South Norwood Regeneration Programme Newsletter - September 2021 by We Love SE25

CONTENTS Recovery and Relaunch P.3 High Streets Improvement Grant Scheme P.4 South Norwood Business Support Programme P.5 Partnering with South Norwood Business Network P.6 Growing the Clock Tower Market P.6 Transforming our Community Spaces P.7 Reimagining South Norwood’s Public Spaces P.9 Refreshing the South Norwood Conservation Area Plans P.10 Strengthening the Community Network P.11 High Streets HAZ Community Engagement P.13 High Streets HAZ Cultural Programme P. 14 Our Funders P. 15 The Focus Area P.16 Contact Details P.17

RECOVERY AND RELAUNCH As we emerge from the rollercoaster of the last 18 months, the restart of our high streets regeneration programme is perfectly timed. Funded by the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and Historic England’s High Streets Heritage Action Zone, the programme aims to deliver improvements to buildings and public spaces, to support local businesses as they reopen and adapt to high street life post-lockdown, and to strengthen the community infrastructure.

HIGH STREETS IMPROVEMENT GRANT SCHEME The South Norwood High Street Improvement Grant Scheme is funded by

applicants will work with our team of design experts and contractors to

the Good Growth Fund and High Street Heritage Action Zone programmes.

secure planning permission and deliver the works.

Improving shops, re-activating empty units, and restoring heritage shopfronts and building facades, the grant scheme will help support stable local businesses, a

The closing date for applications is the end of October, and whilst there may be future rounds, early applications are encouraged.

more attractive and usable high street and deliver long term improvements to the economic and social life of South Norwood.

Eligibility criteria applies, and business and building owners must commit to conditions which will

Funding is available for properties in the High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) boundary area which takes in Station Road, Selhurst Road from the Clock Tower to Samuel Coleridge Taylor Centre, High Street from the Clock Tower to Goathouse Bridge, South Norwood Hill to Stanley Arts and Portland Road from the junction with High Street to the junction with Coventry Road (see map on page XX). Our team will be supporting businesses and building owners to submit applications, and successful

safeguard the investments and protect restored heritage features into the future. For further information, please contact the South Norwood Regeneration team, SouthNorwoodRegen@croydon.gov .uk

SOUTH NORWOOD BUSINESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME We’ve partnered with South Norwood Business Network to launch a business support programme to respond to the needs of our high street businesses and budding entrepreneurs. The programme is funded by the Good Growth Programme and covers business plan writing, how to attract more customers, the basics of starting your own enterprise and more. Although the programme will end in March 2022, we are looking at ways that businesses can continue to benefit from the support beyond the life of the programme. For instance, we are offering social media and marketing training to help businesses make the most of the recently launched Love South Norwood app, which connects businesses with local residents.

WHAT'S ON

13 OCT

Social Media & Digital Sales for Creatives 11.30 - 5PM | Stanley Arts, South Norwood Hill Are you a creative business in South Norwood? Join East Croydon Cool, 31% Wool and BetterShared for a series of workshops running throughout the day on how to market and sell your business online.

COMING SOON

Fundraising and Producing your Creative Projects Stanley Arts, South Norwood Hill Learn how to identify and access funding for your creative business in our special masterclass with Claire Cunningham, founder of Agudo Dance Company.

The South Norwood Business Support Programme is a partnership between the Croydon Council and the South Norwood Business Network

PARTNERING WITH THE SOUTH NORWOOD BUSINESS NETWORK The South Norwood Business Network are a local business network committed to uniting the business community and creating an optimal environment for business growth. We are working closely with the network to increase their membership and supporting their work with We Love SE25 on Shop Local initiatives. Many of us have rediscovered our local parades and relied them through successive lockdowns last year. We are supporting the Network to create initiatives to maintain our connections with the amazing variety of goods and services available on our doorstep.

Scan to join the South Norwood Business Network Facebook Group

GROWING THE CLOCK TOWER MARKET

The Clock Tower Market celebrated its 5th birthday during lockdown, a huge achievement for an entirely volunteerled community initiative. The Market is now an important monthly event in the community calendar, boosting activity on the high streets as a result. Since its creation, it has been the launch-pad for local businesses, some of whom have gone on to open retail units in the area.

The 2020 Christmas market was expanded with the help of Good Growth funding for new gazebos and tables. We will continue to develop the market’s potential to support new businesses and are currently working with the Market Committee to develop their long-term sustainability. We are also helping them explore ways to continue the expansion of the market and ways to strengthen their volunteer support network.

TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITY SPACES South Norwood is home to a number of key community hubs. We are working with Socco Cheta Community Hub CIC, Stanley Arts and CYTO on projects to improve their buildings and increase their offer to the community.

1 SOCCO CHETA Works to refurbish Socco Cheta Community Hub on Portland Road begin in October. Socco Cheta was originally built as a cinema in 1921 and over the years has been a support centre during WWII, a youth club, and home to Croydon Domino Club since 1971. The Domino Club will return as part of a consortium of local organisations reopening the building as a community café and social hub. Other members of the consortium are South Norwood Community

Kitchen, The Associations of Jamaicans (UK) Trust, Croydon BME Forum and finally Screen25 who will bring cinema back to the building once more. The first phase of works are funded by the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and Green Fund, Croydon Council, London Marathon Charitable Trust and Croydon Almshouses. The consortium will take over early next year for phase two, to fit out and prepare for opening in 2022.

2 STANLEY ARTS Stanley Arts is a centre of creativity, workspace, social events and culture in a beautiful heritage building. It is a success story of community organising, and its role in South Norwood can’t be underplayed. Our programme is providing funding for two projects. The first is new co-working space which will be delivered as part of works beginning in January 2022. Stanley Arts activated previously underused space in the Halls in 2019 to trial a studio and office space for creative organisations.

Credit: Rebecca Pitt

The Good Growth funded co-working space will build on the current offer, delivering more flexible workspace, increasing the centre’s profile as a hub for creative enterprise. Further works planned in 2022 are funded by the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme and will focus on the South Norwood Hill frontage of the building. Both projects will be delivered as part of wider developments which Stanley Arts is delivering in a long term strategy to open up this iconic complex of buildings and build on the centre's growing profile as a leading cultural destination in South London.

3 THE CROYDON YOUTH THEATRE ORGANISATION CYTO’s Shoestring Theatre on Oakley Road is a hidden gem in South Norwood. We are currently working with CYTO as part of our community capacity programme before work begins on the physical changes to the building which will be funded by the Good Growth Programme.

REIMAGINING SOUTH NORWOOD’S PUBLIC SPACES

A community panel came together to help select the placemaking design team which will be working to deliver some of the ideas proposed in the 2018 Community Plan to improve the public realm of the high streets. We Love SE25, Reaching Higher and Croydon Domino Club joined the Regeneration Team and the GLA to review the submissions and interview three shortlisted teams. The successful team is led by CarverHaggard, who worked with We Love SE25 on the 2018 Community Plan and are the architects working with Socco Cheta Community Hub CIC to reopen their building on Portland Road. Other members of the team include Croydon artist collective Turf Projects who will be developing engagement for the project.

The team is currently developing their engagement plan which will begin in October. Sign up for the Regeneration Programme mailing list for further updates.

REFRESHING THE SOUTH NORWOOD CONSERVATION AREA PLANS As part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zone, we are refreshing South Norwood Conservation Area’s Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (CAAMP). This is a document which supplements the general planning guidance about a conservation area and helps to preserve or enhance the area’s special architectural or historic interest. The Appraisal defines the qualities that make the conservation area special as well as identifying threats to it. The Management Plan addresses issues raised in the Appraisal, provides advice on maintaining heritage buildings within the area and guidelines for potential developments. We Love SE25 helped select Place Services, the conservation specialists who are refreshing these documents. They began working in July, visiting the Croydon Archives, meeting with local historian John Hickman and joining us on the South Norwood Regeneration Programme stall at the Community Festival on 18th July. Following further conversations with local organisations involved in heritage projects in the area, the revised document has been drafted and is being prepared for statutory consultation in November and December this year. We’ll be sharing information on how you can get involved over the next few weeks. You’ll have the chance to read the draft documents, meet the Conservation team and try out the new heritage walk which will be produced to sit alongside the new CAAMP on our website.

Consultation at the Community Festival in July

STRENGTHENING THE COMMUNITY NETWORK At the heart of our programme is the work we are doing to develop the community network which has shaped the regeneration journey over many years and helped to secure our current funding. We are working with six organisations who contribute to community and business activities across the high streets, exploring how they work together currently, their strengths and ambitions, and how they might work together in future.

WE LOVE SE25 We Love SE25 sits at the heart of the community network, creating a meeting point for its membership organisations, which include community organisations, businesses, faith groups, schools, resident groups and local councillors.

SOUTH NORWOOD BUSINESS NETWORK & THE CLOCK TOWER MARKET The Business Network and Clock Tower Market represent the voice of the business community and develop initiatives to support both established traders and those just starting out. Both are community-led and grew from a desire amongst the business community and local residents to support a more vibrant local high street offer.

