CROYDON COMMENTARY: As Inside Croydon revealed earlier this week, the tram network’s ageing rolling stock won’t be replaced until the 2030s.
But as CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, pictured left, explains, TfL’s draft business plan actually reflects the transport authority’s achievements over the last quarter-century
The publication of the draft business plan for Transport for London is an opportune moment to put the capital’s transport system in perspective.
Before looking at the future as addressed in the plan, which covers the period to 2029-2030, it is worth recalling the radical changes that have taken place in the quarter of a century of existence of Transport for London.
The very creation of Transport for London was a momentous achievement of the Labour government which, in 1997, had inherited an absolutely chaotic situation in the capital. Continue reading
Hair salon Rush is moving along George Street, and opens tomorrow with some money-saving offers for customers.
New location; Rush’s salon at 25, George Street, is refreshed and improved, with special features to enhance the customer experience
Rush has had a salon in Croydon for more than 20 years, but it was time for a move, albeit not very far: to 25, George Street, with an upgrade and refresh for their premises.
The new salon features eight styling stations, contemporary grey-stone flooring and what Rush describes as “unique fixtures and fittings”. Artwork graces the walls, and the salon uses LED lighting to allow stylists “the ability to see clients’ hair tones perfectly whilst hair colouring”.
Rush’s George Street salon was designed by Dudley Cummings, from Rush’s salon design team. Continue reading
The RSPCA is recruiting animal rescue officers in London.
Recruitment drive: the RSPCA is offering jobs on the frontline of its animal welfare service
RSPCA rescuers primarily help animals by investigating reports of cruelty and neglect, and also rescue those who are sick, injured or stranded.
“The animal rescue officer can be hugely rewarding and make a real difference to the well-being of animals and in educating owners who care for them,” says the RSPCA, the country’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity. Continue reading
Development blight: Chinese property firm R&F’s stalled £500m scheme at St George’s Walk, including the Nestlé Tower, has been a drag on the town centre for six years
Mayoral candidate intends to discuss a Compulsory Purchase Order of Chinese-owned property with Prime Minister on his return from Beijing. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Labour’s candidate for Croydon Mayor, Rowenna Davis, says that if elected in May she will look to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order on the long-derelict building site opposite the Town Hall.
Such an audacious and ambitious purchase might cost between £150million and £200million of public money, but it could finally offer the prospect of ending a development stalemate that has blighted Croydon town centre for years, stretching back to the last century.
The St George’s Walk site, including the Nestlé Tower which appears in its glowing former glory as a channel ident on ITV most days, was bought by Chinese firm R&F Properties in 2017 for £60million.
They got planning permission for a £500million scheme that included 290 flats in one of Croydon’s landmark office blocks, and a further 800 homes on what they called “The Queen’s Quarter”, on the opposite side of Katharine Street from the Town Hall and Queen’s Gardens. Continue reading
It’s not only the ageing rolling stock that requires replacement on south London’s tram network.
Transport for London is to close half of the network, from East Croydon to Beckenham Junction, and all points in between, including New Addington, for two weeks next month.
TfL says that the closure has been planned to coincide with school half-term – between Wednesday February 11 and Wednesday February 25. Most school half-term breaks last only five days.
Regular users of the trams will be accustomed to the withdrawal of service during school holidays, which has become a frustratingly regular occurrence four or five times a year.
For this major and lengthy closure, bus replacement services will operate between East Croydon and Beckenham Junction, and from East Croydon to New Addington.
The works are “to allow essential track renewal works to take place at Sandilands junction, and between Gravel Hill and Addington Village”, TfL says. Continue reading
Environmental campaigners in Sutton have launched a petition in an 11th-hour effort to persuade the Environment Agency to refuse Viridor’s request to be allowed to burn hundreds of thousands of tonnes more waste at their incinerator at Beddington Lane.
Determined protest: Cllr Nick Mattey has been protesting against the environmental damage caused by the incinerator for more than a decade
Inside Croydon has reported how Viridor’s incinerator had broken the terms of its licence nearly 1,000 times – 916, to be exact – in an 18-month period in 2022 to 2024. But Viridor never bothered to report its excessive emissions to the Environment Agency, as it is legally required to do.
And last October, Viridor’s Beddington plant pumped sulphur dioxide – the chemical used to make sulphuric acid – into the south London skies with emissions of 382.4 mg/m³, nearly double the permitted daily limit. The volume was literally off the scale on the plant’s public monitoring charts.
Since the 916 emission breaches, Viridor’s compliance rating with the EA has dropped from A to E.
Yet an official from the Environment Agency told a recent Sutton community meeting that it is “minded” to grant Viridor’s application to vary its licence andallow them to burn even more rubbish, which will be trucked in from all over south-east England. Continue reading
In tune: Inside Croydon readers can save money on their tickets when booking to see the next London Mozart Players’ concert at the Fairfield Halls
Inside Croydon is delighted to announce that, thanks to the London Mozart Players, our readers can enjoy a special discount on the price of tickets for their much-anticipated performance of JS Bach’s St John Passion at the Fairfield Halls on Sunday, March 8.
Using the iC exclusive discount code, readers can make savings of more than £4 on their tickets, which are available to book now for between £10 (for under-30s) and £43.50. Continue reading
South London’s transport network has slipped even further down the pecking order of the capital’s travel priorities, with no new line extensions mentioned in a five-year plan published today.
EXCLUSIVE by JEREMY CLACKSON, transport correspondent
Slow service: it could be at least another four years before replacement trams arrive
It will be the 2030s before Croydon gets sight of the long-awaited replacement trams for south London’s hard-working public transport network.
That has been confirmed by Transport for London, which has today published a draft business plan for the next five years in which £143million has been allocated to replace Croydon’s ageing tram fleet.
But that tram spend is less than one-fifth of the near £1billion budget allocated in the same report for a Tube line extension which does not even have planning permission or funding yet in place. Continue reading
Flipped: the Honda sports car ended up on its roof after the driver lost control when racing along Woodside Green last night
Residents in Woodside Green were both terrified and relieved last night, after a car that was racing through their neighbourhood crashed into roadside barriers and ended up on its roof in the middle of the public open space.
They were terrified at the prospect of the “carnage” which might have been caused had pedestrians been passing at the time that the car sped out of control on to the green.
And they were relieved that the incident had not occurred just a few hours earlier, when dozens of small children from two nearby primary schools and a nursery might have been making their way home.
The shocking incident is just the latest in a series of high-speed near-misses on Croydon’s roads, where motorists are allowed to ignore all speed limits or common sense, with little prospect of facing any enforcement action. Continue reading
Under the Tory Mayor, Croydon axed six lollipop patrols outside primary schools last year in a cost-cutting measure. Yet now, according to Croydon East MP Natasha Irons, the council is sitting on a pot of grant money while children’s lives are at risk in Forestdale
Signing up: parents and staff at Forestdale Primary are signing a petition to get the council to act over Featherbed Lane
A Croydon MP has launched a campaign to make Featherbed Lane safer, following serious concerns raised by families with children attending nearby primary schools.
Natasha Irons, the Labour MP for Croydon East, took up her constituents’ complaints with Croydon Council last year. But after months without any action from the Town Hall, and tens of thousands of pounds sitting in the council’s road safety budget untouched, the MP is now backing a public petition calling for a road safety review and a new, safer crossing. Continue reading
BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on how an election promise to scrap ground rents for leaseholders has been watered down to something which now won’t take full effect until the year 2066
Property progress: leaseholders got some good news today, but the government has been accused of ‘tinkering’ under pressure from landowners
Groups representing leaseholders and renters have accused the Labour government of “feet-dragging” and “tinkering around the edges” over its proposals to cap ground rents and reform the leasehold system.
The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published today, was first put forward in the King’s Speech in 2024.
Keir Starmer’s Labour made an election promise to sweep away ground rents altogether, in a thorough modernising overhaul of the medieval land ownership rules in England and Wales. The measures were strongly supported by his former Deputy PM, Angela Rayner. But since Rayner has been replaced, the policy has been significantly watered down. Continue reading
Hive of activity: the Coulsdon Community Centre, home of the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon, where preparations are going on for The Sweet Science of Bruising
KEN TOWL got a behind-the-scenes preview of the next production from Coulsdon’s acclaimed theatre group, which he says will be a real knock-out
In December, when I went to the Coulsdon Community Centre, I saw a great performance of My Fair Lady but I left my favourite hat on my seat.
On Sunday, I went round to collect it and found myself in the middle of the hive of activity that is Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s “set-build Sunday”, an early stage in the group’s preparation for their next show, a tale of Victorian lady boxer. Continue reading
The London Fire Brigade is calling for leading delivery firms – Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo – to do more to make their riders aware of the fire risk of the batteries used to power their e-bikes and e-scooters.
The Brigade was called out to more than 200 fires caused by faulty batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters in 2025 – when two people died in the fires.
The video above shows the deadly force when an e-bike battery explodes, as happened in a flat in Catford last year. Continue reading
Under threat: long neglected by owners Croydon Council, Norwood Grove is one of the public spaces placed on the CPRE’s at-risk list
Despite receiving £23m in grants for the up-keep of Croydon’s parks, only eight of the council’s 127 open spaces have Green Flag status.
GIANELLA A BASILE looks over a new report which details more than 50 green spaces under threat – including parks in Croydon, Bromley and Merton
Sombre reading: the latest CPRE London report
A report from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England claims that more than 50 parks and open spaces in London are at risk from over-commercialisation or even being developed for housing or other uses.
On its list of sites at risk, CPRE London includes parks and open spaces in Croydon, Bromley and in Merton.
“If you think London’s parks are protected, think again,” CPRE London warns.
