The London Minute ⏰ Monday 16 September 2024
Banksy theft, King's Cross drugs problem, 'Orwellian' camera in Clerkenwell, Greens ‘shock victory’, Clissold Park cafe appeal + foodbank gets royal donation after robbery
🌞 Good morning London. Here’s Monday’s London Minute.
😎 After dropping to 4C on Friday night, the temperature is forecast to rise to 24C on Thursday this week. - Met Office.
🚈 Speed restrictions have been introduced on the automated Docklands Light Railway, after engineers discovered the trains were going too fast on some sections of track. - Tom Edwards, BBC London News.
🚔 The class-A drugs problem in King’s Cross is ‘not an issue we can arrest our way out of’, a Met Police Inspector has admitted. - Tom Foot, Camden New Journal.
🚨 Police are appealing for help after a murder in Tower Hamlets and a fatal collision in Hornchurch.
⮑ There’s a weekend crime round-up in MyLondon, written by Jake Holden.
🖼️ Two men have been charged after a Banksy artwork was stolen from Marylebone’s Grove Gallery on New Cavendish Street. - Met Police.
⮑ The BBC shared this video of the robbery from inside the gallery.
🚲 ‘I want them all crushed’: Brent council poised to ban Lime bikes. - Sammy Gecsoyler, The Observer.
⮑ “The capital needs progressive politicians and responsible riders to speak up against dumped e-bikes, casual rules-breakers and all else that gets cycling a bad name,” writes Dave Hill, OnLondon.
⮑ Meanwhile in the east a £3.5 million cycleway is being planned linking Havering and Brentwood. - Piers Meyler, Local Democracy Reporter, Romford Recorder.
💰 Southwark Foodbank had a £3,500 donation from Prince William and Princess Kate after its warehouse was raised by thieves last week. - Kevin Quinn, Southwark News.
⮑ The foodbank staff said they were ‘overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from across society’. - Twitter.
🍔 An outdoor cooking area with electric hotplates has been installed for public use in Burgess Park. - Victoria Cook, BBC London.
🔥 The East London Black Women’s Organisation community centre is reopening 20 years after a blaze destroyed the building. - Aamna Mohdin, The Guardian.
🏟️ The Earl’s Court Development Company has played down last week’s media reports that Chelsea Football Club could build a new stadium within its plans for 4,000 new flats in the area. - Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter, Fulham SW6 Online.
🗳️ A new MP for Chelsea and Fulham says he will not be giving up his seat on the local council and will juggle both roles. - Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter, Fulham SW6 Online.
🟢 The Green party celebrated on Friday night after a ‘shock victory’ in the Hackney Council by-election. - Alex Marsh, Hackney Gazette.
⮑ Labour won the by-election in London Fields.
⮑ Voters in Eltham will go to the polls for a council by-election next month after one of the area’s Labour councillors resigned. - Darryl Chamberlain, The Greenwich Wire.
💰 Unpaid council tax: Hackney and Ealing top the table with around £50m each, while Kingston has the lowest debt, at just £2m. - More here from Love Kingston.
🥪 People living in Stoke Newington have called for a new ‘people’s cafe’ in Clissold Park after the existing facilities closed in March. - Alex Marsh, Hackney Gazette.
🍽️ Camden Council has launched a public consultation on whether to make the open air dining areas on Charlotte Street permanent. - Linus Rees, The Fitzrovia News.
🏗️ The green light has been given to a plan for 264 new student flats next to the Roundhouse venue at Chalk Farm. - Joseph Reaidi, Ham & High.
👀 A new 360 security camera contraption in Clerkenwell has drawn criticism for its ‘Orwellian’ aesthetic, but locals are pleased with how it is deterring anti-social behaviour, reports Daisy Clague in the Islington Tribune.
🏗️ A row of shops in Finchley Road could be replaced by a seven-storey boutique hotel with 59 rooms. - Alex Marsh, Ham & High.
🔐 Residents of a block of modern Paddington flats claim estate agents have turned their building into a huge holiday let. - Adrian Zorzut, MyLondon.
👗 From Steven Stokey-Daley’s hit show to the return of Christopher Kane, London Fashion Week has given some ‘reasons to be cheerful’, writes Jess Cartner-Morley in The Guardian.
⮑ L’Oréal’s ‘biggest-ever beauty-wellness event’ is due to start on Thursday at Piccadilly Lights. - Laura Forsyth, City A.M.
⮑ ‘7 of the best street style looks at London Fashion Week’ - Lara Owen, The Independent.
📆 A wine tasting, a barbecue festival, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on stage are in Londonist’s list of things to do this week.
⚽️ Tottenham Hotspur may have lost yesterday’s men’s North London Derby, but there is one league the side is second-top of: The fan arrests league.
📮 Something missing? Share your local news and events here.
📈 The most-viewed links from the last newsletter:
🏗️ The Guardian's architecture critic lays into £132m Old Street roundabout.
🚦 Road linking South Bank and Waterloo Station is getting pedestrianised.
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