September 2025 Councillors Update

Health Streets: East-West Roads Project Summer 2026 Update

Update sent by Officers to local councillors and resident groups

“Addiscombe East-West Neighbourhood Project – Outcome of Engagement

We write to inform you that, following the engagement process held about potential traffic management restrictions in the area during November and December 2024, the outcome of the consultation is as follows:

 7300 letters distributed.  431 returned questionnaires.

Responses were analysed according to the level of support expressed in the questionnaires and show that overall nearly 60% of respondents were against any form of access controls as described in the consultation.

Croydon will therefore not pursue the design and implementation of access controls following this result. The consultation report will be shared with all resident associations who participated in the scheme development and engagement in due course.

There was support for some specific road safety measures as outlined in the attached note.

Other road safety measures which do not meet the funding criteria can be delivered in due course, subject to seeking funding from other sources. These include a road safety proposal to raise awareness locally of speeds and road safety outside of the proposal,s which officers also want to implement. On 22 October 2024 at the junction of Elgin Road and Lower Addiscombe Road a vehicle emerging from the junction of Elgin Road onto Lower Addiscombe Road collided with another vehicle travelling along Lower Addiscombe Road, tragically resulting in a fatality.

It is proposed to create ‘raised entry’ treatments at the Lower Addiscombe Road junctions with Elgin, Havelock, Outram and Ashburton Roads. These build on existing physical measures in place, will include a refreshment of lines and signs as required throughout those roads, and the measures will reduce speed on entry and exit across these junctions, as well as identifying that the treatments are gateways into a speed-restricted area. These measures fall outside of the TfL prescribed list of core road safety measures and funding will need to be identified and delivered in due course. We will inform you in the foreseeable future when these can be delivered.

Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to replicate similar proposals at the southern end where the local roads join Addiscombe Road. These junctions are managed by Transport for London (TfL) and any changes to the environment there require a lot of deliberation with Transport for London, which we are doing, but that process will take longer than Croydon implementing some measures of their own on their own road network.”

Officers later confirmed that improvements will be carried out to Oval Road to improve safety around the entrance to Oval School.

The Commissioners take over Croydon Council!

 The inability of Tory Mayor Jason Perry to bring Croydon Council under control has led to the government appointing Commissioners on 17th July 2025, who will now have powers over the council’s leadership, governance, financial management, and senior appointments. The government’s feedback is that the Council is not working at the speed needed to bring overspends under control. Recent figures show that the Council overspent its budget by £30 million last year, requiring £136 million in exceptional financial support. The Government doesn’t have faith that Perry’s transformation plan to reduce costs and rethink council services is not delivering at a fast enough pace.

The Commissioners consist of a team of South London Council former Chief Executives,  Ged Curran – Lead Commissioner (previously chief executive of Merton Council ), Jakie Belton (Bexley), Debbie Warren (Greenwich), and Councillor Abi Brown OBE (commissioner for political and governance oversight).

The commissioners are empowered to:

• To ensure the Council has the leadership, structures and systems in place to drive and sustain improvement – including governance and scrutiny of strategic decision-making, oversight of strategic financial management and decision-making, and the appointment, dismissal and performance management of senior and statutory officer positions.
• To support financial sustainability and enable transformation of the Authority’s operating model and services to deliver value for money and long-term financial resilience.

The appointment of Commissioners has become more commonplace, as several Local Authorities face financial difficulties, after taking the brunt of Cameron and Osborne’s austerity programme between 2010 and 2018. Indeed, the lead Commissioner, Ged Curran, has fulfilled a similar role at financially stressed Slough, and Jackie Belton at Britain’s largest local authority by population – Birmingham.

Politically, the appointment of the commissioners is undoubtedly a slap in the face for Mayor Perry and his cabinet.  The same can be said for Croydon’s Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell,  and it should be noted that while the Commissioners will not seek to change Political leadership, they have the power to replace senior officers.   Whether they will act with the same ruthlessness in replacing the entire corporate leadership as Catherine Kerswell did in 2021, on the back of the somewhat dubious Penn report (written by another former Council Chief executive,  remains to be seen.)

Perhaps more importantly, the Government now has a direct stake in resolving the long-term financial problems Croydon faces.  Steve Reed MP is taking on this responsibility, as Angela Rayner has unfortunately had to step back over the last couple of weeks. He should at least take on this responsibility with a degree of local knowledge.

Building the Cooperative Economy in Croydon

The current lack of positive activity on the Council presents an opportunity to focus on the Cooperative Economy in Croydon.

This now includes:

• The Cooperative Group shops and funeral care services – including locally the Coop store at the Leslie Arms Roundabout.
• The Cooperative Bank – now returned to mutual ownership after Coventry Building Society stepped in and brought the bank back from the hedge fund control.
• Croydon Plus Credit Union, a financial savings & lending Cooperative, covering Croydon, Merton and Sutton. In its 25^th year with over 7,000 members, £6 million in members’ savings, and £4 million plus out on loan. Croydon Plus, having grown out of the original Croydon Staff Credit Union, has been largely independent of the Council after two decades of support.  Current physical bases in Merton and Sutton, with the HQ office set to relocate to a self-contained office in East Croydon, as rebranding and expansion plans are being progressed.
• Croydon Community Energy, a new solar energy cooperative, has completed its first successful share offer, resulting in the installation of new solar panels at Archbishop Tenison Secondary School in Park Hill and the Good Food Matters Community Building in New Addington.

Having an increased Cooperative sector is potentially leading to cooperation among cooperatives with discussions and support offered by Croydon Plus Credit Union to Croydon Community Energy regarding a bid to the Government to obtain and manage funds for improving local home energy efficiency and moving towards Net-zero carbon emissions.

Planning Update September 2025

Garcia Industrial Unit, Rear of 217-219 Davidson Road, CR0 6DP

24/03919/OUT for Outline application for demolition of all existing buildings (including 217 Davidson Road)  and the erection of 9 x 3 storey terrace houses (use Class C3), with landscaping, amenity areas, car and cycle parking, refuse and recycling stores, and vehicle and pedestrian access from Davidson Road.

12^th June 2025 Planning Committee: Outline Planning Decision approved. Applicants will still need to obtain approval from the Croydon Planning Department on several conditions regarding the external areas.

December 2021 Planning Application:  December 2021 Planning Application submitted by Trinity Square Developer of the existing Industrial Warehouse on Davidson Road. “21/06378/FUL for Demolition of all existing works buildings and demolition of the house at 217 Davidson Road, and the erection at the rear of part 3, part 4 storey block of flats to provide 22 residential units (use Class C3), with landscaping, amenity areas, car and cycle parking, refuse and recycling stores, and vehicle and pedestrian access from Davidson Road.

December 2021 Application was refused in 2022, and the planning inspector also rejected the applicant’s appeal.

In September 2025, the applicant subsequently approached Councillors to discuss a pedestrian link from Canal Walk to Davidson Road – which would be welcome!  Dependent on the cooperation of the owners of the site at the end of Canal Walk – Hexagon Housing Association.

19 Morland Avenue, CR0 6EA

25/01096/FUL | July 2025 Demolition of the existing detached dwelling and erection of a two-storey building with accommodation in the roofspace to provide 9 self-contained residential units with associated access, landscaping, amenity space, refuse and cycle storage. | 19 Morland Avenue, Croydon CR0 6EA

Cllr Sean Fitzsimons said the site is developable and some issues need to be addressed.

1. Rear Private balconies: The metal railings do not provide any privacy for occupants and will visually impact neighbouring properties if items are left on the balcony. The balustrade should either be a solid panel or panels with a low level of perforation.
2. Front Basement railings: These don’t provide the privacy that occupants should expect. The railings should be replaced with solid panels or panels with a low level of perforation.
3. The refuse area is inadequate in terms of the proposed number of flats and occupants.
4. Cycling facilities are inadequate for the number of flats and occupants
5. Landscaping of the front. Lack of greenery, some more mature trees or bushes are needed, especially to match the number of front gardens in this row of houses.
6. Rear Garden: Lack of information regarding landscaping

9 Morland Avenue

July 2025: Proposed 2 storey, 3-dwelling building to rear of 9 Morland Avenue Planning Application 25/01903/FUL

The proposed erection of a two-storey terrace of 3no. Homes to the rear of 9 Morland Avenue, with a vehicular access, car parking space and other associated site alterations.