September 2012 Archives

COMMUTERS are being warned to buy tickets in advance after work to double the size of the ticket hall began at Victoria Tube station.

The work is part of a £700million redevelopment of the station which will include new escalators and lifts, entrances and three booking halls.

WESTMINSTER Academy has been named an International Baccalaureate Career Related Certificate World School, following an exceptional set of A-level results.

Its new-found status has attracted two new teachers, Sue Austin and Nick Lee, who have experience of the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme spanning 30 years.

A vacant commercial site will be demolished to make way for eight new homes after Westminster Council approved the plans last week.

The former Amberley Coachworks in Goldney Road, Maida Vale, will be transformed into eight three-bedroom houses, set over two and three storeys. They will be built as two rows of four houses facing each other across a communal parking and landscaped area.

So Westminster Council has confirmed that the closure of the Jubilee Sports Centre in Queen's Park will go ahead, despite widespread opposition from across north/west Westminster.

We will get a new and probably very good sports and leisure centre just outside the borough boundary in Brent and I understand the support for this development, especially from those closer to the Moberly centre, and among potential users who point to upgraded facilities.

Full marks to the Westminster Council planning application committee for allowing common sense to prevail and giving the go-ahead to Pimlico Academy to build a primary school in its own grounds in face of a fervent if misguided NIMBY campaign based on a sadly selfish, snobbish, senseless variety of objections to giving such a unique educational opportunity to Pimlico children.

Let us hope that the health authority members prove as wise in the next local battle over the retention of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital's A&E department.

WESTMINSTER: The Princess Grace Hospital has a new consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon specialising in injuries to the shoulder elbow, wrist, hand and neck.

Dr Tony Kochhar is the country's leading authority on repetitive strain injuries, and advises patients and international companies on how to prevent and treat these problems.

The Princess Grace Hospital is recognised as one of the best equipped multidisciplinary private hospitals in the capital.

A SQUATTER has been evicted from Lisson Green after Westminster Council used new eviction powers to empty the flat.

The council had been trying through the civil courts to evict the man for four months, but a new law which came into force on September 1 meant the authority could kick the squatter out by complaining to police.

WESTMINSTER Council is trialling a new chat tool on its website to make it easier for residents and visitors to use.

Throughout the trial, the chat application will be available in the bottom right hand corner of some of the busiest pages on the council website, in a bid to make transactions quicker and easier.

Police are appealing for witnesses after an 89-year-old woman was robbed and assaulted outside the Newton Medical Centre in Newton Road.

The woman was outside the centre about 9.30am on Tuesday, August 28 when a man approached her from behind and pulled a handbag she over her shoulder.

Authors Don Jordan and Mike Proctor will be talking about their recently-published book The King's Revenge in Paddington Library on Tuesday, October 16 between 6pm-7.30pm.

The event is free and free refreshments will be available. To book a place call 0207 641 1300 or email Paddingtonlibrary@westminster.gov.uk