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Category Archives: Katherine Kerswell
Tenants in challenge to Mayor Perry over ‘uninhabitable’ flats
A group of residents placed in what they describe as “uninhabitable” temporary accommodation by Croydon Council have issued their own Christmas message – and a challenge to Tory Mayor Jason Perry. “Change needs to happen now,” says the Croydon Temporary … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry, Norbury, South West London Law Centres, Susmita Sen, Thornton Heath
Tagged BBC Newsnight, Concord House, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Temporary Accommodation Campaign, Gilroy Court, Homelessness, Housing, London Borough of Croydon, London Road, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry, Norbury, South West London Law Centre, Susmita Sen, SWLLC, Sycamore House, Thornton Heath, Tory, Windsor House
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A Christmas present to Croydon: another court victory
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our cash-strapped council has squandered thousands of pounds of public money to try to suppress documents that were in the public domain. Again. STEVEN DOWNES, Inside Croydon’s Editor, on the council’s latest failed efforts to gag this … Continue reading
Tribunal judge finds no evidence of racism or unfair dismissal
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A landmark judgement, handed down today, determined that the council did not act in a racist, prejudicial or harrassing manner towards one of its former senior staff members. By STEVEN DOWNES This was one battle that David … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Hazel Simmonds, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report
Tagged Browne Jacobson, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Hazel Simmonds, Jo Negrini, Judge Adam Leith, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Patricia Leonard, S114, S114 notice, Section 114, To encourage the others
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Cash-strapped council recruits £1m-worth of bean-counters
CROYDON IN CRISIS: While council chief exec Katherine Kerswell prepares to impose another £31m-worth of cuts, the council is recruiting SIX ‘heads of strategic finance’ to tally the money that they don’t have. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE … Continue reading
Council’s temps forced to take 6 days’ unpaid Christmas leave
Agency workers claim they have been ‘cheated’ out of pay rises, despite often carrying out exactly the same jobs as their permanent staff colleagues. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE Scrooge-like Croydon Council is taking the Ho, Ho, Ho … Continue reading
CEO Kerswell could face crucial cross-examination at Tribunal
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A hearing for an employment dispute alleging unfair dismissal and racism brought by one of the council’s senior members of staff at the time of its financial collapse has done more to expose bullying and cover-ups at … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Hazel Simmonds, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report
Tagged Admiral Byng, Browne Jacobson, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Hazel Simmonds, Jo Negrini, Judge Adam Leith, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Lynne Hale, Patricia Leonard, S114, S114 notice, Section 114, To encourage the others, Voltaire
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Perry struggles with numbers to offer us: Pay More, Get Less
Our columnist ANDREW FISHER watched the Croydon Council budget webcast this week, so that you wouldn’t have to… Croydon’s very own answer to Laurel and Hardy took to the airwaves this week, as Conservative Mayor Jason Perry and his finance … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 2024 Council Budget, Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
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Perry to host webinar on his plans for more cuts and more debt
Croydon Mayor Jason Perry is staging a webinar on Monday, at which the public can “hear more about the council’s budget proposals for next year”, according to the council. Perry and Jason Cummings, the cabinet member for finance, the Tory … Continue reading
Kerswell’s 100-page tribunal defence against racism charges
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A three-week hearing at the Employment Tribunal could cost the cash-strapped council at least £150,000 – with tax-payers picking up the legal tab again. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Cash-strapped Croydon Council, the local authority that says it … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Mayor Jason Perry, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
15 Comments
Supreme Court orders Croydon Council: fulfil your legal duties
By STEVEN DOWNES The Supreme Court yesterday threw out Croydon Council’s defence, after a case brought by a homeless disabled woman finally reached the conclusion that the local authority really does have to deliver on its statutory responsibilities, however badly … Continue reading
Posted in Crisis Skylight Centre, Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense
Tagged Browne Jacobson, Court of Appeal, Crisis, Doughty Street Chambers, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Ruba Imam, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Supreme Court
20 Comments
After two years, Simmonds legal case approaches its end-game
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A council committee is to meet in secret later this week, potentially to discuss whether the authority should settle out-of-court over allegations of race discrimination and victimisation brought by a former senior employee Croydon Council’s Employment Tribunal … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Mayor Jason Perry, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
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Gove’s ‘improvement’ panel handed £1,000 per week pay rise
Trebles all-round! Self-professed ‘friend of Suella Braverman’ has given generous pay rises to the unelected bureaucrats overseeing Croydon’s cash-strapped council Michael Gove and his Conservative Government have just added another £50,000 per year on to the costs of running Croydon’s … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report, Tony McArdle
Tagged Brian Roberts, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Board, Jon Wilson, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Pamela Leonce, Phil Brookes, S114 notice, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Statutory powers, Tony McArdle, Tory
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Mayor Perry: we’ve reported no one for bankrupting borough
Tory Mayor now blames police for slow investigation – after having submitted complaint over former council leaders more than two years after the council received recommendations that it should do so. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter In an extraordinary … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Mayor Jason Perry, Policing, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report
Tagged #PennReport, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Penn Report, Richard Penn, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman, Tory
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Council confirms Agbabiaka as £127,000 pa highways chief
KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on the latest ins and not-quite-outs on the executive floor at Fisher’s Folly Karen Agbabiaka has been confirmed as Croydon Council’s new £127,684 per year director of streets and environment. The decision was rubber-stamped … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Karen Agbabiaka, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Williams, Opama Khan, Parking
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Islington, Karen Agbabiaka, Katherine Kerswell, Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Olympic Delivery Authority, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
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Mayor Perry’s spending cuts should begin with his own cabinet
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Why is our cash-strapped council wasting £1.4m over four years on extra allowances for cabinet members who have little power? Or spending another £400,000 over the same period on ‘support staff’ for councillors at a time it is … Continue reading
Town Hall staff braced for £31m more cuts and job losses
CROYDON IN CRISIS: In an internal email to staff, the £192,000 per year chief executive has laid the groundwork for the next round of redundancies in departments including personnel and planning. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES While her council was congratulating … Continue reading
Perry claims ‘progress’ and gets set to hike Council Tax again
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Typical households’ bills will have risen by £388 in less than two years under the Tory Mayor, who has still failed to get a Government deal to write off some of the borough’s debts The borough’s Council … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 20% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
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Colonnades sold by council for £25m under purchase price
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Government-enforced fire sale of council assets is about to see the borough lose even more money, on a commercial property that has been making millions for the borough. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s Mayor and Tory … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Improvement Board, Jane West, Property, Purley Way, Simon Hall, Tony McArdle, Waddon
Tagged Boxpark, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Purley Way, Waddon, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Perry in another U-turn over borough’s vanishing bus shelters
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It’s taken him 18 months to realise it, but the borough’s slow-on-the-uptake Mayor has finally realised that Valo Smart City was never going to deliver on any of its ambitious promises. By STEVEN DOWNES Having told dozens … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, TfL, Transport
Tagged bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Isaac Sutton, JC Decaux, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
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Council offices’ public area closed after ‘very serious incidents’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Following the alleged serious assault of a vulnerable woman refugee, the council has shut its Access Croydon walk-in area, making the local authority even more remote from the people it is supposed to serve. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Perry drops action against bus shelter firm and loses £500,000
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Valo Smart City has racked up £1m debts, attracted at least four County Court Judgements and is now cancelling contracts with its suppliers. But after waiting nearly three years for the company to deliver their ‘smart’ bus … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, TfL, Transport
Tagged bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Isaac Sutton, JC Decaux, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
13 Comments
Perry fails to hold any safe community meetings in 18 months
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES As the council prepared to hold a not-so-public meeting tonight at the Town Hall, which was called in the aftermath of the tragic killing last week of 15-year-old schoolgirl Elianne Andam in the middle of an … Continue reading
Posted in Andy Brittain, Crime, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Kieran Aspinall, Knife crime, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Policing
Tagged Anthony King, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon schoolgril murder, Donna Murray-Turner, knife crime, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, murder, My Ends, Safer Community Partnership, Safer Neighbourhood Board, Tory, youth knife crime
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Former roads contractor Kier sues Croydon Council for £10m
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Just a couple of weeks after they took retirement from their six-figure salaried job at Fisher’s Folly, a former exec director is back, reportedly overseeing the council’s response to a potentially costly legal case. By our Town … Continue reading
Housing service job cuts ‘could cost lives’ warns GMB union
Officials at one of the largest trades unions at Croydon Council accuse the authority of putting people’s lives at risk with a “restructuring” – meaning job cuts – in their housing and homelessness department. The GMB says that job cuts … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, GMB, Helen O'Connor, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
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