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Category Archives: Neil Williams
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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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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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
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Tory Perry tries to appoint £123,000 ‘transformation director’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Spend, spend, spend… the bad old habits of the dark days of the Negreedy era don’t seem to have been eradicated altogether, as CEO Kerswell looks to hire a new director to do her dirty work for … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Williams, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Williams, S114, S114 notice, Section 114 Notice, Tony McArdle, Tory, Transformation director
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Council boss ignores questions over failing bus shelter firm
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The start-up firm that promised to pay Croydon £6.8m in a 10-year deal for supplying all-singing, all-dancing ‘smart’ bus shelters has been warned it could be struck off the Companies House register from tomorrow. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Croydon’s bus shelter project ‘has been progressing well’
The management of even straightforward pieces of street furniture continues to be beyond the capabilities of some of the council’s six-figure-salaried executives As the chill winds and rains arrive with autumn, council officials snug in their offices in Fisher’s Folly … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Opama Khan, Planning
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Opama Khan, Valo Smart City
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Company behind ‘smart’ bus shelters has CCJs for unpaid bills
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A former government minister under Tony Blair helped to broker the deal with an unproven tech company promising the council £6.8m in advertising income from ‘smart’ bus shelters – but that is all in jeopardy, with the … Continue reading
Council’s digital bus shelters partner is late to file accounts
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Long-promised ‘smart’ bus shelters have been delayed because of supply issues caused by the war in Ukraine, according to the latest excuse offered by Town Hall officials. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Long-suffering bus passengers travelling around Croydon … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Neil Williams, Opama Khan, Planning, Transport
Tagged bus shelters, JC Decaux, Neil Williams, Opama Khan, Valo Smart City
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Council website is only 1% compliant with accessibility rules
Croydon Council has failed to meet its legal obligations to make its website accessible to visually impaired residents, according to an independent survey. Regulations passed in 2018 gave Britain’s public organisations three years to ensure that all content published after … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Neil Williams
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Digital Service, Digital first, Jo Negrini, Neil Williams
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‘Challenging’ deal caused bus shelter delay, councillor says
Street-side advertising specialist JCDecaux refused to accept payments to keep its bus shelters in place in Croydon until replacements could be ready, according to a senior member of the council. Muhammad Ali is the council cabinet member for “sustainable” Croydon. … Continue reading
Posted in Connected Croydon, Croydon Council, Muhammad Ali, Neil Williams, Opama Khan
Tagged bus shelters, JC Decaux, Muhammad Ali, Valo Smart City
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Councillor tells officials: ‘Apologise for this incompetence’
A Labour councillor has accused Croydon officials of ‘playing us all for fools’ and says that the council ‘should be apologising to residents for this incompetence’ over the borough’s vanishing bus shelters At least one Croydon councillor is, as Oscar-winner … Continue reading
Posted in Connected Croydon, Croydon Council, Neil Williams, Opama Khan, Robert Canning, TfL, Transport, Waddon
Tagged bus shelters, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, Robert Canning, Valo Smart City, Waddon
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Chief digital officer quits council after splashing the cash
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest high-profile departure from the council That loud splashing sound heard outside Fisher’s Folly yesterday? Could it be the noise you hear when another rat dives off the council’s … Continue reading
Bus passengers face a wet winter of discontent with no shelters
Six months since Inside Croydon first revealed the secret removal of the borough’s bus shelters, and a dodgy-looking £6.8million deal with a small company that had only been established a few months earlier, the council has admitted that not a … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Opama Khan, Planning, Transport
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, JC Decaux, Valo Smart City
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Council’s £6.8m bus shelter deal with 9-month-old tech firm
There’s good news for any Croydon bus passengers who during this week’s stormy weather have been battered and rained on while waiting for their transport at bus stops without their usual shelters. Inevitably, though, this being Croydon, there’s some bad … Continue reading
‘Regime change’ at council as costly consultant leaves
In what could be the first sign of “regime change” at Fisher’s Folly, following Jo Negrini’s departure as chief executive, the lead on something called “Croydon 2023” left the council abruptly last week. Amy Wagner was never employed as a … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Neil Williams
Tagged Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, localities, London Borough of Croydon, Neil Williams
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Negrini orders staff to work at council offices despite pandemic
Questions are being asked among council staff about the authority’s preparedness to operate in the Covid-19 emergency after their chief executive ordered them to work in the office, as KEN LEE reports Jo Negrini, Croydon Council’s £220,000 per year chief … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Neil Williams
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon
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Big Brother is watching: council lets private firms track you
Croydon Council is allowing at least a dozen private firms to track your every click and page view each time you visit their official website. That’s the stunning discovery of an investigation by The Grauniad newspaper,, published today. According to … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Neil Williams
Tagged Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Neil Williams
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Williams signs up council to improve its digital service
Well this could prove an interesting “challenge” for Croydon, which is, apparently, “a council with a reputation for digital”, according to a press release it issued yesterday. The council press office left the readers of its release to decide whether … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Neil Williams
Tagged Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Neil Williams
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Dr Who regenerates in Croydon with scriptwriter Wilkinson
A Croydon writer is among the script team announced by the BBC who have been working in secret on the new series of Doctor Who. Joy Wilkinson lives in the north of the borough. Her work for the stage has … Continue reading
Council’s SEND website and a quest for the missing links
Croydon’s latest ‘digital offering’ has left parents and carers of some of the borough’s most vulnerable youngsters angry at the way they have been fobbed off with yet more sub-standard service. KEN LEE reports Neil Williams, Croydon’s recently appointed chief … Continue reading
Council continues to withhold some vital contract details
There’s a democratic deficit in Croydon Council, with information about its contractors being withheld – or hidden. WALTER CRONXITE reports Anyone who thought that maybe, just maybe, Croydon Council’s failure to publish promptly online the borough’s councillors’ declarations of interest … Continue reading
Government expert named as council’s new chief digital officer
Neil Williams, the deputy director at the Government Digital Service, who is a resident of the north of the borough and a Crystal Palace football fan, has been named as Croydon Council’s new chief digital officer. Williams comes highly recommended … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Graham Cadle, Neil Williams
Tagged Graham Cadle, Harwinder Singh, Neil Williams
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