Pic: Virador

A controversial waste plan that could see an incinerator built on Beddington Lane, was approved by Croydon Council on Monday in spite of concern from local people and Green councillors.

Croydon Council said that a contract has not yet been signed  and that planning permission has not yet been applied for.  However, waste company Viridor was previously selected as the preferred bidder for an incinerator on Beddington Lane by The South London Waste Partnership (SLWP). The SLWP  provides waste management for Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton councils.

If the plan goes ahead, the incinerator could become operative by 2015.

The proposal has caused concern among local residents in Croydon area. Jerry Wood, 35, told Eastlondonlines: “I think is not a good idea to choose Beddington Lane as the incinerator site. As we in Croydon live downwind, there is no doubt that we will be the recipient of air pollution”.

But Croydon Council said the proposed facility would be eco-friendly and safe: “If planning permission is granted the Energy Recovery Facility proposed for Beddington would use the latest technology to thoroughly clean any emissions before they leave the facility. The proposed facility would also have to operate under an Environmental Permit issued and regulated by the Environment Agency which will ensure that local air quality is not compromised.

“Viridor’s proposal is a safe, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective way of dealing with household waste,” Bownas added. “Instead of being buried in the ground, this waste would be turned into 26 megawatts of electricity. It is enough to power the facility itself and supply 30,000 homes. The facility would also enable the work to restore the existing landfill site to amenity parkland for the Beddington Country Park and Wandle Valley Regional Park to be accelerated.”

According to Croydon Council, Viridor is planning to do an Environmental Impact Assessment to ensure the safety of the new facility.

Viridor will also undertake a public consultation in February this year to gather feedback from local residents about the proposed development.

In recent weeks, environmental campaigners questioned the SLWP’s decision to build a new incinerator on the Croydon/Sutton border instead of using an existing facility. And local campaign group Stop The Incinerator say the proposal does not sit well with Croydon Council’s aim to achieve a 70 per cent recycling rate in the borough.

pic: Ewan Munro

Local shop owners have expressed concern over rumours that a Tesco Express will open in a disused pub in South Croydon.

Although Croydon Council have not confirmed Tesco have applied for planning permission, Selsdon Road shopkeepers fear Tesco’s arrival is imminent and would have a devastating effect on local businesses.

Rumours have been growing in recent weeks, with shop keepers saying the new supermarket would be located on the ground floor of the historical pub in Swan and Sugar-loaf pub on Brighton Road, which has been closed since March 2010.

The building is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, who have not confirmed that a deal has been agreed despite building work on the property ongoing.

Croydon council  could not confirm that a planning application has been made for a change of use.

Kalpana Patel, co-owner of the South End post office, thinks the rumour is true. Patel said: “It is a very bad idea to open a new Tesco Express at the Brighton road as it will affect not only my business but will have a pressure on many local shops, restaurants and businesses.

“It would be a better idea to open McDonalds or maybe a gym instead of Tesco as it is a perfect spot considering the nearby school with lots of students and the new apartments being build on the top floors of the Swan and Sugar-loaf pub.”

I think McDonalds will work great especially when the KFC just closed recently. It should be something useful to be opened, something that will keep  local business going and add a benefit to the local residents. If the new Tesco plan is confirmed it will turn  Brighton Road into a ghost street with masses of empty premises.’

Pic: Agata Grafa

James Murphy, local resident with a property business in South Croydon  said: “I hear that many people are against the Tesco’s expansion plan but  experience tells me that afterwards we all will be happy about it”.

Marcia, South Croydon resident said: “It is a 50/50 solution for the area. It will be good for local shoppers, as now they won’t travel far to do grocery shopping but very negative for shops nearby.

Pic: Agata Grafa

“I had my own business a while ago and I remember exactly the same situation happened when a new Tesco Express opened just opposite my business. As a result of this I needed to close my business as I was loosing all my customers.”

The Guardian reported last month that Tesco aims to open thousands more stores. The food retailer plans to open enough new stores in future years to cover 500 football pitches, which would increase the retailers trading space by up to 50 per cent.

pic: flicker

Local residents expressed concern as Croydon Council revealed plans to relocate the New Addington Library.

The Council released a statement saying that the current building has reached the end of its useful life and has plans to move the library into the New Addington CALAT Centre premises, which is only a few minutes walk away from the current library.

Though the Some local residents are upset about the council’s plan as the CALAT premises proposed for the library’s relocation are to be shared with the adult education and job centre. The New Addington Library, currently located in Central Parade, is home to a children’s library and homework help club.

One library user, who wished not to be named, expressed serious concerns about the closure. The man said that the number of books currently available in the library could be reduced, adding that the new building may not have enough space for community activities when the library is incorporated.

When asked about future available space, number of books, level of service and any consultation carried out about the move, Croydon Council replied that: “We are currently looking at plans that will ensure that all of the existing services are simply lifted up and moved wholesale to a far more modern and accessible building. However we are at a development stage, so nothing can be 100% confirmed right now, but this is not a closure, simply a relocation a couple of minutes walk away.”

Photo: Ian Britton

A man died from a head injury after his cousin threw a concrete block at his head at a family party in Coulsdon, a court heard yesterday.

Peter Atwell, 32, of Bermondsey is accused of murdering Paul Coleman, 35, of Royston Avenue, Wallington, with a breezeblock after a party at Mr Coleman’s father’s house in St Andrews Road in the early hours of August 14 last year.

Atwell ran almost the length of a football pitch to hurl the block at Paul Coleman, jurors were told. Bystanders thought the block had hit Coleman as afterwards he fell to the ground and lost consciousness. But after he had died from brain damage, 36 hours after the incident, a pathologist said there was no sign of the concrete striking his head.

Prosecutors argued that it does not matter whether or not the block struck him. They say Atwell must have intended serious injury when he threw the block at Coleman at close range.

Jeremy Donne, QC, said: “The block must have passed so close to the victim’s head that everyone thought it had actually hit it.”

The cousins had been to a family party in Coulsdon, and a row broke out when they left in the early hours of the morning.

Atwell denies murder but has admitted manslaughter. The trial at the Old Bailey continues.

pic: Ingy the Wingy(Flickr)ED

A Notts County footballer has been charged with sexual assault yesterday as a result of an alleged incident that occurred in Croydon last month, according to the football club’s website.

Striker Lee Hughes, who has been with the club since 2009, is suspected to have been involved in an incident with a woman on December 3. Police were called to the Notts County team hotel in Croydon on that day, the night before the team’s FA Cup match against Sutton United.

The Metropolitan Police said the following in a statement released at the time of the arrest: “Police were called at approximately 11.10pm on Saturday 3 December to a hotel in Purley Way, Croydon, following an allegation of sexual assault.”

Hughes was arrested on the night but later released on bail.

A statement on the club’s website said: “Notts County can confirm that striker Lee Hughes has, on Monday, been charged in relation to an alleged incident in December of last year.

“The club will be making no further comment on this matter.”

Hughes played the entire FA cup tie for Notts County against Stevenage on Saturday and has recently signed a contract extension with the club.

Pic: sirwiseowl, Flickr

A project working with children in Croydon has been awarded nearly £900,000 by the Big Lottery Fund, it was announced on Thursday.

Croydon Family Project, led by Croydon Voluntary Action, is one of five projects in London that has been awarded a share of almost £4.5m.

All the projects work with children growing up in difficult circumstances.

A spokesperson for the Croydon Family Project, which will receive £899,991, said: “We are very happy being one of those recipients. Our main focus will be developing empathy skills through good parenting and training families whom we are supporting and linking up them with other parents in Croydon and Lewisham.”

Another project to receive funding is the Family Pathways initiative in Lewisham, which is led by the Pre-school Learning Alliance. The scheme will receive £900,000 to provide targeted and holistic support for families.

