Croydon disconnected by Easter tram and road closures

Posted on March 16, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon residents, workers and businesses will be disconnected by road, tram and train over Easter, as they face a third successive Bank Holiday weekend of transport disruption, delays and inconvenience.

Engineering works will see the main railway line into Victoria closed and the town centre’s tram loop also out of operation, while main roads will also be subject to closures.

Disconnected Croydon: or trams unlinked, over Easter

Disconnected Croydon: or trams unlinked, over Easter

There will, of course, be trains running into London Bridge, but we all know how well Thameslink services have been running of late…

Network Rail will be renewing a junction at Battersea Park over the Easter weekend, March 25 to 28, meaning that trains will terminate at Clapham Junction. A rail replacement bus service will operate.

Our local council’s witless press office failed to realise the irony when it issued its announcement about the closure of Tramlink in central Croydon being as a result of the “Connected Croydon programme of works may affect some of the transport hubs in and around Croydon” for a whole week over Easter.

The DisConnected Croydon works will also see Church Street and parts of London Road closed to traffic.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, Connected Croydon, Croydon Council, East Croydon, Environment, London-wide issues, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Taberner House homes scheme is hit by further delays

Posted on March 15, 2016 by insidecroydon

Building work on the council’s prestigious development of hundreds of new homes on the site of its former headquarters office block, Taberner House, will not now start until autumn this year at the earliest, nearly two years later than originally scheduled.

A model of the previous scheme for the Taberner site: the new scheme omits the smallest, 6-storey block, the 32-storey tower remains unaltered, and all other buildings will get an extra three or four floors under new proposals

The first scheme for the Taberner site: building of the revised project, including the 32-storey tower, won’t start this summer

Planning permission for a residential scheme to provide 420 homes was granted in April 2014, but that was put on pause after the Tories lost control of the Town Hall at the local elections a month later.

The starting date for the build has since slipped from late 2014, as the Labour-run council binned the previous scheme and then took the project out of the hands of original developers, CCURV, its “regeneration partnership” with John Laing.

The council instead set-up its own development company. “By doing it ourselves through the development company we can achieve a triple win, which is more affordable housing, Queen’s Gardens preserved and a much better financial outcome for the council.” Simon Hall, the cabinet member for finance, said 18 months ago.

After delays in the demolition of the 1960s tower block, caused by sensitivities over its town centre location, close to the Flyover, Town Hall and Queen’s Gardens, and the need for careful removal of asbestos, building work was then expected to begin early in 2016.

But a source at the council revealed this morning that the site will now be utilised over this summer as a wildflower meadow and a “haven for bees”, complete with a hive. It is the latest instance of the council having to tread water over the site, which last autumn was used as a pop-up saffron farm.

Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Planning, Taberner House, URV, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Croydon charity chief to speak for homeless on LBC

Posted on March 15, 2016 by insidecroydon

Croydon charity chief Jad Adams is to be the voice of London on homelessness for the period of the Mayoral election campaign.

Jad Adams: wil be quizzing Mayoral candidates on homelessness

Jad Adams: wil be quizzing Mayoral candidates on homelessness

Adams, who is the chair of the Croydon-based charity Nightwatch, is part of a panel that the radio station LBC is launching to challenge the policies of the various candidates on major issues.

The panel will be asked to comment on policies the mayoral hopefuls put forward in their specialist areas in the run-up to the May 5 election.

Boris Johnson, when seeking election as London Mayor in 2008, made a pledge to eradicate rough sleeping in the capital by 2012, but recent reports suggest that the levels of homelessness has increased over the past eight years.

Certainly, figures compiled by Nightwatch suggest that in Croydon, there are more people sleeping rough than at any time in the charity’s 40-year history. Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 London elections, Charity, Croydon Nightwatch, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Zac Goldsmith MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

South Norwood Tourist Board stages PicklesFest, Mar 27

Posted on March 15, 2016 by insidecroydon

PicklesFest 2016 Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Music, South Norwood, South Norwood Tourist Board | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Is this the election real life? Is this just MP Barwell’s fantasy?

