The Purley Village Blog

Posted 15th Aug 2010 by woolees

Paint damage to Car parked on Downlands Road

Early this morning (15th August) we were shocked to see that our car had been decorated on the drivers door ( facing away from the house) with an updated version of the old ban the bomb logo in black spray paint. As it was very early and it had been wet overnight the paint had not completely dried so we have managed to more or less remove most of it. Has anyone else experienced or heard of this in the local area?
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Posted 9th Aug 2010 by Natalie

Loving Purley!

Hi, I would just like to say I have lived in Purley for a few years now and it is the best place I have lived. I think it has everything you need and the Tescos is great!

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Posted 6th Aug 2010 by Phil Retourne

PM for MP

We've all witnessed the demise of Purley and of course Coulsdon - where the council thought it would be a brilliant idea to spend £3,000,000 of our money, buying bricks from China (English bricks not being available?)and laying them in the road. Then making it as difficult as possible to get in and out of the town, have resident traffic wardens giving out parking tickets as if there were no tommorrow, make the zebra crossings grey and dark grey, instead of black and white and without working flashing orange lights, have a confusing mish-mash of different 'keep left' signs and for good measure, have buses stop out in the middle of the road so that other traffic has to drive right onto the wrong side of the road to pass, or sit and wait. That is our council's idea of how to regenerate a town centre. Result? Business' have had enough and voted with their feet.
And now the council are about to work their magic in Purley!
I think we should have Peter Morgan as our MP. At least he takes a genuine interest in the towns.
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Posted 2nd Aug 2010 by Paul

The truth is ........

Over the last 25 or so years Purley has lost it's

Hospital

Ambulance station

Full time Police Station

Cinema

Local high Street shops

Bowling alley

Council office centre.

About to lose its Swimming pool & leisure centre.

Let's face it, Purley, once know as a proud and thriving community with all the above

amenities, has been allowed by our successive councils to slip into urban decay with a town centre identifiable as a boarded up, rubbish strewn cross roads.

We desperately need a local councillor with a strong vision to not just stop the rot but return the amenities and community we have lost.
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Posted 21st Jul 2010 by John

Wanted a cleaner Purley

Having read the various replies regarding the state of rubbish on the Purley town centre streets, and just passed the Bus stop opposite Tesco on the Godstone road, food boxes and six half eaten chicking wings on the pavement. I think it is now time for Croydon Council to replace the people the likes of Leedham and Piper with some one who is far more proactive than these gents, I guess their office is in Croydon and manage to visit Purley Once a week ?? or never.
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Posted 21st Jul 2010 by John J

General Questions

We voted this year for the return of our local councillors and we returned our MP Richard Ottaway Question What exactly do the do for Purley ????

Another question I am a great follower of the Purley Mail but how many people read it on the web ? and what is the current circulation. and as a local paper for Purley why are we not on the internet newspaper UK PAGE ??
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Posted 10th Jul 2010 by John

Three girls on a free night out in Purley

Friday night 9th July three girls two overweight one looking like a Barbi doll in pink and long silver hair enter a Purley restaurant and order a bottle of wine and a meal for the three of them. After the first course they leave to have a smoke out side leaving there hand bags on the seats return for the second course, at the end of this course repeat the same, we are going out for a smoke But this time take there hand bags and dissapear without paying.
One on the girls was on her mobile during the second course to someone asking where the car would be ??
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Posted 10th Jul 2010 by John

Welcome to Purley car parks

On Saturday I invited my young family who recently had a baby girl to lunch at a well known Spanish restaurant in the High street.
They parked their Land Rover in the multi-storey car park as they didn't wish to park in the higher level they parked in the two spaces under the down ramp from the floor above, only to find on their return a parking fine of sixty pounds for parking over the yellow line of the adjacent space, If you parked two cars together you would have some difficulty getting in and out of your car as their is a concrete wall either side. The car park had twenty cars parked it at the time, But I spoke to a car park ticket inspector who told me the fine is spelt out on the ticket machine, Yes it is in the small rules printed at the bottom of the machine Q WHO READS THE SMALL PRINT WHEN PARKING YOUR CAR. I was also informed the Purley car park takes more in fines than any other in the borough. Welcome to Purley
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Posted 9th Jul 2010 by Toby Keynes

