Westminster Council has been forced to scrap plans to save £14 million a year by making every resident and business clean up the front of their property after being told that the plans would be illegal. The plans, hatched at a secret meeting of the 'High Level Group' of Conservative Councillors and Officers on 23rd August and subsequently leaked to Labour Councillors, were aimed at...

Labour Councillors are calling on Westminster Council to take action to return the borough's estimated 3,000 empty private properties back into use for local residents and families. As part of National Empty Homes Week, Labour Councillors are calling on residents to report properties they think may be empty. Labour Councillors have already reported a long-standing empty Council property at 10...

Schools could lose nearly 20% of pupils, 50 children in need affected, together with 30 adults with 'serious and enduring mental health problems'. Government plans to cut Local Housing Allowance will have a devastating impact on 4,000 children and 500 vulnerable adults in Westminster, according to a briefing for Councillors by Council officers. Councillors have been told that Westminster...

Westminster's Labour Councillors have slammed Conservative plans to switch off dozens of traffic lights in an experiment to improve traffic flow in the West End. The experiment will start with a set of lights about 100 yards from Westminster Abbey, at the junction of Victoria Street and Strutton Ground. For the first two weeks the lights will work normally while for the following fortnight th...

Labour Councillors have called on Westminster City Council to provide more larger flats in order to meet the needs of over 860 families who are registered by the Council for a transfer because they need a larger property. The latest figures from the Council show that: 867 families are registered by the Council for a transfer because they need a larger property; Of these, 66 have been assessed by t...

Labour Councillors have blasted Conservative plans to double Council rents and reduce security of tenure for Council tenants. Labour say that if the Conservatives win the next election Council tenants in Westminster will face: * increasing rents to private rental levels. In Westminster this could mean rents rising from a council house average of £93.60p a week to the London private rental av...

Westminster's Labour Councillors have announced a five-point plan to help struggling retailers and encourage new retailers to open up in vacant Council owned property: * Rent increases on Council-owned shops would be capped at 5 percent, similar to the increases negotiated by Church Street shopkeepers after the Council had demanded a 25 percent increase * Parking charges would been frozen in ...

Labour Councillors have unveiled their Five Point Plan for fairer parking in Westminster. The Five Point Plan will: * cut the cost of a Residents' Parking Permit by £10 a year; * scrap the loss-making motorbike parking charges which have been so controversial and divisive; * end the practice of parking ticket targets for parking wardens; * scrap the plans to charge residents to park on ...

Labour Councillor Barbara Grahame has sent us an anecdote which gives an interesting insight into the priorities of Westminster Conservative Councillors: “On 26th November I went on the ‘Empty Property Tour’ organized by the council’s Housing Directorate, which was really interesting, looked at roofless Freshwater mews properties, an abandoned colonnaded terrace in Sussex G...

Labour Councillors have unveiled a 12-point 'real regeneration' plan for Westminster's Council estates to ensure that local residents benefit from any regeneration work in Church Street; Ebury Bridge Estate; Tollgate Gardens in Maida Vale; and the Brunel Estate, where Westminster Conservatives are threatening demolition of parts of estates in these areas. Labour Councillors say that...