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Category Archives: Selsdon and Addington Village
£67m fraud at Fairfield: Town Hall row over calling in police
CRISIS SPECIAL: The council’s most senior legal official wants to check the £70m Fairfield fiasco for fraud, but the borough’s Labour councillors don’t want to call in the police, yet their leader says she has already reported it to the … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Chris Clark, College Green, Crime, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Felicity Flynn, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, John Jones, Lisa Taylor, Lynne Hale, Mott MacDonald, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Planning, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Robert Ward, Sean Fitzsimons, Simon Hall, Stuart Collins, Stuart King, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Grant Thornton, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Labour, Paul Scott, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI, Robert Ward, Sarah Ironmonger, STUART KING, Tony Newman, Tory
24 Comments
Council’s misleading Open+ and shut case for public libraries
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The bankrupt council is spending £1.6m on an untried system that will allow it to reduce staffing hours at our libraries, a decision passed without debate at a Town Hall meeting. Our libraries correspondent, GENE BRODIE, investigates … Continue reading
Posted in Broad Green, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Education, Heather Cheesbrough, Libraries, Manju Shahul Hameed, New Addington South, Norbury, Old Coulsdon, Planning, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Addington Village, Shirley North, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
Tagged Bradmore Green Library, Broad Green Library, Central Library, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Library, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Public Libraries, Heather Cheesbrough, Manju Shahul Hameed, New Addington, Oliver Lewis, Sanderstead Library, Selsdon Library, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
5 Comments
The day I signed up with the NHS in the fight against covid
What’s it like on the frontline of the pandemic battle? ROBERT WARD found out yesterday, when he volunteered for duties at one of the borough’s largest vaccination centres It’s been a while since I set a 6.30am alarm, but needs … Continue reading
Posted in Centrale, Health, Robert Ward, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Centrale, coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Robert Ward
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Buyers beware: High Court judge puts planners in the dock
A High Court judge has ruled against Croydon’s planning department, quashing the decision of a senior council official to grant permission for a block of flats in Sanderstead. Here, former council planner STEVE WHITESIDE explains how the court ruling could … Continue reading
Posted in Aventier, Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, Selsdon & Ballards, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, London Borough of Croydon, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Planning Committee, Planning enforcement, Purley, Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Steve Whiteside
19 Comments
Golden Ark’s laidback landlord meets Orwell’s demands
CROYDON PUB OF THE YEAR: Our man standing at the bar with a packet of pork scratchings nearby, a pint of pale ale in hand and a dog-eared paperback of Animal Farm poking out of his jacket pocket, KEN TOWL, … Continue reading
Posted in Ken Towl, Pubs, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged CAMRA, Croydon and Sutton CAMRA, Ken Towl, The Golden Ark
1 Comment
Addington residents respond en bloc to save Green Belt
Members of the Addington Residents’ Association took matters into their own hands last week, getting massive concrete blocks, looking like giant Lego bricks, installed at the top end of a once grassy lane to halt further unauthorised road works in … Continue reading
Roadworks on Green Belt cause worries for Addington villagers
There’s agitation among Addington villagers, after a local landowner erected gates to block public access to a large field and has started to build an access road through Green Belt land, all apparently without any planning permission or agreement with … Continue reading
Posted in Addington, Addington Residents' Association, Community associations, Croydon Central, Environment, Planning, Property, Robert Ward, Sarah Jones MP, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Addington, Addington Village, Croydon, Croydon Central, Falconwood, Robert Ward, Sarah Jones MP, Selsdon and Addington Village
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Government to pay £2.3m of borough’s asylum children’s costs
The Home Office will pay an additional £2.3million to Croydon this year to cover the rising costs to the borough of being a first stop in this country for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The cash-strapped borough last month threatened to copy … Continue reading
Farleigh’s volunteers and course praised after pro tournament
A sports venue in Selsdon has been praised for the way it has been maintained to the highest competition standard, after Farleigh Golf Club staged the PGA Assistants’ Championship over the weekend. Michael Farrier-Twist, from Sussex, with a final round … Continue reading
Posted in Golf, Selsdon & Ballards, Selsdon and Addington Village, Sport
Tagged Farleigh Golf Club
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Mystery of the ‘lost’ £600,000 expert report into Fairfield Halls
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Suspicions mount over the business of Brick by Brick and the scandal surrounding the Fairfield Halls refurbishment. But even members of the Town Hall’s scrutiny committee are being denied vital information by council directors. By STEVEN DOWNES … Continue reading
