Council tax will be frozen for a sixth year running as Westminster Council sets the lowest Band D rate in the country.

The average household - those living in Band D - will pay £680.74 from April. A reduction of £3.78 comes from lower contributions to be paid to the Greater London Authority.

The All Sing Harrow Road Community Choir is hosting a free choir workshop at Westminster Academy next week.

People of all ages, backgrounds and musical ability are welcome at the school at 255 Harrow Road on Tuesday next week (19) from 6.45pm-8.30pm.

by Sarah Spickernell

Children raided their fancy dress cupboards to celebrate the magical world of reading for World Book Day.

by Josh White

Benches outside a derelict Pimlico pub often used by street drinkers have been removed.

Councillor Steve Summers, for Vincent Square Ward, has been working with Hopkinson House, in Vauxhall Bridge Road, Pimlico, a shelter for homeless men with heavy drinking problems, to combat reports of increased anti-social behaviour in the surrounding areas.

The Chronicle spends 10 minutes talking to Dr Saima Rana, vice principal at Westminster Academy, about life and teaching at the Harrow Road school

FOR the first time in five years, Westminster City Council has been forced into using its gritting fleet in mid-March as the council's street teams battle ice and snow in the centre of the capital.

Gritting lorries were dispatched from a central site in Brent at 8pm on Sunday night (March 10) and will continue to treat roads, such as Oxford Street, Piccadilly and Whitehall, for at least the next 24 hours.

Westminster Council is being urged to set up a compulsory register of private landlords to improve protection for tenants.

The council's environmental health officers inspected 1,712 private rented properties last year, in a bid to crack down on rogue landlords.

Fringe theatre The Cockpit is offering dance and acting courses for emerging performers.

Shakespeare: Bites an eight-week course for actors launched at the theatre in Gateforth Street, Marylebone, last week.

A Paddington fire chief has warned against the dangers of smoking in bed after an elderly man died in a house fire earlier this month.

The London Fire Brigade are investigating the fatal fire in Pointer House, Aberdeen Place, St John's Wood on March 5 where the man was found dead at the scene. It is believed the fire was started by a lit cigarette.

Parents are concerned about a 'dangerous' road crossing, noise and dust from a big development metres from a primary school.

The PTA at Hampden Gurney CofE Primary School, in Nutford Place, off Edgware Road, Paddington, has written to developers who are due to demolish and redevelop Regent House opposite.