Crystal Palace campaigners reject library deal as a sop

Posted on May 2, 2016 by insidecroydon

GENE BRODIE, our hard-working bookish gyms correspondent, reports on the latest twist in the tale of the Upper Norwood Library, a saga so full of back-stabbing and manoeuvrings that it makes Game of Thrones seem chaste and innocent

Library campaigners are unimpressed with Lambeth Council's 11th-hour change of plan

Library campaigners are unimpressed with Lambeth Council’s 11th-hour change of plan

Library campaigners were out in force along Westow Hill in Crystal Palace on Saturday, protesting again at the Conservative Government’s austerity cuts being applied to the service.

The campaigners were unimpressed with an 11th-hour announcement by Lambeth Council that it is to staff Upper Norwood Joint Library for 35 hours per week for two years, dismissing the news as little more than a calculated sop.

Upper Norwood Library is funded jointly by Lambeth and Croydon councils, which provide £85,000 per year each.

But as part of its plan to close two public libraries and convert two more in its borough into “bookish gyms”, Lambeth’s “co-operative” council wanted to hand over the running of Upper Norwood to a volunteer trust with effect from May 1, withdrawing all professional staff and making the library into a “self-service” facility.

With barely a month to go to the handover, the back-of-a-fag-packet plans from Lambeth had even left the Upper Norwood Library Trust guessing over what levels of professional librarian support they might expect.

Continue reading →

Posted in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Libraries, Upper Norwood Library Trust | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fairfield’s Last Night of the Proms to go out with a bang

Posted on May 2, 2016 by insidecroydon

The Fairfield Halls’ last week of performances before it undergoes a two-year, £30-million refit is to be marked with a rousing and dramatic concert from the one of the venue’s regular musical fund-raisers, The Last Night of the Croydon Proms, on Saturday, June 25.

Last Night of the Croydon PromsAnd with the Croydon Symphony Orchestra on the programme playing the 1812 Overture, the concert hall could go out with a bang.

The annual Proms concert in Croydon, as pictured right, featuring conductor Darrell Davison, has raised more than £250,000 for charity this century alone, with local good causes among the recipients including the Special Care Baby Unit at Mayday Hospital, MacMillan Cancer Support and Lives Not Knives among those benefiting.

Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Croydon Symphony Orchestra, Fairfield Halls, Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lansdowne Road developer lunching out on Exchange Square

Posted on May 1, 2016 by insidecroydon

In case there was any lingering doubt about the corporatism which is taking over central Croydon, you might want to cough up nearly 70 notes for the “opportunity” to “enjoy” an “exclusive” lunch to hear a property speculator give “his vision for Croydon”. And you might even be able to “voice your opinion”.

Sky-high ambitions: probably with sky-high prices at the 1 Lansdowne development

Sky-high ambitions: probably with sky-high prices at the 1 Lansdowne development

If the previous paragraph has offended your bullshit detector, please don’t blame iC, but take up the matter with the Croydon Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Under the heading, “CCCI Executive Club Lunch: A Futuristic Development Plan for Croydon”, they are flogging tickets for £68 (including VAT, which most attendees will doubtless reclaim as a “business expense”) for a boozy lunch at the Hallmark Hotel (that’s Croydon Aerodrome on Purley Way) on May 12, where the main speaker is David Hudson, the principal of Guildhouse Rosepride, the developers who are building a 69-storey tower on Wellesley Road.

“Icon” is one of those words which PR bullshitters have discovered and now use remorselessly about anything and anyone. But never about icons. Its misuse should be a warning to all to distrust anything which follows.

So beware, then, the Croydon CCI as it entices its members and others to this month’s “networking” lunch. For they reach for the icon from the start: “The iconic One Landsdowne Road skyscraper is just one of developments being planned by Guildhouse Rosepride LLP.” Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Exchange Square, One Lansdowne Road, Planning, Property | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Help London Wildlife Trust by taking a short nature survey

Posted on May 1, 2016 by insidecroydon

Do you know your Crystal Palace Park from your Horniman Gardens? Your Nunhead Cemetery from your Streatham Common?

Great North Wood mapTake a short survey from the London Wildlife Trust and you could win a delicious meal for two at The Great North Wood Pub in West Norwood.

The Great North Wood was a large area of ancient woodland and commons in south London, extending through to Upper and South Norwood (the clue’s in the name), Norbury and Thornton Heath. Over the centuries, the Great North Wood has become fragmented, broken up into a patchwork smaller plots of suburban land, parks and woodland.

