London Borough of Croydon

For other places called Croydon see Croydon (disambiguation)

For details of the town of Croydon on which this borough is centred see Croydon

The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and part of Outer London. Its area is 34 square miles (87 km²) and it is the largest London borough by population. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name. Central Croydon is the largest office and retail centre in the south east of England other than central London.

Status

The London Borough of Croydon was formed in 1965 from Coulsdon and Purley Urban District and the County Borough of Croydon. It is now governed by a cabinet-style council created in 2001.

Croydon unsuccessfully applied for city status in 2000 and again in 2002. If it had been successful it would have been the third local authority in Greater London to hold that status, the others being the City of London and the City of Westminster.

Croydon Council

Croydon Council is responsible for the administration of Croydon. The council consists of 70 councillors elected in 24 wards. From 1994 to 2006 the Labour Party has controlled the Council. Thirty-seven Labour and 31 Conservative councillors were elected in 2002, plus a lone Liberal Democrat bolstered by a subsequent defection of a councillor who had originally been elected as a Conservative, defected to Labour, went back to the Conservatives and spent some time as an independent. At the 2006 local elections the Conservatives regained control of the Council after gaining 12 seats, taking ten seats from Labour in Addiscombe, Waddon and Norwood and the single Liberal Democrat seat in Coulsdon.

From February 2005 until May 2006, the Leader of Croydon Council was Labour Co-operative Councillor Tony Newman, succeeding Hugh Malyan. Mike Fisher, Tory group leader since May 2005, was named as Council Leader following the Conservative victory. Croydon is a cabinet-style council, and the Leader heads a ten-person cabinet, its members responsible for areas such as education or planning. There is a Shadow Cabinet drawn from the principal opposition party. A backbench cross-party scrutiny and overview committee is in place to hold the executive cabinet to account.

Some 10,000 people work directly or indirectly for the council, in its main offices in Taberner House or in its schools, care homes, housing offices or work depots. The council is generally well-regarded, having made important improvements in education and social services. However, there have been concerns over benefits, leisure services and waste collection. Although the council has one of London's lower rates of council tax, there are inevitable claims that it is too high and that resources are wasted.

The London Borough of Croydon is twinned with Arnhem in the Netherlands. There is also a Guyana link supported by the council.

The Mayor of Croydon for 2006-07 is Councillor Janet Marshall.

History

See also Croydon local elections

For much of its history, Croydon Council was controlled by the Conservative Party or conservative-leaning independents.

Former Croydon councillors include current MP Andrew Pelling, former MPs Vivian Bendall, David Congdon, Geraint Davies and Reg Prentice, London Assembly member Valerie Shawcross, Lord Bowness, John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington (Master of the Rolls) and H.T. Muggeridge, MP and father of Malcolm Muggeridge. The first Mayor of the newly-created County Borough was Jabez Balfour, later a disgraced Member of Parliament. Former Conservative Director of Campaigning, Gavin Barwell, has been a Croydon councillor since 1998.

Croydon Town Hall

Croydon Town Hall on Katharine Street in Central Croydon houses the committee rooms, the mayor's and other councillors' offices, electoral services and the arts and heritage services.

The present Town Hall is Croydon's third. The first town hall is thought to have been built in either 1566 or 1609. The second was built in 1808 to serve the growing town but was demolished after the present town hall was erected in 1895. The present town hall was designed by local architect Charles Henman and was officially opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 19 May 1896. It was constructed in red brick, sourced from Wrotham in Kent, with Portland stone dressings and green Westmoreland slates for the roof. It also housed the court and most central council employees.

Parts, including the former court rooms, have been converted for museum and exhibition galleries. The original public library is now a cinema, part of the Croydon Clocktower. The Braithwaite Hall is used for events and performances. The town hall was renovated in the mid-1990s and the imposing central staircase, long closed to the public and kept for councillors only, was re-opened in 1994. The civic complex, meanwhile, was substantially added to, with buildings across Mint Walk and the 19-floor Taberner House to house the rapidly expanding corporation's employees.

Taberner House

Taberner House was built between 1964 and 1967, designed by architect H Thornley, with Allan Holt and Hugh Lea as borough engineers. Although the council had needed extra space since the 1920s, it was only with the imminent creation of the London Borough of Croydon that action was taken. The building is in classic 1960s style, praised at the time but subsequently much derided. It has its elegant upper slab block narrowing towards both ends, a formal device which has been compared to the famous Pirelli Tower of Milan. It was named after Ernest Taberner OBE, Town Clerk from 1937 to 1963.

Taberner House now houses most of the council's central employees and its 'one-stop shop' is the main location for the public to access information and services, particularly with respect to housing.

Leading figures

• Leader - Cllr Mike Fisher
• Deputy Leaders - Cllr Steve O'Connell and Cllr Dudley Mead
• Chief Executive - David Wechsler - Jon Rouse (from July 07)

Districts

The borough includes the following areas:

• Addington
• Addiscombe
• Ashburton - which holds the Ashburton Learning Village
• Broad Green
• Coombe
• Coulsdon
• Croydon - the principal area
• Crystal Palace - shared with Lambeth, Southwark Lewisham and Bromley
• Forestdale
• Hamsey Green
• Kenley
• New Addington
• Norbury
• Purley
• Sanderstead
• Selhurst
• Selsdon
• Shirley
• South Croydon
• South Norwood
• Thornton Heath
• Upper Norwood
• Waddon
• West Croydon
• Woodcote
• Woodside

Railway stations

Stations in Croydon:

• East Croydon
• South Croydon
• West Croydon

There are 13 other railway stations within the borough boundaries. In alphabetical order they are:

• Coulsdon South
• Kenley
• Norbury
• Norwood Junction
• Purley
• Purley Oaks
• Reedham
• Riddlesdown
• Sanderstead
• Selhurst
• Smitham
• Thornton Heath
• Waddon
• Woodmansterne

The following station is outside the boundary, but serves part of the borough:

• Crystal Palace

Individuals associated with the Borough of Croydon

The following people have an association with Croydon:-

• Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift (ca. 1530–1604), is buried in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist. Several other Archbishops are buried in the Parish Church or St Mary's in Addington.
• Art critic and social theorist John Ruskin (1819–1900) spent much of childhood in Croydon at his mother's family home and visited often as an adult. His parents are buried in Shirley.
• Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (1883-96)lived at Addington Palace. Invented Christmas tradition of Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols.
• John Horniman (1803–1893) and Frederick John Horniman (1835–1906), tea merchants, collectors and public benefactors, lived at Coombe Cliff, Coombe Road, Croydon
• Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), lived at 44 St Peter's Road, Croydon. He independently proposed a theory of evolution by natural selection and prompted Charles Darwin to reveal his own unpublished theory sooner than he had intended.
• Actor and dramatist Miles Malleson (1888–1969) was born in Croydon.
• French novelist Émile Zola (1840–1902) lived at The Queen's Hotel, 122 Church Road, Upper Norwood 1898-1899.
• William Ford Robertson Stanley (1829–1909), inventor, collector, manufacturer scientific instruments and philanthropist, lived in Croydon, and founded and designed the halls and technical school known as the Stanley Halls, 12 South Norwood Hill, South Norwood.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, lived at 12 Tennison Road, South Norwood 1891-1894.
• Author D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) lived at 12 Colworth Road, Addiscombe 1908-1912 whilst a teacher at Davidson Road School.
• Composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor (1875–1912), lived at 30 Dagnall Park, Selhurst. Black composer noted for his cantatas including The Song of Hiawatha trilogy.
• Comic actor Will Hay (1888–1949), lived at 45 The Chase, Norbury 1927-1934.
• Illustrator and artist Cicely Mary Barker (1895–1973), who created the famous Flower Fairies books, was born in Croydon and lived locally. She studied at the Croydon School of Art.
• Author and media personality Malcolm Muggeridge ( 1903– 1990) was the son of H.T. Muggeridge, a prominent Croydon Labour councillor. He also taught at John Ruskin Central School in the 1920s.
• Film director Sir David Lean (1908–1991), was born in Croydon on 25 March1908.
• Actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft (1907–1991), was born in Croydon and lived in George Street as a child. She is honoured in the naming of the Ashcroft Theatre, part of the Fairfield Halls.
• Comedian Roy Hudd was born in Croydon in 1936.
• Electrical engineer and inventor of the Teleprinter Frederick George Creed (1871–1957), lived and died at 20 Outram Road, Addiscombe.
• Pop star Adam Ant is from Croydon.
• Legendary Ska musician Desmond Dekker (1941-2006) lived in Thornton Heath.
• The original members of rock group The Damned grew up in Croydon.
• Supermodel Kate Moss was born in Croydon on 16 January 1974.
• Wilfred Wood served as Bishop of Croydon 1985-2002, the first black Church of England bishop.
• Former Arsenal footballer Ian Wright MBE lives in Shirley.
• Feroz Abbasi, arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained at Guantanamo Bay, lived in Shirley and attended school in Croydon.
• Kirsty MacColl, the late singer and songwriter was born and grew up in Croydon
• Ronnie Corbett, the comic actor lived for many years in Shirley, Croydon
• Sarah Jane Smith, the popular fictional companion of the Third and Fourth Doctors in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who

See also

• Addington Palace
• Lunar House
• Mayday University Hospital
• UK postcodes — a note of why and how postcodes CR0 and CR9 differ from the others.
• Ruskin House
• Tramlink
• Croydon Advertiser
• Croydon Guardian
• Woodside and South Croydon Railway
• Croydon parks and open spaces
• Croydon Airport

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