Council finally cancels dodgy tickets issued during PCN Fiasco

Posted on February 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

PCN Mix Up: Cllr Jason Cummings, who managed a Woolworths branch before working in Downing Street, has been left to front up for Mayor Perry

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mayor Perry’s finance adviser admits ‘we can’t afford to lose’ the £150,000-plus costs caused by the latest IT catastrophe to hit the council

Croydon’s cash-strapped council stands to lose at least £150,000 over its “PCN Fiasco”, as after a two-week delay, officials at Fisher’s Folly finally began to make repayments to hundreds of angry motorists affected by what was initially dismissed as “an IT glitch”.

The six-figure cost of the error is an estimate according to Tory Mayor Jason Perry’s senior councillor in charge of finance. It represents a mid-range estimate of the final cost of the latest IT shambles to affect the disorganised council, which was first reported by Inside Croydon.

In typical Croydon Council style, officials have this week sent a memo to councillors, without bothering to put anything into the public domain to update residents about the latest civic clusterfuck. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon East, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry, Shirley South | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Green Dragon residents shocked by £7,000 service charge bills

Posted on February 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

Croydon is reckoned to already have around 1,000 flats in converted office blocks, thanks to Tory relaxation of planning rules. Now residents in one block are facing the nightmare of service charges doubling to pay for safety works. By BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent

The essence of what has become known as “landlordism” and, for that matter, “developerism”, was blatant in yesterday’s housing announcement by Rishi “Four Homes” Sunak and the Tory Government.

Steepling service charges: leaseholders recently got bills for at least £600 per month, towards the cost of fire safety and roofing work

They want to strip planning powers away from local authorities and the Mayor of London, to put an end to all those irritating things such as building standards and affordable housing quotas that have been holding back property businesses from making even bigger profits than at present.

It is all neatly encapsulated in a salutary little tale of one of Croydon’s many PDs – permitted developments: Green Dragon House, on Croydon High Street.

PDs are cheap to do and generate decent profits – which is why dodgy developers like them so much. “The slums of the future” was how these office-to-flats conversions, carried out with minimal intrusion from local authority planning departments, were described by one of Sadiq Khan’s previous deputy mayors for housing.

As a parting gesture before they (probably) lose the General Election, the Tories are trying to railroad through the removal of even more controls on this kind of conversion schemes. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Green Dragon House, Housing, Inspired Homes, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Planning, Property, Sadiq Khan, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Rewind: the real story behind Croydon’s rich musical heritage

Posted on February 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

As an exhibition opens in the Clocktower about the history of music in Croydon, NEIL BENNETT, pictured left, the former BBC News and Croydon Advertiser journalist, asks how the borough has maintained such a strong musical tradition through all its highs and lows

In the bag: Beanos record shop is long gone and much-missed

It seems that not a week goes by without another talented and successful artist revealed to have some connection in or around Croydon.

The latest is filmmaker Andrew Haigh, whose much-praised movie All Of Us Strangers is set in Sanderstead where he grew up and in the centre of Croydon itself (the “unloved south London borough”, as The Guardian described it in its film review).

The artistic production line has been particularly fruitful in pop music, with Stormzy, Adele and multi-BRIT award nominee Raye among many stars with links to Croydon.

The excellent exhibition Rewind, which has just opened in the Museum of Croydon, doesn’t directly answer the question of why or how Croydon manages to produce so many stars, but it does illustrate what a long and varied musical pedigree Croydon has. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Borough of Culture 2023, BRIT School, Fairfield Halls, Museum of Croydon, Music, Selhurst | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Croydon escapes worst effects of Gove’s ‘Developers’ Charter’

Posted on February 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

Tory minister takes a swipe at London Mayor as he moves to reduce planning restrictions and allow ‘some incredibly poor quality homes which should not have been built’

Developers’ mate: Michael Gove

Croydon and Sutton might just escape the worst excesses of Michael Gove’s desperate, eve-of-election “Developers’ Charter”, aimed at reducing planning controls for “permitted development” shop and office conversions and speeding up building on brown-field sites.

But the announcement might give Westfield cause for further pause as they work on their latest scheme that was expected to include thousands of flats in their long-delayed regeneration of Croydon town centre. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", 2024 London elections, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Planning, Property, Sadiq Khan, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Crouching Tiger orchestra’s first UK tour comes to Croydon

Posted on February 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

Orchestral music lovers in Croydon have the rare opportunity to experience one of Asia’s most respected orchestras next month, as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra performs at the Fairfield Halls on Friday March 22 on its first-ever UK tour.

