Category Archives: Claire Bonham
LibDems name their candidates and Philp forgets he’s a Tory
Finally, days after the General Election was announced, Croydon’s Liberal Democrats have got around to confirming their four candidates for July 4 – details of which Inside Croydon had reported on weeks ago. The LibDems, who have had only a … Continue reading
Toss-cars 2024: How much work has your councillor done?
With the council’s annual meeting and Trumptonesque ‘mayor-making’ at the Town Hall just a week away, Inside Croydon can today unveil official figures to show who are the councillors doing the most to hold Mayor Jason Perry, chief exec Katherine … Continue reading
Auckland Rise residents suffer the ‘curse’ of Brick by Brick
Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, reports on how some of the warnings about the council house-builders’ ‘affordable’ homes are becoming an costly reality in Crystal Palace Residents in supposedly “affordable” shared ownership homes built in Crystal Palace by the council-owned … Continue reading
Putting Croydon First: the reasons I am now a Liberal Democrat
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Yesterday we reported how a former Croydon MP is standing for election with his third political party. Here, ANDREW PELLING explains why his days as an independent candidate are over “All politics is local”. Tip O’Neill’s phrase has … Continue reading
Perry plans £100m more cuts in country’s first AI-driven council
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Transformation’ project is set to be rubber-stamped at this week’s cabinet meeting (it will be approved without anything resembling a debate). But according to council insiders, it is ‘rushed’, ‘full of risks’ and just a ‘Trojan horse’ … Continue reading
Actor Ainslie is Greens’ pick for Streatham and Croydon North
The Green Party has named Scott Ainslie as their parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Streatham and Croydon North. Ainslie is a former MEP (remember them?) and has been a councillor in Lambeth since 2014 for St Leonard’s ward, … Continue reading
King gets his bluff called over Tory cuts and Council Tax hike
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It was déjà vu all over again at last night’s budget meeting, where ‘steadfast’ opposition melted as soon as the borough’s opposition councillors were given a stern talking to. TOWN HALL SKETCH by STEVEN DOWNES Anyone out … Continue reading
1-in-4 Croydon police officers off frontline for ‘other duties’
Croydon’s “thin blue line” is being made thinner still due to other demands on policing around the capital. Policing in Croydon is more impacted by having officers assigned to other duties than all-but-one other London borough, official figures show. The … Continue reading
‘People power’ sees McDonald’s abandon their Triangle plans
Fast food global chain McDonald’s has decided to cash in its chips, or “fries”, and abandoned its latest step towards world domination with a branch on the Crystal Palace Triangle. For now, at least. “Commercial reasons” has been given by … Continue reading
McDonald’s return to their Triangle target in Crystal Palace
Three years after their last attempt, McDonald’s is trying again to foist one of their large, fast-food joints on Westow Street, in the heart of the Crystal Palace Triangle. The last time they tried, the council’s planning department rejected as … Continue reading
Politics teacher Boutall is Tories’ ‘Lambeth South’ candidate
The Tories have picked Anthony Boutall, an assistant head at an Orpington grammar school, as their General Election candidate in the re-jigged constituency of Streatham and Croydon North. In his 20s, Boutall served as a councillor but in Bedford, not … Continue reading
Whitehall ‘budgeting error’ costing Croydon schools millions
Croydon’s Liberal Democrat councillor has accused the Department for Education of depriving schools in her ward of more than £500,000 from their budgets this year – all because of an “error” by Whitehall civil servants. Claire Bonham, the Crystal Palace … Continue reading
LibDems’ 450 bus survey shows election campaign has begun
Political Editor WALTER CRONXITE spots the tell-tale signs of a bit of political opportunism – and valuable data-scraping At a time of global conflicts, humanitarian catastrophe and, here at home, homelessness and cost of living crises, whether a suburban London … Continue reading
Bonham gets chance of Croydon North re-match against Reed
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the latest candidate to be confirmed for the upcoming parliamentary election The only Liberal Democrat to be elected as a councillor in Croydon for 20 years has been selected as her party’s candidate at … Continue reading
Greens and LibDems to be given seats at scrutiny committees
Tonight’s scrutiny committee meeting will also see significant changes in approach, and a small crack appearing in the granite-like control of power held by Croydon’s political duopoly, reports WALTER CRONXITE More than two years after the slum-like conditions in Croydon … Continue reading
£5m cuts to disability services lack proper legal assessment
Having imposed his 15per cent Council Tax hike on the borough – without securing the refinancing deal he said was essential to deal with Croydon’s “unsustainable” debt – Tory Mayor Jason Perry is now cutting services. But some say that … Continue reading
Revealed: Croydon’s laziest and costliest local councillors
Across the country, outside London, people have been going to the polls in local elections today, often voting for the same tribe just as they always do, or voting on national issues over which the councillors they are voting for … Continue reading
Call for Tory Mayor to resign after Government’s takeover
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Reaction to yesterday’s Government announcement that the Whitehall-appointed improvement panel will effectively take over the running of the cash-strapped council has met with near-universal criticism There have been calls for Jason Perry to resign as Mayor after … Continue reading
Permit problems see Crystal Palace school street dropped
The council has been forced to abandon one of the school street traffic restrictions which were due to come into force yesterday, following complaints from residents in Crystal Palace that Croydon’s online permit applications system contains significant flaws. It was … Continue reading
You can depend on Croydon Labour: they always let you down
By STEVEN DOWNES, Editor, Inside Croydon In the end, it was all so sadly predictable. Yet even old cynics didn’t believe it was really going to happen in such a swift and shabby manner until they actually saw it all … Continue reading
Only three councillors were as good as their word and stood up for the people against Tory Mayor Perry’s 15% Council Tax hike
In the end, after hours of bluster and posturing, just three of the borough’s 70 councillors stood up for the residents that they represent and were as good as their word, voting against the Conservative Mayor’s budget and his 15per … Continue reading
£540m debt write-off shows Perry has failed on finances
CROYDON IN CRISIS: His political opponents say the elected Mayor ‘has sold Croydon down the river for his own political reasons’, and his 15% tax hike is ‘punishment’ for residents. By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s council has been so “spectacularly useless” … Continue reading
Public’s furious reaction to Perry’s Premium Council Tax hike
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Go climb in a skip. No one’s paying that’. Residents’ outrage at Council Tax hike sees demos and petitions planned In the 24 hours since Inside Croydon broke the news of Croydon Mayor Jason Perry’s request to … Continue reading
Conservative Mayor Perry loses 3 votes at Town Hall meeting
ANDREW PELLING reports from the Press Gallery on success for Labour, Green and LibDem councillors in opposing Tory moves to cut Council Tax benefits to old age pensioners and the poor Jason Perry, the Conservative Mayor of Croydon, lost three … Continue reading
