Local government unions secure 10.5% wage deal for workers

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, has another budget pressure to deal with, as the cost-of-living crisis created by the mismanagement of the economy by his chums in the Conservative government has seen the biggest pay rise in more than a decade agreed for local government workers. And there might yet be more to come…

Acting in Unison: local government workers have accepted their best wage offer for more than a decade

The Local Government Association has made an offer to the trades unions who represent hundreds of thousands of workers across the country – Unison alone has 350,000 members working for councils – to pay an extra £1,925 this year, equating to a 10.5per cent increase for the lowest-paid workers.

Unison, GMB and Unite make up the trade union side of the national joint council that negotiates pay for the majority of local government workers. After consulting their members over the last two months, the unions met yesterday and agreed to accept the LGA offer. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scott and Butler lined up to receive council service award

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

Councillors who presided over Croydon’s financial ruin could soon be honoured by the very borough they helped bankrupt, thanks to the council’s flawed constitution. By Town Hall correspondent, KEN LEE

Going alder way: Alison Butler and Paul Scott, the husband and wife who helped bankrupt the borough, could now be in line for an honour from the council

Tony Newman, Alison Butler, Paul Scott, Simon Hall and other now ex-councillors who were in charge when council’s finances crashed in 2020 are among those in line to be made honorary aldermen or alderwomen of Croydon.

All they need is the nod from Stuart King, the current leader of the Labour group at the Town Hall.

The title “alderman” dates back to Anglo-Saxon England, where the elders exercised administrative or judicial functions in a shire or borough on behalf of the monarch.

The title was later used to designate the chief magistrate in a county before morphing into council membership in the 1800s – membership based on appointment by councillors rather than elected by voters.

The office was abolished in England by the Local Government Act 1972, apart from the City of London.

Today, it is mostly an honorific title typically granted by a council to its former councillors for long or distinguished service. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Bernadette Khan, Croydon Council, Donald Speakman, Hamida Ali, Helen Pollard, Mark Watson, Mayor Jason Perry, Pat Clouder, Paul Scott, Paul Smith, Simon Hall, Steve O'Connell, Stuart King, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Harmony Exhibition, Croydon Art Space, Nov 5, 12, 19 and 26

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

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MP ‘alarmed’ to discover Chinese ‘police station’ on High Street

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Chinese Communist Party is operating a secret police station on Croydon High Street, part of a global network intended to control and intimidate former nationals who have made their homes outside China.

Secret policeman’s balls-up: Xi Jinping has set up a ‘service station’ on Croydon High Street

Beijing claims that almost a quarter of a million “suspects” were “persuaded” to return to China in a 15-month period as a result of the work of these secret police stations.

Britain has three Chinese police stations – the others are in Hendon and Glasgow.

The serious incursion into British national territory by a foreign power prompted an urgent question in the House of Commons this afternoon where Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central, expressed her surprise and alarm that such an organisation should be found in the town centre.

In Ireland, the government has already ordered the closure of a Chinese police station in Dublin, which even featured a sign advertising its presence as the “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station.”

In this country, under Home Secretary Suella Braverman and where Chris Philp is the policing minister, the government has described the presence of Chinese police stations as “very concerning”. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Croydon Central, Fairfield, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Turmoil at Fairfield Halls as operating company suffers exodus

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our culture correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK, on changing times at the council-owned arts centre, and a diamond anniversary that has been forgotten by the council

All change: the operators in charge of the Fairfield Halls have lost three senior execs, including the CEO

There’s yet more turmoil behind the scenes at the Fairfield Halls, where the chief executive and two other senior figures working for the company which operates the arts venue have all left their jobs in a matter of weeks.

Bournemouth-based BHLive took over responsibility for running the council-owned arts centre in 2017, but their tenure has been blighted by delays in re-opening after the controversial and never-completed £69million “refurbishment”, followed by another year’s closure due to covid.

More than 100 performances were cancelled or postponed at the Fairfield Halls in a year due to covid lockdowns – what BHLive called “hibernation”. Even last year’s panto, Beauty and the Beast, had to cancel its run on Christmas Eve when there was a covid outbreak among the cast.

BHLive, whose main activity is running leisure centres and swimming pools on the south coast, were financially hard-hit by the pandemic, but according to their latest accounts, for the year to March 2022, filed at Companies House last week, the company returned a profit of more than £1million. This compares to a loss in the previous year of £2.44million.

But that hasn’t stopped an exodus of top executives. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jon Workman, Mayor Jason Perry, Music, The Wreck, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Funding outlook for all London’s boroughs is ‘beyond bleak’

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Funding crisis: all London’s boroughs are struggling to balance their budgets with the reduced support they receive from the Tory government

Croydon is not the only cash-strapped council in the capital, as the body which represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London has predicted that there could be a £1.1billion black hole in Town Hall budgets over the next two years unless Chancellor Jeremy Hunt rattles the magic money tree in his emergency Budget on November 17.

London Councils has described the financial outlook for its members as “beyond bleak”.

London Councils represents authorities from all three main parties, including Conservative-controlled Croydon, and they agreed on this public appeal to the government about how desperate the situation is becoming, after piling soaring energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis on top of the impact of the pandemic, and all following a decade of Tory-imposed austerity. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, CVA, Georgia Gould, Libraries, London Councils, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Refuse collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Trams union say FirstGroup ‘torpedoed’ ACAS pay deal

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

There could be more strikes on the tram network in the run-up to Christmas after union officials said that the operating company “torpedoed” a pay deal.

Going nowhere: tram drivers are expected to strike over Christmas

The tram network is operated on behalf of Transport for London by Tram Operations Ltd, a subsidiary of First Group.

The tram drivers have been staging strikes for better pay and conditions since June, but in September their union, ASLEF, suspended three days of planned industrial action after talks at ACAS, the arbitration service, had produced a better offer. Or at least they thought they had.

Today, the union’s district organiser, Finn Brennan, told Inside Croydon, “After a series of discussions on pay, brokered by ACAS, ASLEF believed we were close to a proposal we could recommend to our members on Tramlink for consideration.

“But we have now been told that FirstGroup are prepared to offer just a 2per cent pay rise from November 21, when the inflation rate was over 7per cent. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commuting, East Croydon, TfL, Tramlink, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

House of Stand Up Coulsdon Comedy night, Nov 17

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Part-time Perry’s Halloween howler on Tory investment zones

Posted on October 31, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our political correspondent, WALTER CRONXITE, on an extraordinary turn in the local by-election campaign over Conservative proposals to make it even easier for their developer chums to concrete over the Green Belt

Video nasty: Jason Perry, the part-time Mayor of Croydon, either doesn’t know his own party policies, or he is lying

Tory sleaze is in full flow in the council by-election campaign, with the borough’s part-time Mayor, Jason Perry, accused of lying to the voters.

Residents in Selsdon Vale and Forestdale go to the polls this Thursday for a council by-election caused by the death of Conservative councillor Badsha Quadir. The outcome of the by-election won’t change the way the Town Hall is run – Perry will remain the Mayor and the Tories, if they hang on to the seat, will still not have a majority of councillors.

But the country is in Conservative-created chaos after months of dither and uncertainty which has seen three different Prime Ministers in eight weeks, a financial crisis that was created in Downing Street, and with Liz Truss and Suella Braverman mired in on-going scandals.

Now it appears that in Croydon, the Tories’ local leader either does understand his own party’s policies, or he is a blatant liar. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Environment, Fatima Zaman, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Trust appeals against dumping of pumpkins in the woods

Posted on October 31, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Woodland Trust has issued a Halloween plea to witches, wizards and spooks everywhere not to endanger wildlife by dumping pumpkins in woodland.

A menace to wildlife: Halloween pumpkins are not wanted in the woods

The country’s largest woodland conservation charity has noticed Halloween pumpkins being taken to the nearest wood and left, in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to provide food for birds and wildlife.

“People think they’re doing a good thing by not binning them in landfill and instead leaving them for nature,” said Paul Bunton of the Woodland Trust.

“But pumpkin flesh can be dangerous for hedgehogs, attracts colonies of rats and also has a really detrimental effect on woodland soils, plants and fungi.

“We can’t leave dumped pumpkins to rot so we end up with an orange mushy mess to deal with at many of our sites.” Continue reading →

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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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#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 →

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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