CROYDON IN CRISIS: All places at a public Q&A session about the Tory Mayor’s 15% Council Tax increase were snapped up within hours of being released – even though the council gave the event little publicity.
By STEVEN DOWNES
The meeting, to be held via Zoom tomorrow night, February 15, is the idea of Labour councillor Rowenna Davis, the chair of the council’s scrutiny and overview committee.
The committee has a formal, public meeting on the cash-strapped council’s budget for 2023-2024 scheduled to be held on Thursday evening. But Davis wanted to give the public more of an opportunity to question the Conservative-led administration.
The council’s propaganda department gave the meeting no publicity, without even a mention on the authority’s official website or via its Twitter feed.
In demand: Cllr Davis’s tweet on Friday quickly saw her Zoom meeting reach capacity
The initial “capacity” of 80 registrees, allocated on a first-come first-served basis, was reached almost as soon as Davis first mentioned the event via her own, personal social media on Friday afternoon.
Another 20 places were added yesterday, but they were snapped up immediately.
Elected Mayor Jason Perry – catchphrase “I’m listening” – won’t be present to listen to the Croydon public. In his stead, Jason Cummings, the Conservative councillor who is the council cabinet member for finance, and Jane West, the authority’s director of finance, will be present.
“To fix Croydon’s finances, a 15per cent increase in Council Tax is being proposed, alongside a number of savings and changes to the way the Council works,” Davis wrote.
“This meeting is a chance for members of the public to question Croydon’s senior cabinet member and finance officer about these decisions. The meeting is being led by the council’s scrutiny committee, a group of councillors from different parties who are charged with scrutinising the budget in the public interest.”
Today, Davis told Inside Croydon, “We only capped the numbers to give the people in the room space to ask questions.”
“I’ve also written to the Mayor to explain how much interest we’ve had and encouraged him to hold his own public meetings so that more residents can be part of this important conversation.
“I wish scrutiny could also do more here, but our capacity is limited.”
Last May, Perry was elected as Croydon’s first executive Mayor with a majority of fewer than 600 votes.
A petition raised by Inside Croydon opposing Mayor Perry’s 15per cent Council Tax rise and calling for a fairer financial settlement for the borough has attracted more than 20,000 signatures in less than a week.
- If you haven’t done so already, click here to sign up to our petition to Croydon Council
- And click here to sign the separate, but just as important, petition to parliament
Read more: Perry to preside over record-breaking 15% Council Tax hike
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