UK Council’s “Insensitive” KKK Image Featuring Millwall FC Badge

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news-corner/uk-westminster-city-council-kkk-millwall-football-club-badge-racist-kkk/

London grocer gets 0 food hygiene rating after inspectors spotted worrying practice with meat

Inspectors visited Alhayat following a tip-off fruits were being handled and prepared i…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #CityofWestminster #foodhygiene #Mediterranean #mediterraneanfood #Pimlico #WestminsterCityCouncil
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2266985/london-grocer-gets-0-food-hygiene-rating-after-inspectors-spotted-worrying-practice-with-meat/

Westminster Council has validated a number of planning applications so far during June 2024 in Fitzrovia West. (This page will be updated until the monthly list is complete.)

Among the list this month are: change of use from commercial to residential at 17-19 Foley Street; amendments to previous permission at 16-18 Berners Street; and new mechanical plant and enclosures at 32-36 Great Portland Street.

To view the applications and make a comment, use the monthly list below and the links to the full application on the council website. There is a limited time to submit comments. If you have trouble with the link not working, use the application reference number and search Westminster’s planning website. The monthly list we publish is pulled from the council’s website and is correct at the time of publication.

Residents in the Westminster part of Fitzrovia can also seek advice on planning applications by contacting the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association (email: [email protected]).

• Notification for Prior Approval for change of use of ground, first, second and third floor from Class E to 4 residential dwellings Class C3 under Schedule 2, Part 3, Class MA of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended).Show more description 17 – 19 Foley Street London W1W 6DWRef. No: 24/03867/P3JPA | Received: Fri 07 Jun 2024 | Validated: Fri 07 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending
• Amendments to planning permission dated 15 December 2023 (RN:22/08354/FULL) for partial demolition, refurbishment and extension of the existing building comprising removal of the Berners Street facade and stepped rear extensions at third to seventh floor levels; creation of external terraces; removal of existing mews storage unit and infilling to mews building; recladding of facades; installation of new plant equipment; new cycle parking and facilities; and associated works. Use of the building for office use (Class E) (excluding ground floor front) and/or provision of retail (Class E), restaurant (Class E), cafe (Class E) / gallery (Class E / F1) and/or wine bar / drinking establishment use (Sui Generis) at lower ground and ground floor, and gym facilities and / or medical facilities (both Class E) at lower ground floor .se of part lower ground (front) as flexible retail (Class E), restaurant (Class E), gallery (Class F1), wine bar / drinking establishment (Sui Generis), medical (Class E), office (Class E) or gymnasium (Class E).Namely, to amend Conditions 1, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27 32 and 33 of planning permission ref. 22/8354/FULL to reflect design development. Specifically, changes to the extent of sliding doors on the Berners Street façade, Berners Street facing material, retention of the existing brick infill to the Berner Mews, alterations to the Berners Mews attic storey and Southern lightwell elevationShow more description Orwell House 16 – 18 Berners Street London W1T 3LNRef. No: 24/03802/NMA | Received: Fri 07 Jun 2024 | Validated: Thu 13 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending
• Details of painted metal railings pursuant to Condition 5 of planning permission dated 27 September 2021 (RN:21/00847/FULL)13 – 15 Rathbone Street London W1T 1NBRef. No: 24/03681/ADFULL | Received: Tue 04 Jun 2024 | Validated: Tue 04 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending
• Installation of a plant acoustic screen to existing rooftop plant, including new plant (2 chillers and 3 VRF units) to support the refurbishment and fit-out of the existing basement and ground floor. Existing rooftop plant also to be reconfigured to allow for 12 existing AC units to be replaced and installed within the plant screened enclosure installation of new plant cabling to the rear elevation linking roof plant to the ground floor. two windows at ground floor (side elevation) to be reconfigured and incorporate a louvered panel at high level.Show more description 32 – 36 Great Portland Street London W1W 8QXRef. No: 24/03650/FULL | Received: Mon 03 Jun 2024 | Validated: Mon 03 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending
• Details of method statement for facade cleaning pursuant to Condition 2 of listed building consent dated 24 January 2024 (RN: 23/07146/LBC).55 Great Portland Street London W1W 7LQRef. No: 24/03399/ADLBC | Received: Wed 22 May 2024 | Validated: Thu 13 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending
• Details of signed appendix A, pursuant to Condition 3 of planning permission dated 16 June 2020 (RN: 19/10047/FULL)134 Oxford Street London W1D 1LURef. No: 24/01745/ADFULL | Received: Mon 18 Mar 2024 | Validated: Mon 10 Jun 2024 | Status: Pending

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/06/14/planning-applications-in-fitzrovia-west-june-2024/

#planning #planningApplications #publicConsultations #WestminsterCityCouncil

A disabled elderly tenant was left in a flat needing repairs “for years” by Westminster City Council. The local authority has agreed to pay more than £21,000 in compensation as a result of their “significant failures”.

It said it was “deeply sorry” for the distress it had caused the tenant and felt the large payout reflected the gravity of its failures. Councillors voted unanimously on Wednesday 5 June to approve the payment.

A council spokesperson said: “Providing safe and secure housing for our residents is a key priority for the council and we accept that we have not met our own high standards.

“We are working with the resident and their family to resolve as quickly as possible and have offered alternative housing. The council has taken on board the lessons from this case as part of our wider work to and will work to ensure residents are given the best possible service in the future.

“We are making changes as part of our Housing Improvement Strategy, which includes routine reviews and a more joined-up approach to address complex cases.”

The council will now ask residents to share their health and support needs when they report repairs in order to respond to individual needs and is reviewing its complaints process. It has also rolled out customer service and safeguarding training across its housing services.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service also understands the head of housing has offered to meet residents to discuss their concerns. It has also made two offers of suitable housing and will continue to support the residents.

An internal review found there had been significant failures on the council’s part to deal with requests for repairs by the tenant. As a result, it will hand back £16,000 in rent paid since May 2020 and pay out £5,000 for distress and delays, which is blamed on staff moving on and a failure to log requests, according to a council report for the General Purposes Committee.

Westminster City was made aware of repair issues at the flat in May 2020 when the tenant, who is a wheelchair user and has multiple illnesses, asked for adaptations to be made before they returned from hospital. The council installed a level access shower and new central heating.

In July 2022, the council was contacted by the tenant’s local MP who complained about many years of disrepair at the property and how it was affecting the elderly and ill tenants. The complaint was dismissed by the council which said it had not received a request for repairs in 12 months.

The local authority also said officers had made attempts to visit the flat but were unsuccessful because the tenants, who have not been identified, needed their daughter there to help them. The complaint was escalated in September 2022 but it took the council six months to log it and another six weeks to respond.

It then took the council a further seven months to deal with the resident’s refusal of a compensation offer and a further four-week delay in addressing their request for a review. A review of the case was only triggered after the resident wrote in requesting £110,000 in compensation for the distress the delays had caused.

The review found the council did not address issues raised in the original complaint nor recognise the vulnerability of the tenant. It also found the council’s response contained ‘inaccuracies’ about ad-hoc visits being arranged and a failure of repairmen to log issues and pass them on.

The report said: “This review has found significant service failures in both dealing with the repairs and responding to the complaint, as well as missed opportunities to discuss a move to more suitable housing with the tenant.”

The tenant has since been moved into care while the joint tenant is receiving help finding permanent housing.

The council sought the permission of the General Purposes Committee to pay the tenant £21,407 in compensation. According to the council, compensation payments over £2,000 need to come before the General Purposes committee to meet its own financial regulations.

Westminster City Council: General Purposes – Wednesday 5 June 2024.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/06/09/westminster-council-compensates-disabled-elderly-tenant-for-failures-on-home-repairs/

#housing #localDemocracyReporting #WestminsterCityCouncil

The BBC has been given the go-ahead to run a club for employees in New Broadcasting House at Portland Place after mistakenly applying for a 24-hour alcohol licence.

Employees and their guests will be able to order drinks and listen to live music broadly within “core hours” under the revised application approved by Westminster City councillors on 5 June.

New Broadcasting House is on the edge of Marylebone, bordering Fitzrovia where there are large number of people living near the building along Great Portland Street and Langham Street.

In the decision, the sale of alcohol will be restricted to 10am to 11.30pm from Monday to Thursday, 10am to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and from 12 noon to 10.30pm on Sunday; with a number of conditions attached to the licence.

The council’s licensing committee heard how the venue, previously located in Wogan House, will sit above the BBC’s newsroom in New Broadcasting House and won’t be accessible to the general public.

Lawyers representing BBC Club Sports and Leisure Ltd — one of two BBC divisions operating at the Portland Place site — said an application for a 24-hour licence had mistakenly been filed by an employee who they said worked on it alone.

According to a council report, the wrong type of application had also been submitted. The Met Police and Westminster City Council officers had originally opposed the 24-hour licence but withdrew their concerns after the application was revised reducing operations to core hours, council documents show.

Objectors at Wednesday’s meeting welcomed the changes to the application but said they were still concerned about the level of noise the venue might create. They accused the BBC Club Sports and Leisure of being “far from an ideal neighbour” .

One objector said: “[It’s] a shame because it is a significant presence in the [area] and there are benefits, but not for residents. The BBC, as an institution, isn’t following the complaints that they get.”

BBC Club Sports and Leisure said it operated the old venue without serious complaint. It also said live music at the venue would be “extremely limited” and drowned out within the building.

The revised application also states no sale or consumption of alcohol will take place outside the venue. The new licence will take effect as soon as a previous licence for Wogan House is surrendered.

A Westminster City Council report shows BBC Club Sports and Leisure applied for a new premises licence to give local authorities “clarity” over who would be managing the employee-dedicated social club. BBC Club Sports and Leisure operates under different management to the BBC.

The BBC has had a licence in place for New Broadcasting House since 2005 which will now become a de facto shadow licence. BBC Club was founded in 1924 as a private members club but is now an employee membership club consisting of an event space, a gym, food and drink services which is open to employees and their partners, according to its website.

Westminster City Council: Licensing Sub-Committee (1) – Wednesday 5 June 2024.

Decision: Broadcasting House, 2-22 Portland Place, London W1B 1DJ – 24/01030/LIPN.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/06/09/alcohol-licence-for-bbc-club-given-go-ahead-after-hours-cut-back/

#LanghamStreet #licensing #localDemocracyReporting #WestminsterCityCouncil

The Labour Party has selected Camden Council leader Georgia Gould as its candidate for the Queen’s Park and Maida Vale Parliamentary constituency at the 4 July General Election.

“I am delighted to be standing for Labour in Queen’s Park & Maida Vale,” said Gould in a statement issued by the Labour Party.

“With Keir Starmer at the helm, Labour is back in the service of working people. We will put an end to 14 years of Tory chaos and decline with a plan for national renewal, built on a bedrock of economic stability.

“Only a Labour government can deliver the change we need to take back our streets, get the NHS back on its feet, break down barriers to opportunity and get Britain building again,” she said.

As well as the leader of Camden Council, Gould also chair’s the cross-party body London Councils.

“She campaigns on devolution, community power, housing and investment in young people. She has deep links to the community, having been born in St Mary’s hospital and spending her childhood living on Westbourne Park Road,” said The Labour Party in a press statement.

Adam Hug, leader of Westminster Council, applauded Gould on her successful candidacy, saying: “Big congratulations to Georgia Gould — a major star in the Labour firmament and the newest member of the Queen’s Park and Maida Vale and Westminster Labour families.”

Gould has been leader of Camden for seven years and “faced the unprecedented challenges of the Chalcots PFI fire safety scandal, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis,” wrote Richard Osley in the Camden New Journal.

Former Labour party member Andrew Feinstein, who is a candidate in Holborn and St Pancras, described Gould’s selection as a gain for Camden.

“At least Camden Council will be rid of Starmerite Georgia Gould — who was OK with tents being seized from homeless people in midwinter, saw a decline in social housing conditions and refused to even discuss calling for a ceasefire. Now let’s get Starmer out of Camden too!” he said on X.

Gould apologised last year after council staff and contractors were involved in an eviction of homeless people living in tents outside University College Hospital in Huntley Street, Fitzrovia. Camden originally denied they were involved but the operation was filmed and widely condemned.

Queen’s Park and Maida Vale is a new constituency and is roughly equivalent to and replaces the Westminster North constituency currently held by Labour MP Karen Buck who is retiring at the forthcoming election.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/05/30/labour-selects-camden-council-leader-georgia-gould-for-queens-park-and-maida-vale-seat/

#CamdenCouncil #generalElection2024 #GeorgiaGould #politics #QueenSParkAndMaidaVale #WestminsterCityCouncil