FITZWEST
NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM
NEWS
AGM Reminder and Unveiling of Holcroft Court Sculptures
Dear Fitzwest Forum Member You are invited to the AGM on: Date: Thursday, 9th October at...
Notification of AGM and ways to get involved and enjoy Fitzrovia
AGM INVITATION Thursday, 9th October, 6 pm at the Wellcome Centre, Howland Street. All...
Mayor’s Plans to Pedestrianise Oxford Street – Our response
REMINDER - YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TOMORROW - 2ND MAY - TO RESPOND TO THE MAYOR'S CONSULTATION...
Annual general meeting
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - Thursday, 9th October at 6pm
Dear Fitzwest Forum Member
You are invited to the AGM on:
Date: Thursday, 9th October at 6pm
Venue: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, 25 Howland St, London W1T 4JG
All residents and businesses are invited to attend The Fitzwest Neighbourhood Forum Annual General Meeting.
There is also the opportunity to attend via Zoom. Please contact us directly on info@fitzwest.org and we will send you the Zoom link.
As well as the usual business of the AGM, we will hear from Councillor Patrick Lilley about Westminster City Council’s vision for Fitzrovia for 2026.
Other topics will be successful Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funded projects including sharing your ideas for future schemes to improve the infrastructure of Fitzrovia.
There will also be information about the proposed traffic ban at Piccadilly Circus, the progress with controlling pedicabs and other local issues that affect us all.
Come and enjoy a glass of wine with your neighbours and find out what is going on in Fitzrovia.
Unveiling of the Holcroft Court Artwork
HOLCROFT COURT SCULPTURES – THOMAS & FANCY HOLCROFT
30 SEPTEMBER, 2025
Local residents enjoyed the grand unveiling of the Holcroft Court Sculptures which mark the lives and achievements of Thomas Holcroft who lived in Clipstone Street, a playwright and political activist who was instrumental in getting the working man the franchise in the 19th century.
His daughter Fanny wrote a famous anti-slavery poem.
This event was the culmination of many years of work and campaigning by Denise Julien, local resident and member of Fitzwest Neighbourhood Forum. After gaining the support of local councillors, and consulting with neighbours and local businesses, she successfully applied for funding from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The Forum was delighted to support this application and it was wonderful to see a CIL funded project come to fruition.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO WATER PLANTERS
The planters which were funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy and Tesco are still thriving, despite the hottest summer on record!
We do however need some more volunteers to help with watering on Gosfield Street and New Cavendish Street. The commitment is very small and any help – even just one day a week for 10 minutes or so – would be brilliant.
Please contact info@fitzwest.org if you are able to help.
Do you live or work in Fitzrovia West?
Do you live or work in Fitzrovia West (west of Cleveland Street and Charlotte Street) and care about safeguarding our unique environment?
Following a referendum on 2nd September 2021, where all residents and businesses had the opportunity to vote, a majority voted YES which means the plan is formally adopted into planning law.
If you live or work within the red line, or you are part of an organisation that works within the area, you are welcome to join the Forum. Membership is free and will qualify you to be involved with helping support the plan and to be involved with decisions which will have a positive effect on the FitzWest area.
If you would like to join the forum, just fill in the application form here.
Greening plans - update
Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions and comments on the location of planting and greening as a means to improve the streetscape and to deter rubbish dumping. There are plenty of locations – we had 15 on the long list – so now we have a great resource to refer to and also to share with other organisations as we work on greening the area. Where we are at the moment:
We are planning to apply for funding from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which is a levy that local authorities can choose to charge on new developments in their area. The money is used to support development by funding infrastructure that the council, local community and neighbourhoods want.
We have many suitable suggestions for locations, all over the FitzWest area. It is suggested the greening will have more impact – both visually and practically as a dumping deterrent if the greening areas are clustered together.
We will keep all suggestions for a long term greening plan, but in the short term, for this initial CIL project we suggest the following which has the benefit of being relatively close together and therefore visible:
1. Langham Street/Gosfield St – 2 locations/ 4 or 5 planters A real and visible hot spot with lots of commercial and residential dumping.
2 & 3 Hanson Street /Foley Street – 2 locations /2 planters Two planters on Hanson Street/Foley Street corners. One of the corners by the bin is very prone to dumping, and there is plenty of space.
4 & 5 Candover Street – 4 locations/ 4 planters Four planters, one on each corner with Riding House Street and Foley Street. Prone to persistent dumping, would link to and echo existing planting outside local businesses on Foley Street.
These locations would create a real impact and are close enough together to be a noticeable improvement to the greening in the area and will be easy to monitor for rubbish dumping. Let us know your thoughts – by email info@fitzwest.org or by commenting on this post
Local business involvement We also plan to approach local businesses to see if they would like to be part of the application – we can apply for additional planters for businesses to display and care for on their forecourts (as some do already). If you are a local business with a forecourt or pavement space that is yours and would like to register an interest in acquiring planters then please get in touch at info@fitzwest.org