Posted in Asmat Hussain, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Robert Ward, Sarah Hayward, Sean Fitzsimons
Tagged Asmat Hussain, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Labour, Robert Ward, Sarah Hayward, Scrutiny and Overview Committee, Sean Fitzsimons, Tony Newman, Tory
24 Comments
Selsdon golf club offers youngsters chance to kickstart careers
A group of leisure venues and golf clubs, including Farleigh in Selsdon, is running another recruitment drive as a new crop of ambitious young professionals are given their chance to shine. The government’s Kickstart scheme is being used at the … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Golf, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Farleigh Golf Club, Foxhills Club and Resort
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Locals concerned over ‘mini Glastonbury’ in Addington Park
Residents in Addington Village are filing lengthy objections to a licence application which, if the council allows, could see more than 11,000 festival-goers descend on a Croydon conservation area for a “mini Glastonbury” over a single weekend in August. But … Continue reading
How remote meetings sometimes bring the council closer
Have we inadvertently discovered a better way of staging some council meetings? Croydon councillor ROBERT WARD thinks so Imagine we had decided in the pre-pandemic world to run council meetings remotely. There would have been studies, options analyses, pilot projects, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Robert Ward, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Robert Ward
5 Comments
Brick by Brick and the 18 documents officers want kept secret
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Not for the first time, elected councillors have been denied vital information about Town Hall deals. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Conservatives have “called in” for extra scrutiny three multi-million-pound deals intended to off-load the council’s loss-making … Continue reading
Headteacher Smith’s passport to Pimlico began in Croydon
Our education correspondent, GENE BRODIE, reports on how recent confrontations between ‘woke’ staff and pupils at an inner London academy may have had their beginnings in south London Daniel Smith, the controversial head of Pimlico Academy who has attracted national … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Quest Academy, Schools, Selsdon and Addington Village
Tagged Andy Crofts, Daniel Smith, Monks Hill, Pimlico Academy, Quest Academy, Selsdon
1 Comment
Under-threat libraries missing from council’s re-opening plans
Croydon Council this morning released details of its phased re-opening of some of the borough’s public libraries – but with no immediate plans for three of the buildings which it has listed for permanent closure in its recent consultation. Broad … Continue reading
Posted in Ashburton, Broad Green, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Libraries, New Addington South, Norbury, Old Coulsdon, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Addington Village, Shirley North, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
Tagged Bradmore Green Library, Broad Green, coronavirus, Coulsdon, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Public Libraries, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Purley, Sanderstead Library, Selsdon Library, Shirley Library, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
2 Comments
Leader says she has no idea who approved BxB loans
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The £224m in loans and unpaid interest owed to the council by Brick by Brick may have broken EU and British state aid and competition laws. But after nearly six months in her job, Hamida Ali claims … Continue reading
‘Changing the culture of secrecy must be the turning point’
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reports on the council leadership’s reaction to yesterday’s announcements from the local government ministry “We have a very long way to go,” the council leader, Hamida Ali, said, more than once, as she accepted the findings … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Robert Ward, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Panel, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Robert Ward, S114, Section 114, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman, Tory
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Council applies emergency brake on New Year parking hike
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Transport correspondent JEREMY CLACKSON reports on how Fisher’s Folly officials have been forced into a sudden U-turn over their money-spinning ’emissions-based’ parking charges New car parking charges, due to come into force at council-run car parks and … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Joy Prince, Muhammad Ali, New Addington South, Parking, Pubs, Purley, Restaurants, Robert Ward, Sean Fitzsimons, Selsdon & Ballards, Shifa Mustafa, Shirley North, Thornton Heath, Transport
Tagged Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace, Emmissions-based parking charges, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Joy Prince, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Muhammad Ali, New Addington, Robert Ward, Sean Fitzsimons, Shifa Mustafa, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
8 Comments
The Audit Report: Council ignored five warnings on reserves
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Complacency and ‘corporate blindness’ to the problems at the council contributed to the collapse of the borough’s finances. But Grant Thornton’s report also managed to have a dig at Jo Negrini. WALTER CRONXITE reports Grant Thornton’s Report … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Report in the Public Interest, Robert Ward, Sean Fitzsimons, Selsdon and Addington Village, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
Tagged CIPFA, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Grant Thornton, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI, Robert Ward, Sean Fitzsimons, Simon Hall, Tony Newman, Tory
4 Comments
