Business
Cllr Monica Press, Leader of the Labour Group of Councilllors – FULL speech
Cllr Monica Press, Leader of the Labour Group of councillors, who represents Colville ward, addressed the full meeting of the new council. Here is her speech in full Thank you Madam Mayor and congratulations on your election. And congratulations to Cllr Nur on...
The grab for power looms, but Who will win and How?
This Thursday — 7th May — voters in Kensington and Chelsea go to the polls in the most finely balanced local elections the Royal Borough has seen in a generation. The Conservatives are fighting to hold on to control, with the Labour Party snapping at their heels, and...
Full Council Meeting – The Citizen takes poll (sic) position
The Chelsea Citizen grabbed a front-row perch on the press bench at last night’s Full Council meeting — here's what unfolded... The session kicked off with an emotional plea over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as four residents demanded the Royal...
‘We’re coming for Chelsea’: Reform Party launches recruitment drive for May election fight
Reform UK stormed into Chelsea last night (18th November) with a rally aimed squarely at recruiting councillors to break the Conservatives’ decades-long grip on the Royal Borough. Around 120 locals packed St Luke's Hall where party activists vowed to deliver a...
Creature Comforts Eases Into Chelsea
Creature Comforts, the colourful veterinary clinics that re-define the world of animal healthcare, is marking its arrival in Chelsea with a special Citizen reader offer. Noted for its ultra-modern lilac and purple branding - the most "soothing" colours for pets - the...
RBKC Search for Advisory Panel Talent
RBKC council is searching for a team of locals to come forward to join a new panel to "hold them to account" in light of the Grenfell tower disaster. The hunt is on for 10-15 people who can take up places on the resident-led Independent Advisory Panel (IAP), which has...
£50 for 15,000 low income residents – RBKC signs off budget with £750,000 cash handout
The leaders of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council have waved through its budget for 2025-2026. Following a full council meeting on 5th March, the budget was signed off. Council tax will go up by four per cent - one of the lowest increases in London....
Lord Cashman speaks up in support of the Chelsea houseboat owners
Lord Cashman made a spirited defence of the Chelsea houseboat owners in a speech in the House of Lords on the evening of 4th February. Baron Cashman of Limehouse, for it is he, spoke up during a debate about the Renters' Rights Bill. He revealed that his...
Other News
Council calls on residents to help it choose where to spend money as it faces up to funding crisis
The Royal Borough is asking residents to help decide what matters most over the next four years as it wrestles with a £108 million budget gap and growing demand for services. A six-week public consultation has been launched to shape the authority's new Council Plan, which will set spending and policy priorities through to 2030. The exercise comes...
Council goes extra lengths to improve Chelsea’s public swimming pool – and splashes out £1.3m
Chelsea Sports Centre’s historic swimming pool is set to undergo a £1.3 million refurbishment, with RBKC Council unveiling plans to modernise the 119-year-old facility while preserving its heritage. The investment will see the pool close from 12th July until November 2026 as contractors carry out extensive improvement works designed to secure the...
Justice For Jack Ryan campaign petition draws 1,000 signatures in first 24 hours
The campaign in the name of tragic Jack Ryan has launched a petition demanding that the Government changes existing bail laws to stop serious offenders escaping justice. The Justice for Jack Ryan petition on the Gov website gathered more than 1,000 signatures in its first 24 hours and currently stands at 1,900. Under the Gov petitions process,...
Hot air and air con: John Cookson’s sketch from inside the Town Hall chamber on the hottest June day in history
From The Citizen's customary front-row perch on the Town Hall press bench, our faithful municipal eavesdropper John Cookson watched Kensington and Chelsea's newly elected mayor - Cllr Janet Evans (Courtfield) - preside over her first full council meeting. The Borough's new First Citizen swept into the chamber in a fetching baby-blue cotton,...
The Citizen makes history as new media partner for The Chelsea History Festival
The Chelsea History Festival will return this autumn with a programme of around 100 events, bringing world-renowned historians, broadcasters, performers and storytellers to venues across Chelsea. Running from 1 to 4 October 2026, the eighth edition of the festival will explore the theme of World History, examining the people, events and ideas...
History Director Gill Webber Interview: “Everywhere you look in Chelsea there’s a fascinating story to tell”
The Chelsea History Festival returns this October with its most ambitious programme yet, bringing world-class historians, authors, performers and cultural figures to the area’s most iconic venues. At the helm and guiding this extraordinary festival every step of the way will be Gill Webber, the Director of Chelsea Heritage Quarter. The festival,...
“I was resentful at the time, but as time goes on, the less I feel that way — war is hell”. Stories of heroism at the National Army Museum
Three men who faced bullets, bombs and terrorists — and lived to tell the tale — gathered in Chelsea as the National Army Museum celebrated becoming the new home of a world-famous collection of Victoria and George Crosses. Reporter John Cookson joined an audience captivated by extraordinary stories of courage, fear and survival. You could have...
HURRAH! TFL parks dumb Loading Bay decision – after The Citizen inspires residents to fight
Transport for London has caved in and REVERSED its decision to change a much-needed loading bay into a parking berth for rental bikes and scooters. The bay on Cheyne Walk by the Chelsea Reach marina has for countless years been a vital stopping point for the residents of the houseboats to collect and unload heavy goods. They were aghast to...
“Park in a bay – or we’ll take it away”- RBKC Council seizes 2,600 e-bikes and wheels in £210,000 in fines
The Council has scooped a fortune in fines from e-bike operators by impounding more than 2,600 hazardously parked bicycles since launching a pioneering borough-wide enforcement operation 18 months ago. Dangerously abandoned bikes which posed immediate danger or significant disruption were seized in the Council’s attempt to preserve the...
RBKC officers put resident through years of hell and £10,000 bill trying to BAN wooden terrace they had already APPROVED
A homeowner was dragged through a planning nightmare by the council for two-and-a-half years and forced to spend nearly £10,000 defending a roof terrace screen — only for a government inspector to rule the council had already approved it. In a humiliating defeat for RBKC, the Planning Inspectorate threw out the council’s enforcement case against...