New Addington - Politics

Politics

Politically, New Addington and Fieldway have traditionally been Labour strongholds, providing the only five Labour councillors out of 70 in the London Borough of Croydon between 1982 and 1986. Four of the last six leaders of the Labour Party on Croydon Council have been councillors representing the estate, including Geraint Davies, the area's former Member of Parliament, and Val Shawcross, now a London Assembly member. In 2006 the two wards of Fieldway and New Addington had two Labour councillors each, both wards seeing strong challenges from the British National Party. In the 2010 local elections, New Addington ward elected its first Conservative Councillor, having one Conservative and one Labour councillor, while Fieldway continued to be a safer Labour seat. These wards are unusual as being two of the very few in Greater London that do not have three councillors each - the Boundary Commission could not find a way to make this standard fit in the isolated New Addington estate.