Category Archives: URV

Mayor Perry: ‘It’s going to get worse before it gets better’

Posted on February 11, 2023 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: It didn’t take very long once he became Croydon’s first executive Mayor after telling the electorate that he had a plan, that Jason Perry was forced to admit that he never had a plan at all. By … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Mike Fisher, Section 114 notice, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Part-time Perry and Labour in playground squabble over park

Posted on July 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

After a decade of Town Hall squabbles, the legacy of Newman and Butler’s years in charge of the council is a playground for the children of tower block half-millionaires. WALTER CRONXITE on another late, costly and incomplete town centre project … Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Environment, Housing, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Queens Gardens, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

‘The Fold’: former council-owned site takes a gamble with name

Posted on December 4, 2021 by insidecroydon

Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, on the latest laugh-out-loud move by developers working in the centre of Croydon While this website might be loathe to echo one of the catchphrases of one of the more notorious tabloid columnists, you really … Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Planning, Property, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Council office entrance closed because of ‘extreme’ weather

Posted on February 1, 2019 by insidecroydon

KEN LEE, our newshound on Mint Walk, sniffs out the latest piece of nonsense from the £140m council office building, where the main entrance has been ruled out-of-bounds Further proof, not that any has been needed, that Fisher’s Folly, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Negrini’s gamble on housing is facing a Brexit downturn

Posted on August 2, 2017 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, on troubling reports for a council which has staked so much capital on profiting from the housing market With local elections just 10 months away, there’s a couple of brief reports just out which ought … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Planning, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council’s £140m offices are to become a glorified Job Centre

Posted on July 17, 2017 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE on how the local council has been forced to take in more lodgers in its “prestige” £140m office building Tonight’s council cabinet meeting at the Town Hall is unlikely to uncover quite how the costs of building the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Planning, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Cost of New Addington Leisure Centre hiked by £8m in a year

Posted on July 15, 2017 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE reports on a worrying 50 per cent inflation rate on one key council building project The cost of building the new swimming pool and leisure centre in New Addington has gone up by £8million in less than 12 … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, New Addington, Planning, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Barwell White Paper undermines £270m council homes scheme

Posted on February 8, 2017 by insidecroydon

BARRATT HOLMES finds that the government’s housing policies include a measure which goes against Treasury advice and may deter local authorities such as Croydon from building The housing White Paper, introduced yesterday by Croydon Central Tory MP Gavin Barwell, could … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Gavin Barwell, Jo Negrini, Planning, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Flood in Fisher’s Folly forces council staff to work from home

Posted on October 2, 2016 by insidecroydon

Dozens of Croydon Council staff are being asked to work from home tomorrow, after faulty plumbing in Fisher’s Folly, the borough’s £140 million office building, has caused flooding on at least one of the floors. This is particularly embarrassing timing … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council finance chief Simpson’s promotion is confirmed

Posted on September 6, 2016 by insidecroydon

Richard Simpson, formerly the council’s finance director, has been promoted to the role of executive director of resources, it was confirmed today. Simpson’s move into one of the six-figure salary roles at Fisher’s Folly is part of the on-going reshuffle … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Nathan Elvery, Paul Greenhalgh, Richard Simpson, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council sells Taberner site in secretive multi-million pound deal

Posted on August 29, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council has agreed to sell the Taberner House site. The deal has been done within the first month of Jo Negrini being installed as the council’s chief executive, but neither she nor Tony Newman, the leader of the Labour-run … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, RIF, Simon Hall, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Staff to move out of two more floors of £140m Council HQ

Posted on August 5, 2016 by insidecroydon

BARRATT HOLMES, our development correspondent, has discovered that by taking in corporate ‘lodgers’, the purpose-built local authority offices won’t be able to provide desks for 40% of the council’s staff Fisher’s Folly, the purpose-built local authority “hub” which was built … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Planning, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council drops own housing company for new Taberner scheme

Posted on July 23, 2016 by insidecroydon

In central Croydon, where some think it is “easy” to build houses, it’s back to square one for the building of homes on the site of Taberner House, the council’s former office block. Work on the £150 million project is … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Planning, Taberner House, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brick by Brick’s criminal offence over company records

Posted on July 16, 2016 by insidecroydon

BARRATT HOLMES, our housing reporter, on a worrying lack of accountability at the Labour-run Croydon Council’s housing company Brick by Brick, the council chief executive Jo Negrini’s house-building brainchild, has broken the law and committed a criminal offence after barely … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Housing, Jo Negrini, Planning, Uncategorized, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Tories’ ‘secret housing list’ was published on council website

Posted on July 7, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s bungling Conservative opposition councillors have dropped another bollock, this time being caught out protesting over a “top secret” list of sites for housing development when the list was available on the council website, while residents in properties neighbouring the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Planning, Property, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council pimps out £144m offices in £7.5m 10-year deal

Posted on May 26, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s cash-strapped Labour-run council is today celebrating clawing back just £7.5million-worth of the costs of Fisher’s Folly, the borough’s vastly over-priced civic headquarters. Over a period of 10 years. So only another £136 million to go. At this rate, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Business, Croydon Council, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Newman’s £18m ‘cast-iron guarantee’ that bucks the market

Posted on April 11, 2016 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE on how a Labour-run council that says it is committed to housing the homeless meanwhile needs to maximise profits from a property development at College Green The people of Croydon should be worried. Tony Newman has offered what … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, College Green, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Housing, Jo Negrini, RIF, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council housing company appoints director with Qatari links

Posted on April 5, 2016 by insidecroydon

There are reasons why local authorities resort to setting up separate companies to perform some council functions. Transparency is not one of them, reports our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES Croydon Council has appointed a director of lighting contractor Skanska and … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Broad Green, Colm Lacey, Coulsdon East, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Fieldway, Heathfield, Housing, Jo Negrini, Kenley, London-wide issues, New Addington, Planning, Shirley North, URV, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Taberner House homes scheme is hit by further delays

Posted on March 15, 2016 by insidecroydon

Building work on the council’s prestigious development of hundreds of new homes on the site of its former headquarters office block, Taberner House, will not now start until autumn this year at the earliest, nearly two years later than originally … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Planning, Taberner House, URV, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Council erases role of Borough Solicitor as Belvir leaves

Posted on February 24, 2016 by insidecroydon

Julie Belvir, the Borough Solicitor, is to leave her job and the post of most senior legal adviser to the council is to be abolished in a cost-cutting measure. Because it’s not like Croydon Council doesn’t need all the legal … Continue reading →

Posted in Clare Hilley, Croydon Council, Julie Belvir, Riesco Collection, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hard-up Croydon rents out top floors of £140m council office

Posted on February 16, 2016 by insidecroydon

Cash-strapped Croydon Council is to rent out the top two floors of the world’s most expensive local authority offices, Fisher’s Folly. They reckon that the lodgers will contribute about £500,000 per year to the borough’s finances. So at that rate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Coulsdon is thrown a CCURV ball: but who is responsible?

Posted on January 20, 2016 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The collapse of the CCURV Coulsdon supermarket project, as we reported yesterday, is a worrying sign about our local authority’s ability to handle development schemes, warns DAVID WICKENS The £25-million “Bridge to Nowhere” at East Croydon broke one … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Jo Negrini, Nathan Elvery, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, URV, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coulsdon supermarket deal collapses as CCURV fails again

Posted on January 19, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s reliance on retailing for its economic salvation will come under even greater scrutiny after the council’s most senior official overseeing the multi-billion-pound redevelopment schemes around the borough identified the decline of high street shopping for the collapse of a … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Cane Hill, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, Croydon South, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Planning, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can two-bedroom flats really be solution for Fairfield Halls?

Posted on November 3, 2015 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The scheme to redevelop Fairfield Halls and College Green could cost more than £70m, with Council Tax-payers taking much of the risk, says DAVID WICKENS Those that study regeneration and city centre proposals will have noticed that there … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Addiscombe West, Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon College, Croydon Council, Education, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Planning, URV, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Planners block proposed primary school on Purley Way

Posted on November 2, 2015 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council planners have rejected proposals to build a primary school close to one of south London’s busiest road junctions on the Purley Way. In a rare example of Croydon’s planning department displaying clarity of thought and common sense, after … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Education, Environment, Planning, Purley Way, Schools, Sean Fitzsimons, URV, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments