Moment my patience snapped waiting for £150 energy refund

Posted on July 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Have you received your Council Tax energy rebate yet? KEN TOWL, right, outlines the testing problems encountered when approaching the council to get his hands on his money 

They say that patience is a virtue. In Croydon it is a necessity.

Let me refine that. In any undertaking involving Croydon Council, patience is a necessity.

It would be unfair to blame the new Mayor – he’s only been in office for a couple of months – but it would be unwise to expect much of a change. Torpidity seems to be baked into whatever the council does, making a mockery of every aspirational assertion it makes.

Croydon Council’s characteristic sluggishness extends to its management of the government’s magnanimous heating rebate. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Ken Towl | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Twelfth Night, Coulsdon Manor, from Jul 27 to Aug 6

Posted on July 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

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NHS doctors appeal for public to get jabbed to slow covid rise

Posted on July 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

Medical experts and NHS officials have confirmed that there has been a post-Jubilee surge of covid infections, with “super-spreader” events such as Royal Ascot and the Glastonbury Festival likely to see the upwards trend of positive tests continuing.

NHS London yesterday issued an appeal for everyone who is eligible in the capital to make sure that they have had their latest booster vaccination.

But sources within the NHS indicate that the latest round of covid jabs will be restricted to those most vulnerable, care workers and those most likely to encounter others with covid infections, and the elderly, as the government prepares for a new formula of the vaccine to be distributed in the autumn, in the same manner of the established programme of flu vaccinations. Continue reading →

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Council names 12 more schools for strict traffic restrictions

Posted on July 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

The roads close to 12 more schools around the borough could be about to be given School Street status and subjected to strict term-time traffic restrictions.

The council yesterday announced a month-long consultation on its proposals, which have the support of the Conservative Mayor, Jason Perry.

“We know how important it is to make sure pupils can get to and from school safely, and School Street schemes can make a difference,” the Mayor said.

The council has already introduced 24 schemes across the borough to encourage healthy journeys during the busy school run, and where drivers risk a fixed penalty notice and a fine of at least £60 if they drive into the School Street during the proscribed times and days. Continue reading →

Posted in BRIT School, Croydon Council, Environment, Gonville Primary, Harris Academy South Norwood, Howard Primary, Krishna Avanti Primary, Park Hill Junior, Schools, Shirley, South Norwood Primary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Pride and Prejudice, CODA at Wandle Park, Jul 27-30

Posted on July 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Mayor Perry has LOST the plot over latest Allders scheme

Posted on July 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Hammerson and Westfield are back in town, only this time they’re offering a bit of artwashing in the disused Allders department store building.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

‘A turning point for the future of entertainment’: Fabien Rigall

Fabien Riggall, the founder of Secret Cinema, today confirmed Inside Croydon’s report earlier this week that he will be bringing his latest enigmatic piece of performance art to central Croydon this autumn.

Called Lost, Riggall says he is “designing a new format of entertainment”.

Inside Croydon reported earlier this week how Riggall had established a new company and had submitted a licensing application to use two of the four floors in the disused Allders building in the town centre, as a venue for dance, music, theatre and cinema.

Today, Riggall revealed that he is working hand-in-hand with the Croydon Partnership, the joint venture formed between Westfield and Hammerson 10 years ago that promised a £1.4billion redevelopment of Croydon’s Whitgift and Centrale shopping malls, but which has so far only delivered only a decade of development blight to Croydon.

Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Activities, Allders, Art, Boris Johnson, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Cinema, Croydon Council, Dance, LOST, Mayor Jason Perry, Music, Planning, Theatre, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Denton elected in by-election as Labour loses even more votes

Posted on July 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE on the South Croydon ward by-election result

It was all so predictable.

A by-election in South Croydon ward that should never have needed to be staged (except for Jason Perry wanting to cover his own arse in case he didn’t win the mayoralty), with a Labour candidate imposed on that party’s membership despite a shockingly bad performance in the local elections in May, and with the “alternative” vote split three ways, managed to return a Conservative councillor at a time when the Tory government is entwined ever deeper in a mire of sleaze, lies and incompetence.


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Posted in 2022 council elections, Andrew Pelling, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Council finally starts work to clear its own Waddon fly-tip

Posted on July 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Less than 48 hours after Inside Croydon reported how Croydon Council had blighted a youth centre in Old Town with five years’ worth of blatant fly-tipping, workers were finally dispatched by Fisher’s Folly to start the work to clear the eyesore.

The clean-up begins: within 48 hours of Inside Croydon reporting the dumping outside the Old Town youth centre, the council started work to get it cleared

Included among the discarded mattresses, fridges, tyres and concrete slabs all dumped just a few feet from the entrance to the Charles Major Centre on Duppas Hill Terrace were even pieces of council office equipment – filing cabinets first acquired with council cash when they moved into Bernard Weatherill House just nine years ago.

Residents, community volunteers and even elected councillors in Waddon had been ignored despite five years of constant complaints and reminders about the council’s own fly-tipping outside the youth centre.

Senior council officials had often given promises that the mess would be cleaned up – only to then break their promises.

And then, this week, Inside Croydon exposed the council’s shabby conduct. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Robert Canning, Tony Harris, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sanderstead’s 15-year-old computer whiz kid wins BAFTA No2

Posted on July 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Twelve months ago, Inside Croydon reported how Andrew Ah-Weng, a 14-year-old Trinity School pupil, had won a BAFTA.

Yesterday, Ah-Weng, now 15, won another one.

The Sanderstead teen was one of four winners of this year’s BAFTA Young Game Designers competition, with the results announced at a special digital ceremony hosted by actor, comedian and presenter Inel Tomlinson. Continue reading →

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BME Forum Wellbeing Workshops, Whitgift Centre, Jul 13-27

Posted on July 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Road closures from Purley to South Croydon for MattsBBQ

Posted on June 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

Mini-Glastonbury: MattsBBQ have been staging events like this since 2012. On Saturday, they are hoping for 6,000 party-goers at Purley Way playing fields

A mile-long stretch of Pampisford Road between South Croydon and Purley, plus Waddon Way and other residential side roads on the Waddon Estate, are to be closed to traffic all day on Saturday, because someone called Matt is having a barbeque…

MattsBBQ is a major event organiser, specialising in staging music festival-style events featuring an array of DJs, and drawing huge crowds.

This Saturday, MattsBBQ is taking place on the Purley Way playing fields, alongside the A23, with significant traffic disruption expected. The organisers are hoping for as many as 6,000 attendees at what they call “the world’s biggest BBQ”. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Purley, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

MP joins objectors as Heathfield House plans get called in

Posted on June 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

A council official-backed proposal to convert Heathfield House into a special school, surrounding it with 9ft-high prison-style fencing, has been “called in” for consideration by the planning committee.

Uncertain future: Heathfield House could be the latest casualty of council’s financial mismanagement if it is leased out permanently for a special school

Today is the final day for residents and interested bodies to lodge any comments – for or against – the proposals.

The plans have been submitted to Croydon Council by Horizon Care and Education Group, the multi-million-pound company which runs Cressey College and wants to rent the building and parts of the grounds.

Among those to have lodged a complaint about the proposals is Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon Central.

Jones said yesterday that, “Whilst there is a need for more Special Educational Needs provision in Croydon, I share local residents concerns about the loss of the use of the gardens surrounding Heathfield House as a public space and the imposition of a three-metre fence.” Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Heathfield House, Leila Ben-Hassel, Planning, Sarah Jones MP, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fairfield Halls finally gets a starring role in hit show The Crown

Posted on June 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our arts correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK, on how a touch of Hollywood glamour has come to sarf London

In the spotlight: the Fairfield Halls as a filming location earlier this month

The Fairfield Halls, the council-owned arts complex, has been used as a location by the cast and crew of Netflix’s hit series The Crown.

The fifth series of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, is due to be aired later this year with a whole new cast in the leading roles, headed by Imelda Staunton as Her Maj alongside Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Manville, Jonny Lee Miller (as John Major!), and with Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki as Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Series five covers the 1990s, in the years leading up to the Charles and Di split and what was called the Queen’s “annus horriblis“.

It may be that the Fairfield scenes were among the last to be filmed for series five of The Crown.

Filming for the sixth and final series is set to begin in just a matter of weeks, according to Dominic West, who has told celebrity magazines that the farewell season “will be as tumultuous as it gets”, dramatising many of the most talked-about events in royal history.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Cinema, Croydon parks, Fairfield Halls, History, Purley, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

NHS London in drive to increase children’s MMR take-up

Posted on June 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

Parents and guardians across Croydon are being urged to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella as the NHS in London seeks to increase uptake of the vaccine which provides protection against these highly infectious diseases.

Prevention better than cure: the NHS is urging all parents and guardians to get their children vaccinated against MMR

The NHS provides the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to children as part of their routine immunisation schedule.

A single dose of the injection is given when a child is a year old, with a second dose administered when they reach three years and four months, before they start nursery or school. Two doses of the vaccine are needed to ensure full protection.

Getting vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella is vitally important as these conditions can lead to other serious problems including meningitis, hearing loss and problems during pregnancy. Continue reading →

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£150 Council Tax rebate help session, Shirley, Jul 7

Posted on June 30, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘There’s no excuse for the force they used on a black boy’

Posted on June 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

Met Police’s ‘systemic’ failings, in particular over stop and search, have been highlighted by incident close to a Croydon tram stop last week

Excessive force: two adult police officers bundled innocent 14-year-old Deshaun Joseph to the floor near a Croydon tram stop last week

Two dire episodes of policing, including one in Croydon which has shocked many television viewers, emphasise why the Met Police has been placed in “special measures”.

One Croydon teenager reported that he feared he would die when officers pushed him to the ground in a mistaken stop and search, while another black teen has been forced into hiding from the criminal gang that kidnapped him, after the police treated him as a criminal rather than as a victim of county lines grooming.

This young man is bringing what is thought to be the first complaint of its kind against the Metropolitan Police for its failure to protect him.

Yesterday, it was announced that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary had reached the unprecedented decision to place the Met into what amounts to “special measures” due to a litany of new “systemic” failings. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe East, Crime, Croydon Central, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Policing, Sadiq Khan, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Alderman criticises handing Heathfield to profit-making school

Posted on June 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

A private school that charges £81,000 per year for some of its pupils is accused of doing work on the ‘cheap’ with its proposals, including ugly 9-foot-high fencing around a listed Victorian building

A Croydon alderman, and former cabinet member responsible for the borough’s heritage architecture and parks and gardens, has joined a growing chorus of complaints about proposals to convert Grade II-listed Heathfield House into a special school.

Heritage building: Heathfield House is about to be privatised, for a multi-million-pound education business

Timothy Godfrey, who was a Labour councillor until 2018, tweeted his reaction to a report on Inside Croydon earlier this week that the council is considering a planning application which will shut out the public from large sections of the house’s gardens, and instal a 9ft prison-style fence around the elegant Victorian villa and its sunken Italianate garden.

Croydon Council wants to lease Heathfield House to Cressey College, a special school operated by Horizon Care and Education Group.

Horizon is a multi-million-pound health and education business. Cressey charges local authorities up to £81,000 per year for a pupil to attend its school. It seems likely that some of the school’s 50 pupils have their fees paid for by Croydon Council. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Education, Environment, Heathfield House, Planning, Property, Schools, Selsdon and Addington Village, SEND, Timothy Godfrey | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Union claims TOL manager ‘intimidated’ striking tram drivers

Posted on June 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

Tram drivers entered their second day of strike action this morning with their union officials claiming that support for the industrial action had been solid, despite attempts by the operators’ management to intimidate staff on the picket lines.

Solid: tram drivers union ASLEF say their first day of strike action was well supported

The dispute is over pay, with ASLEF union members voting 99per cent in favour of strike action to demand better than the 3per cent offered, which the union says represents “a huge real-terms pay cut when the inflation rate is over 11per cent”.

The Croydon tram drivers’ strike is the latest is a series of industrial disputes as workers seek better pay and conditions in the context of the cost of living crisis, and following two years of low, or no, pay increases during covid. It follows last week’s industrial action on Network Rail and 13 train operators, plus a one-day strike by Tube drivers and this week’s action by criminal defence barristers, as the “Summer of Strikes” rolls on. Continue reading →

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Be part of the congregation for Songs of Praise in Croydon

Posted on June 29, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Council caught fly-tipping discarded furniture by youth club

Posted on June 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Volunteers, residents and even councillors have been ignored by officials, as council staff have turned a patch of open space into a dump. EXCLUSIVE by KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter

The council dump: some of the unwanted furniture fly-tipped next to the youth centre by Croydon’s own staff

Croydon’s part-time Mayor has his work cut out if he is to deliver on his election promise to get tough on fly-tippers with enforcement action. Because one of the worst offenders for fly-tipping in Old Town is… Croydon Council itself.

Residents and community volunteers in Waddon have accused the council of using the Old Town Youth Club as dumping ground for almost five years – and denying all responsibility when brought to account.

The complaints of Waddon ward Labour councillors – when Labour had control of the Town Hall – have been ignored. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Katherine Kerswell, Steve Iles, Youth Services | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Founder of Secret Cinema makes bid to move in to Allders

Posted on June 28, 2022 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: The old department store could be about to get a new lease of life with ‘immersive’ performances of movies such as Dirty Dancing, Blade Runner or Guardians of the Galaxy. By STEVEN DOWNES

Big draw: immersive cinema shows such as Guardians of the Galaxy, complete with talking racoons, can draw thousands of customers for Secret Cinema

Fabien Riggall, the man who has made himself a millionaire by developing his Secret Cinema immersive performance concept, could soon be coming to central Croydon with a new business using the Allders building.

Croydon Council has received a licensing application from one of Riggall’s newest companies, Aerodrome Croydon Ltd, which is seeking to use the ground and first floor of Allders as a “pop-up” venue for music, dance, theatre and cinema performances, and which requests a licence to sell alcohol through to 2am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Allders, Art, Business, Cinema, CPO, Croydon Council, Dance, Music, Planning, Secret Cinema, Theatre, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

9ft fence for special school could ruin listed Heathfield House

Posted on June 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our south of the borough correspondent, PEARL LEE, on the disposal of another of Croydon’s heritage assets – with a listed building being rented out on the cheap to a multi-million-pound education company that charges its pupils up to £81,000 per year

Fenced off: the council is considering a planning application to build 9ft-high security fencing around the Heathfield House terraces

There’s growing fears that Croydon’s cash-strapped council is about to agree to a set of works, including ugly prison camp-style fencing, which will shut out the public from one of the borough’s long-cherished gardens – and all done on the cheap for the benefit of a multi-million-pound education business.

Heathfield House, in the Addington Hills, was bought by the council in the 1960s upon the death of its owner, Raymond Riesco. Riesco also left to Croydon his collection of priceless Chinese ceramics, some of which remain on display in the Museum of Croydon.

But it was an act of blatant Philistinism by the Croydon Tories when they were last in control of the Town Hall that saw them flog off a valuable selection of the Riesco Collection (they didn’t even get best price for the precious pots, at the cost of millions of pounds to the people of Croydon). The sale led to the Museum of Croydon being stripped of its accreditation with Arts Council England.

Now, the council appears poised to cause further damage to another valuable Riesco relect, the house. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Education, Environment, Gardening, Heathfield House, Planning, Property, Schools, Selsdon and Addington Village | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Residents were evacuated as grass fire took hold in Norbury

Posted on June 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

Norbury on fire: it took 100 firefighters four hours to get a grass blaze under control yesterday – the cause is now subject of a police investigation

Police investigation underway into causes of the large blaze, which Fire Brigade says threatened to spread to ‘a whole street of houses’

Croydon parks friends groups and volunteers who help out around some of the borough’s open spaces and beauty spots are probably hoping for a decent dousing of rain to avoid suffering the fate of school playing field in Norbury yesterday, which needed 100 firefighters to deal with a grass fire.

Around 35 nearby homes were affected, with nearly 20 residents needing to be evacuated as a precaution, as the fire caught hold across 17 acres of wasteland, shrubs and open space near Turle Road. Continue reading →

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20% increase in demand for Crisis services on Surrey Street

Posted on June 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

It’s a bittersweet anniversary for Crisis, the national homelessness charity.

Five years of Crisis: the homelessness centre on Surrey Street

They are marking five years since the opening of Crisis Skylight Croydon, their centre to support homeless people, or those at risk of becoming homeless.

Using a a disused furniture showroom on Surrey Street, in an ideal world, the need for Crisis’s centre would never have existed. Certainly there had been some hopes that Crisis Skylight Croydon might have only lasted perhaps a couple of years.

But levels of homelessness have been rising relentlessly in the years since 2010. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Crisis Skylight Centre, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Spitfire women of WWII illustrated talk, Crystal Palace, Aug 8

Posted on June 27, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Community associations | Tagged , , | 1 Comment