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Category Archives: Jon Rouse
‘Based on this year’s elections, Croydon is in a very bad place’
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Reports over Croydon’s local elections have been lodged with the Electoral Commission and with Scotland Yard. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES There could yet be further repercussions around Katherine Kerswell’s chronic mishandling of Croydon’s “never-ending” election count, which earlier … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Pelling, Carole Bonner, Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, South Croydon, Trinity School, Val Shawcross
Tagged Andrew Pelling, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Mayor, Croydon Mayoral election 2022, Electoral Commission, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor, Mayor Jason Perry, Metropolitan Police, Richard Howard, South Croydon, Tory, Trinity School, Val Shawcross, Whitgift Foundation
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Council has been left ill-equipped to handle election logistics
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Round after round of redundancies at the council, going back more than a decade, may have led to the shambles of the election count, according to former senior council official ROD DAVIES Without a thorough and open review … Continue reading
Kerswell in two-horse race for £192,000 council CEO job
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s search for new leadership has not gone very far, nor very wide. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES When the panel convenes next week to interview for the £192,474 post of council chief executive, they will see … Continue reading
The ins and outs of quietly getting rid of a council CEO
Did she jump or was she pushed? Our employment law correspondent, PERRY FREEMASON, delves into the murky world of human resources at Fisher’s Folly to sift through another expensive mess at the council Morale among staff inside Fisher’s Folly is … Continue reading
Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman
Tagged Bernard Weatherill House, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, David Wechsler, Fisher's Folly, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, Tory
3 Comments
Council’s £140m offices are to become a glorified Job Centre
WALTER CRONXITE on how the local council has been forced to take in more lodgers in its “prestige” £140m office building Tonight’s council cabinet meeting at the Town Hall is unlikely to uncover quite how the costs of building the … Continue reading
Cost of New Addington Leisure Centre hiked by £8m in a year
WALTER CRONXITE reports on a worrying 50 per cent inflation rate on one key council building project The cost of building the new swimming pool and leisure centre in New Addington has gone up by £8million in less than 12 … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, New Addington, Planning, Taberner House, Tony Newman, URV
Tagged CCURV, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, New Addington Leisure Centre, Tony Newman, Tory
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Croydon’s silly season stats which do not stand up to scrutiny
CROYDON COMMENTARY: The infamous maxim that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth has flourished in Croydon this week. STEVEN DOWNES is just glad the silly season is over Thank goodness it’s September. I wouldn’t usually … Continue reading
Staff to move out of two more floors of £140m Council HQ
BARRATT HOLMES, our development correspondent, has discovered that by taking in corporate ‘lodgers’, the purpose-built local authority offices won’t be able to provide desks for 40% of the council’s staff Fisher’s Folly, the purpose-built local authority “hub” which was built … Continue reading
Council was paying £110,000 per year to ‘despicable’ legal firm
Parents of children with special educational needs who have been forced to fight stressful and demanding legal cases to seek proper support from Croydon Council have won a small victory by getting the Town Hall to cancel arrangements for legal … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Education, Jon Rouse, Julie Belvir, Nathan Elvery
Tagged Baker Small, Croydon Council, Education, Nathan Elvery
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Chief executive Elvery has quit £180,000 Croydon Council job
The council’s CEO is the third senior executive to announce their departure from Croydon so far this year. WALTER CRONXITE reports Ambitious for Croydon? Hmm, maybe the allure of the £1 billion Hammersfield development is not so attractive after all: … Continue reading
Coulsdon supermarket deal collapses as CCURV fails again
Croydon’s reliance on retailing for its economic salvation will come under even greater scrutiny after the council’s most senior official overseeing the multi-billion-pound redevelopment schemes around the borough identified the decline of high street shopping for the collapse of a … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Cane Hill, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, Croydon South, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Planning, Tony Newman, URV
Tagged Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, Labour, Nathan Elvery, Tory, Westfield
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Up to 600 Town Hall jobs at risk in latest council redundancies
Croydon Council yesterday launched another round of voluntary redundancies, as it tries to balance the Town Hall budget from a £3.5 million overspend. Some estimates suggest as many as 600 more council jobs may need to go. The budget short-fall … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman
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Council’s chasm of unaccountability grows wider each day
