Residents have reacted to last week’s announcement from Tory minister Michael Gove of new, increased statutory powers for the government commissioners overseeing the running of the cash-strapped council by demanding that Jason Perry, Croydon’s £82,000 per year elected Mayor, should resign with immediate effect.
Broken promises: Perry has been rendered powerless by Michael Gove’s move
And they also call for “powerless” Perry’s cabinet to go, too – another saving of more than £200,000 per year for the borough’s long-suffering Council Tax-payers.
Perry has increasingly come in for criticism from residents from across the borough for his ineffectual leadership since he was narrowly elected in May 2022 with a majority of less than 600 votes.
A series of broken election pledges, such as his promise to re-open Purley Pool, has been cited, as well as his move to close some or all of the borough’s five nursery schools, as has his notorious decision to hike Council Tax by 15per cent in April.
But Perry’s election promise to “fix the finances” has now been well and truly exposed by Gove’s decision to increase the improvement panel’s powers, so that they will for the next two years instruct, rather than guide, Croydon’s council officials struggling to manage the borough’s £1.6billion debts.
“All politicians break promises, we know that,” according to one of the people behind the petition. “But last week’s announcement from the Government underlined that the Mayor is now completely powerless. Our council is being run from Whitehall.
“For the good of the people of Croydon, Mayor Perry should abandon the charade, and given up his £82,000 salary, and tell his cabinet to stand down, too.”
The petition has been posted on change.org by the South Norwood Tourist Board.
It says, “Following the decision taken by Michael Gove and the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on Thursday 20th July 2023 to extend the statutory powers of the Croydon Improvement Panel, we the undersigned call on the Directly Elected Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, to tender his resignation with immediate effect.
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“In his 2022 election manifesto, Jason Perry promised many things, including to ‘fix the finances’. He has done none of those things promised, but he has increased Croydon Council Tax by 15per cent and is now looking to close the borough’s nurseries.
“The Mayor should recognise that the DLUHC has rendered him impotent to act, and that he has failed.
“Together with his appointed cabinet, he should resign immediately.”
Among the first petitioners to sign, one said, “Perry promised so much but has failed at every quarter. He couldn’t even reopen a swimming pool.”
Another wrote: “Now he’s saying he’ll fix Labour’s mess, but [he] has done the opposite, and then some.”
Read more: Gove’s ministerial statement on state of Croydon finances in full
Read more: Council forced to issue 3rd bankruptcy notice in just two years
Read more: Croydon put in special measures: ‘Worst of all possible worlds’
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