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Nowel by Benjamin Britten, free, Croydon Minster, Jan 19
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Music
Tagged Benjamin Britten, Carols, Concert, Croydon Minster, Nowel
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Perry’s Purley ‘milestone’ could become millstone for Mayor
Revised plans for the development of the site of the Purley Leisure Centre have been submitted, with shadowy developers Polaska now offering 10% affordable housing within their money-spinning 220 “later living” apartments, plus 78 car parking spaces, as sops to the GLA and local residents who objected so strongly to the previous massive retirement home scheme.
New vision: Polaska have tweaked their Purley retirement home plans, adding nearly 80 car parking spaces and including a mere 18 affordable homes
Polaska’s retirement flats could be worth at least £70million.
Polaska’s original version of the scheme – enthusiastically backed by plastic cladding salesman and part-time Mayor Jason Perry – was roundly rejected by the Greater London Authority as “wholly unacceptable” because of the complete absence of any affordable homes. Continue reading
Elianne murder’s most chilling words: ‘I can’t let this slide bro’
Murder victim: 15-year-old Elianne Andam
Hassan Sentamu opted against taking the witness stand to give evidence in his defence, or be cross-examined, in his trial at the Old Bailey for the murder of Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam, as lawyers made their closing statements yesterday.
Evidence presented on behalf of Sentamu, now 18, claimed that his autism spectrum disorder caused him to lose control during the meeting to exchange belongings with his ex-girlfriend, who was Andam’s friend.
He has admitted manslaughter, but denies murder on the basis of diminished responsibility. Continue reading
Senior black police officer dismissed for racist messaging
Shirley resident Charles Ehikioya, a senior officer in the Metropolitan Police, has been dismissed for gross misconduct over a group chat with a former colleague in which racist, sexist and inappropriate messages were sent and received.
Gross misconduct: the Metropolitan Police has dismissed a senior black officer over the content of WhatsApp messages
Inspector Ehikioya has been the head of the Met’s Black Police Association (MBPA).
A panel sitting at Palestra House in London this week heard evidence that it found amounted to a breach of the standards of professional behaviour.
The matter had been investigated by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards and referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and a file of evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, but they determined that it did not meet the criminal threshold. Continue reading
‘Mayor and CEO are respected and provide strong leadership’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Like a dodgy business that offers to pay for positive reviews on Tripadviser, the council has been patting itself on the back this week because some local government colleagues have said some nice things about them. By STEVEN DOWNES
Pension plan: CEO Katherine Kerswell gave a speech to Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, in which she claimed much of the credit for any improvements
Try not to laugh.
“Together the Mayor and chief executive are well-respected and provide strong, visible leadership to the council.”
That’s one of the earlier, credulous findings of something called a LGA Corporate Peer Challenge, the latest report to be published into the workings of Croydon’s cash-strapped and dysfunctional council.
In contrast with previous reports and reviews into Croydon Council over the past five years, such as the Reports In The Public Interest by auditors Grant Thornton, or the Penn Report, or the more recent and more feeble Kroll Report, the peer challenge’s report, released this week, speaks of the council in almost entirely glowing terms.
On one occasion, it even uses the word “exemplar”.
There’s a reason it’s called a peer review. It’s because it was conducted by peers – colleagues, mates if you like – of senior council staff, all arranged by the LGA, the Local Government Association. Continue reading
Posted in Annette McPartland, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report
Tagged Annette McPartland, Conservative, Corporate Peer Challenge, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, LGA, Local Government Association, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Richard Plant, Section 114 Notice, Stiles Harold Williams
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New Addington-based Cronx Brewery goes into liquidation
Cronx, the award-winning craft beer brewery based in an industrial unit in New Addington which had its own bar on Croydon High Street, has gone out of business.
Gone flat: Cronx Brewery has closed with debts of more than £140,000
The decision was taken at a formal meeting of the company’s board, including Cronx co-founder Mark Russell, that was held in November. The Cronx Tap, their High Street pub, had called last orders for a final time two months earlier.
The company, with an address off Vulcan Way, is now going through the process of voluntary liquidation, with appointed liquidators selling off any assets to pay off its debts.
