You, too, can help to produce the sort of journalism which is generating news stories which are being picked up by the BBC, Private Eye magazine and The Times.
Just in the past couple of weeks, Inside Croydon has brought you the kind of news that those who run Town Halls across south London would rather was kept secret and unknown, swept under the carpet.
Like our reports on the three senior council employees at the centre of a nepotism scandal, as “The Godfather” was caught using tax-payers’ money to pay a family friend £787 per day. As a result of our journalism, those three no longer work at Croydon Council – not that anyone at the council has admitted responsibility or admitted what was going on. The case has now been reported to the police by a local councillor who has been very concerned by the revelations in Inside Croydon.
Or there’s the news this week that Croydon Council has spent £100,000 on “masterplans” for six of the borough’s park, but now doesn’t have the money to pay for any of the recommendations.
Inside Croydon’s reporting helped highlight the legal threat from the Qatari royal family against a South Norwood couple
There’s our campaigning journalism, such as highlighting the plight of the South Norwood pensioners who were being taken to the High Court by the Qatari royal family, just because they said they wanted to protest against the obscenity of empty apartments in The Shard. Our coverage was spotted by a lawyer, who offered to do the pensioners’ defence work for them, and the Qatari case crumbled soon after.
We also provide unrivalled coverage of local community campaigns, such as the current efforts by sports clubs at Crystal Palace to keep the National Sports Centre open and properly maintained as a real piece of Olympic legacy.
There’s also our in-depth analysis work, like where we highlighted the £10million subsidy for multi-national developers Westfield in Croydon – being given by the Tory Government to Tory Party donors – while the same Whitehall department is claiming that there is no cash to pay for the retro-fitting of fire safety sprinklers in Croydon Council’s residential tower blocks.
And we also provide informed insight on local planning and development issues, such as our recent report that a prestige town centre site, originally owned by Croydon Council and which has been vacant for five years, yet still has no start date for building work to provide more than 500 new homes and is instead being used as a crocus garden.
There’s our reports on Town Hall meetings, like when one angry Labour cabinet member accused a Tory questioner of “stalking” her.
And there’s our political coverage, which causes the south London’s third-rate politicos to foam at the mouth.
There was our report on the sudden resignations of two short-service officers in a Croydon Constituency Labour Party, or the simmering row among Croydon Conservatives amid allegations that party rules have been broken for the selection of candidates for May’s local elections, and our occasional sideways glance at matters in the Rotten Borough (© Private Eye) of LibDem-run Sutton, where the council has been accused of abusing public-funded contractors to help their electioneering.
The bench/seat/’parklet’, which looks like it was assembled from off-cuts from Ikea
And of course, there’s the on-going saga of Councillor Watson’s whim, the “parklet”, or bench, plonked in the middle of the High Street, which the council warned was too dangerous to sit on, and then changed its mind when they realised how ridiculous they were making themselves look. After Inside Croydon pointed it out…
Inside Croydon is the only media outlet based in the borough which is covering these stories.
To do so, we rely on you, our loyal reader, to contribute news tip-offs, ideas, documents and emails, pictures and full-blown articles. Just today, Ken Towl has provided his latest guided walk through three of the borough’s parks for us all to enjoy and Alex Klaushofer has suggested a way in which we might all help reduce the tsunami of plastic which is threatening to submerge the planet.
But you can also contribute with a modest monthly subscription towards the site’s costs.
Christian Wolmar: the first speaker at Talking Inside Croydon 2018
You even get things in return for becoming an Inside Croydon supporter.
Last week, we staged our first Talking Inside Croydon event of 2018, with transport journalist Christian Wolmar discussing his latest book.
Entry to this event was free for Inside Croydon supporters. We hope to announce further guest speakers very soon.
Our supporters also get money off their tickets at the Screen25 film club in South Norwood. There’s also been prize competitions and other money-off offers for our patrons since we started taking subscriptions in October.
It is a little like the scheme that The Guardian now uses, inviting you to show your appreciation with a fixed donation each month.
We ask for £4.
It doesn’t sound much, but we hope you think it’s worth it.
Sign up as an Inside Croydon supporter today and join our team. Have your credit or debit card handy and please click here.
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- Inside Croydon is the borough’s only independent news source, and still based in the heart of Croydon
- 1 MILLION PAGE VIEWS IN 2017 (January to September)
- ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS 2017: Inside Croydon was source for two award-winning nominations in Private Eye magazine’s annual celebration of civic cock-ups
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or a local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
