Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, begins a new public engagement initiative tonight, with a “Residents’ Association Forum” meeting in the Braithwaite Hall, next to the Town Hall.
Totalitarian: Jason Perry picks and chooses which RAs are allowed to attend his ‘forum’
But petty Perry is picking and choosing who gets to ask him questions about the cash-strapped council, where he has hiked Council Tax by 33% since 2023.
Inside Croydon can reveal that the Tory Mayor has blocked representatives of at least two residents’ groups, who have been told that they cannot attend a meeting for residents’ groups.
The formal invite went out a fortnight ago, under the heading “OFFICIAL”.
“Dear Resident Association,
“We would like to extend an invitation for the first of the new Mayoral and Resident Association meetings, taking place on Tuesday August 18, 6pm-7.30pm. The meeting will be hosted in the Braithwaite Hall, which is located in Croydon Town Hall on Katharine Street.
“This meeting, which is intended to take place on a quarterly basis moving forward, will be an opportunity for discussion with Executive Mayor Perry on a range of matters relating to the borough.”
Tonight’s agenda demonstrates that this is not a “listening” exercise by Mayor Perry, but another council-funded bit of political promotion.
First up is Perry and “Update from Executive Mayor on state of the council…”, plot spoiler, it ain’t good, “… and priorities for the second Mayoral term.” The agenda doesn’t mention it, but since the government appointed Commissioners a year ago, Perry has been rendered impotent. It makes no difference what his priorities might be. It’s the Commissioners who have hold of the council’s purse strings.
Then there’s “Introduction to Councillor Alasdair Stewart”, another Conservative councillor.
There’s “The new zero-tolerance approach to enforcement”, and “Introduction to key council officers”, by which they mean senior council staff, including Haily Cluff, who has just started as Croydon’s head of environmental services and sustainable neighbourhoods – basically overseeing Veolia and the bins, a job that in “the fly-tip capital of England” has seen more churn than a Moulinex mixer.
Then there’s to be a “Discussion on new or returning waste management schemes”, “Blitz Cleans” and “Rolling rubbish”. Only after the meeting has waded through all of that self-promotion might Perry open the floor to questions.
Star attraction: Perry is tonight platforming Alasdair Stewart
The invitation email was signed off by the borough’s £86,000 per year Mayor, and distributed by a council official who provides “support” for four members of Perry’s cabinet: Ola Kolade (“communities, safety and justice”), Robert Ward (“parks and culture”), Alasdair Stewart (“streets and enforcement”) and Jeet Bains (“planning and regulatory services”).
Thanks to a pay rise approved earlier this year when Perry was putting up your Council Tax to record levels, these four Conservative councillors now receive more than £165,000 per year in council allowances between them.
Summoning the RAs to Katharine Street is a departure from part-time Perry’s approach during his first term in office when he staged a series of “Mayor’s Question Time” events, “delivering a commitment which the Mayor made to residents during his [2022] campaign to listen to residents of Croydon”.
It was at one of these meetings that Perry let slip that he was using fines raised from LTNs – low-traffic neighbourhoods – as a revenue generator – which led to the Tory Mayor being admonished by a High Court judge and costing the borough up to £10million in refunded fines and lost revenues.
The Mayor’s Question Time events were thinly-disguised political booster sessions for the Tory Mayor, all paid for out of residents’ Council Tax. The “Question Time” title was misleading, since few questions were ever taken from the floor. Only closely vetted submissions were chosen at these carefully stage-managed events.
Staging similar meetings but with representatives of RAs is probably seen as lower risk and more readily controllable. Most residents’ associations are from the south of the borough, and will have Conservative councillors embedded as “observers” or even acting in some cases as committee officials running the “non-political” organisation.
New signing: Haily Cluff, is the new head of environmental services
There are around 30 residents’ associations or groupings within the borough, and another 46 officially recognised friends’ groups – usually focused on the maintenance and upkeep of open spaces or parks – in Croydon.
But some residents’ groups were never sent the invite to tonight’s event, and when they found out about the meeting, they were told they would not be welcome.
“Litter Free Norbury didn’t get an invitation to a meeting clearly geared toward streets and environment issues,” according to LFN’s Tony Hooker. And Graham Mitchell, who has been running residents’ action groups in nearby Thornton Heath asked to attend, “but they declined his request”.
“This is our totalitarian ‘Listening Mayor’ regime in action,” Hooker said. “No dissenting voices allowed.”
Hooker and Mitchell have been asking for sight of the renewed Veolia contract for 18 months, which Perry promised to make public, but never has.
Other RAs are also approaching tonight’s gathering with some scepticism. “I think that people talking directly to the Mayor is a good thing,” said a member of another residents’ association who asked not to be identified in case Perry decides to block them and their organisation too.
“The key questions will be who sets the agenda, who is allowed to talk and will it actually lead to any changes?
“Is it really a ‘forum’ for a proper exchange of views and to raise legitimate concerns, or will it be just another public-funded photo opportunity for Perry?”
Inside Croydon asked the council for a list of invitees to Perry’s little gathering tonight. There had been no response by the time of publication.
Read more: The art of the deal: what is Perry hiding over Veolia contract?
Read more: #BINMAGEDDON: Veolia performance is worse under new deal
Read more: Council spends thousands to promote Perry’s political events
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