Peter Morgan, Coulsdon Roads and Traffic Analyst

"Coulsdon Roads and Traffic Analyst" - gosh, Peter, that sounds very official and impressive. What does it mean?
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Posted 4th Jul 2010 by Peter Morgan, Coulsdon Roads & Traffic Analyst

TfL give Croydon £200,000 to investigate wasy to improve Purley Cross road layout

Q1 - What is their diagnosis of the problems? - what are they trying to solve?
Q2 - What kind of scale of scheme are they considering?
A1 - Some simple ways forward are suggested in the Purley Mail story, part of which I repeat below.
A2 - Make the traffic signals along the Brighton Road work together better.
A3 - Widen the Godstone Road, using another of the railway bridge arches.
A4 - Do not spend time trying to remove the gyratory, as it is needed and works well.
A5 - Remove the northbound bus lane near Purley Knoll.
A6 - Make the traffic signals at Old Lodge Lane work better, letting more traffic flow through this junction, and reducing the need to cut through side roads.

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TfL give Council 200,000 POUNDS to INVESTIGATE possible ROAD IMPROVEMENTS at PURLEY CROSS

TfL has given Croydon Council 200,000 pounds to employonsultants to investigate possible ways to improve traffic flow at the junction of the A23 and A22 in Purley.

Cllr Steve O’Connell said that result may be to simply leave things as they are.

Over the last five years four road transport consultants have studied how changes could be made to the Purley gyratory system.

One suggestion that was part of a Tesco enlargement scheme was for a crossroad system to be introduced. Tesco was to part fund the changes, but withdrew from the scheme. Consultants were later appointed and put forward another scheme incorporating crossroads, but this failed to obtain funding from TfL and the Ministry of Transport as it was deemed to have unproven benefits in traffic flow.

The bus lane TfL had installed at Old Lodge Lane was unnecessary and slowed traffic exiting the gyratory, and that the bus stand currently in the new town square area should be removed.

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Posted 3rd Jul 2010 by John Jordan

Purley town centre a major clean up is needed

SATURDAY 3RD July 2010 :1400 I took a walk along and around Purley town centre the street are filthy littered with paper,cans and takeaway empty boxes, cigarettes ends bottles the pavements and alley-ways and disgusting and in one food is being eaten. All the pavements need a major water high pressure washing down. But who is monitoring and responsible for this mess,Is it the town manager? the shop owners ? the local council or do the public need a reminder about litter dropping. Someone need to take charge and soon, and some shop owners need to be encouraged to clean up there shop fronts, likewise empty shop should tidy up there shop fronts as well. Forget about fixing the pavements and roads sort out this disgusting mess first . If a cleaning company does this work the contract should be terminated now.
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Posted 2nd Jul 2010 by Ken

Filthy Purley

have just sent this email to Purley councillors:

I am not usually inclined to complain but the appalling state of Purley Town Centre rather forces my hand. I visited Purley three times recently and this was my experience:

Friday 25 June 10pm - The Brighton Road area, and link to High Street was litter strewn and filthy. Having just been to Wallington and Carshalton centres, both of which were clean, I found the contrast very obvious.

Saturday 26 June 6.15 pm - I arrived at the station and walked through to catch the 466. The passage from the station to High street was filthy, similarly High Street and Brighton Road. I had just visited Erith and Crayford centres (my wife and I are walking the London Loop), neither of which had any litter at all.

Tuesday 29 June 11.00 pm - Same route from the station, and even worse regards litter, cigarette butts, etc.. I also noticed the filthy state of the bus shelter itself, for the 466, in Brighton Road. Again, the contrast with the clean West End, where I had just been to the theatre, was so obvious.

The talk about Croydon Enterprise regenerating Purley is quite farcical. Its not millions of pounds that is needed, rather more a keen eye for litter. I also failed to find any contact for Amber Rusk, so that I could complain to her.

The shopkeepers could do more but I suspect that it is Croydon Council at fault. Either the cleansing contract is failing, or Croydon Council have created such a poor specification, to hold down costs, that they accept poor standards.

Having just completed 150 miles walking around London, I want to make two points based on contrasting the various parts of London. The first is that Purley is easily the filthiest town centre I have visited over that entire route. Secondly, the local buses, in particular the 466, is by far the dirtiest bus service I have used. These are two of the issues that give Croydon such a poor image.

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Posted 2nd Jul 2010 by M Boniface

Purley Parking

As some one who actually uses the car park each day for commuting to London, I appreciate the fact that the exit is in the High Street, it saves me at least 5 minutes of queuing to get down the road to go around the block again towards Croydon at the end of the day as the traffic towards the Godstone Road side is always stacked back to the Train station car park. If the entrances were reversed it would otherwise be quite a steep incline to drive up. It does not really matter which way round the exit is, people do not like multi storey car parks. Even the Train station car park only has one entrance, which means if someone is coming in and you are exiting, you have to wait for each other. Also for some reason pedestrians always seem to use the driving in and exit for walking in and out rather than walking through the alley way, which surely must be nicer now that the new building block is completed.


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Posted 2nd Jul 2010 by Elsie

Any Summer Flower Installations this Year.

Is Purley to have any of the summer flower installations that so improved the town last year?
Their cost-effectiveness was extremely good and should be repeated.
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Posted 2nd Jul 2010 by Don Ratledge

Purley Cross

So TfL has given Croydon Council £200,000 to fund yet more consultants to consider what should be done about Purley Cross. What a monumental waste of money!
It is glaringly obvious what the cheap(er) solution is to Purley Cross. Widen the railway bridge in Godstone Road, so that traffic can get out of the centre and create an additional eastbound lane east of the bridge so traffic turning right into Higher Drive does not impede the traffic flow. And while they are at it, take a small portion of the Baptist Church's site to widen the approach to Brighton Road from Russell Hill . This junction is simply not capable of accommodating three lane, given the weight of heavy traffic.
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Posted 2nd Jul 2010 by David

Disgusting Purley

Email just sent to croydon councilors:
Dear Sirs/Madam,

As a Purley resident for over 30 years, I am horrified by it's current disgusting state. I can say that I have never in my life seen Purley (or any other town) so dirty and for this reason I felt obliged to write to your good selves today, in the hope that something can be done about this awful situation.
I walk through the town centre at least twice a day, to and from the station and each time I am greeted by vast quantities of discarded litter. Areas of particular note, are around KFC/recycling bins (the proposed new town square) and the alleyways that lead from the high street to the station approach, not to mention the area at the front of Tescos.

The other point I must draw to your attention is the pigeon and rodent infestation that currently exists in the town. There are honestly hundreds of pigeons nesting around the recycling bin area (some of which are on my roof terrace) and obviously their droppings are not helping with the overall cleanliness of the town. I myself have witnessed members of the public feeding them and I believe we may have a serial pigeon feeder on our hands. Can I suggest that a sign is put up to deter these people?

Please can you do all in your power to help clean up Purley's act. This town means a lot to me and I would be incredibly happy to witness it's rejuvenation following the imminent council funding. However, if we really want the people to invest in Purley and the public to start regularly visiting the town, something must be done about it's cleanliness.

I look forward to you response.

Yours sincerely.

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Posted 27th Jun 2010 by JEAN HAIN

PURLEY UNITED REFORMED CHURCH CHOIR- Coffee Morning - 5th June 2010 in aid of St. Christhoper's Hospice

Thank you to all those who came to our Coffee Morning which was such a success. It was a lovely sunny day and visitors enjoyed coffee and cookies in our welcoming lounge. We hope our supporters enjoyed the cakes they bought and that the plants they took home are doing well.
The plant stall was particularly successful and raised £235 of the grand total of £409.
We plan to hold a similar event next year and we hope you will be there.
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Posted 25th Jun 2010 by Michael

