Westminster & district · Local news you can trust
Queen's Park Gardens holds Westminster's only free bonfire display, on 5 November. It gets announced very late, and Battersea tickets go on sale 8 September.
Read the full story
Local Info
Westminster roadworks: Kilburn Lane closed, Westway one lane
Kilburn Lane is shut both ways at Herries Street for emergency Thames Water works, past its listed end date, and the Westway is one lane to 5 December.
Local Info
Westminster Recycling Centre: There Is None in the Borough
Westminster has no recycling centre. Residents use Smugglers Way in Wandsworth, car visits must be booked, and you need ID showing a Westminster address.
Local Info
Westminster Bulky Waste Collection: £36 for Six Items
Westminster bulky waste collection: £36 for up to six items, £6.40 each after, free on Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support, plus the free Saturday route.
Local Info
Westminster Council Tax Discounts: 25% Is £261.96
Living alone in a band D Westminster home takes £261.96 off the 2026/27 bill. Every discount and exemption, plus the two-year review that removes one.
Local Info
Westminster Bin Collection Days: It's a Time, Not a Day
Westminster bin collection days work differently: each street gets a time window, not a weekday. How to find yours, and the 30-minute rule that loses bags.
Local Info
Westminster Resident Parking Permit Cost: £40 to £353
The 2026 emissions bands in full, from £40 to £353.10, plus the £60 diesel surcharge and the battery-size rule that doubles the price for a big EV.
Licensing
Mistress of Mayfair licence suspended: decision by 10 Sept
Westminster suspended the St James's Street venue's licence on 17 August after a police expedited review. It must decide by 10 September whether to revoke it.
Housing
Westminster loses 16 Marylebone affordable flats on appeal
Sixteen Marylebone flats, ten at social rent, are no longer tied to affordable housing. A clause written to reassure lenders freed them, and Westminster pays.
Schools
Westminster GCSE results 2026: 78% beats London 75.5%
Westminster reports 78% of GCSE entries at grade 4 or above, clearing England's 67% and London's tougher 16-year-old rate of 75.5%. One claim cannot be checked.
Schools
Westminster free school meals: 600 pupils lose lunch
Westminster has scrapped its free lunch for Years 7 to 9 from September. Of 967 pupils, about 367 are covered by the new national rules. The other 600 are not.
Queen's Park
Queen's Park Family Hub: £3.7m rebuild, open in 2027
Westminster has awarded a £3.69m contract to rebuild 17-23 Third Avenue as the Queen's Park Family Hub, £916,000 under estimate. It opens in autumn 2027.
Schools
Westminster A level results 2026: 86% at A*-C, above England
Westminster's 86% at A to C beat the 78.1% England figure. Harris Westminster hit 92%, Westminster City School held its record, and re-marks close on 20 August.
Almost nobody says they live in Westminster. They say Marylebone, Pimlico, Bayswater, Paddington, St John’s Wood, Belgravia, Soho or Queen’s Park. The word means Parliament and the Abbey to the rest of the country, and a council to the people who live under it.
That council is worth paying attention to. It runs controlled parking zones and permits across nearly the whole borough, licenses the West End, and works through a planning caseload in which most buildings are listed or in a conservation area. All of it is published. We read it and write down what it says, with a link to the document on every fact.
More in Local Info, News and What’s On.
Every fact is linked to the official source it came from.