They will focus on children who demonstrate anti-social or destructive behaviour, which often results from experiencing trauma such as domestic violence. One of the more innovative elements of the programme is its focus on helping young children reduce aggression levels by developing empathy.

Val Pope, Executive Manager at the Pre-school Learning Alliance Lewisham, explained: “Family Pathways is bringing a new evidence-based parenting programme into the country called Roots of Empathy, which gives children in primary schools a chance to support the development and nurture of a young baby which joins their class on a regular basis for nine months.”

The Big Lottery Fund has chosen 17 groundbreaking projects from across the UK to be the first to receive awards from its Improving Futures programme. The grants, which total £15.2m, will provide earlier and more joined-up support to families with multiple and complex problems.

Pic: Kenji Punzalan

Children’s centres across the borough face considerable changes so the council can make £1.1m in savings from the current budget. These cuts will be decided after a range of public consultations taking this month.

The current cost of the service is £4.6million. However, the budget that has been set needs to see this figure reduced to £3.5million to make the required savings.

The cuts could mean that some centres are merged, leaving one team to deliver services across two or more sites. The council has also said that they are considering closing centres that are judged to be of “less need”.

At the consultations, parents, carers, staff, partners, stakeholders and governors of the centres have been given the opportunity to tell the council their views on the proposed changes.

Councillor Tim Pollard, Cabinet Member for children, young people and learners, said: “These centres offer an important service to the families of young children in the borough. However in these challenging financial times we have to ensure that our resources are focused on those people who most need our help and support.”

At present there are 26 children’s centres in Croydon. where services such as families support, help, advice and carers activities are provided for the borough’s 27,000 under-fives.

On January 25, Woodside Children’s centre held a consultation day where families, volunteers and individuals had chance to share their thoughts on the future of the centre. EastLondonLines went along to find out what their concerns are about the upcoming cuts;

Video by Agata Grafa and Mengdi Li

Sausages Pic:Meredith James Johnstone

A grocer in Croydon has been fined almost £2,000 for leaving ham and sausages that were past their sell by dates on his shelves for sale.

Sinniah Sivasankar pleaded guilty to selling out-of-date food at his shop on Portland Road, South Norwood, in Croydon Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

A member of the public spotted the out-of-date food and complained to the council’s food safety team.

When they visited the store, they found two packs of ham and cheese wraps that were a month out-of-date.

They also found a pack of garlic sausages and sausage rolls that were a week past their best.

Sivasankar also pleaded guilty to failing to have a stock rotation system in place. He was fined £325 for each offence, a victim surcharge of £15 and £1,167 for the councils’ costs. In total, his bill was £1,932.

Simon Hoar, Cabinet Member of Community Safety, said: “It can’t be overstated that food sellers have a grave duty to ensure that their goods are properly rotated to ensure that potentially dangerous, out-of-date produce is removed from sale.

“It’s not unlikely that somebody with poor vision could have failed to notice that the ‘use-by’ date had been exceeded, eaten the food in good faith, and then have suffered food poisoning, or worse, as a result.”

Pic: mrapplegate, Flickr

Croydon University Hospital spent only an average of £1.73 per meal on food for patients last year, new figures show.

This is the lowest spend per person among nearby hospitals and lower than many in the UK.

Data released by the NHS Information Centre showed that the hospital spent just £5.18 per head on three meals a day and a drink for each patient.

In contrast, the figure given for St Helier Hospital in Sutton is £11.08 per patient per day, while the Princess Royal Hospital in Farnborough spent £9.06. The average amount spent was £8.58, with Wiltshire Primary Care Trust spending the most, £22.31.

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, which operates the hospital, has now implemented a new in-house meal service and increased the amount spent on each patient to £5.96 a day – up 27p per meal.

Croydon North MP Malcolm Wicks told the Croydon Advertiser: “The constraints on hospital budgets across the country mean it’s very difficult for them, but hospitals can’t skimp on food.

