Progress at Kingfisher Leisure Centre site

Kingston Council's New Leisure Centre

You may have noticed increased activity around the leisure centre site in Kingston recently. The enabling works for Kingston’s long-awaited new leisure centre have commenced. Carried out by the council’s construction partner, Pellikaan, early activity includes the creation of a temporary site access and pruning of trees in line with planning permission. According to Councillor Olly Wehring, chair of Kingston and North Kingston Neighbourhood: “The hoarding has been extended to include the playground (the new playground on Fairfield is now open). Construction work should start next month – just waiting on the discharge of the pre-commencement planning conditions.”
The new leisure centre is due to open in Spring 2027.
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Met Engage: receive updates from your local neighbourhood police

UK Metropolitan Police logo

As part of its work to keep Londoners up to date with what they are doing in local areas, the Met Police has established a new platform called Met Engage. Met Engage allows you to receive updates from your local neighbourhood officers about newsletters, crime prevention advice, updates on what they are doing, crime alerts in your area and publishing events such as crime prevention workshops, bike marking events, met engagement surveys. Please note that this is not a crime-reporting platform.
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Ace Parade works – parking fines update

Ace Parade new EV bays

Councillor Lorraine Dunstone tells us that TfL stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices from 28th March and that they are cancelling all PCNs from 22nd February 2025 to 28th March 2025 inclusive. This does not include PCNs issued for stopping on double red lines. Ace Parade customers who have received a relevant PCN for this period will be notified of the cancellation. If you have already paid a PCN it will be refunded.
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Changing your phone line from analogue to digital technology

Analogue phone

You may have been contacted by your landline provider about changing your phone line to something called VoIP – which stands for ‘Voice over Internet Protocol’. This means the old analogue copper telephone lines will soon become redundant, with all calls using your internet connection. If you are unsure what this means and how it could affect you, we have written what we hope is a user-friendly article about the switchover.
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Kingston 2025 is underway

Celebrate Kingston 2025
Image © Kingston Heritage

Marking the 1100th anniversary of the crowning of King Athelstan in Kingston in 925, Kingston 2025 is a six-month festival celebrating the communities of Kingston through a programme of arts and culture events right across the borough. The festival, which launched on 3rd May and continues until November, brings together communities, schools, students and different artists.
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Community award to Diane and Francis Brannan

Community Award awarded to Diane Brannan
The Mayor of Kingston presenting the Community Award to Diane (Francis was camera-shy)

Congratulations to Diane and Francis, the well-deserved recipients of a community award from the Mayor of Kingston. The award was presented to them by the Mayor, Councillor Liz Green, on 17th March at a ceremony at the Guildhall, Kingston. The awards honour individuals who devote their time to supporting communities across the borough. Diane and Francis have played crucial roles in the development of CDRA for over 30 years.
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Ace Parade chaos

Ace Parade, Chessington roadworks

Parking and loading bays suspended, erratic closures to the slip road, incorrect signage installed, parking tickets wrongly issued, barriers and groundwork debris everywhere … all combining to cause chaos for vehicles and frustration, confusion and stress to residents, customers and businesses. And what for? For an additional two electric vehicle charging points that aren’t needed or wanted.
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