Hollywood comes to Crystal Palace – Downstairs at Patrick’s

Posted on August 20, 2013 by insidecroydon
Direct from Hollywood, California... Lora G and Nikki Lunden are the headline act on the opening night of Downstairs at Patrick's

Direct from Hollywood, California… Lora G and Nikki Lunden are the headline act on the opening night of Downstairs at Patrick’s

It’s 30 years since the album “Upstairs at Eric’s” launched Yazoo – or Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet. Now, a bar on Westow Hill in Crystal Palace, Downstairs at Patrick’s, is hoping to be the launchpad for a legion of new south London music acts.

And Patrick’s Bar’s weekly is launching by bringing  a touch of Hollywood to Crystal Palace on Saturday, August 31.

The opening night features the Lora G & Nikki Lunden band from Beverley Hills.  “We’re thrilled to be performing the opening night for Patrick’s,” said Lora G.

Comprised of a group of musicians who each have their own individual recording projects and albums, the Lora G & Nikki Lunden band’s debut album “Streets Of Hollywood” was released in 2012.

“Crystal Palace has been crying out for a live music venue,” Rob Saunders from the Deuce Management and Promotion company which is working with the venue on the Music Nights. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Music, Pubs | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MP Barwell in Twitter spat backs closure of St Helier A&E unit

Posted on August 19, 2013 by insidecroydon

Just as Steve Reed OBE, the MP for Croydon North, was launching a Mayday4Mayday campaign over the weekend, he saw his efforts to save the Accident & Emergency and maternity departments at Croydon’s largest hospital attacked by the Conservative MP for the neighbouring constituency, Gary Barlow.

St Helier Hospital: Croydon MP Gavin Barwell thinks it should lose its A&E department to keep Mayday's open

St Helier Hospital: Croydon MP Gavin Barwell thinks it should lose its A&E department to keep Mayday’s open

“Gavin Barwell”, as he is sometimes known, the MP for Croydon Central, claimed that GPs from the borough had given him and Reed a confidential briefing in which they were advised that they should back the closure of St Helier Hospital’s A&E and maternity units in order to secure investment at Mayday to cope with demand from the borough of Sutton.

Barwell has refused to support the campaign to defend Mayday, but appears prepared to sacrifice important local A&E provision at St Helier. Reed is against any A&E unit being closed in south-west London.

“The population is too large for that to be a reasonable proposition,” Reed said. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Gavin Barwell, Health, London-wide issues, Mayday Hospital, Outside Croydon, St Helier Hospital, Steve Reed MP, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Phoenix side AFC gets a bum rap over FA Cup red card

Posted on August 18, 2013 by insidecroydon

It was all supposed to be so different. Phoenix club AFC Croydon Athletic making its debut in the world’s oldest and most historic football competition, the FA Cup, a sign that the club had really come back from beyond the brink of extinction.

BartBut the match on Saturday at Colliers Wood took a bizarre twist in the second half, with one of Athletic’s subs being sent off for what the club maintains is a bum rap.

The Rams were already 5-2 down and on their way out of the cup when the referee called over one of their players, a substitute who had recently been brought on, asking him to remove his black cycling shorts which did not match the maroon AFC kit.

The player duly trotted off the pitch to do so. When he asked to return to the field of play, the referee told the player that he needed to see that he had indeed removed the offending items. Continue reading →

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

Labour calls on Boris for freeze on London commuter fares

Posted on August 17, 2013 by insidecroydon

Last week it was revealed that Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, wants to close every ticket office at stations operated by Transport for London over the next two years. The move would mean no ticket offices at the TfL-operated parts of Norwood Junction or West Croydon stations, something which the Croydon North MP, Steve Reed OBE, has already criticised, saying that it will leave many passengers vulnerable and unsafe.

Tickets please: Tooting MP Sadiq Khan has launched a petition to save TfL-operated ticket offices and to call for a fares freeze

Tickets please: Tooting MP Sadiq Khan has launched a petition to save TfL-operated ticket offices and to call for a fares freeze

Now Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, Labour’s shadow minister for London, has launched a petition to save the TfL ticket offices.

“Boris Johnson has an abysmal record of hiking fares year on year that has contributed enormously to the cost-of-living crisis in London.

“London fares are now the most expensive in the world. Since Boris became Mayor, the cost of a single bus journey has increased by 56 per cent and the price of a Zone 1-6 travel card has increased by £440 a year.

“He must recognise that Londoners are struggling and that their budgets can’t keep stretching forever. He must freeze fares at least at the rate of inflation for 2014.The Mayor can afford to do this; all that is missing is the political will. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, Boris Johnson, Commuting, Croydon North, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, East Croydon, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Steve Reed MP, Tramlink, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

West Croydon worst hit by ticket office closures says Reed

Posted on August 16, 2013 by insidecroydon

Soon, it seems, there may be no public service buildings in London left open and operating.

West-Croydon-Lampost-signThe future of the accident and emergency services at Mayday and St Helier Hospitals remains in question. After announcing the closure of all but one of the police stations in the borough of Croydon, London Mayor Boris Johnson is trying to shut a number of the capital’s fire stations, ignoring warnings about the risks to public safety.

And according to a document leaked to the BBC this week, now Boris wants to stop having staff at any of the ticket offices operated by Transport for London at the capital’s rail and Tube stations. Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Johnson, Commuting, Croydon North, London-wide issues, Mayday Hospital, Mayor of London, Policing, St Helier Hospital, Steve Reed MP, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Is Croydon Central MP suffering from an identity crisis?

Posted on August 16, 2013 by insidecroydon
Could it be tragic? Gary Barlow

Could it be tragic? Gary Barlow

More than three years after being elected at the general election, despite all his efforts to publicise himself by using public money to hire local Conservative councillors and wannabes to promote his constituency work on social media, and despite the many thousands of emails that he has sent out to his constituents that have requested them – and many who have not asked for them, too – Gavin Barwell is suffering an identity crisis.

Some people in Croydon Central can’t get his name right.

Some seem to think their MP is a member of boy band Take That. Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 General Election, Community associations, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Battle of Britain fly past planned for Kenley airfield

Posted on August 15, 2013 by insidecroydon

Kenley’s Battle of Britain heritage is to receive a double tribute this Sunday, with two World War II fighter planes – a Spitfire and a Hurricane – due to perform a fly past over the old airfield.

Impressive sight: a WW2 Hurricane, the kind of fighter which was based at RAF Kenley in 1940, and which will feature in this Sunday's commemoration fly-past

Impressive sight: a WWII Hurricane, the kind of fighter which was based at RAF Kenley in 1940, and which will feature in this Sunday’s commemoration fly past

The fly past will commemorate the events of August 18, 1940, regarded as “the hardest day” of the Battle of Britain, when the RAF lost 68 aircraft. With its fighters in the sky fighting to protect their own base and other fighter stations such as Croydon and Biggin Hill, Kenley Aerodrome suffered extensive damage on the ground from Luftwaffe bombers, with all 10 hangars and 12 aircraft, including 10 Hurricanes, destroyed and the runways badly cratered. The Operations Room had to be moved to an emergency location away from the airfield. Continue reading →

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Council’s secrets and lies over sale of old Ashburton Library

Posted on August 15, 2013 by insidecroydon

Residents have been outraged yet again at the latest pawn shop move to flog off public property by the wide boys who control Croydon Council, following an advertisement appearing in the local press offering the old Ashburton Library building for sale.

Public property: the old Ashburton Library, now being sold by our council against public wishes

Public property: the old Ashburton Library, now being sold by our council against public wishes

The disused former Woodside Convent building is the latest piece of public property that Croydon’s Conservative-controlled council has put up in a fire sale, following the Riesco Collection of precious Chinese ceramics and the proposal to build on Queen’s Gardens’ open space.

