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Category Archives: Heather Cheesbrough
Council chiefs accused by MP of being on side of developers
As concerns mount about the local authority’s failure to exercise any development controls or planning enforcement over rapacious private developers operating in the borough, a local MP has accused Croydon Council of not caring about residents and being “content to … Continue reading
Council planners’ 3-month delay over Sanderstead complaint
When senior officials in Croydon’s planning department refuse to acknowledge their own serious errors, can residents rely on the council’s complaints system? Not if the latest development fiasco in Riddlesdown is anything to go by, says STEVE WHITESIDE Deliberate delays … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Lynne Hale, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Sanderstead
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Hyde Road, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nicola Townsend, Riddlesdown Residents Association, Sanderstead, Steve Whiteside
12 Comments
Job cuts see council’s business close to breaking point
CROYDON IN CRISIS: So many staff have been made redundant at Fisher’s Folly that they now don’t have time even to draft meeting minutes of the Town Hall’s £1.5bn pension fund. By STEVEN DOWNES When the council’s planning committee convened … Continue reading
#Macarnage: Not a single ‘affordable’ home from Coulsdon plot
Next in the firing line for Macar Developments is a beautiful Arts and Crafts house on Coulsdon Court Road, which the developers want to destroy and replace with six small terraced houses. The architecturally significant house was built as part … Continue reading
Director refuses to admit conflict of interest over South Drive
A council director has told residents that there is nothing wrong whatsoever in a member of her planning staff providing pre-application advice to a developer, and then leaving their job at the council to work for the architects hired by … Continue reading
#Macarnage: Planning officer’s ‘leaving present’ to Coulsdon
EXCLUSIVE: The revolving door between the council planning department and private developers and architects is exposed over a scheme for 39 flats in Coulsdon. By STEVEN DOWNES Before Jan Slominski was hired as a senior planning adviser for the architects … Continue reading
Kerswell set to depart after completing cull of Negrini execs
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having overseen the removal of almost all of Jo Negrini’s ‘executive leadership team’, it seems that the interim chief exec wants to move on to better things. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Council is to begin the … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Robert Henderson, Sarah Hayward, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
14 Comments
CEO Kerswell gets ready to reorganise council’s senior officials
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A meeting last night showed that no one had bothered removing former leader Tony Newman from an important committee, while councillors lacked the power to sack the chief executive or other senior officials. WALTER CRONXITE reports That … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Hamida Ali, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paula Murray, Tony Newman
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Tony Newman, Tory
4 Comments
Directors Murray and Cheesbrough start exodus from council
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The director of planning and the borough’s culture chief are to leave Fisher’s Folly – the first top-level departures since the council issued its Section 114 notice. By STEVEN DOWNES Heather Cheesbrough, Croydon’s director of planning, and … Continue reading
Posted in Art, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paula Murray, Planning, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Paula Murray, Planning
16 Comments
Council still receiving ‘vast quantities’ of planning applications
What trade magazine Property Week described as “an unprecedented volume of planning applications” has been submitted to Croydon Council in the couple of weeks since the authority issued a Section 114 notice to declare itself broke. Between October 1 and … Continue reading
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
Questions tower over council’s husband and wife planning act
Angry residents are seeking a full and independent investigation into the role played by a senior member of the council’s planning department in a £300million tower development that was granted planning permission in central Croydon – when the wife of … Continue reading
Council in cover-up over planning’s husband and wife act
Croydon’s planners have clearly never heard the old saying, ‘when in a hole, stop digging’, as suspicion mounts over the absence of documents to support dubious statements given to a committee, as KEN LEE reports Croydon Council has been accused … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Kenley, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Purley
Tagged Chris Philp MP, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Heather Cheesbrough, Higher Drive, Kenley, Macar Developments, Paul Scott, Purley, Ross Gentry
4 Comments
£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
Family fortunes: council suspected of planning cover-up
Heather Cheesbrough, one of Croydon’s most senior directors, has been accused of misleading the public and the elected councillors on the planning committee in a council cover-up over whether one of her staff properly declared an interest in advance over … Continue reading
Negrini draws ridicule for her £81 On The Buses guided tour
Hold very tight please! Our transport correspondent, JEREMY CLACKSON, is ready to be taken for a ride around Croydon town centre, all in the name of a good cause Croydon’s beleaguered £220,000 per year chief executive has attracted yet more … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Boxpark, Brick by Brick, Business, Centrale, Colm Lacey, CPO, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Menta Tower, Paul Scott, Property, Purley Way, Ruskin Square, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, London, Paul Scott, Purley Way
10 Comments
Council director promises to find new home for Carers Centre
One of the council’s most senior executives has given a firm undertaking that, together with the borough’s wealthiest charity, a new home will be found for the Croydon Carers Support Centre which is currently based on George Street. Permission was … Continue reading
Purley residents consider judicial challenge to planners
Housing correspondent BARRATT HOLMES on the gathering storm over the council’s housing targets, with the administration accused of allowing ‘planning policy in this borough to be hijacked by one or two individuals’ The Town Hall’s under-fire planning department could soon … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Paul Scott, Planning, Purley, Simon Brew
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Higher Drive, London, London Borough of Croydon, Macar Developments, Paul Scott, Purley, Tory
5 Comments
Council CEO spends £20,000 on annual trip to South of France
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, unravels the latest extravagance with public money by the Labour-run council’s chief executive Jo Negrini, Croydon Council’s £212,000 per year chief executive, last month spent nearly £20,000 of public money so that she and three … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Brick by Brick, Cannes, Colm Lacey, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Labour, London, London Borough of Croydon, MIPIM, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
2 Comments
Planning chair votes twice to thwart Sunny Bank residents
Town Hall reporter KEN LEE watched last night’s council planning committee, so you wouldn’t have to… Paul Scott, the Labour-run council’s chair of the planning committee, last night allowed himself to vote twice to push through a housing scheme in … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Clark, Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Environment, Fairfield, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jane Avis, Jason Perry, Jo Negrini, Muhammad Ali, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Pubs, Ruskin House, South Norwood, Thornton Heath
Tagged Clive Fraser, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Planning, Planning Committee, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tory, Welcome Inn
1 Comment
Did planning chief mislead committee over MP’s objections?
KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on growing concerns about what testimony to trust at the council’s planning meetings Did Croydon’s most senior planning official mislead elected councillors on the planning committee last week? Had the planning department provided unhelpful … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Park Hill and Whitgift, Pete Smith, Planning, Property, Sarah Jones MP, Vidhi Mohan
Tagged Conservative, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Park Hill and Whitgift Estate, Sarah Jones MP, Tory, Vidhi Mohan
3 Comments
Negrini blocks Town Hall question on her jaunt to MIPIM
Jo Negrini’s sensitivities over questions about her jaunt to the South of France last month, where she attended the champagne-soaked MIPIM conference with international property developers, has seen the council’s unaccountable CEO not only refuse to answer letters from residents, … Continue reading
Newman approved council’s £17,000 trip to Cannes ‘junket’
WALTER CRONXITE reports on how Croydon’s unaccountable chief executive refuses to answer enquiries from Council Tax-payers, while the council leader ignores uncomfortable questions from voters The trip to the South of France last month to a property speculators’ conference taken … Continue reading
