More problems with recruitment and retention at the cash-strapped council as the woman tipped for top job heads for the exit. KEN LEE reports
Jenny Rowlands, who was hired in February as the council’s £166,000 per year assistant chief executive, is quitting Croydon to take up another job with the Local Government Association.
At a council increasingly noted for its “churn” of staff, Rowlands lasted two months in her role.
Churn: Jenny Rowlands has quit
It has been reported that Rowlands will up her new position from May 11 (the week after the local elections). Rowlands has been paid more than £3,000 per week by Croydon Council.
“That was quick,” one slightly exasperated Katharine Street source said today.
“We all knew that Rowlands was hired on a short-term, interim basis. But no one imagined it would be quite so short-term.”
Rowlands was brought in at the request of Elaine Jackson, Croydon’s interim chief executive, who had been promoted into that role following the abrupt departure of her former boss, Katherine Kerswell, last October. Continue reading
After the mass resignation a fortnight ago of around a dozen members, including some candidates, Reform is trying to re-stage its New Addington walkabout tomorrow morning, with a promised ‘star guest’. WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, reports 
CROYDON COMMENTARY: 
In no particular order, I want the Mayor of Croydon to fix the budget, improve services, sort out the town centre, restore the Fairfield Halls to its former glory and much more. I’m not holding my breath, however.
“Fingers crossed it actually happens this time,” according to officials from the local residents’ association, whose latest newsletter carries the front-page headline: “Take Three!”
Nearly two years later than anticipated, Southern Housing has released on to the housing market a huge scheme of flats in Purley called Fount Spring Place.
Reform, the limited company that selected a dead woman as their candidate for Croydon Mayor, now includes among its nominees for the council elections next month someone who has written a published article which suggests that the covid pandemic which claimed the lives of millions around the world was a conspiracy led by the United States military and global elites.
Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s chief executive who issued three Section 114 notices of effective bankruptcy during her time in charge at the council, was taking home salary and pensions totalling £223,838 in the year before she left Fisher’s Folly.
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Even before her own party bosses censored her manifesto, there were spending commitments being made by Rowenna Davis, Labour’s candidate for Croydon Mayor, that just don’t add up. LibDem candidate RICHARD HOWARD, pictured left, explains
