Old Coulsdon Christmas lights switch on 2023

Head to the Junction of Coulsdon Rd & Court Ave on Saturday 25th November, 4-6pm (lights to be switched on at 5pm) and enjoy Santa’s grotto, carol singing, refreshments and much more. Please continue to provide your support as we fund raise to allow us to continue bringing the Christmas Lights to Old Coulsdon.

Coulsdon Parking Consultation

Croydon Council is currently reviewing how parking is managed across the borough, with a number of options being considered including removal of all ticket machines and moving to payment by mobile app being one of their preferred options.

Public drop-in sessions where further information can be obtained, as well as provide you with a forum to provide feedback can be attended at our local Coulsdon Library on the following dates:

  • Thursday 12 Oct 4.30-7pm
  • Tuesday 24 Oct 10am-12.30pm

More information on the consultation including how to provide your feedback can be found on the Croydon Council website (https://www.getinvolved.croydon.gov.uk/draft-croydon-parking-policy-2023).

Superloop update – X26 renumbered as route SL7

From Saturday 19 August, the X26 will become the SL7 with an increased frequency. Route SL7 will run an enhanced service every 15 minutes all day every day, instead of every 30 minutes on route X26. Around half of the buses will have dedicated luggage space for customers travelling to and from Heathrow airport.

Route SL7 will run an express bus service between West Croydon and Heathrow Central, serving all the same stops as route X26 except the last bus stop at West Croydon will move (about 175 metres) around the corner, into West Croydon bus station.

Some bus stops in Kingston, New Malden, North Cheam, Teddington and Wallintdon Green have been renamed to better reflect their location.

For more information on the upcoming changes you can visit TFL: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/bus-changes

What is Superloop?

The main change to buses will be the introduction of the Superloop express buses around London:

As a result, the new route from Croydon to Bromley will become SL5 and the X68 will become the SL6. There wil be no change to existing toute 119 from Croydon to Bromley.

Further information is available on the TFL website.

Road closure and diversion of the A22 Godstone Road

The A22 Godstone Road Purley will be closed from the 22nd July for 9 weeks to allow SES water to install a new water main connecting Kenley water works with Woodmansterne waterworks. The section between Woodmansterne and Purley Tesco was completed last year.

This will affect the following bus routes 407, 412 and 434.

The 407 will run only between Sutton and Purley with a shuttle service between Caterham and the east side of Purley station. The 412 will also terminate on the east side of Purley station. GTR have agreed bus passengers can use the subway under Purley station. The 434 will be diverted via Old Lodge Lane and Higher Drive as this is a long diversion it will add too much running time for a 30minute frequency. A special timetable with a 40 minute frequency will be introduced for the period and is available on the Transport > Buses page.

Further information can be found here: https://seswater.uk.engagementhq.com/a22godstoneroad.

Update 28/8/2023: A22 Godstone Road has now been re-opened.

Update on Rail Ticket Office Closures

In our area all booking offices would be closed and replaced by a ticket assistant who would be based at the station. It is not clear if they would be able to sell all tickets including those that you can’t buy from the ticket machines such as Boundary zone, CIV Eurostar tickets, Plusbus tickets etc.

Would the ticket assistant take cash? Where would they be positioned? Special arrangements would be in place at large stations such as Victoria and East Croydon.

East Surrey Transport Committee have listed 24 questions/issues that need to be resolved before they could consider supporting the closures. These can be seen on the Transport page.

Please send you objection to . There is also an online petition which we are asking you to support www.change.org/p/save-our-railway-ticket-offices.

Public Consultation on Rail Ticket Office Closures

A public consultation has launched regarding moving station staff out from behind the counter (which would then close for good) and in theory, onto the station concourses making them more visible and accessible.

For full details of this consultation (including a comparison of current and proposed hours when ticketing assistance would be available), and details of how to have your say, please visit the Southern Railway Public Consultation website.

Further information regarding proposed closures can also be found on the Transport > Trains page.

2023 ECRA AGM – Tuesday June 13 7.30pm

The AGM is on Tuesday 13 June 2023, 7.30pm at The Old Coulsdon Congregational Church.

Come to our AGM and listen to our Guest Speaker, Sacha Bunatyan, who will be telling us more about the Ukranian community in Coulsdon and how we can help.

Click here to download the AGM Agenda June 2023 and ECRA Accounts April 2022 – March 2023.

Click here to view the nominations for the committee to be elected as part of the AGM.

Click here to view more information on how you can help our local Ukranian community with donation of goods.

Old Lodge Lane bridge refurbishment closures

To facilitate these works, there will be traffic management in place consisting of a full road closure and bus stop suspensions on Old Lodge Lane during the planned times. During the weekend only phase of the works, Old Lodge Lane will be closed from 2300 Friday to Monday 0500. During the mid-week night works, Old Lodge Lane will be closed from 2330 to 0500 each night from Monday to Friday.

Pedestrian will still be able to walk from one side of the structure to the other within a protected scaffold tunnel during closures. BAM will install additional signage to ensure customers know businesses are still open as usual. During the four weekend closures, there will be a shuttle bus service operating in substitute of the normal bus services.

Shuttle bus services will operate as follows:

  • Shuttle buses will operate on Saturdays and Sundays from 5:30 am to 11:00 pm during the weekend closures.
  • The shuttle bus will travel up and down Old Lodge, stopping at each bus stop from Reedham Station to New Valley School.
  • A separate bus service will run from Old Lodge Lane at the bridge to Tesco Extra in Purely. This bus will also stop at the Grovesdale bus stop on the way to Tesco.
  • During mid-week night closures, the last bus service passing through Old Lodge Lane will be at 11:30 pm. The normal bus service will resume at 5:30 am.

Work will be carried out as follows (click to view larger):

Old Lodge Lane closure for bridge refurbishment timetable

One day paper Travelcard to be withdrawn?

The London Mayor and the government have now come to an agreement over funding of TfL. The Mayor will also obtain some additional funding from the GLA. However, in the agreement TfL still needs to raise additional Funds. One of the ways they are proposing to do this is to withdraw the One-day paper travelcard. The travelcard has been the main integrated ticket for travel on all forms of transport in London for the last 40 years.

TfL would seem to accept there is a need for an integrated ticket in the zones as they will keep the all-day capping on Oyster and bank cards. To travel in London, you will need either an Oyster card or a Bankcard. Otherwise you will need a separate ticket for each leg of the journey.

The main problem would seem to affect children and families taking a day out in London which could be become complex, financially expensive or even prohibitive.

This means to obtain off-peak child fares, children will have to have a child Zip Oyster photocard. This requires a £14.00 admin fee and a digital photo and can only be obtained online and can take up to 10 days to arrive. Most children in London who need to use public transport already have Zip Oyster photocards. It is those that do not use public transport and don’t have a Zip Oyster photocard and want to make the occasion journeys that will be negatively impacted by the proposed changes.

This will apply equally as the move to cashless bus fares, to those visitors from outside London. They will have to buy single tickets and will not be able to use the bus. You can engage with the consultation be visiting the TfL Have Your Say website: Engagement to withdraw Day Travelcards | Have Your Say Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk). East Surrey Transport Committee have objected and are asking you to object and contact London TravelWatch .