Kensington & Chelsea

A London council meeting descended into a screaming match after a councillor was told to “go back to New York”. A motion on sexual assault and harassment was interrupted as Conservative councillor Janet Evans criticised her Labour opponent’s shortcomings on the issue.

Safety works on a housing estate near Grenfell Tower have finally begun after 15 years of campaigning by a community theatre based in the development. Kensal House’s SPID Theatre said it has been petitioning Kensington and Chelsea council since 2006 to restore the dilapidated community rooms where the company is based and fix leaks and other hazards.

Residents have warned of the need for a “permanent police presence” in North Kensington over fears about violence and gangs. The concerns come as the future of a temporary police counter – which opened in Ladbroke Grove after the Grenfell Tower disaster – looks uncertain.

Transport bosses are warning e-scooter riders they cannot use them on London’s trains or at stations. Trials of the e-scooters are under way in Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond and Ealing to test them out on the capital’s roads. The City of London will join the 12-month trial on July 5.

A leading art expert has criticised a health research charity’s plans to build a “pretty hideous” office building in South Kensington. Charles Saumarez Smith, the former head of the Royal Academy, said he was dismayed by the Wellcome Trust’s plans for a site in Pelham Street, close to the Victorian South Kensington tube station.

Campaigners have launched a legal challenge to Kensington and Chelsea Council’s controversial decision to scrap a major cycle lane. The route through Kensington High Street, separated from traffic by “wand” bollards, was removed by Kensington and Chelsea Council in late 2020, only seven weeks after it was installed.

Fraudsters who wrongly said they lived in Grenfell Tower claimed nearly £1m in hotel accommodation and housing after the fatal disaster. Police and council investigators uncovered £945,000 in fraud after the blaze which claimed the lives of 72. Recently investigators have  pursued another 12 cases of fraud over the last two years by people who falsely claimed they lived in Grenfell Tower.

Primary schools in Kensington and Chelsea are facing a drop in demand as families move out of London and an estimated £0.4m fall in government funding. The exodus from London which has been increased by the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of Brexit means an eight per cent drop in admissions.

A council worker lost his  job when he was caught out using a parking permit for people with disabilities. His use of the Blue Badge was exposed after he used the permit when he parked on roads near Kensington and Chelsea council’s town hall close to the High Street in March 2020. 

It’s been a year since a squad of new community wardens was hired to keep tabs on Kensington and Chelsea’s unique problems with street drinking, begging and dealing.