“At face value, the amount spent at Croydon University Hospital seems to be a pitifully small amount of money and I think they need to address that further.

“I think at the very least the Croydon University Hospital management should regard this as a wake-up call, which raises questions about the adequacy of the meals on offer.”

In response, however, a spokesperson for Croydon Health Services said: “Our colleagues at Epsom and St Helier … included staff costs and overheads in their calculation of spend per head, whilst our figure does not include this money, so the two figures are not comparable.”

The trust also said: “We currently spend an average of £5.96 per patient per day which compares with many other acute hospitals and represents great value for money. The company that provides the meals to us guarantees fresh and high quality food for our patients.

“We will spend more on people who have special dietary needs such as supplements or special meals requirements.

“Feedback from most patients is that they prefer these meals to the previous system, but we are continuing to monitor this as we roll the new menus out to all wards.”

Health Minister Simon Burns said: “The amount of money hospitals are spending on food has gone up over the past five years, and waste is going down, but this rise in the amount spent on food does not necessarily mean better food for patients.

“Many trusts have excellent food and are serving healthy, fresh meals to their patients whilst staying within budget. These trusts set a precedent for others to follow and the whole NHS should be learning from the best trusts.”

Football Fans

Crystal Palace held out until the bitter end after a tough encounter with Cardiff City last night. The Welsh side had dominated from start to finish with some intelligent possession and, at times, incisive forward play.

In the end, though, it took penalties to see off a resilient Palace. Cardiff would have felt aggrieved had they not secured the win after dominating the game, which ended with Palace having only 10-men left on the field.

Cardiff City 1 -0 Crystal Palace (1-1 AGG AET 3-1pen)

Carling Cup Semi-Final Second Leg

Palace got off to the worse possible start after Gardner turned into his own net by diverting a Cowie cross in the post and crossbar to send the City stadium into raptures.

The buoyant home side dominated possession creating all the clear chances of the first half. Miller should have put the game beyond doubt when he went one on one against the Palace keeper, only to see his effort drift agonisingly past the wrong side of the post when most of the ground was already celebrating.

Bluebirds’ fans were on their feet again moments before the half time whistle when Miller again caused trouble for the Palace back-four. A sweet strike from the Scot could only see the face of the post and bounced wide. Palace were lucky to go into the break at 1-0.

The second half started well for both sides, Palace looked resolved at the back but lacked any cutting edge going forward.

Zaha looked threatening but failed to display just why so many clubs are rumoured to be interested in signing him this transfer window.

A half of little action or clear cut chances did not mean it was not entertaining; at one point the superb Whittingham looked to be curling a fabulous free-kick into the top-left hand corner only to be scooped out by the excellent Speroni.

Whittingham again struck one that drifted past the post, this time with Speroni scrabbling, and a few minutes later Palace had their only real chance of the match. Scannell, who had just come on, gave Palace a boost and after driving at the City defence he fed Zaha, who could only skew wide from 6 yards.

McCarthy then got sent off after a second yellow card and that looked like the tipping point needed to sway the match. It wasn’t to be and after a whole period of extra time the match went to penalties.

Cardiff kept their cool and booked their place in the Carling Cup final to face Liverpool or Manchester City.

A great cup campaign for Dougie Freedman’s men, who must hold their heads up with pride, considering their limited resources and the fact the future of the club looked totally uncertain just a year ago. This shows the sort of progress Eagles’ fans could have only dreamed of.

Cardiff: Heaton, Blake, Gerrard, Turner, Taylor, Cowie, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, McPhail, Conway, Miller.

Subs: Marshall, McNaughton, Kiss, Earnshaw, Gestede, Mason, Ralls.

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Parr, McCarthy, Gardner, Clyne, Ambrose, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Zaha, Murray, Martin.

Subs: Price, Wright, Garvan, Scannell, Easter, McShane, Andrew.

Referee: Howard Webb