Category Archives: Mike Fisher
Councillor acts as delivery boy for £1bn incinerator company
A senior Conservative councillor in Croydon has refused to answer questions about why he spent much of Saturday distributing leaflets in his ward, apparently as an overpaid delivery boy on behalf of multi-billion rubbish burners Viridor. Simon Hoar, councillor in … Continue reading
Croydon is officially the worst English borough on Council Tax
It is official, because according to Eric Pickles, the Conservative Cabinet minister in charge of local government, Conservative-run Croydon has the worst record among boroughs in England for managing its own Council Tax. There are 326 local authority councils in … 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
Residents ill-served by Town Hall self-serving politics
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Council meetings at the Town Hall are poor theatre and rarely achieve much, despite considerable public cost, as this week’s emergency library meeting demonstrated, says STEVEN DOWNES What are Croydon Council meetings at the Town Hall for? What … Continue reading
Croydon in a Pickles once more over £50,000 regeneration jobs
Croydon’s Conservative-run council is in the bad books of the Conservative local government minister, “Big” Eric Pickles. Again. Big Eric sometimes appears to be a very reasonable sort of bloke. For instance, he cannot understand how Croydon can be cutting … Continue reading
No debate and no questions, Tories exercise an abuse of power
Following Tuesday night’s bruising council budget meeting, in which he led a walk-out by the opposition Labour group, TONY NEWMAN, pictured, in an exclusive column, says something has to change Reflecting on the events in Croydon Town Hall this week … 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
Council takes four tables at awards – against Pickles’ advice
Around 40 Conservative councillors, senior Croydon Council officials and their chums will be attending the annual binge of champagne-swilling and back-slapping at a five-star West End hotel next month that is the Local Government Chronicle Awards, all at a cost … 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
Fisher goes radio ga-ga over council’s broadcast promises
Croydon’s secretive Conservative-run council scrapped the broadcasting of official meetings in 2009, on the pretext of saving money. Last week, more than a year after Croydon Radio offered to record and podcast council meetings for no charge, council leader Mike … Continue reading
Council’s Ministry of Truth spends record amounts on staff
Hayley Lewis, the trained psychologist who Croydon employs as its “Head of customer communications and strategy”, once suggested that a council communications department is “an unnecessary burden”. How prescient. On her personal blog, Lewis added a convenient “?” to present … Continue reading
