KENDRA’s AGM took place in the Kenley Memorial Hall on Tuesday evening. (What follows is a summary of the highlights of the meeting. A full minutes will be published soon.)
After welcoming the 50 or so attendees, Chairman Christine Heal welcomed our guest speakers, GLA member for Sutton and Croydon, Neil Garrett, and Croydon Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance, Jason Cummings. But first to speak was Metropolitan Police Constable Robin Lambert-Singer from the local Kenley force.
POLICING
PC Lambert-Singer gave a brief resume of the current crime trends in Kenley. Although a low crime area, he said apart from the usual burglaries and anti-social behaviour incidents, car crime is still a persistent problem.
He reported that catalyser thefts had declined, but number plate thefts were increasing. Criminals use the number plates to disguise their vehicle’s identity, carrying out crimes, such as leaving petrol forecourts without paying for fuel, or going on shoplifting sprees.
He urged car owners to secure their number plates with ‘one way’ screws, a cheap and easy deterrent. Asked if members should report theft of number plates, PC Lambert-Singer said police should be alerted immediately as they could then watch for the registration number, and the legitimate owner could be eliminated as a suspect.
Members can report crime in a number of ways, obviously call 999 in an emergency, or 101 for non-emergencies. 0nline reports are possible on the Met Police website or by email Kenley.SNT@met.police.uk to Kenley’s police officers.
TRANSPORT & GLA
Next was Neil Garratt, GLA member for Sutton and Croydon. His main focus was transport, particularly buses, or the lack of them, serving the Kenley area. He admitted that some of his brief was initiated by former GLA member Steve O’Connel, such was the lack of progress with TfL.
He highlighted the difficulties in designing routes that served their purpose but were also feasible with regard to access by buses. He added that one of TfL’s proposed plans in Purley Cross, was not feasible if you knew how difficult crossing Purley Cross was for pedestrians.
It seemed that TfL favoured routes that connected rail stations, but didn’t necessarily meet the needs of residents. Maps showing possible new bus routes were available, but Neil Garratt wanted KENDRA members to come together to suggest what would serve Kenley residents best.
Proposed changes and routes can be examined in these pdf documents:
Sutton – Croydon Bus Changes Consultation Report and Maps of Proposed Bus Route Changes and New Routes
Mr. Garrett also touched on the ULEZ extension due to come into effect from the end of August. The expansion will move out from the current limits of the North and South Circular roadways to the outer reaches of Greater London. Non-compliant vehicles will be required to pay a daily £12.50 tariff to drive in the expanded zone.
He said four London boroughs had challenged the legitimacy of the extension in the High Court. He added that Surrey County Council has refused to allow TFL to erect ULEZ warning signs in the county. He said he was opposed to ULEZ as it would do little to improved air quality but would penalise lower income drivers.
CROYDON COUNCIL FINANCES
LBC Finance Cabinet Member
Jason Cummings, LBC Cabinet Member for Finance, warned members that they were not going to like what they were about to hear. He was right. In a measured and considered tone, he catalogued the actions of the previous Labour administration that led to the borough’s financial collapse and eventual bankruptcy.
He explained how a mixture of naivety, incompetence and recklessness ended in financial catastrophe for the borough and its residents. Unravelling an accumulated debt of £1.6 billion was no easy task. The books simply didn’t balance. Cummings said £171 million was unaccounted for. He stressed that no money had disappeared; it just wasn’t where it should have been.
It appeared that there had been wildly optimistic speculation and simple ineptitude. Brick By Brick lost £250 million. A hotel was purchased then sold at a £5 million loss. Between £40 to £50 million was mistakenly overpaid in housing benefits. The Fairfield Halls refurbishment was massively over budget and proper procurement procedures were not followed. There were even plans to buy an aircraft hanger at Biggin Hill which, luckily for council tax payers, was halted.
Members were assured that none of the culprits responsible for the collapse were still in the council. Cummings added that there was a move to ensure that any who were members of professional bodies should effectively be prevented from holding office or practicing. It was still possible that criminal proceedings will follow.
Moving forward, he was cautiously hopeful that the government might help write-off some of the debt. He explained that even with the maximum hike of nearly 15% in council tax, it was not going to prevent severe cuts to services in the near future, such was the debt burden. But he was adamant that no further hikes were planned. It wasn’t the fault of tax payers that the council was in its current predicament.
Jason Cummings referred to the Penn Report (pdf download), an independent investigation into Croydon Council’s financial collapse entitled ‘Collective Corporate Blindness.’
PLANNING
Our own Geoff James was on hand to give an update on planning.
A few highlights from the Good Growth Fund.
You will hopefully have seen the shiny new cycle-hub building built in Kenley Station car park. This will provide a security door entry system so that bikes can be left all day. Those with E-bikes will be able to charge their batteries.
The long campaigned for, and over-due flood alleviation work was completed at the bottom of Welcomes Road (just in time for the mains burst – who could plan that?). This was to create a balancing pond
under the road that avoid the recurrence of the regular surface flooding at the electricity sub-station.
The flood alleviation works were not strictly part of the Good Growth Fund, but the reinstatement of the road, pavement and verge is. You should have noticed the road is narrower as the pavement has been
widened. This is to slow the car traffic and make it safer for pedestrians. We will soon also have a seating area with trees and planting.
Most of the road enhancements that we have shared previously have been cancelled for various reasons. Currently there is no plan to implement one-way traffic on the Hayes Lane hill, or insert a pedestrian crossing on Hayes Lane close to the junction with Station Road. The proposal for planters outside Kenley Station ticket office is taking shape, as are a number of wayfinding signs to help visitors navigate Kenley.
We are in the process of shortlisting and validating an extensive list of new but smaller road enhancements. More news on these when there is something more tangible to report.
Local Planning
We are grateful that under the shiny new Mayor of Croydon the Croydon Design Guide has been discontinued. This was the guide that the previous administration used to support the gross
over-development in our area and the wider Croydon area.
The Design Guide was quite good and could have been used for our benefit, but the previous administration used it as a “weapon” to overdevelop the South of the borough (and some other parts). With the demise of the Design Guide and the changes to the structure of the planning committee we are now seeing the worst of the planning proposals under the previous administration being routinely refused.
This is leading to a great many appeals. Croydon Council’s planning team is working its way through a long list of appeals as and when Bristol is ready to for each one. We can tell that many developers have got the message that things have changed in Croydon – but there are a few that did not read the
memo.
We are seeing fewer applications for gross over development. But the planning application to replace a house with a block of flats will continue as the precedent has been set. The appeals are taking many months longer than normal as Bristol works through the backlog – there is no hurrying up Bristol and so the developers struggle as the planning process is so much slower now.
There are still several contentious planning applications – 2 & 4 Kenley Lane being the worst. This was very decisively refused in early 2022 but the developer activated an appeal. So we wait for Bristol. We hope that Bristol will be as decisive in dismissing the appeal.
COUNCILLORS QUESTION AND ANSWERS
Councillors Ola Kolade and Gayle Gander answered member’s questions on a variety of subjects including the alarming number of potholes on our roads and the emergency road closure near the bridge at Kenley Station.
The councillors reassured members that potholes were being dealt with and no cuts had been made to road maintenance budgets, however the sheer number of potholes meant progress was slow.
Cllr. Gander was thanked for her prompt and informed emails regarding the burst water main that had caused so much disruption in Hayes Lane and Kenley Lane, cutting off access across the bridge. She speculated how much worse the situation could have been if the flood elevation works had not been carried out at the bottom of Welcomes Road.
TREASURER’S REPORT
KENDRA Treasurer Angela Morrison presented the Association’s accounts showing a healthy surplus of around £24,000. She told the members that the accounts had been independently verified.
One member questioned why KENDRA had such a large surplus and what plans were there for its use. The Treasurer said expenditure had been low during and following Covid, and funds had accumulated. She added the committee wanted members to suggest uses for the funds that would benefit members and the wider community, a call that the committee had made several times but had had no response.
The committee had looked into holding a ‘fun day’ but the idea was dropped due to the amount of organisation involved and the lack of committee members who could commit time to such an undertaking.
A motion to pass the Treasurer’s Accounts was carried unanimously.
RE-ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
A list of committee positions and their corresponding member’s names was posted at the AGM. All of the 2022 committee were put forward to continue in their current positions until the next AGM in 2024.
A motion to re-elect the committee member was carried.
Chairman Christine Heal made an appeal for more committee members, listing the vacancies on the committee which include a Vice Chairman, Health Officer, Conservation Officer, Social Organiser and Transport Officer.
She said the current committee members were all working hard to cover the vacancies but some duties were simply not being done. KENDRA wanted to do more for its members but didn’t have the manpower.
Committee Members Re-Elected at 2023 AGM with Vacancies
AGM MOTIONS & BUSINESS
As with any official association there are requirements to pass motions for the next year to make its functions above-board and accountable to its members – in other words, the boring bits. They were as follows:
i) KENDRA Subscription to be maintained at £5 per household per annum.
ii) Committee expenditure to be limited to £1500 for a single supplier.
iii) KENDRA Magazine Production cost to be limited to £5000 which could be one supplier.
The meeting was wound up at 10pm as scheduled.