The company website, from where they offered online sales, has been taken offline, its phones cut off. There’s been no social media posts by the Cronx Brewery or the Cronx Tap for almost a year. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Cronx Brewery, New Addington
Tagged Boozepark, Boxpark, Cronx Brewery, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon High Street, London, New Addington, The Cronx Tap
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Police drop investigation into London Assembly Member Desai
The Metropolitan Police has ended its investigation into what was reported as “a serious allegation” against a senior London Assembly Member, with no charges or further action to be taken, lawyers acting for Unmesh Desai have said today.
Police inquiry: Unmesh Desai, here with Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, says he was under police investigation since December
Desai, the London Assembly Member for The City and East London, remains suspended by the Labour Party, at least, that is, until the party’s bureaucrats manage to revisit the complaint that led to his suspension.
Desai continues to serve as an Assembly Member but sits as an independent, after Labour at City Hall withdrew the whip from him earlier this week.
Desai, a member of the London Assembly since 2016, had been Labour’s City Hall spokesperson on policing and crime.
According to a statement by Desai, the police investigation began in December. Continue reading
Croydon schools left trailing other boroughs over active travel
Six times as many schools in neighbouring Bromley have achieved Gold standard in a London-wide active travel scheme that discourages parents driving their children to school than in Croydon, official figures show
With the Government’s target for 55% of primary school children walking to school by this year, Transport for London is calling on schools in the capital to sign up to its TfL Travel for Life programme to reap the health benefits of walking and cycling and improve air quality.
In Croydon, barely 10% of the borough’s state primary schools have achieved Gold status under the TfL scheme.
Bike rack: the up-take for TfL’s schools active travel programme has been much better in neighbouring Bromley than in Croydon
The accreditation programme encourages sustainable travel to school, including the safe use of public transport, to help health and safety.
By completing activities that promote walking and cycling to school and the safe use of public transport, primary and secondary schools can become Bronze, Silver or Gold accredited.
The programme is administered by London Transport Museum in partnership with London’s boroughs.
To achieve Gold accreditation, a school must have reduced car use by 6% or achieved 90% of the school run being made using sustainable transport. The number of schools awarded Gold in 2024 was 735, a 10% increase compared to 2023. Continue reading
News black-out after Labour Party suspends Assembly Member
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Under scrutiny: Unmesh Desai, investigated by the police, suspended by Labour
Unmesh Desai, the London Assembly Member for The City and East London, has been suspended by the Labour Party following what was initially reported as “a police investigation into a serious allegation”.
A spokesperson for the Labour group at City Hall told Inside Croydon: “We can confirm we have withdrawn the whip from Assembly Member Desai due to an ongoing police investigation. We won’t be making any further comments on the matter while the investigation continues.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that as at this morning, Desai has not been charged with any offence, but they refused to comment further.
As well as his role as an Assembly Member scrutinising the work of the Mayor of London, Desai had been Labour’s London Assembly spokesperson on… policing and crime. Continue reading
The public knows what matters to them. But does PM Starmer?
Happy New Year? Maybe not for Keir Starmer’s Labour, as it grapples with the twin issues of the economy and the NHS, says ANDREW FISHER in his first column of 2025
This year is likely to be a very tricky one for the Labour government, and not just because of the rantings of American-based billionaires or their pipsqueak cheerleaders here in Britain.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government will succeed or fail depending on whether people feel better off. The Conservatives were kicked out last July – slumping to their worst election defeat in history – and rightly so: they had overseen the worst Parliament for living standards on record.
Every poll tells us that the No1 issues for voters is the cost-of-living crisis. Starmer recognised this when he delivered a speech just before Christmas setting out his milestones, which made raising household incomes the priority.
New Year Resolutions: the public spending less money is bad news for the economy
But after Christmas, the Resolution Foundation published a report forecasting that average “disposable income is likely to fall” in 2025. Happy New Year, Rachel Reeves.
This really shouldn’t come as a surprise as the Office for Budget Responsibility’s published analysis alongside October’s Budget said that the level of real household disposable income per person will be 1.25% lower by the start of 2029 than was forecast in March 2024.
The economy cannot grow while people’s incomes remain suppressed and are being constantly eroded by higher bills (energy bills rose by 10% in October and then by another 1.2% in January), higher housing costs (rents are rising above inflation) and taxation (the outgoing Conservative government froze income tax thresholds, trapping evermore numbers of low-paid workers into the tax-paying bracket, and Labour retained the policy).
Council Tax is also likely to rise by 5% in April in most councils across the country. Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Croydon, Economy, Labour, London, NHS, Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting
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Hospital admissions for flu rise as NHS urges public to have jab
The NHS has issued an urgent appeal to Londoners to get vaccinated against flu, as more people with flu have been admitted to the capital’s hospitals than at any point last year.
