Christmas Reception at Cowcross Street
Following the success of the summer party, we’re holding a Christmas Reception for members on Monday 1st December, at the Alan Baxter office building at Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ.
Please do come along and join Trustees and committee members for drinks and nibbles, meet fellow activists from other member societies across London, and continue conversations started in August. This is a free event for a maximum of two people per society – please book your place(s) using the booking facility.
Annual General Meeting 2025
Doors open at 6.00PM with drinks and nibbles available ahead of the formal meeting start at 6.30PM.
This will be a meeting in two parts, first the formal business of the AGM, agenda below, followed by two presentations, from our Patron Professor Tony Travers and Leanne Tritton, Chair of the London Society. The presentations will be followed by questions and discussion. Please book your place(s) using the booking facility.
Please note that according to the constitution, only member societies will be able to vote in the formal AGM [more…]
From Small Beginnings – The London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies
The first initiative to bring London-based amenity societies together as a federation was the brainchild of two prominent and environmentally-committed members of the Blackheath Society, Neil Rhind and Tony Aldous. Neil, whose expertise was on the history and social development of Blackheath, had been the Society’s press officer and later its President from 2016 to his death in 2023.
Neil Rhind (left) with Tony Aldous
Tony, a journalist, wrote on environmental issues for [more…]
![Cowcross st yard [ photo: Joe Pundek at Alan Baxter Ltd]](https://www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Cowcross-st-yard-copy-320x202.jpg)
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.
[more…]
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.
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Try a new search:
![E-bike fire Shepherds Bush [photo: LFB]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ebike-fire-shepherds-bush.webp?fit=150%2C113&ssl=1)
A lithium-ion battery fire every five hours
More social housing
Planning Fees consultation response
Architects should rejoice that Britain’s latest new towns aren’t new towns at all
By Ben Derbyshire, chair at HTA Design, former RIBA president, and President of the London Forum.
I don’t generally play for laughs, but [more…]
Most Popular This Week
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Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 11th June | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)
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London Forum open meeting - Enforcement
📅 Mon 29th June | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
Speakers and agenda to be confirmed
Please save the date !