INSIDE SUTTON: The former leader of the Conservative group at the Civic Centre has deferred his retirement to help see off challenges from LibDems and Reform, as ROSE HILL reports
New start: incinerator critic Tim Crowley has switched to the Beddington Independents
Tim Crowley, for seven years the leader of the Conservative opposition on Sutton Council, has abandoned plans for retirement and will be standing for election on May 7 – with the Beddington Independents.
“Independence means I can speak forthrightly, work constructively with councillors of all parties, and deliver the scrutiny and accountability Beddington deserves,” Crowley said today.
Crowley will be standing in Beddington together with incinerator opponents Nick Mattey and Tim Foster. Jillian Green, a Beddington Independent councillor since 2018, is standing down from the council. Green’s intended replacement, Pamela Marsh, died recently after a short illness.
Yesterday was the funeral of community activist Marsh.
Mattey and Foster had appealed to Crowley to postpone his retirement and join their battle against Viridor and industrial waste operators Suez, who have been inflicted on Beddington by Sutton’s controlling Liberal Democrats.
Waiting in the wings: former LibDem Patrick Ogbonna will be standing as an independent in The Wrythe
The LibDems go into the May elections with a majority on Sutton Council of just one seat, following the acrimonious resignation of Wrythe councillor Patrick Ogbonna, amid allegations of racism against his party’s local leaders. Ogbonna will also be campaigning as an independent at this year’s local elections, standing in The Wrythe.
Crowley, 64, last year said he would not be standing, after 20 years representing Carshalton South and Clockhouse. At the last full council meeting of the term on March 2, Crowley launched a “final” broadside at Sutton LibDems and their former leader, Ruth Dombey.
“I’d rather have him fighting for us,” one Tory councillor told InsideSutton today. “But I’d rather have him elected and fighting the LibDems from somewhere than disappearing completely.”
InsideSutton understands Crowley personally sounded out some of his long-standing Tory colleagues before making his decision. “I had fully intended to retire from politics and was not looking to stand again,” Crowley said. “When Nick Mattey and Tim Foster approached me following Pam’s passing, I reconsidered.
“Pam was a committed and effective community representative, and continuing that work in Beddington is something I feel I can contribute.”
Crowley was first elected in 2006 and became leader of the opposition Conservative group at a time when it had just eight councillors after the 2014 elections. When he stood down as leader, succeeded by Tom Drummond in 2020, the Conservatives had 21 councillors.
Crowley has, like Mattey, been a long-term and consistent critic of Viridor’s Beddington incinerator and the creation of Sutton Council’s heat network, SDEN.
Crowley’s persistence prompted the devastating independent investigation into the business plan for SDEN, which found Sutton Council had knowingly included non-existent grants and housing in their financial model, which led to the imposition of a monopoly heat supplier on hundreds of residents in Hackbridge.
He also exposed the LibDem council’s decision not to pursue their former chair, John Drage, who failed to declare his close friendship with the CEO of Viridor when he was involved in the award of the £1billion contract.
Drage’s church in Wallington received a £275,000 grant from a Viridor charity.
The council accepted Drage’s claim that he only became reacquainted with the Viridor boss after voting to award the contract was completed. Evidence uncovered by InsideSutton proved that Drage had dined with the Viridor CEO just four days before a crucial vote, and made no declaration.
With nearly 1,000 breaches of their emissions licence limits, the Viridor incinerator remains a hot topic in Beddington, while SDEN – which will rely on a heat connection to the incinerator – has been a financial burden for Sutton Council Tax-payers.
Crowley’s decision to join the Beddington Independents will be a setback for Sutton’s LibDems, who describe their candidates for the ward as “hardworking local champions”, despite none of them having any record of ever doing anything locally. In leaflets recently delivered to households in Beddington, the LibDem candidates claim to be fighting for the local NHS and cutting waiting times at local GPs. There is not a single GP surgery nor dentist in the ward.
The LibDem candidates in Beddington include Dr Rob Leah, a non-medical chemist who works for Ceres Power in “clean energy”. The irony of Leah standing in a ward where the Viridor incinerator spews out more than 350,000 tonnes of CO2 every year will not be lost on residents. Leah donated £2,750 to Bobby Dean ahead of the 2024 general election, where Dean was elected as MP for Carshalton and Wallington.
Another LibDem candidate, Chante O’Shaughnessy, is a close associate of former LibDem MP Tom Brake. Another member of the LibDem political bubble, she works in Bobby Dean’s office as a caseworker.
In 2022, Beddington Independents won the three seats in the ward with nearly 40% of votes, almost double what the LibDems managed.
The Conservatives are not expected to contest Beddington, beyond fielding three “paper” candidates. Sutton’s Tories have their hands full coping with an expected onslaught from grifter Nigel Farage’s limited company – subject to its own many shortcomings and internal squabbles.
Sarah Gwynn has been confirmed as standing for Labour in Beddington.
Read more: Drage-Net: Complaint filed to police over incinerator lobbying
Read more: Polluting Viridor exposed over nearly 1,000 licence breaches
Read more: Infant death rates were up by 233% after incinerator fired up
Read more: Viridor’s charge sheet: incinerator operator’s eco-vandalism
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“Independence means I can speak forthrightly, work constructively with councillors of all parties, and deliver the scrutiny and accountability Beddington deserves,” Crowley said today.”
You could do all that as a Tory councillor!
If he didn’t then the question need to be asked – why didn’t he?
He’d have been slung out for not toeing the party line, a bit like that Labour MP, Karl Turner, for criticising Starmer’s evil plan to take away trial by jury and saying that Morgan “McSwindle” didn’t really have his phone stolen