Controversial Brick by Brick site to be auctioned for £550k

Posted on September 19, 2024 by insidecroydon

BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports on the latest planning mystery at the cash-strapped council

Planning permission: how the Coombe Road site is being marketed by Saviles

The scrap of open space at the junction of Edridge Road and Coombe Road, next to heritage-listed building Ruskin House, is set to be auctioned off next week with a guide price of £550,000.

It is one of the council-owned sites which were transferred – often at waaay below true market value – to the council-owned house-builders, Brick by Brick. But local objections to development on one of the few green spaces in Fairfield ward, and the collapse of the council’s finances, thanks in large part to the failures of Brick by Brick, meant that they never got as far as sending in the bulldozers.

But that could now all change, with a different set of developers, depending on the outcome of a property auction next Wednesday. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Planning, Property, Ria Patel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Planning battle over The Lawns after council official’s threats

Posted on September 19, 2024 by insidecroydon

Tight site: the local community group had been encouraged to work up a proposal for flats on the green at The Lawns by City Hall and Croydon Council

Five years’ work has been wasted after Croydon Council planners rejected a planning application from a community group in Upper Norwood to build seven not-for-profit flats in a scheme instigated by… Croydon Council.
BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports

An enterprising group in Upper Norwood which has been encouraged by Croydon Council to put together a community building project for seven affordable homes has been left “shocked” that five years’ work has been wasted after their planning application was refused… by Croydon Council.

The council planning department had been sitting on application from the Crystal Palace Community Land Trust for more than a year, before the same organisation that had instigated the project in 2018 rejected the application for seven flats on land off The Lawns. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Tom Copley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Another Croydon scandal: the £3k per month high-rise slums

Posted on September 18, 2024 by insidecroydon

Activist exposes serious issues with town centre ‘luxury apartments’ which were only built three years ago

The housing crisis takes on a whole new meaning when you are a private tenant, living in a building completed just three years ago and paying as much as £3,000 per month in rent and yet have to contend with leaking roofs, sewage problems, mould throughout the property and ceilings that collapse.

High maintenance: The Fold, at 35 storeys, is the tallest block in the Queen’s Quarter, completed in 2021

Croydon Council was condemned in 2021 when the appalling, unsafe and unsanitary conditions of council flats in blocks in South Norwood, at Regina Road, were exposed on national television.

But now a block that was built on former council-owned land by private developers in a Build To Rent scheme and only completed in 2021 has been exposed as having living conditions little better than what appeared in that TV news report.

The Fold is a 35-storey residential tower close to the Croydon Flyover, one of the blocks built on the site of the former council offices, Taberner House, and Queen’s Gardens.

Campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa yesterday exposed the slum-like conditions in two of the apartments, posting a shocking video on his social media feed. Tweneboa, the author Our Country in Crisis: Britain’s Housing Emergency and How We Rebuild, claimed in his report that the deteriorating conditions, leaks and mould had all been reported to the building’s management company, and ignored. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Property, Queens Gardens, Ria Patel, Sadiq Khan, Taberner House | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Rapid decline in numbers shows that ‘coarse’ rugby is ‘at risk’

Posted on September 18, 2024 by insidecroydon

Powerhouse: Trinity (in blue) – or MidWives as was – have won their opening two games in Counties 1 Surrey/Sussex, including the 34-33 cliffhanger at Haywards Heath last weekend

The club rugby season is well underway, with a couple of crunch derbies this Saturday – Old Walcs against Purley John Fisher, and Streatham and Croydon versus Warlingham. But will all local sides be able to field a full XV? JOHNNY DOBBYN investigates an existential crisis for the sport at grassroots level

At the end of the 2023-2024 rugby season, Fish and Chips RFC – a hybrid veterans side drawing players from Purley John Fisher and Chipstead (geddit?) – completed a remarkable double by retaining their Surrey veterans league cup.

What made this cup run remarkable was that Fish and Chips did not play a single game to do so.

All opposition sides cried off their fixtures throughout the tournament, and we won the cup simply because we were able to field a team. Last men standing, so to speak. Continue reading →

Posted in Elliot Daly, Marland Yarde, Old Mid-Whitgiftians/Trinity RFC, Old Walcountians, Old Whitgiftians, Purley-John Fisher, Rugby Union, Sport, Streatham-Croydon RFC, Warlingham RFC | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Council rushes through permission for seven kiosks in Allders

Posted on September 17, 2024 by insidecroydon

For a second time in as many months, Jason Perry, Croydon’s Mayor, has dropped his chips with excitement over a scheme for the old Allders building which has left residents underwhelmed and unimpressed.

Shopping centre: after 12 years, Westfield is about to deliver seven kiosks…

Having kept Croydon waiting for 12 years for the promised redevelopment of the town centre shopping malls, Westfield are now pressing ahead with a scheme that involves seven – yes seven – kiosks in the ground floor of the former department store.

“It’s better than nothing, I suppose,” one shopper on North End said today when shown details. “But it’s not much more than nothing, really, is it?” Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Lest we forget? After 80 years, council has forgotten Arnhem

Posted on September 17, 2024 by insidecroydon

Proud Paras: the 2023 Battle of Arnhem commemoration service. Croydon is Arnhem’s twin town, but does not have any plans to mark the 80th anniversary

Council has no plans to commemorate 80th anniversary of one of the most famous battles of the Second World War, which was centred on Croydon’s twin town in the Netherlands

In the early hours of September 17, 1944, tens of thousands of Allied troops were parachuted into occupied territory in the Netherlands. This was the start of Operation Market Garden, General Montgomery’s bold scheme to seize strategically important bridges through almost 70 miles of low-lying Dutch lands and on towards the Rhine and Nazi Germany.

Key to this was the final bridge, at Arnhem, where British glider-borne troops and paratroops from Poland and Britain were sent on a mission to secure and hold the position for 24 hours, maximum, until the cavalry – armoured cavalry, that is – could relieve them. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Education, History, Tony Pearson | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

READER OFFER: 10% off art works at Click Clock exhibition

Posted on September 17, 2024 by insidecroydon

Gallery piece: one of the works at the Clocktower Cafe gallery in its September exhibition

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: An exhibition at the town centre art gallery is providing a discount on all artworks bought by Inside Croydon readers

“Empty spaces, blank faces”.

A conversation between the owner of the Clocktower Café on Katharine Street and John Reeve in 2011 led to the creation of the Click Clock Gallery – with art works adorning the previously blank walls, often as part of a co-ordinated exhibit.

During September, there’s an exhibition of abstract art by three local artists – Anna Z, Creativ-S  and Karine.

This is Karine’s first public exhibition, although she has been painting for many years. “I am fascinated by life-affirming colours and inspired by the beautiful English landscapes,” she says. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Inside Croydon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Council is reported to government for library report failures

Posted on September 16, 2024 by insidecroydon

Libraries correspondent GENE BRODIE on the latest twist in the long-running saga

The cobbled-together, evidence-lite and contradictory report recommending the closure of four of the borough’s public libraries now faces a legal challenge – even before Croydon’s Mayor, Jason Perry, gets the wretched document rubber-stamped by his cabinet stooges later this month.

Closure threat: Sanderstead is one of four public libraries that Mayor Perry wants to shut

The Library Campaign, the national charity that has been fighting a valiant rear-guard action in the face of a decade and a half of austerity to uphold the importance of public library services, has today filed a formal complaint to government over Perry’s dodgy dossier.

In the complaint, the experienced and watchful Library Campaign experts say, “We call for a full DCMS investigation into [Croydon] council’s current library plans (such as they are) and intervention to secure improvements.

“This a matter of some urgency, as the council has produced a welter of unsatisfactory and contradictory documents just a week ago, for decision on September 25. We also invoke Section 7 of the 1964 [Public Libraries and Museums] Act… We further intend to explore legal action… on grounds including (but not limited to) numerous faults in the consultation process, which has violated the Gunning principles on a number of counts.” Continue reading →

Posted in Broad Green, Charity, Community associations, Coulsdon, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Education, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Old Coulsdon, Sanderstead, Shirley North, Shirley South | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Library Campaign’s formal complaint to DCMS over Croydon

Posted on September 16, 2024 by insidecroydon

‘Paltry’ savings, 66% opposition to closure and still no costings or plan. Here is the text of The Library Campaign’s formal complaint about Croydon’s dodgy libraries consultation, as submitted today to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

This letter constitutes a formal complaint against the London Borough of Croydon (LBC) by The Library Campaign (TLC), acting on behalf of a number of Croydon residents, under Section 10 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

We call for a full DCMS investigation into the council’s current library plans (such as they are) and intervention to secure improvements. This a matter of some urgency, as the council has produced a welter of unsatisfactory and contradictory documents just a week ago, for decision on September 25. Continue reading →

Posted in Broad Green, Community associations, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Old Coulsdon, Sanderstead, Shirley North, Shirley South | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Councils on the brink: union in plea to Rayner over crisis

Posted on September 16, 2024 by insidecroydon

Centre of a storm: Croydon’s council is one of a cluster of local authorities facing catastrophic collapse, according to a report by union Unison

There’s a £4billion black hole in council finances, warns one of Britain’s biggest trades unions – and that’s before the latest budget-busting £42million overspend by Croydon’s cash-strapped council is taken into consideration.

Unison, which represents hundreds of thousands of council workers, says the overall deficit is “way beyond” previous estimates and is likely to mean “massive cuts” to jobs and vital services across the country. Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Stormzy’s football club sacks third manager in less than a year

Posted on September 16, 2024 by insidecroydon

NON-LEAGUE NEWS: Less than six months after delivering promotion to the Isthmian League for Croydon Athletic, coach Jermaine McGlashan has left the Thornton Heath-based club

AFC Croydon Athletic, the non-league football club owned by Stormzy and Wilf Zaha, last night announced that their manager, Jermain McGlashan, had left his post.

It is the third managerial departure in the 14 months since the global rap star and former Palace forward, together with Danny Young, took over the Thornton Heath-based club. Continue reading →

Posted in AFC Croydon Athletic, Football, Thornton Heath, Wilfried Zaha | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

That was the writer that was: Addiscombe girl called the tunes

Posted on September 15, 2024 by insidecroydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A 20th Century star of musical theatre from Croydon was Caryl Brahms. DAVID MORGAN highlights the life and career of this now too often forgotten and overlooked writer

Writing class: Caryl Brahms, ‘an intimidating woman with a large nose and even larger spectacles’

Fairfield Halls has hosted an incredible variety of shows over the years. Touring theatre companies would regularly use the venue for a week or two’s performances, as they travelled the length and breadth of the country.

In June 1978, theatre-goers headed to the Ashcroft Theatre to see Hayley Mills in a new play titled Hush and Hide. Billed as a comedy-thriller, the story was based on the novel Dear Laura: A Victorian Mystery by Jean Stubbs.

The writers who adapted the work for the stage were Ned Sherrin and Caryl Brahms. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Art, David Morgan, History, Music, Theatre, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mitre Players’ The Curious Incident, Mitre Theatre, Oct 23-26

Posted on September 15, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Honeywood Museum fund-raising raffle tickets now on sale

Posted on September 15, 2024 by insidecroydon

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MP Reed’s farming cuts get Keir barred from Clarkson’s pub

Posted on September 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

Tories, environmental groups and a TV celebrity go on the attack as £130m cuts to rural budgets are next in Labour’s austerity plans.
By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor

Croydon MP Steve Reed OBE could be the real reason that his party leader, Keir Starmer, has been banned from Jeremy Clarkson’s new pub in Oxfordshire.

Trebles all-round: but not for the Prime Minister, who Jeremy Clarkson has barred from his pub

The former Top Gear presenter and Sunday Times columnist opened The Farmer’s Dog in Asthall just before the August bank holiday. After the success of his Amazon Prime series, Clarkson’s Farm, it seems Clarkson’s Pub is the obvious follow-up.

Clarkson claims that his pub serves only British produce – with the exception of tonic water, which has imported quinine. The pub is, Clarkson says, an effort to boost British farmers, and its produce is all sourced from a farming co-operative in the Chilterns. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Have a whale of a time with Polka Theatre’s half-term highlights

Posted on September 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

There’s a whole, wide world of imagination just a short tram ride away awaiting for children and families this autumn half-term at the Polka Theatre.

There’s the story of Noi, his dad and six cats in their home by the sea and how their lives are changed when Noi rescues a whale after it washes up on the beach.

The Storm Whale is brought to life with beautiful puppetry, produced by Engine House, York Theatre Royal, Little Angel Theatre and The Marlowe. Benji Davies’ tender and heart-warming story of loneliness, love and courage takes place in the Main Theatre from October 25 to November 3. Recommended for ages four to eight. Continue reading →

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Macmillan coffee morning, Old Coulsdon Bowling Club, Sep 27

Posted on September 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

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

Mary Queen of Sorrows, Alison Weir talk, Carshalton, Nov 21

Posted on September 14, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Art, Cryer Theatre, History, Honeywood Museum | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Davis quits scrutiny to be Labour pick as mayor candidate

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: Labour councillor for Waddon ward stands down from council committee role, with 2026 local elections as a target.
By STEVEN DOWNES

‘On a journey’: Rowenna Davis has begun her campaign to be Labour’s mayoral candidate in 2026

The starting gun on the campaign for election as Croydon Mayor in 2026 was fired this afternoon, as Labour councillor Rowenna Davis resigned her position as chair of Croydon Council’s scrutiny and overview committee.

By standing down from this important civic position halfway through the term of the council, Davis has freed herself to pursue selection as the Labour Party candidate for Croydon Mayor at elections due to be held in 2026, when Conservative Jason “I’m listening” Perry is expected to seek re-election for the £82,000 per year role. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Tony Newman, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Cop at centre of bus stop race row has conviction quashed

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

Perry Lathwood, the Met police constable at the centre of a race row when a black mum was arrested in a dispute over fare evasion at a bus stop on Whitehorse Road, Croydon, last year, has had his assault conviction quashed.

Quashed: Met PC Perry Lathwood at his trial in May

Despite the conviction after a criminal trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in May, PC Lathwood has continued to work for the police in Croydon, albeit on “restricted duties”.

Scotland Yard issued a statement this afternoon which said: “PC Perry Lathwood, of the Roads and Transport Policing Command, was convicted of common assault on May 17 following a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Policing | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mayor grants Aldi wish on parking – and coins it from motorists

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

A proposal to remove free parking from a Coulsdon supermarket’s car park has been pushed through on the quiet by Croydon’s Tory Mayor Jason Perry, in what is suggested is another money-grabbing exercise by the cash-strapped council at the expense of residents and motorists.

Not listening: Mayor Perry has ignored a TOry MP and hundreds of residents over the Aldi car park

In 2019, Aldi was granted planning permission for their large supermarket on the Brighton Road, but only if they provided car parking space for the community to use – permanently.

The official report by a council official five years ago recommending granting permission to build the supermarket included a car park management scheme that allowed all-comers, and which would be “… retained for as long as the development remains in existence”.

Then last year, the German-based retailer submitted an application to Croydon Council to make their car park exclusive to their own customers. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Croydon South, Mayor Jason Perry, Parking, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Council ignores residents’ tip-offs about New Addington dump

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

New Addington residents have been marvelling at a new, low-cost council waste dump facility, which has sprung up without any public consultation.

Bin and gone: residents report that Veolia rarely bother clearing their ‘new’ dump on Chertsey Crescent

Even before the new Croydon Local Plan has been published and agreed, Chertsey Crescent appears to be providing some of the promised increase in recycling provision in New Addington. And all achieved without ever bothering the busy council officials in the planning department for anything as crass or tawdry as formal “planning permission”.

The new Chertsey Crescent dump has been cleverly sited right below some council CCTV cameras, possibly to deter fly-tipping… yet while the cameras are supposed to be operational 24 hours a day (according to a council notice), it appears that the deterrent isn’t working. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Fly tipping, New Addington, New Addington North, Refuse collection, Veolia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Law centre offering free advice to apply for Home Office eVisas

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

A government policy shift towards digital immigration checks and using eVisas from 2025 means that all Biometric Residence Permits and most Biometric Residence Cards will expire on December 31.

The South West London Law Centres, with an office in Croydon, is offering free support and advice to help people in the transition to eVisas.

“Individuals whose leave extends beyond December 2024 may face challenges in proving their immigration status, potentially affecting their ability to travel in and out of the UK,” a spokesperson for the law centre said.

“For many, this transition may be particularly difficult, especially those without smartphones, limited internet access, language barriers, digital illiteracy, or disabilities.” Continue reading →

Posted in South West London Law Centres | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Raggio di Sole, handmade pizzas made to order, South Croydon

Posted on September 13, 2024 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Posted in Advertisement, Business | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Bank details for 5,000 TfL passengers accessed in cyber attack

Posted on September 12, 2024 by insidecroydon

The National Crime Agency has this afternoon announced that it has traced the source of the cyber attack against Transport for London to a teenager living in Walsall in the West Midlands.

The news comes as TfL has admitted for the first time that as many as 5,000 regular passengers on the capital’s bus, Tube, Overground and Tram networks may have had their banking details illegally accessed.

Of those affected, “This includes some customer names and contact details, including email addresses and home addresses where provided,” TfL said. Some Oyster card refund data may have also been accessed, “possibly including bank account numbers and sort codes for a limited number of customers”.

It was reported yesterday that TfL has suspended all Oyster card renewals temporarily, as a precaution because of the cyber attack.

Today, the NCA issued a statement: “The 17-year-old male was detained on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences in relation to the attack, which was launched on TfL on September 1.” Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, London-wide issues, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments