Tag Archives: Oliver Lewis
£1.5m being spent on our Borough of not-very-much Culture
We are now well into the third month of Croydon’s year as the Borough of Culture. Waddyamean, you haven’t seen any publicity or signs of anything special being staged? Neither have we, so we sent KEN TOWL off to see … Continue reading
Developer consults on 775-flat proposal next to Fairfield Halls
Proposals for another 775 flats, including a 38-storey tower, on a two-acre site next to the Fairfield Halls are being laid out for public consultation tomorrow. The scheme is being brought forward by asset managers Delta Properties, who acquired the … Continue reading
Year of Culture set to begin with an Oratorio of Hopelessness
CROYDON IN CRISIS: If, like us, you have been scouring the listings pages to find what’s planned for Croydon’s year as London’s Borough of Culture, you’re likely to be disappointed. But some of the PR deals surrounding the event have … Continue reading
Company founded by Labour’s Evans under threat of strike off
While the quality of the management of the Labour Party by its General Secretary David Evans remains hotly disputed among those on the left, the public relations consultancy he established just more than 20 years ago, The Campaign Company, looks … Continue reading
Bafta-winner Scanlan joins calls for new bosses at arts centre
‘Things are far from perfick at the Fairfield ‘Alls’ says the award-winning actress who plays Ma Larkin, as the campaign to sack BHLive gathers momentum. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Joanna Scanlan, the BAFTA award-winning actress, has called on Croydon Council … Continue reading
Council ignored £5m offer to revive Fairfield’s reputation
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Moves to take the management of the troubled arts centre out of the hands of Bournemouth-based BHLive are being resisted by Labour politicians. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Senior officials and the Labour cabinet member in charge of … Continue reading
Choir demands compensation over BHLive’s Fairfield shambles
CROYDON IN CRISIS: BHLive, the under-fire operators of the council-owned arts complex, have been accused of costing one of the borough’s top arts groups thousands of pounds because of their poor management of the prestige venue. By our arts correspondent, … Continue reading
£67m arts centre – with no art gallery and few performances
EXCLUSIVE: The Fairfield Halls fiasco gets worse by the day, with Bournemouth-based venue operators BHLive staging shows on just 24% of available dates. Croydon is supposed to be London’s ‘Borough of Culture’ in 2023… By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon is London’s … Continue reading
Two-days-a-week libraries latest step in ‘lingering demise’
Staff and residents’ associations warn that reduced opening hours to be introduced from April 4 are just ‘library closures by stealth’ The borough’s public libraries will go on to a new, reduced hours timetable next month, the last part of … Continue reading
Countryside charity slams Local Plan threat to green spaces
One of England’s biggest conservation and countryside charities has accused Croydon Council’s revised Local Plan of “lacking ambition” and once again putting the borough’s green spaces under threat of development. What the council is calling a “review” of the Croydon … Continue reading
Lewis is given another £1.3m to spend on Fairfield Halls
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Somehow, our cash-strapped council has managed to find a spare million to hand to the under-performing operators of the town centre’s arts venue, thanks to the recommendation of a new employee of The Campaign Company. EXCLUSIVE By … Continue reading
Council’s misleading Open+ and shut case for public libraries
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The bankrupt council is spending £1.6m on an untried system that will allow it to reduce staffing hours at our libraries, a decision passed without debate at a Town Hall meeting. Our libraries correspondent, GENE BRODIE, investigates … Continue reading
Lewis gets another chance as selection process grinds to halt
CROYDON LABOUR IN CRISIS: The party’s membership has dropped by 50% in some wards since 2020, and officials didn’t have enough women applicants to complete their selection process in what was supposed to be a target ward. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Council to be rocked by second Report In The Public Interest
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The £70m ‘Fairfield fiasco’ has provoked serious concerns with auditors over the potential misuse of public money, with bungling developers Brick by Brick under scrutiny. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES External auditors are to issue a Report In … Continue reading
Cabinet member Lewis is cut adrift by New Addington selection
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A leading Newman Numpty was effectively deselected last night, as he and ceremonial deputy mayor failed even to make it on to his ward’s candidates shortlist; meanwhile, chaos in Norbury Park when Labour organisers book too small … Continue reading
Cummings and Lewis start the ‘chicken run’ for safe wards
WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on the unedifying scramble among some Labour councillors to find a safe ward to stand in at next May’s local elections The chicken run is underway among the borough’s Labour councillors, with at least one current … Continue reading
Purley Pool closure planned to help GLL repay £279,000 loan
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Cash-strapped council’s case for closing down leisure centre depends entirely on made up figures and abandoning terms of a 20-year management agreement. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES Inside Croydon’s exclusive report two weeks ago about proposals to cut … Continue reading
Community station has questions over council’s radio silence
Town Hall leaders were keen enough to promote themselves with selfies in the studios, but now a manager at the town’s community station claims they have been ‘black-listed’ by the council. By STEVEN DOWNES One week has passed since Croydon … Continue reading
‘The damage to the Fairfield Halls reputation is severe’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: While the cash-strapped council remains preoccupied with its finances, the once prestigious arts centre on the other side of Park Lane risks sliding towards cultural oblivion. By our arts correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK There are growing concerns that … Continue reading
Council has no answers over missing Fairfield Halls sculpture
Croydon’s crass council has been accused of another act of cultural vandalism, after “losing” a significant piece of mid-century street art from the site alongside the “award-winning” (try not to laugh) Fairfield Halls. The art installation, in a modernist, geometric … Continue reading
Croydon Labour to return to the Three-Day Week for libraries
Oliver “Shit Show” Lewis, the councillor with responsibility for the borough’s culture, has had a second set of money-saving proposals for Croydon libraries mostly rejected, and so will preside over the council’s statutory service now being provided on just three … Continue reading
Brick by Brick failed to replace Fairfield’s 60-year-old windows
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The ‘fiasco’ of Brick by Brick’s bungled £70m refurbishment of the arts venue gets worse, with the latest admission of failures from a cabinet member. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Ollie “Shit Show” Lewis, the council cabinet member … Continue reading
Lewis launches reading challenge – when 11 libraries are shut
CROYDON IN CRISIS: As the council’s second consultation in a year to shut down a statutory service comes to an end, eight of the borough’s libraries remain closed for the majority of the week. By STEVEN DOWNES With all the … Continue reading
Fairfield Halls’ £70m fiasco: ‘BxB didn’t know what it was doing’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Trade newspaper The Stage has described the five-year saga of the Fairfield Halls refurbishment as a ‘catastrophic mess’ and a ‘£70m fiasco’. Now, the centre’s former artistic director has broken his silence over the bungling of Brick … Continue reading
