CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mayor Perry’s council has made another cost-cutting decision that could put the lives of pedestrians at risk.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
‘People have been killed crossing here’: the council sign on Wellesley Road, close to where the council has now permanently closed its pedestrian subway
Just a few steps away from the entrance to the Wellesley Road pedestrian subway, Croydon Council fixed a sign to a fence halfway across the multiple lane urban motorway which splits the town centre in half, between Addiscombe and East Croydon Station on one side and the Whitgift Centre on the other.
“WARNING”, the sign says in foreboding black capitals.
“People have been killed crossing here.”
Back into capitals, the sign then said: “USE THE SUBWAY”.
Except the very same highways department of the very same council that commissioned and installed that important warning sign has now decided that the Wellesley Road subway is to be closed off permanently.
Last December, Inside Croydon reported how the council had blocked the pedestrian underpass with no notice given to the traders and business-owners in the Whitgift Centre, who were cut off from their customers in the crucial final trading weeks before Christmas.
“This is one of the worst seasons we’ve had,” one trader said at the time.
Now they, and all other outlets in the Whitgift Centre, have been advised that the pedestrian subway will never be reopened by the council.
No apology: three weeks after the subway was closed, the council issued this non-apology for the subway’s closure
This is despite the council having not managed to provide any alternative, surface-level crossings, as has been promised over several years. Works on that, Inside Croydon understands, won’t begin before the middle of July, at the earliest, and could take four months – so might not even be ready before Christmas this year.
An email was sent to Whitgift Centre tenants by Phil Crawley, the general manager of the Centrale and Whitgift shopping centre. In his email, which has been leaked to Inside Croydon, Crawley writes: “LBC Highways [the council roads department] has confirmed that the subway will remain permanently closed.”
Deftly passing the buck, Crawley, who is effectively employed by shopping mall operators Westfield, added: ” This decision has been made by Croydon Council, who owns and manages the underpass, and it is not under our direct control.” So much for Mayor Jason Perry and his close “partnership” with Westfield.
Inside Croydon understands that the principal reason for the council closing the underpass was to deny its use as a shelter to the street homeless, and to cut costs on cleaning and maintenance. The closure in December came soon after a small fire had broken out under Wellesley Road.
In his email, Crawley wrote to Whitgift Centre traders: “We understand that this closure may cause some inconvenience, but please be assured that it is being done with safety and security as a top priority.”
With the exception, that is, of the safety of anyone wishing to cross the busy Wellesley Road.
“As many of you are aware, there have already been safety concerns in this area which a number of you have raised, and this closure aims to address them effectively. We are committed to ensuring a safer, more welcoming environment for both our tenants and customers.”
Westfield are now promising to update and improve their signage within the centre, so that potential customers might locate the few remaining shops and outlets left in the Whitgift Centre.
But they are also passing the buck, again. “We strongly encourage all tenants to review any communication with your customers, ensuring they are well-informed about alternative routes and continue to access your stores conveniently.
“For those most impacted by these changes, please reach out to us to discuss potential additional promotional support, including hoarding opportunities.”
“Hoarding opportunities”: one of the few things the Whitgift Centre has left to offer.
Our recent Under The Flyover podcasts have focused on the long-delayed redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre, with interviews with Roisha Hughes, the CEO of the Whitgift Foundation, and the chair of the charity’s governors, Fiona Fletcher-Smith. Under The Flyover is premium content, usually exclusively available to paying subscribers who support Inside Croydon’s independent journalism, based in the heart of Croydon- To listen to the Fiona Fletcher-Smith interview in full, sign-up by clicking here now
Read more: Subway closure leaves Whitgift traders shut out for Christmas
Read more: Superdry closure is the latest nail in Whitgift Centre’s coffin
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I shall certainly be tempted to climb over the fence rather than have to walk all the way round: this is an unnecessary blow to shoppers. The disregard of bus passengers
mirrors that shown by the diversion of services away from the Town Hall and the High Street end of Park Street, making Central Library, the David Lean Cinema, the museum and Surrey Street Market ever more inaccessible to less able public transport users.
