Chancerygate set to build huge deliveries base at Factory Lane

Posted on October 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

Plans have been submitted to build a massive 95,000 sqft of Grade A urban logistics space on a four-acre site on a former gas works site on Factory Lane.

Putting the ‘factory’ into Factory Lane: a CGI of the proposed ‘logistics centre’

The developers claim the scheme could create more than 250 jobs.

A joint venture between developer Chancerygate and SGN Place, the property development subsidiary of gas distribution company SGN, intends to develop a scheme comprising 14 units ranging from 1,000 sqft to 17,000 sqft. All units will be available on a leasehold basis.

The Factory Lane site is alongside a Tesco distribution centre, Sainsbury’s, Royal Mail and Decathlon. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Planning, Property | Tagged , | 1 Comment

‘We need your help now’: Croydon Scouts seek volunteers

Posted on October 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

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#PennReport: Council’s 11th hour attempt to suppress findings

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Right to the very last, Croydon Council was trying to stop the publication of any part of the Penn Report.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Earlier today, Inside Croydon approached Katherine Kerswell, the council chief executive, with a number of questions surrounding her non-publication of the Penn Report.

Commissioned from the Local Government Association in November 2020, shortly after Croydon’s financial crash, the report from consultant Richard Penn was completed and delivered to Kerswell in February 2021.

We asked Kerswell why she has denied councillors the opportunity to make the decision on whether “the concerns in this initial investigation constitute a repudiatory breach” of Jo Negrini’s contract, and a breach of her settlement agreement.

We also sought an answer to the question of what entitles the CEO to ignore the recommendations of the LGA investigator and deny councillors the opportunity to call in a police investigation into possible misconduct in public office.

And further, we asked, “as a consequence of your suppressing the Penn Report, its findings and recommendations, will you now resign?” Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

#PennReport wanted police probe into possible misconduct

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: For nearly two years, the council has withheld a detailed report into ‘possible wrong-doing’ at the Town Hall, together with recommendations for a Met Police investigation and the seeking of a refund on the £437,000 pay-off to Jo Negrini.

Now Inside Croydon can reveal all.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

A report into the financial collapse of Croydon Council includes the recommendation that councillors should consider calling in the Metropolitan Police to investigate possible misconduct in public office, and a further suggestion that Jo Negrini, the former CEO, may have broken the terms of her contract and could therefore be pursued to refund her £437,000 pay-off.

Katherine Kerswell, the council’s current CEO, has had a copy of the Penn Report under lock and key in her office in Fisher’s Folly since February 2021.

But Kerswell has blocked elected councillors from acting on the report’s shocking findings and very serious recommendations.

Inside Croydon has obtained a copy of the Penn Report, a full 160-page version without a single one of its 84,000 words redacted.

The wide-ranging report repeatedly refers to Croydon Council as “dysfunctional”, it contains multiple allegations of bullying by the shouty former CEO, and it even contains the suggestion that senior figures were “paranoid” about news getting out to… Inside Croydon.

The manner in which the council has conducted itself today, since Inside Croydon approached them with questions arising from the report, suggests that nothing much has changed.

Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Crime, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Inside Croydon, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

#TheLabourFiles programmes show party ‘corrupt to the core’

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

A former MP leads a call for those responsible to resign as councillors after failing to report a malicious hack attack to the police.
EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES

A former MP and councillor of 32 years’ service at Croydon Town Hall has called for the resignation of the leader of the Labour group at the council and for the urgent investigation of another councillor for their parts in the unlawful handling data stolen during a malicious hack attack against this website.

Andrew Pelling was, until May, a councillor for Waddon, where he had helped win the ward from the Tories in 2014. He is one of the victims of the hack attack, as local Labour officials used stolen emails and documents to discredit him and purge him from the party. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Pelling, Clive Fraser, Croydon North, Inside Croydon, Local media, Robert Canning, Steve Reed MP, Stuart King | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

iC supporters win tickets for Twopence To Cross The Mersey

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The cast of Twopence To Cross The Mersey celebrate the news that iC subscribers Ethel Corduff and Angus Hewlett will be in their audience next week

Congratulations to loyal readers Ethel Corduff and Angus Hewlett, who will be going to the theatre next week accompanied by a friend or partner, all thanks to Inside Croydon.

Ethel and Angus both answered the (very) simple question posed in our Twopence To Cross The Mersey quiz. They – along with dozens of others, it’s fair to say – both knew that Liverpool is the European city most closely associated with the River Mersey.

They each receive two pairs of stalls tickets – face value: nearly £70 each – to see the play at the Ashcroft Theatre during its brief run next week. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls, Inside Croydon, Theatre | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Croydon and three other boroughs to bin Veolia rubbish deal

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

Veolia, who have swept Croydon’s streets and emptied its residents’ bins sporadically since 2003, are to be dropped as the council’s rubbish contractor.

You’ve bin done: after years of residents complaining about poor service from Veolia, now their councils have acted

The decision has been reached following “significant and ongoing concerns” with Veolia’s performance, which saw three of the boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership – Croydon, Merton and Sutton – each issue the contractor with a Service Improvement Notice earlier this year.

Apparently it was thanks to the recommendation of Croydon that Veolia was awarded an eight-year bins contract across the four SLWP boroughs – Croydon and Merton, plus Sutton and Kingston – in 2017. The switch quickly led to complaints over poor standards of service in Merton and Sutton, giving rise to their very own hashtags of #MuckyMerton and #SuttonBinShame, and ultimately to the takeover of many of Croydon’s pavements through #Binmageddon. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Kingston, Merton, Refuse collection, Sutton Council, Veolia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Plucky CODA bring The 39 Steps to the stage in Carshalton

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

CODA, the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, will be staging their new production in Sutton, with The 39 Steps at the CryerArts Centre in Carshalton this November.

Using Patrick Barlow’s adaptation from John Buchan’s famous thriller novel and the Hitchcock movie, CODA’s hilarious and thrilling theatrical adventure is, they say, “inventively staged with a hard-working cast of four”.

The plot, or as much of it as was left in Hitchcock’s big screen version, will be familiar to many: when Richard Hannay invites a mysterious woman home, he is framed for her murder, and finds himself swept up in an international conspiracy. He is chased to Scotland by the police and a shadowy organisation (insert suitable Inside Croydon-themed topical joke here), and only his wits, luck and a whole lot of pluck can save him.

Continue reading →

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Cuba Solidarity Campaign Quiz Night, Ruskin House, Oct 14

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Ruskin House | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Old Coulsdon Christmas lights appeal Quiz Night, Oct 8

Posted on October 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Community associations, Coulsdon, Old Coulsdon, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

#TheLabourFiles: Silence won’t make the hard facts go away

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Political columnist Peter Oborne has taken his media colleagues to task for missing one of the biggest stories of the year. By STEVEN DOWNES

One of the country’s most respected political commentators has said that “it is impossible to justify the media omerta” surrounding The Labour Files series of documentaries broadcast over the past week by Al Jazeera about the purge within the party of those supportive to former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

These included, on Friday, the release of “The Spying Game”, a special extra episode focused on the hacking of this website, and the role played by the Labour Party, all the way up to its leading official and a front-bench MP.

Peter Oborne, the former chief political columnist of the Daily Torygraph, is not, it is fair to say, some hard-left Trot who is regularly wheeled out to support Corbyn. But he features prominently in the Al Jazeera series, often in the role of “honest broker”, and while he is clearly impressed by the quality of the broadcasters’ research, he is less complimentary about the defeaning silence from his erstwhile colleagues in print and broadcast media.

Continue reading →

Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon North, Inside Croydon, Local media, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Angry’ tram drivers to stage two days of strikes next week

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Croydon tram drivers are to take strike action over pay and conditions next Monday and Tuesday, October 10 and 11.

Slow progress: the tram drivers have been in dispute over pay for nearly six months

The Tramlink drivers, members of the ASLEF union, have voted to reject a below-inflation pay offer. Next week’s action follows previous strikes in June and July.

