Canning & Clyde Road Residents Association
Previous News
November 2007
'Flip Flop and Fly'
Steve Collins (1947 - 2007)
'Once met, never forgotten' was typical of the many things people said about Steve when they heard he had died on 7 November. Steve was a real one-off in the nicest possible way. Whatever he did, he followed his instincts and pursued what he believed to be right with energy, enthusiasm and determination. He was also kind and gentle. Steve had had cancer for four years and right to the end maintained his courage and sense of humour.
Steve had three great interests in life: his local area (Addiscombe), rockets and music.
He founded the Canning & Clyde Road Residents
Association in 1979. A lot of Steve's work was connected with developments
in the area, whether to support or oppose. Steve always had his ear to
the ground and could effectively represent people's views. He expected
the same of politicians! When he felt politicians were not doing this,
he stood as an independent candidate in two local elections to drive home
the point that residents' views should come above party politics. Steve
energetically compiled and part wrote the two 'Books of Addiscombe' motivating
over 150 contributors in all.
Even more than that, Steve built a great sense of community in an area
with a very mixed population of long-term and short-term residents. It
was his innate friendliness and acceptance of all kinds of people, whoever
they were, that forged a real sense of belonging in an area that could
so easily be anonymous suburbia.
Those who attended Steve's firework parties will be well aware that he never lost his boyhood love of rockets. Already inventive, enthusiastic and proactive as a ten year old, he built one in his parents' back garden using various bits and pieces from his father's shed including fuel, retired to the coal bunker with a friend and launched it. Unfortunately it made a large hole in the lawn and blew out the neighbours' windows. The neighbours were very nice about it. A crowning moment in Steve's life was launching a military satellite at Cape Kennedy Space Center. Apparently this was not strictly legal but Steve as ever charmed his way.
Steve loved music, all kinds of music but especially blues. For many years he held big music parties at his house showcasing new local bands that he wanted to help promote. These parties became legendary. As was Steve's way, everyone was welcome to come and have fun. He would often don a short skirt (he had the legs for it) and bouffon wig for the occasion, his resonant voice being the only thing that made him initially recognisable - but then he had the personality to carry it off. He was a fan of Croydon's Big Beer Band. Steve was delighted to discover the blues music at Croydon's best pub, the Oval Tavern in Oval Road; once found, we hardly missed a Sunday while Steve was well. Steve being Steve largely planned his own funeral. 'For music as people are coming in we'll do "Up Above my Head" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. For dispersing it will be Big Joe Turner "Flip Flop and Fly". Apparently the cremation fee includes an organist whether you want one or not but I can't think of anything I'd wish him to play.' One of Steve's brothers, Jeff, created a firework-like display of flowers complete with two real firework rockets to go on top of the coffin. There were both laughter and tears as this all descended, Tracy Island style, to the Thunderbirds theme tune, also Steve's choice. Some said they half expected the rockets to go off!
Steve's instructions also included 'I wish to be cremated
at Beckenham Crematorium ideally of a Thursday early afternoon. The event
is to be followed later that day by a rather good wake at the Oval Tavern,
Croydon. Of a Thursday evening they'll have live music afterwards.' Well,
this is precisely what happened. Graeme and his ever excellent bar staff
did us proud. We had a fantastic, fun party that Steve would have loved.
In fact - some of us sort of thought he was there enjoying it in his own
enthusiastic way. 'Flip, flop and fly - Don't care if I die!'
CROYDON CENTRE AREA ACTION PLAN
Update November 2007
As a statutory requirement,Croydon is obliged to make a plan for the future of the centre of Croydon. You may have read something in the local press recently about the World renowned architect, Will Alsop, who was hired by the Council to obtain ideas from the complete cross section of Croydon residents. Two of your committee members attended his intial presentation in January. Steve participated in one of the workshops and along with others was invited to draw how he thought Croydon should look!
Mr Alsop recently announced his ideas.
