It was an intervention 12 years ago by the then Mayor of London that got Croydon’s biggest landowners into a disastrous £1.4bn gamble with Westfield. Now they are turning to BoJo’s ‘revered’ aide to get them out of the mess. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Full in-tray: Roisha Hughes, announced as the Whitgift Foundation’s new chief exec
Roisha Hughes, a career-long civil servant who worked closely with Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, has been appointed as the new chief executive of the financially troubled Whitgift Foundation.
Hughes, 44, who lives in Croydon with her three children, is expected to start her new job, which comes with a salary package of close to £200,000, “later this autumn”.
When she arrives at the Foundation’s offices next to the medieval Almshouses off George Street, she will inherit a stacked in-tray for an organisation in crisis and long-term decline.
The Whitgift Foundation, founded by the eponymous Archbishop of Canterbury in 1596, is registered as a charity, but in fact operates a quarter-of-a-billion-pound property business, as Croydon’s biggest landowners, as well as running three – soon to be two – large private schools.
Figure it out: our table shows the decline in Foundation finances while Christopher Houlding has been chair of the Court of Governors
It was Boris Johnson, when Mayor of London and Hughes’ then boss, who intervened over the project to impose Westfield on the scheme, at the behest of the Whitgift Foundation and one of its trustees at the time, Tory MP Gavin Barwell, and against the wishes of the majority of leaseholders.
The financial difficulties created by the long-term reduction in income from Whitgift Centre properties have had damaging, knock-on effects: 12 months ago, the Foundation’s governors abruptly announced the closure of the Old Palace girls’ school, causing outrage among parents, pupils and staff.
The school’s nursery and prep site on Melville Avenue closed in July; the senior school in Old Town will close at the end of the current academic year.
That is just one of the live issues in Roisha Hughes’s in-tray.
The Whitgift Foundation’s most recent annual report shows that the business lost another £11.4million from its unrestricted funds in the year to August 2023. This follows a £19.9million loss in the registered charity’s finances in 2022 – meaning that the Foundation’s unrestricted funds have fallen from £252million in 2017 to £197million in 2023 – 22% in six years.
In every one of the Foundation’s published annual returns for the past six years, they have identified the same risk – “Development of the Whitgift Shopping Centre not commencing” – with the mitigation action being: “Regular meetings take place with the developer and other key parties to monitor progress”. So that’s all fine then…
And according to a statement issued to Inside Croydon earlier this year, the Foundation’s two large fee-paying boys’ schools, Trinity and Whitgift, “are both thriving and full, with trustees continuing to consider options for supporting girls’ education once Old Palace closes in 2025”. That, though, was before there ws the prospect of VAT on school fees.
The Foundation is currently without either a permanent CEO nor chair of its Court of Governors.
Former UBS merchant banker Christoper Houlding, chair of the governors, is standing down after nine years in the role. The Foundation announced its recruitment of a new chair earlier this month.
The vacancy for a chief executive existed for even longer – an interim has been filling in on Hughes’ role for the past 18 months, since Martin Corney went on long-term sick leave in May 2023. Corney eventually retired last November, but the recruitment ads for his successor did not appear until June this year.
Merchant banker: Christopher Houlding presided over years of multi-million-pound losses
Some may regard Hughes’s appointment with some surprise, since her otherwise impressive-looking CV lacks any private sector commercial experience, no direct involvement with overseeing large-scale developments, nor has she ever worked in the education sector.
Hughes did, though, get a CBE for “public service” in 2022, in Boris Johnson’s PM’s resignation honours list. Johnson, the New Statesman reported, “revered Roisha Hughes, his Cambridge-educated private secretary at City Hall”.
Announcing Hughes’ appointment as CEO, the Foundation said it is “delighted” at the appointment of its new permanent chief executive. Hughes, they said, “joins the Foundation after two decades of public service. Roisha grew up in Croydon and now lives in the borough with her family.” Which is nice.
“Roisha began her career in the Civil Service at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, including working on London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. She ran the Mayor of London’s office for eight years from 2008, as the city navigated the challenges and opportunities of that period.
“In 2016 Roisha joined the Metropolitan Police as director of strategy and governance. For the past two years Roisha has been working as a consultant,” which means that since October 2022, after five months as chief operating officer at the Met, she has not been in a full-time job.
According to LinkedIn, in 2022 Hughes set up a management consultancy called Reading The Room Ltd, a business which today is without a functioning website.
Charity fatigue: the multi-million land-owners are hard-hit by the decline of their shopping centre
The Foundation’s statement continued: “She is also a Trustee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.”
Repeating themselves, they added: “Roisha grew up in Croydon before studying modern and medieval languages at the University of Cambridge. She later returned home to Croydon to raise her children.” So we’ve established she’s based in or around Croydon, right?
The Foundation also quoted Houlding, the chair of governors who took a year and a half to get round to recruiting a chief exec: “I am excited that we have been able to find in Roisha a highly skilled public servant, a warm and engaging leader and a passionate champion for Croydon.” Did we mention that Hughes is from Croydon?
For her part, Hughes was quoted as saying: “I am really looking forward to leading The John Whitgift Foundation through the next and significant phase in its development.” Or non-development, in the case of the Whitgift Centre.
“I am delighted to be taking on this important role in my home town…”, did we mention that she’s from Croydon?, “… and I will ensure the Foundation continues to deliver on John Whitgift’s vision over 400 years ago: to care for and educate the people of Croydon.”
Read more: Girls and teachers in tears as school prepares for closure
Read more: Houlding decided not to hang on at the failing Foundation
Read more: Foundation abandoned new school plan after taking £70m loan
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
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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
So this lady grew up in Croydon and graduated from Cambridge. I wonder which school she went to? She has three children, in Croydon, I wonder which schools they go to? A little further information would tell us all a lot about the skills and experience she brings to the job, and how well she is acquainted with education matters in our town. She does not appear to have a lot of relevant experience regarding ownership or management of large chunks of the Borough.
I went to St Mary’s RC primary school in West Croydon with Roisha and her younger brother. She was very bright and I also remember her mother teaching there. She went onto Coloma convent and not surprised that she attended Cambridge. I’m sure that she will do her best for Croydon.
I also went to school ( at Coloma)with Roisha she was always great fun and a talented student and was even apparently top of her class at Cambridge for 2 of the 3 years she spent there