Category Archives: Tim Pollard
Red Deer locals look north for help to rebuff Morrisons
Another landmark Croydon pub is under threat of takeover from a supermarket chain. And our local councillors’ response – where they have bothered to respond – is effectively to shrug their shoulders and say there’s nothing that they can, or … Continue reading
Council deputy leader has “serious concerns” over Lidl plans
Lidl’s latest scheme to build a steel shed on the site of the old Good Companions at Hamsey Green has been referred to Croydon Council’s planning committee by a senior Croydon councillor who says he has “serious concerns” over the … Continue reading
Redundancies and four-day opening at Upper Norwood library
So much for Croydon Council’s promises of no library closures. The Conservative-controlled council which has already axed the mobile library service and has decided to close New Addington’s purpose-built library to replace it with a few book shelves in the … Continue reading
X marks the spot: Croydon appoints firm in administration
News reaches Inside Croydon of what appears to be yet another epic fail by the leadership at Croydon Council. On February 11, at the Town Hall cabinet meeting, Mike Fisher, the council leader, and his “top team” decided to appoint … Continue reading
Council accused of being “out of control” over libraries
Croydon’s Conservative-run council was tonight accused of being “out of control” and mis-spending Council Tax money in an “obscene way”. Timothy Godfrey, the opposition Labour spokesman on libraries, took the opportunity of an emergency meeting at the Town Hall to … Continue reading
Questions Pollard must answer over libraries shambles
Tim “Yes but No but Yes” Pollard ought to come under intense pressure at an emergency meeting at Croydon Town Hall tonight over his handling of the tendering process for the outsourcing of the management of the borough’s libraries if … Continue reading
Emergency meeting called on sell-off of public libraries
There will be an emergency meeting of Croydon Council on Monday evening, when Tim Pollard will be called to account for the shambolic handling of the Conservative-led administration’s attempts to sell-off the borough’s libraries. The opposition Labour group has called … Continue reading
Laings quit £30m Croydon libraries privatisation deal
Croydon Council’s plan to privatise our public libraries was in ruins tonight, as its hand-picked partners were revealed to have walked away from the £30 million, eight-year deal. And Eddy Arram, the Tory mayor in charge of tonight’s meeting at … Continue reading
1.85%: Croydon in a Pickles over Council Tax hike
Mike Fisher, the leader of the Conservative group that tries to run Croydon Council, tonight raised the white flag at the Town Hall when – at the latest possible moment on a Friday evening just before half-term week – he … Continue reading
What councillors say: gallery move is “improved service”
On the premise of cost-cutting, our council is about to move the local studies archive into an exhibition space at the Clocktower, thus managing to find a way to spend public money on compromising two aspects of cultural provision at … Continue reading
Pollard makes a false dubstep at London’s New Year parade
The secrecy, half-truths and bogusness of so much of what Croydon Council is about was extended even to the float at the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Day Parade last month. Alongside similar floats from the other London boroughs, Croydon’s … Continue reading
Budget consultation condemned as just “meaningless jargon”
Croydon Council’s “budget consultation” closed last night. Those residents who managed to find this under-publicised online exercise condemned it broadly for its use of impenetrable language and its many meaningless questions. Some complained to Eric Pickles, the local government minister. … Continue reading
Twelve hours to try to save what’s left of Croydon culture
Today sees the deadline for submissions to a Croydon Council consultation on spending cuts over the next two years. What do you mean, you were not aware of Croydon Council running such a consultation? After all, our council – motto: … Continue reading
