A banner in council colours has appeared outside the Purley Pool this week lauding Jason Perry’s role in the (non-)development of the site in what rival politicians have described as a clear breach of election law.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Banned banner: council bosses cleared this Jason Perry promotion to appear one day before election ‘purdah’ began
Elaine Jackson, the council’s £210,000 interim chief executive, has been dragged into a pre-election political row after refusing to remove a large poster outside Purley Pool which promotes Tory Jason Perry in his campaign to be re-elected as Croydon Mayor.
Jackson is supposed to be a neutral public official who next month will be overseeing the conduct of local elections as Croydon’s Returning Officer.
Jackson was promoted by Perry as the council’s head of service after Katherine Kerswell quit Fisher’s Folly last October.
In February this year, Perry authorised an above-inflation pay rise for Jackson and other council directors.
In the last few days, a large banner has appeared outside Purley Pool, in Croydon’s corporate colours and carrying the council logo, with the message: “This is a major regeneration project driven by Executive Mayor Jason Perry to return a pool to the heart of Purley and to restore pride in the area.”
“Driven”. As if.
“Restore pride” has also been a regular theme in Perry and Croydon Conservatives’ own leaflets.
No answer: Elaine Jackson has failed to respond to Labour’s urgent complaint
The banner has been condemned by Perry’s political rivals for breaking the strict laws on how local authorities should conduct themselves in a politically neutral manner, especially around election time, when they are forbidden from using public money to favour any particular candidate.
Stuart King, Labour’s leader at the Town Hall, has written to Jackson and to Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, the former estate agent who now runs Croydon’s legal department, demanding that the banner should be removed immediately.
King’s request has so far been ignored, with the banner still in situ over the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Jason Perry and senior council officials have already been roundly criticised from all sides for “campaigning on the rates”, with the inclusion of an election letter from the Conservative Mayor included with all Council Tax notices sent out last month, in addition to the Our Croydon freesheet, paid for by Council Tax-payers and full of Perry pictures and propaganda.
Election rules at councils demand a period of “purdah”, where nothing can be published or distributed by a local authority in a pre-election period. In Croydon, that purdah period started on Monday, March 30. It is understood that the Purley Pool banner was put up on Sunday, in a deliberate attempt to get around the law.
“It just gets more and more shameless,” said Major Richard Howard, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Croydon Mayor.
Propaganda Perry: Croydon’s Mayor is centre of attention in his tax-payer funded freesheet
Peter Underwood, the Green Party’s mayoral candidate, viewed the banner as outright electioneering for the Conservatives. “All election material needs to have an ‘imprint’ by law to say who has produced it and paid for it. I can’t see one on this.”
King, who is working as election agent for Labour’s candidate for Croydon Mayor, Rowenna Davis, has already raised a formal complaint over the publication of the latest issue of Our Croydon, using public money.
The council’s legal department claims that it is conducting itself within the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority publicity.
King was fobbed off with this response: “The current edition of the Our Croydon, the e-newsletters, and the letter to residents with their Council Tax bills are council publications which serve the purpose to keep residents informed about the services and activities of the council. They are consistent with the Publicity Code’s requirements and are politically neutral and do not seek to influence public support for a political party or the Mayor.”
On the banner outside Purley Pool, King sent his complaint to Jackson and Lawrence-Orumwense on Wednesday. He called the banner “a clear breach of the council’s pre-election period guidance”.
Banner complaint: Cllr Stuart King
He wrote: “I am of the view that this breaches the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, in particular in that authorities should not issue any publicity which seeks to influence voters and that publicity relating to individuals involved directly in the election (in this case Jason Perry) should not be published.”
King says that the banner appears “to be a council initiative that promotes the Conservative Mayoral candidate by name”.
The Labour councillor notes that Purley Pool was a “highly contentious” election issue four years ago. Despite Perry making an election promise to re-open Purley Pool, a development scheme to build hundreds of retirement homes on the site has failed to progress beyond its planning application, which gained approval from City Hall more than three months ago.
King wrote to the council bosses: “There is no apparent ‘business as usual’ necessity for this banner to be displayed during the pre-election period.
“It is also displayed on a council building which is also a breach of the pre-election period guidance.
“Please can you confirm that this will be removed immediately.”
The pair of six-figure-salaried council chiefs have so far not replied to King.
Read more:Labour’s Town Hall leader files complaint over Perry’s spending
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