Ashburton residents fear that the council, which has been under Tory control for seven years, is flogging off the library to help pay-off the near £1 billion of debt that has been built up since 2006. They point to record levels of uncollected Council Tax; the building of “Mike Fisher’s Folly”, the £140 million new council HQ; and the failed multi-million pound gamble on the property market with the urban regeneration vehicle, CURV, in partnership with builders John Laing, whose losses are among the Conservative administration’s most closely guarded secrets.

The decision to flog off the elegant Ashburton building looks to have been taken in a hurry: last month, Dudley Mead, the deputy leader of the Tory group, made no reference to any plans to sell the building when answering a Town Hall question. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, Adam Kellett, Art, Ashburton, Avril Slipper, Croydon Council, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Eddy Arram, Education, Environment, History, Libraries, Planning, Riesco Collection, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Environment Agency has failed London on incinerator permit

Posted on August 14, 2013 by insidecroydon

With a decision still awaited from the Mayor of London on Viridor’s plans to build a waste-burning incinerator at Beddington Lane, MICHAEL RYAN suggests that the scheme relies on a lack of due diligence by government agencies over the real threat to the health of generations of Londoners

Saying that a waste-burning incinerator won’t harm health is easy. Proving it is impossible.

The incinerator at South Bermondsey: since it began operating in the 1990s, infant death rates in areas "downwind" of the plant have increased notably

The incinerator at South Bermondsey: since it began operating in the 1990s, infant death rates in areas “downwind” of the plant have increased notably

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows high infant mortality rates in  those areas exposed to incinerator emissions.

I’ve mapped infant mortality rates in electoral wards around many incinerators and at least three newspapers have printed the maps (the Dorking Advertiser and the Surrey Mirror, both in Jan 2008, and the Stroud News and Journal, in January 2012).

The only challenge came when the Dorking Advertiser allowed a “right of reply” article to the incinerator company, under the headline: “If it was dangerous it wouldn’t be allowed, say incinerator bosses”, which shows the lack of scientific rigour towards safety in Britain and contempt for the well-being of those exposed to emissions.

Places with high infant mortality rates will also have high rates of a range of illnesses. The premature death rate at all ages will also be high. Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Johnson, Croydon Greens, Environment, Health, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Planning, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trams v Crystal Palace anniversay celebration game, Sep 1

Posted on August 14, 2013 by insidecroydon

Croydon FC poster

Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Croydon FC, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fair housing for all at the heart of Labour pledges

Posted on August 13, 2013 by insidecroydon

More affordable homes and a registration scheme for private landlords would feature under a Labour council in Croydon, as outlined here by Councillor ALISON BUTLER

Council-houses-in-Croydon-007Housing will be at the very heart of policies for an incoming Labour council. Sadly, we have witnessed the failure of Tory housing policy both locally and nationally and the suffering this has caused to local families and people. Even the departed chief executive, Jon Rouse, declared that the borough has a housing crisis, which once again put Croydon in the national spot-light for all the wrong reasons.

Labour will have a fair housing policy for all of Croydon. The need for a secure and decent home, whether you are an owner-occupier, a council or social housing tenant, in shared ownership or a private tenant, is vital. It affects your life chances and can have a negative effect on your education, health and job opportunities.

If we are to be the borough where big business invests and smaller businesses are actively encouraged to start and grow, then we must have homes for different needs. That is not happening at the moment. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, Alison Butler, Business, Cane Hill, Croydon Council, Housing, Jon Rouse, London-wide issues, Planning, Property, Taberner House, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council belatedly offers free furniture to community groups

Posted on August 12, 2013 by insidecroydon

Public pressure, or even a degree of shame, does seem to have some effect on the benighted managers at Conservative-controlled Croydon Council.

Taberner House: clearing out in the next two months

Taberner House: clearing out in the next two months

Last month, our loyal reader will recall, Inside Croydon exposed how the council had given first dibs on potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of public assets to the borough’s councillors, allowing them to have their pick of the unwanted furniture from Taberner House, as they migrate staff into Mike Fisher’s Folly, the £140 million glass palace that is to be their new headquarters, which is being equipped with £3million-worth of new furnishings.

Not only was this a cushty tax-free benefit in kind for councillors, some of whom already pocket more than £50,000 per year in public cash as “allowances”, but it also had the potential for being abused, through dispensing “gifts” to garner public approval and a few votes, in marginal wards ahead of next May’s Town Hall elections.

Why, we asked, did the council not in the first place simply offer the furniture directly to the borough’s community groups, charities and schools?

Well, now the council has taken the hint. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, Charity, Community associations, Croydon Council, Property, Sara Bashford, Taberner House, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surrey starting to come together as storm clouds clear

Posted on August 12, 2013 by insidecroydon

The death of a promising young batsman, the departure of his friend and club captain, the sacking of the county coach, and the arrival of two legends of Test cricket… It has been a year of trauma for Surrey cricket.

Ahead of Surrey’s appearance in this Saturday’s T20 finals day, JASON COURT says that the transition period may be coming to an end

Ricky Ponting: the former Australian captain's signing helped galvinise Surrey's younger players

Ricky Ponting: the former Australian captain’s signing helped galvinise Surrey’s younger players

As summer arrived, so too did the dark clouds finally start to lift from Surrey cricket’s home at The Oval following the death last year of Tom Maynard.

Everyone, players and supporters, have been galvanised under Alec Stewart, and we seem to have got our direction and focus back. In the Twenty20 this year, Surrey have been reminiscent of that 40-over winning team from 2011 that showed such potential, and which was perhaps the side to define Chris Adam’s tenure as the county coach.

In recent years, Surrey has been partly an England facility club, bringing players such as Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett back into the international fold, and part a stage for the swansong of some county legends. This further defines Adam’s philosophy – a pragmatic approach to the problem of rebuilding the side after the retirement of greats such as Mark Ramprakash. Continue reading →

Posted in Cricket, Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen, Sport, Surrey CCC, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How you can tell which schools are really making the grade

Posted on August 11, 2013 by insidecroydon

School pupils – whether attending the borough’s high-profile independents, our state secondaries or the privatised academies – will be receiving their life-shaping GCSE, AS and A level results in the next few weeks.

Education correspondent GENE BRODIE provides an insider’s guide to the resulting league tables – what you should look for to work out what is really happening inside local classrooms

SchoolAre you among those confused by endless education changes? Have you ever wondered whether the fees of our top independent schools are worth it? Perhaps you’ve even considered changing religion to get your children into the top-performing Croydon schools.

In order to understand what is happening this year, it helps to look back at the final results published by the Department for Education in 2012 – which can be seen by clicking here. It is also useful to compare Croydon to neighbouring boroughs such as Bromley and Sutton.

But it is also enlightening to look at what the DfE publishes and compare it with what the schools publish themselves. Continue reading →

Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, Archbishop Tenison's, Coloma, Croydon High, Education, Old Palace, Roke Primary, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

London Road still bypassed by aid, media and politicians

Posted on August 10, 2013 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The area worst-hit by arson and looting on the night of the riots has never been a priority, right from the moment the first petrol bombs were hurled on August 8, 2011, says PATRICK RATNARAJA

London Road has been second priority from the start.

Worst hit by the 8/8 riots, London Road has been short-changed by Croydon Council in distribution of post-riot aid

Worst hit by the 8/8 riots, London Road has been short-changed by Croydon Council in distribution of  aid

The die was cast the moment that the police retreated to hold the line on the small hill above West Croydon Station during the 2011 riots – London Road was the lesser priority for riot protection. It has been the same over riot recovery since.

The town centre was protected, but London Road and Reeves Corner were left abandoned.

Malcolm Wicks, Croydon North’s late MP, reported how his London Road constituents were left to fend for themselves when they called for police assistance.

In the House of Commons, Wicks said, “It is interesting that the centre of Croydon, with big national offices such as those of Nestlé, major superstores such as Marks and Spencer and national brands, was protected by the police, so the mobs descended towards West Croydon, and came into my constituency — the poorer part of the borough, where enterprises are small and tend to be owned by hard-working families.

