MEMENTOES of two Croydon brothers cut down in their prime at the Somme during the First World War have emerged at a Cambridgeshire auction house.

The medals, photographs and documents – which are set to be sold on Tuesday – offer a unique insight into a well-to do family of the time.

Henry, known as Harry, and Maurice were the sons of doctor Henry Heywood, from Castlemaine Avenue, South Croydon. They were killed – along with tens of thousands of others – during the campaign, which lasted from July to November.

The lot is being sold for a descendent at Rowley's Fine Art Auctioneers in Newmarket, whose senior valuer William Axon said: "The Heyward medals are not particularly rare but the photographs and documents that accompany them have really brought both boys back to life. It has been very moving to read this archive material.

"Many parents lost their sons during the Battle of the Somme but it is fascinating to get a personal insight into how these deaths impacted on the families of these young men and how they faced mortality themselves."

Harry and Maurice had finished degrees at University in Durham and London and both had hoped to be ordained.

Maurice, the younger, had finished studying at Kings College London in 1913 when he decided to sign up with the university's Officer Training Corps. He later joined the Dorset Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant (acting Captain) but was killed in action on July 20, 1916, in the Somme region of France, while rescuing a fellow wounded officer.

His commanding officer paid tribute to him in The Times the next month, saying "his bravery and coolness were simply wonderful and all the more do we deplore his loss as he was such a favourite with us all and the men loved him dearly and trusted him throughout everything." In a letter of condolence to Mrs Heyward, Major Rowland Acton describes how he had "formed a very high opinion of [Maurice's] character both as a man and officer... He was a man we could ill afford to lose".

Harry was killed four months later on October 10, aged 27. Like Maurice, he had joined the Army immediately after university but served with the Durham Light Infantry. Perhaps because of his younger brother's untimely death he had the forethought to write a brief will in which he makes a number of touching references to his family and predicts his own death.

In a note to two of his siblings he pleads with them to resolve a long standing quarrel, stating: "To my sisters Winnie and Nellie I leave my appreciation of their respect and love with which they have always treated me and the earnest request from one who has offered his life for all they hold dear that they examine the origins of their bitter quarrel and see how slight are the causes and how great the price for so costly a difference."

He bequeathes some of his books to his old school, Farnham Grammar, and then adds: 'To my mother my silver teapot and all photographs, letters and diaries. To my father my sword on which my lips have sealed loyalty to God and England..."

Sadly for Mr and Mrs Heyward, Maurice and Harry's deaths were followed by the death of another son, also in his twenties, in September 1926.

Ronald Heyward had been ordained, fulfilling his older brothers' favoured vocations, and was working as a young priest at St Peter's Parish Church when he was struck down by a short illness at the age of 28. In October, a local parish entry describes how Dr Heyward followed a banner, commemorating the death of this three boys in a solemn procession through the church, the author adding how the congregation remembered "those three splendid sons whose lives were short but frutiful indeed".

Mr Axon added: "We know that the Heywards had at least three daughters and two other sons, Frank and Arthur. We don't know what happened to them all, but Arthur did have children of his own when Henry and Maurice were alive, and this must have been some comfort to Dr Heyward and his wife."

PARENTS' hopes of defeating plans to incorporate their children's school into the Harris Federation have been dashed, with the academy chain poised to seal the deal.

Following talks last week, the Department for Education (DfE) and Harris will thrash out a budget for running Roke Primary within the next two months, the Advertiser understands, after which the planned transformation will be "set in stone".

Meanwhile parents of the Kenley school's pupils will receive brochures, a questionnaire and invitation to one of three meetings as part of a "consultation process".

However, an appeal remains lodged with the DfE from the school's governing body, and a petition with about 300 signatures has been raised protesting that Harris is being "forced" on families against their will.

A school source said: "This thing is more information rather than a consultation. The parents are not going to stand a chance unless the DfE changes its mind about Harris. Once the budget is signed that's it, it's set in stone."

Becky Carrier, 31, who launched the Save Roke campaign, said the group will continue to protest due to their belief that Roke would be better off in the hands of Riddlesdown Collegiate, whose work with the primary led to an upbeat Ofsted report last month.

Becky, whose daughter attends Roke, said: "We still feel as if we are being told rather than being consulted. They might ask us what colour uniform we want or things like that, but they are not asking us if we want Harris or not, which is the crucial question, because a lot of people don't.

"We're not a failing school, we had one bad Ofsted report and now that's changed."

The Ofsted report following last month's inspection found that, since a damning report last summer, the quality of teaching has now "improved steadily", the school is making "satisfactory" progress in addressing the issues for improvement, and that teachers are starting to provide greater challenges for pupils.

Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway said the improvements showed Riddlesdown should be made the sponsor for Roke instead of Harris. He has written to Education Secretary Michael Gove calling for the DfE to reverse its Harris preference, and has vowed to continue lobbying Mr Gove.

He said: "My position on Roke remains the same. In my view, an outstanding local school that has already forged close links with its primary feeder should be allowed to be its sponsor. That is why I am supporting Riddlesdown."

At the meeting between the DfE, Harris and Roke's governing body last week, it was revealed the budget is to be agreed within two months, which is when Harris's running Roke from September will become official.

A DfE spokesman had not responded by the time the Advertiser went to press.

PLANS for a new Community Sports Ground at Streatham-Croydon Rugby Club in Thornton Heath will become reality in March with a boost to funds of a £90,000 grant from the Rugby Football Union's Capital Investment Programme.

The latest grant will ensure that work can begin on the development of the club's dilapidated changing rooms and stand at the end of March and will be completed in time for the new season starting in September.

Streatham-Croydon's success in earning funding for the project has come from displaying a commitment to working with the local community and increasing the number of people playing rugby across all age groups and genders.

The club is open to schools, charities and community groups which can use the pitches for games. It has a growing women's section and numbers at mini and junior levels have increased from 30 to 110 in two years.

Success off the pitch has been reflected on the pitch with the men's first-team gaining successive promotions over the last two years and they currently lie a healthy fourth in a very competitive Surrey Two league.

Total funding for this first phase of the project totals £270,000 and will centre on the club's current changing rooms and stand.

Phase two will start with work to develop the old squash courts into more changing facilities and in phase three the Victorian clubhouse will receive a much-needed overhaul to provide more community facilities.

Grants from Sita Waste (£60,000), the Mayor's Legacy Fund (£70,000) and Sport England (£50,000) have given the club the funds they need for the project to go ahead. Jeff Greenleaf, the club's head coach and the driving force behind the development plans, highlighted the contribution of Steve O'Connell to winning £70,000 from the Mayor's Legacy Fund, one of the biggest grants to be given from the fund.

"Steve has been very supportive of the project and knows the importance of the development to the local community," said Greenleaf. "We've worked very hard to recruit new players and it is obvious to anyone that the facilities needed to improve if we are going to keep players, develop them and keep growing. Boris Johnson has also visited the club when we hosted the School of Hard Knocks, helping unemployed people get fit, get into rugby and get jobs, so he has seen the benefit of rugby and what it can give back to the local community."

And the club has also worked in partnership with the Croydon Sport for Social Change Network in gaining the funding for the development.

"Rob Hardy and Brian Dickens of the SSCN have been key in proving that our work with the community is a long-term aim and that the facilities will benefit the community as a whole," added Greenleaf.

"Streatham-Croydon was once one of the biggest clubs in the country; the talent that lies untapped in the local community can help it return to the London leagues at least."

Rick Bruin, the RFU's area facilities manager, said: "Streatham-Croydon is a prime example of a thriving community rugby club, whose playing and coaching numbers had outstripped their existing facilities.

"There is a direct relationship between quality of facilities and participation levels. Improving the quality of facilities for rugby makes it more likely that people will participate and stay involved in the game."

Having battled since 2010 for information, they hoped it would answer some of the questions that have plagued them for nearly two and a half years.

But "further material" obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) within the past few weeks has postponed Olaseni's inquest for a second time – something the family's lawyer suggests could be a delaying tactic for the authorities to "cover" themselves.

Olaseni, 23, a successful IT graduate from Kingston University, was pinned face down on the floor by 11 police officers for 40 minutes in a hospital seclusion room, never to regain consciousness, despite having no history of mental or physical illness.

Earlier that day, he had visited Croydon University Hospital with his family to seek professional help after he had begun behaving strangely, alternating between "calm and agitated phases".

The hospital then sent him for observation in a "section 136 suite" at Maudsley Hospital, a psychiatric facility in south London, where it was decided he required a few days for assessment, treatment and rest.

However, due to his South Norwood address, he was transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham, where he admitted himself voluntarily.

Having helped him settle for the night, his father and mother, Conrad and Ajibola, and his best friend, Omari Faria, left him to fall asleep at about 8pm.

But less than four hours later, he was on his death bed wired to a life support machine after being restrained by police.

Ajibola, 63, recalled the moment she left her son at Bethlem for the night on August 31, 2010. She said: "He was fine. He was saying, 'should I have a bath or get to sleep?' He was talking about what he might eat and then he said he would go to sleep. He was just fine when we left him.

"I wanted to sleep in the car park of the hospital that night, in the car, because I couldn't bear to leave him, but my family convinced me to come home."

But around two hours later, she received a phone call from Omari, telling her of an "incident".

She said: "I came home to bed and Omari calls to say, 'have the hospital been in touch? There has been an incident'.

"So I phoned up about 10pm and they said that I should go to Mayday [Croydon University Hospital] where he has been taken.

"So we got to Mayday about midnight and they were stabilising him and then he was put on life support."

Four days later, brain stem death – caused after oxygen to the brain is obstructed – was confirmed and his life support machine switched off.

But nearly two and a half years later, not one of the 11 officers has been interviewed under caution, which is the procedure that should take place if there is a "possibility" any crime or wrong-doing took place.

Meanwhile, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which conducted the investigation into the police, has offered the family no explanations, while both the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the CPS have provided little information.

The family's lawyer Raju Bhatt, who specialises in neglect of police duty and was appointed to the Hillsborough disaster panel by the Home Office, said officers should "no doubt" have been interviewed under caution and branded the IPCC probe "fundamentally flawed".

He said: "What we know is, there was a very long restraint in the face-down position and we know that the post mortem has revealed the restraint to be at the heart of the mechanism leading to the death.

"It doesn't take a super detective to see that there may be issues to consider here.

"There is failure that is a shocking abdication of responsibility. We are placing the burden on this family to raise questions we should be raising on their behalf through the CPS and IPCC."

Mr Bhatt also does not believe any police officers will be prosecuted and suggested the continual postponement of Olaseni's inquest is a delaying tactic.

He added: "Time is of the essence in terms of the investigation. Investigative manuals talk about the golden hours.

"In these first few hours the evidence is there and with every hour, let alone every week, month, year, the evidence is dissipated. It is inconceivable they would take this long if they were going to prosecute.

"When you see a performance like this from the authorities, you are left with no option to conclude that what you're seeing is an exercise explaining away what has happened."

Although accounts are scant, the family understands that Olaseni, who had become restless, was restrained three times – once by hospital staff and twice by police after being called by nurses.

Bethlem Hospital protocol states police are only to be called in "exceptional" circumstances, but the hospital has refused to say whether there was anything exceptional in Olaseni's case.

The family said the hospital told them police handcuffed the 23-year-old and led him down some stairs to a seclusion room where he was held, face down on the floor, by 11 officers for at least 40 minutes in two struggles.

He was then said to have been left on his own in the room where he lay motionless before being taken to Croydon University Hospital.

Ajibola, a former lawyer, said: "We are devastated, disappointed and completely disillusioned by the whole thing.

"We want police to be held to account and a thorough, transparent investigation with the police questioned under caution.

"You feel as if you're victimised over and over again. You're a victim already, but you're being victimised again by an investigation that hasn't been adequate and by the constant delaying."

Conrad, an IT consultant, said he was concerned the police were investigating themselves, adding: "Here we have one of the highest bodies [IPCC] that is to be respected and should be responsible but they have not fought for our purpose.

"I have sleepless nights. This is what we go through with the delay of the IPCC and the CPS.

"We feel torn to pieces by the whole thing, the handling of the issue and the loss of our son. We just want justice. We can't put closure to it until we get that.

"I'm not looking for revenge, I'm just looking for justice. There is no compensation enough for the death of my son, but what I would like is to see things being done properly, so no other family has to suffer the same fight we are going through.

"Regardless of what he did, he didn't deserve to die."

EXTENDING Croydon's tram network will depend on proving the economic benefits of any schemes, Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said.

The mayor was responding to an open letter from Richard Plant, chairman of the Develop Croydon Forum, who called for the extension to Crystal Palace to be funded in the latest Transport for London (TfL) Business Plan.

The plan does include proposals to enhance existing services to Wimbledon, but fails to give any firm commitment to extensions.

In his response to Mr Plant, the mayor wrote: "I am keen to see the extensions to the Tramlink network go ahead but, as you will appreciate, funding is the main obstacle to delivery given the many competing demands for funding which TfL is faced with.

"TfL is working closely with the London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Merton and Sutton to assess the potential economic benefits of these options in terms of their contribution to employment and economic growth and to examine the extent to which funding from future development could be available to fund these schemes.

"This work started in January and is due to be completed in June."

Mr Johnson added in his letter to Mr Plant that some short to medium-term enhancements to Tramlink had been included in the draft business plan.

He said: "£30million has been allocated to removing sections of single track, building an additional Tramlink platform at Wimbledon and the purchase of four new trams.

"These improvements will increase capacity and enhance reliability on one of the busiest sections of the Tramlink network, and will facilitate the extension of Line 4 services – Elmers End to Therapia Lane – to Wimbledon."

The Develop Croydon Forum is a group of businesses, partners, agencies and individuals which aim to collectively promote Croydon as a location to invest, work and live.

A SHIRLEY primary school is well on the way to gaining a "good" Ofsted rating, its head teacher said this week.

Orchard Way Primary was judged to be only "satisfactory" when inspectors visited in November last year.

Then, while agreeing pupils made expected progress and were well behaved, the inspectors ruled that the overall achievement of pupils and the quality of teaching and leadership and management needed to improve.

Now, following a first monitoring inspection, Ofsted has sent a letter to head teacher Elizabeth Blake approving steps taken to tackle the problems.

The letter says: "The school improvement plan has sensible priorities and addresses all the areas for improvement identified in the recent inspection.

"The plan includes appropriate actions and has sensible timescales and success criteria for judging progress."

Miss Blake said she had been told that there would be no further monitoring reports and that the next full inspection, to judge the school's progress, will be held in a year's time.

She added: "We are definitely on course to get a good Ofsted report then because the inspectors are happy with what we are doing."

HIS brand of cockney rock has been a favourite with music fans from London and beyond for half a century.

But few may realise that Chas Hodges, one half of Snooker Loopy duo Chas and Dave, credits Croydon for his big break into the world of music.

Chas is returning to Fairfield Halls in the spring – 50 years after the gig that kick-started his career, when he performed alongside the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis.

Recalling the concert, he told the Advertiser: "When people ask, 'what is the highlight of your career?' the first one that comes to mind was in 1963, when I was playing bass in The Outlaws and we toured as Jerry Lee Lewis' backing group.

"That was when I first started to play the piano. Jerry was my favourite rock 'n' roller, but that tour I really came on in leaps and bounds.

"The London gig was at Fairfield Halls and I have a photograph with Jerry on stage there. I remember Croydon was a great crowd.

"The first highlight of my career was there, so Fairfield Croydon was a big London gig. That was the highlight, and since then I got together with Dave, have toured with The Beatles, and never looked back.

"The performance with Jerry Lee Lewis was the most memorable and I know he loved my bass playing. It kicked off my future career."

From starting out in a school Skiffle group in the 1950s, to touring the world and playing alongside The Beatles, Chas has lived by the rock 'n' roll rulebook.

Speaking of his early days, he said: "You could start one [a Skiffle band] with no money. It was a great way to get started. Eric Clapton and a lot of people started off as Skiffle groups. A couple of guitars, a washboard with string or whatever, and a tea chest.

"We've seen a few things, wild drunken parties, but we kept away from it. We liked a pint, me and Dave, but we didn't chuck no tellies out of the window or anything."

In a career spanning 40 years, Chas and Dave are one of Britain's longest-running and best-loved rock acts after breaking onto the music scene as a duo in 1972.

And the Spurs-supporting pair, who have sold millions of albums while becoming famous for their East End charm, continue to wow younger audiences at festivals, having played to thousands at Glastonbury in 2005 and 2007 and rocking Bestival in 2012.

So what's the secret to their longevity?

Chas said: "You look at the X Factor; they aren't going to last long.

"My first professional gig was in 1960 and I've been going since then. If you can't play and you're doing it for the wrong reasons, you're not going to last.

"I've had no aspiration of being famous or being spotted. Just playing and enjoying it, that's enough for me. The ambition has always been to play and enjoy it.

"My mum was a piano player and she used to perform in front of people, so it's in my blood. I just love doing what I'm doing."

Not to long ago old town crodon residents were asked to attend a local meeting to discuss the proposed master plan for their area. After being assured that their views would be seriously considered it is with regret that a updated masterplan from spatial planning the company givne the responsibilty of the implementation of the masterplan clearly states that the surrounding residental areas will not be included in the masterplan:

"Part of the Old Town Masterplan project will involve the production of Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Plans for the 3 Conservation Areas that lie within Old Town area. It is expected that proposals made will be of a small scale and focused around the enhancement of the heritage assets of the area. Large scale redevelopment of existing residential areas will not be considered by the masterplan".

The key objectivs of the croydon old town masterplan were also outlined:

•

Old Town

•

•

regeneration plans

•

movement around the area

•

BUSES are being diverted in Croydon due to a road traffic collision.
The collision happened at Hilliers Lane, Croydon at 3pm today. The London Ambulance Service told the Advertiser there were no injuries.
Routes 455 and 463 are subject to delay and diversion in Hilliers Lane due to the accident.

BUSES are being diverted in Croydon due to a road traffic collision.
The collision happened at Hilliers Lane, Croydon at 3pm today. The London Ambulance Service told the Advertiser there were no injuries.
Routes 455 and 463 are subject to delay and diversion in Hilliers Lane due to the accident.

THESE alarming images show the dangers facing Croydon's under-threat lollipop men and women.

The pictures, taken from a video shot by a cyclist, show an impatient driver heading straight at oncoming traffic before mounting a kerb a few feet away from lollipop woman Linda Conn.

Mrs Conn patrols one of ten school crossings the council wants to axe, to save £60,000 a year. Over the past week her crossing, in Northcote Road, Selhurst, has been sandwiched between temporary traffic lights installed due to work to repair first one section of a gas main, then another. The build-up of traffic was so precarious the 56-year-old's manager told her she did not have to work – but she soldiered on "for the children".

On Wednesday, she was given a reminder of the risk she was taking – and the potential danger posed if the crossing is axed.

Dr Ashley Brown, 30, a software engineer from Addiscombe, was waiting at the crossing as he made his way to work at 8.30am when he caught the incident on a video camera mounted in his helmet.

He explained: "There was a lot of traffic coming from the other direction, but it wasn't clear who had right of way so I waited.

"Suddenly the car behind me darted out. The driver had clearly had enough. The car overtook me on a zebra crossing and then mounted the pavement.

"It wasn't as if we had been waiting for five minutes and nothing had moved. We had been there for 40 to 50 seconds, but that about sums up the usual standard of driving on that road. I was so horrified about what had happened I uploaded the video to YouTube when I got into work."

The Advertiser has launched a campaign, backed by pupils, parents and head teachers, to save the ten crossing patrols.

Dr Brown, who cycles to work three times a week, said the cuts make little sense. He said: "I try to avoid the school run down there as much as possible. The traffic is quite heavy and the drivers are very pushy.

"It doesn't make any sense to cut the crossing on a main road at a time when people are at their most impatient.

"Given the standard of driving, and that it's a main road, it's not sensible at all."

Mrs Conn, who has been a lollipop woman for nearly six years, said: "I was told I didn't have to work if I didn't want, which was thoughtful, but I wanted to come in for the children. I would feel awful if one of them was hurt because I wasn't there."

A council spokesman said an assessment had concluded a patrol was needed to "assist while the roadworks were in place".

TRINITY School pupil Mofe Wilkey has been selected for the U16 England training camp following a successful trial for the London & South East side and performance at a development camp last month.

The Year 11 student, who lives in Cheam, was very happy with his selection and paid tribute to the school for their guidance.

"I am really happy to have been chosen and my school has given me great coaching that has paid off," he said.

And Trinity's head of rugby, Aaron Liffchak, commented: "I am delighted that Mofe has been chosen. He is an enormously-talented player with huge potential."

Meanwhile, U16 London & South East chairman of selectors, David Turner, said: "We are delighted for Mofe. He played an important part in London's victory over the Midlands and thoroughly deserves his place in the England Development Squad."

Meanwhile, Trinity's Sophie Foreman won the Surrey Schools Cross-Country Championships in the senior girls' category held last Saturday at Reigate Priory.

And fellow pupil Peter Chambers came third in the senior boys' category.

Foreman completed the 4.5km course in 14 minutes and 20 seconds, and the Year 12 student will now be in a prime starting position in her next two big races next month at the UK Inter-County Championships and the English Schools Cross-Country Championships.

Forman, who lives in Woldingham and is part of Tonbridge Athletics Club, has won numerous competitions at local and regional level.

She has also represented England in the combined U20 and U17 McCain Cross-Country Challenge Series where she came first in the U17s.

THREE-quarters of Croydon could be deemed a no-go area for licensed premises as the council launches the biggest crackdown on alcohol in the UK.

A radical ban on booze could see 17 of 24 wards – including the entire north of the borough – designated as 'Cumulative Impact Zones' (CIZ).

The council will have the power to reject all licence applications – including amendments to existing agreements such as extending hours – unless the pub, club or shopkeeper can prove their business will not add to existing drink-related problems in the area.

While the crackdown covers all premises selling alcohol, serving food late at night or playing live music, Simon Hoar, cabinet member for community safety and public protection, said the new rules are aimed specifically at off-licences and convenience stores.

The zones, adopted on a smaller scale in cities such as Brighton and Nottingham, have been branded "anti-business" and difficult to justify when applied to larger areas.

The wards covered by the powers, contained within the draft licensing policy published this week, are Addiscombe, Ashburton; Bensham Manor; Broad Green; Croham; Fairfield; Fieldway; Purley; New Addington; Norbury; Selhurst; South Norwood; Thornton Heath; Upper Norwood; Waddon; West Thornton and Woodside.

The council said the decision as to which areas would be included in the crackdown was "mainly based on crime and disorder".

Though it was unable to provide specific reasons for any of the wards before the Advertiser went to press, Cllr Hoar said all the zones were "justified".

"We looked at each area individually," he said. "Some wards have high levels of crime and in others it was more about public health and people being taken to hospital with alcohol-related injuries or accidents.

"With each area we need to be able to justify that there's a good case for having a CIZ in that ward and I think we have done that."

Licence applications are currently automatically approved if the council receives no objections – and even if concerns are raised there is a legal presumption for them to be passed unless there are strong reasons not to.

Under the new plans uncontested applications would still be automatically passed but as soon as an objection was raised the pub, club or shopkeeper would face the difficult task of proving their business would not cause further problems in the area.

Cllr Hoar said each application would be treated on its merits and that the new powers were "not really about pubs and clubs".

"It's about the sheer number of applications from off-licences and convenience stores that sell alcohol," he added.

"At the moment the presumption is you have to give approval unless there is a strong reason why not."

Jeremy Frost, chairman of the Croydon branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Sooner or later the powers that be need to understand that businesses must be left alone.

"They need to be able to earn money and give people employment, not required to fill in forms and traverse endless amounts of red tape."

Croydon has the seventh highest binge drinking rate of any local authority in England. About 2,300 people attend Croydon University Hospital's A&E with alcohol-related injuries each year.

But when asked whether the borough had a problem with alcohol, and whether the zones were a recognition of this, Cllr Hoar said he "didn't know".

"There are always problems but has Croydon got a particular problem? It's probably just like any other town," he added.

Councils have the power to create Special Stress Areas (SSAs), where premises are closely monitored but the presumption is not to reject new or amended applications. Cllr Hoar was not aware of the measure but said it "sounded like a great idea".

Paul Smith, Labour's spokesman for crime and public protection, said the council needed to balance reducing disorder with the interests of businesses.

He said: "We absolutely need to address some of the excesses we have – particularly the availability of cheap alcohol – but there's a balance to be struck in terms of encouraging inward investment and creating jobs in the areas covered by the zones."

The amended licensing policy has been drawn up in consultation with NHS Croydon, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and the police.

Superintendent Rob Atkin said: "We're fully supportive of the council's decision to explore the use of cumulative impact zones in certain parts of the borough and we'll be working closely with the council and other partners during the consultation period."

The policy is out for public consultation, with April 22 being set as the deadline for comments.

ELDERLY residents in sheltered accommodation could find themselves sharing their buildings with homeless families under new plans to tackle the borough's housing crisis.

The council is exploring the possibility of converting empty units in some retirement housing schemes into temporary accommodation for homeless households.

Dudley Mead, the council's cabinet member for housing, confirmed that Beech House and neighbouring Cedar House, in Fieldway, were among the schemes being looked at, although nothing had been decided.

He said the uses would be separated, adding: "I am of the view that rather than [homeless families] being in a bed and breakfast actually having your own roof and own front door is better."

The number of homeless applications in Croydon increased by 35 per cent between 2009/10 and 2011/12, from 1680 to 2176, and is projected to rise further.

Jim Beer, who has lived in the 66-unit Cedar House for 30 years, said the prospect would likely meet with opposition from its residents.

The 78-year-old said: "The whole purpose of this building is for the elderly and we know that is why it is called sheltered housing.

"If the council goes down that road they will find a big fight on their hands."

A cabinet report last month said the option was among a range of measures intended to make a "significant contribution" to providing enough temporary accommodation.

MEASURES driven by Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway to crack down on metal theft and the desecration of war memorials become law at the end the month.

Mr Ottaway's Private Members' Scrap Metal Dealers' Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday and is now expected to get Royal Assent on February 28.

The Bill proposes a wholescale reform of the £5.6bn scrap metal industry and is aimed at controlling rogue dealers who are the main outlet for stolen metal.

Once the Bill becomes law, all scrap metal dealers will go through a tougher process before being granted a local authority licence.

In addition, all sellers of metal must provide verifiable ID at the point of sale; no cash deals will be allowed and police will have the power by court order to close unlicensed premises.

The worst breaches of the law, including trading in cash, failing to keep accurate records of deals and unlicensed trading, will face unlimited fines.

Mr Ottaway said: "Today marks a significant victory for communities throughout the country.

"For too long they have provided rich feeding grounds for opportunistic thieves who know they can get rid of stolen metals at rogue or negligent scrap yards.

"Metal theft is no petty crime. It hits at the heart of our daily lives – grinding trains to a halt, cutting off power supplies to hospitals and other lifelines, stripping roofs off churches and schools at huge public expense."

He added: "Even more sickening are the attacks on our crematoriums and war memorials commemorating the nation's war dead.

"It is particularly fitting therefore that this Bill will be made law this year, in time for the centenary of the First World War."