Newman stifles report which alleges conspiracy over selection

Posted on January 25, 2020 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, on a leaked report over the rumbling row in Croydon Labour over a selection stitch-up that saw Tony Newman’s favoured candidate put forward for last November’s Fairfield council by-election

The fix is in: Tony Newman

A internal party report, leaked to Inside Croydon, alleges that there was a conspiracy between senior Croydon Labour councillors and officials, headed by Tony Newman, to make sure that a hand-picked colleague was installed as their party’s candidate in last November’s Fairfield by-election.

Newman has already been under fire for his handling of the resignation last September of Councillor Niro Sirisena, after what Croydon Labour described as a “serious incident”, which caused the ward by-election to be held. Although Newman was made aware of allegations of a serious assault by one of his councillors, his first action was not to report the matter to the police but to meet Sirisena and secure his resignation from the council.

And now Newman, the leader of Croydon Council, has done his utmost to avoid having to answer to the allegations in this latest report, which was drafted by a retired solicitor and long-standing Labour official who was shocked and saddened by the manner in which Jose Joseph, the by-election candidate who had been democratically selected by local members, was shunted aside for Newman’s favoured candidate. Continue reading →

Posted in Caragh Skipper, Chris Clark, Croydon Central, David White, Fairfield, Jose Joseph, Niro Sirisena, Sarah Jones MP, Tony Newman, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Blue plaque for Albert Hill, Tooting’s unsung Olympic hero

Posted on January 25, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Westfield now holding Croydon to ransom over business rates

Posted on January 24, 2020 by insidecroydon

Just how big a bribe, a “bung” if you prefer, of public cash is it going to take to get Westfield and their supermall partners to finally get to work on their Barwell-inspired, Tory-backed shopping centre scheme in Croydon Town Centre?

Sarah Jones: making special  pleading for rates relief for big business

That’s the only remaining question, surely, after Sarah Jones, the Labour MP for Croydon Central, this week secured the agreement for a meeting over the parlous state of her constituency’s high street with the Conservative government’s business minister, Andrea Leadsom. Cuts in business rates are firmly on the agenda.

Referring to the long-promised temple to consumerism in typically public schoolgirl language as “fabulous”, Jones told the House of Commons, “Westfield is set to open a fabulous new shopping centre in Croydon, but the French owner of Westfield, Unibail-Rodamco, is worried about business rates, the state of retail and the impact of Brexit.

“Will the Secretary of State please meet representatives of Westfield and Unibail-Rodamco to talk about some of those concerns?” Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Sarah Jones MP, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Oh calamity! Negrini’s not worried about 6/11 high risk ratings

Posted on January 24, 2020 by insidecroydon

The council’s finances have gone into  the red zone, according to CIPFA, and Croydon now has £1.4bn debt, the third-highest of any council in the country. But the Town Hall CEO says it is nothing to be concerned about.
By KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter

Croydon Council’s £220,000 per year chief executive Jo Negrini has told the local government’s parish magazine that she’s “not sitting back waiting for calamity to hit”, despite the local authority where she has been in charge since 2016 being rated at high risk in six out of 11 categories by a nationally recognised finance and accountancy organisation.

Jo Negrini

Jo Negrini has led Croydon Council to high-risk status, according to CIPFA

Anyone note just a hint of complacency?

According to CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Croydon is rated as “high risk” on six out of 11 of the indicators on their resilience index, including levels of reserves, rate of depletion of reserves, proportion of budget spent on social care and levels of debt.

CIPFA also has an adverse auditor’s opinion, which is judged by them to be an indicator of potentially poor governance.

As well as dangerously depleting the council’s reserves, Negrini’s council has managed to build up a mountain of debt, including at least £900million from the Treasury through the Public Works Loans Board, using the money to fund its ill-managed Brick by Brick housing scheme and the over-priced purchase of local commercial property. Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Get in the running for Croydon’s Race for Life on July 5

Posted on January 24, 2020 by insidecroydon

Fun runners, racers, joggers and those who want to get a bit fitter and raise cash for charity have just one week left to register for this year’s Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life in Croydon and still be eligible to claim a 30 per cent discount on their entry fee.

The events are returning to Lloyd Park in 2020, but are no longer restricted to women.

This means everybody can be part of the empowering Race for Life movement – and show support for the 33,800 people diagnosed with cancer every year in London. Continue reading →

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Petition for elected mayor hits 7,000 before campaign launch

Posted on January 23, 2020 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, on how a campaign based on the premise that there is ‘a serious and urgent need for a better democracy in the way Croydon Council is run’, has already got half the signatures it needs for a borough-wide referendum before next month’s launch event

It is a sign of how disliked and distrusted Croydon Labour leader Tony Newman and his council’s controversial planning policies have become that a mailshot sent to borough residents offering an alternative system got a response rate more than 10 times greater than similar lobbying exercises typically expect.

Would you vote for this man? Tony Newman

A petition calling for Croydon to have a directly elected mayor is now halfway towards the 15,000-signature target, which if achieved would force the council to stage a borough-wide referendum on the proposal – something which “man of the people” Newman has gone out of his way to block and frustrate.

And the formal “launch” of the directly elected mayor campaign has yet to be staged.

The meeting is being staged on Wednesday, February 5, at Christchurch Primary School, Montpelier Road, Purley, CR8 2QE, from 8.15pm.

The directly elected mayor campaign has already drawn support from a wide political range in the borough, including senior Labour figures, Tory MP Chris Philp, and even some from the far-right who still go into a blood vessel-busting frenzy whenever the word “referendum” gets a mention.

Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Sign up for Purley Swimathon to raise funds for your cause

Posted on January 23, 2020 by insidecroydon

“Don’t delay – enter a team today” is the message from the organisers of this year’s Purley Rotary’s Swimathon, being staged at Purley Pool on Saturdays March 7 and 14.

Deadline for entries is February 8 and full details, including the downloadable entry form, are available at www.purleyrotary.com. Continue reading →

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Patronised residents decry Scott’s planning committee ‘farce’

Posted on January 22, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council’s planning committee is “a farce”, and “an avenue for Councillor Scott to push through his anti-suburbia agenda”.

The five-storey block of flats that the planning committee chair said its neighbours would come to like…

That – referring to Paul Scott, the Labour councillor who is all-powerful on planning matters in Croydon – is the strongly held view of the chair of a large residents’ group in Purley following a meeting last month. The meeting voted to grant permission to build a large block of flats to a private developer whose directors include the wife of a senior Croydon planning officials. No declaration of the relationship between developers’ director and her council planner husband was made until the day of the planning meeting – and long after the planning department had drafted a glowing report in favour of the development.

The Foxley Residents’ Association is now considering taking the matter to the High Court under a Judicial Review to stop the development of a five-storey block of 40 flats in a street which otherwise comprises large family houses. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Paul Scott, Planning, Purley, Toni Letts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mind in Croydon carers counselling sessions for 2020

Posted on January 22, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Croydon Beer Festival, Braithwaite Hall, Feb 28-Mar 1

Posted on January 21, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Lillians Law Trust fund-raiser, The Warren, Hayes, Jun 27

Posted on January 20, 2020 by insidecroydon

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CAMRA South Norwood Beer Festival, Stanley Halls, Feb 6-8

Posted on January 20, 2020 by insidecroydon

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John McDonnell: Next steps for Labour, Ruskin House, Feb 11

Posted on January 19, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon TUC and Croydon Assembly open meeting

Next steps for Labour
Speaker: John McDonnell MP

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Tuesday February 11, 7.30pm
Ruskin House
23 Coombe Road, CR0 1BD Continue reading →

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The cow that changed history and other talks, Purley Lit

Posted on January 19, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Brick by Brick fail to apologise for shared ownership bungling

Posted on January 18, 2020 by insidecroydon

Brick by Brick, the loss-making council-owned house-builder, last night finally ended their silence and admitted that they are not able to sell homes under any shared ownership schemes.

Seven days after Inside Croydon broke the news that Brick by Brick had failed to register themselves as an approved provider of shared ownership homes, the company published a statement on its website in which they tried to shift the blame for their gross administrative failure. They claimed that banks and building societies had “imposed additional criteria” before providing mortgages on their shared ownership properties.

This, of course, is weapons-grade bullshit, since all providers of shared ownership homes understand that they require a registration as a supplier for their customers to be able to secure mortgages from lenders. Brick by Brick, which has received more than £260million in loans via Croydon Council, has been in business now for almost five years. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Athletic cleared over racism allegations in Fisher match

Posted on January 18, 2020 by insidecroydon

There could be serious recriminations for a team of non-league footballers who walked off the pitch mid-game in Thornton Heath last month after the London FA handed down a ruling which cleared AFC Croydon Athletic and their players of all allegations of having abused their opponents racially.

Croydon Athletic say that they feel vindicated by the ruling.

The match, in the South East Counties League Premier Division on December 28, had to be abandoned after an hour when all the players from Fisher quit the pitch at Athletic’s Mayfield Road ground. Athletic were leading 3-1 at the time, and Fisher had already had one player sent off. Continue reading →

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Save yourself money, Tea and Tech, Upper Norwood, Jan 24

Posted on January 18, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Council assisted £80,000 sponsorship for bankrupted art dealer

Posted on January 17, 2020 by insidecroydon

Having traded for years on his association with street artist Banksy, a gallery owner landed tens of thousands of pounds in public money for an arts festival promoting his business – even as he was being declared bankrupt by the tax man. STEVEN DOWNES reports

Croydon Council and the town centre’s Business Improvement District used tens of thousands of pounds of public money to pay for an arts festival organised by a local businessman who was in the process of being made bankrupt.

Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison: he traded off an association with Banksy, and now has ‘big plans’

And the recipient of that Town Hall largesse, the now-former bankrupt Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison, says he is planning “big things over the next few months”, after having staged the launch of his latest venture… in the offices of the council-owned loss-making house-builder, Brick by Brick.

Today, a delegation from Croydon has headed to City Hall to submit the council’s bid for yet more public money for their pet projects, as they seek to become London’s “Borough of Culture” in 2023. A £1million grant from the Mayor of London is the prize if they are successful. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Croydon BID, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Paula Murray, Rise Gallery, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Palace goalkeeper says she was subjected to sexist abuse

Posted on January 17, 2020 by insidecroydon

Lucy Gillett, Crystal Palace’s goalkeeper, says that she was subjected to sexist abuse from male fans during her club’s match at Coventry on Sunday.

Lucy Gillett: she considered walking off the pitch

The American told BBC Sport that during the first half of Palace’s 3-2 defeat, a group of fans shouted the referee should “check the gender” of Palace players.

Palace’s women’s team play in the FA Women’s  Championship, the second tier of women’s football in England, where they are seventh in the league.

Gillett, 25, was signed by Palace on loan from Brighton just a week ago.

She said, “In my 18 years of playing I’ve never had verbal abuse directly aimed at myself right behind my goal. It was an unpleasant experience. If it was a racist comment it wouldn’t be tolerated. We have had players walk off pitches for racist comments. Maybe I should have walked off the pitch in that match.”

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Empty homes in Croydon soar by 50% with Butler in charge

Posted on January 16, 2020 by insidecroydon

The number of empty homes in Croydon increased by almost 50 per cent in the first four years that Alison Butler was the cabinet member for housing in the borough.

Those are some of the shocking figures released today by Labour’s spokesperson on housing at the London Assembly, and are based on government statistics.

The numbers show that Croydon has more empty homes than all but one other borough in London.

According to the government data, the number of empty homes in Croydon in 2015 stood at 1,022. By 2018, that figure had risen to 1,521.

Croydon Council says that it has 5,000 households on its housing waiting list. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Housing, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Tom Copley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sanderstead and Riddlesdown lead battle to save Green Belt

Posted on January 16, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council is eyeing green fields such as these in Riddlesdown as potential sites for housing development

In 1953, the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council was granted a coat of arms, and this included two trees, one an oak to represent the Purley Oaks and the other a beech for Purley Beeches.

In 2020, Croydon Council (which succeeded Coulsdon and Purley UDC as the local authority) is actively considering removing any planning protections in order to allow it to take an axe to Purley Beeches, to allow the land to be developed for housing.

The Friends of Purley Beeches, the Sanderstead Residents’ Association and the Riddlesdown Residents’ Association are among various groups who have been urging their members and neighbours to take part in the council “consultation” over its review of its Local Plan, as the residents fear that their local parks, playgrounds, open spaces and Green Belt are under serious threat. The deadline for submissions is next Monday, January 20.

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Posted in Alison Butler, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Housing, Mayor of London, Paul Scott, Planning, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

MP Jones suggests Croydon points the way for national policy

Posted on January 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

Sarah Jones, re-elected last month as the Labour MP for Croydon Central, says that her campaign in the General Election offers key lessons for her party as it picks up the pieces after a shattering defeat.

Sarah Jones MP: needs to re-establish credibility after a ‘memorable’ performance on BBC’s Question Time

Writing a lengthy article for The Independent, Jones makes several claims about how she managed to hold the seat when dozens of Labour MPs were losing theirs around the country.

The article might have appeared to be a leadership or deputy leadership pitch, were the deadline for entries to replace Jeremy Corbyn not already closed. Instead, it has all the appearances of Jones positioning herself for a key role in the leadership campaign of Sir Keir Starmer, for whom she has declared her support.

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Posted in 2019 General Election, Croydon Central, Housing, New Addington, New Addington North, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council director promises to find new home for Carers Centre

Posted on January 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

One of the council’s most senior executives has given a firm undertaking that, together with the borough’s wealthiest charity, a new home will be found for the Croydon Carers Support Centre which is currently based on George Street.

On the move: the Carers Support Centre has been promised a new home

Permission was granted at the last planning committee meeting of 2019 for Taj Holdings Ltd, the owners of the building at 24-26 George Street, to redevelop their property, which extends along from No20 to No28, into two one-bed flats, six two-bed flats and one three-bed home.

The redevelopment of the terrace of Victorian buildings, opposite the former Allders site, will displace at least a dozen charity groups and support agencies who have used the Carers Centre for a range of activities and their daily administration, thanks to funding from the Whitgift Foundation. Continue reading →

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Akala Talk, CSEP East Croydon, Jan 22

Posted on January 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

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Croydon Minster Friday Lunchtime Recitals, Jan 17-Apr 3

Posted on January 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

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