LIN DAYE – Chief Conductor and Artistic Director;
Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra;

The tour will feature more than 100 musicians on stage presenting a fantastically wide-ranging and impressive programme. It includes the first live orchestral performances in Britain of film score excerpts from the Academy Award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which blends Chinese ceremonial and classical music together in action-packed drama. The film score was composed by Tan Dun, who is also the SZSO’s principal honorary conductor. Continue reading →

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Fire Brigade’s dramatic warning of the risks of e-bike batteries

Posted on February 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

Amazon, eBay and three other online suppliers have been ordered to withdraw from sale dodgy batteries that are often used for e-bikes and e-scooters

The London Fire Brigade has today released dramatic video footage from a rescue conducted last week from a fire caused by what firefighters now regard as probably the biggest safety risk in the capital: dodgy batteries attached to e-bikes and e-scooters.

Fire escape: pictures from neighbour Danny McLaughlin show the perilous rescue in Whitechapel last week

The batteries have been officially classed by the national regulatory body as a “dangerous” product.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards announced in January that it is taking enforcement action against a Chinese manufacturer of UPP batteries after its products were linked to a number of fires in the UK.

Five online marketplaces have been issued with Withdrawal Notices: Amazon, AliBaba, eBay, Made in China and Desertcart. These require them to stop supplying the UPP battery. The Withdrawal Notice has also been issued to 20 sellers directly and the China-based manufacturer.

The video footage released today shows a firefighter rescuing a man dangling precariously from a window ledge after trying to escape an e-bike fire in a flat. Continue reading →

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Jazz at the Clocktower Café, noon every Thursday, to Mar 28

Posted on February 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Husband pleads guilty to murder of wife at Ash Tree Way

Posted on February 12, 2024 by insidecroydon

The man who killed his teenaged wife at their Monks Orchard home last October has been convicted of her murder.

Murderer: Sahil Sharma pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife

Sahil Sharma, 24, of Ash Tree Way, appeared in custody at Kingston Crown Court last Thursday where he pleaded guilty to the murder of 19-year-old Mehak Sharma.

Mehak Sharma was an Indian national who had only been living in London for a short time. She was among 11 victims who were murdered in Croydon in 2023.

Detective Inspector Laura Semple, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Sahil Sharma’s actions have devastated a family. In killing his wife he has robbed her family of a loving daughter for reasons known only to himself.

“While I am pleased that Mehak Sharma’s loved ones will now be spared the experience of going through a trial, nothing can bring her back to them.”

Continue reading →

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Residents’ fury as developers bid to demolish Glamorgan pub

Posted on February 12, 2024 by insidecroydon

Residents and councillors in Addiscombe and East Croydon are furious that property owners have sneaked in a planning application to demolish a long-disused pub and build an eight-storey block of flats in its place.

Campaigning: locals and councillors when the campaign’s company was not dormant and the ACV was in place

The Save The Glamorgan Campaign has brought together residents living on or near Cherry Orchard Road with the aim of taking on the once popular old boozer, which closed in 2016.

A previous planning application in 2021 (for a 10-storey block of flats) and attempt by the owners to auction the property were thwarted by interventions by Croydon Council because the pub had been granted the status of an Asset of Community Value.

As a consequence of ACV status, the owners, Hounslow-based developers Butlers Walsall, had to give a residents’ campaign group first refusal on purchasing the 180-year-old building. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Clive Fraser, Community associations, Croydon Council, East Croydon, Patricia Hay-Justice, Planning, Property, Pubs, Sean Fitzsimons | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Hold up on the 109: police storm bus just before midnight

Posted on February 12, 2024 by insidecroydon

A man who threatened a bus driver and passengers with “acid” was arrested as police using Tasers stormed the bus following a three-hour stand-off in Thornton Heath last night. According to the police, no one was harmed in the incident.

Chemical caution: police, fire crews and ambulance attended the scene of the hold up on a 109 bus parked on London Road, Thornton Heath

With public anxieties across London raised following the chemical attack in Clapham last month, the stand-off on the 109 bus saw police officers deployed in chemical suits and ultimately using Tasers as, just before midnight, they stormed the bus parked on London Road.

The man, who police said may have consumed drugs, was taken to hospital for medical evaluations. According to eyewitnesses, the man boarded the bus in Brixton and began smoking.

When confronted by other passengers, the man is said to have threatened them with a bottle of what he claimed was a corrosive substance. Continue reading →

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Minster archive reveals butchers, bakers and… peruke-makers

Posted on February 11, 2024 by insidecroydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A must-have fashion item from the late 1600s is now rarely seen or heard about.
DAVID MORGAN, pictured right, had some hairy moments delving into the long-lost trade of Restoration period wig-makers

A look through the burial records of the graveyard of Croydon Parish Church reveals several different trades, crafts and jobs which have long since ceased to exist, some of which most people today would have little idea what function they performed.

Wanna buy a wig? an 18th-century peruke-maker sells his wares

Of course, there were butchers and bakers although as yet, I have not come across any candlestick-makers. We have, however, found candle-makers and tallow chandlers, from a time when such goods were a day-to-day necessity.

Beer, as we discovered in the previous Sunday Supplement, was very much an essential in medieval times, and Croydon had its brewers as well.

There were clock-makers, too, which as we have recorded in these pages, was something of a speciality in these parts in the 18th and 19th centuries.

But one trade which has caught my eye, mostly because it was something I had never heard of before, was a peruke-maker.

Perukes were a type of wig that was much in fashion for the dandies of the Restoration era and through the 1700s and into the 1800s. They were very similar to the type of wigs which barristers and judges still wear for the most formal court proceedings today. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Salt Of The Earth, Ruskin House Screen Club, Feb 16

Posted on February 11, 2024 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

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South Croydon Community Assoc general meeting, Mar 4

Posted on February 11, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Here is the news! Latest episode of Croydon Insider podcast

Posted on February 10, 2024 by insidecroydon

The latest episode of Inside Croydon’s monthly news podcast, The Croydon Insider, is now available to paid subscribers via Patreon and Spotify.

The February episode demonstrates we are nothing if not eclectic in the subjects that our panellists choose to discuss.

From the lessons to be learned from an important review of child protection and teenaged knife crime – commissioned following the spate of youth murders in Croydon in 2021 – to praise for a local MP (yes, really), through to Croydon’s central part in the first translation of the Bible into Welsh, our panel go behind the headlines to delve into the real context of recent reports. Continue reading →

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Local community ‘partnerships’ meeting, Norbury, Mar 13

Posted on February 10, 2024 by insidecroydon

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The Carshalton ‘Pub Crawl’ talk, Honeywood Museum, Apr 25

Posted on February 10, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Brick by Brick posts £7.6m loss in latest annual trading report

Posted on February 9, 2024 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Yet more bad news finally emerging into the public record. By BARRATT HOLMES, our house building correspondent

Even when it is no longer paying above the odds to build new homes, Brick by Brick continues to lose money.

The wholly-owned housebuilder, which over five years from 2015 was loaned £200million by Croydon Council which led directly to the authority’s financial collapse in 2020, has just published its official annual accounts for the financial year to the end of March 2023 and they show it made another loss of £7.6million.

That’s a whole heap better than the £20million loss recorded in 2021-2022, but it comes after a year in which the failed company, which is oh, so slowly being wound-up, managed to sell £73million-worth of assets, all of which had been built using public money.

The accounts show “cost of sales” at £70.7million, which doesn’t leave much margin for profit, and after being hit by “finance costs” – loan interest mainly – of £8.4million, it means that Brick by Brick’s record of never actually managing to make any profit has been maintained yet again. Has anyone seen erstwhile “managing director” Colm Lacey? Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Tories, LibDems and Labour vote against City Hall transparency

Posted on February 9, 2024 by insidecroydon

Londoners are entitled to ask ‘what have they got to hide’ after the majority of Assembly Members voted down a Green Party motion which will have required them to publicise their meetings with lobbyists and other interest groups

In an extraordinary display of anti-democratic and anti-transparency togetherness, the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat members present at the London Assembly yesterday all voted against a motion that would have increased their public accountability.

It was almost as if they all represent the same political party. And that they all have something to hide. Continue reading →

Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Boff, Caroline Pidgeon, Caroline Russell, Elly Baker, Leonie Cooper, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Marina Ahmad, Murad Qureshi, Shaun Bailey, Sian Berry, Susan Hall, Unmesh Desai | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Addiscombe and Old Town roads to close during tram works

Posted on February 9, 2024 by insidecroydon

Keep track of changes: road closures will affect Old Town around Church Street, and Addiscombe, while the trams services are suspended

The planned two-week closure of a large section of the tram network around Croydon town centre for “essential maintenance works” (they are always essential) also comes with a series of road closures and changes to parking provision in Old Town and Addiscombe.

According to Transport for London, the works are “to replace a complex section of track and points between East Croydon tram stop and along George Street (between Wellesley Road and Dingwall Road)”. Points put in pace on top of a bridge over the London to Brighton main railway line is among the complications.

The works are expected to take two weeks. During the period, no trams will run between Reeves Corner and Sandilands, which includes the Croydon town centre loop through West Croydon and on to East Croydon. Services will continue on the rest of the London Trams network as normal. Continue reading →

Posted in East Croydon, TfL, Tramlink, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Youth charities to benefit as Wates finish off 2 Ruskin Square

Posted on February 9, 2024 by insidecroydon

The Government Property Agency has appointed Wates to carry out the fit-out of 2 Ruskin Square at East Croydon, with the building firm undertaking to work with local youth and anti-crime groups while they are working on the project.

Home Office’s office: 2 Ruskin Square will accommodate 5,000 civil servants once ready for use later this year

Ruskin Square is the gateway, mixed-use development alongside East Croydon Station which developers Stanhope and financial backers, Schroders, have been working on for almost 20 years.

According to Wates, their task, is due to complete in September 2024: “The project will enable the Home Office to bring various functions together in one building for the first time in 30 years, moving civil servants from three existing locations in Croydon to one centralised hub.” Continue reading →

Posted in Business, East Croydon, Property, Ruskin Square | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tories warn residents: don’t be ‘negative’ about Allders murals

Posted on February 8, 2024 by insidecroydon

Don’t mention the wall!: the artwashing hoardings have gone up, and we should all be very jolly grateful for all the hard work that Jason Perry has done. Apparently…

The hard-working volunteers of a local community association have been harshly criticised by their Tory ward councillor for not being as obsequious and fawning as required over the latest artwashing exploits in the town centre.

Tory councillor Michael Neal – an old mucker of part-time Jason Perry, the borough’s Mayor – took offence at the South Croydon Community Association’s questioning of the colourful hoardings that went up around Allders last month. The specially commissioned art is the latest feeble effort by Westfield, after 12 years of delay by the private developers, whose failures to begin their promised £1.4billion regeneration scheme have left much of the town centre in a devastated mess. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Art, Business, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Planning, South Croydon, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Colburn’s emotional speech to Commons: ‘Help is out there’

Posted on February 8, 2024 by insidecroydon

Hushed house: Carshalton and Wallington MP Elliot Colburn received handshakes and pats on the back for his speech

Carshalton and Wallington MP Elliot Colburn received thanks from his own party leader and a handshake from Labour’s Keir Starmer in the House of Commons yesterday, as he bravely fought back the tears and gave a moving speech to a hushed chamber about how he tried to take his own life, but was saved by help and support from his family and local hospitals.

Colburn, 31, who has has been an MP since 2019, was called to speak during Prime Minister’s Question Time, and used the opportunity to tell of how he had attempted to end his life in 2021 as he felt that the “world would be better off without me in it”. Continue reading →

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Supermarket’s recruitment drive is looking for apprentices

Posted on February 8, 2024 by insidecroydon

Aldi is looking to recruit more than 500 apprentices in 2024.

Earn as you learn: Aldi has openings for hard-working apprentices

Applications are now open for the country’s fourth-largest supermarket’s apprenticeship scheme, with opportunities across stores, buying, logistics and HGV driver roles.

Aldi recently announced new rates of pay for all store and warehouse staff, with pay for some apprenticeship roles rising by up to 37%.

At Aldi, a store apprentice can earn £8.44 per hour in their first year, rising to £11.83 per hour in Year 3, with paid breaks. Meanwhile, those in logistics and driver roles can earn £10.96 and £14.13 per hour respectively.

Successful applicants will have the chance to achieve industry-recognised qualifications while they earn and will also be eligible for a number of additional benefits, including a range of shopping discounts, a bike to work scheme and a new mortgage advice option where colleagues can seek free mortgage advice and access mortgage education.

Continue reading →

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What lies beneath? Sowan legacy donated to leading libraries

Posted on February 8, 2024 by insidecroydon

A rich seam of information detailing what lies just a few inches beneath our feet as we travel around Croydon, London and wider afield around the country has been donated to two major libraries for researchers to… ahhh… dig into.

Going underground: Paul Sowan’s legacy library is being put to good use

The collection of more than 500 books about mining, minerals and underground infrastructure is the legacy of polymath and enthusiast Paul Sowan, who died in June 2021.

Sowan was a long-time leading figure in the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society. Croydon-born, Sowan taught geology, chemistry and physics at Norbury Manor and Shirley High schools. He left his valuable resource, collected over a lifetime of study, to the charity Subterranea Britannica – “Sub Brit” – a society he led as chair for 20 years. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Education | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

It’s an F grade for Keegan over nation’s apprenticeship failings

Posted on February 8, 2024 by insidecroydon

ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, explains how apprenticeships can be a valuable means of recruitment for some employers while offering some pay to trainees, but that the Education Minister’s dabbling with ‘apprentice teachers’ looks like another ‘fail’ by this Government

This week is National Apprenticeships Week: a chance to celebrate the opportunity that workers have to earn while they learn.

I say “earn”, but although many employers do pay a real wage, the national minimum wage rate for apprentices is a measly £5.28 per hour. Teenagers doing babysitting rightly charge more than that! I was earning more than that while a university student working in a call centre in the late 1990s.

From April 1 this year, the apprentice rate rises to £6.40 per hour, but that is still just £224 for someone working a 35-hour week, and is still just 60% of the full national minimum wage.

Continue reading →

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