Posted on March 14, 2016 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE reviews “the world’s longest job application”, the Croydon Central MP’s account of the 2015 General Election campaign

Gavin Barwell gives his ill-prepared speech at the election declaration, with the defeated Labour candidate, Sarah Jones, left to reflect on the 165 votes

Gavin Barwell gives his ill-prepared speech at the 2015 election declaration, with the defeated Labour candidate, Sarah Jones, left to reflect on the 165 votes

If anyone needed further evidence that self-serving career politicians are only in it for themselves, then Gavin Barwell’s How To Win A Marginal Seat: My Year Of Fighting For My Political Life provides it by the bucketload.

Perhaps inadvertently, but this is surely the world’s longest job application.

It is an open secret that Gaffe-prone Gav, who has been Conservative MP for Croydon Central since 2010, is already preparing himself for life after 2020, as Barwell has been admitting within local Tory circles that the seat is not winnable by his party at the next election – or possibly sooner if the insidious Government of which he is proud to be a benefit-cutting member continues to tear itself apart.

Even in this book, Barwell writes that he might actually have to find himself a proper job for the first time in his life (spoiler alert: that may well be a cozy directorship of some sort, to do with political campaigning, and paid for out of untaxed surpluses by his old mucker, Lord Cashcroft). Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sutton admits incinerator heating could end up in High Court

Posted on March 14, 2016 by insidecroydon

A tender guidance document raises a lot of awkward questions for Sutton Council’s leadership over its continued support for the £1bn Beddington incinerator and its heating network. WALTER CRONXITE reports

Sutton published a tender on Friday for SDEN, the Sutton Decentralised Energy Network, its own subsidiary, for a company to help to prepare the council’s own planning application to lay the heat network pipework into Barratts’ Felnex development of 725 homes and a supermarket in Hackbridge.

Barrat Homes logoExtraordinarily, the council’s own document admits that its network proposals are so controversial that the scheme might yet end up being subject to a legal challenge in the High Court.

It is the sort of litigation which can often deter commercial developers, and their shareholders, from becoming involved.

But Sutton Council chief executive Niall Bolger and his LibDem political masters, led by Ruth Dombey, seem confident that Barratts will be the first and most important customer for its proposed network, using heated water piped from the controversial Beddington incinerator. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Niall Bolger, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Croydon looks for volunteer-run libraries and ‘bookish gyms’

Posted on March 14, 2016 by insidecroydon

GENE BRODIE on the announcement of a council consultation which puts the future of the borough’s libraries in doubt yet again

How our colleagues at Brixton Buzz foresee the nightmare of 2bookish gyms" as proposed in Lambeth

Coming to a library in Croydon some time soon?

A fortnight ago, Inside Croydon reported the startling news that some of Croydon’s Labour councillors are prepared to abandon their 2014 election pledge to maintain the library service. At a private meeting last autumn, 16 Labour councillors voted to break the manifesto commitment, with 10 voting to keep their word on libraries.

With the council leader, Tony Newman – a man who thinks £148,000 for one night’s cycle racing is money well-spent – trying to ridicule our story, and with cabinet member for culture Timothy Godfrey repeating the mantra “there will be no library closures”, we concluded our report with the observation, “Croydon could be getting its own version of volunteer-run bookish gyms”.

To quote from a book, “And lo, it came to pass.”

Today, in papers published ahead of next Monday’s cabinet meeting, the council reveals a library public “consultation” – the borough’s second in less than five years – which it will hold this spring and will use to justify going down the same cost-cutting route as Lambeth’s “co-operative” Labour-run council.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 London elections, Carillion, Croydon Council, Education, Greenwich Leisure, Libraries, Norbury, Sanderstead, Timothy Godfrey, Tony Newman, Upper Norwood Library Trust | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

RSA to stage talk on the arts at Braithwaite Hall, Apr 14

Posted on March 14, 2016 by insidecroydon
Rise Gallery graffiti 2

Graffiti in St George’s Walk. Which is only ever seen when the shopes are… errr… shut

The Braithwaite Hall is staging an evening of talks on April 14 about the regenerative influence of the arts, organised by the Royal Society for the Arts.

The event is free, and according to the RSA, “the main speaker will be Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison, owner of Rise Gallery, who has earned a reputation of ‘the man, who single-handedly changed Croydon’.”

Yes, someone seriously sat down at a trypewriter and came up with that. And to think that even Gavin Barwell hasn’t got the brass neck to make such a claim. Kevin Z-M’s talk had better be good.

Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Art, Braithwaite Hall, Rise Gallery | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Bungling Boris loses £900m and jeopardises tram extension

Posted on March 14, 2016 by insidecroydon

Adding extra cars to Croydon's trams could save millions of pounds on TfL's proposals

Croydon’s trams have been an outstanding success. But TfL may be unable to afford the extension which Tory Mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith has promised

Financial and project mismanagement on a multi-million-pound scale under Boris Johnson means that whoever is elected to succeed London’s Tory Mayor in May will not have so much money available for major capital projects, such as the much-promised Tramlink extensions to Crystal Palace or Sutton.

On the day when a former adviser to David Cameron questions Johnson’s legacy as London Mayor, figures have been released which show that almost £1 billion of Transport for London money has been squandered on a poorly managed Tube project on Boris’s watch.

It means that promises by Zac Goldsmith, the Tory candidate to succeed Johnson as Mayor, to deliver a tram extension from Wimbledon to Sutton are rendered almost worthless, because there is unlikely to be cash available for such a scheme in future TfL budgets. Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 EU referendum, 2016 London elections, Boris Johnson, Evening Boris, Ken Livingstone, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Steve O'Connell, Zac Goldsmith MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Marie Curie charity quiz night, Clyde Hall, Apr 9

Posted on March 13, 2016 by insidecroydon

QuizNight2016_Poster Continue reading →

Posted in Charity | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

165 votes: A campaigner’s guide to scraping to success

Posted on March 13, 2016 by insidecroydon

How To Win a Marginal Seat cover.inddIt’s the publishing event of the year, at least in one household in Sanderstead. GAVIN BARWELL’s first book – How To Win A Marginal Seat – is published this Thursday.

Here is an exclusive extract in which the Croydon Central MP recounts the events of  Polling Day, May 7 (and May 8), in which he just managed to retain the seat

Twelve months before, Labour had wiped the floor with us on polling day. On Twitter, their London regional director was boasting about how they planned to do the same again. They had set themselves the target of getting 500 activists from across south London onto the streets of Croydon Central.

After asking everyone we could think of – and, let’s be honest, begging – we were confident we would have over 300 people knocking up. This was far more than we had ever had before, but still 200 fewer than Labour were hoping to have. We needed a plan to bridge the gap by making better use of the people we had.

In the end, all campaigns come down to it. The final fifteen hours before the battle’s lost and won. And when the polls close at 10 p.m., you’re not finished. Within minutes, the count gets underway. In a political campaign, it’s the longest day. Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#BackZacAndCrack to stage secret rave in Croydon this week

Posted on March 13, 2016 by insidecroydon

Local MP Chris Philp is organising a rave this week for his mate, Old Etonian millionaire Zac Goldsmith.

Zac Goldsmith: wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, more an entire set of cutlery

Zac Goldsmith: Coming to Croydon this Thursday. But where?

Property fund expert Philp has been very busy lately, since being elected as MP to represent the people of Croydon South last May.

But not as busy as he has been in campaigning for himself and his chums in the Conservative Party.

Backbencher Philp ensured he fulfilled his role as lobby fodder last week, voting with a party whip organised by Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell to take £30 a week in benefits off disabled people. Goldsmith helped to vote through the measure, too, even though he’s supposed to be a patron of a charity for disabled people.

Outside parliamentary matters, Philp’s been busier still, though, drafting pamphlets for the ultra-right-wing Taxpayers’ Alliance on a scheme called Workfare, an uber-Thatcherite policy which will see benefits withdrawn from millions more.

And this weekend, Philp’s been sending out emails to people on the local Tory database, inviting them to come along to a party rally with the Conservatives’ candidate for London Mayor.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 London elections, Chris Philp MP, Croydon South, Gavin Barwell, Mayor of London, Zac Goldsmith MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sounds of Music gospel concert, Stanley Halls, Mar 26

Posted on March 13, 2016 by insidecroydon

Easter concert Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Music, Stanley Halls | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Council’s landlord licensing scheme can’t cope with workload

Posted on March 12, 2016 by insidecroydon

Six months since its introduction, and Croydon Council’s flagship landlord licensing scheme is still not functioning fully.

To letThe licensing scheme was part of Croydon Labour’s “ambitious” manifesto, seeking to protect tenants in private accommodation from rogue landlords or having to endure sub- standard properties.

The Labour-run council continues to boast of its “ambition”, but the slow-to-implement licensing scheme demonstrates that council leader Tony Newman and senior staffer Jo Negrini are, yet again, having problems with another key word from the local authority lexicon: “delivery”.

Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Business, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Planning, Property, Pubs, South Norwood, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

MP Barwell’s links to figure at centre of Tory expenses scandal

Posted on March 11, 2016 by insidecroydon
The Thanet South election declaration last May, with Nigel Farage (left), a clearly shocked Al Murray and Tory Craig Mackinlay. Mackinlay also played a part in the Croydon Central election

The South Thanet declaration last May, with Nigel Farage (left), a clearly shocked Al Murray and Tory Craig Mackinlay. Mackinlay also played a part in the Croydon Central election

WALTER CRONXITE reports on how a letter which may have clinched re-election for Croydon’s highest profile MP might yet become another embarrassment for gaffe-prone Gav*

A book by Conservative MP Gavin Barwell due to be published next week about how he kept hold of his Croydon Central seat at last year’s General Election by a mere 165 votes includes details of a letter he sent to voters from Craig Mackinlay, the Tory at the centre of Channel 4 News allegations over undeclared election expenses.

Mackinlay’s letter to Croydon Central voters, Barwell claims in his book, “clearly had some effect” on swaying the decision of some voters over whether to vote Conservative or for UKIP. In the letter sent by the Barwell campaign, Mackinlay stated that, “I used to be deputy leader of UKIP” and lists the number of occasions he stood for Nigel Farage’s party at elections. No where in the letter to Croydon Central voters did Mackinlay – or Barwell – bother to state that in 2015 he was the Conservative Party candidate in South Thanet, contesting that seat against Farage (and Al Murray).

It is the conduct, and spending, on Mackinlay’s campaign to keep Farage out of the House of Commons which is being investigated by Channel 4 News‘s reporter Michael Crick, and is now subject to examination by the Conservative Party chairman, Lord “Marty” Feldman. Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Peter Staveley, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Apply to take part in free food business training course

Posted on March 11, 2016 by insidecroydon

Food business training Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Education, Pubs, Restaurants | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Cinema’s April programme will have you asking for more

Posted on March 11, 2016 by insidecroydon
Sylvester Stallone reprises his Rocky character for Creed, alongside Michael B Jordan as the new contender

Sylvester Stallone reprises his Rocky character for Creed, alongside Michael B Jordan as the new contender

There are plenty of reasons why boxing is the most commonly featured sport in the history of the movies: the violence, the confined, cinematic nature of the ring, and the sheer, bloody mano e mano nature of the violence have made it a natural subject for movie makers.

Boxing has been a favourite of film-makers and movie-goers from the 19th century when world title fights were first filmed, with Thomas Edison producing, through Charlie Chaplin’s use of the ring for silent comedy, to the films noir of the 1950s with Somebody Up There Likes Me and Marlon Brando On The Waterfront complaining that “I coulda been a contender”, to later, acclaimed epics, such as Scorsese’s Raging Bull and Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.

And then there’s Rocky. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

‘Shall we sing a song for you?’ Derby day’s chorus of approval

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

Derby day action from Saturday game at Mayfield Road. Visitors Croydon FC are in their yellow change kit

Derby day action from Saturday’s game at Mayfield Road. Visitors Croydon FC are in their yellow change kit

The Rams took on the Trams last Saturday. And SHASHA KHAN led the fans’ slightly confusing chorus of “Croydon!”

If any further proof was needed that Croydon Athletic is one of the sides best in the division, then take a look at Tuesday night’s result.

Playing away at Southern Counties East – Premier Division title contenders Ashford United, the Rams took all three points in a seven-goal thriller. In a topsy-turvy game, Croydon were 2-0 down when awarded a penalty on 57 minutes. The Rams penalty-taker is striker Raheem Sterling-Parker, or, as Croydon fans usually sing, “Only one Raheem Sterling-Parker“.

With a great chance to get us back into the match, Sterling-Parker missed. Continue reading →

Posted in AFC Croydon Athletic, Croydon FC, Football, Shasha Khan, Sport | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Dismore refuses to preside over Boris’s fire engine cuts

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

Andrew Dismore, the Labour London Assembly Member, today resigned as the chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s resources committee, refusing to preside over Tory Mayor Boris Johnson’s latest cuts to the fire service.

Andrew Dismore: rejected Johnson's dictatorial approach

Assembly Member Andrew Dismore: rejected Johnson’s “dictatorial approach”

Dismore’s resignation comes after the Mayor of London instructed the Fire Authority to axe permanently 13 fire engines in order to make £9 million savings.

Dismore said the Mayor’s “dictatorial approach” betrayed his “utter disdain for proper democratic process”.

This latest round of cuts will impact three fire stations south of the River Thames, and comes after a previous round of cuts to the Fire Brigade forced the closure of 10 fire stations, cutting of 14 fire engines and made more than 500 firefighters redundant, prompting widespread concern about response times and fire safety in London.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 London elections, Boris Johnson, Fiona Twycross, London Assembly, London Fire Brigade, London-wide issues, Mayor of London | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Asian Resource Centre Women’s Day celebration, Mar 17

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

women's day event Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Thornton Heath | Tagged , | Leave a comment

St Patrick’s Night, Ruskin House Folk and Blues Club, Mar 17

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

St Patrick's at Ruskin House Continue reading →

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Crosslight, passion play, St Mildred’s, Addiscombe, Mar 17

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

St MIldred's passion play Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Church and religions, Theatre | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Norwood Park Easter Egg Hunt, Mar 27

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

Norwood Park Easter egg hunt Continue reading →

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

Benn quits Croydon with passing shot at Labour leadership

Posted on March 10, 2016 by insidecroydon

The Hon Emily Benn is quitting as a Labour councillor in West Thornton less than two years after being elected, in order to take up a new job in New York with her merchant bank employers.

If The Hon Emily’s recent promotion at work was intended as a test of her commitment to the West Thornton community or her job, then it is a clear victory for UBS.

The Hon Emily Benn out campaigning. Possibly

The Hon Emily Benn out campaigning in West Thornton. Possibly

The Hon Emily departs having fired a parting shot at her own national party leadership last night via social media, when she retweeted a comment which appears to try to compare Labour to the Taliban.

It is not the first time that The Hon Emily has questioned the Labour leadership under Jeremy Corbyn, having last year fronted up a demand for the expulsion from the party of a Croydon Labour colleague.

The 26-year-old is the daughter of hereditary peer Viscount Stansgate and Nita Clarke, who is a former adviser to Tony Bliar and a governor of the Whitgift Foundation, which operates a string of private schools in the borough.

The Hon Emily is also the niece of Labour shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn and the grandaughter of the late parliamentarian Tony Benn, who was a political hero of Corbyn. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernadette Khan, Emily Benn, Stuart King, Tony Newman, West Thornton | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The council incinerator report Sutton didn’t want you to see

Posted on March 9, 2016 by insidecroydon

THE COVER-UP: Last month, we reported how a “cheap energy” scheme that Sutton Council wants to force on to Barratt’s Felnex development at Hackbridge is based on a big, juicy lie.

Here, WALTER CRONXITE uncovers the report which shows that Viridor’s £1bn incinerator was never as good a deal as they told the planning authorities

Sue Riddlestone: BioRegional's report

Sue Riddlestone: BioRegional’s CEO and key witness to Sutton’s incinerator decisions

Individual homes in a Barratt’s housing project could each face additional bills amounting to £10,000 if they are linked to a heating network as proposed by Sutton Council, according to a suppressed official report.

The Liberal Democrat councilors who run Sutton even expect the unfortunate residents of the supposedly ecologically friendly Felnex development to pay for their fuel supplies from the Viridor incinerator under construction at Beddington at a rate seven times greater than the council itself pays its energy suppliers.

The incinerator is being built as part of a 25-year deal, worth £1 billion, with the South London Waste Partnership, a body created by Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton councils. Planning permission was granted by Sutton, where the incinerator is sited, only after extensive official lobbying, in which the case was made that rather than just burning rubbish, the Viridor plant would be an “Energy Recovery Facility”, an ecologically friendly marvel that would provide cheap heating for homes in Sutton and Croydon, thus balancing out any environmental damage caused through emissions and pollution.

But a report by Sutton Council’s own partner, BioRegional, demolishes any  idea of a financially viable heat network in Hackbridge. Mysteriously, Sutton Council chose to ignore this fully costed and well-argued report, and have allowed it to gather dust, in the hope that no one would notice. Hard luck, Sutton… Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Environment, Nick Mattey, Refuse collection, Shasha Khan, Sutton Council, Tom Brake MP, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments