A Croydon primary school will be appearing on BBC local television news today, appealing to the public for their help with one last big push to try to get their special song to the Christmas No1 spot.
St James the Great Primary School in Thornton Heath’s Christmas single, Joy on Christmas Day, is competing in the charts with established pop acts like Ed Sheeran and Sabrina Carpenter. Continue reading
Open to work: council cabinet member Scott Roche has updated his personal profile, just not the council register which is a legal requirement
Another week, and another Croydon councillor has been found out as breaking the council’s code of conduct by failing to update their declarations of interest in a timely manner.
This time it is Conservative council cabinet member Scott Roche, who is paid nearly £40,000 per year in Town Hall allowances, but who hasn’t updated his record for two years, leaving it providing false and misleading information. Continue reading
A ‘critical valve’ has left thousands of people across south-west London and Surrey without reliable water supplies, affecting a major hospital and forcing schools to close. BERTIE WORCESTER-PARK reports
Emergency measures: households from Cheam to Carshalton, to Epsom and South Croydon, have been affected by the SES Water issues
Up to 4,000 households across Carshalton, Sutton, Cheam, Epsom and even South Croydon have had intermittent water supplies for three days, with SES Water criticised for its slow response to the emergency.
A “critical valve” at SES Water’s Cheam treatment works has restricted the flow of water to part of the network, says SES. The company has admitted that its water reserves are low.
As a first response, SES set up two water stations, at Bourne Hall in Ewell and the Upper High Street car park in Epsom, followed by stations at Cheam Library and Westcroft Leisure centre in Carshalton.
Today, Cheam High School will be closed due to health and safety concerns as it has no water. Nonsuch High School and Cheam Fields Primary School closed on Tuesday. St Helier Hospital has also been affected. Continue reading
Transport for London has partnered with Official London Theatre to offer discounts on Theatre Tokens ahead of Christmas. The partnership allows Londoners to save 10% on Theatre Tokens and make additional savings when used on Official London Theatre’s “See It Live in 2025” deals.
A bit of a song and dance: TfL is offering discounts on Theatre Tokens
With no expiry date, Theatre Tokens can be redeemed at top shows across London and nationwide. When booking Theatre Tokens, customers should use the code “TfL” to claim this offer – available, TfL says, “only while stock lasts”.
The Play That Goes Wrong, at the Duchess Theatre, near Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line, and Temple on the District and Circle lines, is among the shows included in the discount deal. Other top theatre shows offering deals on Official London Theatre’s site include 101 Dalmatians – The Musical, Back To The Future: The Musical, Mrs Doubtfire, The Mousetrap, and Wicked. Continue reading
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, delved deeper into the White Paper on English devolution to discover a proposal which could end directly elected borough mayors in London, including Croydon
Bitten off more than he can chew: out of his depth Jason Perry could end up being a one-term mayor
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner made a speech yesterday promising devolution across England, with a mayor for every region in a major redesign of local government.
But buried in the proposals contained within the Labour government’s White Paper were a couple of paragraphs that appear to sound the death knell for the five mayors of boroughs within Greater London – and that includes Croydon and could make Jason Perry a one-term mayor.
“Mayors are the government’s strong preference,” the White Paper states at paragraph 2.2.2.
But for Tory Mayor Perry, elected in 2022 and who is pitching for another four-year term on £82,000 per year, such preference does not extend as far down as local council level in a city which has a mayor who already has strategic powers.
The White Paper, issued yesterday, says that the government will “discontinue the individual local authority devolution model in its mayoral form”.
For proposals heralded as offering more devolved powers from Whitehall, this decision appears to be, at least, contradictory, if not downright anti-democratic. Continue reading
Croydon Council’s trading standards team has been named as London’s Team of the Year.
The annual London Trading Standards awards celebrate the achievements of dedicated officers across 10 award categories.
London Trading Standards praised Croydon’s team for its efforts over the past year, detailing how they had seized thousands of illicit vapes, undertaken hundreds of age-restricted product test purchases, investigated many doorstep crime cases and intervened in a number of scam victims’ cases.
London Trading Standards also recognised how Croydon’s team had developed successful relationships with schools, and advising and educating parents, teachers and pupils on the dangers of vapes. Continue reading
For sale: several not-so-careful owners, might suit a private school, good transport links to central London, handy for the trams and street market
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Whitgift Foundation, the borough’s biggest landowner, is now flogging off the Tudor palace home of the charity’s founder. It might not be an ‘easy’ sale. By STEVEN DOWNES
“For sale with vacant possession”. The estate agent’s phrase is familiar enough, but is nonetheless jarring when applied to the listed buildings of a former Archbishop’s palace that has been home to a girls’ school for more than a century.
As Inside Croydon first reported last month, the Whitgift Foundation, the borough’s biggest private landlords, are flogging off the buildings of its Old Palace of John Whitgift School, which will be closing its gates to its pupils for a final time next July. Old Palace’s prep school closed last summer, and many of its senior pupils have already made the move to other schools.
After a disastrous decade of property mismanagement, mostly caused by the failure to redevelop its commercial property around the Whitgift shopping centre, The Foundation is asking £7million for Old Palace School.
It might not be an easy sale. Continue reading
Criminology student Nasen Saadi said under caution ‘You haven’t found a murder weapon, you haven’t found the trousers, the bag’
The Croydon student accused of murdering Amie Gray in a brutal knife attack on a Bournemouth beach in May told the police that he was not responsible and he would not “attack someone for no reason”, a court was told.
‘Mistaken identity’: Nasen Saadi, filmed being interviewed by police in May
Nasen Saadi, 20, from Purley, is on trial charged with the murder of 34-year-old Amie Gray at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, on May 24, and the attempted murder of Leanne Miles.
As the murder trial at Winchester Crown Court entered its second week yesterday and the prosecution case reached its conclusion, it was announced to court by Saadi’s defence lawyer, Charles Sherrard KC, that he would not be taking the witness box to give evidence.
“It turns out the defendant has nothing to say. Odd, isn’t it?” Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, told the jury.
The jury has instead been shown video footage of Saadi’s police interview from May 31. Continue reading
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Investigators from Kroll never had investigatory powers to check people’s bank accounts in the search for possible fraud over the £73m refurbishment of the Fairfield Halls. But there was evidence in the public domain of ‘direct personal gain’, as STEVEN DOWNES reports
Jo Negrini withheld financial details from councillors and doctored reports prepared by third-party, outside contractors over projected costs and the multi-million-pound overspend on the Fairfield Halls refurbishment, according to a report by independent investigators.
The Kroll Report into the £73million Fairfield fiasco, finally released last week, provides little detail we didn’t already know.
Much of that work was initially done, after all, as long ago as 2021 by auditors Grant Thornton in their Report In The Public Interest. There was also other material revealed by the Penn Report, which when the council refused to publish it, this website did in 2022.
Besides, from the very first moment the public was allowed back into the Fairfield Halls in September 2019, when it reopened after the over-running three-and-a-half year closure for “refurbishment”, it was clear that the project had been badly botched and that few of the upgrades and modernisations expected or promised for the ageing venue had been done.
Deadly duo: Jo Negrini and Colm Lacey, who she appointed as the council’s development chief, withheld vital details about the Fairfield project and Brick by Brick
The extent of the overspend, more than £40million, in the works supervised by Brick by Brick had not been released at the time – it was just a year before the council cascaded into its financial collapse.
But even in 2019, most agreed upon visiting the arts venue upon its reopening that what had been delivered was little more than a fresh coat of paint.
What the Kroll Report makes clear, though, is that from as early as 2011, under Conservative as well as Labour council administrations, senior council staff always knew that the promised refurb could never be achieved on a budget of £30million. The council cabinet member for development in the period up to 2014 was Tory councillor Jason Perry.
