Category Archives: Nick Mattey

Here’s our wish-list for a better Croydon and Sutton in 2025

What do you want for Croydon, and Sutton, in 2025? We approached a wide range of figures, including loyal readers, religious leaders, educators and business people for their thoughts – and hopes – for the New Year Ken Towl Addiscombe … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Andrew Fisher, Claire Bonham, Climate Crisis Commission, Council Tax, Crime, Croydon Council, Croydon Harriers, Croydon Insider, Croydon parks, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace FC, David Morgan, Environment, Housing, Inside Croydon, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Ken Towl, Knife crime, Lloyd Park, Mayor Jason Perry, Nick Mattey, North End Quarter, Peter Underwood, South Bank Poly, Sutton Council, The Andrew Fisher Interview, Under The Flyover, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Council has £1m loan in the pipeline for heating no one needs

At a committee meeting tonight in Sutton, councillors will be asked to approve a £1m loan for the discredited council-owned heat network, SDEN. But questions are being asked about the viability of the plans, while residents are kept in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bobby Dean, Carshalton and Wallington, Nick Mattey, Richard Simpson, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Now ‘Basher’ Lewis knocks out debate on polluting incinerator

The Viridor waste incinerator at Beddington Lane has broken the terms of its operating licence 60 times. But Sutton’s LibDems refuse to discuss the matter, as BERTIE WOOSTER-PARK reports Barry “Basher” Lewis, the leader of Liberal Democrat-run Sutton, this week … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Bobby Dean, Carshalton and Wallington, Environment, Helen Bailey, Luke Taylor MP, Nick Mattey, Sheldon Vestey, Sutton and Cheam, Sutton Council, Tom Drummond, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sutton council leader denies punching colleague at meeting

EXCLUSIVE: Allegations of bias and cover-up have followed a bit of a dust-up at a local committee meeting last month Six months ago, when he was elected as leader of Sutton Council, Barry Lewis was derided as a bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Incinerator firm hands out £1m settlement to polluted residents

The Viridor incinerator at Beddington has broken its licence terms 16 times between Oct 2023 and Aug 2024 – including six times for high levels of emissions of sulphur dioxide, the corrosive, acidic gas Residents living near a massive waste … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Environment, Kingston, Merton, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Council slammed over plans to create HMO in public cemetery

Residents in Beddington are up in arms over ‘insensitive’ council plans to convert a former caretaker’s lodge in a cemetery into an HMO – a house in multiple occupation – without consulting local residents. Bandon Hill Cemetery, on Plough Lane, … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Nick Mattey, Planning, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Grieving Mattey accuses LibDems of ‘weaponising’ complaints

The Sutton Council administration’s most vocal critic is to be hauled before a ‘kangaroo court’, at a time when he is organising his mother’s funeral. Report by CARL SHILTON Senior officials at Liberal Democrat-controlled Sutton Council are insisting on staging … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Helen Bailey, Jayne McCoy, Marian James, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dealership donates £100,000-worth of vehicles to Ukraine

Kingham’s, the long-established, family-run car dealership based in South Croydon, has made donations of seven vehicles for humanitarian aid in war-torn Ukraine over the past 18 months worth at least £100,000. “You can’t quantify the value of someone’s life,” according … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Charity, Nick Mattey | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Investigators apologise after sending reports to wrong person

CARL SHILTON, our Sutton investigations editor, on the latest self-inflicted crisis to hit LibDem council leader Ruth Dombey and her increasingly rattled sidekick Jayne McCoy A director at a company specialising in investigating complaints over the conduct of local authority … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Environment, Jayne McCoy, Marian James, Nick Mattey, Planning, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sutton’s 40-page emissions report fails to mention incinerator

Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, on the most ridiculous claims made yet by the Liberal Democrat-controlled council There is a meeting tonight in Sutton of the council’s environment and sustainable transport committee. And, along with Ruth Dombey, the LibDem-controlled council … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Elliot Colburn, Environment, Helen Bailey, Nick Mattey, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dombey’s dodgy LibDems’ handbrake turn over dirty diesel

Viridor and Ruth Dombey’s dodgy Liberal Democrats are so worried about the latest attempts to increase the volume of rubbish burned at the Beddington Lane incinerator, and the use of vast amounts of dirty diesel to do so, that they … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Environment, Helen Bailey, Nick Mattey, Refuse collection, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Councillor says big-money deals for medical and radioactive waste are at centre of Viridor’s diesel tank planning application

A Sutton councillor claims that Viridor wants to begin burning medical and radioactive waste at its Beddington Lane incinerator, but that it has withheld these lucrative business plans from its latest application to build a large fuel tank on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Environment, Kingston, Merton, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dombey survives but Sutton results leave LibDems scarred