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Our borough’s elected representatives are being increasingly marginalised by a system that places huge power in the hands of a handful of unaccountable officials, writes STEVEN DOWNES Make the most of it at the Town Hall tonight. For … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Bernard Weatherill House, Business, Cane Hill, Chris Philp MP, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Housing, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Julie Belvir, Maggie Mansell, Nathan Elvery, Norbury, Oasis Academy, Paul Scott, Planning, Pubs, Purley, South Norwood, Stuart Collins, Thornton Heath, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, URV, Whitgift Centre, Woodside
Tagged Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Labour, Norbury, Purley, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman, Tory, Westfield, Woodside
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Boxpark loan deal turns councillors into a bunch of bankers
£3 million. So now we know how much tax-payers’ money it takes to bring a decent-sized business to the town centre. The Croydon Guardian reports that Croydon Council has gone into the banking business, making a £3 million loan to … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Boxpark, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, East Croydon, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Planning, Property, Ruskin Square, URV, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Addiscombe West, Boxpark, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, East Croydon station, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, Labour, Nathan Elvery, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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Croydon council offices cost more to build than The Shard
Fisher’s Folly, the glass palace that is our council’s headquarters which opened just over a year ago and which cost the borough’s Council Tax-payers’ £144 million, was more expensive to build than The Shard. That’s the conclusion reached by a … Continue reading
Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Business, Croydon Council, Housing, Jon Rouse, Leisure services, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Planning, Property, Taberner House, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, URV
Tagged Bernard Weatherill House, CCURV, Conservative, Croydon Council, Fisher's Folly, John Laing, Jon Rouse, Labour, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, Tory, URV
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Public’s questions censored on CEO appointment and equality
When Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour party, stood up in Fisher’s Folly in Croydon on Thursday and made his pledge about a “strategy for delivering racial equality” in Whitehall and other public sector employers, he had no idea … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, Tory
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‘Flat-broke’ councils all set for MIPIM’s champagne reception
Australian-born Jo Negrini, who was appointed as Croydon’s head of planning soon after Australia-based developers Westfield rode into town with their £1 billion super-mall scheme, is likely to cut a lonely figure as the MIPIM UK international developers conference gets … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Planning, RIF, URV, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Boris Johnson, Conservative, Croydon Council, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, MIPIM, Nathan Elvery, Taberner House, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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15 Croydon Council employees receive total salaries of £1.8m
Croydon Council spent £1,833,846 on the salaries and pension contributions of just 15 executive staff members in 2012-2013, according to figures published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Averaged out – and one or two individuals were trousering considerably more than the … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Hannah Miller, Jon Rouse, Julie Belvir, Nathan Elvery, Paul Spooner, Planning
Tagged Bernard Weatherill House, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fisher's Folly, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery, Taberner House
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Council claims that conduct of elections is a ‘private matter’
Croydon Council has been breaking the law to keep some details of its senior appointments secret, and it is refusing to reveal details of the new chief executive’s work in his role as the returning officer for the recent local … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Capita, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Jon Rouse, Julie Belvir, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fisher's Folly, Jon Rouse, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery, Taberner House, Tony Newman, Tory, Whitgift Foundation
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Labour and the hidden agenda as Elvery is handed top job
STEVEN DOWNES on how Croydon Council’s new political leadership kept a key item off the notification of the meeting to appoint the £180,000 CEO “Who governs Britain?” was a headline beloved of right-leaning newspapers in the 1970s when questioning the … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, URV
Tagged Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman, Tory
2 Comments
At £220m, is Fisher’s Folly the most costly council HQ ever?
According to figures presented at last night’s Croydon Council cabinet meeting, Fisher’s Folly, the new council office building which some people insist on calling Bernard Weatherill House, will cost Council Tax-payers a scandalous £85 million more than even the gloomiest multi-million-pound … Continue reading
Putting a roof over people’s heads ought to cap any policy
For the final piece comparing the policies of the parties ahead of the local elections tomorrow, WALTER CRONXITE has been window shopping around Croydon’s estate agents Issue No4: HOUSING THE ISSUE: It was the steaming turd he left on his … Continue reading
Council’s culture clash leaves truth and fairness as casualties
This week, Inside Croydon has highlighted the party political interference going on at the council headquarters during what is supposed to be a period of election purdah, apparently to benefit of the ruling Conservative group. It is symptomatic of the … Continue reading
