Croydon Mayor Jason Perry is staging a webinar on Monday, at which the public can “hear more about the council’s budget proposals for next year”, according to the council.
Perry and Jason Cummings, the cabinet member for finance, the Tory double act who hiked Council Tax by 15% this year, are to be joined by the council’s finance chief, Jane West.
It was West who, in November 2022, was responsible for issuing Croydon’s third Section 114 notice in the space of three years.
The cheery trio will attempt to explain how budget proposals for another £31million of cuts to services while borrowing a further £38million from Government can possibly be regarded as a “balanced” budget that does not require a fourth admission by the authority that it is effectively bankrupt.
Perry as good as admitted as much at a recent scrutiny committee meeting: “Essentially, we’re insolvent,” he said. Not much will have changed in the past few weeks, unless his Conservative chums at Westminster have suddenly had a change of heart and decided to write off a large portion of Croydon’s £1.6billion debt pile. It is the solution Perry has been promising since he came into office, but has failed to deliver.
“When I was elected, I promised residents I would make fixing the finances my No1 priority and do everything within my power to get our council back on track for the people of Croydon,” Perry said this week.
“We have to do this, to be able to offer them the good services and value for money they deserve, now and in the future.
“This means there are limited choices when it comes to the budget, because we have to make savings, and we have to invest in making our council better.
“But it is important to me to listen to local residents and to hear their feedback on our proposals.” Oh yeah… hence the webinar.
The online meeting will be held from 6.30pm to 7.30pm on Monday, December 11.
The link to join the meeting will be available on news.croydon.gov.uk from 6pm on Monday.
“Mayor Perry and Councillor Cummings will give an overview of the council’s financial situation and introduce the proposals for next year before responding to questions from the public,” according to the council.
Of course, they won’t be answering any questions submitted on the night, but will carefully pick and choose what they respond to from those emailed to communications@croydon.gov.uk. The council says “attendees will also have an opportunity to ask questions during the webinar via the chat”; we’ll see…
There is also a “survey” for the public at www.getinvolved.croydon.gov.uk/budget24-25, open until December 19, if you think that will make any difference.
Read more: Tory Mayor Perry admits: ‘Essentially, we’re insolvent’. Again
Read more: Town Hall staff braced for £31m more cuts and job losses
Read more: ‘Uncertainty faced by all local authorities is unprecedented’
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Surely it would be more sensible for the meeting to be in person as well as online, thereby allowing everyone to attend? Many people, as very clearly evidenced ,during lock down do not have access to the internet. I am a loss to understand the need to submit questions . UK is a democracy . If the council wants to improve it must listen and respond to the residents. In my experience it does not. At the recent Q & A at the Phoenix centre at Crystal Palace Jason Perry ,quite rightly ,did emphasise the need for accountability and the need for improvement. I agree. The 4 independent reports into Croydon Council very clearly show that there is an urgent need for accountability and improvement at several levels.