The tram network, running across south London from Wimbledon to Beckenham, with the depot at Therapia Lane in Croydon, is operated for Transport for London by Tram Operations Ltd, a subsidiary of First Group. Continue reading →

Posted in TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Underwood gets Green light to stand in Selsdon by-election

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Greens have begun their campaign in Selsdon Vale and Forestdale by attacking ‘Conservative plans to allow building all over our green spaces’

Selsdon local: Croydon Green Party’s Peter Underwood

Peter Underwood is to try again to become Croydon Council’s third Green Party councillor, after he was selected at the weekend to stand as their candidate in the Selsdon Vale and Forestdale by-election on November 3.

The by-election has been called following the death of Conservative Councillor Badsha Quadir.

Quadir was elected in May with nearly 65per cent of the vote in the two-seat ward, when the Greens doubled their vote and polled around 17per cent – a similar result to Labour.

On the same day, the Greens had won their first two council seats in Croydon, and today their party announced Underwood’s selection describing him as “a local resident who will work hard for residents and positive change in Croydon”. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Greens, Peter Underwood, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Uber for Philp! Croydon MP blamed for disastrous Tory tax cut

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, is beginning to feel a little sorry for the hapless MP for Croydon South

On his way out?: Chris Philp could become the shortest-lasting Chief Secretary to the Treasury in British history

It’s beginning to look very much like Chris Philp’s time in high office in the government could be about to end before he’s even got his feet under his desk at the Treasury.

It was Clive Anderson who once said, to Jeffrey Archer, “Is there no beginning to your talents?” And Archer, a proven perjurer, was a much more skilled politician than Philp.

In the past few weeks, the Conservative MP for Croydon South has been called a liar nearly 20 times on live television by a union leader, managed to tweet a celebratory message about the strength of the pound, moments before sterling plunged to never-before-seen depths, and now he’s being made to carry the can for his Tory bosses having to make a humiliating policy U-turn over the proposed cut to the 45p rate of income tax.

“It was all Philp’s idea,” was the message being briefed to lobby journalists last night by aides to Prime Minister “Thick Lizzy” Truss, just hours after she had appeared on television herself backing the income tax cut.

And it is only Day 2 of the Conservative Party Conference. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon South, Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Arktoberfest beer festival, Addington Road, Oct 6-Oct 9

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Good Shepherd Christmas Bazaar, New Addington, Nov 26

Posted on October 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

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There’s A Bit Of A Do going on in Croydon’s Front Room

Posted on October 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

A Bit Of A Do: coming to a Croydon venue near you later this month

There is going to be A Bit of A Do in Croydon later this month.

Ahead of Croydon’s turn as London’s Borough of Culture (details of which we await with bated breath), the Drunken Chorus Theatre Company sets out its annual stall of accessible events in venues across the town from October 21 to 28. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Comedy, Dance, Music, The Front Room, The Wreck, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lunchtime recitals at Croydon Minster, Fridays, Oct 7-Dec 2

Posted on October 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Art, Croydon Minster, Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Perry promises council will restore Thornton Heath Clocktower

Posted on October 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, has blamed the council – over which he presides – for the fire that wrecked Thornton Heath’s historic clocktower.

Burnt out: the Clocktower at Thornton Heath after an early morning fire gutted the 122-year-old landmark

Addressing the situation somewhat late (with tweets on Friday afternoon, 36 hours after the fire), Perry said, “there is more the council could and should have done”.

Tory Perry failed to address the 12 years of Tory-imposed austerity on local authorities across the country, which has stripped communities such as Thornton Heath of many of the essential services that used to help make them places people wanted to live in and took pride in.

Mayor Perry did make a firm commitment to the council funding the repair work to the Thornton Heath Clocktower, which was paid for by the community and erected in 1900.

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, History, London Fire Brigade, Mayor Jason Perry, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

#TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection

Posted on October 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

By STEVEN DOWNES, Editor, Inside Croydon

Al Jazeera investigation: producers describe The Labour files as ‘the biggest leak of confidential documents in British political history’

More than six months in the making, Al Jazeera’s investigations unit last night released the fourth part of their documentary series The Labour Files, this episode called “The Spying Game”, a detailed report on the lawless conduct of the Labour Party in Croydon.

The programme 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 party officials.

But from documents obtained by the Al Jazeera producers that did not form part of their programme, it is clear that the Labour Party and its leaders in Croydon had been conducting a campaign to gag Inside Croydon since 2016.

And we also know that at least one of those featured in last night’s programme, Croydon North MP Steve Reed OBE, had indulged in spying activities against fellow Labour Party members and elected councillors as long ago as 2012. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Clive Fraser, Crime, Croydon Council, Croydon North, David White, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Pat Ryan, Paul Scott, Robert Canning, Stephen Mann, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

‘Inside Croydon – The Movie’: Labour’s role in a hack attack

Posted on September 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Clive Fraser, David Evans, David White, Hamida Ali, Inside Croydon, Local media, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Former council exec drops employment case on technicality

Posted on September 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

Case dropped: former Croydon exec director Guy van Dichele

Guy van Dichele, the former council exec director who was suspended in February 2021 as part of the “Kerswell Kull” of senior staffers who had run the borough in the lead-up to its financial collapse, has dropped his Employment Tribunal case.

But Katherine Kerswell, the council chief executive, and her legal advisers are still waiting on the outcome of two other Employment Tribunal cases brought against Croydon, including one from another senior executive which alleges that racism was a factor in their dismissal. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Shifa Mustafa, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Wetherspoons confirm closure of Purley pub as Brexit bites

Posted on September 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Foxley Hatch in Purley is to close by the end of October, one of 32 Wetherspoons pubs put up for sale across the country.

Going soon: the Foxley Hatch in Purley closes at the end of October

The Foxley Hatch will be the third Wetherspoons in Croydon to close this year, following the Skylark in South Croydon and the Milan Bar in the town centre. Neither of those venue has yet re-opened under new management.

The widescale sale of pub properties by Wetherspoons, the company run by Brexit enthusiast Tim Martin, has been widely interpreted as one of the latest consequences of the cost-of-living crisis that has been, at least in part, aggravated by the impact of Brexit.

A Wetherspoons spokesperson was quoted this week as saying that the closures and disposals were because repairs and staff costs rendered their no-nonsense drinking culture financially perilous. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Property, Pubs, Purley | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

33% Labour lead puts Tories on alert for Forestdale by-election

Posted on September 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

There is to be a council ward poll on November 3 – which will test voters’ devotion to Thick Lizzy and Croydon’s part-time Mayor Perry.
By our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE

Having a laugh: Croydon’s part-time Mayor, Jason Perry, supported Liz Truss for the Tory leadership

Croydon, or at least a small bit of its leafy suburbs, will soon get its own chance to show what it thinks of Liz Truss’s disaster of a government, as well as providing a snapshot of opinion on part-time Jason Perry after nearly six months as the borough’s first elected Mayor.

Polls released yesterday showed Labour having a lead nationally of a stonking, barely believable 33per cent, one week on from Kamikaze Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini-Budget that saw the bond markets in meltdown and the pound nose-dive to previously unseen depths.

And here in Croydon, a council by-election has been called for Thursday, November 3, for Selsdon Vale and Forestdale ward following the death of Conservative Councillor Badsha Quadir. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Stranack, Badsha Quadir, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Central, Croydon South, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Sarah Jones MP, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Campus students will get their ‘chiropractice’ from Monday

Posted on September 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

The South Bank student campus on Wellesley Road, in the old Electric House, opens its doors on Monday for Croydon’s newest chiropractic clinic.

Open for practice: the LSBU chiropractic clinic will be offering treatment from Monday

LSBU says that the clinic “will be student-led and deliver complete chiropractic care at very affordable rates for the local community”.

Their press release doesn’t mention what these “very affordable rates” might be, but then prospective patients will be receiving treatment from students (albeit while under supervision) – a bit like going into Toni and Guy as a “model” for one of their trainees and getting your hair done on the cheap.

Chiropractic care uses a range of techniques to reduce pain, improve function and increase mobility, including hands-on manipulation of the spine. Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Health, LSBU campus | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments