Our Town Hall reporter KEN LEE has got hold of a confidential letter from the Tory Mayor in which there’s an implied threat of action against a homelessness charity
Nasty Party: Tory Mayor Jason Perry
Croydon Mayor Jason Perry is a fully paid-up member of the Nasty Party, and he has no qualms about showing it.
Perry, who is paid £82,000 per year by the council for his part-time role, has taken well over a month before he bothered to provide the courtesy reply to a letter from 37 of the borough’s 70 elected councillors.
The letter, signed by LibDem, Green and Labour councillors but no Conservatives, appealed to Perry to drop all threats of legal action against Croydon Nightwatch, the borough’s biggest charity which provides food and support to rough sleepers and the working poor every night of the year.
The threat of an injunction against Nightwatch using the Queen’s Gardens public open space for their nightly food service was made in an email from the council’s “interim director of commercial investment and capital”, someone who styles himself “Huw Rhys Lewis BSc, BArch, MSc, MRIBA, MRICS, MAPM”.
On September 30, the majority of the borough’s councillors wrote to Perry, saying, “We call on you to support Nightwatch, a charity that has been serving some of Croydon’s most vulnerable people for almost 50 years, most visibly at Queen’s Gardens.
“Nightwatch has been asking for a dialogue with the council about a permanent shelter with lighting for the charity to operate from, which they would fund themselves. Despite their service, we are concerned about the council’s interactions with this charity, which they say have included repeated failures to reply, confusion and legal threats.
“This is a shocking way to treat one of Croydon’s most highly regarded charities, which has also been adopted as the official charity of the civic mayor.”
Surveys conducted among Inside Croydon’s readers found that 87% said that the council should not take legal action against Nightwatch, and 83% felt that the council should be doing more to help Nightwatch’s charitable activities.
But as one Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon, “Mayor Perry has no interest in looking after vulnerable people. In fact, it’s obvious that he wants to clear Croydon’s streets of rough sleepers, who he sees as an inconvenience for his mates in big business.”
Out in all weathers: Nightwatch volunteers keep up their regular service, no thanks to Croydon Council
This week Perry, or one of the several assistants employed by the council to help him with his less-than-onerous workload, finally managed to get round to replying to the councillors’ Nightwatch letter.
In his reply, which he had had six weeks to mull over, Pompous Perry writes, “Homelessness is a complex issue, and whilst immediate relief is important, our focus must be on long-term solutions that move people off the streets and into stable housing, with support from health, addiction services, and other agencies.”
Perry was clearly showing some reluctance to answer the question at the nub of the councillors’ appeal.
He had been absent, apparently ill, from the last meeting of full council, so was not confronted by public questioning on the matter. His deputy, Lynne Hale, was left to face the music.
“Deputy executive mayor councillor Lynne Hale,” Perry’s letter rambled on, “and the corporate director for housing recently had a productive meeting with Nightwatch. We aim to continue to work with Nightwatch to develop a collaborative action plan that addresses both their mission of supporting homeless individuals and the council’s goal of reducing street homelessness.
“You will be aware that at full council on 9th October, our appreciation and recognition of Nightwatch’s work was shared by the deputy executive mayor.
“We also stressed that no legal action would be taken against the charity,” Perry wrote, seven paragraphs into his windbag-esque response.
Threatening email: Huw Rhys Lewis BSc BArch MSc MRIBA MRICS MAPM
But this was not an unreserved declaration of support for the charity and its work. Perry now chose to double-down on the petty complaints of council bureaucrat Huw Rhys Lewis BSc, BArch, MSc, MRIBA, MRICS, MAPM.
“However, reports of antisocial behaviour, littering and drug paraphernalia in The Queen’s Gardens during and after food serving sessions are concerning,” Perry wrote. This repeats the complaints of Huw Rhys Lewis BSc, BArch, MSc, MRIBA, MRICS, MAPM, which were completely rejected by Nightwatch as being baseless and without any evidence.
“We have engaged with Nightwatch multiple times to address these issues,” Perry now claims.
The rest of his letter was a full-on effort in gas-lighting.
“Whilst Nightwatch have informally requested permission for a shelter in The Queen’s Gardens, but [sic] we believe this could entrench rough sleeping rather than encourage engagement with our services, which aim to secure stable housing. Our dialogue continues to find better and different ways of working.
“I would like to reaffirm our support for the vital work Nightwatch does in feeding vulnerable people. However, ensuring that The Queen’s Gardens remains a safe, clean space for all – including families, residents, businesses and those being helped by Nightwatch – is a priority.”
As summarised by a Katharine Street source to whom we showed the letter today: “What Perry’s really saying here is: ‘We appreciate and recognise Nightwatch’s help. But they can just fuck off because there’s too much litter’.”
And the source continued: “This is just further evidence that Perry is incapable of standing up to the council’s senior paid staff, even the bullies among them.
“Either that, or he is enjoying the trappings of his office too much and isn’t that bothered about helping the homeless.
“Or, of course, both.”
Read more: Perry’s council threatens legal action against homeless charity
Read more: Nightwatch blocked from feeding homeless by council building
Read more: £1,000 donation to Nightwatch as they battle cost of living crisis
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