The London Minute ⏰ Wednesday 18 September 2024
Debate over Oxford Street plan, schools face £25m cuts, parks lose Green Flag status + Barbie lands on the Strand
🌞 Good morning London. Here’s Wednesday’s London Minute.
🌳 Lots of follow-up to yesterday’s news on the return of the Oxford Street pedestrianisation plan: Business groups have welcomed the proposal, writes Dave Hill of OnLondon.
⮑ Shoppers and taxi drivers gave a more cautious response when speaking to Kevin Rawlinson in The Guardian.
⮑ Mayor of London Sadiq Khan published this press release yesterday with more details.
⮑ The Mayor’s office also circulated images of the proposed development drawn up in 2017, which it says ‘are representative of the type of initial scheme that could be implemented’.
⮑ The plan ‘potentially pits a Labour government and mayor against a Labour-run council’ which is ‘potentially very delicate and very awkward’, writes Tim Donovan, Political Editor, BBC London.
⮑ There’s a healthy debate about the plans in the caption of this Instagram post from the OxFood Street account.
✏️ Camden Council is predicting a budget squeeze for schools of up to £25m by 2025, a new report reveals. - Joe Steen, Local Democracy Reporter, The Fitzrovia News.
⚽️ Private schools are being urged to share grounds to help children access green spaces. Since August last year, Catford school St Dunstan’s has given free access to its grounds for an hour every Monday after the school day ends. - Rachel Keenan, The Guardian.
🏠 The former car park of the Jack Straw's Castle pub in Hampstead Heath is for sale as a housing site. - Joseph Reaidi, Ham & High.
🏗️ A Greenwich ‘pop-up village’ that was supposed to last 60 years is to be demolished by Lewisham Council after eight years. - Darryl Chamberlain, The Greenwich Wire.
🎧 A new podcast explore the five different neighbourhoods contained within the Central District Alliance, from Clerkenwell to Tottenham Court Road. Dave Hill takes listeners on a journey through the history and geography of the area. - London Explained is published by The London Society. (Thanks to reader Joshi for sharing this).
🏡 Waltham Forest’s ‘most beautiful homes’ are opening up to the public. The Open House Festival runs until Sunday, writes Holly Kintuka in Waltham Forest Echo.
🌳 Eleven of Haringey’s parks have lost their Green Flag status due to the ‘unprecedented financial challenges’ faced by Haringey Council. - Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter, Haringey Community Press.
🏊♀️ The charity that operates Brockwell Lido is offering all local residents the chance to claim a free three-day pass to kick start, restart or continue their fitness journeys. - Mike Urban, Brixton Buzz.
🍽️ Café Cecilia founder Max Rocha reveals ‘the best places to eat on Broadway Market and beyond’. - Leonie Cooper, Time Out.
🎬 The UK’s biggest line-up of music documentaries, the Doc’n Roll Film Festival has announced this year’s line up. Screenings at London venues include BFI Southbank, Rio Cinema, The Garden Cinema, Barbican Cinema, Finsbury Park Picturehouse, ICA, Ritzy Brixton, The Castle and Hackney Picturehouse. - Phil de Semlyen, Time Out.
🎸 Coldplay have confirmed they will take over Wembley Stadium for six nights next year. - Amber Peake, London World.
💖 A bit of Barbie’s world has landed on Strand Aldwych (WC2R 1ES). For this week’s London Design Festival, designer Nina Tolstrup has created three pavilion installations celebrating ‘the iconic architecture of the Barbie DreamHouses, inspired by the architecture of Greater Palm Springs and midcentury modernist style’. - More details here.
🖼️ Writer Nancy Durant shares video from the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery. - The London Culture Edit.
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