Our Sutton reporter, BERTIE WORCESTER-PARK, sifts through the election offering on the other side of the borough boundary
Thursday is election day on the other side of the borough’s boundaries, in Lambeth and Southwark, in Merton and Bromley, and in Sutton, too.
But it is only in Sutton where there is even a remote possibility of a shift in the balance of power, with some suggesting that the borough might just end up as “NOC” – no overall control – with the Liberal Democrats removed from power in the borough for the first time for 36 years. Continue reading
DAVID MORGAN on the appointment as Bishop of Croydon of a woman already very familiar with the borough’s many social challenges, and a professed loyal reader of Inside Croydon…
Early kick-off: the new bishop, Rosemarie Mallett, made Selhurst Park her first visit yesterday. Pic: Diocese of Southwark
A neighbour passed me as I went in my front gate yesterday.
“Been anywhere good?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” I replied. “I’ve just been to the press conference at Southwark Cathedral to announce the new Bishop of Croydon.”
“Well, I don’t suppose that’ll do anything to bring down the cost of living,” he grumbled.
“It won’t,” I agreed.
“But I think the new Bishop will do so much for our community.”
He didn’t want to chat further and trundled off down the road, not really wanting to hear the merits of the Bishop Designate the Venerable Dr Rosemarie Mallett. Continue reading
WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on a sad end to another Croydon tradition
Another decision by cash-strapped Croydon Council is responsible for the end of yet another tradition: Inside Croydon’s unrivalled and extensive dusk-to-dawn election night coverage of the count.
Poll sign: voting in the 2022 local elections begins from 7am tomorrow
That’s because Katherine Kerswell, the council chief exec and the returning officer for tomorrow’s borough-wide elections, has decided not to begin counting the votes until 5.30pm… on Friday.
No official reason has been offered by Kerswell for this decision, although Fisher’s Folly insiders suggest it is because the venue for the count, Trinity School, the £20,000 per pupil per year private school in Shirley, needs to use its sports halls that have been assigned for the election count during the school day on Friday. Continue reading
CROYDON COMMENTARY: MP Chris Philp, a minister in Boris Johnson’s Tory government, emailed his Croydon South constituents with a message about the council elections, asking them to vote for ‘local’ Conservatives. This is how GRAHAM TOTTLE replied…
Dear Mr Philp,
Member of Johnson’s Conservative government: Chris Philp MP
Your party holds the country in contempt.
More people are being forced into poverty due to your inept policies including, but not limited to, Brexit, which is far from “done”.
Businesses are closing because of the additional costs associated with exporting to the EU, or simply relocating to the continent, costing jobs and revenue to the Exchequer. Continue reading
In his latest column for Inside Croydon, ANDREW FISHER, looks ahead to the most intriguing contest in London’s local elections this year
Labour mayoral candidate Val Shawcross has made no attempt to hide her frustration, at times bordering on contempt, for the Labour administration in Katharine Street of the past four years.
Hustings promises: Val Shawcross has made a series of pledges at public meetings to reverse measures implemented by her Labour council colleagues
At a recent hustings, Shawcross said she was “embarrassed” by it and promised, “I’m here to reset it”, emphasising her determination to restore several services cut by the Labour council, including the graffiti removal team.
In light of the scandalous treatment of council tenants in flats at Regina Road in South Norwood, Shawcross has also committed that, “Croydon should compensate tenants when repairs are not carried out in time or to a good standard.” Continue reading
The Bishop of Croydon is, for the first time, to be a woman, after it was announced this morning that the Queen has approved the appointment of the Venerable Dr Rosemarie Mallett, who becomes the Church of England’s second black woman bishop.
Deacon beacon: Dr Rosemarie Mallett, the new Bishop of Croydon
Dr Mallett has been an Archdeacon in Croydon for the past two years.
She succeeds the Rt Revd Jonathan Clark, who left the Diocese in March.
While she may be the first woman, Dr Mallett is only the second Barbadian to be Bishop of Croydon – the first being the Rt Revd Wilfred Wood who served as Bishop from 1985 to 2003. He was the first black bishop in the Church of England.
Dr Mallett will be consecrated at Southwark Cathedral on Friday June 24. Continue reading
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Whoever is elected on Thursday as the borough’s first Mayor will inherit an in-tray weighed down with a raft of controversial reports and investigations into missing millions, the details of which have been kept secret for far too long says ROBERT WARD
Dear New Mayor,
Sorry to trouble you again so soon, but I have an issue that requires your urgent attention. It is also an opportunity to show early on in your tenure that you are serious about changing the council’s culture of secrecy.
When I talk to Croydon’s residents, I keep being asked the same questions. Residents want to know what really happened to cause the collapse of Croydon Council, and when will someone be asked to justify themselves in a court of law.
I do not have an answer for them, which really isn’t right given the sums involved and that the whole debacle came to light nearly two years ago.
Croydon cannot move on until we have some answers. Information has been kept secret for far too long. Continue reading
Spring highlight: the bluebells are blooming all around Croydon – this spectacular carpet of flowers can be found in Littleheath Woods
NATURE NOTES/MAY 2022: Early spring flowers and woodland walks are not-to-be-missed treats. Plus news of the next Inside Croydon guided walk later this month
Blink and you’ll miss it: the blossom season around Roundshaw seemed very brief this year
Part of the sheer joy of Roundshaw Downs is its diversity.
As wide open and wonderful as the chalk downland is, and it is the reason the area has been designated as a local nature reserve, the downs are fringed with oak and beech woodlands that really are coming into their own at this blossoming, blooming time of year.
And the bluebells are out in the woods, too. Seemingly earlier than ever.
It’s been over the course of the last couple of weeks, since the week before Easter, that the trees have at last been pushing back at winter and have been coming into leaf.
First, as always, was the horse chestnut, the conker tree, whose spiky flowers are now in full bloom. Continue reading
The police have been asked to investigate a possible case of electoral fraud involving one of the candidates standing to become Croydon’s first executive Mayor in this Thursday’s local elections.
A formal complaint has been filed to the Metropolitan Police raising concerns that the Taking The Initiative Party candidate Farah London, also known as Farah Farazad, fails to meet the candidate qualifications required to stand for election in Croydon.
Home sweet home: 12 months ago, Farah London gave her home address as Tower Hamlets
Farazad-London has failed to respond to repeated enquiries from Inside Croydon about whether she really does have a home in Croydon or any properly established business premises.
The police have become involved because the office of the election’s Returning Officer, council chief executive Katherine Kerswell, says it cannot investigate the matter and remain impartial over the conduct and organisation of the borough-wide poll on May 5. Continue reading
Lord Mayor: Sir Joseph Sheldon, as portrayed by Gerard Soest in 1677
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: In the week of Croydon’s first Mayoral elections, DAVID MORGAN has delved into the Minster archives to find records of the Lord Mayor of London buried there nearly 350 years ago
High office, and where someone was buried, was very much a matter of “who you know…” in the 17th Century during the reign of Charles II.
Sir Joseph Sheldon is the only Lord Mayor of London to have been buried in Croydon Minster, where he was laid to rest because he happened to be the nephew of an Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon, whose own Croydon tomb still attracts much interest today.
Sir Joseph had his year as Lord Mayor in 1675-1676, and had an official portrait painted by the Dutch artist Gerard Soest in 1677. Sir Joseph’s tomb was among the many destroyed in the 1867 fire and was never reconstructed.
Soest’s portrait was completed just four years before Sheldon’s death, at the age of 51, in 1681. Hanging in the hall of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, one commentator described the painting as making Sheldon look “fleshy-faced, smooth and courteous”. Certainly, his features look assured and privileged, as he stares out from the canvas wearing his livery robes and chains of office.
Sheldon’s life was punctuated by hugely significant and traumatic events. Continue reading
By Maria Storey
An exhibition opens today at the Paxton Arts Centre on Anerley Hill today featuring the works of a group of Polish women artists, all based in south London.
Polish Women Artists is a group combining different art practices but sharing the same roots and heritage. They joined forces during the pandemic, wanting to share their art with local communities, and the Paxton exhibition, which runs until the end of May, is their latest collaboration, with many of the works available for sale.
Working in paint, illustration, photography, printmaking and more. Continue reading
There’s more disruption coming on the buses, with nearly 30 routes across south London likely to be affected when around 1,000 drivers based at Croydon, Brixton, Norwood and Thornton Heath garages stage three days of strike action in May.
Service disruption: South Croydon bus garage was shut down during the previous strike days in March
It follows a two-day strike that took place at the end of March.
The Unite union members working for bus operator Arriva have been balloted and the planned strike days will take place on Wednesday, May 11, followed by Monday and Tuesday, May 16 and 17.
“The bus strikes scheduled for May will undoubtedly cause disruption and delays across London, but this dispute is a direct result of Arriva’s high-handed treatment of its drivers,” said union regional official John Murphy said.
“Further strikes can still be avoided provided that Arriva returns to the negotiating table and makes an improved offer that members find acceptable.” Continue reading
Huff and puff hustings: the Croydon BID event at The Wreck last night, the ‘second-best live performance since the place opened…In fact, the second live performance since the place opened’
And with a week to election day, the last of the set-piece hustings was staged at The Wreck at the Fairfield Halls last night. KEN TOWL, pictured right, went along, so that you wouldn’t have to…
So what did we learn?
First, that anyone, other than the most partisan supporters of Farah London, Gavin Palmer and “His Excellency Dr” Winston McKenzie, would have been convinced that these three makeweights were wasting their own and the audience’s time and that DEMOC had been right not to invite them to their hustings three weeks ago.
That may sound harsh. I will explain.
On entering the debating chamber, prospective voters discovered a leaflet for Farah London, the Taking the Initiative Party, on every seat. In addition, next to the platform was a six-foot high image of Farah’s face. None of the other candidates had taken the initiative to break the rules in this way.
After a few minutes, the illegal hoarding was removed and a chastened London took the platform to join the other candidates. Continue reading
It has been said that politics is a form of performance art… so using a stage in The Wreck for election hustings last night was quite appropriate. But it was one question that stole the show
It was the first question from the audience that had the Mayoral candidates at sixes and sevens in yesterday’s Croydon BID hustings.
“How were the candidates going to use their second preferences?” some bright spark asked. Continue reading
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A mum of six children is facing destitution after the council has made her family more than £200 per month worse off by cutting her Council Tax Support and failing to provide its promised hardship scheme. EXCLUSIVE by EMMA GARDINER
Facing destitution: South Norwood mum Natalie’s Council Tax has just gone up £215 per month
Natalie* is a single mum living in Croydon. She has six children, five living with her at home, including 13-year-old twins who are on the autistic spectrum, and she is a full-time carer.
Times are tough enough, with the cost of living crisis, but for Natalie and her kids they just got a whole lot tougher thanks to Croydon Council.
This month, the cash-strapped council, which went bust in 2020, implemented massive cuts to their Council Tax Support scheme that had previously protected thousands of single mothers, carers and people with disabilities from poverty. People like Natalie and her children, in fact.
After going bankrupt 18 months ago, the council is this year implementing budget cuts of £34million, and one of those cuts was to remove Council Tax Support from 20,000 of the poorest households in the borough, like Natalie’s, starting this month.
When Natalie’s 2022-2023 Council Tax notice arrived just before the start of April, Natalie was horrified to discover her bill was now £215 more per month than her last bill. Continue reading
As election day looms ever closer, WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, finds the borough’s third-rate politicians fretting over the possible loss of their first-rate council allowances
Croydon Council is the London borough which the Labour Party says it is “most worried” about losing.
That’s according to unnamed sources quoted this week by the Evening Standard, after one of its reporters made a rare foray sarf of the river. Continue reading
Roger Wade, the founder of Boxpark, has announced he is to step down as chief executive of the business at the end of next month.
You scratch my back…: Tony Newman, right, with Roger Wade shortly after the council leader gave the private business a £3m loan from Croydon
The decision to step back from the business he founded 10 years ago, with Boozepark at East Croydon opening in 2016 with the help of a £3million loan from the local Labour-run council, comes seven months after Wade flogged off his majority shareholding to a private equity firm, LDC.
In a statement posted on social media, Wade said, “After 10 years as CEO of Boxpark, I have decided to step down at end of May 2022.
“I sold my majority shares to LDC last year and will be handing over the reins to Simon Champion, [managing director], and Ben McLaughlin, [chief operating officer]. I will be staying on with the company as a Brand Consultant and [non-executive director].
“It’s been a great ride over the past 10 years but it’s time to jump off and explore new opportunities. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me on this incredible journey but most of all I would like to thank my wonderful team and family for their support.” Continue reading
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