London Borough of Croydon

Encyclopedia : L : LO : LON : 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

Status

The London Borough of Croydon was fomed 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 Westminster.

Croydon Council

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, is expected to be 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.

Arms of Croydon London Borough Council

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 2005-2006 is Councillor Maggie Mansell.

History

See also Croydon local elections

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. The current 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.

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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

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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 Tony Newman
• Deputy Leader - Cllr Paula Shaw
• Chief Executive - David Wechsler

Districts

The borough includes the following areas:

The offices of the former Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council

• Addington
• Addiscombe
• Broad Green
• Coombe
• Coulsdon
• Croydon - the principal area
• Crystal Palace - Shared With Southwark 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

• East Croydon
• South Croydon
• West Croydon

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

• Crystal Palace

Individuals associated with the Borough of Croydon

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• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Comedian Ronnie Corbett lives in Shirley.
• 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.

See also

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

External links

• [Croydon Guardian Local News page]
• [Croydon Guardian Heritage pages]
• [The Croydon Society site]
• [Croydon Cycling Campaign site]
• [The Bourne Society] take an interest in the southern part of the borough and has fixed its own blue plaques to a number of buildings there.
• [Croydon Parish Church]

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