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

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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

Posted in Commuting, Cycling, Health, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Schools, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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

Posted in Crime, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Policing, Tony Newman, Unmesh Desai | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

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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

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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

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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

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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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

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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

Posted in Crime, Knife crime, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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

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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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

Posted in Birch (Selsdon), Business, Selsdon and Addington Village, Selsdon Park Hotel | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

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

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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

Inside Croydon reported last week how Perry’s family business’s latest annual report, submitted to Companies House, presented a picture of a firm struggling, with cash in bank down 37%, net current assets down 50% and debt ratio increased to 75%.

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

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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

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

Posted in Crime, New Addington, New Addington North, Policing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Archbishop Lanfranc and the Norman Conquest of Croydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: For his first essay of 2025, Croydon Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN delves back almost one thousand years, to the time of William the Conqueror and the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury

Norman conquest: Archbishop Lanfranc proved to be crucial to King William I

Who should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury?

The Crown Nominations Committee, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former Director-General of MI5, will be the group of people who will choose potential successors to Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. Welby announced before Christmas that he would be standing down from his role as the head of the Church in England. Not for the first time, the role and status of the Archbishop has been absorbed in controversy.

Back in the year 1070, in a tempestuous time following the Norman invasion of England, a rather different process to appoint a new Archbishop of Canterbury was underway.

Norman Duke William, or William the Conqueror as we know him today, faced many challenges after he defeated English King Harold in the Battle of Hastings of 1066 and took the English throne. One of his pressing issues was what to do with the leading Saxon families who had sided with the slain Harold.

Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of those troublesome figures. Continue reading

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Croydon NHS issues health warning over freezing weather

While Croydon and most of London has so far escaped any settled snow fall, much of the rest of the country has been coping with the winter weather, and Croydon’s NHS is encouraging people to be prepared and take action during the cold spell, which is expected to extend into the working week.

Winter weather: snow has fallen and settled across much of the country north of London

The capital remains on alert for freezing temperatures, snow and rain, which could have an impact on the health of local people.

Dr Subhro Banerjee, Chief Medical Officer at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “As well as the increased risk of physical injuries from slips, trips and falls, older and more vulnerable residents living in our communities are at greater risk of heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia and worsening arthritis during prolonged cold periods.

“That’s why it’s vital that we all take additional steps to keep warm, look after ourselves and check in on our friends and neighbours where we can.

Continue reading

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Croydon’s sage old society offers walks and talks for 2025

The Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society – CNHSS – enters its 155th year with its latest programme of talks and walks, most of which are open to the public (free, though they ask for a small donation), and most require booking.

In February 1870, Henry Long, a chemist trading on Croydon High Street, placed an advertisement in the Croydon Chronicle calling for gentlemen interested in a society for conversation and the exhibition of objects to contact him.

As the CNHSS explains: “At the time, microscopy was a growing interest due to great strides that had been made in its development, hence our original name of the Croydon Microscopical Club…. With a couple of name changes along the way, to Croydon Microscopical and Natural History Club in 1877 and to Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society in 1902, we are pleased to say that we have continued meeting and publishing even through the two world wars.” Continue reading

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Venus and Saturn light up the nights for Kenley observatory

Stars in their eyes: members of the Croydon Astronomical Society have relished the past few clear nights, when they have been able to open the observatory at Kenley to visitors, keen to see the crescent moon and Venus above it

The bitterly cold January nights, with favourable clear skies, have seen the star gazers at the Croydon Astronomical Society especially busy this week, with a special public open session at the Kenley observatory to observe and photograph the waxing Moon with Venus shining brightly, and Saturn nearby, too.

There was also a major meteor shower, called the Quadrantids, on Thursday and Friday nights. Continue reading

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RSPCA provides freezing weather safety advice for your pets

Snow joke: Sussex cattle at Roundshaw Downs coped with the last real, lingering snow, in late 2022. The Croydon skyline, from blue to dirty brown, visibly demonstrates the air pollution hanging over the town

With temperatures set to drop and snow and ice forecast in many areas, the RSPCA is urging people to follow its urgent advice to keep pets, livestock and wildlife safe and happy amid the big freeze.

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for icy conditions for north-west England and the Midlands, extending south as far as the south-west of England and possibly the rest of southern England over the weekend.

RSPCA pet welfare specialist Dr Sam Gaines said: “It’s really important we help our animal friends during this latest upcoming spell of cold weather. As we all strive to create a better world for every animal, people can share our helpful advice and tips to make sure their own animals, and local wildlife, are kept safe.” Continue reading

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The Great Norbury Bake Off, in aid of Norbury Park LTC, Jan 18

Continue reading

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