Most of the recycling from public bins across Merton is being ‘set alight’ at the Beddington Incinerator. When community campaigner Mark Gale was convinced that recycling in town centre bins was not being dealt with properly, he set about finding out more.
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Over the past 14 months, people have connected with their homes in ways their pre-pandemic lives could never allow.
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A Tooting MP has criticised the Government over their plans to introduce mandatory photo ID for voters. Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour MP for Tooting and Shadow Mental Health Minister said the plans will “strip away the rights of the most vulnerable”. As part of wider vote reform, the Conservative Government recently proposed a Bill which will require all voters to provide photo ID before casting their vote.
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Croydon residents are being encouraged to ditch takeaways in favour of supporting the borough’s hospitality industry when coronavirus restrictions ease on Monday (May 17). Under the next stage of the easing of lockdown, up to six people can meet together inside meaning many pubs and restaurants with little or no outside space will be able to open for the first time in 2021.
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Labour will not have any members sit as chairs or vice chairs of any of the London Assembly’s scrutiny committees following this morning’s annual meeting. Assembly members this morning voted on who should take up positions at the first meeting since the GLA elections, but the City Hall Labour group has accused the Greens, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of forming a “coalition” to “block” its members from key scrutiny committee positions.
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A murder investigation has been launched after the death of 78-year-old man in Bermondsey. Police officers were called at around just before midday on Wednesday, May 12, to reports of an unresponsive man found at an address on Jamaica Road. Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
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A landmark eyesore which has been decaying for decades will be bulldozed for a £62million block with 135 flats and a new YMCA hostel. Work is expected to start in the summer on the joint venture between YMCA St Paul’s and developer Thornsett. It is on course to pass the final stage of the detailed planning process this month after it was given planning permission by Merton Council.
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Sight seers can watch how London’s newest tourist attraction takes shape from the comfort of their own homes. A live stream is showing the building work on the 25m high grass-topped temporary viewing platform at Marble Arch Mound. The £900,000 pop-up attraction is due to open on July 5 and it is hoped that it will help entice people back to the West End and give them an open-air experience before they hit the shops in Oxford Street and nearby bars and restaurants.
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The parents of an autistic woman who died after being hit by a lorry are publishing a book of her writing to ‘prevent the mistakes’ being repeated. Colette McCulloch, 35, who suffered from multiple mental health issues, was killed in July 2016 when she was hit by a lorry on the A1.
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A disabled woman will next month take her town hall traffic chiefs to court over road blocks which she says quadruples her journey time to vital hospital appointments. Sofia Sheakh, 47, a long-term chronic pain sufferer and Covid survivor, is fighting Lambeth council over their use of the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) scheme.
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A primary school teacher says closing Purley Pool for good will mean children face a round trip of up to two hours to visit the next closest leisure centre in Waddon. It has been more than a year since Purley Leisure Centre closed its doors when the coronavirus pandemic hit, the only leisure centre in Croydon that has not opened at all during the last year. This has led to concerns that it may close for good.
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Vegan food influencer Deliciously Ella has fended off residents’ complaints about rats to win permission to reopen her restaurant in the West End. Ella Mills, 30, boasts two million Instagram followers and has published six cookery books. She is also the great granddaughter of the late billionaire Lord Alan Sainsbury, whose family owned the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain.
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A Lewisham born singer has released a music video featuring local residents to highlight the impact of climate change on Black communities in South London. Love Ssega, a former member of the chart-topping band Clean Bandit, was brought up in Catford and has featured local residents in the video for his new track Our World (Fight for Air).
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Owners of a new coffee shop will not be able to sell alcohol for drinking on-site after part of their application was rejected by a Lambeth licensing sub-committee on yesterday (May 11). Four Boroughs, which also runs a coffee shop in Crystal Palace, applied to sell alcohol in its new Loughborough Junction branch on and off-site from 7am to 6pm Saturday to Wednesday, and 7am to 7.30pm on Thursday and Friday.
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The Duke of Cambridge has visited the Met’s Croydon Custody Centre today to pay his respects to Sergeant Matt Ratana, who was tragically shot and killed while on duty in September 2020. During his visit, The Duke was welcomed by Commissioner Cressida Dick and introduced to Matt’s partner and some of his closest friends and colleagues.
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Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a man who tried to frame his landlord’s partner as being involved in the Westminster terrorist attack. Gerald Banyard, 67, of Whalley in Lancashire, sent two handwritten notes to police days after the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack which suggested that there may have been a second person involved in its planning.
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There will be 12 new members of the London Assembly this term following the conclusion of the GLA elections this weekend. Although none of the 14 constituency seats changed hands between parties, seven of the Assembly members in these seats stood down or retired before the election, with new candidates taking their place.
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A request was made to check the tenancy status of a Grenfell Tower resident who raised concerns about a new school and leisure centre near the tower block. Kensington and Chelsea council’s former head of housing, Laura Johnson, said she asked the arms-length housing management company to look into Edward Daffarn’s tenancy after he said he was worried about “the imposition” of the new Kensington Aldridge Academy near Grenfell Tower.
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This Mental Health Awareness Week, Southwark council has approved £2 million in funding and launched a dedicated task force to work closely with schools to improve children’s mental health. To date, 76 schools have made successful funding applications for a range of school-based initiatives designed to build resilience and promote mental health that will benefit at least 30,000 pupils – accounting for more than two thirds of all school children in Southwark.
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