Council officer threatens Croydon homeless charity with legal action

A council officer threatened a charity with legal action after volunteers requested a permanent shelter to be installed to shield workers from the elements during their night-time foodbank.

The threat comes following a long-running dispute between Croydon council and Croydon Nightwatch – one of the borough’s largest homeless charities – over where it can host services.

Croydon Nightwatch – which runs solely on donations –  has supported the most vulnerable people in Croydon with hot meals, food and homeless services from Queen’s Gardens since 1976.

Jad Adams, Nightwatch’s chairman since 1992, said: “Nightwatch relies on the dedication of more than 100 positive-minded volunteers – their work should not be taken for granted.”

Earlier this month, Mr Adams approached council officials to try to progress discussions about providing shelter for volunteers. In response, he received a “somewhat intemperate” threat of legal action from a council officer.

The email, which has been seen by the South London Press, states: “Given the severe financial challenges faced by the council we have neither space, land nor funding we can offer Nightwatch. 

“Given the continuing issues we have with your operation on the grounds of public health and antisocial behaviour – we would again request that you relocate to another site.

“The next would be for the council to seek a court injunction prohibiting you from operating in and around Queen Quarter and BWH – costs the council can ill afford.”

Mr Adams disputes the council’s position, writing off claims of antisocial behaviour as “inaccurate in almost every single particular”.

In response to the threat being made public by Mr Adam’s earlier this week, more than half of Croydon’s elected councillors signed an open letter to Mayor Jason Perry calling for officials to abandon any suggestion of legal action against the charity.

The letter stated: “This is a shocking way to treat one of Croydon’s most highly regarded charities.”

The dispute between Nightwatch and the council has been ongoing since 2018, when the service was forced to relocate after the local authority announced major renovations to the Queen’s Gardens.

Mr Adams said: “We were on board with the whole project, but when the hoardings came down in 2022 it was clear there was no space for us.”

Since then, the charity has been shunted between different locations, setting up under the awning of Bernard House or St George’s Street, but has been consistently met with complaints from the council.

Mr Adams said: “The council kept telling us residents wouldn’t want us near their properties, but they offered no alternatives.”

Earlier this year Nightwatch moved back to their original home in Queen’s Gardens, using a raised concrete platform where there is no cover for workers or those seeking support.

Mr Adams said: “We can’t keep moving – we will pay for a cover and have it designed by architects and developers who work with the council.

“We have tried to speak with the council about this but they haven’t responded.”

Nightwatch maintains that through all this, they have acted properly, responsibly and, legally, setting up only on the public highway and in public open spaces.

A Croydon council spokeswoman said the local authority recognise the work Nightwatch do, but their priority is to make sure The Queen’s Gardens are “clean and safe” for Croydon’s community. 

According to data from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), Croydon saw a 39 per cent increase – from 89 to 124 cases – in rough sleeping between January and March 2023, and January and March 2024.

At the same time, the Conservative-run council faces a £1.6billion debt burden following a number of bankruptcies under the previous Labour administration.

The spokeswoman said: “Following the adoption of our new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2024-2029, we recently invited Nightwatch and others to be local partners on a new strategic partnership board focused on joint working to address homelessness in Croydon. 

“We await Nightwatch’s response and we very much hope they will join the conversation.”

Pictured top: Volunteers prepare for their night-time support service for Croydon Nightwatch (Picture: Croydon Nightwatch)