‘There is no alternative’: £25m council bail-out given green light

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council reports rewritten, lack of commercial experience in key positions and a ‘very controlling’ former leader and his inner circle. The rapid review of Croydon Council paints a picture that will be very familiar to readers of Inside Croydon. By STEVEN DOWNES

Chris Wood: green light for council’s recovery plan

There was huge relief for senior figures at the council this afternoon, when Robert Jenrick’s rapid review team recommended that the Tory government minister should approve the multi-million-pound bail-out that would allow Croydon to balance its budget for this financial year.

“We believe there is no credible alternative to the option of capitalisation, that will restore the council to financial health,” said the report, drafted by Chris Wood and published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The recommendation to allow the capitalisation directive – a crucial part of the recovery plan prepared by Katherine Kerswell, the interim chief exec, and council leader Hamida Ali, where the council is permitted to use around an initial £25million of its capital (over four years, to 2024, the bail-out will amount to £150million) for its day-to-day revenue costs – comes with some very tight strings attached, however.

These include the need for an improvement board, which will be peering over the shoulders of Kerswell and Councillor Ali for the next three years. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘This must end now’: Jenrick issues final warning to Croydon

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council has been issued a final warning today, with the threat of commissioners being sent in to take over the running of the borough

Robert Jenrick: final decision on Purley

Robert Jenrick, the Local Government Secretary, has today announced measures to address “the serious failures at Croydon Council”, after publishing the findings of the rapid review team he sent in to Fisher’s Folly in October.

Significantly, for the council’s present leadership, the rapid review team’s recommendations include that Jenrick should approve Croydon’s capitalisation directive – effectively be allowed a multi-million-pound bail-out.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the findings of the rapid review, conducted by Chris Wood, tallies closely with the Report In Public Interest from auditors Grant Thornton that was published in October, as well as PwC’s findings on Croydon’s commercial companies, and even echoes elements of the council’s own Section 114 notice. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

George Street towers stay empty due to building regs delays

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: A prestigious, towering development of 546 flats, some costing £26,000 a year to rent, has been standing empty for months while the developers wait for council officials to sign-off on planning requirements.
By STEVEN DOWNES

The dark towers quickly rose up around their concrete cores to become a striking feature of the Croydon skyline.

Now known as Ten Degrees, the towers went up quickly at 101 George Street. But prospective tenants have been kept waiting months to move in

At nearly 450-feet high, the taller, 44-storey tower at 101 George Street was acclaimed on the front page of trade magazines as the world’s tallest modular building.

One-bed apartments there were set to be rented out for £1,450 and three-bed flats would cost £2,195 per month. Some homes in the towers have been snapped up under the Mayor of London’s much sought-after London Living Rent scheme.

But today, the majority of the 546 sky-high apartments in a prestige development for US-based property developers Greystar remain empty.

Despite having received deposits from hundreds of eager tenants, the properties – in what is now being marketed as “Ten Degrees” – have not been released, with the agents blaming Croydon Council’s failure to sign off on the towers’ building regulations.

Some suggest that the delays have been caused by disruption around coronavirus, but Town Hall sources suggest that “the council’s planning department is simply overwhelmed”. Correspondence from a council planning official has warned that they are “unable to advise when this situation is likely to be resolved”. Continue reading →

Posted in 101 George Street/Ten Degrees, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor of London, Planning, Property | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Londoners’ Twitter sarcasm quickly becomes a museum piece

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

Social media may in essence be ephemeral, but curators at the Museum of London appear determined to use people’s throwaway one-liners and lockdown tweets to provide a historical context for the coronavirus pandemic.

The Museum has pulled together 13 tweets from Londoners that were shared during the initial lockdown, in a strand of its ongoing project entitled Going Viral. Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Teachers offer guidance for Children’s Mental Health Week

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

Today marks the start of Children’s Mental Health Week. With so many children’s mental health badly effected by lockdown and absence from school, former teacher LAURA STEELE of education experts PlanBee has gathered a week’s worth of fantastic free resources

Monday: dealing with physical sensations

Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies Posters: These posters aim to help your child understand some of the physical sensations that accompany different feelings. Explore and discuss the vocabulary on each poster.

You could ask children: Do you know what this word means? Have you ever felt like this? What made you feel this way? Could you add any more words to either of the posters?

Older children may find the Synonym Booklet of Emotions useful to expand their vocabulary and help them to better express themselves. Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Health, Schools | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Charity launches online resource to help on planning issues

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

Planning Aid for London, a charity offering free advice for the public to better find their way through the planning system, has made a library available online to help people understand why and how their neighbourhood is changing.

The library maintains information about changes to planning policy and brings together resources explaining planning in an easy-to-navigate hub.

Planning Aid for London has been established for more than 40 years and through its advice line offers free, independent and professional advice to those who would otherwise not be able to afford professional help. PAL says that, “The advice provided reflects the current planning system in London but is not part of local or central government nor developer-influenced.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, London-wide issues, Planning | Tagged | Leave a comment

‘Shame on Croydon Council’: Anyone got a mop and bucket?

Posted on February 1, 2021 by insidecroydon

The graffiti on Brick by Brick hoardings around Kindred House, by the Flyover. The council no longer has any staff to remove graffiti

Well, this is awkward…

What does a bankrupt council, which at the end of December scrapped its dedicated anti-graffiti team, do about the spray-painted messages on the hoardings around a development by its loss-making house-builder Brick by Brick? Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Muhammad Ali, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Church story that is full of artists, reformers and educators

Posted on January 31, 2021 by insidecroydon

By the mid-19th Century, Croydon was growing at such a rate that it needed a new church, specifically for the servants of those who formed the congregation at what we know today as the Minster. DAVID MORGAN charts the history of the Parish Church’s ‘chapel of ease’

St Andrew’s Church from more than a century ago, when its bell tower was still intact

St Andrew’s Church on Southbridge Road was built in 1857 as a “chapel of ease” to the Parish Church. This meant it was a new place of worship constructed inside an existing parish for folk to attend instead of the main church.

The person tasked with getting the new church completed was Rev J H Rudolph, the rector of Sanderstead. A house went with the new church, plus an endowment of £2,000. It was to serve an area comprising much of the Old Town, Union Street with parts of Duppas Hill Lane and Terrace, West Street and Queen’s Street, with a total number of residents of about 2,400. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

New book relates women’s secret work at Bletchley Park

Posted on January 31, 2021 by insidecroydon

“What would it be like to keep a secret for 50 years? Never telling your parents, your children, or even your husband?”

Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park tells the true story of Daisy Lawrence, a young woman from south London who worked at the top-secret war-time code-breaking centre.

Written by Lawrence’s daughter, Jan Slimming, Following extensive research, the book describes her mother’s upbringing in Tooting, and asks why, and how, she was chosen to work at Bletchley Park.

The book also examines Lawrence’s search for her young fiancé, who was missing in action overseas.

The three years at Bletchley Park were Lawrence’s university, but having closed the door in 1945 on her hidden role of national importance — dealing with Germany, Italy and Japan — this significant period in her life was camouflaged for decades in the filing cabinet of her mind. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Council emergency meeting over elected mayor set for Feb 8

Posted on January 30, 2021 by insidecroydon

Croydon is inching ever closer to having a referendum over whether the council should be run by an elected mayor. But, as WALTER CRONXITE reports, matters are never straightforward with those in power at Fisher’s Folly

The word “emergency” is used so often at Croydon Council, it risks being devalued.

The problem with those in power at Fisher’s Folly is that an “emergency” too often appears to them to be used as a ruse to sneak through decisions which might not be quite what they seem, or (most likely with Croydon) something gets rushed through half-cock or incomplete.

So it is that there is to be an Emergency Council Meeting (yep, another one) held a week on Monday, February 8, this time to tick through the necessary paperwork for there to be a borough-wide referendum on how the council is run.

The emergency meeting announcement was sneaked out late on Friday evening, and has all the appearance of the ruling Labour group trying, again, to pull off a last-minute procedural stunt to allow them to ignore a petition, organised by a dozen residents’ associations and signed by 21,000 residents, seeking a directly-elected mayor to run the council. Continue reading →

Posted in 2021 Mayor Referendum, Community associations, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dogged charity has fresh approach to reduce loneliness

Posted on January 30, 2021 by insidecroydon

A charity has been launched in Croydon aiming to reduce social isolation and loneliness for the over-55s – by using dogs.

CareDogs pairs people aged 55 and over with suitable canine companions. The charity hopes to address the growing problem of social isolation while increasing the adoption rate of older dogs from rescue centres and shelters around the capital.

According to Age UK, the number of over-50s experiencing loneliness is set to reach 2million by 2025, a 49 per cent increase in 10 years.

They say that, of people aged 55 and over, 1-in-8 only get to speak to someone on no more than four days a week.

CareDogs is now ready to invite potential adopters to register their interest via the charity’s website. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Health | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ex-leader Newman wants to seek election again in 2022

Posted on January 29, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: A former supporter of the discredited councillor has described it as ‘a disgrace’ that no one has ‘been held accountable for bringing the council to its knees’. WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on growing concerns among local Labour members

Tony Newman, the Labour councillor who led the borough into bankruptcy, wants to stand for re-election in Croydon in 2022.

Tony Newman: nuffink to do with me, guv

That’s according to colleagues within the local Labour Party, including some who have expressed concern about a “real risk of serious reputational damage” caused just by his continued presence as a councillor, which sees him still collect allowances at a time when more than 500 council jobs have had to be axed because of the “corporate blindness” of Newman and his numpties.

“He seems to think he can carry on as if nothing has happened,” said one. “It’s quite an astonishing display of shamelessness by him and some of his closest supporters.”

Another said, “He’s still taking part in decision-making, both within the Labour group and at council. He’s hanging around like a fart in a lift. And it stinks.” Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, New Addington North, Paul Scott, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, Tony Newman, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Bellway reveals plan for 168 homes around lido diving board

Posted on January 29, 2021 by insidecroydon

A housing developer wants to build nearly 170 homes around a Grade II-listed Art Deco diving board.

This will make an interesting feature: the diving board, listed because of its design and concrete construction

The site of the former Purley Way Lido has been disused since the end of 2018, after the garden centre that had been based there for nearly 40 years closed for business.

Today, Bellway announced that they had exchanged contracts to acquire the land for an estimated 168 homes.  Subject, of course, to planning permission being granted by Croydon Council.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, History, Housing, Planning, Property, Purley Way, Purley Way Lido, Waddon | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

After 27,000 meals for charities, Palace Kitchen is still cooking

Posted on January 29, 2021 by insidecroydon

Crystal Palace’s Joel Ward (left) helps prepare meals at The Palace Kitchen, who will be continuing to supply food to those in need into next month. Photo: Dan Weir/PPAUK.

The Palace Kitchen project is being extended into February so that thousands of local people in need can continue to receive nutritious food.

Palace Kitchen, based at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium and backed by the Palace for Life Foundation charity, has delivered more than 27,000 meals in the past year, providing a lifeline to vulnerable individuals and families, including the elderly, those in emergency housing and the homeless. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Selhurst, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Royal Mail adds Croydon to list of covid-hit sorting offices

Posted on January 28, 2021 by insidecroydon

Post sorting offices in Croydon, South Croydon and Caterham, between them serving four different CR postcodes, have been added to the Royal Mail’s list of those areas worst-hit by the impact of covid-19.

Some Royal Mail offices have had half their staff off sick or isolating from covid-19

Like most postal deliveries recently, the Royal Mail’s adding its Croydon offices to its service update has come… well, late. Thousands of residents across the borough, including in South Norwood’s SE25 and Crystal Palace’s SE19 postcode areas, reported delays and disruptions to their postal deliveries in the weeks before Christmas.

Despite hiring extra casual post workers to handle the Christmas rush, Royal Mail staff were increasingly hard-hit by the spread of coronavirus, or the need to self-isolate away from work in the case of an outbreak of the deadly virus. Some reports suggest that some Royal Mail offices around the country had half their staff off sick or self-isolating at any one time. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Health | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Court ruling forces removal of Crystal Palace traffic measures

Posted on January 28, 2021 by insidecroydon

Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, on how vocal motoring lobbies and TfL legal advice has got the council to abandon traffic-reduction rules – for the time being, at least

Vandalism of the planters around the LTNs in South Norwood and Upper Norwood  continued since they were introduced last summer

The council has caved in to pressure from motoring lobbyists and their apologists, after a legal challenge to Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes brought by black cab drivers won a court ruling last week.

Advice from Transport for London, issued to Croydon and other councils who implemented measures that reduce rat-running, recommended adopting a cautious review, pending a legal appeal against a judge’s ruling over a Streetspace scheme in Bishopsgate.

In Croydon, the council has opted for near-immediate removal of its network of planters to deter motor vehicles – but with the prospect of re-introducing other measures for a one-year trial at some point in the future.

The council’s response has potential for even more chaos. “The current and successor schemes aren’t back to back,” one source said today. “Letting all the traffic back in then, at some unspecified date in the future, putting in automatic vehicle recognition cameras… There’s huge possibility for more disputes.” Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Cycling, Environment, London-wide issues, Muhammad Ali, South Norwood, Steve Iles, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘Joseph Heller could use Croydon as a sequel to Catch 22’

Posted on January 28, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The row between the Labour council and Tory government over the possible costs of staging a mayoral referendum has got loyal reader IAN KIERANS crunching some numbers

Is it really £1million additional costs to stage a referendum over whether the borough should be run by a directly-elected mayor?

The true costs of council financial collapse are measured in the closure of five libraries, including South Norwood

Perhaps we should take a somewhat more panoramic view of this sum.

Let’s compare the £1.5billion of debt racked up by the council and their long-held opposition to the purported £1million cost to have a mayoral referendum, something which going forward could act as a control.

That million pounds sounds cheap when compared to the £440,000 paid out with gagging orders to end a particular individual’s employment at the council.

But what other “costs” does the borough face as a result of the financial mismanagement of the past four or five years? Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Libraries, Planning, Refuse collection, Section 114 notice, Tony Newman, Veolia | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A pain in the neck: homeworking is turning us into LOSERS

Posted on January 28, 2021 by insidecroydon

Are you among the millions of “homeworking LOSERS” created during the covid-19 pandemic?

12% of those surveyed say that they have been working from their sofa at home

According to research conducted on behalf of technology company, EIZO, the coronavirus lockdown is turning millions of workers into “Laptops On Sofas and Employment Rights Shelved” (geddit?), with their physical and mental health put at risk through inadequate employer support.

The research suggests that many employees, forced to work from home, are feeling the negative effects of a domestic environment often ill-equipped for the working day.

According to the research, 39 per cent are functioning without any additional, employer-provided equipment such as a laptop, mouse, keyboard, monitor or desk chair. Of those polled, 37 per cent say that they are using a company-supplied laptop. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Health | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CPRE tells Mayor Khan to make Farmlands a new public park

Posted on January 27, 2021 by insidecroydon

Beddington Farmlands: the CPRE says it wants promises kept to maintain and improve the nature reserve, while making it much more accessible to the public

Beddington Farmlands, the site of disused 20th-century landfill and sewage works, should be turned into one of 10 new parks for London, according to an environmentalist charity.

The Campaign for Preservation of Rural England has picked the wildlife-rich but sometimes scruffy bit of south London open space as one of the sites for its proposed new public parks, while ramping up pressure on incinerator operators Viridor and the local enforcement authority, Sutton Council, to accelerate progress on what was once intended to be the fulcrum of a nature reserve along the entire length of the River Wandle, including Mitcham Common to the north and Beddington Park to the south. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Philp slams shut Britain’s door to asylum-seeking children

Posted on January 27, 2021 by insidecroydon

Croydon Tory MP Chris Philp chose the eve of the annual Holocaust Memorial to announce that the government is slamming the nation’s doors shut in the face of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Under rules introduced by minister Chris Philp, it is harder for children to seek asylum in Britain

The Dubs Amendment was passed in May 2016 in the wake of an increase in refugees arriving in Europe from the war in Syria. Named after former Tooting MP Alf Dubs – himself a beneficiary of asylum in Britain after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s on a Kindertransport train – the Labour peer’s amendment required government ministers to relocate and support asylum-seeking children from the continent.

But Philp, the immigration minister, said that although the Home Office took the “responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously”, there would no longer be a legal route to Britain for these minors.

The only children still able to seek help will be those who already have relatives in Britain. Philp said they would be able to come to Britain through the existing immigration rules. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon South | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

100,000 dead: Prime Minister says ‘We’re doing all we can’

Posted on January 27, 2021 by insidecroydon

The chilling statistic was announced yesterday. There have been nearly 104,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus in this country since the pandemic began, data from the UK’s national statisticians shows.

That means that the death rate in Britain is the highest in Europe and one of the highest per capita death rates in the world. The covid death toll is more British civilians than died in both world wars combined.

And then Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the nation last night, “We truly did everything we could to minimise the loss of life.”

Which is clearly and demonstrably untrue. Continue reading →

Posted in Care Homes, Health, Mayday Hospital | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council ‘too quick to pass the buck’ over child abuse claims

Posted on January 26, 2021 by insidecroydon

Local Government Ombudsman orders Croydon to conduct an audit of child sexual abuse cases going back three years, after the authority’s response to a draft report ‘suggests wider systemic issues’

Croydon’s children’s services department may have “systemic” errors, according to the Local Government Ombudsman, who today accused the council of “being too quick to pass the buck”, after a suicidal teenaged girl was left without support when she reported two instances of serious sexual abuse.

The poor handling of the case by social workers from Kent has left the girl’s mother “emotionally broken”.

The Ombudsman’s report, made public today, is particularly scathing about Croydon Council’s attitude to the problematic case, which dates back to 2018.

The council’s response to the Ombudsman’s report was to state that its children’s services had recently been given a “Good” rating by Ofsted (following nearly three years when rated as “Inadequate”). “It is disappointing,” the Ombudsman’s report states, that, “Croydon appear to suggest this indicates the fault identified in this report is confined to the past.

“We feel this case is an opportunity to learn and make improvements to prevent other children and families experiencing the same issues.” Continue reading →

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tory candidate for London Mayor accused of campaign fraud

Posted on January 26, 2021 by insidecroydon

Lawyers acting for the Labour Party have accused Shaun Bailey of a form of fraud ahead of the London Mayoral elections, after his campaign last month distributed leaflets headed with fake City Hall insignia.

Fraud? Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey

The leaflets made the claim that the Mayor’s share of Council Tax is set to increase by 21 per cent. Yet Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, has made no such move to increase the Greater London Authority’s precept by that amount.

Bailey is the Conservative Party’s underwhelming candidate for London Mayor, in elections which were postponed from last year because of coronavirus and which are – for now at least – due to be staged on May 6.

Lagging a long way behind Khan in the polls, Bailey appears to have resorted to a desperate ploy straight out of Croydon Tories’ playbook. Continue reading →

Posted in 2021 London elections, Gavin Barwell, London-wide issues, Mario Creatura, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Shaun Bailey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

London’s toxic air is ‘a public health emergency’ says charity

Posted on January 26, 2021 by insidecroydon

London’s polluted atmosphere, with Croydon among the worst affected, has the same impact as smoking 150 cigarettes each year

The health of Croydon residents is are among the worst affected by pollution, according to research conducted for City Hall, with BAME communities and the elderly particularly at risk

Toxic air quality in Croydon increases the risk of death in the same way as smoking 150 cigarettes a year and should be declared “a public health emergency”, according to the British Heart Foundation.

The capital’s poor air quality contributed to the deaths of more than 4,000 Londoners in 2019, according to research conducted by Imperial College’s Environmental Research Group. Croydon, with nearly 200 deaths attributable to the effects of pollution, is listed by the researchers among London boroughs with the highest number of pollution-related deaths. Continue reading →

Posted in British Heart Foundation, Charity, Croydon Council, Environment, Health, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

‘Light in the darkness’: council’s Holocaust Memorial service

Posted on January 26, 2021 by insidecroydon

The council is inviting the borough’s community groups to unite tomorrow in an event of international remembrance to honour victims of the Holocaust and other genocides.

From 12 noon on January 27, residents will be able to join a Town Hall ceremony via an online link.

Maddie Henson, the Mayor of Croydon, will host the hour-long event and will light a candle in memory of victims of genocide and in acknowledgement of this year’s theme, “Be the light in the darkness.”

The day commemorates the millions killed under Nazi persecution and also the genocides that followed in places such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Council | Tagged , | Leave a comment