Shared ownership homes in Newman Street. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Challenges around shared ownership properties are a “particular” issue for Londoners, the housing minister has admitted. The scheme -- aimed at households who cannot afford to buy a property on the open market -- allows people to purchase a share of their new home and pay regulated rent on the remainder.

Geoff Barraclough, cabinet member on Westminster City Council. Photo: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon/LDRS. Westminster City Council has criticised Sadiq Khan’s new licensing powers, saying they will “do little” to fix London’s evening and night-time economy. Councillor Geoff Barraclough, the cabinet member for planning and economic development on the Labour-led council, said licensing was “not even close to the top issue” hospitality businesses face.

Cynthia Judah and her husband Robert Kee on their wedding day in 1960. Photo: PA Images / Alamy. Cynthia Kee (née Judah), who died in 2023 aged 94, was a journalist, television producer, and a long-time resident of Goodge Street in Fitzrovia. Until quite late in life he would often be seen out and about with her bicycle, and she enjoyed relaxing in her garden on the roof of her Georgian terraced house above the busy shopping street where she had lived for more than 40 years.

Saturday's march from Finsbury Park to Ducketts Commons. Photo: Susanna Mkhitaryan. Crowds gathered in north London last weekend to protest the looming threat of facism and rise of racism in the UK. Over 1,000 people marched from Finsbury Park to Ducketts Commons in solidarity with the cause. The march was put together by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) and sponsored by local organisations including Camden Unison and Camden People’s Alliance.

Lloyds Bank at 88 Tottenham Court Road is included in the list of branch closures. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Lloyds Bank at 88 Tottenham Court Road is one of many branches that will closed over the next year, the banking group has announced. The move means that only HSBC and Nat West of the big four high street banks will retain a location on Tottenham Court Road after Barclays…

The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan looks set to fall well short of affordable housing targets set by the Government, new data shows. Last year the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) agreed to lower London’s target for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-2026 by over a fifth to between 17,800 and 19,000 starts by March.

Westminster City Council has said an “over-reliance” on a collapsed building firm is partly to blame for delays in delivering new affordable homes. The City Council also questioned the “effectiveness” of financial-checking tools and blamed rushed procurement time frames for not earlier spotting the demise of Geoffrey Osborne Limited, which it contracted to build 62 social homes in 2022, a lessons learnt report shows.

New report: "Neighbourhood Policing: the experience of young Londoners". Image: Greater London Assembly. Too many young Londoners do not trust the police or feel safe in their local area, the Met has been told in a new report by the London Assembly. The force published its Children’s Strategy in September 2024, marking a new approach to policing focused on youth safeguarding and trust building.

Pay to park for motorcyclists from 10 February 2026. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. New charges to park a motorcycle on the street in the London Borough of Camden will come in to force this month, ending free parking and bringing the council closer to neighbouring Westminster which already has fees. "If you do not have a valid parking permit, you will need to pay to park in a solo motorcycle bay from 10 February," says Camden.

Camden Council has registered three planning applications in Bloomsbury ward, which includes Fitzrovia East, since the beginning of February 2026. (This page will be updated until the monthly list is complete.) Four previous applications have been decided, and two appeals against decisions have been lodged with the Planning Inspectorate. Among the applications registered are: Demolition and rebuild of buildings at 37-38 Warren Street.

Early February 2026 round up of news, features, comment, public consultations, and local democracy reports from The Fitzrovia News

The existing building at 7 Ridgmount Street. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Plans for a major redevelopment of a site at 7 Ridgmount Street were due to be decided at a Camden planning committee last month but were pulled from the agenda and the public consultation re-opened. Sebra Ridgmount Ltd were getting all excited as officers had recommended for approval plans by architects Fiala+Nemec’s to extend the existing five-storey building upwards, and infill to create new office space, retail, and add roof terraces to provide amenity space for office workers.

The City of Westminster is closer than ever to becoming an accredited Council of Sanctuary, where refugees and asylum seekers are given support and a warm welcome. In January, Westminster Council's cabinet of senior councillors approved the progression of a new strategy, A Westminster Welcome: The Strategy for People Seeking Sanctuary in Our Borough, to solidify its commitment to accreditation.

Oliver Hayes told Assembly Members that the London Plan needs a data centre policy. Image: GLA webcast. A planned proliferation of data centres in London could “undermine” the capital’s decarbonisation goals, the London Assembly has been told. Between 50 and 60 of around 100 planned data centres -- which house IT infrastructure such as servers -- currently in the planning pipeline are scheduled to be built in London.

London Fire Brigade attending an incident in Fitzrovia earlier this year. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Middle-aged firefighters in London are being diagnosed with cancer at a rate three times higher than the general population, a new report has found. Four per cent of people aged 35 to 39 working in the London Fire Brigade (LFB) reported having been diagnosed with cancer in a Fire Brigade Union (FBU) survey, according to an investigation from the London Assembly Fire Committee.

Existing frontage of 37 and 38 Warren Street. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. Plans have been submitted to Camden Council this month to redevelop 37 and 38 Warren Street which also fronts onto Euston Road. If given approval it will be one of many noisy construction projects either planned or underway in the street. In the autumn last year Weybourne Group revealed its emerging plans for the two buildings…

Camden Council registered and decided planning applications in Bloomsbury ward, which includes Fitzrovia East, during January 2026.

This photo taken in the 1880s shows the Globe public house on the corner of Maple Street and Whitfield Street in Fitzrovia. To the right in the photo can be seen Whitfield Street school. The pub was probably still standing in the mid-1940s (or possible later) as it is named on the Ordnance Survey map from that time. The area had suffered from bombing during World War 2, with many buildings lying as ruins or the sites cleared.

Proposed south pavilion (left) and Mediterranean garden (centre). Image: planning application. The British Museum’s plan to build a new security block and convert its front courtyards into a new garden have sparked fears it will spoil the building’s iconic Greek style. The landmark Bloomsbury museum wants to replace its controversial security-check marquees with two new temporary blocks on its northern and southern elevations while also converting its front lawn along Great Russell Street into a "Mediterranean" botanical exhibit.

Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has welcomed the publication of a report by the London Nightlife Taskforce which calls for growing the number of venues opening after dark -- putting him on a collision course with many residents in Camden and Westminster. The report sets out 23 recommendations "to protect, support and grow London’s nightlife industries".   Among them are the introduction of a London-wide licensing standard to make applications simpler and the creation of a permanent, independent London Nightlife Commission -- something which Khan has provided a grant of £300,000 to help establish. 

Goodge Street on a Thursday morning in January was less cluttered. Photo: The Fitzrovia News. It appears as though businesses are still calling the shots in the London Borough of Camden when it comes to efforts to keep the public footways clear of clutter. Instead of issuing enforcement notices to business owners who block the pavement with advertising boards (A-boards), Camden Council has come up with an elaborate solution to the problem of obstructing the free flow of pedestrians.

Westminster City Council has set out the steps it thinks necessary to mitigate the negative effects of pedestrianisation of Oxford Street west, in a letter sent this month to Transport for London (TfL). Councillor Geoff Barraclough, cabinet member for planning and economic development, writes in response to the public consultation on the plans saying that Westminster Council's preference is that pedestrianisation didn't happen at all.

Sir Sadiq Khan told the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee that policing reforms could have some "downside" for The Met. Photo: GLA webcast. The Government’s new policing model -- which includes a National Police Service (NPS) and the creation of 12 “mega” police forces -- could have significant implications for how the Met Police operates, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted.