Alderman Adrian Dennis, who scolded ‘Lord Tea Bag’, has died

Posted on March 30, 2020 by insidecroydon

Adrian Dennis, the former Labour councillor, a Freeman of the Borough and Honorary Alderman, has died. He was 67.

Adrian Dennis

Dennis was one of three councillors to take the Thornton Heath ward in 1986 from the Ratepayers’ Alliance, a grouping with barely disguised links to the Conservatives, as he helped his party recover from the low of just five council seats in Croydon in 1982.

Dennis continued to serve the ward as its councillor until 2006, when he was de-selected by Labour in controversial circumstances.

But he maintained a close interest in the borough’s and his party’s affairs and continued to give of his time tirelessly, being a high-profile advocate for disability issues through the Disability Forum. He also played a significant role in CACFO, the Croydon African Caribbean Family Organisation in Thornton Heath.

He also had a talent for devising acerbic monikers for the rich and powerful, such as when he got into hot water for calling Sir Stuart Lipton “Lord Tea Bag” in internal Labour briefings which were leaked to the press, something which was not appreciated by his party colleagues. It may go some way to explain his on-going support for the reporting by Inside Croydon, for whom  he was a regular commenter and occasional contributor.

Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Matthew Kyeremeh, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Residents on high alert to keep check on planning applications

Posted on March 29, 2020 by insidecroydon

BARRATT HOLMES, our overdevelopment correspondent, on the 9-9-9 emergency for some roads in the south of the borough

The five-storey block of flats proposed for Hyde Road

Last week’s decision to delegate all planning decisions to council officials, removing even a vestige of cover offered by the planning committee of elected councillors, has seen residents’ associations across the borough place their own experts on high alert to see what hideous schemes from profit-hungry private developers might get pushed through during the coronavirus emergency with little public scrutiny.

A planning application has been submitted to build nine flats at 89 Hyde Road, Sanderstead. This is opposite 98 Hyde Road, which was one of the first houses to go, back in 2017, at the start of what one councillor on the planning committee has described as our “9-9-9 emergency”.

Developers know only too well that if they propose to develop a site with 10 or more homes, then they will be expected to include some less-profitable affordable housing within their development. A block of nine flats? No such requirements. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Housing, Planning, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Town Hall’s empty promises to business misses out vital grants

Posted on March 29, 2020 by insidecroydon

Not much fun: it’s nearly two weeks since pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants were ordered to close – with the shutters coming down on many town centre businesses, such as the Funhouse

There’s a lot more help available out there for businesses hit by the pandemic emergency than the council is letting on, reports KEN LEE

Businesses seeking support from Croydon Council during the covid-19 pandemic will find the Town Hall shelves as bare as many supermarket shelves.

The council’s response to the crisis for the small and medium-sized businesses in the borough was laid out in a press release on Friday from the Fisher’s Folly propaganda department.

Even by Croydon standards, this was a high water-mark for platitudinous piffle. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon BID, Croydon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Croydon Council, Croydon FSB, Manju Shahul Hameed, Purley BID | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Residents’ association issues apology for ‘Chinese virus’ tweet

Posted on March 28, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our south of the borough correspondent, PEARL LEE, reports on how a Tory-backed group in Coulsdon has cause to regret handing its social media account over to a far-right agitator

Peter Morgan: thought to have written racist tweet on behalf of his RA

The Coulsdon West Residents’ Association, only reformed recently with the help of their local Conservative councillors, was forced into issuing a hurried apology yesterday after tweets issued on their account used the Trumpian – and racist – phrase “the Chinese flu virus”.

According to the CWRA’s chair, the person responsible has been issued with a reprimand.

It is understood that CWRA had handed the passwords and some responsibility for handling their Twitter account to Peter Morgan, who is notorious as a far-right campaigner and sometime member of UKIP. Morgan’s views were so abhorrent, the Croydon branch of UKIP was forced to expel him. Morgan has now been embraced by the Conservative Party in Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Town, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Ian Parker, Luke Clancy, Mario Creatura | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Ten top tips to help do your bit during the covid-19 emergency

Posted on March 28, 2020 by insidecroydon

After more than a week of the coronavirus lockdown, we’ve probably all got more time on our (very well-washed) hands than we know what to do with. Here, Croydon teacher and volunteer ROWENNA DAVIS (pictured left) offers some suggestions about how to cope in the crisis

Many of you will already be helping deal with the coronavirus emergency in some way, whether it’s caring for an elderly relative, occupying your children with activities that stop them trashing the house, or by waving to your neighbours.

But, if you’re lucky enough to have a little more space, here are 10 ways you can help your community:

Our NHS is under massive strain at this time. Don’t add to it

1, Follow. The. Guidance. There’s no point playing the hero if you’re simultaneously infecting people and so overloading the NHS. The reason we’ve pressed pause on our entire economy is because isolation saves lives. So before you do anything beyond washing your hands at home alone, read about how to help safely at Mutual Aid UK, or Queer by clicking here.

2, Check on neighbours and old friends. You’re not being patronising. This crisis is unprecedented. So, go through your address book, your old Facebook contacts – is there anyone worth checking on? Someone isolated or disabled or cut off? Starting with people you know is the safest way to help because there’s a relationship of trust already there. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Croydon Nightwatch, CVA, Health, Rowenna Davis | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Council mobilises volunteers to deliver support to the needy

Posted on March 28, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the latest special measures being taken by Mint Walk to deal with the covid-19 emergency

The Town Hall is taking on emergency responsibilities

Croydon Council took on a key emergency responsibility yesterday as the coronavirus emergency lockdown entered its second week.

After being ordered by the government to get all the homeless off the streets this weekend, the council has also opened local hubs in conjunction with public sector partners, Croydon Voluntary Action and the battalion of new volunteers to help to deliver food and medical supplies to older and vulnerable residents.

Those due to receive the support should have received a letter from the NHS in the last week. The local hubs, whose locations have not yet been publicised, will also give advice about where to tap in to covid-19 related medical services. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, CVA | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Council ordered to use public buildings as emergency shelters

Posted on March 27, 2020 by insidecroydon

Parts of the Fairfield Halls, the borough’s leisure centres and even Fisher’s Folly could be transformed over the weekend into emergency shelters for rough sleepers, under the latest government edict in an effort to limit the spread of the deadly covid-19 virus.

Could the council turn the Fairfield Halls into an emergency shelter this weekend?

The news came on the day that Gatwick Airport announced it is to close its North Terminal from next week, and followed the worst day yet for deaths of patients with coronavirus at Croydon’s Mayday Hospital.

Councils across England and Wales, including Croydon, have received a notification telling them “communal night shelters and any street encampments” must be “closed down for the time being” as they are “high-risk” for spreading covid-19.

Dame Louise Casey, an adviser on homelessness to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the aim is that “everybody can have an offer of accommodation by this weekend”. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Croydon NHS Trust, Fairfield Halls, Health, Mayday Hospital | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brick by Brick CEO says company has sold 6 houses. Or is it 5?

Posted on March 27, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our overdevelopment correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, reports on the latest admission of incompetence from Croydon Council’s loss-making house-builders

Brick by Brick CEO Colm Lacey: not on top of his numbers

Five.

Or it might be six.

Colm Lacey, the former council employee who has been promoted way beyond his skills and abilities to be chief executive of a multi-million-pound development company, said he didn’t know how many houses his business had sold.

“I don’t know,” Lacey said.

“You’d be surprised how quickly this changes,” he said, almost as an excuse. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Leila Ben-Hassel, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Season’s abrupt end leaves clubs uncertain over promotion

Posted on March 26, 2020 by insidecroydon

NON-LEAGUE NEWS: It was inevitable, but when the end of the season was announced, abruptly, on Tuesday, there was dismay and some shock among our local clubs, as ANDREW SINCLAIR, right, reports

The decision was announced on Tuesday, with all leagues below England’s “fifth division”, the National League, are ending their seasons with immediate effect amid the continuing suspension of domestic football because of the coronavirus.

The final games for most sides were played on March 7, with the National League divisions also running on March 14. With most leagues’ fixtures not completed, the FA Leagues Committee has to make a tough decision. They appear to have two options. The first is to render the 2019-2020 campaign “null and void”, with all divisions remaining the same as back in August 2019 when the next season starts – whenever that might be. Or they could determine final standings for 2019-2020, and all promotion and relegation issues, using what’s called “points per game”. Continue reading →

Posted in AFC Croydon Athletic, Croydon FC, Football, Sport | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

At 8pm show NHS your support with minute’s warm applause

Posted on March 26, 2020 by insidecroydon

JANE NICHOLL reports from South Norwood where covid-19 mutual aid groups have found a way for a daily break from the isolation, and to helpfully check on the neighbours

Joe, at the window, Lil, baby Vinny, and Ted the cat in yesterday’s noon Wave To The Neighbours

It’s a little bit like Network, the 1976 Peter Finch dystopian movie, but seems to have nothing but the best of intentions.

There’s a national call for us all, in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown, to go to our windows at 8pm tonight, open them up and for a minute or so give some warm applause to show our support for the NHS and other emergency services staff. In the weeks, or months, to come, it could become a “thing”.

In one corner of South Norwood, the community has already been finding ways of coming together, though without, of course, breaking the two-metre exclusion zone rules.

As we are now needing to find ways to alleviate our feelings of isolation during self-isolation, communities are becoming imaginative in their ways of dealing with this global crisis. Continue reading →

Posted in Health, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Pay Your Staff: Disgusted locals send Spoons a message

Posted on March 26, 2020 by insidecroydon

Pay Your Staff: The Postal Order pub underwent some dramatic redecorating on Tuesday night

No one would be foolish enough to suggest that Wetherspoons’ climbdown yesterday over paying their workers was prompted by it, but some people in Crystal Palace made what they think of the odious Tim Martin plain on Tuesday night as they daubed his pub on the Triangle with a couple of direct messages.

Martin’s influence on this nation’s life over the past four years has been disproportionate to his place in society, and the public outcry this week was massive when the multi-millionaire pub chain owner declared that he would not be paying his staff for the duration of the coronavirus lockdown. Instead, he suggested helpfully, they should seek work as shelf-stackers with local supermarkets. Such a nice chap. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Pubs | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Powers to be delegated as council cancels planning meetings

Posted on March 25, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council has finally caught up with the advice from the government and public health organisations over the coronavirus pandemic and cancelled all Town Hall public meetings “until further notice”.

The council has belatedly decided to cancel all public meetings at the Town Hall

Even at the start of this week, Jo “We’re Not Stupid” Negrini, the council’s £220,000 per year chief executive, still had a planning committee and sub-committee meeting listed on the council website as going ahead tomorrow evening.

Not now.

But it means that Croydon residents may soon discover that there is one thing worse than the council’s planning committee, and that’s no planning committee. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Planning | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The latest Croydon carbuncle: Riddlesdown’s own glasshouse

Posted on March 25, 2020 by insidecroydon

The latest Croydon carbuncle: this one is an architect’s take on a block of 18 flats proposed for Mitchley Avenue

Another day, another Croydon carbuncle.

This time it is a block of 18 flats in a gargantuan five-storey block plonked between the suburban detached houses of Mitchley Avenue, Riddlesdown, as proposed by Vita Homes. Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Planning, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Culture deals with covid-19 without making a song and dance

Posted on March 24, 2020 by insidecroydon

The sense of doom and gloom caused by the covid-19 pandemic had well and truly taken hold of London by the middle of last week. There was a dark humour about the place reflected by the public address system at Victoria Tube station playing “Ghost Town” by The Specials to the significantly reduced number of commuters who were scuttling away to catch the next train home.

The Fairfield Halls: closed again, and like last time, no one knows for how long

Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday last week, there had been a steady cascade of announcements from community arts groups, orchestras, choirs and sports clubs about the postponement or cancellation of long-planned events.

It seemed that community groups had taken on board the necessity for avoiding having people gathered together to prevent the spread of coronavirus better than Croydon Council, or the management of the Fairfield Halls.

For while much of the West End was turning out the lights and cancelling productions for the foreseeable, south London’s second-biggest arts centre dithered and delayed, and was still taking bookings for some of its shows as late as last Wednesday night, a day after the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had called on theatres and concert venues to close. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Cinema, Croydon Bach Choir, Croydon Male Voice Choir, Croydon Philharmonic Choir, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Fairfield Halls, Music, Talawa Theatre Company, Theatre, Theatre Workshop Coulsdon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Delays, postponements and cancellations become a new art

Posted on March 24, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s turn to be London’s Borough of Culture in 2023 remains unchanged. For now.

Justine Simons at the launch event for Brent’s Borough of Culture – now put back a year

But if they can postpone the Olympic Games, as the Prime Minister of Japan requested today, then anything can fall victim to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Mayor of London announced today that Brent, the nominated Borough of Culture for 2020, is to “delay” its festivities until later in 2020, with the Kilburn High Street Party and Liberty Festival now to go ahead in the summer of 2021.

Much of Brent’s plans revolved around football’s European Championships, with key matches to be played at Wembley. UEFA, the European football body, took the decision earlier this month to postpone those fixtures until 2021.

Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Borough of Culture 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council finally decides to cancel cabinet and Town Hall meeting

Posted on March 23, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council has cancelled tonight’s planned cabinet meeting at the Town Hall and has scrapped the full meeting of the borough’s 70 councillors that was due to be held in the chamber next Monday, as council execs slowly get round to recognising the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision to abandon these “public meetings” – to which the public would not be allowed entry – came belatedly, with the decision not to go ahead with tonight’s cabinet only circulated to councillors this morning.

In a curt email from chief executive Jo Negrini’s democratic services department, they told the borough’s elected representatives, “In light of the current situation the meeting of Cabinet scheduled for Monday, 23rd March, 2020, 6.30pm has been cancelled.”

Of course, anyone with access to the internet, television, radio or newspapers will have known that “the current situation” has been “current” for more than two weeks. Except in Croydon, it would seem.

The decision not to go ahead with next Monday’s full council meeting was noted as being a “cross-party decision”. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Cycling, Jo Negrini, Planning, Transport | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Justice junior minister tests data law in call for volunteers

Posted on March 23, 2020 by insidecroydon

Chris Philp, the Tory MP for Croydon South, sent out a pandemic emergency email to his constituents last week which provided contradictory advice and bends data protection laws to breaking point, as PEARL LEE reports

MP Chris Philp: mixed message and some dodgy data practices

Chris Philp, the MP for Croydon South, on Friday evening became the latest of the borough’s three MPs to issue constituency-wide advice and attempt to help coordinate efforts during the covid-19 emergency.

But the email from Philp – a junior minister at the Ministry of Justice in the Conservative Government – includes links to a data-scraping form which may even be breaking the law.

Despite reminding residents that “we need to work together”, unlike Labour MPs Steve Reed and Sarah Jones, Philp’s public plea for volunteers appears to ignore Croydon Voluntary Action, the council-backed charities group which is trying to put together a borough-wide response.

Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon South, CVA, Mario Creatura, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Community housing trust awards pupils prizes for new logo

Posted on March 23, 2020 by insidecroydon

Back in the good old days – you may remember them when kids went to school, adults went down the pub, and you could buy an almost inexhaustible supply of bog roll in the shops – some people were making plans for their futures.

Competition entrants from All Saints School

So it was for the Crystal Palace Community Land Trust, the organisation which in 2019 won a competition run by the council for a 100 per cent affordable self-build housing project on a site on The Lawns. The scheme is to be project-managed by Brick by Brick… well, you can’t have everything.

As part of CPCLT’s outreach with the community, they staged a competition of their own, with the Year 6 pupils at All Saints Primary School to design a logo for its scheme. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Community associations, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, Housing, Schools, Stephen Mann | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

‘Business as usual’ at Town Hall as four councillors self-isolate

Posted on March 22, 2020 by insidecroydon

KEN LEE reports – from a safe distance – on the mixed messages put out by Newman and Negrini over the covid-19 pandemic

At least four of Croydon’s elected councillors have quarantined themselves after displaying symptoms or being in contact with someone else suspected of having the coronavirus.

Inside Croydon understands that one of the councillors who has been in self-isolation for the past fortnight or so after showing some symptoms of the illness is Paul Scott, the cabinet member for planning and the controversial de facto chair of the planning committee.

And yet Croydon Council appears determined to continue with staging public meetings at the Town Hall, with a cabinet meeting (oh the irony) to discuss measures being taken to contain and treat the coronavirus still due to go ahead tomorrow night. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Health, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Planning, Toni Letts, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Institute member Townsend promoted as new chief planner

Posted on March 21, 2020 by insidecroydon

Nicola Townsend is the council’s new chief planner.

Nicola Townsend: new job, juicy new salary

Except she’s not.

She’s been appointed as something which is described in council papers as Croydon’s “director of homes and social investment”.

The council opted for an internal promotion to replace the retiring, and not entirely lamented, Pete Smith.

Townsend has worked at Croydon Council since the last century (she did some planning for Tramlink), and has held a senior position in the North planning team – which means she will have had a major hand in discussions and negotiations over the now-aborted £1.4billion Westfield supermall scheme.

As a result of her promotion, Townsend will get a near-£30,000 pay hike, as she goes from being one of the borough’s two “planning team leaders”, to her new director role on £109,140 per year. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Nicola Townsend, Pete Smith, Planning, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council goes into covid-19 lockdown as it closes its offices

Posted on March 21, 2020 by insidecroydon

Council buildings across the borough were shut at close to no-notice yesterday, as Croydon went on a coronavirus lockdown.

All council buildings closed their doors yesterday – before the council announced it

The council propaganda department made the announcement hours after Inside Croydon had revealed plans to close the borough’s 12 public libraries.

The council decision came on the same day that the government ordered the closure of pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés, after its previous appeals for the public to practice social distancing to reduce the spread of the virus had not been entirely successful.

Now, the Museum of Croydon and the buildings that house the CALAT adult education centres have also closed for what the council describes as “the foreseeable future”. The government had ordered the closure of all schools and colleges earlier in the week.

The council has also shut down its Access Croydon enquiry centre in the council headquarters building, Fisher’s Folly, with emergency queries and credit union emergencies the only exceptions. The DWP’s JobCentre Plus operation is moving its staff from Access Croydon into its other office next door in Mint Walk. Continue reading →

Posted in CALAT, Croydon Council, Health, Libraries | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Sainsbury’s joins with charities to help Selsdon Food Hub

Posted on March 21, 2020 by insidecroydon

Charities, community groups and businesses in Selsdon and Monks Hill have teamed up during the coronavirus emergency to provide shopping to the most vulnerable residents living in the area.

The Selsdon Food Hub is open for donations and offers of volunteer help

The groups include Selsdon Contact, a registered charity which has been established in the area for almost half a century, plus the Selsdon Centre for the Retired, Vintage 62, the Monks Hill Food Stop, some local churches, GP surgeries and Sainsbury’s.

But the group’s hopes of opening a café to act as a community hub during the quarantine period have been put on hold, following the government directive last night to close all pubs, bars and restaurants. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Stranack, Business, Charity, Church and religions, Community associations, Selsdon & Ballards | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

TV expert slams ‘tricky art dealer’ and ‘gullible’ council leader

Posted on March 20, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our arts correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK, on some withering criticism of the borough’s street art from a leading social commentator

Jonathan Meades: has made some scathing criticism of Croydon’s ‘crass’ street art

Jonathan Meades, the widely respected commentator, has called Croydon Council leader Tony Newman “laughably gullible” and described the street art which has been paid for by the local council as “crass”.

Meades made the remarks in a letter to Private Eye, the fortnightly satirical magazine, after it reported that the television film-maker had reason to pursue Croydon-based art dealer Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison for the return of some artworks he owns.

Zuchowski-Morrison is a former bankrupt who previously ran the Rise Gallery on St George’s Walk, from where he used tens of thousands of pounds from the council to commission various artists to paint murals on the sides of buildings around the town centre.

Council chief exec Jo “We’re Not Stupid” Negrini regularly wheeled out Zuchowski-Morrison at public events, in this country and abroad, in an effort to “artwash” the borough’s regeneration projects. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Rise Gallery, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Council in appeal to private landlords to offer rent holidays

Posted on March 20, 2020 by insidecroydon

Days after other councils in London stepped in to demand that private landlords offer rent breaks and financial help to their tenants affected by the covid-19 pandemic, Croydon has stepped in to do the same.

Yesterday, the council issued a press release stating that it has written to the landlords of more than 35,000 privately rented properties in the borough, recommending they offer either rental holidays or short-term reductions for those tenants who are at risk of homelessness because of coronavirus affecting the economy.

Without government legislation, the request is simply that – a request – but given the severity of the emergency, the hope is that landlords may take a long view. The government has put in place the opportunity for property owners – including private landlords – to get a three-month mortgage holiday during the emergency, and Croydon and other councils are hopeful that enlightened landlords will pass on the benefits of this to their tenants through their rentbooks. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Business, Croydon Council, Health, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Croydon to close public libraries during coronavirus outbreak

Posted on March 20, 2020 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: KEN LEE, our Town Hall correspondent, reports on a move which some of the borough’s librarians called for a fortnight ago

The 12 libraries run by Croydon Council will close their doors for a final time tonight, with no plans to re-open them again until the coronavirus pandemic has been declared over.

The council’s librarians have been anxious about the possible effects on their own health, and those who use the libraries since the emergency was declared more than two weeks ago.

The fear of passing on the virus either through contact in the public areas or even through returned books has been a constant concern. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Libraries | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment