Communities
Evidence shows that LTNs improve people’s lives | Letters
May 18, 2025We were dismayed to read Joseph Harker’s article (Opposing LTNs doesn’t make you a ‘culture war’ petrol-head. Just look at what happened in Lambeth, 14 May). We are a group of Lambeth residents campaigning for safer, healthier streets for everyone in our borough. Harker’s arguments simply don’t fit with either the benefits of low-traffic neighbourhoods that we see every […]
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Campaigner wins court case over festivals in south London park
May 16, 2025A campaigner who argued that music festivals held in a south London park unfairly cut off large sections of the space and made it a “mud bath” has won a court case that could result in events being banned there this summer. The Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) group, which includes the actor Mark Rylance, complained […]
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‘People love being here’: London development shows harmony between nature and housing
April 11, 2025Arriving at the Kidbrooke Village housing development in Greenwich on a morning in early spring, the first thing you notice is the sound of birdsong and the scent of blossom. Geese are gently honking in the distance. This was once the Ferrier estate, a postwar housing estate that was demolished in 2009 to regenerate the […]
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Labour-run Enfield council left 100 families homeless after they refused to relocate
March 15, 2025A Labour-run London council left more than 100 families homeless without support last year after they refused to be relocated outside the borough, the Observer can reveal. Freedom of information data from about 80% of English councils shows that they ended their legal duties to 615 households who refused offers of housing outside the local […]
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Myra Garrett obituary
March 11, 2025My colleague and mentor Myra Garrett, who has died aged 92, was a pioneering development worker, philanthropist, and advocate for peace and social justice. After leaving the US for the UK in 1970, she became a transformative figure in east London, co-founding organisations such as the Limehouse Project, in 1984; the Tower Hamlets Health Strategy […]
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‘It’s hell on earth for me’: how did Joe Black overdose in a homeless hostel with zero tolerance for drugs?
March 6, 2025Jude Black was delighted when her son, Joe, moved into Holmes Road Studios in Camden, north London. This wasn’t any old homelessness hostel. It had just won an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and it looked gorgeous. The 59 refurbished studio flats had en suite bathrooms and were designed around a […]
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Louanne Tranchell obituary
February 25, 2025My mother, Louanne Tranchell, who has died aged 87, was a passionate campaigner for community involvement in planning decisions. She recognised the importance of questioning authority and was committed to bringing people together to mark struggles and successes. Louanne’s work in mobilising the community began in London in 1977, campaigning against Norman Foster’s plan for […]
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Grenfell Tower to be demolished, Angela Rayner confirms
February 7, 2025The remains of Grenfell Tower, the west London tower block in which 72 people died in a fire, are to be demolished over a two-year period starting after the eight-year anniversary of the 2017 disaster. The housing secretary, Angela Rayner, formally announced the decision on Friday after informing bereaved families and survivors earlier this week. […]
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‘Hotel of mum and dad’ in UK at its fullest in two decades, study finds
January 11, 2025The “hotel of mum and dad” is the busiest it has been for two decades as an increasing number of young adults in the UK choose – or are forced by low wages and rising rents – to live with their parents, research has found. The prohibitive cost of renting, let alone buying, a home […]
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Court clears way for ‘the Slab’ office block to be built on London’s South Bank
December 21, 2024The building of a controversial 25-storey office block nicknamed the Slab on London’s South Bank is to go ahead after the high court upheld a decision by the former communities secretary Michael Gove to approve the development. Mr Justice Mould dismissed a legal challenge by the Save Our South Bank group, which has been fighting […]
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