Don’t dig yourself into a hole! Here are our top tips to keep in mind if you’re planning to dig out your basement February 18, 2017 Barely a week passes without news stories reporting various problems with botched basement digs throughout London. Just recently a Georgian townhouse in Barnes collapsed “like a pack of cards” due to basement work, and similarly a family in Chester Row are still waiting for repairs worth £250,000 to their house after a neighbour’s skip fell [...]
London’s T-charge, which will affect up to 10,000 high pollution vehicles, will be introduced in October February 17, 2017 Take a deep breath – or don't… yet. There's going to be a new emissions charge in the City starting 23 October. London mayor Sadiq Khan today confirmed his plans for a £10 emissions surcharge, or T-charge, on older polluting vehicles in the city centre. Khan announced the news on the 14th anniversary of London's congestion charge, [...]
Could Tony Blair be Labour’s next leader? Bookies are offering odds on it happening… February 17, 2017 Tony Blair's rousing anti-Brexit speech today may have garnered plenty of opposition – not least from the foreign secretary, who accused the erstwhile PM of insulting the electorate's intelligence. But some suggest the speech may have been Blair's first step towards staging a glorious comeback. William Hill has put the odds of Blair standing in [...]
World’s leading cyclists to do battle on London streets in finale to Women’s Tour 2017 February 15, 2017 London is to host the final stage of this year’s Women’s Tour, with the five-day race around Britain culminating on some of the capital’s most famous streets. Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Whitewall are set to provide the backdrop to the competition’s finale for the first time when the race takes place for a fourth [...]
London mayor Sadiq Khan announces new electric-only bus routes to curb toxic transport emissions in the capital February 15, 2017 Sadiq Khan has bolstered the number of electric bus routes in the capital, amid plans to crack down on London's air pollution problem. The London mayor said next spring, 36 buses on routes C1 and 70, which run between White City and Victoria and between South Kensington and Acton respectively, will become electric only. That will [...]
Make the Thames Estuary a hub for creativity, says Khan February 13, 2017 London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has unveiled his vision for turning the Thames Estuary into a world-class hub for the arts. Included within the mayor’s “vision document” is a theatre complex in Bexley, an experiential arts centre in Woolwich, and a new production facility in Dagenham East that would be the capital’s largest film studios if completed. [...]
Tube strike threat over staffing and ticket office closures is off after the TSSA accepts London Underground deal over jobs February 13, 2017 The threat of industrial action on the London Underground over jobs has come to an end, after the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) accepted a deal. As a result, the union has called off its overtime ban. Both the TSSA and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union had been in dispute with London Underground over [...]
Culture shock: How London’s theatreland will be squeezed by business rates re-evaluation February 12, 2017 London’s theatreland will be forced to pay an estimated £31m in property taxes over the next five years once the government’s planned hike in business rates comes into effect in April. The total rates bill for theatres in the West End will rise by nearly 40 per cent to £6.3m for the 2017 to 2018 [...]
The government’s assault on buy-to-let landlords is hurting tenants February 10, 2017 The bill for the government’s misguided war on buy-to-let is coming due. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said yesterday that rents are likely to rise by 25 per cent over the next five years, outpacing house price growth, as landlords pare back their portfolios and tenants are left to fight over a diminishing supply [...]
The case for the Garden Bridge is “weaker than in 2014” says the Treasury February 9, 2017 A Treasury report has questioned the business case for London’s controversial Garden Bridge. Officials told MPs that “the overall case for the project is weaker today than it was in 2014”. In an analysis sent to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar said there are “significant uncertainties” about some of the benefits the [...]