And I speak as one who remembers buses stopping in George Street and North End!
We would advise against putting your life at risk.
To be fair to LBC, I believe that they have now invested something like 50p to address the situation. The last time I looked, they had stuck sticky tape over the “USE THE SUBWAY” part of the sign. So at least we won’t get confused.
In reality, this subway was a very useful route for people coming from East Croydon station who wished to shop in Whitgift. The situation shows the contempt that LBC has for pedestrians. I frequently used the subway. Perhaps brighter lighting should have been installed, along with cleaning up the walls. CCTV should have been installed.
Yes, at times there were homeless people residing in tents in the subway but this is a consequence of Croydon’s inability to help homeless people. Currently, LBC is punishing not just the homeless but also all residents and visitors, in particular those with mobility challenges, who choose to use this route.
We need solutions that will help regenerate Croydon, not degrade it even more.
Perhaps LBC should have invested a little more. They could have bought a Sharpie and added “BUT LBC DOESN’T CARE” after “People have been killed crossing here.”
Yep, they’ve duct taped over the ‘use the subway’ part of the sign leaving just the ‘People have been killed crossing here’ visible.
Which is possibly the most metaphorically Croydon Council solution ever.
There’s no good reason the subway can’t be re-opened pending the installation of the new crossing. And there’s only one reason that won’t happen: NightMayor Jason Perry
Might as well cordon off the whole whitgift centre then and be done with it
What an embarrassing farce!
Perry out
Westfield are ‘hoarding opportunities’ for Croydon to prosper.
It seems the pursuit and dispersal of Croydon’s Street Homeless is the only thing that matters to Part Time Perry and his Croydon Conservative Junta.
No doubt they have a grudge against this particular Subway because it is when they were trumpeting their disastrous plans for the Whitgift Centre redevelopment over ten years ago that other dreadful Mayor, later Prime Minister Johnson along with that other massive failure Mario Creatura with the biggest sponger in Local Government Silent Steve O’Connell (now safely resident in Dorset) were confronted by a homeless man and provided the photographic evidence of their moral bankruptcy and a record of their total incompetence.
So lets wipe out the memory by wiping out a useful subway. It is going to be a dismal Mayor Campaign by Perry as he trumpets his only succes is to redistribute the homeless away from the centre of Croydon and those areas on the edge of this will have to suffer the consequences of this. Ironically Tory Park Hill seems to be seeing a build up of empty bottles and waste on it’s plentiful amenity greens.
Right sentiments, wrong subway me thinks. Reckon it was the old one linking the Fairfield Halls with Queen’s Gardens. I think the Council got the replacement sequence right by putting in the street-level crossing over Park Lane before bricking up the thing that treated pedestrians as troglodytes
Look at the pictures and judge. My memory of the time is that this was used as a regular pitch with the higher footfall through the Whitgift Centre when it was occupied. The tunnel near the Fairfield Halls was never used that intensively. Interesting that the vendetta against the Homeless by the Conservatives has a long and extensive history.
https://insidecroydon.com/2014/01/07/the-day-boris-and-croydon-tories-found-homelessness-funny/
The notorious ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ at East Croydon Station has never been completed to Cherry Orchard Rd on the east side of the station, so maybe the vindictive Croydon Council wanted to even things up and also make it useless to leave the station on the west side?
People like me who used this underpass will remember the political party that made their lives more difficult and take there revenge come the General Election.
No need to wait that long, Paul. The Croydon Mayoral election is less than a year away…
Who is going to help people across the road ? Will there be new pedestrian crossings. Without using tax payers money.
Answering your questions in turn:
1. Nobody. Everyone will have to take one of the two long ways round, which is irritating for some and disabling for others.
2. Yes, by Christmas (2025).
3. Apparently 80% funded by the Mayor of London’s Regeneration Fund, with a 20% contribution from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.