We want your ideas

The problem of on-street rubbish dumping and the need for more greenery are frequently mentioned by our members as important issues for all of us living and working in Fitzrovia.

The FitzWest Forum has supported various schemes to improve waste collection and deal with fly tipping. There is still a lot of progress to be made in this area and discussions are on going with Westminster Council on ways to deal with this.

One way to combat dumping is by improving the street scape – and a relatively quick way to do this is by planting and greening. The hope is that this will both deter dumping and also bring some much needed greenery into the area.  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 are very keen to for our members to suggest where potential planting could take place. With the help of the wider membership last year, we had previously identified various ‘dumping hot spots’ which you can see on the map. We have two questions for you.

1. Which of these do you think would be best suited for adding planters and greening?
2. Are there any other places you would suggest? Several sites have been identified in the central area of FitzWest – but what about the North and South?

Please comment on this page or email your ideas to us at info@fitzwest.org. We will collect all the suggestions together and select the most popular locations for our application.

Your chance to be involved

We want an opportunity for the wider membership of the FitzWest Forum to have an input into the Council decisions around planning and licensing and we are aware it is difficult for residents and businesses to keep track of the many applications that affect Fitzrovia.

So we are creating a small committee of local residents to keep an eye on applications and draw attention to ones that are important.  The committee will meet every 4-6 weeks, currently by Zoom, and discusses the implications of various applications.  It’s an opportunity to have a real input and affect on Council decisions, and great for people who don’t have a lot of time but want to be involved. This committee will then influence and shape the response of the Forum to the applications.

If you would like to be on this committee please contact info@fitzwest.org 

As part of our aim to include more members in important decisions, we have added a new page to our website

Planning and Licensing

Here you will find  links to Westminster Council Planning and Licensing applications, a list of  applications curated by Fitzrovia News and information about  particular applications that affect the area and that you may want to comment on directly to the Council.

It was announced earlier this month that the post office on Great Portland Street will not be franchised and will remain a ‘crown’ branch for the time being.  The FitzWest Forum Executive welcomed this at the last meeting as it means all the services that local residents and businesses rely on will still be available.

You can read more about it in the Fitzrovia News. https://fitzrovianews.com/2020/11/25/great-portland-street-post-office-to-remain-crown-branch-after-franchise-plan-put-on-hold/