Lambeth and Croydon have confirmed that the Upper Norwood Library’s joint agreement has ended. Under a new agreement, Croydon will transfer the 112-year old Library building, staff and agreed budgets to Lambeth. The fine print of the agreement is being negotiated but the transfer of assets from Croydon to Lambeth is scheduled to take place over the next few months. Croydon Council has agreed to provide an annual contribution of £75,000, for the next two years. This is renewable under a three-year funding agreement. In contrast, Lambeth’s contribution to the Library will be £170,000 a year. Lambeth in turn will work with the community-led steering group Upper Norwood Joint Campaign…

The CPCA is excluded from the Community Stakeholder Board, one of six boards established by Bromley to consider future management and development of Bromley’s only Grade II* Registered Metropolitan Open Land park, Crystal Palace Park. The recommendations of these boards will be considered by Bromley’s Executive Committee. This exclusion of the CPCA ensures this 42-year old charity registered amenity society will play no further role in the future of this park after years of interest and association. Bromley’s draft Crystal Palace Park Management Board Terms of reference identifies “Sustainable development to promote revenues streams”,  “Implementing the vision and spirit of the Crystal Palace Park Masterplan.”(Which includes sale of public parkland for…

The London Borough of Bromley has begun the process of producing their ‘Core Strategy’ document for the Borough. This document will help determine the long-term planning strategy for the Borough and its conclusions will be incorporated into their Local Development Framework (LDF) – a replacement for the current Unitary Development Plan (UDP). Initially residents, businesses, developers and community groups are invited to comment on the many Core Strategy issues. These include where and how much development there should be in the Borough over the next 20 years, how Bromley will tackle the issue of climate change, waste management, protection of the environment and other important matters. Unfortunately Bromley gave respondents,…

The unilateral decision by Croydon Council to ‘terminate’ the Upper Norwood Library Joint Agreement was, according to Croydon, the direct consequence of ‘…fundamental breach of the agreement by Lambeth Council’. Such breach, according to Croydon, was the refusal by Lambeth Council ‘to attend the last Annual General Meeting and failing to co-operate at the 2010 meeting.’ Lambeth Council contend that it was in fact Croydon Council that breached requirements of the UNJL Agreement that each council should appoint two local ward councillors to the Library Committee, and that any disputes or disagreements should be referred for arbitration. Croydon Council’s response was to despatch, without prior notification to Lambeth Council or the Library staff, nine…

Croydon Council’s continuing failure to meet the terms of their partnership agreement with Lambeth Council, caused yet another meeting of The Upper Norwood Joint Library Committee to be abandoned last Thursday, the 15 September, when more than seventy people attended the Library Annual General Meeting, where the future of the 111-year old Library was to be considered. The meeting turned to farce when it became apparent that the Lambeth representatives had not turned up; concerned that their presence could be seen as legitimising Croydon’s repeated decision not to nominate two local councillors to the Committee. In a well rehearsed show of disingenuousness, Croydon Cabinet Member, Cllr Sara Bashford, speculated that,…