The London Minute ⏰ Wednesday 3 July 2024
Ladbroke Grove shooting, postal vote panic, 1 Undershaft decision delayed, Eel Pie Island opens + would you swim at Canary Wharf?
🌞 Good morning London. Here’s Wednesday’s London Minute.
🗳️ Tomorrow is polling day, when there should be no party political coverage in the media while the public votes.
⮑ Find your local polling station here and remember to bring photo ID. Accepted forms of ID are listed here.
⮑ Putney is predicted to be the first seat in London to declare, with its result expected around 1.30am, writes Adam Toms of MyLondon in this election night preview.
⮑ There are reports that postal ballots have not arrived for voters in Kensington, Lewisham and Southwark. - Rachael Burford, The Standard.
⮑ Almost half of all London councils used faulty software that sent General Election polling cards to ineligible voters by mistake, an investigation by MyLondon has found. - Adrian Zorzut, Senior Local Democracy Reporter.
🚔 Two teenage boys were hospitalised with gunshot wounds after a shooting in Ladbroke Grove. Detectives were called to Verity Close at about 11.40pm on Monday and found two boys, aged 15 and 16, suffering gunshot wounds. - John Dunne, The Standard.
🐾 Sniffer dogs helped Newham Trading Standards staff to uncover more than £70,000 worth of illegal tobacco and vapes from nine shops. - The council published details here.
🚊 Strikes by London Trams workers have been called off after a dispute over pay was ‘resolved’. - BBC London News.
🚇 Phone coverage gaps within city centre Tube lines are starting to be filled in. All of the underground Elizabeth Line stations got 4G coverage earlier this year and now coverage has been extended into the tunnels between Liverpool Street and Paddington (including the tunnel to Royal Oak). - Ian Mansfield reports on what’s planned next, in Ian Visits.
🏊♀️ A swimming spot is due to reopen at Canary Wharf this weekend. Some swimmers have raised concern about levels of E.coli in the River Thames. Swim organisers ‘Love Open Water’ insist the water at Middle Dock is regularly tested and is ‘completely clean and safe to swim in’, reports BBC News this morning.
⮑ There’s more discussion on this in the comments of this Instagram post.
🏙️ A decision on plans for the 1 Undershaft skyscraper has been deferred after concerns including the reduction of a public square were raised in a meeting on Tuesday. - Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter, The Standard.
🏠 Public consultation has opened on a major plan for the next 20 years of housing development in Croydon. - The council shared this update.
💰 A Hackney primary school head teacher who was sacked after tapping her own son’s hand to stop him playing with a bottle of hand sanitiser has been awarded more than £100,000. - Josh Salisbury, The Standard.
🎞️ Steve McQueen's World War II drama 'Blitz' has been announced as the opening film of this year’s BFI London Film Festival.
“Blitz is a movie about Londoners,” says McQueen. “It honours the spirit of what and how Londoners endured during the blitz, but also explores the true representation of people in London, while at its core is the story of a working-class family desperate to be reunited during times of war. I could not be more thrilled that the BFI London Film Festival have invited us to open this year’s festival, and to celebrate the world premiere of Blitz in my hometown.”
🖼️ The private and usually locked Eel Pie Island is home to artists' studios and boatyards. But next weekend you’ll be allowed to visit thanks to the local artists’ Summer Open Studios. - Find out more about this and absolutely loads of other local art events in art critic Darren’s latest edition of London Art Roundup.
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📌 “George & Beth’s ~ Home and Fashion vintage lifestyle pop-up.” - Friday 5 July, 10am at 14 Stratford Grove, Putney, London SW15 1NU. - Thanks to subscriber Helen for sharing this.
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