CARL SHILTON at the election count reports on how senior Liberal Democrats lost their council positions while their party clung on to power, as Labour won their first seats for 20 years The election fight in Sutton turned feral as … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, Catherine Gray, Jayne McCoy, Jenny Batt, Luke Taylor MP, Marian James, Neil Garratt, Nick Mattey, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Tom Drummond, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Half of Sutton LibDem councillors quitting at May’s elections

Defending the indefensible, whether it is the dodgy deals over the council’s SDEN heat network, the appalling treatment of families with SEND children, or some of the ruling group’s more under-hand conduct, has taken its toll, writes our Civic Offices … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, Catherine Gray, Charlie Mansell, Elliot Colburn, Jayne McCoy, Jenny Batt, Neil Garratt, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Tom Drummond | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘People will die’: Dombey accused of Viridor ‘Faustian pact’

Beddington North councillor NICK MATTEY, in a stinging open letter to the council leader, accuses the Liberal Democrats who control Sutton of putting the health of the public at serious risk Councillor Dombey, I find it totally sickening that this … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Health, Nick Mattey, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sutton’s Simpson show can’t account for £2m SDEN subsidy

‘I can’t give you a guarantee there is no fraud’ – the words of an independent accountancy official at a meeting this week caused further dismay to Sutton’s ruling LibDems amid the growing controversy of their loss-making heat network. CARL … Continue reading →

Posted in Barry Lewis, Elliot Colburn, Environment, Helen Bailey, Jayne McCoy, Neil Garratt, Nick Mattey, Richard Simpson, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tom Drummond, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Opposition renews call for full-scale fraud probe into SDEN

Independent review finds that the loss-making, council-owned district heating network has less of a business case, and is more of a basket case, reports CARL SHILTON Richard Simpson, the senior council official who helped unleash the £200million disaster that is … Continue reading →

Posted in Helen Bailey, Jayne McCoy, Nick Mattey, Richard Simpson, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Tom Drummond, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Heat network’s plan depends on 75 homes that don’t exist

THE SUTTON COVER-UP: While opposition councillors ask the LibDem-controlled council ‘What have you got to hide?’ over the suppressed findings of a fraud investigation, we can reveal that the business ‘plan’ for the misfiring heating network included 75 homes that … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Helen Bailey, Jayne McCoy, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sutton chiefs block opposition from seeing fraud report

Our Sutton investigations editor, CARL SHILTON, on the latest strokes being pulled by the LibDem-controlled council Tonight, there is a meeting of the Sutton Shareholdings Board, the committee that exercises the corporate shareholder and governance responsibilities of Sutton Council’s privately-held … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Helen Bailey, Jayne McCoy, Neil Garratt, Nick Mattey, Ruth Dombey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Tom Drummond, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Councillor demands ‘proper’ probe into failing heat network

A veteran councillor in Sutton is demanding a “proper investigation” into the dodgy-looking business affairs of the council-owned heating network, SDEN. In a matter of a few weeks, a council meeting was told how the business plan of Sutton Decentralised … Continue reading →

Posted in Helen Bailey, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ofgem called in to rule over SDEN’s unfair heating prices

Sutton’s deputy leader has much to account for over the ‘too complicated’ business model for the misfiring power network. CARL SHILTON reports Just days after appointing independent accountants to conduct a review into the business of Sutton’s controversial heating network, … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Jayne McCoy, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Richard Simpson, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Simpson feels heat from MP over SDEN ‘independent’ review

A Sutton MP has raised serious doubts whether a supposedly “independent” review into the controversial council-owned SDEN company will make any difference for the hundreds of Hackbridge residents whose homes and lives have been blighted by the expensive and unreliable … Continue reading →

Posted in Elliot Colburn, London-wide issues, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Richard Simpson, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

SDEN’s business plan ‘dishonest at best, fraudulent at worst’

Sutton’s LibDem council was last night forced to agree to an independent investigation into its failing heating company. CARL SHILTON reports Sutton Council’s controlling Liberal Democrats, after spending six years trying to deny that there was anything even vaguely suspicious … Continue reading →

Posted in Jayne McCoy, Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Tim Crowley, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Spendthrift LibDems won’t pay for Carshalton investigation

Liberal Democrat-controlled Sutton Council has ruled that it cannot afford to carry out an official, lawyer-led investigation into the misconduct of three LibDem councillors who libelled a local businessman and community sports club in one of their party leaflets. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Ben Andrew, Environment, Nick Mattey, Shasha Khan, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thousands left freezing as council heating network fails again

Residents who paid up to £600,000 for luxury homes on a Barratts-built Hackbridge development fear their properties have become unsellable because of a ‘100% reliable’ heating network owned by the LibDem-run council. Our Sutton correspondent, CARL SHILTON, reports More than … Continue reading →

Posted in Nick Mattey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments