To celebrate World Book Night 2012, three London boroughs are set to highlight the importance of libraries in getting the nation reading – and their festivities will take place aboard a red double-decker bus.

Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham councils will commission a London Routemaster bus on the evening of 23 April to showcase their wide range of libraries across the three boroughs, all of which are to remain open, even in these tough economic times.

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London’s West End is set to see its first new theatre in over thirty years, as part of a multi-million pound development project given the green light by Westminster City Council.

Plans for the new development between Charing Cross Road and Oxford Street will see the arrival of a major new cultural space for London, and mark a significant investment in the arts within the City. The scheme, submitted by Derwent London, will bring two brand new nine-storey buildings close to London’s premier shopping street, providing mixed use office and retail space.

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Hundreds of hours of free sporting activities will be available to Westminster residents this weekend (April 21/22) – everything from the latest craze in yoga, free-running at the world’s largest purpose-built Parkour site, to playing beach volleyball on the same court used by Team GB Olympic hopefuls.

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With less than 100 days to go until the start of the Olympic Games, ten Westminster community groups have been given a share of a £25,000 grant pot to run projects as part of the Cultural Olympiad this summer.

Facilitated by Westminster based charity, Vital Regeneration and chosen by a panel of independent judges, the ten organisations will run a Cultural Olympiad community programme in Westminster.

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At a meeting held at Westminster City Hall tonight, Westminster Council’s cabinet voted in favour of holding a referendum in Queen’s Park to give residents their say on proposals to set up a parish council in the area – the first in London for over fifty years.

Around 8,000 residents in Queen’s Park are expected to participate in the independently run referendum, which is due to take place in May 2012. A final decision on the Queen’s Park parish council will be taken in June 2012.

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