London Borough of Croydon

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For other places called Croydon see Croydon (disambiguation)

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

Template:Infobox London Borough The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London 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.

1 Status
2 Croydon Council
3 Districts
4 Railway stations
5 Individuals associated with the Borough of Croydon
6 See also
7 External links

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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 successful, it would be the third local authority in Greater London to hold that status.

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Croydon Council

The council consists of 70 councillors elected in 24 wards. Since the local elections in 1994, the Labour Party has controlled the Council, with 37 councillors elected for Labour in 2002. The Conservative Party has 30 seats, having had one councillor disqualified, and there are two Liberal Democrat councillors, one of whom was originally elected as a Conservative. The next elections are to be held on 4 May 2006.

Since February 2005, the Leader of Croydon Council has been Labour Councillor Tony Newman, replacing Hugh Malyan. As Croydon is a cabinet-style council, the Leader heads a ten-person cabinet, responsible for areas such as education or planning. There is a Shadow Cabinet drawn from the Conservative Party, whose leader has been Councillor Mike Fisher since May 2005. A backbench cross-party scrutiny and overview committee is in place to hold the executive cabinet to account. Image:Arms-croydon-lb.jpg 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 the Guyana link supported by the council.

The Mayor of Croydon for 2005-2006 is Councillor Maggie Mansell.

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History

See also Croydon local elections

For much of its history, Croydon Council was controlled by the Conservative Party or conservative-leaning independents. The Labour Party became the majority party in 1994.

Former Croydon councillors include former MPs 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. Current Conservative Director of Operations, Gavin Barwell, has been a Croydon councillor since 1998.

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Croydon Town Hall

Croydon Town Hall is on Katharine Street in central Croydon and houses the committee rooms, the mayor and other councillors' offices, electoral services and the arts and heritage services. Image:CroydonTownHall.jpg 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.

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Taberner House

Image:CroydonTabHouse.jpg Taberner House was built between 1964 and 1967, designed by the 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 Building 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.

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Leading figures

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

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Districts

The borough includes the following areas: Image:Purley Council Office.jpg

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Railway stations

Stations in Croydon:

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

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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, Croydon. 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 between 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 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 between 1891 and 1894.
Author D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) lived at 12 Colworth Road, Addiscombe, 1908 to 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 between 1927 and 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 March 1908.
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.
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 from 1985 to 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.