SOUTH NORWOOD NET South Norwood Net is an important local connector within the community. With an active online and print presence, it serves as an advertising platform for many local business and events and a directory of community organisations. Alongside its regular activities, it organises the annual week-long South Norwood Community Festival, a free, volunteer-organised festival which culminates in an all-day event in South Norwood Recreation Ground. With an extensive online following and strong local connections, South Norwood Net is the natural platform for communicating with the community.

THE CROYDON YOUTH THEATRE ORGANISATION The Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation (CYTO) is located in the Shoestring Theatre on Oakley Road, where it has worked with young people to develop self-confidence and theatre skills for over 40 years. They hold classes and stage dramatic productions which give a first taste of the arts to many young people and build confidence and social skills. Studio spaces are also available for hire. Credit: Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation

ALL HEADS RECOGNIZED All Heads Recognized is a social enterprise specialising in education, training and development for all ages based in a unit on Portland Road. Their key programme is ‘Ready to Work’ construction skills for 18-24 year olds, including work experience on partner Willmott Dixon sites. As an organisation, their priority is to work with young adults who have left school without skills and qualifications.

HIGH STREETS HAZ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT An important part of Historic England’s ambition for the High Street Heritage Action Zones is to translate South Norwood’s love of its heritage into an active role in preserving and protecting it for future generations. By creating ways to engage with, learn about and participate in the various projects taking place, we are developing the understanding of how heritage contributes to South Norwood’s identity and economic health. To date, participation has centred around the community panels who have helped select the specialist teams we are working with on the community network, placemaking and CAAMP refresh projects. We have also involved local historians and organisations who are already involved in promoting heritage in the preparation of the initial draft of the CAAMP documents. We will soon be announcing a series of talks and workshops looking at the role of heritage in the economic health of the high street, in general health and well-being and how it can be used to support the growing community activity embedded on our high streets. We’ll also be focussing on the professions involved in all aspects of the heritage world, from specialist contractors to the designers and architects who will be helping to deliver our programme. We will also be capturing the living memories of South Norwood’s high streets in years past in an oral history project and creating a record of the high street today. If you have an idea or would like to suggest a subject for this programme, please get in contact on SouthNorwoodRegen@croydon.gov.uk.

HIGH STREETS HAZ CULTURAL PROGRAMME The HSHAZ Cultural Programme is headed by a team based at Stanley Arts and is being developed with a consortium of local creative and community organisations to provide exciting, heritage-focussed activities across the HAZ boundary high streets until March 2024. The programme will include exhibitions, events and projects which will run in parallel with the changes delivered by the main programme, immersing the local community in the heritage and cultural life of South Norwood. ‘Gustav's Time Travelling Treasure Hunt’, was the first event for the Cultural Programme, which took place over the May Bank Holiday weekend earlier this year. Over 600 individuals and families took part and met notable historical figures from South Norwood, represented by local actors and volunteers dotted along a route from Station Road to Stanley Halls. The South Norwood Regeneration team will be supporting the Cultural Programme and organising complementary activities alongside these events as part of the Community Engagement Programme.

OUR FUNDERS

MAYOR OF LONDON’S GOOD GROWTH FUND The Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund is dedicated to supporting the regeneration and improvement of high streets across London, creating thriving businesses and empowering local people to shape the changes in their area. In South Norwood, this fund is delivering public realm improvements, creation of workspaces and creative hubs, improving the look of shop units, supporting resilient, sustainable businesses and growing the community network.

SOUTH NORWOOD HIGH STREET HERITAGE ACTION ZONE South Norwood is one of Historic England’s 68 new High Street Heritage Action Zones. £1.1 million has been awarded to unlock the potential of South Norwood’s high streets, fuelling economic, social and cultural recovery and breathe new life into the area for future generations. South Norwood boomed in the 19th century with the arrival of the railway, and its centre is predominantly composed of original buildings, dating from the 1840s to 1910, many of which retain their original features. South Norwood’s conservation area is currently on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register and the aim of the programme is to restore it to its original vibrancy and remove it from the register.

SOUTH NORWOOD REGENERATION PROGRAMME FOCUS AREA The Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) boundary marks the area for the placemaking and grants programmes. It includes Station Road, Selhurst Road from the Clocktower to Samuel Coleridge Taylor Centre, South Norwood Hill up to Stanley Arts, High Street from South Norwood Clocktower to Goathouse Bridge and Portland Road starting from the junction with the High Street to the junction with Coventry Road.

High Street Heritage Action Zone Boundary. Credit: Historic England

GET IN TOUCH SOUTH NORWOOD REGENERATION TEAM Michelle Normanly Regeneration Manager Rhubi Worth High Street Heritage Action Zone Officer Tamara Amarquaye Business Engagement Officer E: SouthNorwoodRegen@croydon.gov.uk Website: croydon.gov.uk/planning-and-regeneration/regeneration/places-croydon/southnorwood