The Kroll report suggests that from 2014 onwards, at the centre of every decision to go ahead with the project was Jo Negrini, and her sidekick, Colm Lacey. Continue reading
At a committee meeting tonight in Sutton, councillors will be asked to approve a £1m loan for the discredited council-owned heat network, SDEN.
But questions are being asked about the viability of the plans, while residents are kept in the dark about an ugly gantry to be built over the River Wandle.
EXCLUSIVE by DAVE BURTON
Hot and bothered: the Lavenders, better known as Riverside, largely comprises Clarion social housing heated by a communal system. SDEN is keen to land a supply deal
For six years, SDEN has been trying to convince Clarion Housing to buy its heat and hot water to supply its Lavenders social housing estate at Hackbridge.
The Lavenders, better known locally as Riverside, comprises mainly social housing, though some homes are privately owned: Bobby Dean, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wallington and Carshalton and borough councillor for The Wrythe, is a resident.
The 348 properties were built with a high standard of insulation.
When planning permission for the Lavenders was granted, it included a condition that the estate should have a combined heat and power network, or CHP in councilspeak jargon. But this was never implemented. Continue reading
Catering and hospitality students at Croydon College are putting their learning into practice by offering a special Christmas lunch menu to the community at the College’s Chef’s Restaurant.
Ready to serve: Croydon College students prepare for their Christmas feast service
The students are working alongside Chef Mark Goldstein to serve a festive feast with a choice of starters, main courses and delicious desserts. Diners can enjoy two courses for £14.95 or three courses for £16.95.
“The Chef’s Restaurant is based inside Croydon College in the town centre, making it a great option for nearby businesses to hold their team Christmas lunch or for friends and community groups to enjoy a festive get-together,” a spokesperson for the College said.
Mark Goldstein said: “We held our first Christmas lunches in the restaurant last week and they have been a great success with excellent feedback from diners about the quality of the food and the service. Continue reading
Crash point: emergency services were swiftly on the scene after a bus hit the low bridge on Portland Road on Saturday nught
Two people were taken to hospital late on Saturday night, after their bus driver made a wrong turn and crashed into a low bridge over Portland Road, ripping the roof off the double decker.
The 197 bus crash happened just before 11pm, and was quickly attended by paramedics, the Fire Brigade and police.
As well as the people taken to hospital, two others were treated at the scene.
The railway bridge carries the tracks for trains in and out of Norwood Junction Station, and may be liable to safety checks by Network Rail following Saturday night’s collision.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called on Saturday December 15 at 10.55pm to reports of a traffic collision in Portland Road, South Norwood. Continue reading
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Leading opera singer and Croydon resident discusses her love for the music of Felix Mendelssohn in the same historic church where the composer once performed. By DAVID MORGAN
‘I’m not a diva’: Croydon resident Katherine Broderick is one of the country’s leading opera sopranos
“I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t singing,” Katherine Broderick says, recalling how her career as an internationally acclaimed opera singer had all started with a very musical version of “show and tell” when she was at primary school.
Growing up in Oldham, one of her infant school teachers recognised her talents. The teacher would get her young pupil to stand up on a desk and sing a song before the class all trooped out for playtime. Years later, Broderick has sung in many of the great concert and theatre venues around the world, delighting audiences with her powerful soprano voice.
Broderick is a child of Irish immigrants. Her father trained as a classical tenor at the Northern College of Music, but it was his love of folk music that inspired his daughter as a young singer. He sang and played guitar in local sessions and at the catholic church where his daughter was often part of the line-up. Continue reading
There is a new resident at Crystal Palace station.
Big attraction: the cast of the iguanodon head, in a workshop being prepared to go on display
A life-size replica of an historic iguanodon head has been unveiled in the ticket hall by Arriva Rail London and Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, acknowledging the nearby park’s world-famous links to the Victorian era models that were installed in the grounds when the Crystal Palace moved to Sydenham Hill 170 years ago.
Iggy’s head now surveys the ticket hall at Crystal Palace. The replica was donated to Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs by Bompas and Parr, a creative food and drink company, from its 2010 event, The Complete History of Food.
The event took the form of an experiential meal, charting key periods in England’s glorious and often bizarre culinary history – including the recreation of the epic 1853 Dinner in the Iguanodon.
With its beady gaze, Iggy will welcome visitors and residents to the historic park – which was effectively the world’s first Jurassic Park. Continue reading
Fight scene: shoppers were shocked last week when what one described as a ‘mass brawl’ broke out in the Purley supermarket
Working in high street retail can be tough enough at the best of times, but staff and customers at Tesco at Purley Cross were left shocked last week when what one eye-witness described as “a mass brawl” broke out between the aisles of groceries and Christmas goods.
Shopfloor staff and the Metropolitan Police confirm that while there were three arrests, no one was charged. Continue reading
SUTTON COMMENTARY: Shocking scenes shown by BBC News this week should be a wake-up call for government and the NHS to revive previously approved plans for a state-of-the-art new hospital, writes DAVE BURTON
The problems facing St Helier Hospital, as highlighted on national television news this week, are not just a recent phenomenon.
Empty promises: even when the LibDems had a health minister in the coalition government, they failed to deliver for St Helier
St Helier has been used as a political football for decades, between the Liberal Democrats’ MPs and their party colleagues who control Sutton Council, and, mostly, the Conservatives in central government and council opposition.
The issue of health care in south west London remains a very sore subject, an open wound in desperate need of attention.
Hugh Pym, the BBC’s health correspondent, signed off his shocking report from the corridors of St Helier’s overwhelmed A&E department this week by saying: “Crowded and cramped in old buildings, doctors here say only a new hospital is the answer.”
For decades, the “Save St Helier” slogan has been the core vote winner for the LibDems, whose position on local health care has wavered towards whatever stance keeps the slogan alive. But it’s not politicians trying to close St Helier. It never has been. There has never been a local or national proposal to close the hospital. The real culprit is the fabric of the building. Continue reading
Merry Croydon Christmas: the Westfield-run Whitgift Centre this week, less than 14 shopping days to Christmas, with more buckets than customers. Mayor Perry is ‘working with’ Westfield, while blocking off customer access to the centre
Businesses struggling for survival in the long-neglected Whitgift Centre say they are enduring their worst Christmas trading season in 25 years
The closure of the Wellesley Road pedestrian subway has entered a second week, with potential customers blocked off from accessing shops in the Whitgift Centre just before Christmas, and traders kept in the dark about when this important access point and emergency exit might re-open, if at all.
There is speculation that the council wants to close the underpass permanently, which would make it even more difficult for potential customers to reach the few shops and businesses that remain in the long-neglected shopping centre.
“Zero communication about it to us or our neighbours of course as premises directly affected,” according to one trader who contacted Inside Croydon, who said that the underpass was their main fire exit route for mobility-impaired visitors. Continue reading
Croydon Council and local organisations including churches, community centres and public libraries have created a network of 20 warm spaces across the borough to support residents through the colder months.
Warm hub: St Mary’s, Addington, one of the oldest churches in the country, is part of the Croydon warm spaces network
They are part of a range of measures intended to reduce the impact of rising energy costs, while supporting people in need.
The warm spaces network includes Waddon Leisure Centre, Ashburton Hall and St Mary the Blessed Virgin, in Addington.
Some may offer visitors a hot drink and food, receive information about local support services and advice on energy and household costs. Some leisure centres, operated by Greenwich Leisure, provide charging for mobile devices, free wifi and a hot shower.
Details of opening times, activities and facilities available are on the council’s website.
Prosecution of a drugs gang for a murder that took place in Croydon almost four years ago this week reached a conclusion, of sorts, at the re-trial of two of the gang members.
Guilty: Tyreece Riggon needed a re-trial to be convicted of GBH
On February 5 2021, 22-year-old Lavaun Witter was fatally stabbed in the leg with a Samurai sword after four men broke into a flat in Wisbeach Road, Selhurst.
The gang, who were all armed with long knives and swords, demanded drugs to be handed over and slashed through an internal door to get to Witter, who had barricaded himself in with two other men and a 16-year-old boy.
Witter and the 16-year-old, who also suffered a stab injury, managed to run away from the scene, but Witter collapsed a short distance away, and died a short time later. Continue reading
An Old Bailey judge yesterday sentenced Dajour Jones to a minimum term of 27 years in prison for the murder of 20-year-old Jamie Gilbey in an Upper Norwood hostel last year.
Caught in the act: the Old Bailey was shown Jones on his hostel’s CCTV, leaving with the large suitcase he used to dispose of Gilbey’s body parts
During the trial, Jones, 27, was described as “violent and dangerous” after the court was told how he had repeatedly stabbed Gilbey to death in a “sustained and brutal” attack and dumped his dismembered body in bin bags in a nearby park.
Jones refused to attend sentencing in person or by video link from Belmarsh Prison. Judge Nigel Lickley KC said Jones’s “antics and tantrums” during proceedings showed “utter contempt” for the court and had been intended to “manipulate the system”. Continue reading
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Kroll Report, which this week had its release delayed because of legal threats on behalf of a former council director, might be seen as a waste of another £310,000 of public money. But for former director Richard Simpson, it makes for a most uncomfortable read.
EXCLUSIVE by DAVE BURTON and STEVEN DOWNES
Wednesday’s long overdue release of the Kroll Report, the investigation into the £73million Fairfield fiasco, was further delayed by several hours on the day because of a lengthy letter threatening possible legal action against Croydon Council on behalf of a former executive director who was at the centre of the Brick by Brick scandal.
Senior sources have suggested that the legal threats were made on behalf of Richard Simpson, the ex-employee of Croydon Council who, potentially, has most to lose from any action which might arise from the Kroll Report’s findings.
Prior to his arrival at Sutton Council in early 2019 as “Strategic Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer”, Simpson had held a similar post as the finance chief at Croydon Council, where he oversaw the creation of Brick by Brick, the council-owned housebuilding company that never made a penny profit. Continue reading
KEN LEE reports from the final full meeting of the council this year
Tin-earred: Labour councillor Callton Young sided with the Tories over a public petition
Ethics and morals are just too expensive for Croydon’s Conservative and Labour councillors.
Two petitions were submitted to Wednesday night’s council meeting calling on the Mayor to stop investing in some businesses and industries on moral grounds.
Mayor Jason Perry’s Tories issued a statement together with the “opposition” Labour group.
There has been a growing understanding that investment decisions when using public money – such as with the council’s pension fund – shouldn’t just be about making as much money as possible. Money can be invested in the best interests of the public, in an ethical and moral manner.
In 2014, the Croydon Labour had a manifesto commitment to stop the council investing in Big Tobacco, a change that they brought in after they were elected.
John Wentworth, the Labour councillor who was chair of the council’s pension committee at the time, said: “Having a pension fund that invests in tobacco was very much at odds with our responsibility to protect and improve public health in this borough, and there were clearly a number of concerns about the ethics of doing that.” Continue reading
DAVID WHITE offers his appreciation of the life and work of Dr Peter Latham, who has died, aged 83
Dr Peter Latham, who has died, aged 83
I was sorry to hear of the death last month of Dr Peter Latham, the prominent sociologist, author, political activist and trade unionist. He was 83.
Peter might be best known in Croydon for having exposed Conservative councillor Maria Gatland as having been a gun-runner for the Provisional IRA in the 1970s.
In 2008, Gatland was forced to resign as a cabinet member on Croydon Council and was suspended by the Conservative Party, but just a month later reinstated, having apparently been forgiven by her party for this “error of judgement”. Continue reading