“I heard dozens of reports, as I ducked into shops to look at the devastation, that the police had effectively been nowhere to be seen, 999 calls were sometimes unanswered. When people got through, they were told that no officers were available. If they dared to call again out of fear about what was happening, they were told they were being a nuisance and, ‘Please do not call again’.” Continue reading →

Posted in 8/8: London Road stories, Broad Green, Community associations, Crime, Croydon 8/8, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Croydon Tamil Business Forum, Gavin Barwell, Jon Rouse, London Road Traders Association, Malcolm Wicks MP, West Croydon Community Forum | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Selhurst Park to be re-named? Don’t bet on it

Posted on August 10, 2013 by insidecroydon

Facing predictable fan outrage over the possibility that Selhurst Park will be re-named “The 12Bet Stadium” for the 2013-2014 season in the Premier League, after a little-known firm of Asian online bookmakers, the Crystal Palace management last night moved to head off the criticism.

Ian Holloway: don't step on the grass

Ian Holloway: don’t step on the grass

Steve Browett, one of the club’s co-owners, posted this message on the fans’ bulletin boards: “No need to panic. Just to assure everyone that we are not changing the name of Selhurst Park.

“I hope that’s clear and that people can calm down. Continue reading →

Posted in Crystal Palace FC, Football, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two years on and who holds Croydon’s police to account?

Posted on August 9, 2013 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: With the demise of the MPA under Mayor Boris Johnson, police accountability in London is potentially worse now than in the rest of England and Wales. HAMIDA ALI says that the need to hold to account decisions on policing should be one of the key lessons from the 2011 riots

In the early hours of August 7, 2011, while I was preparing for another day’s fast during Ramadan, I was transfixed by pictures on rolling television news of Tottenham ablaze.

In the line of fire: Croydon's police were over-stretched and ill-equipped on the night of the Croydon riots. But who has been accountable for those decisions?

In the line of fire: Croydon’s police were over-stretched and ill-equipped on the night of the Croydon riots. But who has been accountable for those decisions?

I spent the next three days glued to news channels as the riots spread across the city. I was as incredulous at the pictures of Reeves’ furniture store alight – now symbolic of those events – on every news channel. Family members in Dhaka were watching the same pictures on screen – reversing roles, and for once checking that we were safe.

My feelings of despair at what was happening to my town were shared across the borough. More crime was committed in Croydon during those few days than in any other part of London, and along with Tottenham we suffered some of the worst arson. Every building we lost was more than a century old. After a string of very warm and dry nights during school holidays one of the factors which in part contributed to halting the momentum of the riots was a more natural intervention – rain.

A myriad of reports has been written including by government, the police, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Croydon Council, and the London School of Economics, in partnership with The Guardian – all trying to answer the inevitable question – why? None of them has been entirely successful.

The one area of consensus, though, is that the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham was the trigger. And for me, the accountability of our police in London is an ongoing concern. Continue reading →

Posted in 2014 council elections, 8/8: London Road stories, Boris Johnson, Crime, Croydon 8/8, Hamida Ali, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Policing, Riots Review Panel, Steve O'Connell | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Selhurst sponsors have Palace as outsiders for first game

Posted on August 9, 2013 by insidecroydon

Crystal Palace appear close to announcing a stadium naming deal for Selhurst Park with an Asian-based online bookmaker – one of the many betting firms who are offering the Eagles at odds on that they will be relegated straight back to the Championship at the end of the Premier League season which begins next weekend.

Sign of the times: how a Palace fan captured the news that Selhurst Park is being re-branded

Sign of the times: how a Palace fan captured the news that Selhurst Park is being re-branded

Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace’s home ground for the last 89 years, is already being re-branded as the “12Bet Stadium” ahead of the club’s eagerly awaited Premier League opening fixture against Tottenham in front of the television cameras on Sunday week, August 18.

For that game, 12Bet’s odd-setters have made Palace the big outsiders to win, at 5/1 in a field of just two – so that punters win £5 for every £1 staked if the home side manages to upset the odds and win against Spurs.

The Palace fans’ forums have been full of negative commentary on the money-making move, including pictures showing how preparation work for the re-branding has progressed. Continue reading →

Posted in Cricket, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Sport, Surrey CCC | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Waddon to stage enterprise festival on August 31

Posted on August 9, 2013 by insidecroydon

The South Croydon Community Association is staging a Waddon Enterprise Festival on Saturday, August 31.

South Croydon Community AssociationThe event will be a table sale, to be staged in Layton Crescent from 10.30am to 2.30pm. SCCA wants locals to come together for the event, in the hope that it can lead to the re-formation of a Waddon residents’ association.

Residents are encouraged to run stalls offering cakes; plants; bric-a-brac; bike repairs; face painting; computer repairs; teas and coffee; ice pops; or fairground-style games. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Community associations, South Croydon Community Association, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The riots, an assertion of power and our self-serving council

Posted on August 8, 2013 by insidecroydon

It is two years to the day since the riots hit Croydon, and not only do many of those dispossessed and rendered homeless on that night of infamy remain waiting for government help and compensation, but we still do not properly understand what caused the widespread violence, looting and destruction.

The new symbol of Croydon? But two years on, do we yet understand what led to the riots?

The new symbol of Croydon? But two years on, do we yet understand what led to the riots?

That’s not just the view of Inside Croydon. That’s the view of Danny Finkelstein, the chum of Gideon Osborne, a former Conservative party speechwriter and adviser, now the leader writer in The Times newspaper, and one of the newest Tory peers in the House of Lords.

It is easy to state that Finkelstein is unusual among the Establishment in having a conscience. As an accomplished journalist, he also questions power, and in a piece in his newspaper yesterday, he did just that about the causes of the riots. “Nothing can excuse what happened,” he wrote, “… and revulsion will remain the correct emotion. But comprehension is vital, too, and I don’t think we have reached that.” Continue reading →

Posted in 8/8: London Road stories, Boris Johnson, Broad Green, Crime, Croydon 8/8, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Housing, Jon Rouse, Mayor of London, Policing, Riots Review Panel, Steve Reed MP, Thornton Heath, Waddon, West Croydon, West Croydon Community Forum, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Viridor’s heating claims “don’t stand up to scrutiny”

Posted on August 7, 2013 by insidecroydon

A leading anti-incinerator campaigner claims that plans for waste management company Viridor and Sutton Council to provide heating for local residents “don’t stand up to scrutiny” and that a £1 billion waste incinerator scheme could even be in breach of European law within six years.

Viridor cartoon by Gordon RossAs Inside Croydon first reported, even before planning permission had been granted for the incinerator, Sutton Council had set up a separate commercial company to manage a plant generating heat from the current waste dump at Beddington Lane.

The landfill site and proposed incinerator site  is just the other side of the borough boundary from Croydon, close to a wildlife sanctuary, by some Metropolitan Open Land with Mitcham Common nearby.

Sutton Council, which is under LibDem control, recently granted planning permission to Viridor to build a vast incinerator to burn the rubbish from Sutton, Croydon, Merton and Kingston under a £1 billion contract over the next three decades, despite objections from Tories in Sutton and Merton and Labour groups in Sutton and Croydon, and serious concerns for the long-term health impact from the waste gasses and nano-particles generated by the incinerator. Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Johnson, Community associations, Croydon Greens, Environment, Gordon Ross, Mayor of London, Outside Croydon, Planning, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon businesses yet to receive riot compensation

Posted on August 6, 2013 by insidecroydon

Two years since the 8/8 riots in Croydon, and nearly 50 businesses in the borough have yet to receive a penny in the compensation that they were promised by Prime Minister “Call Me Dave” Cameron and the London Mayor Boris Johnson, under the provisions of the Riot Damages Act.

Reeves riot fireThe BBC is reporting today that across London, 75 per cent of recommendations put forward after the riots have failed to be addressed by the government.

