Summer drinks party at Cowcross Street
As in previous years, the annual summer drinks party for London Forum’s members will be held at the Alan Baxter office building at Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ, near Farringdon station.
Please do come along and join Trustees and committee members for drinks and nibbles on Monday 18 August 2025 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and meet fellow activists from other member societies across London.
This is a free event for a maximum of two people per society – please book your place(s) using the booking facility.
The rooftop [more…]
Will the next London Plan rise to the city’s real challenges?
This article was first published in Housing Today.
Ben Derbyshire reflects on Sadiq Khan’s latest policies to boost housebuilding in the capital.
You could be forgiven for thinking, following Sadiq Khan’s volte face on building in the green belt, that Londoners would be all over this issue like a rash. Far from it, if the mood among members of the London Society and the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies at a meeting convened on 13 May is anything to go by.
The [more…]
The New London Plan: Shaping Housing for the Future
On 13th May, the London Forum and the London Society held a joint collaborative event at UCL, that brought together leading voices in planning and development in the run up to the new London Plan due in 2026/7, focusing on the city’s most pressing issues: housing, transport, green space and sustainable growth.
The event was chaired by our President, Ben Derbyshire, with introductions by Michael Jubb, chair of the London Forum; Leanne Tritton, chair of TLS; and Jess Ferm, director of education at UCL/Bartlett. Keynote speakers were Jules Pipe [more…]
The new London Plan: Shaping housing for the future: rescheduled
This London Forum/London Society joint event has been rescheduled for May 13th because of a delay in the publication of the supporting GLA paper ‘Towards a London Plan’ – originally due in February.
The details are on the rescheduled event page, and booking is still essential. There are a few more tickets available at UCL as it’s a larger lecture theatre.
If you booked for the original date, you should have been notified of the change by email, with your booking now moved to the new date. Please [more…]
Member News : How to contribute
In an earlier article, I mentioned that two-thirds of member societies are already represented on the new live member news page, which in turn provides selected articles for our weekly email to the whole membership, allowing members to share their news and knowledge across London. We select stories that we feel are particularly newsworthy, or of benefit by way of information sharing to a significant part of our membership, and we assume you think this is a good idea too. Our aggregated membership is [more…]
London Forum on BlueSky @londonforum.org.uk
We’re pleased to announce that The London Forum is now on the BlueSky social media platform. We’re using our domain name as our ‘handle’ for clarity: @londonforum.org.uk and we encourage members to follow us there.
Our latest postings appear on the website as shown in the screenshot below, and we plan to post our news updates and Insights to the service regularly. We’ll also post and re-post other items of interest to the membership as we spot them.
Website and communications improvements
Since volunteering to take on management of London Forum’s website and email communications in November, having become a Trustee at the 2024 AGM, I’ve been making a few improvements, with a few more in the pipeline.
Rooftop gathering at 75 Cowcross Street
As in previous years, the annual rooftop networking event for London Forum’s members will be held at the Alan Baxter office building at 75 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ, near to Farringdon station.
Join the Committee for drinks and nibbles on 20th August 2024 from 6.00pm to 8.00pm and meet representatives of other member societies at this unique setting with panoramic views over the City.
This is a free event for a maximum of two attendees per member society but you must book your place(s) using this form:
Annual General Meeting 2024
The formal notice and agenda was posted to member societies in early September.
Doors open at 6.00PM with drinks and nibbles available ahead of the formal meeting start at 6.30PM.
AGENDA
- Welcome and Introduction
- Minutes of the AGM of 12 October 2023 (DRAFT here)
- Chairman’s Report – Chairman Peter Eversden
- Financial Report – Treasurer Stephen Speak
- Approval of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2024 (Annual Report 2023-24)
- Appointment of the Independent Examiner
- Adoption of revised constitution (DRAFT here)*
- Election of Trustees and Officers
- Any Other Business
After the meeting we will hear from Jane [more…]
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National Planning Policy Framework consultation response
Chief Planning Officer’s newsletter
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Website search improvements
The rise and fall of bus passenger numbers in London
Bus passenger numbers in London reached a peak of 2.4 billion in 2014, but since then have fallen to 1.8 billion in 2025. This decline is now exercising the Mayor and GLA [more…]
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Are London’s High Streets and Town Centres in Crisis?
📆 Thu 26th March | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
What is the nature and scale of the crisis and why are some streets and centres doing better or worse than others. What can be done about it? We’ll discuss these and related issues at this Open Meeting on 26th March – please book here. ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/are-londons-high-streets-and-town-centres-in-crisis/?occurrence=2026-03-26#booking ) London’s town centres have had a challenging decade – changing planning policies, growing on-line sales, COVID, vacant shops and rising costs. They are in transition, but are they going in the right direction? How can we maintain their vitality?…
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Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 9th April | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)

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![London Bus [Unsplash]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/jonathan-chng-uIsygO87jtM-unsplash.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1)