Waddon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location
Waddon


OS grid reference:	TQ315645
Latitude:	51.3643°
Longitude:	-0.1125°
Administration
London borough:	Croydon
County level:	Greater London
Region:	London
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Greater London
Historic county:	Surrey
Services
Police force:	Metropolitan Police
Fire brigade:	London Fire Brigade
Ambulance service:	London Ambulance
Post office and telephone
Post town:	CROYDON
Postal district:	CR0
Dialling code:	020
Politics
UK Parliament:	Croydon South
London Assembly:	Croydon and Sutton
European Parliament:	London
London \| List of places in London

Waddon is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, to the south west of central Croydon on the borders of the London Borough of Sutton. Waddon has an older area with 19th century properties, some even older, close to central Croydon. Further south is a large estate of Council-owned homes and a small number of tower blocks. The area has become popular with young professionals due to its proximity to Croydon.

Waddon is in the Wandle river valley. Waddon Ponds is a public open space, the ponds in which are one of the sources of the river. There are plans to open up the culverted river once again at various places.

The former Croydon Airport was on the edge of the Waddon area, with the local community consequently suffering badly in the Blitz and subsequent bombing raids in World War II. Land and existing buildings in this area may be found to be subject to 20th century restrictive covenants preventing new construction above a certain height due to the proximity of the former airport, but those restrictions ought to be redundant by now, given that the airport has long since gone.

In the vicinity of Waddon Marsh and nearby Beddington, there were both lavender farms and sewage works, so that passengers arriving at Croydon by air would choose their seats carefully so as to be on the right side for the right smell.

Running through Waddon, from Purley into the West Croydon area, is Purley Way, the A23, home to many superstores and light industrial units. Waddon railway station is on the line between West Croydon railway station and Epsom Downs or Sutton. There are Tramlink stops at Waddon Marsh and Wandle Park.

Politically, Waddon is the most marginal ward of Croydon Council and has seen its representation swap between the Labour and Conservative Parties for many years. In 1994, Labour won all three seats, then in 1998, the ward returned one Labour and two Conservative councillors, one of whom defected to the Liberal Democrats. In 2002, Labour once again won all three seats, albeit with one of them scraping home with a majority of eight votes, the only Labour ward in the seat of Richard Ottaway MP, Croydon South. In the 2006 elections, Waddon returned three Conservative councillors.