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Category Archives: Jacqueline Harris-Baker
Reshuffle puts execs in high-stakes game of musical chairs
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked council documents suggest that the interim chief executive has already made her mind up as to who she wants in her top team. By STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s £192,474 per year interim CEO, looks set to demote … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, S114, Section 114, Shifa Mustafa
10 Comments
The Audit Report: Newman’s £100m gamble with your money
CROYDON IN CRISIS: There’s growing public demand for some degree of accountability over the council’s financial collapse, and there’s mounting evidence that the former leader of the council and his mates broke rules to push through his pet policies. By … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
7 Comments
Kerswell’s management savings plan: no change at the top
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff, unions and residents expected to react angrily to the council’s £193,000 interim CEO’s plan to make only minor changes to the staff on the biggest salaries at Fisher’s Folly. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell’s plan … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
5 Comments
CEO Kerswell: council staff ‘are angry, upset and want answers’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: They say confession is good for the soul, though apologies issued yesterday by several council executives read more like pleas to keep their jobs. By WALTER CRONXITE There were several council staff members who half-expected Katherine Kerswell, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Hamida Ali, Hazel Simmonds, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Chris Wood, Croydon, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Lisa Taylor, MHCLG, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI, Shifa Mustafa
15 Comments
High Court ruling casts doubt on Town Hall block of mayor vote
The legal advice used by Tony Newman last month to block a 20,000-signature public petition could be flawed – according to a High Court judge. Last month Newman, while still the leader of the Labour-controlled council, rejected a mass call … Continue reading
Posted in 2020 London elections, 2020 Mayor Referendum, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, DEMOC, Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon, Gerry Meredith-Smith, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Newham, Tony Newman
1 Comment
Consultant gives 75 reasons for council’s financial mess
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Tony Newman goes into tonight’s council meeting without the cabinet member for finance who has been at his side for a decade, and confronted with a report that shows his administration failed to listen to the warnings … Continue reading
Highly rated resources director is latest to quit the council
EXCLUSIVE: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the how the latest departure from Fisher’s Folly will hit the borough’s health provision as well as Jo Negrini’s leadership ‘team’ Sarah Warman, Croydon Council’s director of commissioning and procurement, has announced … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Minister’s approval required for cuts plan
The council’s £220,000 per year chief executive has ‘Whitehall looking over her shoulder’, reports KEN LEE The grumblings of discontent around Fisher’s Folly among the hundreds of council staff who face redundancy have been partially relieved with the discovery that … Continue reading
Staff accuse Negrini of ‘cowardice’ ahead of showdown meet
The council chief exec is presiding over mounting anger over her handling of the borough finances and management of hundreds of job cuts. STEVEN DOWNES reports Dozens of council staff, many of them facing the prospect of redundancy as part … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Negrini refuses to consider director pay cuts
EXCLUSIVE: Council staff are angry at the high-handed and dismissive manner in which they are being dealt with by the chief exec, while ‘award-winning’ Gateway Services face severe cuts. WALTER CRONXITE reports As the council’s CEO, Jo Negrini has spent … Continue reading
Negrini using coronavirus as smokescreen for financial failure
Council chiefs knew at least since the end of last year that the borough’s finances were in deep trouble after a resilience survey included an adverse auditor’s opinion, though the chief executive used the experts’ report to promote her career. … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini
Tagged Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, Tony Newman
5 Comments
Croydon in crisis: IFS report shows council was ill-prepared
Croydon Council’s mountain of debt and reduced reserves made it one of the country’s least-prepared local authorities for dealing with an emergency such as coronavirus. That’s the conclusion offered by the Institute for Fiscal Studies – IFS – in a … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Council spent £5.5m on legal fees in a year
EXCLUSIVE: The Town Hall has mounting legal issues, as it paid south London Rumpoles nearly half a million pounds a month over the past year, reports WALTER CRONXITE Croydon Council spent £5,477,010 in fees for external legal advice in the … Continue reading
£120m Brick by Brick scheme to get ‘virtual’ planning meeting
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE on how Croydon Council is using the pandemic lockdown to lock out the public from the planning process Council leader Tony Newman has ignored calls from residents’ groups, his own Labour councillors and a local MP … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, East Croydon, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Muhammad Ali, Paul Scott, Planning, Toni Letts, Tony Newman
Tagged Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Heather Cheesbrough, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Toni Letts
2 Comments
Croydon now has three employees paid £200,000+ per year
Our political correspondent, WALTER CRONXITE, reports on the latest startling figures coming out of the council Croydon Council had three members of staff who took home more than £200,000 in the last financial year for which figures are available. That’s … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Colm Lacey, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Eleni Ioannides, Guy van Dichele, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Colm Lacey, Croydon, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Richard Simpson, Shifa Mustafa
4 Comments
Newman and Negrini use covid-19 for Town Hall power grab
By applying ’emergency measures’ during the pandemic crisis, the council leader has taken on the role of an unelected mayor, as KEN LEE reports Croydon’s elected councillors were told by email on Tuesday night that they will have little or … Continue reading
Mystery surrounds council CEO after her ‘intermittent’ emails
There are growing concerns for the well-being of the council chief executive Jo Negrini. It is more than a week now since the borough’s £220,000 per year CEO took to sending auto-responses to her emails, even those from elected councillors. … Continue reading
Newman’s £100,000 governance review that’s going nowhere
KEN LEE on some of the more gruesome findings in a council-commissioned report about Croydon’s ineffective council Even the majority of Croydon’s elected councillors don’t think Croydon Council is “very effective”. That’s just one of the damning findings buried in … Continue reading
Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Joy Prince, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Dame Moira Gibb, DEMOC, Democratically Elected Mayor for Croydon, Governance review panel, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Tony Newman
1 Comment
Council to debate Westfield after Newman’s pointless meeting
KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on an attempt to block any discussion of the crisis for the town centre at next week’s full council meeting Tony Newman came back from his meeting with Westfield at City Hall yesterday empty-handed … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, Labour, London, London Assembly, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
5 Comments
Oh calamity! Negrini’s not worried about 6/11 high risk ratings
The council’s finances have gone into the red zone, according to CIPFA, and Croydon now has £1.4bn debt, the third-highest of any council in the country. But the Town Hall CEO says it is nothing to be concerned about. By … Continue reading
Newman and Scott to push through a power grab on planning
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reports on how the de facto chair of the council’s planning committee will tonight be made even more powerful, while being made even less accountable Buried in the lengthy agenda for tonight’s meeting of the full … Continue reading
Newman’s Town Hall power is challenged by residents’ groups
EXCLUSIVE: Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reports on how neighbourhood associations have decided that they won’t any longer accept being ‘contemptuously ignored’ by those in power in the borough Council leader Tony Newman and the troika who control the Town Hall … Continue reading
Posted in Addington, Addington Residents' Association, Alison Butler, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Mario Creatura, Paul Scott, Planning, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor, Mike Fisher, Paul Scott, Tony Newman, Tory
9 Comments
Another director quits job as pressure mounts on Negrini
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the storm gathering around the council’s ‘regeneration practitioner’ chief executive Pressure continues to mount on Croydon’s £200,000 per year chief executive, Jo Negrini. Another key member of her executive team is quitting the council, … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, David Butler, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Richard Simpson, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
2 Comments
