrian and a southbound bus collided near the junction with Torrington Place this morning. Since April this year buses have been running in …
Continue reading "Second pedestrian seriously injured on Tottenham Court Road"
