Sign of incompetence: one of the misspelled ‘Thorton’ Heath PSPO signs
Croydon’s cash-strapped council’s capacity for ballsing up even the simplest of tasks has been exposed yet again, after the authority ordered and installed dozens of signs to warn of its latest PSPO – Public Space Protection Order – and managed to get the spelling of one of the borough’s most famous neighbourhoods, Thornton Heath, wrong.
The signs, which were put in place on lamposts and other street furniture this week, have all spelled the area’s name as…
THORTON HEATH
Seriously.
“What a shambles and a waste of money,” said one resident. “Can’t this council get anything right?
“It’s an insult to Thornton Heath residents.”
The council’s hurriedly-scrambled-together excuse, pushed out on social media yesterday evening, was less than convincing, as they sought to pass the buck and blame their contractors.
“We arranged for the new PSPO signs to be manufactured by contractors,” the council tweeted.
“The layouts were supplied correctly, however, the signs included a spelling mistake made in error by the contractors. The contractors will remove and replace all signs at no additional cost to the council.”
There was no hint of any apology for the error.
But as amused members of the public pointed out, any print or manufacture process will see contractors provide their client with a proof for checking and approval before final production.
And besides, had the council even noticed that there was the spelling error on the signs that they had commissioned, then why did they go to the trouble, time and, no doubt, public expense of placing these faulty signs all around Thornton [sic] Heath?
The mistake was spotted by Thornton Heath community volunteer Graham Mitchell, who has also expressed his concern that the £400million-a-year budget civic authority has still not bothered to carry out all of the necessary checks and consultations for the PSPO, which has been revised to include the area around Thornton Heath Pond.
Passing the buck: the council still put up dozens of the misspelled ‘Thorton’ Heath signs
PSPO’s are a controversial means of trying to limit anti-social behaviour, street drinking and vagrancy in an area. The police already possess plenty of legal powers to move people on or make arrests, but local authorities like Croydon have introduced PSPOs to enable them to appoint private security firms to patrol trouble hot-spots and hand out on-the-spot fines.
Part-time Perry’s council is now rolling out a similar scheme in Thornton/Thorton Heath, but with added incompetence…
“Someone at the council should have checked these signs before they went up to make sure they were right,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell also highlighted that the maps used on the signs are different from that which was approved at council meetings last year, when in another Croydon Council cock-up, a “revised area” map was incorrectly produced at a cabinet meeting in September. Mitchell has accused the council of a breach of the Equalities Act but failing to make its PSPO area information available to all.
“The map on the signs hasn’t been seen before, because the map presented to cabinet on 27 September was the old one and the addition of [Thornton Heath] Pond has seen many other roads added, too
“The revised map should have been advertised before the signs went up,” Mitchell said, “and the council needs to publish a map [that] everyone can access, so blind and deaf have to have access to a format that suits them.”
Mitchell says that he has been told that this will be done – the thing is, it ought to have been done long ago. There’s no knowing when piss-poor Perry’s council will get around to fulfilling their legal duties.
Others have highlighted that the PSPO, in any case, is an imperfect way of trying to influence human behaviour, with anyone likely to be affected by its measures simply picking up their can of high-strength lager and strolling across the road, to the safety of another street that is not within Mayor Perry’s “Thorton Heath” forbidden zone.
Read more: Perry’s PSPO will just move ‘problems’ out of town centre
Read more: Council admits error and promises refunds over its PCN Fiasco
Read more: BINMAGEDDON: Mayor’s secret plan to charge £5 per new bin
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Absolutely correct, why did the signs get get put up? The Council officers are accountable, the contractors maybe responsible. Council staff do not understand the difference between accountability and responsibility. The latter can be contracted out the former cannot, so who in the Council is accountable for this fiasco? Council staff passing the blame yet again.
Good to see where are 21% increased Council Tax is going. This and in £82K for the missing link
I’m guessing whoever wrote it was a local since it is generally pronounced that way
No……………… Good grief – there’s loads of Thorntons with the name spelled correctly. There are NO excuses for mis-spelling or mis-pronouncing. There’s West Thornton primary School, Thornton Heath Evangelical Church, West Thornton Conservative Association, Thornton Heath Pond, Need I go on?
There should be a proper proofing and sign off process !
Such mistakes would not happen with ‘professionals’ designing, proofing and good manufacturing controls.
Clearly amateurs at every stage here.
”There was no hint of any apology for the error.”
Be careful what you wish for. You might get ”we apologise for how you feel about what we did”
This is the new ubiquitous style of public apology.
It has nothing to do with how you actually feel or the damage caused.
It never acknowledges that the acts were wrong/ illegal/ deceitful/dishonest.
And in many cases they carry on doing the same at will.
So in the matter of Thorton and PSPO what would happen if comeone infringed it?
Sorry officer they would say but that sign refers to Thorton. I am in Thornton a completely differeent place.
This shoddy sign could have impacted on civil enforcement in the area and made the Police also unable to act as the signage was wrong and unenforceable.
No apology?
Is this just not another example of errors of administration that severely impact on their statutory duty – and mostly caused by excessive cuts?
Outsourcing of responsibility and blame as usual.
Clearly the go to methodology for most disreputable Public Administrations today.