While billions of pounds have been spent on Tube extensions or earmarked for the Docklands Light Railway, Croydon’s trams have become the poor relations of the capital’s transport infrastructure. And the strain is beginning to show. By STEVEN DOWNES
Planned closures of the Croydon tram network are up by more than two-thirds this year compared to 2025, according to official figures from Transport for London, as the light-rail system goes into this weekend with no services to New Addington, ahead of a further disruption when the eastern half of the network will be closed for two weeks.
TfL’s poor relation: the tram network has had much less investment than other capital transport schemes
All the works being carried out are undoubtedly necessary to maintain the system and keep it safe for its passengers.
Yet the increasing frequency and duration of the closures to sections of the tramway serve to highlight the increasing fragility of its infrastructure after its first quarter-century.
The frequency that New Addington’s residents are being cut off from Croydon and the other destinations on the tram network has prompted the area’s MP, Natasha Irons, to send a letter of complaint to TfL’s tram management.
But as is being suggested increasingly by frustrated passengers, Irons and another Croydon MP, Sarah Jones, really need to take the matter up with their Labour party colleague who controls the purse strings, London Mayor Lord Khan. Continue reading
Award-winning stand-up Mark Steel sits down with our columnist, Andrew Fisher, for a frank, wide-ranging and often hilarious interview, the latest podcast from the Inside Croydon ‘multiverse’.
Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, and his cabinet of Tory councillors will tonight push through plans to destroy the widely-admired council-run adult education service that has served the borough for more than 70 years.
The establishment of a children’s home to save cash-strapped Croydon Council some money could be heading for the law courts in a simmering row over the cancellation of a contract for managing the facility.
The Croydon children’s home where the council cancelled its management contract with a charity barely six months after it opened has been given a “Good” rating by Ofsted inspectors.
EXCLUSIVE by JOSHUA STEIN
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A search to find the history of an altar frontal used at Croydon Minster reveals a tale from Shanghai, an ARP warden in World War II, freemasonry, a men’s outfitters shop on Croydon High Street and a nurseryman tending his greenhouse plants. All will be made clear by DAVID MORGAN
Transport correspondent JEREMY CLACKSON on the clear and present danger of a car-obsessed Mayor who has no consideration for road safety for Croydon’s children
Crystal Palace Hub Sustainable Fashion Week – which in fact runs for a fortnight – is entering its second week, with its fashionably creative approach to community and one of the highlights of the festival tonight, with a big fashion show at St John the Evangelist on Sylvan Road.
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mayor Perry spent £53.4m on temporary staff at the council in 2024-2025.
