Council officials have been forced to scrap their plans to use a disused community centre in New Addington as a polling station for the General Election on July 4 because the long-abandoned building has been taken over by squatters.
The Goldcrest Youth Centre, on Goldcrest Way, has been vacant for four years, and the cash-strapped council has had the building up for sale since early 2022, with the usual lack of success, or effort, from their estate agents, Stiles Harold Williams.
Off the list: the Goldcrest Youth Centre in New Addington will not be used as a polling station
Inside Croydon has reported how the group Reclaim Croydon had moved into the building in early May, using it to house some homeless people who had not been accommodated from the council’s housing list.
New Addington is in the new Croydon East constituency, which most candidates in the General Election have already conceded will be won by Labour.
Provided, that is, voters can find a polling station that is open…
Late on Friday, a senior official wrote to the various election agents and candidates to advise them that the council had conceded defeat on reclaiming the public building and getting it into a fit state for use on election day.
“You may be aware that one of our polling station venues, Goldcrest Community Centre in New Addington, which is the polling place for both NAN3 and NAN4 polling districts, is currently occupied by squatters,” the note from Electoral Services said.
“While it is expected that they will have vacated the building before polling day, we are unsure whether any remedial work will be required to the building in order for enable it to be used as a polling station.
“The (Acting) Returning Officer…”, meaning council CEO Katherine Kerswell, “… has therefore made the decision to relocate the polling stations to the nearby Tudor Academy. The polling stations will be located in the main hall, and voters will access the site from Castle Hill Avenue. Please see the map to show the locations of Tudor Academy (green) and the Goldcrest Community Centre (red).
Red and green: the polling districts, and their old (red) and new (green) polling stations
“A revised Situation of Polling Stations notice has been published on the [council] website today along with a message advising people of the change. Data has been sent to the supplier that provides the polling station finder, and this will be changed as soon as possible.
“We will also write to all polling station and proxy voters in the polling districts to notify the of the change early next week, along with emails where we have an email address for them.
“On the day there will be signage outside Goldcrest Community Centre directing electors the short distance to their new polling station at the Tudor Academy.”
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
All power to Reclaim Croydon’s elbow