Mr Alsop's main ideas are reducing Wellesley Road from eight to two lanes,
redeveloping the Whitgift Centre, uncovering the Wandle River which for
many years has been culvetted underground, building a 30 storey eco tower
with series of plants on each floor, joining up different parts of central
Croydon with green walkways, building a lot of high rise housing to meet
the Government's housing targets for Croydon.
August 2007
UPDATE ON FLOOD (as at 5 August 2007)
Croydon Council
Croydon Coundil's Street Scene Team Manager (North) advised us that visual inspections of the gullies in Canning Road were undertaken; the Council's findings and intended actions are listed below. They were spotted clearing out some drains in the road earlier this week but they still do not look that clear to us. We shall see.
Canning Road
o/s 50 : collapsed lid and blocked gulley pot
o/s 57 : surface grille partially obscured with debris but pot clear
o/s 44 : gulley pot half fullo/s + opp Tierney Court : clear
o/s 7 : surface grille partially obscured with debris but pot clear
o/s 12 : clearo/s Cheyne Court : surface grille partially obscured with debris but pot clear
o/s 18 : clearo/s 23 : clear
o/s 29 : surface grille partially obscured with debris but pot clearo/s Neville Court : blocked
§ Veolia have been instructed to get the gulley tops cleared by their road sweepers in the first instance.
§ Veolia have also been requested to empty the gullies in both roads that are half or fully blocked with silt.
§ An order has been raised to have the collapsed gulley lid replaced in due course by our highway engineers.
Thames Water
We are pursuing matters with Thames Water to urge them to undertake a visual inspection of the Canning Road main sewer. Ten years ago it was blocked with tree roots.
Thames Water's comment in 1 August 2007 edition of the Croydon Guardian was simply that the drains have been in place for 150 years and were never built to cope with levels of rainwater that high - so of course they could not cope. What a plonker pull! Are they telling us that it's not rained that hard in the past 150 years? Twaddle!
July 2007
A MIGHTY FLOOD
Flood water coming up through a toilet in Canning Road
The flash storm at midday on Friday 20 July caused significant foul water flooding of basements in both Canning and Clyde Road. We are sorry if you were one of the people affected.
This is an exact repeat of a similar event precisely 10 years ago. At that time, after-the-event investigations for Canning Road revealed that the road drains hadn't been cleared for years and were blocked. In addition the main sewer in the road was over 80% blocked by tree root growth. Thames Water removed the roots and promised it would never happen again.
Well it has. Basically the sewers backed up because of lack of capacity. Our Councillors have promised swift action. They have asked the Street Scene Team to investigate the drainage system. They are trying to organise for us a special rubbish collection of flood spoilt household furnishings. For the time being we suggest you might like to put flood damaged items in your garden until your insurer says you can dispose of them.
OUR OPINIONS EXCLUDED
Anyone who saw the Croydon Expo model in the Whitgift Centre - this is all the new prospective development for central Croydon - should be tickled to know that along with several other residents associations we were specifically disbarred from taking part in the market research commissioned by Arrowcroft, the developer of the proposed arena. We have pursued this and questioned the validity of any results.
Our thanks to our MP, Andrew Pelling, for drawing this to our attention.
January 2007
NEW INITIATIVE FOR IMPROVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRAL CROYDON
Your committee stalwarts steeled themselves to attend a presentation by Will Alsop on 10 January 2007 to 'announce the beginning of a process of community engagement and visioning as part of the Croydon Metropolitan Centre Action Plan'. We thought this would be the usual bullship twaddle but the rather charismatic Will - who does have an excellent national and international reputation as an architect and planner - led us to the opinion that this was our opportunity to wipe the slate clean and think afresh about how we would like to see the centre of Croydon develop.
And he seriously meant wipe it clean and don't be impeded by what's there now. We are going to attend the first hands on with crayons (!) Will workshop on 31 January. Our councillor, Andrew Price, is attempting to arrange another workshop for the Addiscombe area.
December 2006
EAST CROYDON GATEWAY
We and four other residents associations representing over 4,300 households along with The Croydon Society got together to express our concerns about unclear aspects of the proposed arena site. Click here to see our letter and the reply from the Leader of Croydon Council.