In Croydon, one of the firms that has been so badly let down and is yet to receive any compensation is the Reeves furniture business, whose burning store became a global symbol of that night of infamy.

“The site’s remained derelict since it was burned down,” Trevor Reeves said. The Reeves business continues to trade from a second shop adjacent to the destroyed site.

“We were indemnified by our insurance company so they’re taking up our claim under the Riots Act. To be honest we’ve not really heard anything about that… how far that’s got through the insurers I can’t say.” Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Broad Green, Business, Crime, Croydon 8/8, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gatwick plan should have Croydon ready for take-off

Posted on August 6, 2013 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Opportunities for prosperity for our borough should increase if the Sussex airport’s expansion scheme goes ahead, writes DAVID CALLAM

gatwick-airport-0011Croydon should be jumping for joy at the prospect of a £9 billion investment in Gatwick that would add a second runway at the West Sussex airport and could increase capacity to 87 million passengers a year.

You may think I’m stretching credibility, not to mention geography, to claim money spent at Gatwick will be good for Croydon’s economy. But I think it’s in Croydon’s interests, as well as those of the airport, to strengthen the links that already exist.

The key feature is ease of access – by rail particularly. Gatwick is just 20 minutes by fast train from East Croydon and that means just half an hour and one change from areas of high unemployment like Thornton Heath, Selhurst and South Norwood. We could see thousands of Croydon’s otherwise unemployed – particularly younger people – travelling south for well-paid and secure work in hundreds of different jobs. Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Johnson, Business, Commuting, David Callam, East Croydon, Environment, London-wide issues, Outside Croydon, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Palace stake millions on Gayle blowing up a storm

Posted on August 5, 2013 by insidecroydon

As the Premier League season approaches, IAN LAMONT assesses Palace’s summer signings

When Crystal Palace signed Jose Campana from Sevilla, the wags on social media were quick to comment.

Jose Campana, Palace's new signing, tackling Lionel Messi for Sevilla in La Liga. Will he be effective in the Premier League?

Jose Campana, Palace’s new signing, tackling Lionel Messi for Sevilla in La Liga. Will he be as effective in the Premier League?

By wags, I don’t mean the wives and girlfriends. The Eagles might now be flying high in the Premier League, but the Palace players’ other halves remain less than celebrities in their own right. Like the players, some of the real wags might say.

The wags to whom I refer are the “wits and gigglers”, those ready with quick-witted put downs. So when Campana, the under-20s international midfielder, signed a four-year deal, one was quick to snort, “So that’s three years in the Championship then.” Continue reading →

Posted in Crystal Palace FC, Football, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Constant congestion cannot be solved by more road schemes

Posted on August 5, 2013 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Responding to Charlotte Davies’s column yesterday on the borough’s secret parking tax, ARFUR TOWCRATE, the Sage of Waddon, offers his view

“For a town that has built itself around the demands of the motor car, parking the vehicles is an ever-growing problem”.  The two are inextricably related.

traffic congestionThe Croydon paradigm/fallacy is that cars are essential to the well-being of the borough and that there is no alternative.  In the 1960s and 1970s, this notion was given free rein. Public money was spent in making it easier to drive around, on Roman Way, the Flyover, the Underpass and the urban motorway that is Wellesley Road.  Pedestrians were relegated to subways and cyclists simply ignored.

Consequently, and unsurprisingly, loads of people took to the roads in their cars. Congestion resulted and so the short-term gains were lost.  Something had to be done.

In the 1990s, there were plans to build more flyovers, at Purley Cross and Fiveways.  Duppas Hill Road was going to be turned into a dual carriageway to connect with a flyover taking it to Croydon Road by going over Waddon railway station.  Thankfully, such ideas bit the dust, due in part to public concerns at the threat posed by the extreme motorist agenda set out in the South London Assessment Studies, and perhaps more significantly, a lack of money.   Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Commuting, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Cycling, Environment, Health, Housing, Menta Tower, Parking, Planning, Property, Purley Way, Steve O'Connell, Taberner House, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments