Kingston Council to spend £23m to buy temporary homes and cut hotel use
#02: Housing crisis, £1.6m for local projects, The Big Sleep Out, £300K Lottery funding for Korean community group, Korean Food Festival, Green Flags Awards for Kingston parks, local Olympian, Saxons return to Kingston, free Ben & Jerry’s all day and more.
START WITH A SMILE: Stuff to cheer us up
🌳 UNESCO designates 11 new biosphere reserves, recognising their importance for conserving biodiversity and cultural heritage. In addition to Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Italy, Mongolia, Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Spain, the list also includes two transboundary reserves, spanning Belgium and the Netherlands, and Italy and Slovenia bringing the World Network of Biosphere Reserves to almost the size of Australia. Biosphere reserves are key in helping safeguard biodiversity, improving the living conditions of local populations, fostering scientific research and combatting climate change.
LOCAL STORIES: Stuff you need to know
🏠 HOUSING CRISIS: Kingston Council is to set aside £23 million to buy properties for homeless people to cut the number of families being placed in hotels. According to a new report by the council homelessness and demand for temporary housing has ‘reached a point of crisis’. An average of 80 housing applications are being received each month, a dramatic increase from 30 in March.
💰 £1.6M DEVELOPERS FUND FOR LOCAL PROJECTS: Property developers often get a bad rap, but it’s nice to know their contributions can have a positive impact on local communities. Money collected from developers through the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) has seen Kingston Council inject £1.6m into 42 projects across the borough. Beneficiaries have included parks and open spaces, biodiversity projects, community churches, libraries, outdoor activities and disability projects.
🤗 KOREAN COMMUNITY GROUP’S REWARDING WORK: Connect North Korea community group has received over £300,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund for its work with refugees. Based in New Malden, known for the highest concentration of Koreans in the UK, the organisation helps North Korean escapees build new lives in the country through various projects including pathways to education and employment, frontline community services and a scholarship programme.
📦 GROWING LOCAL ECONOMY: Work completes on £33m Metroplex Park, a sustainable urban logistics development in Tolworth. Located near Tolworth Hospital and the A3 Bypass, the scheme offers easy access to central London, motorways, and Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The development’s sustainability and green credentials include nine vehicle charging points and the ability to add more for each parking space, air source heat pumps, high-performance insulative materials and solar panels. The scheme’s commercial success should bode well for employment opportunities for the local community.
🍃 GREEN FLAG AWARDS FOR LOCAL PARKS: Those of us who live in the Royal Borough of Kingston already know how beautiful our parks and open green spaces are. Now there is an official stamp of recognition – three of the town’s parks have won Green Flag Awards. Canbury Gardens in North Kingston, Churchfields Recreation Ground in Chessington and Queen’s Promenade connecting Kingston and Surbiton have all been honoured along with 2,000 other locations across 15 countries. Another reason to enjoy your daily stroll in the park!
🗼 PARIS CALLING SURBITON: With Paris Olympics about to kick off, there’s great joy at Surbiton High School as one of their former pupil is selected to row for Great Britain in the women’s quadruple sculls. With two of the school’s current students having recently secured Gold in gymnastics at the British Championships, expect nothing less than a medal!
🎓 CLASS OF 2024: Is that a bird or is that a plane? No, it’s a flying graduation cap! If you are anywhere near the Rose Theatre this week, you may see smartly dressed students tossing their graduation caps in the air to celebrate the completion of their degrees (and the accumulation of a sizable debt). Yes, Kingston University is honouring 3,000 students during summer graduation ceremonies at the Rose Theatre from 16th to 26th July. Congratulations all!
LOCAL DEMOCRACY: Stuff that affects your neighbourhood
🗳️ KNOW YOUR MP: With the general election firmly behind us and the newly elected Labour and Conservative MPs swapping their green benches in the House of Commons, our two local MPs, both Liberal Democrats, have also been re-elected. So as Ed Davey (Kingston & Surbiton) and Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) return to work, you can subscribe to their weekly updates and keep an eye on how they are delivering on your local priorities.
COMMUNITY, CULTURE & EVENTS: Stuff to do, experience and enjoy
😴 THE BIG SLEEP OUT: Homelessness is a major issue affecting towns and cities across the country. It is no less pronounced here in Kingston with over 30 people sleeping on its streets on any given night. To bring greater awareness and to raise funds for those experiencing homelessness in the borough, Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness has organised The Big Sleep Out on the night of 4th and 5th October. You can register to take part and raise funds or you can simply make a contribution through their JustGiving page.
🌻 SUSTAINABILITY: Along with its rivers, numerous parks and green spaces Kingston already hosts an abundance of biodiversity across the borough. Here’s your chance to add to that – if you have a great idea, you could claim up to £1,000 from Veolia's Sustainability Fund to help you kick start your project. Since its launch in 2021, the Fund has supported over 260 projects with £200,000+ in funding. Rake at the ready!
🎾 SCHOOL’S OUT: The long summer school break can induce anxiety in many parents. While the two weeks on the Med may be all booked and paid for, what to do with your restless little ones for the rest of the holidays. (You know the iPad or the Xbox is not the answer!) Luckily, Kingston Council has put together an extensive list of activities for the whole family to enjoy across the borough throughout July and August. Help is also at hand in the shape of Summer Squash & Tennis Camps at Surbiton Racket and Fitness. You never know, a few years from now, your little one may well turn into the next Emma Raducanu or Andy Murray!
🇰🇷 KOREAN FOOD FESTIVAL: Fancy some Kimchi with your K-pop? Why not head down to the World Korean Food Festival this Saturday, 27th July, at the New Malden Methodist Church. From food to cooking demonstrations, music, dance and taekwondo, they’ve got it all K-covered!
🎭 SOUTH ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH: Now in its fifth year, Kingston is celebrating South Asian Heritage Month from 18th July to 17th August. With events taking place across the borough and London, you can enjoy the diversity and vibrancy of the region’s cultures, histories and communities through music, theatre, literature, food and much more.
👨👩👦👦 TRAVEL BACK TO SAXON AGE: OK, we can’t yet travel back to the past but we can certainly bring the past into the present. And that’s exactly what Kingston Museum is doing this Saturday, 27th July, with its Saxon Fayre. You’ll have the opportunity to experience Saxon daily life and working practices and enjoy music, performances, re-enactments and demonstrations. Dressing up in Saxon attire is purely optional!
🏃♀️ KINGSTON PARKRUN: Did we not mention this last week? We did, twice! As we are superfans of Parkrun, (we spend the whole week looking forward to Saturday mornings!) we are thinking of making this a permanent feature of ❤️ Kingston – what do you think? For now, we do have a favour to ask – with many people being away at the start of the summer holiday period, Kingston Parkrun has put out a request for volunteers. Will you really let down 350+ runners and walkers?!
LONDON CALLING: Stuff to do, experience and enjoy in the big smoke
🍦 UNLIMITED SUNDAES ON SATURDAY: While Glastonbury may the biggest music festival of the summer, we think the ‘coolest’ has to be Ben & Jerry’s Sundaes in the Park Festival. Well, literally at least! As well as music from various headliners, the festival offers live talks, games zone, freshly made food and, yes, free ice cream. All day! Taking place at Chiswick House and Gardens this Saturday, 27th July, it’s an 18+ only event meaning you won’t even have to share your Caramel Chew Chew with any kids!
WHAT ELSE? Stuff we couldn’t quite fit anywhere else but still like
🥇 AND THE GOLD MEDAL GOES TO MONGOLIA: Certainly for their stunning uniforms. Equally suited to a luxury designer fashion show or athletes parade at a global sporting event, Team Mongolia’s uniforms for Paris Olympics have garnered huge amount of love from across the globe. Each article of clothing pays homage to the country’s culture with embroidered motifs like the sun, the moon, the sky, birds, mountains and the mythical deer Gua-Maral. Expect to see the designs in an art gallery, a museum and a shop near you soon!