Even today, it still supports a wide array of plants and animals and provides people with a welcome taste of nature and an escape from the crowded urban environment. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Friends of the Earth, Environment, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

MP Barwell tries to claim election office cost just £1.84 per day

Posted on April 30, 2016 by insidecroydon

Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who won the Croydon Central parliamentary seat last May by just 165 votes, has tried to meet strict election spending limits by submitting that his campaign office cost only £1.84 a day.

Gavin Barwell MP: election expenses under scrutiny for second time

Gavin Barwell MP: election expenses under scrutiny for second time

The Daily Mirror is reporting that Barwell “failed to mention any office rental costs in the official declaration of his election spending that he is required to provide by law”.

Barwell is under investigation by the police following a formal complaint that he had failed to declare properly all his election spending, as Inside Croydon reported yesterday.

The Representation of the People Act demands that candidates in elections comply with strict spending limits. In his official accounts, Barwell has sought to minimise the amount he claims that he spent on his election printing bills by saying that not all his leaflets were delivered.

The Mirror has been investigating the Conservative Party’s spending, and its efforts to “buy the election” with bus hire and hotel accommodation in marginal seats around the country, involving 29 parliamentary seats. Barwell has become the 30th Tory MP to be subject to police inquiries. Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Ian Parker | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Khan braced for Tory attacks as poll gives him 20% lead

Posted on April 30, 2016 by insidecroydon

London election graphicIn what is probably the final, meaningful opinion poll (oxymoron klaxon) before voting in the London elections next Thursday, Labour’s Sadiq Khan – “the council estate boy from south London” – appears on track to become the capital’s third mayor, beating Tory Old Etonian #BackZacAndCrack Goldsmith by 20 per cent after second preferences.

Marina Ahmad campaigning in Croydon earlier this month with Labour's candidate for Mayor, Sadiq Khan

Labour’s Croydon and Sutton candidate Marina Ahmad with Sadiq Khan

The Survation poll, published on Thursday, puts Khan on 60 per cent to Goldsmith’s 40per cent. It is possibly more significant, given the general distrust of polling reliability following the 2015 experience, in that it is an identical result to that found by YouGov a week earlier.

And that could be very worrying news for Tory do-nothing Steve O’Connell, who is seeking a third term of generous allowances and freebie Palace tickets as the London Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton, as the quietly impressive Marina Ahmad requires just a 3 per cent swing from the 2012 vote to become the boroughs’ first Labour Party AM.

But Labour will take little comfort from the polling, since they fear that the wide margin in favour of Khan may lead to complacency among supporters and a low turn-out, giving the better-resourced Tories a chance to snatch an unlikely victory.

And the threat of a Lynton Crosby-inspired eve-of-polls media blitz suggests that an already narky campaign might yet become nastier still. Continue reading →

Posted in Caroline Pidgeon, Ken Livingstone, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Marina Ahmad, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Sian Berry, Zac Goldsmith MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Theatres Trust offers to review £30m Fairfield Halls scheme

Posted on April 30, 2016 by insidecroydon
The view of the bright new future for the Fairfield Halls, as offered by architects Rick Mather

The view of the bright new future for the Fairfield Halls, as offered by architects Rick Mather. The Theatres Trust is offering to provide some practical advice

In a letter to Croydon Council, the Theatres Trust has welcomed many of the proposals for refurbishing the Fairfield Halls, which is due to close in July for a £30 million refit.

But in the letter the Trust’s planning adviser Ross Anthony highlighted the “unfortunate” two-year closure and the lack of any management or operator confirmed to take on the concert hall, Ashcroft Theatre and Arnhem Gallery when the venue is due to re-open in 2018.

The council, which owns the Halls, opted to save around £5 million in additional costs by not phasing the works, which are going ahead following nearly a year’s negotiations with the trustees of Fairfield (Croydon) Ltd, the charity which currently operates the venue. The council also bailed out the trust with around £800,000 towards the costs of paying off creditors and its redundancy settlement for the Halls’ 70 full-time and 80 part-time staff. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls, Kate Vennell, Music, Theatre | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Police receive complaint over MP Barwell’s election expenses

Posted on April 29, 2016 by insidecroydon

Gavin Barwell is the subject of a formal complaint to the police which asks them to investigate whether the Croydon Central Tory MP broke the law by under-declaring his campaign spending at last year’s General Election.

The local MP has been out campaigning with members of a Tory youth group under investigation for some serious allegations

The police have received a complaint over the Tory MP’s spending on election leaflets last year

Barwell has form in this regard.

Barwell’s Conservative Party agent, Ian Parker, was subject of a legal warning five years ago for failing to declare properly rent payments for an office used during the 2010 General Election campaign.

That warning from a High Court judge appears to have been forgotten in Barwell’s desperate attempt to hang on to his parliamentary seat, which he did last May by just 165 votes.

Under the terms of the Representation of the People Act 1983, inaccurate declarations of election expenses are illegal and can attract a range of punishments.

Following this week’s complaint to Croydon police – and there is a possibility that there has been more than one – Barwell could become the 30th Conservative MP under police investigation for irregularities over their 2015 election expenses. Even Tory Central Office has conceded that there may have been a breach of the strict limits on election spending in other constituencies. In those cases, the Tories blame “an administrative error”.

The gathering storm over the Tories “buying the election” has prompted the Electoral Commission yesterday to call on the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to extend the deadline for its investigations by 12 months.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Ian Parker | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Licence fees set to increase for borough’s street traders

Posted on April 29, 2016 by insidecroydon

The council’s licensing committee has endorsed increases in fees for street trading licences, albeit at rates reduced from the original proposals.

Pubs, cafes and bars, such as the Milan Bar, face increased charges if they want to use the borough's pavements

Pubs, cafes and bars, such as the Milan Bar, face increased charges if they want to use the borough’s pavements

It is the first change for nearly a decade in the charges for shops, cafes and restaurants which choose to extend their premises on to the public highway. Facing austerity cuts on a range of council services, the council felt it had to increase the amounts charged to at least cover its costs of administration.

The proposal caused a state of near panic among some vested commercial interests, who appeared outraged that they should actually have to pay for using the borough’s pavements for their businesses. This led to the launch of a Tory-backed petition (another one) from the Glee Club’s favourite coffee shop.

The Town Hall meeting on Wednesday night was told by a council official that the figures for increased charges used in the petition by the coffee shop founder – who tried to suggest that their charges would increase by 2,500 per cent – had been grossly inflated. “A bit like their prices,” one wag muttered audibly during the presentation.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Jane Avis, Pubs, Restaurants, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plant and seedlings sale at Heathfield House, May 15

Posted on April 29, 2016 by insidecroydon
Sheep, orchards, vegetables and flowering plants are all to be found at Heathfield House

Sheep, orchards, vegetables and flowering plants are all to be found at Heathfield House

The Croydon Ecology Centre at Heathfield House is staging its annual, fund-raising plant and seedling sale on Sunday May 15, from noon to 4.30.

Light lunches, teas and refreshments will also be available.

“Our annual sale is one of our most popular events and we would like to make it even better this year.

“Can our friends and members help by donating plants to sell?” the organisers say. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Environment, Gardening, Heathfield House | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Negrini faces showdown with developers over £1.4bn scheme

Posted on April 28, 2016 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE on how council planning officials have reported that the “Croydon Carbuncle” is a serious threat to the town centre’s historic, 400-year-old almshouses and a Grade I-listed church

Westfield and Hammerson’s sharp-suited executives will have a lot of explaining to do when they come up before the Croydon Council planning committee tonight, where the borough’s residents will discover whether Jo Negrini, recently announced as the council’s interim CEO, is prepared to stand-up to old colleagues she worked with at the Stratford shopping centre development.

Croydon Partnership Westfield Hammerson logo HammersfieldThe Croydon Partnership – the name adopted for the redevelopment of the Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres by Westfield and Hammerson – last week produced radically altered plans for the now £1.4billion project, barely a year after being given planning permission for a smaller scheme, and following a lengthy publicly funded Compulsory Purchase Order inquiry.

The new plans for central Croydon double the number of homes to be built, and include a single, 3,000-bay car park alongside the tall residential tower buildings, while proposing an IMAX cinema where Allders used to be.

The sweeping scheme changes have created a significant early test for Croydon Council’s Australian-born planning chief, Negrini, who was appointed to her role after she had previously worked closely with Australian developers, Westfield, on their previous major mall, alongside the Olympic Park in Newham. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Church and religions, CPO, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Planning, Transport, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council rejects challenge to The Ship’s community asset status

Posted on April 28, 2016 by insidecroydon

The Ship pub in South Norwood, which was converted into flats by a developer-owner without planning permission, is moving – albeit slowly – back towards being a pub for locals after its status as an Asset of Community Value was upheld by Croydon Council on appeal.

The Ship on Norwood High Street: slow, but steady and significant progress

The Ship on Norwood High Street: slow, but steady and significant progress

The property owner had sought to have the ACV status of The Ship overturned. ACV status provides certain additional protections from development under the Localism Act 2011. The Ship will retain its ACV status until 2020.

This means that The Ship building, basement and garden can only be used for specified purposes under local planning regulations, and the developer doesn’t have permitted development rights on these areas. Continue reading →

Posted in Planning, Property, Pubs, South Norwood | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Get to grips with Henry VIII at May’s Page Turners meeting

Posted on April 28, 2016 by insidecroydon

The next book for Page Turners, the South Norwood monthly book club, is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Wolf_Hall_coverThe book, recently the subject of an acclaimed BBC drama adaptation, sees Tudor history re-written around the life of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a Putney blacksmith, who despite such unpromising beginnings becomes the protégé of Cardinal Wolsey and a man of influence in the court of Henry VIII at a time which would change the course of events for England, and the world.

Page Turners is a free, monthly meeting held at Yeha Noha, near Norwood Junction. All the organisers ask is that attendees buy a cup of coffee or tea (maybe a piece of cake, too), since the cafe provides the space for the book club at no charge. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, History, Restaurants, South Norwood | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Save 15% on your bills for a night out at Brasserie Vacherin

Posted on April 28, 2016 by insidecroydon
Malcolm John: lots of money-saving offers at one of Croydon's best restaurants

Malcolm John: lots of money-saving offers at one of Croydon’s best restaurants

Malcolm John, the noted locally based chef and restaurateur, is offering 15 per cent off your food bill on your first visit to his Brasserie Vacherin in South End if you sign up to the venue’s loyalty scheme.

John has three restaurants, in Chiswick, Sutton and South Croydon, which he has been running for more than a decade after learning his trade at the Café Royal, as head chef at St Quentin, Knightsbridge, and at Terrance Conran’s Blue Bird.

Brasserie Vacherin opened its doors in February 2008 as John’s plan to “bring a little of the West End to Croydon”.

His retaurants have garnered acclaim and awards, including an Egon Ronay star and Time Out‘s Best Local Restaurant. Continue reading →

Posted in Brasserie Vacherin, Business, Restaurants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Philharmonic Choir’s open rehearsal with Will Todd, May 3

Posted on April 28, 2016 by insidecroydon

Will Todd composrerThe Croydon Philharmonic Choir is staging an evening of rehearsals and music next Tuesday, May 3, at St Matthew’s, Chichester Road, Park Hill.

They offer “an exciting evening of jazz and choral fusion with composer Will Todd”, pictured. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Philharmonic Choir, Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Warlingham boot sales to kick-off at rugby club

Posted on April 27, 2016 by insidecroydon

car bootRugby boots are being hung up at the end of the season, and car boots are being opened up for a series of summer sales at Warlingham RFC’s Hamsey Green grounds, just south of Sanderstead.

The first sale is on Bank Holiday Monday, May 2. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Warlingham RFC | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Planning chair urged to block scheme for ‘Croydon Carbuncle’

Posted on April 27, 2016 by insidecroydon

The redevelopment scheme proposed for the town centre risks creating a “Croydon Carbuncle”, according to one concerned resident who has issued an open letter to the council’s planning committee, which is due to consider the revised plans for the £1.4billion supermall at its meeting tomorrow evening.

An artist's representation of how the new shopping centre may, or may not, look

An artist’s representation of how the new Hammersfield shopping centre may, or may not, look

The letter is from a retired chartered engineer, Andrew Kennedy, and is addressed to the chair of the planning committee, Paul Scott. In his letter, Kennedy expresses several concerns about the revised and much expanded plans, published last week by developers Westfield and Hammerson, and he asks the council’s planning committee “to press for the highest possible planning standards”.

“Let it not be a blot on the landscape,” Kennedy writes. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, CPO, Paul Scott, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Only 700 respond to survey that excludes library users

Posted on April 27, 2016 by insidecroydon

GENE BRODIE, our libraries and bookish gyms correspondent, on the council’s latest crass move over another bogus-looking consultation

Croydon’s Labour-run council is being accused of trying to “fix” the borough’s latest consultation on the running of its public libraries, by making it as difficult as possible for those who most depend on the service to take part in the survey.

Timothy Godfrey: tough choices

Cllr Timothy Godfrey: refuses to distribute library consultations on paper

According to the council’s own figures, only 700 people in the borough, which has a population of nearly 350,000, have taken part in the consultation so far. That’s compared to the 70,000 people that the council says use library services each year.

As a result of the poor response rate, the council announced yesterday that it has been forced to extend the consultation period, to May 16.

But the council is stubbornly refusing to make paper copies of the consultation forms available to library users, and there have been complaints that the consultation is not even being publicised to the people who are most likely to be affected by the findings of the survey – the library users themselves.

Indeed, Timothy Godfrey, Labour’s cabinet member responsible for libraries, yesterday made an appeal for people who don’t use libraries to take part in the self-serving consultation.

Continue reading →

Posted in Carillion, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, John Wentworth, Libraries, Timothy Godfrey, Toni Letts, Tony Newman, Upper Norwood Library Trust | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Aelfa present The Wiz at The Stanley Halls, May 19-21

Posted on April 27, 2016 by insidecroydon

The Wiz Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, South Norwood, Stanley Halls, Theatre | Tagged , | Leave a comment

‘You’re stuffed’: O’Connell attacks Tory housing policy

Posted on April 26, 2016 by insidecroydon

London Assembly Member Steve O’Connell last night launched an unexpected attack on his own party’s housing policies. “If you earn around £35,000, you’re basically stuffed,” O’Connell said dismissively of the impact of Conservative policy when speaking to a small, supportive audience at the Purley and Coulsdon Debating Society.

Tory Steve O’Connell at the Coulsdon debate last night alongside Labour’s Marina Ahmad

After eight years as the Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton, O’Connell appeared to be distancing himself, somewhat belatedly, from Conservative policies on this key issue, just a week before he is seeking election at the polls.

With #BackZacAndCrack Goldsmith, the Tory candidate, trailing badly in the opinion polls to become the next Mayor of London, O’Connell appears to be preparing for some election defeat next week, as he repeatedly referred to having to deal with Labour’s Sadiq Khan at City Hall.

Last night’s event was the only set-piece discussion staged between the two leading contenders to be Croydon and Sutton’s London Assembly Member for the next four years, as O’Connell was debating a motion put forward by Marina Ahmad that called for a Labour Mayor after eight years of Boris Johnson at City Hall.

Kenley councillor O’Connell’s nondescript spell as an Assembly Member has coincided with Johnson’s Mayoralty. Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 London elections, Boris Johnson, Coulsdon, Housing, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Marina Ahmad, Mayor of London, Steve O'Connell, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trades unions are on the march in Croydon for May Day

Posted on April 26, 2016 by insidecroydon

red flagCroydon Assembly is calling on all trades union and community activists to give their support this coming Saturday, April 30, to the Croydon TUC May Day March and Rally.

Under the slogan “Uniting Communities to Defeat the Tories”, the trade unions are demonstrating to mobilise support against the attacks on living standards, public services and democratic rights.

Junior doctors are in the forefront of the of the battle to defend the NHS, teachers are campaigning against the forcing of all schools to become academies, while local government funding cuts threaten all community services.

“The Croydon Assembly has linked up with all campaigns against austerity and has put forward plans for a fairer, more democratic, more equal future,” said Ted Knight, the chair of Croydon Assembly.

“This May Day rally is our opportunity to show the people of Croydon that not only is a fight back possible, but that it is happening now.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 EU referendum, Activities, Community associations, West Croydon | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Daniel Regan to tell Photo Forum about art therapy, May 10

Posted on April 26, 2016 by insidecroydon
Photograph from Daniel Regan's project 'Abandoned'

Photograph from Daniel Regan’s project ‘Abandoned’

The next Croydon Photography Forum on May 10 will be taking a look at art therapy, when the guest speaker is the award-winning Daniel Regan. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Croydon Photography Forum | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Active Communities Fund meeting, Apr 27

Posted on April 26, 2016 by insidecroydon

active communities fund Continue reading →

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Open Mic Nights, Thornton Heath, Apr 29 and May 27

Posted on April 26, 2016 by insidecroydon

Open mic night Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Comedy, Music, Poetry, Thornton Heath | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Croydon facing traffic gridlock caused by new Westfield plan

Posted on April 25, 2016 by insidecroydon

The revised plans for a gigantic supermall submitted last week by Westfield and Hammerson threaten to send central Croydon into a state of traffic gridlock for years to come.

Shape of things to come: the plans for Westfield could make queuing in the underpass routine

Shape of things to come: central Croydon along Wellesley Road is to lose more than 3,000 parking bays for at least four years. Where will all the traffic go then?

The shopping centre developers’ scheme could hit hard the plans for a refurbished Fairfield Halls, where the council has given a green light to turning its car parking space into an art gallery.

The late changes to the Hammersfield development have created a massive disconnect in the hoped-for smooth regeneration of the town centre. One of Croydon Council’s tasks was to try to minimise disruption during the redevelopment, but Hammersfield have chucked a £1.4 billion spanner in the works. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, CPO, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments