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More churn at the top as interim directors leave the council

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The rapid turnover among senior staff at Fisher’s Folly suggests that the ‘leadership issues’ which were in-part responsible for Commissioners being sent in to run Croydon Council may continue to be a problem for those left behind after Katherine Kerswell’s abrupt exit
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Elaine Jackson, the temporary stand-in chief executive at Croydon Council, has something of a senior staffing problem to deal with, as two more interim directors have quit Fisher’s Folly.

The imminent departures of Tony Ralph and Chris Wortley brings to at least eight the number of director-level staff at the council to have left Croydon in just three months since the announcement in July that management of the council was to be placed in the hands of external, government-appointed Commissioners.

Jackson was supposed to have been taking early retirement this month, but was persuaded to stay on and provide “cover” following the abrupt departure of her erstwhile boss, Katherine Kerswell. Jackson’s tasks now include finding emergency cover for those who were hired recently as emergency cover…

Kerswell had been Croydon’s chief exec since September 2020, arriving when the council had debts of £1.4billion. After presiding over three Section 114 notices, effective admissions of bankruptcy, in her time in charge, Kerswell left at the end of October with the council’s debt still at £1.4billion, but with the consolation of being paid £50,000 by Mayor Jason Perry to not work her three months’ notice period.

Staffing issues: Elaine Jackson’s appointment as temporary CEO has not staunched the exodus of senior employees

The latest departures, of Ralph and Wortley, both come from the “Place” department, which is supposed to oversee a range of vital issues at the local authority, from planning and the Local Plan, to the town centre regeneration, to parking, fines and permits, to the state of the borough’s road network and managing Veolia, Croydon’s rubbish contractors.

The department has witnessed an unusually high churn rate of senior officials in recent months, since Nick Hibberd left his post as corporate director for sustainable communities, regeneration and economic recovery to take over as CEO at Bristol City Council in January.

Hibberd’s replacement, Naz Hussein, is working her notice period until the end of this month, though she did achieve one of her objectives, ensuring the departure of another director-level official, the controversial planning director Heather Cheesbrough.

Among the other top-level departures has been Karen Agbabiaka, “interim director for sustainable communities” – mostly roads – who left her Croydon job in September.

Quick turnaround: Tony Ralph is already leaving Croydon

She was swiftly replaced by Tony Ralph, a former senior official in Islington, as “interim director streets and environment”.

But he’s on his way out already, having barely got his Fisher’s Folly seat warm.

According to Katharine Street sources, Ralph is working his notice period (proof that you don’t have to pay someone tens of thousands of pounds not to do their job), although others say that the rarely available Ralph is already replying to emails with an out of office notification.

Chris Wortley has been the interim director in charge of parking matters in Croydon for just over a year. It is understood that he is standing down for personal reasons.

As the revolving door at Fisher’s Folly spins ever quicker, waiting for an opportunity to take up a new role – and replace Naz Hussein – is Venetia Reid-Baptiste, who is joining Croydon from Lambeth, where she has worked as “director of environment and streetscene”.

“Quite impressive,” was the initial reaction of a Katharine Street source, who added, “though anyone who has managed to work at Lambeth Council should fit right in here in Croydon. If she can find anyone else still working here, that is.”

Read more: The Kerswell Affair: Croydon is worse off after CEO’s five years
Read more: When’s a pay-off not a pay-off? When it’s 50 grand in Croydon
Read more: More council churn as exec in charge of regeneration quits
Read more: Go West! Cash-strapped council’s finance chief is set to quit
Read more: Council’s agency staff bill includes £726 per hour consultant

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