Time to be vaccinated: flu jabs can be arranged at some pharmacies and via your GP surgery
While nationally the NHS has around 100,000 beds, occupancy levels were well above what is considered safe going into winter. So a bad outbreak is enough to tip many hospitals into crisis mode. According to the BBC, around 20 NHS trusts have declared a critical incident this week.
Today, NHS London released figures that show that the number of people vaccinated in the capital this year is lower than hoped, while the number of admissions is higher than expected. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon NHS Trust, Health, Mayday Hospital, Purley Hospital
Tagged Flu, Flu vaccine, Karen Bonner, NHS, NHS London
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Rail lines from East Croydon to Gatwick closed all Sunday
Anyone planning to jet away from Gatwick Airport this weekend is advised to allow extra time for their journey. Lots of it.
No trains and slow trains: there will be no rail services between East Croydon and Gatwick this Sunday
Engineering work is taking place between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport, closing all lines.
The works mean there will be a bus replacement service between East Croydon and Gatwick from late on Saturday night, January 11, and all through Sunday January 12.
National Rail services will run on a diverted route from Victoria, departing every 30minutes. Alternatively, trains will run between London Bridge and East Grinstead to connect with a replacement bus service to the airport. This engineering work will also affect trains to Brighton and the Sussex coast. Continue reading
Posted in East Croydon, Transport
Tagged East Croydon, Gatwick Express, London Bridge, Network Rail, Southern, Thameslink, Victoria
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Stanley Halls stages revival of Coleridge-Taylor’s Dream Lovers
The first professional staging of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s opera Dream Lovers since its premiere in 1898 will be performed on February 14 and 15 at Stanley Halls in South Norwood.
Long lost manuscript: Dream Lovers has not been performed for more than a century
It will be performed by a cast of singers from the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House’s young artists programmes.
The cast includes April Koyejo-Audiger, a former Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House – a “glorious full-bodied soprano” (The Grauniad) – in the leading role of Katherine. Benson Wilson plays Prince Torado. Wilson won the Kathleen Ferrier Award and was an ENO Harewood Young Artist. He has recently performed at Glyndebourne, Opera Holland Park and ENO. Continue reading
Cash-strapped council’s Mayor wants to give himself a pay rise
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the latest piece of self-serving nonsense from the borough’s under-achieving Mayor
Rewards for failure: Mayor Jason Perry and CEO Katherine Kerswell both want to give themselves a pay rise
Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, wants to increase his annual salary to almost £84,000. And he expects Croydon residents to pay for his pay rise.
The proposed £83,942 is up £2,000 on the council wages that Tory Perry has been paid since his election in 2022.
And it is a case of “doubles all-round” for Perry and his mates at the Town Hall, as they are looking to increase all allowances to elected councillors by 2.5%.
In Perry’s usual choice of words, that has the look of “rewards for failure”. Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, General Purposes and Audit Committee, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense
Tagged Brick by Brick, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, STUART KING, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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MP Jones ‘deeply concerned’ at council cuts to youth service
CROYDON IN CRISIS: While Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, recommends a pay rise for himself, he’s cutting a youth service in what has been described as a ‘stealthy’ move, one which could have ‘catastrophic’ consequences. By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor
Deeply concerning: Sarah Jones MP is urging the public to support a campaign to save the council’s youth engagement team
Sarah Jones, Labour MP for Croydon West, says that it is “deeply concerning” that Croydon’s Tory Mayor Jason Perry is axing the council’s youth engagement team for an annual saving of £700,000, in a move described by opposition councillors as “stealthy”.
Youth workers have warned that closing the council’s youth engagement service, handing over some of its functions to often under-trained volunteers, could be “catastrophic” for the borough’s young people. Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Crime, Croydon Council, Croydon West, Fieldway, Mayor Jason Perry, New Addington, New Addington North, Sarah Jones MP, South Norwood, Youth Services
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon West, Fieldway, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Sarah Jones MP, South Norwood, STUART KING, Tory, Youth Engagement Service
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Croydon youth among five arrested for Brent Cross Apple raid
A 14-year-old boy from Croydon is among five teenagers arrested by the Metropolitan Police over a shocking, organised raid on the Apple store in the Brent Cross shopping centre on Sunday and made off with an estimated £50,000-worth of hi-tech equipment.
A gang of eight youths, all dressed in black, grabbed the iPhones from the counters in the store, in a raid that reports say took just 24 seconds. Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Uncategorized
Tagged Apple, Apple iPhone, Apple Store, Brent Cross, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, Crime, Croydon, Metropolitan Police, Shoplifting
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Professor gives third day of evidence in Elianne murder trial
A professor of forensic psychiatry at Kings College London was expected to give evidence in the witness box for a third day this morning, as Hassan Sentamu is tried at the Old Bailey for the murder of Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam.
‘Beautiful soul’: the memorial mural and bench for Elianne Andam in Croydon town centre
On Monday, Professor Nigel Blackwood had told the court that Sentamu had “exacted vengeance” when he stabbed 15-year-old Andam repeatedly outside the Whitgift Centre in September 2023.
Sentamu has pleaded not guilty to murder, on the grounds of diminished responsibility because of his autism. He has also pleaded not guilty to carrying a bladed weapon.
Prof Blackwood had examined Sentamu following his arrest, which took place near his New Addington home less than two hours after the brutal attack. Sentamu had fled the scene, disposing of the knife, his face mask and gloves.
In his further evidence yesterday, including cross-examination by the defence team, Prof Blackwood said of Sentamu: “He can’t remember the full detail of the assault, but he can remember taking the knife out of his trouser pocket.” Continue reading
Saudi-backed group close to sealing £150m Palace share deal
It could soon be a whole new ball game at Selhurst Park, as a consortium headed by a Texas basketball hero moves to buy out John Textor
Crystal Palace might yet become the latest Premier League club to undergo a takeover by oil-rich Middle East owners, as it is being reported today that John Textor has entered talks to sell his shares in the club to a group backed by Saudi businessmen brothers.
On his way out: US businessman John Textor may have found a buyer
Textor announced last year that he was seeking to dispose of his Eagle Football 45% share in Crystal Palace, as he sought to buy into Everton – a move which was ultimately unsuccessful.
Textor’s Eagle Football is the single largest share-holding in Palace. Were the new group to acquire all the shares, it would leave other board members, such as long-standing club chairman Steve Parish, as minority shareholders, without a final say in the major decisions affecting the Selhurst Park club. Continue reading
TfL instals new shelters but 70 Croydon bus stops miss out
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Work has begun for the installation of bus shelters replacing street infrastructure removed by Croydon Council almost four years ago. But TfL is only providing shelters for two-thirds of the former sites. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Sir Sadiq Khan’s Transport for London is coming to the aid of Tory-controlled Croydon yet again.
But even TfL’s rescue mission with 114 new shelters will leave Croydon with more than 70 bus stops without the convenience of the shelters that they had had before the bungling council got involved.
Coming to a street near you, possibly: after four years, TfL has stepped in to replace Croydon’s missing shelters
Work began just before Christmas to survey the borough’s bus stops, preparing for the installation of replacements four years after 185 perfectly serviceable shelters were ripped out of Croydon’s pavements.
That removal of shelters was all part of a get-rich-quick scheme offered by a New York-based con man, which council directors have admitted more recently “was never going to be delivered”.
Installation work across the borough on the TfL replacement shelters is expected to begin next month, and should be completed by March. Bus stops with the most passengers will be getting their new shelters first.
Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, TfL, Transport, ULEZ
Tagged bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor Sadiq Khan, TfL, Tory, Transport for London, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
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Administrators given further 12 months to sell Selsdon Park
No takers: the former Selsdon Park Hotel, turned into a Birch membership club which collapsed into administration in 2023, is still seeking a buyer
Administrators Moorfields have been granted a further year to try to sell the former Selsdon Park Hotel.
Birch Selsdon closed in November 2023 due to “cash constraints”, barely six months since it had re-opened as a boutique hipster resort charging £150 monthly membership fees, following a £15million makeover, the latest efforts to modernise the 100-year-old hotel. Continue reading
Old Bailey jury told Sentamu ‘exacted vengeance’ on Elianne
The trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of 14-year-old schoolgirl resumed with evidence from expert witnesses
Moment of arrest: Hassan Sentamu denies murder, claiming diminished responsibility
Psychiatric experts gave evidence at an Old Bailey trial yesterday that Hassan Sentamu, the teenager accused of murdering Elianne Andam outside the Whitgift Centre in Croydon in September 2023, “exacted vengeance” when he stabbed the schoolgirl repeatedly.
Another expert witness confirmed to the jury that Sentamu, now 18, had autism which had a significant impact on his ability to regulate emotions, including anger.
Sentamu has pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility due to his autism. He has also pleaded not guilty to carrying a bladed weapon. Continue reading
Croydon Mayor’s private firm selling flammable plastic cladding
Carlton Building Plastics Ltd, the family business where the managing director is Croydon Mayor Jason Perry, sells a range of uPVC cladding with little information, or warning, about how flammable and dangerous the products might be.
Plastic cladding: Mayor Jason Perry’s family business offers uPVC cladding for sale on its website
When Perry was elected as Mayor of Croydon in 2022, he won on a manifesto that promised to “fix the finances” of the bankrupted borough. His company’s latest financial figures suggest that he is not even capable of running his own business competently.
Since becoming Mayor of Croydon, for which he is paid £82,000 per year by the council, Perry has used the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 men, women and children perished, to promote himself as a compassionate and caring civic leader.
“We lit up the Town Hall in green and observed a minute’s silence in remembrance of all those who lost their lives and those whose lives were changed forever on that terrible day. We will never forget them, and my thoughts and deepest condolences go to them and their families,” Perry said on the council website in June 2023.
In January 2025, Perry’s Carlton Building Plastics is flogging flammable plastic cladding. Continue reading
Posted in Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged Barnet, Carlton Business Plastics Ltd, Conservative, Croydon, Grenfell Tower, Jason Perry, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
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Kafkaesque world of contractors clearing 98% of fly-tips
Rubbish contractors Veolia have been handed a very generous, £40million reprieve to remain Croydon’s domestic waste and street cleaning gig for another seven years, but there’s been little sign of any improvement in the service they provide.
Rubbish contractors: after this fly-tip was reported on Dec 31, Veolia failed to clear it because they claimed it was on private land
In fact, according to Croydon Council’s own figures, they are just getting worse.
Research by Tony Hooker, the resident campaigner behind Litter Free Norbury, shows that the number of reports of fly-tipping having to be logged more than once to get a satisfactory resolution continues to rise.
In the last two months of 2024 alone, residents had to make nearly 3,000 additional reports due to the council, or Veolia, closing cases without proper resolution.
That amounts to 15% of all reports made.
Croydon Council continues to claim that its “proactive fly-tipping clearing service clears 98% of reported fly-tips within 24 hours”. Proactive! Ha! Continue reading
Posted in Bensham Manor, Business, Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Love Norbury, Mayor Jason Perry, Norbury, Norbury Park, Refuse collection, Thornton Heath, Thornton Heath Community Action Team, Veolia
Tagged Bensham Manor, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Graham Mitchell, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Norbury, Norbury and Pollards Hill, Thornton Heath, Tony Hooker, Tory, Veolia
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MP Philp called out for being casual about truth and honesty
Pandering to the far right: Chris Philp, Croydon’s only Conservative MP, appeared on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme yesterday
Croydon’s only Conservative MP, Chris Philp, has waded in to the race row fuelled by far-right extremists including Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon over “grooming gangs”.
Ever the opportunist, Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, used the BBC’s Sunday morning politics programme to call for action on what he calls “rape gangs”. The Labour government has refused to hold a public inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse in Oldham, instead directing the council to do this itself.
Unfortunately for Philp, his criticisms only highlighted the failure by the Conservative government to make anything other than piecemeal responses to previous reports and inquiries. Continue reading
Posted in Chris Philp MP, Crime, Croydon South
Tagged Boris Johnson, Child Sex Abuse, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon South, Elon Musk, Nigel Farage, Oldham, Reform UK, Rochdale, Rotherham, Tory
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National paper names Sansom as Urfan Sharif’s cell attacker
Murderer: Steve Sansom
Steve Sansom, the New Addington murderer who was released on parole and killed again in the gruesome attack on Sarah Mayhew, has been named as the Belmarsh Prison inmate who savagely assaulted Urfan Sharif, recently convicted of the murder of his daughter, Sara Sharif.
A national newspaper has identified Sansom as the prisoner who slashed Sharif’s neck with the jagged lid of a fish can.
Sansom is reported to have forced Sharif, 43, into a cell in a frenzied attack with the help of another inmate.
“Everyone is talking about how it was Sansom who got to Sharif,” the newspaper reported a source as saying. Continue reading
