WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: Six years after he was forced to quit the Town Hall and was then suspended by the Labour Party, one of those at the heart of the council’s financial collapse is back in local government
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Former Croydon councillor Simon Hall, one of those accused of bankrupting the borough, is back in local government as a member of a town council in the north-east of England – without ever receiving a single vote in an election.
Town councillor: Simon Hall is now living in the north-east
“I am pleased to be doing my part for the town,” Hall, since April a councillor in Shildon in County Durham, told Inside Croydon.
Hall, together with Tony Newman, Alison Butler and Paul Scott, was a member of the “Gang of Four” who dominated matters in the Croydon Labour Party and the corridors of power at the Town Hall for most of the last decade.
Hall had been the cabinet member for finance for six years under Newman when Croydon Council’s finances collapsed in 2020.
Hall resigned his cabinet position that October, not long before a hugely critical Report In The Public Interest was published by auditors Grant Thornton. The following month the council was forced to issue a Section 114 notice, a statutory statement that it was effectively bankrupt.
At the time of his resignation as a cabinet member, Hall said that he was “proud” of his achievements since 2014.
All is revealed: after Croydon Council sat on it for months, it was Inside Croydon which published the Penn Report
Hall subsequently quit as a councillor in New Addington, and had his membership of the Labour Party suspended. The council-commissioned Penn Report, which investigated the circumstances of the borough’s financial distress, recommended that Hall, a chartered accountant, should be referred to his professional body over his conduct in Croydon.
No one has ever been sacked, fined or charged for their part in the events which led to the financial collapse of Croydon Council, which included the mismanagement of Brick by Brick and £200million of public money, the multi-million-pound overspend on the Fairfield Halls refurbishment, and other dodgy-looking property deals and the handling of Council Tax bands. Penn entitled his report in 2021 “Collective corporate blindness”.
Hall has always maintained he had done no wrong during his time as cabinet member for finance, describing the various investigations into his and others’ conduct as a “witch hunt”.
And, restored as a Labour Party member after a five-year suspension (which resulted in no disciplinary action), Hall is back in local politics and on a council. Not that he was ever elected.
Hall and his family relocated to the north-east in an effort at a fresh start following the scandal in Croydon. In April this year, Hall was co-opted on to Shildon Town Council, a small local authority within County Durham.
There are just 7,192 electors in the whole of Shildon, which is located between Darlington and Bishop Auckland. For council purposes, Shildon is divided into three wards, which are supposed to be represented by 17 councillors. At present, nine of those, including Hall, were co-opted rather than being elected. The next council elections in Shildon are not until 2029.
Do the Locomotion: Shildon in County Durham is home to the world’s first railway station
According to the council’s website, Shildon Town Council is responsible for 435 allotments, a cemtery [sic], parks, four play areas, 27 bus shelters, grounds maintenance and grass cutting, CCTV, public conveniences, community buildings, litter bins, public seating, grants, Christmas decorations, community safety officer, recreation, Citizens Advice Bureaux, a skill centre and “miscellaneous”.
Shildon is most famous as the home of the Locomotion Museum, located in the town with the world’s first railway station, built in 1825.
Shildon operates at a tier below Durham County Council, where in 2025 Reform Ltd took control for the first time. Shildon and Dene Valley. its county council ward, returned three Reform councillors.
Shildon is one of 104 town or parish councils in County Durham, where it is not uncommon for councillors to be co-opted, simply because no one else can be bothered.
According to Durham County Council, co-options at town and parish councils can occur after a vacancy arises – due to death, resignation or disqualification – and after a period when no one has submitted a call for a by-election (it takes 10 residents to trigger a by-election).
Signed up: Simon Hall’s declaration form after he was co-opted as town councillor in April
Shildon’s council website says that co-options happen to ensure “electors are not left unrepresented in their ward for a long time after an election or resignation” and to share the workload. “Filling empty seats helps share council responsibilities fairly among members.”
Co-opted councillors are not nominated by political parties, and nor do they receive allowances. Inside Croydon has confirmed that Simon Hall is, once more, a member of the Labour Party, and is a member of the party’s local executive committee. Hall chairs the campaign committee.
For Hall to be co-opted, all he had to do was fill in a “short application form” (Shildon’s description) and get a couple of neighbours to propose and second him. The form calls for “a written summary covering their reasons for wishing to be a councillor; previous community or council work [and] any other skills”.
Hall’s application form must have been fascinating… Did it even mention his having been a councillor in Croydon from 2005 to 2020?
All of the details entered on the applicants’ forms are only ever discussed by existing town councillors in secret, and those volunteering to join the council are then voted on by the councillors. So there’s no real opportunity for any public scrutiny of the council applicants.
Secret service: after six months, no one has uploaded the councillor’s photo to the council website
Inside Croydon asked Simon Hall whether he considers it appropriate, after all that went on in Croydon, for him to take up the role of a councillor in another part of the country without being subject to a vote of his new electorate.
Shildon councillor Hall declined to answer our question.
Hall said: “In terms of Shildon Town Council, it is quite normal for councillors to be co-opted. Indeed, I am one of nine co-optees on Shildon Council.
“No Shildon councillor gets any allowances. It is purely voluntary and I am pleased to be doing my part for the town.”
Asked about the investigation conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Hall says that “it concluded there was no case to answer and closed the case after a preliminary review”.
So that’s alright then.
Read more: MP calls for misconduct charges against ex-councillor Hall
Read more: Newman and Hall are ‘administratively suspended’ by Labour
Read more: Officials to investigate possible wrong-doing at council
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