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MP Reed promoted to Labour’s front bench in Starmer reshuffle
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the step up for one of Croydon’s MPs
MP Steve Reed: first front bench job in parliament
Steve Reed, the MP for Croydon North, has been appointed to the shadow cabinet by the Labour Party’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
It’s the dream job for Reed, with his background in local government, as he has been made Labour’s parliamentary lead on communities and local government.
But there was no similarly good news for Sarah Jones, the well-regarded MP for Croydon Central, who some had tipped for a promotion to Sir Keir’s front-bench – especially since members of her Westminster staff had run social media during the Starmer leadership campaign. Continue reading
Hospital porters use bedsheets for dead patients at St Helier
A public service trades union whose members work at St Helier Hospital in the covid-19 crisis say that some have been left “traumatised” after they were ordered to use bedsheets to transport deceased patients because body bags have “run out”.
Hospital porters are ill-equipped for their tasks, which some have found ‘traumatising’
According to the GMB union, porters working across the Epson and St Helier hospital trust have been “inundated with bodies, which are now wrapped in sheets and are being backed up awaiting collection”.
The mortuary, GMB members claim, “is overflowing”. Continue reading
Posted in Health, St Helier Hospital
Tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, St Helier Hospital
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Three months late, BID hires headhunters to recruit chair
Croydon BID, the organisation made up of some of the town centre’s biggest businesses, has gone into the covid-19 crisis while looking for someone to chair the organisation.
As predicted by Inside Croydon, the departure from the Fairfield Halls of Neil Chandler, the venue’s artistic director, less than six months after it re-opened, has also forced him to stand down as chair of Croydon BID.
Chandler quit BHLive, the operators appointed by Croydon Council to run the Fairfield, in mid-February.
According to Companies House records, Chandler has yet to resign as chair, but Croydon BID is now recruiting his replacement. Continue reading
Debenhams administration is another blow to Hammerson
The coronavirus lockdown looks about to claim another casualty, as department store Debenhams announced this morning that it is to call in the financial administrators. It will the second time in a year that Debenhams has gone into administration.
Croydon’s Centrale is likely to be affected by tenant Debenhams going into administration
The news will be another blow to Hammerson, the owners of Croydon’s Centrale shopping centre, where Debenhams has one of its 142 UK stores. Previous rescue packages for struggling department stores have included rental holidays or reductions, which have made landlord Hammerson’s business model appear less robust.
And the news will surely only reduce further any prospect of the £1.4billion regeneration of Croydon that Hammerson and partners Westfield have been pondering over for almost a decade, causing a disastrous blight in the town centre. Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Debenhams, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Centrale, Croydon, Debenhams, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Volunteers in Selsdon deliver 280 food parcels in two weeks
Charity and church workers in the south of the borough have been brought close to tears by the daily acts of generosity from the community in the midst of the coronavirus crisis
In Selsdon, a group of local charities, churches, supermarkets and GP surgeries have managed a co-ordinated effort since the covid-19 lockdown was ordered and over the past fortnight have now delivered 280 weekly food packages to the elderly and most vulnerable residents in their area.
Volunteers in Selsdon get ready to go out on their latest delivery run
By last weekend, the Selsdon Food Hub had completed a second week in which it delivered shopping, while also helping with collecting prescriptions, and on top of all that, it provided a telephone befriending service for several lonely and isolated residents.
Jaz Potter, from the Croydon Jubilee Church, said, “The response from the community has been amazing.
“The acts of kindness I have seen this week have been deeply moving. Twice this week, as I approached the supermarket checkout, someone has stepped forward to pay for all the groceries.
“The second time, the bill was nearly £100, and as the lady offered, all the customers in Aldi began to cheer. I found myself moved to tears. I hope we never forget the lessons we are learning right now.”
Size isn’t everything, but two metres is only just enough
CROYDON COMMENTARY: After a sunny spring weekend which saw the police move in and some parks in south London close their gates to the public because social distancing was not being properly observed, KEN TOWL (at a safe distance, left) considers the new social norms that may emerge from the covid-19 lockdown
I lied. And I can’t tell you how ashamed I felt. But I was desperate, desperate and trapped in the meat aisle of the local Co-op. In front, the red-bearded shopper who had entered ahead of me had turned round and was walking back towards me. Behind me, the next shopper could be allowed to come in at any moment. Something like panic set in.
Do most people actually know what two metres is?
Under my breath I whispered my new mantra: “Two metres, two metres, two metres“.
Red Beard clocked me. “You can come past if you want,” he said. “No,” I said, “I can’t. The aisle isn’t wide enough. There isn’t two metres.” He shrugged at this apparently novel concept. Behind me, still no one, but this could change any second. And that is when I lied, and shamed myself.
“I work in a hospital,” I said. “I don’t want to pass the virus on to you.” Continue reading
Vandals ‘trash’ South Norwood clubhouse for fifth time
Togetherness: the players and coaching staff at Croydon FC, denied the finish to their season, have now been rocked by a fifth break-in in less than 12 months. Photo: Paul Davis
ANDREW SINCLAIR on another bitter set-back for a local sports club
Croydon Football Club’s premises at Croydon Arena in Albert Road, South Norwood was broken into on Friday – the fifth break-in at the non-league team’s clubhouse in a year.
Croydon FC’s clubhouse last suffered vandalism damage and theft at the end of January.
This time around, a security alarm alerted the club’s management at around 6.10am. Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Croydon FC, Football, South Norwood, Sport
Tagged Andrew Sinclair, Croydon Arena, Croydon FC
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From Civil War to rebellion, Croydon’s bishops to the fore
Upon his death in 1604, John Whitgift became the second Archbishop of Canterbury to be buried at Croydon Parish Church. Here, DAVID MORGAN relates how a further four of the most powerful churchmen in England would be laid to rest there, too
One of the more unusual tombs to be found anywhere, Gilbert Sheldon was the third of six Archbishops to be buried at Croydon Minster. Only Lambeth Palace and Canterbury Cathedral have more
The third Archbishop to be buried in what is today known as Croydon Minster was Gilbert Sheldon. He was Archbishop from 1663 to his death in 1677, having lived – and survived – through the Civil War and the execution of King Charles in 1649.
Sheldon’s reconstructed tomb is always a focus for visitors to the Minster. It was designed and made by Jaspar Latham, a mason who had worked with Christopher Wren. The sculptured torso of the Archbishop is not lying prone in prayer, but is sitting up and engaging the passerby.
“Don’t waste your time,” he is saying, “use your God-given gifts before mortality takes hold.” Underneath the Archbishop’s figure is a panel of carvings containing, skulls, bones, dust and timers. You can’t stop the march of time and even as Archbishop, I am not immortal and neither are you. Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Croydon Minster, David Morgan
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Council delivers just 15 emergency food parcels in one week
The Town Hall is desperate to keep secret its ‘delivery’ record to those in greatest need during the covid-19 quarantine. WALTER CRONXITE reports
15
A food package from the government – only 15 were delivered in Croydon in the first week
According to a top-level briefing at the Town Hall this week, 15 is the total number of emergency aid packages that Croydon Council managed to deliver in the first week of the coronavirus lockdown.
The packages were provided by the government and were intended for people identified as “vulnerable” and at high-risk from the deadly virus.
While Croydon’s volunteer-run soup kitchens, community charity groups and food banks have been working tirelessly for the past fortnight in efforts to provide some food and comfort to the frail, elderly and disabled, and to assist their carers, it seems that the Town Hall’s “strategy” – such as it is – has been misfiring. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, CVA, Jo Negrini, Steve Phaure
Tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon
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Newman’s Pravda over-promises as his council under-delivers
Even in the middle of the greatest crisis the borough has faced since World War II, there’s nothing stopping the council for gerrymandering on behalf of the beleaguered leader, Tony Newman.
Croydon’s very own Pravda
The latest edition of Your Croydon, the council’s Pravda, has managed to drop on to the doormats of households across the borough despite the coronavirus lockdown, carrying with it Newman’s very own version of a contagion: Fake News.
Before the lockdown started, Croydon Town Hall’s Donald Trump had been feeling the strain, as a coalition of residents’ associations, the borough’s sole remaining Tory MP and one of the three Labour Party branches had managed between them to collect more than 13,000 signatures in support of replacing Newman as the unelected so-called “strong leader” of the council with a democratically elected mayor.
DEMOC, the campaign for a directly elected mayor, has suspended its activities for the duration. But that hasn’t prevented Newman from continuing his rearguard action to save his political position, and his £56,000 per year in council allowances. Continue reading
How Elizabeth I’s favourite archbishop became ‘Mr Croydon’
Croydon Parish Church, now known as Croydon Minster, is the last resting place of six Archbishops of Canterbury. This image from a postcard dated 1906
Croydon’s history is intertwined with the Archbishops of Canterbury, with six of them buried at Croydon Minster. Here DAVID MORGAN explains how two of the most powerful men in the country managed to survive the turbulent times of Tudor England
Apart from Canterbury Cathedral and the Chapel at Lambeth Palace, Croydon Minster has more Archbishops of Canterbury buried in one building than any other. Six clergymen who reached the very top of the ecclesiastical tree ended up being buried here. Each has an interesting story to tell about the difficulties of holding high office and the legacy that remains after you have gone. Much as Justin Welby, the current Archbishop, has to try to steer a path through controversies and discord, so too did his predecessors. Some were naturally more successful than others. Continue reading
Police observe Peak practice with car drivers in Shirley Hills
Ahead of a springtime weekend with warmer weather forecast, the police and other agencies are warning the public not to treat the coronavirus lockdown as some kind of lengthy holiday period, and certainly not to set off for parks and open spaces with your picnic baskets to hand.
Out of bounds: people are ordered not to drive to the Shirley Hills
The Shirley Hills this week became Croydon’s version of the Peak District, with police patrols politely but firmly ordering drivers of motor vehicles to turn round and return home. The edict about daily exercise during the pandemic lockdown does not permit the public to drive their cars to their favourite beauty spot or hiking area.
The Home Office issued guidance last week to deal with social distancing requirements during the pandemic, strengthening police enforcement powers in England to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Continue reading
Posted in Addington, Croydon parks, Environment, Policing, Shirley North
Tagged Addington, Addington Hills, coronavirus, Covid-19, Shirley, Shirley Hills
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Council Tax relief announcement delay nets £20m to Town Hall
Croydon is rolling out a series of covid-19 financial relief schemes for Council Tax-payers, but just a bit reluctantly, as KEN LEE reports
Residents of the borough can now access a package of support with their Council Tax payments, including a two-month tax “holiday”, because of the coronavirus emergency.
But Croydon Council may have ensured that they still received nearly £20million in payments for April by delaying the announcement of the government’s deferral scheme until this week.
Just as they did with their scheme to waive on-street parking charges for the duration of the pandemic crisis, Croydon Council sneaked out their announcement on the Council Tax reliefs and deferrals, without any great fuss or ballyhoo… with a press release not issued until Tuesday, March 31.
That was almost a week after the government had announced the measure for local authorities across the country, and Croydon’s announcement of the mechanisms for making claims was far too late for most, if not all, Council Tax-payers to apply for and process their two-month tax holiday.
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Simon Hall
Tagged coronavirus, Council Tax, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, London Borough of Croydon, Simon Hall
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Adrian Dennis: ‘A legacy of honesty, integrity and decency’
Adrian Dennis together with two former council colleagues, Pat Clouder (left) and Toni Letts
Tributes to the life and works of Adrian Dennis, the former Thornton Heath Labour councillor who died last week, have flooded in from a wide range of former colleagues and friends, including a former Deputy Mayor of London.
Dennis, who served his home ward on Croydon Council for 20 years and was made a Freeman of the borough and Alderman, died last Friday, March 27, due to complications after surgery in hospital. He was 67. Continue reading
‘The works are putting my family’s lives at risk from the virus’
Shocking video footage and photographs, taken by council residents who are terrified that they might contract coronavirus, show construction workers taking no special measures to avoid spreading the deadly disease
This video was filmed yesterday by a mother with a small child living in a council flat on Longheath Gardens.
It clearly shows how builders from Henry Construction, on a Brick by Brick building site, are continuing to work with scant regard for the requirements of the covid-19 emergency lockdown. There’s no sign of any face masks being used, and little in the way of social distancing by two metres. Continue reading
New Addington residents call for halt on Brick by Brick plans
One of the borough’s biggest – and fastest-growing – residents’ associations has accused the council of deliberately using the coronavirus emergency to help it push through controversial and unpopular development plans from its loss-making building firm, Brick by Brick.
A sketch of the six-storey block proposed by Brick by Brick for New Addington
And the New Addington Residents’ Association is calling on Labour MP Sarah Jones to help them halt new planning applications until after the covid-19 lockdown.
NARA has questioned whether the council’s planning process is “fair, open and honest” under present emergency circumstances.
NARA was formed last year in response to the large number of schemes being proposed for the area by Brick by Brick, which residents at one public meeting said they feared would turn their area “into a slum”. Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Community associations, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Fieldway, New Addington, New Addington North, New Addington Residents' Association, Planning, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Fieldway, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, NARA, New Addington, New Addington Residents' Association, Sarah Jones MP, Scott Ainsworth-Payne
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Newman and Negrini use covid-19 for Town Hall power grab
By applying ’emergency measures’ during the pandemic crisis, the council leader has taken on the role of an unelected mayor, as KEN LEE reports
From her office in Fisher’s Folly, Jo Negrini can reflect on her power grab from councillors in the Town Hall
Croydon’s elected councillors were told by email on Tuesday night that they will have little or no role to play in Town Hall decision-making for the duration of the coronavirus emergency.
Don’t expect any outcry over this apparent affront to democracy, though: just like Premier League footballers, the borough’s 70 councillors will remain on full pay even though they have even fewer meetings to turn up for than usual.
Instead of regular council, cabinet and committee meetings, Tony Newman, the council leader, and his trusted chief executive, Jo “We’re Not Stupid” Negrini, have invested themselves with a set of executive powers that will allow them to sign-off on all sorts of issues without any public forum or debate by councillors.
It will also see Negrini able to take sole charge of up-coming planning applications – potentially including a raft of applications from council-owned Brick by Brick. Continue reading
South Norwood neighbours have started own meals on wheels
In the middle of all the chaos and uncertainty, community efforts to support the frail, elderly and vulnerable continue. In some cases, the community groups’ efforts have, literally, redoubled.
The South Norwood Community Kitchen was busy delivering hundreds of meals yesterday
The South Norwood Community Kitchen was presented with a dilemma when the coronavirus lockdown came. They would no longer be able to put together a delicious meal for the homeless and the working poor of their neighbourhood that they have been doing for the past couple of years every Saturday, using food that had been donated, was no longer being sellable by local supermarkets, or is grown on nearby allotments.
So instead, they decided to offer two meals each week, all expertly cooked in the kitchen of a local church and then bagged up and delivered to their regulars on Saturdays and, yesterday for the first time, on Tuesdays. Continue reading
Mystery surrounds council CEO after her ‘intermittent’ emails
There are growing concerns for the well-being of the council chief executive Jo Negrini.
Jo Negrini: the council’s £220,000 pa CEO
It is more than a week now since the borough’s £220,000 per year CEO took to sending auto-responses to her emails, even those from elected councillors. Negrini’s reply says that due to the covid-19 emergency, she would be “checking my emails intermittently”.
Phone calls to her office have gone unanswered, and the council’s propaganda department has refused to deny that Negrini may be in self-isolation or – like the Prime Minister or Prince of Wales – have even contracted the coronavirus herself.
When asked whether the chief executive was working from her office in Fisher’s Folly, staff in what she calls “my Executive Support team” sounded flustered and were unable to give a coherent answer. “I don’t know what to say to that,” the council staffer said.
And yesterday, just after 5pm, a lengthy email was despatched to the borough’s councillors under the heading “Decision making in the absence of formal meetings of the Council”.
This important email about the transfer of power from the elected councillors into the hands of just one or two people was sent not from Negrini, but from Jacqueline Harris-Baker. Continue reading
Beavers on the Wandle: Newman dives in for greener Croydon
There could be beavers lurking beneath the surface of Croydon’s rivers and ponds by the end of this year under the council’s Operation Flair Pool
EXCLUSIVE: Operation Flair Pool could see the introduction of a shy and industrious mammal to Wandle Park as soon as this autumn, in what the council leader has described as ‘an exciting high-water mark for Croydon’s Green New Deal’.
Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, reports on what were, until now, the council’s secret plans
Senior Town Hall figures are close to completing a secret study which could see the introduction of beavers on a stretch of the River Wandle from as early as this autumn, confidential papers obtained by Inside Croydon suggest.
The top-secret council file, titled “Operation Flair Pool”, could see the introduction of the shy but industrious mammal in Wandle Park and possibly also Waddon Ponds, as part of what one council figure has described as “an ambitious re-wilding project that is entirely in keeping with Tony Newman’s vision for a greener Croydon… that, and the use of solar-powered passenger aircraft from Gatwick“.
Newman, the council leader who has allowed the borough to use the vast waste incinerator at Beddington and who signed off on a 3,000-space car park under the original plans for a Westfield in the town centre while allowing the concreting over of kids’ playgrounds and green spaces throughout the borough, has been keen to reclaim some green credentials after agreeing last year to declare a climate emergency in the borough.
“Tony’s very keen on the beavers,” said the source. They even claimed that Newman described the project as “an exciting high-water mark for Croydon’s new Green Deal”. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Tony Newman, Wandle Park, Wildlife
Tagged beavers, Croydon, Croydon Council, Operation Flair Pool
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Ikea re-opens food store to help hospital workers and elderly
Croydon’s Ikea, on Valley Retail Park, is opening its food market from today to help feed vulnerable customers and key workers.
Ikea has re-configured its food area to provide another supply outlet exclusively for key workers, the old and vulnerable
The Swedish Food Market – typically selling Swedish favourites and found after the tills in every Ikea – is opening to NHS workers and police, the elderly, the most vulnerable and their carers and to Ikea co-workers.
In addition to its normal range including meatballs, salmon balls and vegetable balls, the store will stock more regular staple items including bread, milk, butter and canned tomatoes. Members of the public who do not fit the criteria laid down by the store will not be admitted. The rest of the store remains closed during the covid-19 lockdown on non-essential business. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Ikea
Tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Ikea, Mayday Hospital, Valley Retail Park
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Council promises to pay business virus grants in seven days
Stung into action following Inside Croydon’s report on its detail-lite, vacuous announcement intended to “help” the borough’s businesses, the council last night issued a new press statement about the business aid available in the coronavirus emergency.
The hoardings have gone up on many bars and shops, as they face an uncertain future
And this time they did manage to include details of grants potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds to the owners of Croydon’s hard-pressed small and medium-sized enterprises.
The grant announcements had been made during the previous week across different government departments, though the council’s propaganda department and the cabinet member for business, Manju Shahul-Hameed, didn’t bother to include any reference to them in their previous press release, issued last Friday. That stated only that a “taskforce” had been formed, and that “newsletters” would be issued.
Last night, more than 36 hours after the council’s business announcement had been castigated as “a high water-mark for platitudinous piffle”, a second press release appeared, this time including much more useful information. Continue reading
Building societies decide to stop loans to first-time buyers
The mounting desperation sensed around Brick by Brick, the loss-making council-owned house-builder, could yet get even worse, after major mortgage lenders today announced that they would not be providing new loans for prospective house-buyers because of the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nationwide is among several mortgage lenders who have effectively stopped lending
Brick by Brick has borrowed at least £260million of public money from Labour-run Croydon Council, but last month Colm Lacey, the former council employee who now styles himself as chief executive of the struggling house-builder, revealed that the company had sold only five, or six, homes.
Yesterday, despite the government, health chiefs and the Mayor of London calling for a complete lockdown of non-essential work during the covid-19 emergency, Brick by Brick announced that it is pressing on with construction work on “a handful of sites” because “it would be at a significant business risk to close them”.
Now, even as Brick by Brick puts the public’s health at risk by rushing to finish its construction work, mortgage lenders have effectively put the handbrake on any further sales by announcing a halt on new lending. Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick
Tagged Brick by Brick, BxB, coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, London Borough of Croydon
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Brick by Brick ignores covid-19 to continue work on four sites
Brick by Brick, the loss-making council-owned house-builder, has announced that it intends to continue work on at least four of its building sites – despite pleas from the government, the Mayor of London and NHS chiefs to halt all non-essential work for the duration of the coronavirus emergency to avoid spreading the deadly disease.
In a statement released last night, the company admitted that it has been working on at least 15 sites around Croydon for the past week, despite the government-ordered covid-19 lockdown. It claimed that it would continue working at “a handful of sites”, identifying four. It gave as its reason: “it would be at a significant business risk to close them”.
Most of the country was placed on lockdown more than a week ago, with only those providing essential services having permission to continue using public transport to travel to work, and provided that they comply with strict social distancing rules. Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council
Tagged Brick by Brick, BxB, coronavirus, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, London Borough of Croydon
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