As at 23 December 2006, we have still not heard a peep about the promised transport plan. We will continue to pursue this.
November 2006
CROYDON TRAMLINK PROPOSED EXTENSION TO CRYSTAL PALACE
Ken Livingstone's Transport for London (TfL) seem to have money burning a hole in their pocket. They think trams are a good idea and have been looking for anywhere to which they can extend the existing system. And it's going to be Crystal Palace - probably because it involves the least risk.
As far as we are aware, passenger need has not been established nor has any in depth route study been undertaken. Astonishingly it also appears that the London Borough of Croydon has not been involved in any discussions either. Under the Freedom of Information Act details were requested of meetings between the Council and Transport for London on this matter; the Council responded that there were none.
That implies that there has been no traffic impact study on how an extra six trams per hour will affect our area - in particular the Chepstow Road / Addiscombe Road junction. It is already difficult enough waiting for the lights at Clyde Road but this will be exacerbated by these extra trams. Heaven knows what it will mean for traffic on the Chepstow Road itself. Remember, trams have priority.
From 19 October until 18 December, Transport for London (TfL) will be asking people for their views on three potential route options for the proposed Croydon Tramlink extension to Crystal Palace.
Local residents within 1km of the route options will receive a consultation brochure with a feedback questionnaire and there will be exhibitions in the Crystal Palace area, staffed by members of the project team.
Anyone who wishes to take part in the consultation
can also reply online at www.tfl.gov.uk/croydontrams or by calling freephone
0800 234 6697.
For more information and to express your view, see the TfL website.
TREE PLANTING
Addiscombe Railway Park Phase 1
Tues 21, Weds 22 &Thurs 23 November
Meet the BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) on site each day between 10am and 4pm. Access to the site is either from Dalmally Passage or East India Way.
Please wear working clothes and stout footwear preferably Wellingtons. Bring your own packed lunch.
October 2006
PUBLIC MEETING - Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams
25th October 2006
SIR PHILIP GAME CENTRE
This open invitation came from the Metropolitan Police.
Residents of Addiscombe Ward were invited to a public meeting at the SIR PHILIP GAME CENTRE, Addiscombe.
The purpose of the meeting was to explain the concept of Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the purpose of Ward Panels which are made up from local residents.
It is the Ward Panel which determines the priorities for the local police team to tackle.
There was a good turnout. See the Safer Neighbourhoods website for more information on what these are.
September 2006
Residents Associations United
Five local residents associations and The Croydon Society have united to challenge the Council. See East Croydon Gateway page.
Access your addiscombe.net email account from anywhere!
You can now access your addiscombe.net email account whilst not at home from anywhere in the World. Just type in your browser just webmail.addiscombe.net (NB no need for www).
There is new help information on using addiscombe.net that is even better than before. It now comes complete with video tutorials. See www.addiscombe.net.
If you don't already have a free addiscombe.net email address and would like one, email contact.us@addiscombe.net.
August 2006
Walkabout
Left to right: Trevor Philips (Environmental Services), Mike Fisher (Croydon Council Leader), Addiscombe Community Police Officer, Community Warden, Andor (from Canning Road)
The new Leader of Croydon Council, Mike Fisher, has taken it upon himself to visit all of the Croydon wards. On 21 August (2006) he walked about Addiscombe. It was really our opportunity to point out to the 'Man in Charge' those things that he could in his position fix.
In our patch we pointed out: the continuing deteriorating state of Clyde Hall; the need for some sort of safe crossing across the Lower Addiscombe Road close to Tesco Express; the inadequate bus/tram signing at the top of Canning Road; further afield the appalling derelict state of the Leslie Arms pub building; and the somewhat squalid state of the Lower Addiscombe Road from the Leslie Arms and Windmill Bridge.
The walkabout finished at the Warehouse Theatre where Addiscombe residents association representatives had a further opportunity to ask questions of the Leader. Most of the questions were about developments in Central Croydon, like the Park Place retail development, the future of Allders, the Fairfield Halls and of course what is going to happen at the East Croydon Gateway site and why is the Council still persisting with its preferred (when few of us want it) 12,500 seat arena scheme?
We will see how much of this turns into any action. Watch this page.
We took this opportunity to thank Trevor Phillips for quickly removing the fly tipping in The Narrows. His team really does respond within 24 hours. It's just a pity that the tipping happens in the first place.
Linear Park's New Name
New park East India Way end with 'informal play area'
New park Dalmally Passage end with NLA Tower in background
Yes, the 'linear park' has now been named.
We put forward all the suggestions made by our residents: Marshall’s
Farm / Williams Way, Railway Cuttings, Delderfield Common, Something connected
to East India, Motorman Smith Way, Woodside Walk, Woodside Parkway, Chatham
Line Lane, Addiscombe Railway Park, Something connected with the spice
trade (Cinnamon Park, Gallion Spice Park, Nutmeg Park, Spice Islands Park).
The name chosen by the Council is Addiscombe Railway Park.
On the evening of 22 August 2006 we along with representatives from other residents associations were invited for a tour of the new park. The overall opinion was one of disappointment. The new security fencing for neighbouring homes seems inadequate; the promised children's playground is not going to materialise; at the Dalmally Passage end the safety problem for people walking along the passage not being able to see round a corner has still not been sorted and the Council appears reluctant to do anything about any of this. There are no immediate plans to do anything with the other part of the promised park that runs between Dalmally Passage and Black Horse Road. We have no firm opening date for the existing section. There seems to be some confusion between different parts of the Council as to whether it will be open 24 hours a day or just during daylight hours.
When it opens, the new Addiscombe Railway Park will enable an off road walk between the rear of East India Way and Dalmally Passage. It consists of a dry path surrounded by natural vegetation. At the East India Way there is a slightly wide area that the Council has designated for informal play.
July 2006
Thank you!
Many thanks to the many people who braved the sweltering heat to attend our barbecue on Sunday (16 July)!
Special thanks to Linda Bailey for her excellent raffle fundraising and lashings of her social summer punch, social because people were amazingly relaxed after a couple of glasses. Thanks too to everyone who helped out on the barbecue.
The raffle, book sale and contributions raised almost £100 for asssocation funds. Thank you.
Badgers spotted in our roads
June 2006
Name that Park!
Work to complete the new linear park continues. The
park will run along the old Addiscombe railway track bed from the rear
of East India Way to Black Horse Lane and then Woodside.
The Council asked us to suggest suitable names for this new park. Many
thanks to everyone who suggested a name; we have submitted all suggestions
to the Council:
1. Marshall’s Farm / Williams Way
The site of the park cuts across - what in 1783 – was Marshall’s Farm.
The 300 acre farm consisted of scattered fields throughout Addiscombe and Woodside, extending from south of the Addiscombe Road to the north of Woodside Green.
He kept meticulous records of the varying soil conditions, field by field, and generously published his findings some 5 years later for the benefit of farmers everywhere.
His detailed maps, charts and tables are a wonderfully early record of Addiscombe.
2. Railway Cuttings - Tony Hancock shot scenes from The Rebel in Addiscombe
3. Delderfield Common - after the novelist who lived in Addiscombe and set his Dreaming Suburbs etc in a place based on Addiscombe
4. Something connected to East India
5. Motorman Smith Way - Motorman Smith was a railwayman based at Addiscombe Station who, in around 1957, was awarded for his bravery in saving a little girl who had slipped at the side of a train
6. Woodside Walk
7. Woodside Parkway
8. Chatham Line Lane - the South Eastern and Chatham Railway operated out of Addiscombe Station
9. Something connected with the spice trade: Cinnamon Park, Gallion Spice Park, Nutmeg Park, Spice Islands Park.
March 2006
Update from our MPand
Greater London Assembly Member
As you may be aware, Andrew Pelling is our MP and
Greater London Assembly (GLA) Member. Up to May he will remain a Croydon
Councillor (not for our own ward).
At our invitation he came to visit our five-person committee in
January and we put to him questions that some of our residents had raised:
Q. How much is the GLA costing the tax payer? How many staff are employed
and how much do quangos cost the tax payer?
A. In 2005 the whole GLA family had a budget of £10 billion. The
Mayor of London only needs one third of the Greater London
Assembly Members to vote with him on the budget to get it through.
In 2006 GLA buildings and staff will cost £848 million. When the
GLA started, there were 230 members of staff. Today there are 723 members
of staff in the strategic headquarters of the GLA
functional bodies. Across GLA organisations there are 150 press
officers.
Q. What will be the burden of the Olympics on London given the
track record of recent construction projects?
A. Mayor of London wants to put an additional £20 on Band D
Council Tax per year for ten years. The Government has agreed he can extend
this by two years if needed. He aims to raise
£625 million in total from London Council Tax payers. It is possible
the Government will turn to London tax payers to pay for Olympics if there
is a cost overrun.
As for construction works, the Government voted down London tax payer
being burdened with cost of any overrun.
Q. Transport for London - (a) Bob Kylie. How much has he been paid in
salary and golden handshake? No real improvement
in public transport - merely massaging of statistics.
A. Bob Kiley was one year into his second contract. (At the time of our
meeting compensation to him had not been finalised but turned out to be
£745,000. It does not, however, end there. He stays on as a consultant
to the Mayor in his Belgravia flat and will receive £113, 425 in
benefits - source BBC website).
Q(b). Why have fares gone up again but with no practical
improvement in services?
A. Transport for London have a pricing model but will not show
Andrew, an MP and GLA Member. Bus fares are set to increase over a number
of years at 10% above inflation. Tube fares at 1% above inflation.
Q(c). Why is Oyster not usable on railway network?
A. There is mistrust between the railway companies and Transport for London.
Q(d). Fare dodging. Why should others pay?
A. £28 million is being spent on a revenue protection team in 2006.
Q. Policing - why do we keep paying but nothing happens? Danger of vigilante
action. Need for zero tolerance of various forms of antisocial behaviour.
A. Police service costs £606 million a year from Council Tax bill,
72% of tax bill. When the GLA was set up, the Metropolitan Police
made it very clear they would not beheld accountable by the GLA.
Monitoring body is the Greater London Police Authority, half of
whose members are appointed (i.e. not elected by the public).
Q. What is the news on the East Croydon Gateway site?
A. Andrew, through the GLA, has seen the contract between
Arrowcroft and Croydon but it was so heavily censored as to be
meaningless. In effect the Council will not show even our MP and
GLA Member a copy.
Other points we raised
John Prescott's and Ken Livingstone's wrongly perceived need for excessive
housing density - such developments encourage short term tenants and lead
to eroding of community.
Individuals undertaking antisocial developments to increase value
of property at neighbours’ expense.
Contact Andrew: House of Commons,
London SW1A 0AA Tel: 020 7219 8472
E-mail: pellinga@parliament.uk
The New Park - Addiscombe
Entrance East India Way
Dalmally Passage looking through to Morland Road
The Park from Dalmally Passage looking towards East India Way entrance
In 2001, planning permission was granted to Bellway
Homes for the demolition of Addiscombe Station and the development of
the East India Way housing estate.
As part of the planning permission deal, Bellway would donate to
Croydon Council the old railway track area between the rear of the station
and Black Horse Road with a mind to the Council using the land as a public
linear park. In addition, Bellway gave the Council a sum of money for
security fencing the new park area and for the park’s ongoing maintenance.
We were told that work on the new park would commence as soon as the Bellway
development was complete (2002). In fact serious work only started this
January with the demolition of the old railway bridge and removal of the
embankment at Dalmally
Passage. Boundary security fencing is apparently just starting with planting
(native trees and shrubs) and a footpath still to come. The first phase
of the park is due to open this summer (2006) and will run between the
rear of East India Way and Dalmally Passage. We are not aware of any schedule
for the remainder of the park between Dalmally and Black Horse. Compared
to council promises of four years ago, strikes us that this is very little
very late.
.