PURLEY IMPROVEMENTS

The project is overbudgeted! I say that because holes will be made to confirm that gas and electric are as per plans, which are in the nature of being indicative only, before the few new trees are planted. Somebody like Tarsem Flora or the people at BOURNE SOCIETY may have better information to free up project money. None of the underspend, if any, can be retained for maintenance so the money will be spent because it has to be spent. I have suggested that one of the spare wheelie bins could be used by Tesco Purley for carpark food waste. I HAVE SEEN RATS JUMP INTO THE GROCERY TROLLEYS USED TO STORE WASTE BAGS FOR COUNCIL COLLECTION ATTRACTED BY THE SMELL OF "dinner darling" SMELLS! I have contacted the store by the FEEDBACK route without success. Michael Howells, M. 07974 908 768.
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Posted 24th Jun 2010 by Eddy

BRICKS ON HIGH STREET ROADWAY NOT A GOOD USE OF FUNDING

The decision of the Council planners to give Purley a town square and renew the High Street pavements and add more trees is admirable, but the decision to spend probably half of the towns improvement budget on ripping up the High Street roadway and replacing it with bricks is lamentable.
The cost to rip up this roadway will probably us up a million pounds of the budget.
The High Street is a busy traffic road used by hundreds of cars and buses, with dozens of on-street parking spaces. Bricks are expensive and with heavy traffic use are not good in the long-term (visit Chichester to see some of theirs).
The money could have been much better spent on a variety of other improvements, including new pavements and a few trees in our major shopping areas of Brighton Road and Russell Hill.
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Posted 18th Jun 2010 by Pauline Hardy

PUBLIC SPEAKING CLUB

I am a member of SPEAKERS OF CROYDON, part of Toastmasters International.I attend the club in Cornerstone House, 14 Willis road, Croydon (just off whitehorse Lane).
It is a great club and gives everyone the opportunity to improve their speaking skills whilst socialising with a large cross section of people.It has a very relaxed, fun atmosphere with all members being very supportive as well as giving relevant criticism to speeches.
If you are shy and would like more confidence or wish to improve your promotion chances at work, Speakers of Croydon would be ideal for you. We meet on alternate Tuesdays, usually the 1st and 3rd in the month unless there are 5 weeks. Next meeting is Tuesday June 29th at 7.30pm.Please contact me at my e mail address (pollyanna32@gmail.com) if you would like further details.
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Posted 11th Jun 2010 by N Jegham

Purley Vale "the alternative car park for Purley station users"

Purley Vale, the busiest single road in town. Parking is becoming a nightmare; it's used by Godstone road neighbour (I have nothing againt that), but also used by train users commuters who can't be bothored buying a station car park ticket. I am finding it extremely difficult to park my own car and i'd rather pay for a permit, than drive for miles to find space somewhere remote, particularly as we use the car for school run. Can the council impose a parking restriction or a parking permit, to resolve this?
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Posted 8th Jun 2010 by Jenny Flanagan

Lorry Ban Whytecliffe Road South

Cllr David Osland represents Coulsdon West. Perhaps the ban should in fact refer to Plough Lane, Foxley Lane and Woodcote Valley Road which seems to be the preferred route for convoys of HGVs speeding their way to Smitham Bottom Road.
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Posted 7th Jun 2010 by Graham Norman

Permission for street events

I represent a small Church in Purley. Does anyone know who we need to approach for permission to hold street events in Purley?
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Posted 6th Jun 2010 by George Sutherland

Can one forbid the cancellation of a non-street drinking ban prohibition reversal?

Nice to see a really creative approach to making sure we use up this season's budget so that we can ask for more next year.
But it would be easier to make a judgement on this serious issue if one could work out what is meant by a "non-street drinking ban". Would such a restriction apply only to non-streets? Would it mean a 24-hour uninhibited drinking orgy in fully-accredited streets within the meaning of the act? Would this be compulsory, or would registered abstainers be allotted a small sector where they could legally indulge in non-drinking?
These are deep issues. Perhaps it would be wiser to leave the place alone for a bit - say until Tesco comes up with its next bright idea, say for a multi-story safari park including Formula One racing circuit, surmounted by adequate affordable high-rise accommodation to house a population big enough to ensure the success of the wild-life holiday scheme.
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Posted 5th Jun 2010 by John

Bollards!

£14,000 for a set of 7 Bollards..............Bollards to that idea and lets not waste the money on new signs either.
If you dont know where you are and where you want to go then your carers are still out looking for you.
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