The London Minute ⏰ Monday 9 September 2024
Autumn chill sweeps in, Crossrail 2 could return, nursery closures, 'drugs emergency' petition, Regent's Canal lido plan + free pizza for an entire local street
🌞 Good morning London. Thanks for your patience while I took some time off from the daily newsletter. Let’s get back to it and find out what’s happening around the city. It’s a busy start to the week but I’ve condensed as much of the news as possible for you. Links galore! Here’s Monday’s London Minute.
🌦️ Temperatures are expected to drop this week, falling to 7C in London on Wednesday, according to the Met Office. It’s prompted headlines warning of an ‘Arctic blast’ as cooler air moves in from the north - William Mata, The Standard.
🔥 Sir Keir Starmer says he is ‘frustrated’ at how long it is taking to deal with building safety and cladding, following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's final report last week. - Hafsa Khalil, BBC News.
🏥 A London surgeon is accused of leaving children with different length legs. Great Ormond Street Hospital has launched an urgent review of 721 cases involving children treated by a former consultant orthopaedic surgeon after concerns were raised. - Will Twigger & George Lithgow, MyLondon.
👩⚕️ Hospital staff in Camberwell might be forced to leave their jobs after the Trusts decide to close two ‘affordable workplace’ nurseries. - Isabel Ramirez, Southwark News.
🔪 Actor Idris Elba is due to be at 10 Downing Street today to help launch a plan to tackle knife crime in the city. - William Mata, The Standard.
🚎 ‘Three bus routes in south London might be axed’ - Transport for London has announced plans to make changes to bus routes between Elephant & Castle, Camberwell, Brixton, Clapham Park, Streatham and Morden. - Find out more in India Lawrence’s report for TimeOut.
🚅 Crossrail 2 could be back on track. Negotiations are ongoing to secure the future of a multi-billion pound railway plan, which would run north-south through London from Hertfordshire to Surrey, the Government has confirmed. - Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter, in EC1.
⮑ Old Oak Common station could be redesigned to make it fully accessible for Elizabeth line services. - Noah Vickers, The Standard.
🧑🦯➡️ ’I’m blind - This is how I navigate the London Underground network safely’ - Veronique Hawksworth, MyLondon.
🏡 Having previously made a Tube map of London rental prices, The London Spy team have now published a Tube map for local house prices.
🚲 Brent Council has given hire bike firm Lime until October 31 to remove all the e-bikes in the area if it ‘continues to ignore’ safety concerns about where the bikes are parked. - India Lawrence, TimeOut.
⮑ ‘E-bike rage in the borough that's had enough - and how it might be solved’ - George Sandeman, BBC News.
🚨 Drug dealing in Islington has reached a ‘crisis point’, according to residents who say they feel unsafe. Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition titled ‘Drugs emergency: Stop Drug Crisis in Tollington & Finsbury Park’). It calls for police and politicians to tackle what they say is a a marked escalation of open drug dealing and drug use. - Daisy Clague, Islington Tribune.
⮑ There is also ‘fear and frustration over rising anti-social behaviour’ in Hackney Downs, reports Joe Steen, Local Democracy Reporter, in the Hackney Citizen.
“Somebody said to me: ‘This is like the climate emergency, but it’s the Finsbury Park drugs emergency.’ We need to do something about it. People are profiting enormously from this, profiting from death, and we’re not doing anything to stop them.” - Petition organiser Christopher Travers.
🪧 Security guards at the Science and Natural History museums are balloting for strike action in a dispute over wages. - Exclusive by Diane Taylor in The Guardian.
🚔 At least two counter-protesters were detained by police as thousands of people gathered to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during the weekend’s pro-Palestine demonstration across the capital. - Sami Quadri, The Standard.
⮑ The Guardian published this video from Saturday’s march.
⮑ The Metropolitan Police ‘didn’t get everything right’ in policing recent large-scale protests, as a new report reveals. - Holly Evans, Independent.
🗳️ Labour won a Camden Council by-election at the end of last week. A Conservative candidate finished in last place with 48 votes. - Nathalie Raffray, Ham & High.
⮑ ‘Low turnout but the outcome is familiar’ - Richard Osley in Camden New Journal.
⮑ Four candidates will contest a single seat for Westminster City Council’s West End ward by-election on Thursday 19 September. - Local Democracy Reporter Ben Lynch spotlights the candidates in Fitzrovia News.
⚖️ A London-based former Accenture employee with a chronic illness has won the right to legally appeal her dismissal, arguing that the corporation discriminates against those with disabilities. Accenture denied the claim. - Charles Thomson, Ham & High.
🌳 Plans for a ‘sensitive restoration’ of the ‘filthy’ Crabtree Fields park (near Goodge Street tube station) in Camden will be shared next weekend. - Linus Rees, Fitzrovia News.
🏥 North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust is set to complete its merger with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust by the end of this year, bosses have confirmed. - Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter, in Haringey Community Press.
🏗️ Work has begun on a £9.3m project to refurbish Woolwich Town Hall after water leaks forced its partial closure. - Darryl Chamberlain, The Greenwhich Wire.
🎭 The Tate Modern has revealed new works including a room-sized installation by Mona Hatoum, cabinets of formaldehyde jars by Damien Hirst and a sculpture by Sarah Lucas featuring a reclaimed toilet. - Tate press release.
🍾 ‘King of Mayfair’ restaurateur Richard Caring is on the cusp of securing a deal to sell his majority stake in The Ivy restaurant chain after more than two decades at the helm. - Bethany Wales, City A.M.
🍸 The Phoenix bar at Cavendish Square has reopened its doors reopened after a four-week refurbishment. - Poppy Huggett, Ham & High.
🏊♀️ Plans for a floating lido in Regent’s Canal have resurfaced. Swim City Basin wants to open a pool at City Road Basin (map location here) in Islington. - Alex Marsh, Islington Gazette.
🎸 US rockers Linkin Park have announced they will play the O2 Arena on 24 September. - India Lawrence, TimeOut.
🍔 A Peckham pub has been named the best place to get a burger in the UK. - Isabel Ramirez, Southwark News.
🍕 Here’s a slice of promotional ingenuity: Yard Sale Pizza is marking next week’s opening of its Bermondsey store by offering free pizza to an entire local street, if locals nominate their area. - Herbie Russell, Southwark News.
📌 The London Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 ‘Hampstead Heath is curing children's 'nature deficit disorder'', writes Karin Oleinikova, programme manager for Heath Hands.
📌 What’s missing from the Minute? Got good news or an event to share? Nothing’s too local. - Get in touch using this form.
📈 The most-viewed links from the last newsletter:
🚇 ‘New live map shows when London trains will be cancelled 6 weeks before they happen’.
🏠 ‘Government denies London mayor Sadiq Khan power to impose rent controls’.
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