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Category Archives: URV
What a load of rubbish: council fails residents (part 94)
Chaos on Mayfield Road yesterday morning, when just before dawn a fly-tipper dumped a load of assorted builder’s waste in the middle of the suburban Sanderstead street. This is just the latest instance of a rapidly growing problem in Croydon, … Continue reading
UKIP criticises favouritism for councillors over furniture “gifts”
Croydon Council’s controversial disposal of thousands of pounds-worth of furniture from Taberner House, ahead of staff being moved into the £140 million new glass palace office building, has raised further complaints of an abuse of public property, with suggestions that … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Charity, Church and religions, Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Mike Fisher, Schools, Shirley North, URV, Vidhi Mohan
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mike Fisher, Taberner House
3 Comments
Councillors given free pick of Taberner’s unwanted furniture
‘Ere, Rodney. Fancy a new tear-shaped sofa for Nelson Mandela House? The spectre of Del Boy stalks Croydon Council every day. After forking out £3 million on furnishings for its new offices because its existing chairs and desks just would … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Property, URV
Tagged Croydon, Del Boy, Furniture, London, London Borough of Croydon, Seat of local government, Taberner House
2 Comments
Council report admits overwhelming opposition to Riesco sale
This is how “consultation” operates in Tory-run Croydon Council. The council had its hand forced (through questions by Inside Croydon) to admit that it had already off-loaded 24 pieces of precious china to a posh West End auction house and … Continue reading
£1.5bn Hammersfield scheme hits a planning road block
CROYDON COMMENTARY: So, the centre of town has a traffic congestion problem. Who knew? Could last week’s announcement of the delay in Hammersfield delivering the planning application for its proposed £1.5 billion shopping mall be the start of more planning … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Ikea, Planning, URV, Valley Park, Waddon, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Hammerson, London, Purley Way, Stratford City, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
14 Comments
Is Croydon on the brink with £1 billion borough debt?
Four articles and announcements have appeared in the past few days, all apparently unconnected. Yet if the strands of the four stories are drawn together, they illustrate how badly run is Croydon Council, negligently wasting vast sums of public money … Continue reading
Croydon’s secret plan to flog £13m-worth of Riesco Collection
Maybe someone at Croydon Council does have a sense of irony, however twisted. Because no sooner is a local antiques dealer installed as the borough’s Mayor, than it emerges that Croydon’s Conservative-run council is secretly trying to flog off two … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Dudley Mead, Fairfield Halls, History, Margaret Mead, Riesco Collection, Theatre, URV, Warehouse Theatre
Tagged Arts Council, Ashmolean Museum, British Museum, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Hall, London, London Borough of Croydon
16 Comments
Charity Commission to examine takeover of Fairfield Halls
The Charity Commission is to look into Conservative-run Croydon Council’s plans to take over the running of the Fairfield Halls and London Mozart Players. The Commission’s decision follows reports on Inside Croydon. Papers for the decision-making cabinet last month suggested … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Charity, Croydon Council, David Fitze, Dudley Mead, Fairfield Halls, George Ayres, London Mozart Players, Lynne Hale, Margaret Mead, Music, Planning, Theatre, Timothy Godfrey, URV
Tagged Charity Commission, Croydon, Fairfield Hall, London, London Borough of Croydon, London Council, London Mozart Players
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£30m library deal referred for scrutiny – by report’s author
It was past 9pm last night, Bank Holiday Monday, when the official Croydon Council Twitter feed spluttered into life (double time for someone in the press office, perhaps?), offering a link to some new content on the official council website. … Continue reading
Pollard hands £30m library deal on a plate to builders Laings
Croydon’s secretive council is at it again, this time sneaking out a report just before the Bank Holiday weekend that announces that Tim Pollard, the deputy leader of the Conservative-run council, has decided that he will award an eight-year contract … Continue reading
Oi! Could the Town Hall do the Lambeth Walk under Labour?
Croydon’s Labour party looks like adopting a new approach to offer to the electorate ahead of the 2014 local elections. Labour wants to offer “a council run for the town, not the Town Hall”, according to the deputy leader of … Continue reading
“No service will be untouched” in further cuts, says CEO
Maybe it is the “interim” element of the title that gives Nathan Elvery a touch of impermanence as Croydon’s chief executive, a bit like Rafa Benitez, the unloved and unappreciated “interim” manager at Chelsea football club. Or maybe, as a … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Hannah Miller, Nathan Elvery, URV
Tagged Bernard Weatherill, Croydon, Human Resources, Local government, London, Nathan Elvery, Pam Parkes, Taberner House
3 Comments
£3.1m on HQ’s furniture is “value for money” in Croydon
Lewis Carroll couldn’t have made this up. There is a proposal going before Croydon Council’s corporate services committee on Wednesday that suggests spending £3.14 million of public money on new furniture and fittings for Bernard Weatherill House, the council headquarters … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Planning, URV
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Furniture, Lewis Carroll, London Borough of Croydon, Taberner House
1 Comment
Trebles all round? Croydon return pot-less from awards
Four tables booked at a five-star West End hotel. Around 40 councillors and council staff attending. Something like £28,000 spent on a night’s gala dinner, booze and jollity. And not a single award won. That is the summary of this … Continue reading
Emergency meeting called on sell-off of public libraries
There will be an emergency meeting of Croydon Council on Monday evening, when Tim Pollard will be called to account for the shambolic handling of the Conservative-led administration’s attempts to sell-off the borough’s libraries. The opposition Labour group has called … Continue reading
Croydon’s “only a Championship location” says planning chief
As Gavin Barwell once said, Croydon has an image problem. Our photograph, taken in Cannes yesterday morning, of the White Label-managed stand at the MIPIM commercial property trade exhibition, shows that our south London borough is proving less of a … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Croydon Council, Planning, URV
Tagged Allders, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Guardian, France, London, London Borough of Croydon, MIPIM
1 Comment
White Label’s “no Cannes do” with conference publicity
Whoops. Looks like another clanger dropped by White Label, the PR agency that is ubiquitous in Croydon Council business.
Posted in Business, Cane Hill, Cherry Orchard Gardens, Croydon Council, Housing, Jon Rouse, Planning, Property, URV
Tagged Cannes, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, London, London Borough of Croydon, MIPIM, White Label
2 Comments
Planning conflicts of interest? In Croydon? Don’t be silly
The Daily Torygraph, that bastion of left-wing revolutionaries, yesterday ran a fascinating report on how some councillors had been abusing their position within local authority planning committees to line their own pockets. Or purses. Shock! Horror! This, of course, would … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Cane Hill, Clare Hilley, Croydon South, Housing, Menta Tower, Planning, Property, Richard Ottaway MP, Ruskin Square, URV, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon South, Daily Telegraph, Eric Pickles, Hilary Benn, Local government, London, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
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Fairfield in discussions over cinema use of new studio threatre
Supporters of two of the borough’s neglected arts venues, the David Lean Cinema and the Warehouse Theatre, are expected to be very concerned that management at Fairfield Halls have been holding meetings with cinema operators over the possible use of … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Cinema, Comedy, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Dudley Mead, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Margaret Mead, Planning, Property, Ruskin Square, Theatre, Timothy Godfrey, URV, Warehouse Theatre
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema, Fairfield Halls, London Borough of Croydon, Ruskin Square, Warehouse Theatre
6 Comments
Laings quit £30m Croydon libraries privatisation deal
Croydon Council’s plan to privatise our public libraries was in ruins tonight, as its hand-picked partners were revealed to have walked away from the £30 million, eight-year deal. And Eddy Arram, the Tory mayor in charge of tonight’s meeting at … Continue reading
Council takes four tables at awards – against Pickles’ advice
Around 40 Conservative councillors, senior Croydon Council officials and their chums will be attending the annual binge of champagne-swilling and back-slapping at a five-star West End hotel next month that is the Local Government Chronicle Awards, all at a cost … Continue reading
Whoops… Council setting the agenda for blunders
Croydon’s Council Tax increase comes while record amounts are being spent in Taberner House on expensive consultants and staff in the communications department, the propaganda department which uses public money to deceive and publish half-truths and misinformation about the council’s … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, URV
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, England, London, London Borough of Croydon, Religion, Tory
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