A SOUTH Norwood Tourist Board (SNTB) member has shed more light on plans for a referendum, asking if the area's residents would like to be part of Scotland instead of Croydon.
Associates of the SNTB have asked residents to vote on September 11 – at polling stations around South Norwood a week prior to the Scottish independence vote – on whether the area should go tartan.
Voters will also be asked if they want the area to break away from Croydon entirely and if it should become the People's Republic of South Norwood.
It is not thought Croydon Council is prepared to sanction the plans but the Advertiser understands the SNTB does not really care either way.
Ian Bone, SNTB associate, has also extended an invitation invite to Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond to visit come down and secure vital votes in the build-up to the referendum. Mr Bone said the poll was all part of a bid to return to "the politics of the 50s".
He added: "We want people shouting about politics on street corners and a return to the rumbustious politics of the past. We are instigating the debate; we don't have a particular opinion as a group."
But when asked what his personal view of the Scottish Independence vote was, Mr Bone, the former editor of anarchist magazine Class War, said: "Oh yeah, I'd like to see them get independence. Anything to stick it to the Tories."
The count is set to take place at McStanley Halls, with a reception afterwards at Haggis Academy South Norwood.
There will be two polling stations on the day, one on the Woodside end of South Norwood and the other near the high street.
"We're also lowering the voting age to 16, so we're pretty confident we can beat the turnout in the local elections," Mr Bone added. Thirty-three per cent? No problem," Mr Bone added.
SE25 has almost no links to Scotland, save for Crystal Palace legends Jim Cannon and Dougie Freedman, as well as former Woodside councillor Karen Jewitt.
Mr Bone thinks the union could work in South Norwood's favour – although some Scots fear it could instigate a South Norwood equivalent to the West Lothian question.
The SNTB previously launched a bid to have South Norwood recognised as a second Lake District and also started a festival celebrating the life of Pickles, the dog who found the 1966 World Cup in a bush in Beulah Hill.
South Norwood is at least 350 miles away from the English-Scottish border.
Are you a Scottish person living in South Norwood? Please contact newsdesk@croydonadvertiser.co.uk
