Out of order: the stand at Croydon Arena epitomises so much of Jason Perry’s Croydon
Football supporters turning up for Croydon FC’s Bank Holiday Monday fixture at Croydon Arena last weekend exposed another of Mayor Perry’s porkies.
The council-owned sports stadium has its main stand and toilets out-of-bounds to the public, almost six months since piss-poor Jason Perry, the £82,000 per year Mayor of Croydon, declared that he was “delighted” that the stand and changing areas were back in operation.
There’s now more Perry porkie pies than you might expect to find in a well-stocked Sainsbury’s.
- There was the time when the Mayor warned the Town Hall of a Brick by Brick house that had been built with no stairs. No such abomination ever existed; Perry claimed to have been misinformed.
It was Perry who said he’d no idea about proposals for a private golf club to take over public open space in the Shirley Hills, but was later forced to admit that he had been in talks with The Addington club’s multi-millionaire owners about exactly that.- And the same Mayor who hiked your Council Tax by 21% continues to dissemble that he’s “fixed the finances”… after he has lined up repeat government bail-outs of £38million per year.
We may have missed some, too…
As far as Croydon Arena is concerned, Perry’s cash-strapped council will doubtless plead poverty over the long-neglected sports venue, just as they do over the sadly neglected state of the borough’s gardens, parks and open spaces, as the borough’s infrastructure is allowed to rot, or gets flogged off on the cheap.
Stand-by stand: plastic folding chairs at the track’s edge are the best on offer at the Arena at present
The Arena, home of Croydon Harriers and once the regular venue for county championships and other significant area meets, has gone nearly five years without being able to stage recognised athletics meetings for lack of a properly certified running track.
The playing surface for the borough’s oldest non-league football club, the Trams, has frequently been the subject of (entirely justified) criticism. But earlier this year there was a risk that Croydon FC could suffer sanctions from their league for not having changing rooms or a safe, undercover spectator area.
The main stand and changing rooms were closed in March following a health and safety inspection. Perry claimed then that he “asked officers…”, by which he meant council staff, “… to review minor remedial works”. In a tweet where he (or the press office flunky) could not even bother to tag Croydon Harriers properly, Perry claimed that these works had been carried out.
Evidently, that was simply untrue.
The volunteer officials at Croydon FC went to huge efforts to create a welcoming and exciting atmosphere for the Bank Holiday clash with Bridon Ropes, with new kit, new badges, printed programmes and special street food on offer. And while the team on the pitch was winning, the council-owned facilities left much to be desired.
The main stand remains closed, despite what Perry – who enjoys regular VIP hospitality with the Premier League big boys at Selhurst Park – claimed. Plastic fold-up chairs were on offer instead. If a spectator needs the toilets, they have to seek them out elsewhere. The football club’s clubhouse, however, remains a haven for supporters – it has little or nothing to do with the council.
Delighted: but untrue, Mayor Perry’s tweet from March this year
“Better”, the trading name for Greenwich Leisure Ltd, have the council contract to manage the sports venue. It remains Croydon Council’s responsibility to pay for maintenance and repairs.
Today, a spokesperson for Better told Inside Croydon that they “continue to support the council in completing the repairs required to the main stand”. Which roughly translates as they are still waiting for the council to get the repairs done.
“The changing rooms remain open for both football and athletics, following clearance that they are safe to use.
“Both parties will continue working towards achieving full access to the spectators stand. We are committed to improving customer access and experience.” Which is nice. And confirms that what Mayor Perry tweeted in March was untrue.
Croydon FC’s next home game is against Clapton on September 7. Let’s hope for spectators’ sake it doesn’t rain that day…
Read more: Mayor’s Olympic blunder as Croydon Harriers are snubbed
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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
I note that it is now 21 months to the next election for Croydon’s Mayor. Can we start counting down the days?
There’s at least one individual, Peter, who is already “on manoeuvres”, for selection as their party’s candidate.
It won’t be long before Mayor Perry can be consigned to the waste bin of Croydon political history.
Which local Tory is daring to stand against their glorious Leader? Is there another power base beginning in the South Croydon Homelands to take over from the old Perry-Creatura-Barwell axis of mediocrity and incompetence?
Who said it was a Tory?
I like guessing games. Is it the Artless Bodger?
Nope
Be careful what you wish for. “Super” Mario might stage a comeback.
He rendered that nigh on impossible when he moved to Banstead in pursuit of bigger and better things.
Time is ticking towards the end of their time on Croydon Council for Creatura and Perry.
You portray our wonderful Mayor as someone who deliberately tells “porkie pies”. There are other possibilities, such as
– He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on
– He doesn’t care what’s going on
– He doesn’t listen to the unpalatable truths that Council staff tell him, just hears what he wants to hear
– Council staff tell him lies and he’s stupid enough to believe them.
The Cabinet Member responsible for overseeing, amongst other things, Leisure, Voluntary and Community Sector partnerships and Sport is Councillor Andy Stranack. What’s he going to do to put things right? Sod all like his boss?
Piss-poor Perry ensured that he rendered his cabinet members impotent, around 12 months before he made himself impotent and lost his own executive powers.
The reason we portray Perry as a liar is because that is what he is – aided and abetted by the propaganda department.
We need to check for a corporate pulse – those in the Town hall generally couldn’t give a damn about the borough and its facilities – take Regina Road as an example. The problem with the Arena stand did not just occur overnight when the flunky attended, panicked and closed the whole stand down. I reckon that the problem occurred at least a couple of years ago, maybe pre-Covid, and yet it was deemed so urgent that it took until last March for someone to attend.
And what about the state of the seating. I have yet to see anyone who is watching the football damaging those tip up seats. I have been told that it happens when schools attend for their sports days and arguably teachers have done nothing.
It’s the only place that you can get a decent but distant view of the pitch. That was made worse in the late eighties / early nineties when the tartan track was laid and football pitch was distanced from the railings / spectators.
Floodlighting – when are the bulbs going to be replaced. At the end of last season, there were so many dead bulbs. Was anything done to rectify the problem during the summer months?
How do we get a referendum to GET RID of the position?
The imposition of government overseers due to the financial disasters of current and prior council has mad the position nothing more than a drain on our council finance for no apparent benefit other than to fill the bank account of the elected mayor.
Lets just get rid of the mayor.
Are you complaining about the office, or the office-holder?
Start organising one Mike http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7688312.stm
The current legislation says that if we brought in a mayoral system through holding a referendum, the only way to change it is to hold another referendum. It also says that “Where a local authority has held a referendum on its governance arrangements, a further referendum may not be held for ten years”.
So that means the earliest we can have a referendum is 2031 and, if successful, the changes would come in at the following Council elections in 2034. So, unless there is a change brought in by national Government, we are stuck with the mayoral system for at least another two Mayors.
Let’s hope Croydon decides to elect better ones in future.