‘Dear Simon: I look forward to working with you again’

Posted on October 10, 2020 by insidecroydon

Tony Newman: proud

This is how the leader of the council, and mate, Tony Newman replied to Simon Hall’s resignation letter.

Sent under the subject title “Be Proud” at 11.07pm on a Friday, in his usual style of borderline incoherence Newman wrote:

Dear Simon

Thank you for letter of resignation, which is with sorrow accepted.

Your contributions to Labour’s achievements in Croydon are too numerous to mention, but personally I reflect also on our time in opposition, when you brought forward that now famous Shadow Budget in 2014, that signalled to our political opponents their time was up. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Giles sees red after his side concedes controversial late penalty

Posted on October 9, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s Andy Somo scores his sixth of the season at Lydd, his goals helping the Trams to go unbeaten in the league so far. Photo: Paul Davis

NON-LEAGUE NEWS: With the Croydon “Wanderers” about to set up a new home at Crystal Palace, ANDREW SINCLAIR reports on an impressive unbeaten run, and how the Rams have managed to end their losing streak as one of their stalwarts sets a club record

The end of Croydon FC’s enforced nomadic existence cannot come a moment too soon for Trams’ boss Liam Giles, as he starts a three-match touchline ban after sharing his thoughts on his side’s latest match a little too forcibly with one of the officials.

Forced out of their Croydon Arena home because of coronavirus and the council’s cash crisis, Croydon FC are looking forward to setting up a home base at Crystal Palace NSC next month, as some of the efforts the club has had to go to behind the scenes to get their season underway.

Croydon’s only defeat of the season so far came in the FA Vase, notionally a “home” game against Sheppey United. The Trams hired Glebe FC’s Foxbury Avenue ground in Chislehurst for the day, where they were unlucky to lose against a quality side from the division above. But they did themselves proud and they had chances to force penalties. Continue reading →

Posted in AFC Croydon Athletic, Balham FC, Croydon FC, Football, Sport, Whyteleafe FC | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

10 tips to help you and others on World Mental Health Day

Posted on October 9, 2020 by insidecroydon

Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day. Here, ROWENNA DAVIS (left) outlines some of the things which all of us can do to help others, and to help ourselves

We need World Mental Health Day more than ever this year. According to the charity Mind, 1 in 5 adults with no previous mental health problems say that they are suffering now.

In Croydon, overcrowded accommodation and poverty leaves many residents particularly vulnerable.

Although it’s good we’re talking about it this weekend, the lockdown can make it difficult to know what we can actually do to look after each other. None of us feel particularly empowered simply retweeting something with a hashtag on the day.

Luckily, here in Croydon we are blessed with an active community with loads going on. Continue reading →

Posted in Black History Month, Community associations, Croydon BME Forum, CVA, Education, Health, Rowenna Davis | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Parents’ concern as schools stay silent over coronavirus

Posted on October 9, 2020 by insidecroydon

Parents and staff at some Croydon schools are becoming concerned that information about cases of coronavirus afflicting pupils and teachers is not being shared with the schools’ broader community. In some instances, it has been alleged that year group “bubbles” have not been instructed to isolate, even after there has been a positive test for covid-19 among their number.

Quest Academy Selsdon: school keeping quiet about Sixth Former’s positive test

The suspicion that a second wave of infections has been accelerated by the return to the classrooms of the nation’s schoolchildren last month was at least partially confirmed today by figures released by Public Health England.

They said that 36 per cent of covid-19 outbreaks are in education – which will also include university students who returned to their colleges two weeks ago. That makes education the largest single source of covid outbreaks. Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Health, Quest Academy, Schools, Selsdon, Selsdon Primary, Virgo Fidelis | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

£800 per day exec director job goes to ‘naughty step’ Jones

Posted on October 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

The Tower Hamlets council official who was in charge of that borough’s schools when Shamima Begum and two other girls were radicalised and escaped to Syria to become “jihadi brides” has just been appointed by Croydon as the borough’s interim executive director for children, families and education.

Debbie Jones: ‘Delighted’

Today, 70-year-old Debbie Jones said, “I’m delighted,” after it was confirmed that she had landed the £800 per day appointment in Croydon.

She ought to be double-delighted, because as hundreds of Croydon Council staff are losing their jobs, Jones is to be allowed to keep a second, part-time position with the government, too. Cushty.

According to Croydon Council’s press release, Jones “has a wealth of experience in senior leadership roles for children services, with a strong track record of driving improvement, leading transformation and modernising services to deliver for local communities”.

Which all sounds perfect.

But those who remember Jones’s time in Tower Hamlets recall the controversy caused in 2015 when Begum and her school mates were able to flee the country without anyone at the local authority noticing that they weren’t turning up for school. Begum left Britain when just 15 alongside 15-year-old Amira Abase and 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana.

She was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019, heavily pregnant with her third child and wanting to return to London. Lawyers for her family accused their local authority (and therefore Jones) of failing in their duties to safeguard the girls. Continue reading →

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

Arena closure sees the Trams sidetracked to Crystal Palace

Posted on October 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

The borough’s oldest non-league football club has been forced out of Croydon, the latest casualty of the council’s cash crisis.

Croydon FC’s new home: Crystal Palace NSC

Croydon FC have been unable to play any home matches since the new season began because their ground, Croydon Arena, remains closed following the covid-19 lockdown.

Tired of waiting for an announcement over the fate of their home ground, Croydon revealed this week that they are to play home fixtures for the remainder of the 2020-2021 season at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon FC, Football, Paul Scott, Sport, Tony Newman, Woodside | 2 Comments

Culture is worth £5.5bn to London economy, says Arts Council

Posted on October 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

The Fairfield Halls: closed again, but no one knows for how long

The impact on the local economy of the continuing closure of the Fairfield Halls is hinted at in a report published today by Arts Council England which reckons that arts and culture contributed £5.5billion to London in 2018, supporting 67,075 jobs in the capital.

The report suggests that the arts and culture sector has lost nearly one-quarter of its value and economic impact in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The council-owned Fairfield Halls has been open only fitfully for almost five years, since June 2016 when it was closed for a major refurbishment project. Reopened at a cost of at least £42million in September last year, it was forced to close again seven months ago due to coronavirus. While other theatres and concert venues around London have done their utmost to start to stage performances with audiences again – even by offering paid-for “remote” performances – the Fairfield Halls operators BHLive have given no updates on when it might be “curtain up” again at the borough’s prestigious arts venue. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Fairfield Halls, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Covid group ask you to Take The Pledge for mental health

Posted on October 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

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

Hold very tight: will Buss give Brick by Brick a rough ride?

Posted on October 7, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on how the local council troubleshooter who was brought in to deal with Kensington and Chelsea’s finances in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire has now been hired by Croydon

In the final days of her time in Croydon, Jo “Negreedy” Negrini became notorious for trying to charge 81 quid a ticket for a prosecco and canapés guided tour around the town centre for her architect chums, all on an old London double-decker.

Chris Buss: local council troubleshooter

Now, it seems, Negrini’s brainchild, the council’s loss-making builders Brick by Brick, are going to be given a Buss trip that they may never forget.

Chris Buss is the local government troubleshooter who was brought in to deal with Kensington and Chelsea’s financial crisis in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. Buss has now been appointed by Croydon to help oversee an independent review into the workings of Brick by Brick.

Croydon announced last night that it has hired management consultants PWC to conduct the review of its arrangements with its companies and other entities, who also include Croydon Affordable Homes, the Growth Zone and Revolving Investment Fund. And former Wandsworth deputy chief exec Chris Buss has been asked, “to act as the client lead in this project to manage the interaction with the council and ensure independent briefing of PWC and transparency in reporting”. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Cut the mowing: how to transform your garden for wildlife

Posted on October 7, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: After surveys this summer reported a decline in butterfly and moth populations across the country, LEWIS WHITE, a retired landscape architect with decades of experience, offers his advice on how to make your garden more wildlife-friendly this autumn

Turning over a corner of your garden to wildflowers can transform the habitat for pollinators

Just cut the mowing. You can save yourself some unnecessary work and transform your garden into a haven for wildlife.

Inside Croydon readers with neat and manicured lawns that are mown every week or so could very easily encourage butterflies and moths and provide essential food for them by creating “wildflower mini-meadows”.

You just need to designate some areas of the lawn to grow longer through the spring and summer, only cutting them just once, in the autumn, and raking the grass off, just like a farmer cuts a hay meadow.

The mini meadow area or areas do not have to be huge, and can be shaped like oval islands, which sit very well in the garden landscape. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Environment, Gardening, Wildlife | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

BBC radio is returning to capture the music of Croydon Minster

Posted on October 7, 2020 by insidecroydon

Using as much broadcast equipment as  might be seen at the Cup final, BBC television’s transmission from Croydon Minster’s Midnight service last Christmas made a big impression

DAVID MORGAN on the latest very public endorsement of the quality of the choir and music at Croydon Minster

It seems like a lifetime ago now, what with everything that has happened since, but it is 10 months since the BBC’s outside broadcast vans trundled into position outside Croydon Minster. A mountain of technical equipment was unloaded. Lights were rigged both inside and outside the building, microphones were carefully placed to capture the sounds of organ and voice, cameras were positioned high and low.

All was made ready that Christmas Eve of 2019 so that BBC1 could broadcast the service of Midnight Mass from Croydon Minster to the world. Croydon was in the limelight, and for once only in a good way.

The televised service made a good impression on many people. Compliments flowed into the church office. Invitations for the choir to sing in prestigious venues were received and plans for the year were made. Continue reading →

Posted in Canon Andrew Bishop, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Music | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Offers galore as South Norwood Market celebrates five years

Posted on October 7, 2020 by insidecroydon

Happy birthday, South Norwood Clocktower Market

The South Norwood Clocktower Market will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Saturday  November 7.

The stalls will be decorated to mark the occasion and stall-holders will be offering one-day-only promotions as a thank you to all their loyal customers.

Highlights are expected to include:

  • 3 for 2 deals on African jewellery by Nolari
  • free gifts when you spend £20 on Brand candles and Brown Angels Naturals products
  • a mystery lucky dip with every purchase at A House Like This
    Clocktower shaped cookies by Essence of Cake
  • a bargain bucket of £5 books at BookLove a free trinket dish when you spend £15 on Cobworks pottery
  • and the chance to win a free sketch of your favourite area in SE25 when buying a South Norwood print or tote bag by Rachael Marie Studio.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Community associations, South Norwood | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Audit shows £9m shortfall in Hall’s property speculation deals

Posted on October 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Internal audit report will make very uncomfortable reading for the council leader and his finance chief, and shows worrying budget problems for most of the council-run schools.
By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor

Simon Hall: council’s investments have not covered the council’s costs according to the internal audit

It is barely a week since Simon Hall, the Labour councillor who is the council cabinet member for finance, survived a vote of no-confidence raised by the Tory opposition at the Town Hall over Croydon’s cash crisis.

Tomorrow night, Hall faces another display of lack of confidence in his abilities or record, when an influential committee meets to discuss a damning report from the council’s internal auditors.

The depths of the financial crisis facing the council, and the lack of controls over the borough’s money, will be highlighted when the General Purposes and Audit Committee hears that the internal auditors can give the council “only limited assurance” over the way it is managed and that “the internal controls within non-financial systems operating throughout the year were unsatisfactory in some cases”.

That such withering remarks come from an internal audit of the council’s performance perhaps makes such criticism even more damning of those responsible.

Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Business, Children's Services, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Jo Negrini, Karen Jewitt, Katherine Kerswell, Schools, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Covid-19 outbreak at St Helier Hospital forces partial lockdown

Posted on October 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

St Helier Hospital was forced to divert ambulances from its Accident and Emergency department yesterday after an outbreak of coronavirus was detected over the weekend.

Six patients are reported to have contracted covid-19 while in St Helier Hospital

Reports suggest that the hospital was placed in “partial lockdown”, with visiting restricted after six patients were found to have contracted the virus, some being treated in the renal unit, others while already in intensive care.

Covid-19 infections have affected several other hospitals recently, with the spread being linked to staff who have been unable to access regular and speedily processed tests. Continue reading →

Posted in Health, St Helier Hospital | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libraries Week, but not in Coulsdon, Purley, South Norwood…

Posted on October 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

“It’s Libraries Week!” declared a council-run Twitter account yesterday.

It’s Libraries Week! But not if you live in Coulsdon, Purley or the other six places who libraries remain closed

The exciting range of services on offer included using something they called “eaudiobooks”, perhaps to listen to while in the bath?

But it is not libraries week if you would usually want to use the facilities at Norbury, Shirley, Purley, Coulsdon, South Norwood, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Bradmore Green.

For those eight public libraries, operated by the council, remain closed to users. Not because of fears over the spread of covid-19, but because of the council’s self-inflicted cash crisis.

The council has 13 public libraries on its estate, of which only five – Central, Ashburton, New Addington, Selsdon and Thornton Heath – have managed to reopen since the coronavirus lockdown.

It has only been in the past week that the cabinet member for arts and stuff, Oliver “Ollie”  Lewis, has admitted that the continuing closures of the other eight is because the council cannot afford to reopen them.

Which makes the council’s libraries service entreaties to “celebrate libraries, books and reading” all seem a little hollow. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Libraries, Oliver Lewis, Paula Murray | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council backs down over plans to license 15,000-people rave

Posted on October 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council has dropped its application for a licence to stage a rave, potentially with as many as 15,000 people, on Purley Way playing fields.

A poorly publicised public consultation over staging events on Purley Way playing fields drew a stinging rebuke from councillors

The council had submitted the licence application to the local licensing body – Croydon Council – at the start of September, though it did very little to publicise the move.

A similar application, for an 8,000-person licence for events staging live or recorded music, dance, outdoor movie screenings, and selling alcohol in Addington Park, was abandoned last week. Continue reading →

Posted in Addington, Addington Residents' Association, Art, Borough of Culture 2023, Crime, Croham Hurst, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Dance, Music, Paula Murray, Purley Way, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Positive cases of coronavirus in Croydon double in a week

Posted on October 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

The number of covid-19 positive cases reported in Croydon more than doubled last week, according to official figures.

The whole of London is on the government’s “watchlist”, in case of an increase in coronavirus cases, though by the figures released yesterday it appears that the long-predicted “second wave” of infections may have already arrived in this corner of the capital.

In the week ending October 2, according to the Office for National Statistics, there were 222 positive cases of covid-19 reported in Croydon, up from 63 the previous week.

Continue reading →

Posted in Health | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Time to reverse the damaging cuts to London’s youth services

Posted on October 5, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: After a decade of austerity, it is long overdue for the government to fund properly the capital’s youth services, says Green Party Mayoral candidate SIAN BERRY

Sian Berry: at least £35m has been cut from youth services in London since 2011

London’s youth services are in crisis. Councils have been under pressure to cut vital youth services through a decade of austerity but, amid the devastating effects of this pandemic, our young people need support from youth workers more than ever.

I have written to the Chancellor ahead of the government’s upcoming spending review, to demand he reinvests fully in youth services as an essential part of building back better from this crisis.

I asked Rishi Sunak not just to fund councils to bring youth services back to levels last seen before 2010, but provide for a service that ensures every young person has access to local, accessible and appropriate activities and youth worker support. Continue reading →

Posted in London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sian Berry | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Howley’s long and winding road for final journey to Addington

Posted on October 5, 2020 by insidecroydon

DAVID MORGAN’s research into Croydon street names finds that Queen Victoria’s first Archbishop of Canterbury was fondly remembered

The arch that leads through to the Minster is on Howley Road

Howley Road is the road where the Tudor Arch stands at the far end of the church grounds of Croydon Minster. It runs parallel to Cranmer Road and has a junction with Church Road. And Howley is another street name with an ecclesiastical connection.

William Howley was an Archbishop of Canterbury. He lived to a ripe old age, too, holding the office for 20 years until his death in February 1848, when aged 81. Viewers of the recent Victoria television series, with Jenna Coleman in the lead role, will have seen Pete Ivatts playing the part of Archbishop Howley in a small but vital section of the narrative.

At five o’clock in the morning of June 20, 1837, it is the Archbishop, accompanied by the Lord Chamberlain, Marquis Conyngham, who travels to Kensington Palace to inform Princess Victoria that she is now the Queen. Continue reading →

Posted in Addington Palace, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Special offer: Win a signed copy of new book Britain 1940

Posted on October 4, 2020 by insidecroydon

Inside Croydon, in conjunction with publishers Pen and Sword Books and award-winning author Anton Rippon, are delighted to be able to offer two copies of his latest book in an exclusive competition for this website’s subscribers.

And all readers can get 25 per cent off the price of Britain 1940: The Decisive Year On The Home Front in another terrific value offer.

Rippon, an author of more than 30 books, wrote about the first bombing raid on Croydon in August 1940 in an article published on Inside Croydon this week. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Airport, History, Inside Croydon | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Give yourself a nutritional boost with Blue Buddha Seeds

Posted on October 3, 2020 by insidecroydon

B O U N C E B A C K  F R O M  L O C K D O W N
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Inside Croydon | Tagged | Leave a comment

Croydon’s rescue plan placed ‘at risk’ over £8m covid grant

Posted on October 2, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The cash-strapped council is struggling to make its sums add up, reports WALTER CRONXITE

Lisa Taylor: expressed real concern over the accounting for £8m covid grant

The £22.4million gap in the council budget could yet get worse, with the status of £8million of government grant made before the end of the last financial year causing “serious concern” for auditors.

That’s the stark warning provided by Lisa Taylor, the council’s finance director, in a detailed briefing to councillors this week.

The council is now more than a month past its legal deadline for publishing its accounts for the 2019-2020 financial year that ended in March.

The delay has been caused, at least in part, by an accounting issue over a £8million grant to deal with the covid-19 emergency which was unspent before the beginning of the current financial year in April. “It will absolutely be spent this financial year,” Taylor told councillors at their virtual meeting. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Council’s ‘underhand’ plan to stage rave in conservation area

Posted on October 2, 2020 by insidecroydon

A consultation deadline passed this week, almost certainly unnoticed by thousands of residents – just the way the council likes it – as Town Hall officials make preparations for up to 15,000 to attend raves and other events in the borough’s public open spaces and parks. KEN LEE reports

The barely noticed notice: not too many people paused to read the council licence notices

Quietly, some might say stealthily, council officials tied small, plain notices to park railings around the borough a month ago, part of a process which would allow Town Hall officials to license legally the staging of money-spinning mini-Glastonbury Festivals in Croydon’s open spaces once the coronavirus emergency has passed.

The notices were easily missed – perhaps that was the intention – and residents’ groups and friends of parks groups were never approached directly on the matter. Ward councillors were bypassed, too. The notices are the bare minimum that a local authority has to do to comply with its legal requirements.

In the case of at least one park, even the police were never informed of the council’s intentions.

The notices offered a council website address for more information and a deadline of September 30 for the public to respond to the outline proposals. This being Croydon, in at least one case the administration of the notification had been so poorly executed that the licence application had to be withdrawn because the web address provided did not work.

Continue reading →

Posted in Addington, Addington Residents' Association, Andrew Pelling, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Joy Prince, Lloyd Park, Robert Canning, Simon Hall, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘No longer viable’: council sounds death knell for Virgo Fidelis

Posted on October 1, 2020 by insidecroydon

Education correspondent GENE BRODIE on the impending closure of another, once proud and successful, secondary school

Lack of repairs and maintenance to Virgo Fidelis’s main building has hastened the school’s closure

Croydon Council’s ability to run down long-established church schools to the point of closure continues, while at the same time they have been lavishing tens of millions of pounds of public cash on academies and free schools.

Virgo Fidelis’s fate is sealed, with the large girls’ convent school in Upper Norwood being deemed “no longer viable” in a statement issued by the council today.

“The majority of the buildings are in poor repair and unfit for purpose,” the council states, without admitting that – as the local education authority – Croydon will have carried some responsibility for the buildings being allowed to deteriorate so badly. Continue reading →

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Schools, Simon Hall, Virgo Fidelis | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lord Dubs and Secret Barrister condemn MP Philp’s comments

Posted on October 1, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon South’s Conservative MP, Chris Philp, has been accused of the serious offence of lying to parliament by one of the country’s most prominent lawyers.

Rumpole: not The Secret Barrister

Philp, a junior minister in the Home Office, claims that he has been “grossly misrepresented” over remarks he made to the Commons about delays and caseload backlogs in the English courts system.

Philp has also been called to account over what many say are false claims that the country is unable to accept any more child refugees, after he told a parliamentary committee that Britain is “at breaking point” – exactly the same form of words used by Nigel Farage in a very nasty UKIP election poster.

The accusations come in the same week that Priti Patel, Philp’s boss at the Home Office, was reported to have considered a policy on immigration which would effectively see Britain return to the kind of barbaric deportations and concentration camps practised in the 18th and 19th centuries. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon South | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments