Category Archives: Richard Ennis

Perry misses scrutiny meeting on council’s £19.3m overspend

CROYDON IN CRISIS: According to the borough’s part-time Mayor, the council budget is ‘just numbers on paper’. By KEN LEE Part-time Mayor Jason Perry didn’t bother to show up for last night’s scrutiny committee meeting at the Town Hall, where … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mayor makes rapid U-turn as report confirms £19.3m overspend

CROYDON IN CRISIS: A report to be discussed at the Town Hall tonight confirms the deepening financial problems facing the borough’s new Mayor. EXCLUSIVE by WALTER CRONXITE Part-time Mayor Jason Perry has been forced to admit that his Conservative administration … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Dr Ola Olasode, General Purposes and Audit Committee, Improvement Board, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Kerswell gets her fourth council finance chief in 12 months

Council correspondent KEN LEE reports on the latest bit of empire-building going on at Fisher’s Folly Croydon’s cash-strapped council, which over the past 18 months has been handing out P45s willy-nilly to hundreds of the low-paid front-line workers who grafted … Continue reading

Posted in Annette McPartland, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Some things have really changed for the better at our council’

CROYDON COMMENTARY: It is important that our cash-strapped local authority does not make cuts for cuts’ sake, and avoids incurring unnecessary costs when there might be other ways to conduct its business. By Councillor ANDREW PELLING Some things have changed … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Pelling, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mind the gap: finance director warns of £13m cuts shortfall

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Tonight’s council cabinet meeting is to be told that officials are struggling to meet their £38m budget cuts target. And the council’s future is now in the hands of Michael Gove. By STEVEN DOWNES There are growing … Continue reading

Posted in Adult Social Care, Croydon Council, Croydon NHS Trust, Health, Katherine Kerswell, Landlord licensing, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice, Steve Iles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Kerswell culls 58 more jobs as council wrestles with budget

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Struggling to cut another £38m from its already trimmed spending, council chiefs’ response is to make more frontline workers redundant. By our Town Hall correspondent, KEN LEE Croydon’s cash-strapped council is struggling to make the further multi-million-pound … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Council to be rocked by second Report In The Public Interest

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The £70m ‘Fairfield fiasco’ has provoked serious concerns with auditors over the potential misuse of public money, with bungling developers Brick by Brick under scrutiny. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES External auditors are to issue a Report In … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paula Murray, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Ennis, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Sean Fitzsimons, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council recruitment drive offers £1.1m in wages across 8 jobs

CROYDON IN CRISIS: One year since the council declared itself bankrupt, CEO Katherine Kerswell is offering a slew of six-figure salaried executive positions for recruits to be ‘part of a new chapter’ and to ‘go on a journey’. By Town … Continue reading

Posted in Alison Knight, Children's Services, Croydon Council, David Padfield, Debbie Jones, Elaine Jackson, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Cash-strapped council still going over-budget, report finds

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Government commissioners say that there’s been ‘an opportunity missed’ because of the slow pace of change under council CEO. By STEVEN DOWNES Katherine Kerswell, the chief executive of the cash-strapped council, has been subjected to overt criticism … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Labour council benefit cuts will hit 20,000 ‘horrendously’

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Axing Council Tax support will affect 20,000 of the borough’s poor and disabled, with ‘devastating consequences’. By STEVEN DOWNES The Labour leadership of Croydon’s cash-strapped council last night voted in favour of drastic cuts to the borough’s … Continue reading

Posted in Callton Young, Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Richard Ennis, Stuart King | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Further £38.4m to be sliced from next year’s council budget

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Town Hall leadership hoped to keep the latest round of cuts secret until after next week’s referendum, as the consequences of the borough’s bankruptcy start to hit home. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES £12m of adult social care … Continue reading

Posted in 2021 Mayor Referendum, Adult Social Care, Callton Young, Croydon Council, GLL - Better, Hamida Ali, Jason Cummings, Leisure services, Libraries, Purley Pool, Richard Ennis, Section 114 notice, Stuart King, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Council appoints finance director with links to ex-CEO Elvery

Croydon councillors, including the leader of the Conservative opposition, have agreed to appoint as the council’s finance director someone who previously worked amid a “bullying culture” at another failing local authority. Richard Ennis’s appointment, to one of the most critical … Continue reading

Posted in Chris Buss, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Lisa Taylor, Nathan Elvery, Richard Ennis | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments