Westminster & district · Local news you can trust
Westminster planning permission and Article 4: every basement needs it, most shops cannot become flats without it, and seven streets have extra rules.
Read the full story
Local Info
Westminster School Term Dates 2026/27: A 2-Week October
Westminster school term dates for 2026/27 in full, plus the borough secondaries that break for two weeks in October when the council's calendar says one.
Queen's Park
Westminster fireworks: Queen's Park is the only display
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.
Hyde Park
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: opens 19 Nov, £1 entry days
Winter Wonderland runs 19 November to 3 January, closed Christmas Day. Entry is £1 on November weekdays and £8.25 at peak, and the four gates are not equal.
Oxford Street
Oxford Street Christmas lights: no 2026 date announced
Neither Oxford Street nor Regent Street has published a 2026 switch-on date. Both landed in the first fortnight of November last year, and both sites are stale.
New Year
London New Year fireworks: tickets due mid-October
Tickets for the Thames fireworks went on sale 17 October last year and sold out. Prices, the six viewing areas, the Londoner discount and the road closures.
Parking
Westminster parking fines: 3 bailiff firms from 1 Nov
Westminster issued 650,100 parking tickets last year and about 11% reach a bailiff. From 1 November three firms replace Marston alone. The fees that get added.
Oxford Street
Oxford Street: government rejects council's EIA demand
Westminster says ministers ignored its concerns and cleared Oxford Street without a full environmental assessment. Its lawyers said a challenge would fail.
Trading Standards
Fake squishy toys: 200 seized from a Victoria candy store
Westminster trading standards took nearly 200 fakes off one Victoria shop after a mother reported a chemical smell. What to check before you buy a squishy toy.
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.
Transport
Oxford Street pedestrianisation misses its summer deadline
The Mayor's target was traffic-free by the end of summer. On 1 September buses 94, 139 and 390 still stop at Selfridges, and the council wants a full EIA.
Westminster City Council
Westminster waste depot in Southwark needs £7.97m more
Westminster approved £7.97m extra on 26 August, taking its Mandela Way depot to £13.5m. Ground conditions drove the rise, and the site is in Southwark.
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.
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.