Category Archives: Mark Watson

Latest Addiscombe road changes are heading only one way

Croydon Council officials’ ability to set neighbour against neighbour plumbed new depths this week at the Traffic Management Advisory Committee meeting held at the Town Hall. On the agenda was the council officers’ proposal to make Canning Road and Addiscombe … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe and Shirley Park RA, Addiscombe Residents Association, Addiscombe West, Community associations, ECCO, HOME, Mark Watson, Patricia Hay-Justice, Sean Fitzsimons, TACRA | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Now council’s housing developer snubs its Place Review Panel

BARRATT HOLMES, our housing correspondent, on how the borough’s Council Tax-payers are providing another nice little earner for the Town Hall  CEO’s chums In the eight months since council chief executive Jo Negrini unveiled Croydon’s Place Review Panel, it has … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Alison Butler, Angela Brady, Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Mark Watson, Place Review Panel, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Something smells about council’s Surrey Street party flop

M.T. WALLETTE, our shopping correspondent, bolstered the numbers attending Councillor Mark Watson’s cosy little soiree on Surrey Street on Saturday, when even the offer of free drinks couldn’t pull in the crowds It was a fitting metaphor for the whole … Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Experts express doubts over £1.1m spent on Surrey Street

The council’s own set of architecture and design experts have suggested that much of the Town Hall’s £1.1million spend on the gentrification of Surrey Street Market may have not been the best use of public money, Inside Croydon has learned. … Continue reading →

Posted in Angela Brady, Art, Business, Croydon Council, Mark Watson, Paul Scott, Place Review Panel, Planning, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Watson plans ‘giveaways’ at ‘launch’ for 700-year-old market

There’s less than a week to go before Croydon Council’s Mark Watson spunks away more public money on a “launch party” for a street market that’s been around for 700 years. Yet still the life and soul of Surrey Street … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Mark Watson, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Only half the stalls return to Surrey Street after £1.1m scheme

26 That’s how many stalls were trading on Surrey Street on Saturday, the first weekend of trading since the 10-week closure for a £1.1million council revamp of the street market. The market was once the home to more than 100 … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Mark Watson, Pubs, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Council unveils grenade sculpture days after terror attack

STEVEN DOWNES, editor of Inside Croydon, on the crass insensitivity of a senior councillor over an ‘artwork’ revealed off Surrey Street Market Residents, business owners and even senior figures on Croydon’s Labour-run council were embarrassed and angry when, within days … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Surrey Street Market set to re-open for business on Jun 5

Surrey Street Market is to re-open next Monday, June 5, stall-holders and shop-keepers have been told by Croydon Council. London’s oldest street market was shut down at the end of March for what was supposed to be a 10-week road … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Audsley pays price as Newman sacks him as cabinet deputy

A lapse in judgement means that Jamie Audsley will be about £10,000 out of pocket next year, as the Bensham Manor ward councillor has been sacked from Labour leader Tony Newman’s cabinet team. Or, as Tony Soprano once said, “There’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Bensham Manor, Humayun Kabir, Jamie Audsley, Maggie Mansell, Manju Shahul Hameed, Mark Watson, Norbury, Pat Ryan, Paul Scott, Robert Canning, Stephen Mann, Stuart King, Tony Newman, Wayne Lawlor, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Council is destroying my business’ says Surrey St stall-holder

Fewer than 30 traders were allowed to transfer their stalls from Surrey Street to the temporary market on North End while £1.1million road resurfacing works goes on, Inside Croydon has discovered. All other, casual stall-holders were told that they could … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Mark Watson, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Surrey Street shops losing £800 a day during council works

The word on the street – Surrey Street – is that shopkeepers are suffering huge losses of trade while the council conducts its bout of largely cosmetic road works in Croydon’s ancient market. WALTER CRONXITE reports “Good progress is being … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon ‘Works’ – at a cost of £1,230 for every job placement

WALTER CRONXITE reports that a council job brokerage scheme has spent just £1,000 in the past year on training for unemployed local residents, but paid more than £100,000 on staff to manage the project Croydon Council last month issued a … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Mark Watson, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Photo-essay: The last day of trading for Surrey Street’s stalls

After 741 years of trading, Surrey Street Market closed after business hours on Saturday, we are told temporarily until, according to Croydon Council, “early June”, to allow for carriageway works as part of a £1million improvement scheme. LEE TOWNSEND paid … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Mark Watson, Surrey Street | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Surrey Street traders to move to North End for 10 weeks

The future of Surrey Street Market, if it is to have a future at all, may be determined over the next three months, after the council announced yesterday that the regular stall-holders will be displaced to North End for 10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Croydon and ‘delivery’, Part 1: Surrey Street’s Sunday Market

This is Surrey Street’s Sunday “market”, as seen from the High Street just after noon this week, the sort of time when you might expect a truly vibrant and successful market to be buzzing with lunchtime trade. The Sunday market … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Mark Watson, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Watson’s shambolic meeting leaves Surrey Street in the dark

£10,000 That’s how much Mark Watson, the councillor in charge of the gentrification project around Surrey Street, reckons it has cost to install the first piece of “street art” on the footbridge that crosses the old street market. And this … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Connected Croydon, Croydon Council, Environment, Fairfield, Jo Negrini, Mark Watson, Planning, Rise Gallery, Street lighting, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

‘A spruple hello could lead to a Millran hinge’. But is it art?

When does vandalism become “street art”? Is it only when Croydon Council says so? That’s a question which has been raised this week by the South Norwood Tourist Board, and which seems likely to be brought up at tonight’s public … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Mark Watson, Rise Gallery, South Norwood, South Norwood Tourist Board, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Surrey Street stalls declare Exchange Square a no-go zone

With the closure of Surrey Street for carriageway works just a few weeks away, as part of a £1.1million regeneration scheme, a meeting held yesterday learned that the council still doesn’t know where the stall-holders are to be displaced for … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Mark Watson, Surrey Street, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Council calls in TfL for full traffic study on Addiscombe roads

A new consultation into the network of residential streets that run between Addiscombe  and Cherry Orchard roads could be extended to include modelling of the traffic in the whole area, involving Transport for London, and even look again at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, East Croydon, HOME, Mark Watson, TACRA, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Surrey Street Market ‘engagement event’, Feb 23

Posted in Mark Watson, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Watson’s moving speech homes in on a Labour weakness

WALTER CRONXITE on what could turn out to be another boost for local estate agents, unwittingly provided by Croydon Council Mark Watson is going nowhere – and that’s official. Well, at least that’s what the under-pressure Addiscombe councillor told a … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Bensham Manor, Bernadette Khan, Broad Green, Coulsdon, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Hamida Ali, Jane Avis, Manju Shahul Hameed, Mark Watson, Patricia Hay-Justice, Paul Scott, Purley, Shirley North, South Croydon, South Norwood, Steve Reed MP, Stuart Collins, Stuart King, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman, Waddon, West Thornton, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Police Borough Commander: ‘I won’t attend a CCC meeting’

Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, the first black officer appointed by the Metropolitan Police to be Croydon’s Borough Commander, has confirmed that neither he nor any other officers will be attending meetings organised by the controversial Croydon Community Consortium. Boothe is … Continue reading →

Posted in Andy Tarrant, Hamida Ali, Jeff Boothe, Mark Watson, Policing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

No longer Taboo: Addiscombe gets signs of its East India past

Finally, after nearly a decade, it’s in black and white: the East India Estate Conservation Area is there for all to see on road signs in that part of Addiscombe. Special road signs were unveiled last month in the presence … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Community associations, History, HOME, Mark Watson, Patricia Hay-Justice, Sean Fitzsimons | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Council’s U-turn creates a road block to residents’ complaints

A council report to this Wednesday’s traffic management committee at the Town Hall recommends a U-turn on the controversial one-way system on residential streets between Addiscombe Road and Cherry Orchard Road which has caused distress and dismay for hundreds of … Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Community associations, Croydon Council, Lebanon Road Residents' Association, Mark Watson, Shifa Mustafa, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Turf war breaks out over election future for Thornton Heath

WALTER CRONXITE reports on an extraordinary attack on the council’s boundary proposals for the borough’s electoral wards A turf war has broken out in the north of the borough between the local Labour leadership and its grassroots members over how … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Alison Butler, Bensham Manor, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Croydon South, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Gavin Barwell, Jamie Audsley, Mark Watson, Paul Scott, Steve Reed MP, Thornton Heath, Thornton Heath Neighbourhood Association, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments