Westfield’s boss admits covid was ‘nail in coffin’ for Croydon

Posted on October 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

There’s no prospect any time soon of French-based developers ending the decade-long blight to the Whitgift Centre, according to the CEO of  Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. By our retailing correspondent, MT WALLETTE

Shape of things to come: Les Ateliers Gaîté, a much smaller development in Paris, could be URW’s model if anything is ever built in Croydon

Covid was “the final nail in the coffin” for the £1.4billion plans to build a vast Westfield in central Croydon, according to an interview with the boss of the Paris-based company which owns the shopping mall developers.

According to the interview with Jean-Marie Tritant, the chief executive of property giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, in today’s Sunday Times, “I think we went too far,” even with another project in London that was less than one-third the scale originally proposed for Croydon.

The Tritant feature suggests that URW is in deep financial difficulties, and it outlines the abandonment of the mega-mall model which once saw Westfield build their temples to retailing at Stratford and Shepherd’s Bush. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Debenhams, Gavin Barwell, House of Fraser, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Bailey holds urgent talks seeking Viridor bail-out for SDEN

Posted on October 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, on the backroom deals that have been going on to try to salvage Sutton Council’s struggling heat network business

Salvage mission: Sutton Council CEO Helen Bailey has been in urgent talks with Viridor

Helen Bailey, the chief exec at Liberal Democrat-controlled Sutton, has been holding emergency talks with incinerator operators Viridor in an urgent effort to salvage SDEN, the council’s struggling heat network.

The discussions included Bailey making a rare visit to the Beddington incinerator – a visit she has tried to keep secret from the borough’s councillors.

Sources at Sutton’s civic offices suggest that Bailey has offered to support profit-hungry Viridor’s application to vary the terms of its licence for its polluting incinerator at Beddington, increasing the volume of other people’s rubbish that they burn by an extra 35,000 tonnes per year, provided that they don’t pull out of their agreement to supply hot water to the 800 Barratt-built homes at New Mill Quarter.

Soaring fuel prices have prompted KKR, Viridor’s new owners, to seriously reconsider dumping their SDEN deal to seek even bigger profits elsewhere. Continue reading →

Posted in Bobby Dean, Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Helen Bailey, Kingston, London-wide issues, Merton, Refuse collection, Ruth Dombey, Shasha Khan, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mayor Khan among 1m Londoners to have covid booster jab

Posted on October 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

More than 1million Londoners have now received an autumn covid-19 booster jab.

Mayor’s show: Sadiq Khan is one of 1m Londoners who have had their covid booster

The NHS in London has made the announcement while it continues to encourage eligible residents of the capital to take up the offer of free vaccination to boost their protection.

Bookings opened to everyone aged 50 and over to get their covid booster and flu vaccines a week ago.

So far, the NHS has provided additional protection against covid-19 to 1,090,101 people in London with the new bivalent vaccine.

Residents of the capital can arrange to get their life-saving jabs quickly and easily online at www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine or through the free 119 phone service. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon NHS Trust, Health | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Friends of Trumble Gardens Action Day, Brigstock Rd, Nov 5

Posted on October 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Community associations, Croydon parks, Environment, Gardening, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

#PennReport: Negrini staged a power-grab over councillors

Posted on October 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The long-withheld Penn Report describes a dysfunctional local authority where the former CEO was accused of ignoring elected representatives and keeping vital information from them.
In our latest extract, we reveal what one Labour cabinet member really thought of the controversial chief exec. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

The problem with the Penn Report and Croydon Council is that it got people’s hopes up.

Maybe that was exactly what Katherine Kerswell intended when she drafted the terms of reference for Richard Penn, the Local Government Association investigator, and asked him to look into the “possible wrong-doing” that led to Croydon’s financial collapse.

In November 2020, Kerswell had just been appointed as Croydon’s interim chief executive. She had been around in local government circles for long enough to know, in the interests of all senior civic officials who enjoy only passing accountability for the way they manage billions of pounds of public money, when there’s a need for a stiff broom and a carpet for stuff to be swept under.

“We know what happened, that’s in the auditors’ Report in the Public Interest,” Kerswell told councillors at a scrutiny committee meeting two years ago. “This independent investigation by the LGA will look at how it happened. If the investigation finds that formal questions arise, then that will take place.”

Kerswell has done nothing about any of it since, apparently ignoring calls from Labour and Conservative councillors alike. But then the Penn Report gives a full account of how Kerswell’s predecessor at the dysfunctional council had also ignored the wishes of the borough’s elected representatives, too. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paul Scott, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Croydon MP finds himself at centre of new political storm

Posted on October 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

Out of the Truss frying pan into the Braverman fire, Tory MP Chris Philp is just clinging on to the wreckage of his ‘Rt Hon’ ministerial career.
By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor

The wait had better be worth it. It was not until Wednesday evening that Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, heard that he was to be given a ministerial role under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Every PM, it seems, needs a “Nose in Search of a Bum”.

Laughing stock: Braverman’s return as Home Secretary has already become a joke for the right-wing Torygraph

It’s been a tumultuous few months for the Tory Party, and for Philp, who has been tossed around on the stormy seas of political opportunism more than many.

So after just 38 days in the job as Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Liz Truss, during which time he played a leading role in tanking the markets, Philp lasted only 11 days as Paymaster General, making him a candidate for the Guinness Book of World Records’ “Shortest stay in a government office” page. Again.

Now under Sunak, Philp is Minister of State in the Home Office, basically the Policing Minister. That he didn’t turn the job down and opt for a return to the backbenches says a lot about Philp.

It has been characterised as a demotion. This time, there was no trumpeted announcement, no official Downing Street photoshopped tweet featuring his picture… Philp’s appointment was sidled out more than 48 hours after the new Prime Minister took office.

He’ll no longer attend the important meetings with the Big Boys and Girls at Cabinet, though he keeps the “Rt Hon” title bollocks – once in the Privy Council, it’s very difficult to get slung out, however egregious or incompetent. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon South | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Watch how you touch in to avoid paying your fare twice

Posted on October 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

A London commuter organisation is warning rail and Tube passengers to avoid using separate smart devices to pay for their journeys – because they risk paying twice.

Watch how you pay: using two different smart devices to pay a TfL fare could see you pay twice

London TravelWatch says that passengers who touch in with their mobile phone and out with their smartwatch at a Transport for London station may be charged the maximum ticket fare twice.

The double charge occurs because while the same bank account is usually registered to the smartphone or watch, they carry separate unique device codes – Permanent Account Numbers. Therefore, the ticket readers think that two separate journeys are “incomplete” as the person using their mobile phone did not touch out while the person with the smartwatch seemingly did not touch in to start their journey.

This could affect double-device users riding the Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and Thames Clipper boat services – although Croydon Tram passengers are probably unaffected because they only have to tap-in before the start of their journey. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, Norwood Junction, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Strike-free weekend – and Network Rail shuts down Victoria

Posted on October 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

The railway network in the capital is clear of any industrial action this weekend. But Transport for London has issued a warning to passengers because there will be no Southern or Gatwick Express services to and from Victoria Station.

Signal works: there are no services to and from Victoria this weekend

“During Network Rail re-signalling work there will be no Southern rail or Gatwick Express services to or from Victoria on Saturday October 29 and Sunday October 30,” a TfL statement says.

“For East Croydon and stations between Gatwick Airport and Brighton, use Thameslink services from Blackfriars. Use Southern rail services from London Bridge for other destinations.

“Thameslink and Southern tickets will be accepted on the Tube between Victoria and Blackfriars, London Bridge or Balham. Continue reading →

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Warm Space, St Paul’s Croham Park Avenue, every Thu

Posted on October 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Voluntary groups face ‘wipe out’ in Tory Mayor’s budget cuts

Posted on October 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

Crisis in Croydon: the most vulnerable and needy in the borough may soon lose what little help that is available to them. There’s at least two homeless people bedding down outside the council offices at Fisher’s Folly every night now

EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon’s charities and voluntary sector face an existential threat, as the Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, prepares to axe the council’s Community Fund next year.

Fund cut: Mayor Jason Perry

More than 40 groups could be affected, from larger organisations such as Croydon Citizens Advice Bureau, to smaller voluntary groups, as the Conservative Mayor struggles to balance the budgets at the cash-strapped council.

The Community Fund was established in 2020 – just before the council’s financial crash – with £2.6million to spread around dozens of groups. It aligned council funding through half a dozen previous programmes, and was planned to run until the end of March 2023. Despite the council going bust two years ago, the Community Fund has continued to help charities and other groups carry on with their essential work around the borough.

The real fear among Croydon’s voluntary sector now is that Mayor Perry has no intention of replacing the Community Fund after March 31 next year. Perry has told Town Hall colleagues that the fund is “coming to a natural end”.

But as one senior figure working in the voluntary sector told Inside Croydon today: “That’s bollocks.” Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Stranack, Charity, Community associations, Croydon CAB, Croydon Council, Croydon Nightwatch, CVA, Mayor Jason Perry, Purley Food Hub | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Two found guilty of viciously stabbing Shrublands teen to death

Posted on October 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

Romain LaPierre was yesterday found guilty at the Old Bailey of the murder of 16-year-old Camron Smith, who was brutally stabbed to death in his own home on Bracken Avenue, on the Shrublands Estate in Shirley, in July 2021.

Murdered: 16-year-old Camron Smith

LaPierre and a gang of masked attackers chased the teenager through his home, eventually stabbing him to death in his mother’s bedroom. The prosecutor said that the gang who carried out the vicious attack on the unarmed youth were “out for blood”.

At the Central Criminal Court LaPierre, who is 20, said he was of no fixed abode. The jury found LaPierre also guilty of robbery relating to the car used in the attack.

A second suspect, Jordan Tcheuko, 19, from Wembley, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

Sako Amoniba-Burnley, 21, from Norbury, and a 16-year-old youth, who cannot be named, were found guilty of robbery. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Knife crime, Shirley North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Purley care worker shortlisted for lifetime achievement award

Posted on October 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

Janet Janes, a team leader at a care home in Purley has made it to the final stage in the “Lifetime Achievement in Care” category in this year’s Caring UK Awards.

One of the best: Janet Janes has been shortlisted for a national carers’ award

Janes began her career in 1989, after becoming a carer for both her father and mother-in-law who lived with dementia and Alzheimer’s, respectively. She joined Care UK’s Amberley Lodge on Downlands Road in 1999 after the then home manager personally asked her to be part of the team since she had gained such a fantastic reputation within the region for her work.

In 2000, Janes was one of the first to take part in an accredited Alzheimer’s training course and she takes a lead role in implementing the gold atandard framework for end-of-life care at Amberley Lodge. This ensures new team members have the knowledge and confidence to understand how best to support residents and their families. Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Purley | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Soy Cuba screening, Ruskin House Screen club, Nov 18

Posted on October 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

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‘No records’ after council hired Starmer ally to advise leader

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mystery surrounds how a Labour figure with connections to David Evans was recruited to provide political advice when Hamida Ali took charge of Croydon Council – because no one kept any records. Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, reports

No records: Hamida Ali (left) and Kathrine Kerswell, when new as council leader and CEO,  used council funds to make a political appointment

Prominent among the serious criticisms of the disastrous way Croydon was run under Jo Negrini and Tony Newman before its financial collapse in November 2020 was the frequent lack of any records or meeting minutes for key decisions.

Government inspectors, management consultants, auditors Grant Thornton and even the Penn Report have all expressed concerns at the multiple examples of this poor practice, sometimes determining how tens of millions of pounds of public cash would be spent.

It almost seemed as if chief exec Negrini and the Labour leader of the council, Newman, were trying to hide something.

But a response to a recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that the failure to keep proper records, even when making senior appointments, did not end with the “clean broom” of Katherine Kerswell arriving as the new CEO and Hamida Ali taking over as council leader.

Because in November 2020, Croydon hired a well-known Blairite figure and associate of Keir Starmer as its “interim head of the leader’s office”, on a mid-ranking civic authority salary of about £39,000 per year.

This happened at the time when hundreds of often low-paid council staff, most of whom had worked all the way through the covid pandemic, were being handed their P45s because Newman, Ali and their mates had crashed the council’s finances. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Croydon North, David Evans, Jo Negrini, Julian Ellerby, Katherine Kerswell, Sarah Hayward, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Council to splash the cash on restoring Tooting Bec Lido

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

The nearest public lido to Croydon is to close next month for a (fingers crossed) nine-month £3million restoration project.

Not quite 100 yards: the Tooting Bec Lido, Britain’s biggest freshwater swimming pool

Recent summer heatwaves have made open-air swimming pools hugely popular, and with the closure of the Purley Way Lido in 1979, keen Croydon swimmers – and sun-bathers – have been forced to travel to Brockwell Park in Lambeth or to Tooting Bec Lido.

There were more than a quarter of a million visits to Tooting Bec Lido this scorching summer.

Now the 116-year-old facility is to get a facelift. Continue reading →

Posted in Outside Croydon, Purley Pool, Wandsworth Council | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

‘Ask for Henry’: Morrisons offer free meals during half-term

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

Morrisons, the supermarket chain, are encouraging customers who may be struggling with the cost of living crisis to “Ask for Henry” in its stores.

The initiative, being run in collaboration with Heinz, is hoped to be a discreet way to provide a nourishing hot meal for shoppers during half-term week.

Shoppers who Ask for Henry in Morrisons supermarkets will be given automatic free food. Customers will get a free jacket potato and a pot of Heinz beans from café tills.

It’s available at all stores nationwide while stocks last, limited to one per customer per day. The offer period begins today. Continue reading →

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NHS reduces waiting lists for treatment in London by 80%

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

The London NHS is claiming that it has reduced the number of people waiting more than 18 months for treatment by 80per cent over the past year.

Quick turnaround: waiting times across London hospitals are being reduced rapidly

“Just one person waiting 18 months for treatment is too many, and I know that waiting is frustrating, but these figures show the enormous effort across the whole of the NHS in London to tackle waiting lists which built up throughout the pandemic,” said Dr Chris Streather, medical director for the NHS in London.

Due to the impact of covid, by August 2021 the number of people in London waiting 18 months or more for planned treatments had grown to 11,500, but a concerted effort by health service staff to care for people as quickly and safely as possible has seen that number fall to just over 2,300.

Continue reading →

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#TheLabourFiles: Source of hacked data worked for Evans

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Further links to the Labour Party’s General Secretary have been confirmed since Al Jazeera broadcast The Spying Game documentary.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Documentary evidence: Ruth Bannister, whose association with David Evans goes back at least 10 years, passed on the hacked documents

Further investigations since Al Jazeera broadcast their documentary “The Spying Game” have discovered that the person who handed stolen files to the Croydon Labour Party had in the past worked for David Evans, now the party’s General Secretary.

The Al Jazeera investigations unit’s final episode of their documentary series The Labour Files focused on the illegal and malicious hack attack against this website in February 2021, and how unlawfully obtained data was used by party officials to hound and harass Labour councillors and long-serving local officers.

Documents leaked to Al Jazeera included an email to Clive Fraser, the Town Hall Labour group’s chief whip, which had a 77.9MB attachment file of documents stolen from this website’s email account.

The author of that email was Ruth Bannister. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Clive Fraser, Crime, Croydon North, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, David Evans, Inside Croydon, Local media, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Samaritans celebrate 60 years of ‘wonderful, life-saving work’

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton has for 60 years been providing life-saving emotional support for people who are struggling to cope.

30 years a Samaritan: Bob Stent gives his speech at Saturday’s 60th anniversary event

To mark their anniversary, a celebration took place at the Braithwaite Hall on Saturday, attended by various dignitaries, the speeches recognising the great contribution that Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton have made, and continue to make, on people’s lives.

Volunteer Bob Stent, the branch’s longest-serving member having given 30 years’ service, delivered a talk on the history of Croydon and Sutton Samaritans.

This was followed by entertainment from the London-based band 7Suns. The event was attended by volunteers, both past and present, as well as family and friends.

Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton opened in 1962 and today has more than 80 volunteers who provide non-judgmental, confidential emotional support. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Croydon Central, Samaritans, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fostering service appeal goes to the movies with Childhood

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Childhood, a brief, brilliant and beautiful short film, has been released by Croydon Council in a ground-breaking national collaboration with 55 other authorities across the country in an effort to recruit much-needed foster carers.

There are more than 70,000 children living with almost 56,000 foster families in Britain today. Croydon has 525 children in care and needs to recruit at least 30 foster carers a year to meet the demand.

Childhood has been made by Midlands-based production company ReelTwentyFive, jointly funded by the 56 councils as part of a social media campaign which was launched with a premiere in Birmingham on October 13, and uses the hashtags #Childhood and #FosterForYourCouncil. Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Cinema, Croydon Council, Education, Schools | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Double delight for Harriers as Croydon 10K road race returns

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Road winner: Penny Oliver, of host club Croydon Harriers, powers her way to the finish line of the Croydon 10K on Lloyd Park Avenue on Sunday

More than 200 runners turned out for the return of the Croydon 10K on Sunday, after a three-year absence, to encounter the worst conditions ever encountered in the history of the road race, as they set off from Lloyd Park Avenue through torrential rain

Organisers Croydon Harriers enjoyed double delight, as their runners James Hancock and Penny Oliver both led the way to the finish line of the men’s and women’s races. Continue reading →

Posted in Athletics, Croydon Harriers, Lloyd Park, South London Harriers, Sport, Striders of Croydon | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Disposing Of The Body, Sanderstead, Nov 10-12

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Mayor Perry threatens legal action over missing bus shelters

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry, the part-time Mayor of Croydon, has promised to take “legal recourse” over the lingering scandal of Croydon’s shelter-less bus stops.

No shelter: bus stops at East Croydon and across the borough have been without shelters for more than 18 months

The only problem with the dim Mayor’s vacuous undertaking is that there is very probably no one to take “legal recourse” against.

As Inside Croydon reported exclusively last week, Valo Smart City UK Ltd, the start-up company that is supposed to be providing more than 180 “smart” bus shelters around the borough, was served with a warning that it faced being struck off the Companies House register earlier this month.

Valo Smart City UK Ltd was only formed as a company in August 2020 – after Croydon had started its procurement process for a new bus shelter contract. Previously, Croydon had dealt with tried-and-trusted suppliers JC Decaux.

Decaux removed their shelters in the spring of last year. Valo’s replacements were originally meant to be in place by the autumn of 2021, as part of a 10-year deal under which they promised to pay the council £6.8million from advertising revenue. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Food banks issue dire warnings as demand outstrips supplies

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Some of Croydon’s biggest and busiest food banks have issued a stark warning of how the cost of living crisis is already affecting some of the borough’s most vulnerable families.

Empty shelves: volunteers from food banks around Croydon are expressing concern that they are running low on supplies while requests for help increase

“We are facing really dire times,” Julia Lee, the leader of the Purley Food Hub’s client support team, told an audience at the organisation’s annual meeting last week.

“Needs are increasing while resources are reducing,” Lee said, according to a report on the Hub’s website.

Lee spoke of harrowing circumstances for some families, with parents regularly going without food so that their children could eat.

“This is the worst situation many of us have seen in our lifetime,” she said. “In the past year, our client support team has helped over 150 clients, offering advice and signposting them to specialist agencies.

“Over the next few months, it’s going to get even harder as food prices go up and up and energy bills soar.” Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Nightwatch, FoodCycle Thornton Heath, New Addington, New Addington North, Purley, Purley Food Hub | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Fire Brigade offers safety advice for fireworks on Bonfire Night

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Cost pressures have seen the cancellation of several public firework displays planned for Bonfire Night.

With Diwali being celebrated tonight, the fireworks season will get underway, and the London Fire Brigade has issued guidance for the public for those considering staging a display at home.

There are strict laws over when you can let off fireworks, where and what type. If you get it wrong, you could be fined or put yourself or others at risk. Continue reading →

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