Residents and community groups angered at some of Croydon Council’s latest outrageous decisions are planning to gather in numbers to put senior Conservative cabinet members under intense pressure at a “Council Question Time” event in Addiscombe on Monday night.

Council Tax-payers’ outrage has been gathering for many months, but recent exposures of self-serving crassness and, bluntly, idiocy, including the secret sale of the borough’s collection of priceless Ming china; the witless privatisation of the borough’s public libraries to the most expensive bidder; the appointment as chair of the borough’s ethics committee of David Osland, the widely criticised former police officer who was in charge of the notoriously failed investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence; and the spending of £3 million just to furnish the £140 million new council offices, seem to have snapped the collective patience of residents.

This public event is being staged in Addiscombe. According to the council’s own publicity, “This is a chance for people who live in Croydon to come and talk to the people that make the decisions for Croydon Council.”

The event is being held at the St Mildreds Centre, 30 Bingham Road, Croydon, CRO 7EB, not far from the Addiscombe Tram stop, starting at 7.30pm. “Refreshments will be provided,” they say. Whether refreshing changes in attitude will be available is not so certain.

Concerned residents are advised to arrive early to ensure a place in the hall, so that Council Tax-payers might actually outnumber councillors and council staff.

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