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. Waddon is now the only Labour ward in the seat of
Richard Ottaway MP,
Croydon South .