The report from CPRE London, called Cashing-in on London’s Parks and Countryside, mentions the former NatWest Sports Ground in Norbury, on the Merton-Croydon-Lambeth boundary, as one of the sites lost since their previous report in 2024. Merton Council recently approved the construction of 353 homes on the site of a former sports ground, despite its designated status as open space. Continue reading
Works have begun this morning just outside East Croydon Station which should provide secure cycle parking space for years to come, and represents a bit of a victory for local campaigners who objected to the railway’s plans to remove their bike sheds altogether.
Secure racks secured: the Billinton Hill bike shed is closed this week, while GTR has it fenced off from its staff car park
Inside Croydon broke the news last June that Southern Rail wanted to remove the bike racks on Billinton Hill. Officials suggested at the time that the bike racks had to go because of a “bomb threat”.
Cyclists objected because the storage space, used each day by many commuters before making their rail journeys into central London, was the only bike rack available at East Croydon that was properly monitored by CCTV. Bicycles left in another, unmonitored bike rack at East Croydon, on the other side of the tracks, close to the entrance to Boozepark, have been notoriously vulnerable to thieves.
Following the news coverage, protests and a mass petition, meetings were called between officials from Govia Thameslink Railway, the rail operators at East Croydon, the Croydon Cycling Campaign and Labour MPs Natasha Irons and Sarah Jones, and local councillors. Continue reading
No sooner had Network Rail completed its three weekends of engineering works on the Brighton main line than another main rail route into London is going to be shutdown for this coming weekend.
Plan ahead: most services between Waterloo and Clapham Junction will be affected this weekend
Pretty much all services to and from Waterloo will be affected by engineering works between the south London terminus and Clapham Junction this weekend, Saturday January 31 and Sunday February 1.
“Some lines between Waterloo and Clapham Junction will be closed and services will be revised,” South Western Railway confirmed today.
Queenstown Road station will be closed on both days. Some services will not call at Earlsfield and Vauxhall. Continue reading
Concert venue: the choir of Croydon Minster will be performing the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new work at Southwark Cathedral on February 7
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN looks to the futurethis week and a world premiere performance by the church’s choir to take place at Southwark Cathedral
Master of the King’s Music: Errollyn Wallen
Croydon Minster’s choir, which already has a substantial list of musical achievements, will add to their already impressive CV next month when they sing the world premiere of a piece of music composed by Errollyn Wallen.
Wallen is the Master of the King’s Music.
The musical equivalent of being Poet Laureate, Wallen was appointed to the role by King Charles III in August 2024. Continue reading
After 24 years on Croydon Council, Maria Gatland will be standing down at the elections in May, her explosive past still unknown by many of the residents she represents. PETER GILLMAN provides the inside story
Long service: councillor Maria Gatland
When Tory councillor Maria Gatland announced this week that she was stepping down from the council in May, she received a rare accolade.
Inside Croydon, normally grudging in its appraisals of elected representatives, commented that she was “generally respected and admired by her fellow councillors of all parties”.
Inside Croydon made another intriguing comment, referring to her as “Dublin-born former Maria Maguire” and a “one-time IRA gun-runner”.
Yes, Gatland’s career was all the more remarkable for its astonishing provenance. Continue reading
South Croydon catholic school has expanded its offer to include a new nursery class
Early years: nursery school pupils are welcomed on their first day at Regina Coeli
Regina Coeli on Pampisford Road in South Croydon has been ranked the top primary school in Croydon and in the top 10% of primaries across the country.
The Times Top 1000 Primary Schools list is widely regarded as the definitive measure of primary school performance in England. The 2026 list has Regina Coeli ranked at 55th in the country, and the only primary in Croydon in the top 100.
Tessa Christoforou, Regina Coeli’s head, said: “Regina Coeli’s position within the top 10% nationally reflects the dedication of its pupils, staff, governors and families.”
The ranking comes as the school has this month, for the first time, opened a nursery class for children aged from three to four years. Continue reading
Behzod Abduraimov, described by The Independent as “the most perfectly accomplished pianist of his generation”, is coming to Croydon next month to perform, not long after Trinity School stages its annual piano festival, which begins tomorrow.
Abduraimov’s recital will take place at Trinity School’s Concert Hall on February 25 from 7pm to 9pm. Tickets for the performance are available for pruchase by the public.
Behzod performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, from Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, to the Royal Concertgebouw and NHK Symphony, and has played at the world’s finest venues, including Carnegie Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Continue reading
Members of the RMT union who carry out “safety critical” work on the Windrush line will carry out 24-hour strikes on February 26, March 26 and April 23, after they were given a “derisory” pay offer.
Red lines: the highly profitable company employing staff on the Windrush line has made a ‘derisory’ 1.5% pay offer
The staff work on signalling and telecoms on the London Overground line which operates between West Croydon, Norwood Junction and Crystal Palace, via New Cross Gate to Canada Water and Islington.
Without the signalling team’s work, the railway cannot operate.
The workers are employed by Cleshar CS Ltd, contractors for Transport for London. Cleshar made a profit of £991,915 in its most recent financial year and paid out more than £533,000 in dividends to its shareholders. Continue reading
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