Crime scene: aerial shots from the Whitgift Centre bus stop on Wellesley Road show the crime incident tent following the deadly attack on 15-year-old schoolgirl Elianne Andam
THE YEAR IN REVIEW Part 3 – September to December
It’s not like there’s ever any shortage of stories to cover in Croydon. But even by this area’s usual standards, the news that Inside Croydon reported, often exclusively, in the last few months of this year were hugely significant.
September 2023
Murdered girl was a pupil at fee-paying Old Palace School
Murdered in the street: Elianne Andam, one of 11 murder victims in Croydon in 2023
The killing of Elianne Andam, 15, when she was on her way to school one morning shocked the nation, generating an outpouring of grief across the borough and, perhaps for a while, made those in power think again about whether they really have been doing enough to reduce the blood being spilled on our streets.
As we reported at the time, as details slowly emerged from the murder scene outside the Whitgift Centre, Elianne’s death added a tragedy to what had already been a traumatic week for her school, Old Palace, which had been told the week before that it is to close.
According to eyewitness reports from those at the scene of the attack on Wellesley Road at around 8.30 this morning, the girl, dressed in her school’s green blazer, had just got off a No60 bus with a group of friends when the attack happened, her assailant using a large bladed weapon which one described as “like a sword”.
A teenaged boy, too young to be named as yet, was arrested and has been charged with the murder.
Tory minister is member of online group that salutes vandals
Missing rules: Perry’s Facebook group did not include any warnings against illegal conduct before he was approached by media
Another Inside Croydon exclusive, with an undercover reporter getting access to a “private” social media group which included among its members the Mayor of Croydon, Jason “Piss-poor” Perry and Tory MP Chris Philp, the policing minister for goodness sake, as it celebrated and congratulated wanton acts of vandalism carried out against public property: ULEZ cameras.
Philp and Perry both tried to distance themselves from the racist-tinged attacks on the ULEZ infrastructure. Problem for Perry was that he was caught listed as the group’s administrator and, try not to laugh, “expert”.
When approached by journos, an official-ish comment was added to the group’s rules that sought to act as a warning against encouraging criminal acts. But Inside Croydon has photographic evidence that shows that Perry only had the caveat added to cover his own arse, after the alarm had been raised.
The Metropolitan Police has recently been getting convictions for ULEZ vandalism and terrorist acts.
Also this month, we reported how squatters had taken over the vacant George Street offices of failed council housebuilders Brick by Brick, and on the £10million legal case brought by roads contractor Kier against their former clients, Croydon Council.
Whitgift Foundation decides to close Old Palace School in 2025
Summed up in six words: an Old Palace School protester outside the Whitgift Foundation
The true consequences of the 12 years’ delay in Westfield delivering the refurbished town centre became all too apparent this month, when the borough’s richest landowners were forced to admit that they could no longer afford to operate one of their three private schools in the borough, and that the all-girls’ Old Palace School would close in 2025.
Inside Croydon broke this news first, and provided unparalleled in-depth coverage into to agonising and mishandling of the school careers of 600 young women, and the school’s badly treated staff.
There is bound to be further fall-out and consequences of the school’s impending closure, and the struggles of the Whitgift Foundation – Martin Corney, the charity’s chief executive for 20 years, “retired” in November, after a lengthy period of sick leave.
October
South Croydon primary forced to close due to ‘safety concerns’
Pupils at the Regina Coeli Catholic Primary School on Pampisford Road got a no-notice, extra-long half-term break, when problems were discovered with the roof of one of its buildings (which had once been the home of the Allders family).
The school insisted that the cause of the closure is not “crumbling concrete”, or RAAC – Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete – which has caused the closure or part-closure of hundreds of schools around the country at the start of this school year.
Perry drops action against bus shelter firm and loses £500,000
‘Smart’ bus shelter: Croydon has been waiting since 2021 for 180 shelters to be replaced
Piss-poor Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, appears determined to show that he can always make an already bad situation worse.
After waiting nearly three years for fly-by-night American-owned company Valo Smart City to deliver their “smart” bus shelters, Croydon Council failed to take any action for breach of contract, leaving the long-suffering residents of the borough not only without any shelter when waiting for buses, but also seriously out of pocket.
To date, Inside Croydon has received no intelligence to suggest that Mayor Perry has sought to take action – along the lines of gross misconduct – against the six-figure salaried executive who was behind the deal with American con artist Isaac Sutton.
Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
Hard hat: Westfield’s Scott Parsons
The French-owned property developers continue to take the piss.
After announcing that the revised “masterplan” for the town centre (the third one) that they promised would be ready by the autumn of 2023 now won’t be finished until 2025, Westfield’s Chief Operating Officer, Scott Parsons, let slip in an interview about the successful recovery from lockdowns at Stratford and Shepherds Bush that their Croydon scheme would take another 15 years to complete.
Yes.
2038
For a project that was unveiled in 2012 and was supposed to be completed in… 2017.
This is likely to cause the landowners, the Whitgift Foundation, even greater financial pain.
And yet meanwhile, Piss-poor Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, continues to act like some cheerleader for the multi-billion business interests.
November
Foundation abandoned new school plan after taking £70m loan
After reporting the exodus of half the girls from Old Palace School by half-term – the Whitgift Foundation promised to write-off a full term’s fees, worth around £7,000 per pupil – Inside Croydon obtained internal briefing documents that showed the Foundation took out a £70million loan to build on a new site in South Croydon.
That plan has now been abandoned. The fate of the girls who remain at the school, and the staff, remains to be determined.
Body found in Purley as police search for missing Justin Henry
Grisly details of another Croydon murder, that of Justin Henry, whose body was not recovered until three weeks after he went missing – having been last seen on CCTV at a drive-through McDonald’s on London Road, Norbury.
The police have made three arrests in connection with Henry’s disappearance and suspected murder.
Jamal Ali-Richards, 28, thought to be from Thornton Heath, and Louis Benjamin, 29, from Waddon New Road, have both been charged with murder. The police also arrested an unnamed 27-year-old woman on suspicion of kidnapping. She has been bailed until January.
Brief lives: the bar and restaurants at Birch Selsdon overlooked 200 acres of North Downs parkland. The venue had only been open since April
Administrators move in to run Selsdon’s ‘shabby chic’ hotel
Inside Croydon was first with the news again, after the collapse of the business behind the “lifestyle” hotel in Selsdon which had only opened in April this year, after an 18-month refurb.
It appears that the people behind Birch Selsdon had over-extended themselves too much, and directors had been jumping ship months earlier as the first distress signals went out.
In all, about 100 jobs have been lost as a consequence of the business failure.
December
Council approves ‘poor doors’ in £275m scheme for 970 flats
This website’s coverage has continued to include matters in neighbouring and nearby boroughs, especially Sutton, which shares its London Assembly member with Croydon. And earlier this month we analysed a housing development decision by that borough’s planning committee which its opponents accuse of “Croydonisation” of their town centre.
In what will be Sutton’s biggest development in recent years, with nearly 1,000 flats on the site of the current B&Q store, some fear that it will “create a ghetto”.
‘Difficult decisions’ as TfL gives green light for new tram fleet
All change: Croydon’s trams are coming to the end of their service life
More transport news fascinating our readers – with Transport for London bowing to the inevitable, due to increasingly unreliable rolling stock, and agreeing to replace the trams on the Croydon network after a quarter of a century of service.
The only problem, as with most things, is how the London transport authority will find the money to meet the anticipated £50million cost of at least 24 new trams.
A Christmas present to Croydon: another court victory
No one at Croydon Council appears capable of learning from their mistakes. Even the ones they have made themselves, and relatively recently.
Money no object: council CEO Katherine Kerswell never spares a penny when it comes to trying to suppress documents in the public domain
Still, it’s only the public’s money they’re wasting, isn’t it?
The most-read article on this site in December 2023 is the Editor’s sketch from a bizarre episode at the London (South) Employment Tribunal on the last business day before Christmas, following the case of Mrs H Simmonds v London Borough of Croydon.
It turned out to be another victory for the freedom of the Press to report on what goes on at Croydon Council, and another costly reverse for Katherine Kerswell, the council chief executive, and piss-poor Perry, who as the borough’s executive Mayor, must have authorised the expensive exercise. Mustn’t he?
As iC Editor Steven Downes wrote: “For the second time in barely a year… I found myself in front of a judge, making a case for openness and transparency, while expensively hired lawyers representing Croydon Council, paid for out of residents’ Council Tax, did their best to cover-up and withhold documents that were already in the public domain.”
In November 2022, Downes wrote, he had been dragged into the High Court by the council’s lawyers who threatened a costly injunction because this website had re-published confidential documents that Croydon Council had itself already published .
This time, it was more a case of stumbling into court proceedings. “But the outcome was much the same.”
Which made it Croydon Council 0 – Inside Croydon 2.
“Merry Christmas, Mrs Kerswell.”
And a very happy New Year to all our loyal readers – almost 3.4million in 2024, according to the latest figures.
- Click here to discover what the biggest stories in Croydon were for January to April 2023
- And click here to go on a journey from the artful to the artless, in the story of Croydon in may to August 2023
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
- Inside Croydon – as seen on TV! – has been delivering local community news since 2010. 3million page views per year in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
- If you want real journalism, actually based in the borough, you should consider paying for it. Please sign up today. Click here for more details
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SIXTH successive year in 2022 in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
If Westfield feel that 15 years is how long they are going to take, then the Centres development needs to push on without them.
Unfortunately we do not have a Plan B nor a functional Town Planning department and who would trust those that are in charge with – well anything.
I would take a stab that with the recent upheavals at Whitgift it might be able to quickly return to its former reputational state and with some effective administration also be able to get on a sound finanacial footing again.
They really need a serious and stable partner with an efficient Town Council.
At this precise moment the batting is zero from three.
Clearly those in administration forgot they need to work in partnership with those they have been hired to administer services for.
If they go off into some other reality – they should not be surprised when residents and visitors wander off to places more worthy of their cash.
When residents shop and spend elsewhere or bike it in that puts a dent in local business. It also puts a dent in Business tax receipts and Council tax receipts. It becomes uneconomical to open a business when footfall drops as low as it has in Croydon. Espcially with the extremely high level of shoplifting and the inadequate enforcement response, Or in the Councils case – just think for response – Rubbish! and none being collected over this holiday period – cracking idea to save money that.
Perry is right – it is going to get a lot worse, and he should take all the credit for his own performance in delivering that.
So New Years Resolution? Clearly shop anywhere but Croydon.
When shopping in a sparsely populated Whitgift Centre yesterday evening I was taken aback by a friend I ran into, who is well capable of looking after themselves, telling me to “be vigilant in an unsafe town centre.”
Public safety is a concern for the town centre. There are funding flows that the council could tap into to improve security.
As regards to Westfield the council need to find a competing retail offer so as to concentrate minds at Westfield. This could be by the town hall but the best prospect is at East Croydon which offers a greener, sustainable and more convenient location based upon public transport. It’s also part of Croydon centre that is doing relatively better than the Whitgift Centre.
Perhaps Southern House? That could be a development incorporating Argos style shopping, food floors, Cinema and music along with and upper level flats.