‘What are you going to do about the Whitgift Centre?’ one of our readers asked Councillor Rowenna Davis, Labour’s recently selected candidate to stand for election as Croydon Mayor in May 2026.
‘At the moment, there’s more buckets than businesses.’
Inside Croydon’s panel of readers pull no punches with Councillor Davis in our latest Croydon Insider roundtable topical news discussion podcast thingy, recorded in a virtual studio Under The Flyover, as their questions ranged widely across the issues confronting Croydon and its residents today, starting with how Davis from the party that did so much to bankrupt the borough would “fix the finances” if she were to be elected next year.
There seemed to be widespread agreement among the panel members that “fix the finances” is something that Tory Mayor Jason Perry has singularly failed to do, despite hiking Council Tax by 27% since 2023.
Neither the £84,000 per year Mayor Perry, nor any of his Tory colleagues, could be bothered to turn up last month to face iC readers’ questions.
Someone’s missing: How we empty-chaired Mayor Jason Perry last month
Perhaps they are frit?
Or have run out of answers?
Davis, in her efforts to demonstrate how Croydon Labour has changed and is “Putting People First”, did join us in our virtual studio Under The Flyover for an hour’s discussion on the problems, and solutions, possible for Croydon.
Our readers/guests for this episode were Oumesh Sauba, a town centre businessman and one of the founders of the Croydon Business Association; Connie Duxbury, the chief executive of Croydon Community Energy; teacher and iC’s culture correspondent, Ken Towl; and Neil Bennett, a former BBC TV News reporter.
Our Croydon Insider podcasts are premium content, exclusively for paying subscribers to Inside Croydon, available on Patreon or on Spotify.
So as well as teacher redundancies, solar panels and what can be done to revive the Fairfield Halls, Bennett is asked for his expert views on the chances of Crystal Palace winning the 2025 FA Cup final at Wembley.
Sign up as a paying subscriber now to access this podcast, and our full archive, as well as qualify for special discount offers and prize competitions, as well as priority bookings for iC events.
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
“Neither the £84,000 per year Mayor Perry, nor any of his Tory colleagues, could be bothered to turn up last month to face iC readers’ questions.
Perhaps they are frit?”
Is “frit” some sort of shorthand for frightened?
There has been so little rain recently that they don’t even need buckets (to catch drips from the leaking roof of the Whitgift Centre)?
It’s a reference to Margaret Thatcher’s claim in 1983 that Labour was “frit” to take her on in a general election.
Great episode!
Thank you, Chris