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Category Archives: Katherine Kerswell
Welcome to the one-party state of Our Great Leader Perry
Jason Perry will make his maiden speech as Croydon’s first executive Mayor in the Town Hall Chamber tonight, where a report on the agenda will underline that the borough’s new Conservative leader will not delegate any powers or responsibility, even … Continue reading
‘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
11 Comments
£100,000 Mayor Perry unveils his old team as the new team
WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on the completely predictable make-up of the borough’s executive Mayor’s first cabinet, and the wheeling and dealing over who will chair the Town Hall’s most influential committees Given that it took nearly five days to count … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Stranack, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Jeet Bains, Katherine Kerswell, Lynne Hale, Maria Gatland, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Scott Roche, Sean Fitzsimons, South Croydon, Yvette Hopley
Tagged Andy Stranack, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Mayor, Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon, Jason Cummings, Jason Perry, Jeet Bains, Labour, Lynne Hale, Maria Gatland, Mayor Jason Perry, Ola Kolade, Planning Committee, Scott Roche, Scrutiny and Overview Committee, Tory, Yvette Hopley
21 Comments
Negrini’s £437,000 pay-off: who is going to pay it back?
Council chiefs, auditors and lawyers are exploring the recovery of the golden handshake paid to the former chief exec, which has caused public outrage since Inside Croydon first revealed the amount. By STEVEN DOWNES The trade magazine for local councils … Continue reading
Posted in Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Simon Hall, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman
Tagged Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Perry, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Simon Hall, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman
8 Comments
Election results leave Labour supporters angry and dismayed
With the final declaration in, WALTER CRONXITE reports on the state of the council after the 2022 elections By the end, the emotions on show at the Croydon Council election count at Trinity School were less those of shock, disappointment … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Pelling, Broad Green, Chris Clark, Claire Bonham, Coulsdon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Jade Appleton, Jason Perry, Katherine Kerswell, Kola Agboola, Louisa Woodley, New Addington, New Addington North, Oliver Lewis, Park Hill and Whitgift, Paul Scott, Peter Underwood, Planning, Robert Canning, Sanderstead, Selhurst, South Croydon, Steve Reed MP, Tony Pearson, Val Shawcross, Waddon, Yvette Hopley
Tagged 2022 Local Elections, Adele Benson, Andrew Pelling, Brick by Brick, Chris Clark, Claire Bonham, Conservative, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon Mayor, Croydon North, Croydon South, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Mayor, New Addington North, New Addington South, Paul Scott, Ria Patel, South Croydon, South Norwood, Steve Reed OBE, Thornton Heath, Tory
13 Comments
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
From bankrupt to laughing stock as council count continues
WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on the country’s longest-lasting election count, and more unwanted notoriety for Croydon The Croydon election count looks set to head into a fifth day, and its second week, after yesterday’s session at Trinity School managed to … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Bensham Manor, Broad Green, Clive Fraser, Coulsdon, Coulsdon West, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Jason Perry, Jeet Bains, Katherine Kerswell, Maddie Henson, Manju Shahul Hameed, Maria Gatland, New Addington, South Croydon, South Norwood, Stuart Collins, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman, Val Shawcross, Waddon, West Thornton, Woodside
Tagged Addiscombe West, Alison Butler, Boris Johnson, Clive Fraser, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Jason Perry, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Maddie Henson, South Croydon, South Norwood, Stuart Collins, Tony Newman, Tory, Val Shawcross
29 Comments
Kerswell’s election count will get off to a very slow start
WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on a sad end to another Croydon tradition Another decision by cash-strapped Croydon Council is responsible for the end of yet another tradition: Inside Croydon’s unrivalled and extensive dusk-to-dawn election night coverage of the count. That’s … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Trinity School
Tagged 2022 Local Elections, 2022 Mayoral election, Croydon Council, Croydon Mayor, Croydon Mayoral election 2022, Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon, Katherine Kerswell, Trinity School
21 Comments
More Town Hall secrecy as auditors question Negrini’s pay-off
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A behind-closed-doors meeting this morning discussed the Labour leadership’s controversial £437,000 golden handshake to the ex-CEO, and recommendations over the £67m spent on the Fairfield Halls. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Grant Thornton, the council’s official auditors, have … Continue reading
Posted in Callton Young, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Joy Prince, Katherine Kerswell, Lynne Hale, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, Stuart King, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon Council, Grant Thornton, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Penn, RIPI, Simon Hall, STUART KING, The Penn Report, Tony Newman
8 Comments
Secret report into wrong-doing at council still kept under wraps
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Eighteen months after an investigation into how the council’s finances collapsed, the report into the affair – which prompted the resignation of the council leader and four execs – remains unpublished. And the council CEO intends keeping … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hamida Ali, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Joy Prince, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Lynne Hale, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hamida Ali, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Joy Prince, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Lynne Hale, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
11 Comments
Council’s planning chief attempts to gag Mayor candidate
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Heather Cheesbrough has lied about her qualifications and covered up for planning staff with too-close connections with private developers. Now she’s trying to block an election candidate calling for her to be sacked. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Pelling, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Planning, Val Shawcross, Waddon
Tagged Andrew Hunkin, Andrew Pelling, Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Planning
23 Comments
Council names new legal chief as exec churn continues
Our council reporter, PEARL LEE, discovers that the new borough solicitor was, until last month, the director of private property companies Croydon has announced a new, permanent appointee to become the council’s senior legal official. They just don’t seem to … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paul Scott, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, John Jones, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Tony Newman
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Butler and Scott broke Code of Conduct over Fairfield meeting
CROYDON LABOUR IN CRISIS: Shawcross joins condemnation of senior Labour councillors after they are let off lightly for breaking ethics rules. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Right to the bitter end, Paul Scott and Alison Butler, the couple who were at … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Bensham Manor, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, John Jones, Paul Scott, Planning, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Tony Newman, Val Shawcross, Woodside
Tagged 2022 Mayoral election, Alison Butler, Andrew Pelling, Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Mayor, Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon, Fairfield Halls, John Jones, Labour, Paul Scott, Tony Newman
6 Comments
One year on from housing shame: ‘not enough has been done’
A report from the improvement committee appointed in the aftermath of the council homes scandal has found that Croydon’s tenants continue to be treated with ‘shocking rudeness and inhumanity’, while many in Regina Road blocks ‘are still living in very … Continue reading
Council leader Ali announces she won’t seek re-election in May
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Tony Newman’s protégé has changed her mind about standing as a councillor in the forthcoming Town Hall elections. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Hamida Ali, the leader of Croydon’s cash-strapped, Labour-controlled council since October 2020, is to stand … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman, Val Shawcross, Woodside
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Regina Road, South Norwood, Steve Reed OBE, Tony Newman
3 Comments
Council chief exec (no, not that one) fired for gross misconduct
Government-appointed commissioners at another Labour-run council have acted swiftly after Slough was handed a record-busting £307m bail-out. By our Town Hall correspondent, KEN LEE Croydon’s cash-strapped council this week lost its status as world record-holders for the biggest bail-out ever … Continue reading
Kerswell dismisses ‘missing’ £73m as ‘accounting problem’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council chief exec relying on advice from veteran lawyer to overcome auditors’ objections to misuse of housing money. By STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s £192,000 per year chief executive, and Hamida Ali, the council leader, can be … Continue reading
‘We’re not teetering on the brink of bankruptcy’ claims Kerswell
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s £192,000 CEO has told a local government magazine that she has a solution to fix the latest financial crisis: more borrowing. By STEVEN DOWNES An 11th-hour decision on a loan from the Department of Levelling … Continue reading
Council looks to second postponement of budget meeting
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Town Hall chiefs still trying to negotiate another multi-million-pound government bail-out, with time running out to issue 136,000 Council Tax notices. By STEVEN DOWNES The council is on the brink of crashing into bankruptcy, unable to set … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Business, Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis, Tony McArdle
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Michael Gove, Tony McArdle
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Suspended director sues Kerswell for ‘race discrimination’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council running one of the country’s most ethnically diverse boroughs could be dragged through the courts, with one of its rare BAME directors accusing it, and its chief executive, of racism. By STEVEN DOWNES Hazel Simmonds, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
3 Comments
Council admits: We’re on the brink of bankruptcy. Again
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After a fortnight of unconvincing denials from the Fisher’s Folly propaganda bunker and the local Labour Party, official reports released ahead of budget-setting meetings confirm that Croydon could indeed have to issue a second S114 notice. By … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, David Padfield, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis, Richard Simpson, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall
Tagged Alison Butler, Croydon Affordable Housing, Croydon Council, Grant Thornton, James Goudie QC, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Richard Ennis, Richard Simpson, S114, Section 114, Simon Hall
8 Comments
Met Police confirm fraud review into £67.5m Fairfield fiasco
KEN LEE reports on the latest twist in the council’s headlong rush towards bankruptcy, and perhaps worse, with the Town Hall’s fate in the hands of Michael Gove The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that they have opened an investigation into … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Grant Thornton, Housing Revenue Account, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Michael Gove, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman, Tory
11 Comments
Crisis-hit council hires fourth housing director in a year
Croydon Council has announced the appointment of Susmita Sen to the role of corporate director of housing. Recruitment ads for the post at the cash-strapped local authority offered a salary of up to £150,547. Sen is the fourth top exec … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Knight, Croydon Council, David Padfield, Hamida Ali, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, South Norwood, Susmita Sen
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Housing Revenue Account, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Regina Road, Social Housing Regulator, South Norwood, Susmita Sen
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Council faces new storm over ‘missing’ £73m housing money
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Auditors are refusing to sign-off the Town Hall accounts because of missing millions from a complex nexus of housing companies, which could force the council to tip over the edge into bankruptcy for a second time in … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Grant Thornton, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, RIPI, S114, Section 114, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
16 Comments
Halls of shame: Butler and Scott referred to council legal chief
CROYDON LABOUR IN CRISIS: Leading figures in the council’s financial crash failed to declare any interests before taking part in vote against calling in the police to investigate possible fraud at the Fairfield Halls. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Labour councillors … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, College Green, Crime, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, John Jones, Paul Scott, Planning, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, John Jones, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI, Tony Newman
5 Comments
