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Category Archives: Simon Hall
Council Tax relief announcement delay nets £20m to Town Hall
Croydon is rolling out a series of covid-19 financial relief schemes for Council Tax-payers, but just a bit reluctantly, as KEN LEE reports Residents of the borough can now access a package of support with their Council Tax payments, including … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Simon Hall
Tagged coronavirus, Council Tax, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, London Borough of Croydon, Simon Hall
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Chancellor is taking an axe to councils’ magic money tree
Croydon Council has more than £1bn of borrowings – half of which has gone on Brick by Brick and the purchase of some commercial properties. Proposals contained in the Budget this week could put an end to that, as KEN … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Business, Centrale, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Croydon parks, Jo Negrini, New Addington South, Planning, Property, Queens Gardens, Simon Hall, Tony Newman, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Brick by Brick, Colonnades, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Selco, Simon Hall, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Labour council threatens £1m of cuts over mayor referendum
WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, watched Monday night’s full council meeting so you didn’t have to Croydon Council will spend £1million on staging, and contestng, a referendum over whether the borough should have a mayor directly elected by all Croydon’s … Continue reading
Posted in 2021 Mayor Referendum, Alison Butler, Community associations, Croydon Council, London Assembly, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, DEMOC, Democratically Elected Mayor of Croydon, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Tony Newman, Tory
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Newman’s £100,000 governance review that’s going nowhere
KEN LEE on some of the more gruesome findings in a council-commissioned report about Croydon’s ineffective council Even the majority of Croydon’s elected councillors don’t think Croydon Council is “very effective”. That’s just one of the damning findings buried in … Continue reading
Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Joy Prince, Simon Hall, Tony Newman
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Dame Moira Gibb, DEMOC, Democratically Elected Mayor for Croydon, Governance review panel, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Tony Newman
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Town Hall sneaks out news of its latest 3.99% Council Tax hike
Croydon’s Council Tax will increase by almost 4 per cent from April. That was the announcement sneaked out of the Town Hall by Tony Newman and his numpties last night, in what has become a now near-annual ritual as the … Continue reading
Victory for Friends’ group as council abandons park land sale
Thousands of objections from residents have forced Croydon Council into a U-turn on its scheme to flog off a Victorian park lodge and a strip of Grangewood Park. But as our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, has discovered, despite declaring … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Callton Young, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Grangewood Park, Karen Jewitt, Pat Clouder, Property, Simon Hall, Thornton Heath
Tagged Callton Young, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Friends of Grangewood Park, Grangewood Park, Karen Jewitt, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Pat Clouder, Thornton Heath
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Governance review costs soar as Newman nobbles the panel
A report on the way in which Croydon Council is governed, already three months late, will now not be finished until the end of the year, and is costing four times its original budget. The Croydon governance review – a … Continue reading
Council tries a cover-up over £41m spent on Fairfield Halls
WALTER CRONXITE reports on the latest attempt by council officials to disguise blundering that is costing the borough millions The increasingly secretive Croydon Council has taken to hiding behind its wholly owned building firm, Brick by Brick, as it tries … Continue reading
Councillor employed by Oasis charity makes grant to Oasis
Inside Croydon has discovered that Conservative councillor Gareth Streeter managed to oversee a £1,500 donation from council funds towards a group from the Oasis academy chain – the very same Oasis chain which is associated with the Oasis charity where … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Gareth Streeter, Oasis Academy, Oasis Academy Shirley Park, Richard Chatterjee, Schools, Shirley North, Simon Hall
Tagged Conservative, Croydon Council, Gareth Streeter, London Borough of Croydon, Oasis Arena Academy, Oasis Shirley Park, Richard Chatterjee, Shirley, Shirley North, Tory
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Times are tough, as council struggles to make ends meet
Just how can a council such as Croydon keep going when its government grant has been cut by 76 per cent? WALTER CRONXITE reports Times are tough in local government. Local government has been hit especially hard by Tory austerity, … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Simon Hall
Tagged Conservative, Croydon Council, Labour, London, London Borough of Croydon, Simon Hall, Tory
13 Comments
BINMAGEDDON!: Rubbish piled high in our winter of discontent
If you thought that the images of over-flowing wheelie bins around the borough, after numerous missed collections by Croydon’s rubbish contractors, Veolia, were bad enough, this scene (above), at Forestdale should be very troubling indeed. The photograph was taken before … Continue reading
Posted in Fieldway, Fly tipping, Refuse collection, Simon Hall, Veolia
Tagged Croydon Council, Fieldway, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Simon Hall, Veolia
4 Comments
Councils’ property deals are ‘gambling with public money’
Councils across England – including Croydon and Sutton – have between them borrowed billions of pounds of public money to finance the purchase of real estate and commercial properties, a policy which could place some at risk of financial collapse, … Continue reading
Three Croydon high streets among ‘unhealthiest’ in London
Another day, another survey that demonstrates that Croydon is slowly deteriorating into decay, poverty and neglect. The Royal Society of Public Health published a list of “Unhealthiest Streets” this week, and Croydon was the only borough that had three entries … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Environment, Fiona Twycross, Health, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, New Addington North, New Addington South, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Sadiq Khan, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman
Tagged Addiscombe West, Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Labour, London, London Assembly, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Norbury, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman
2 Comments
Council pays £53m to buy ‘unloved’ Colonnades centre
The business “brains” at Fisher’s Folly have gone out and splurged £53million of public money to buy the freehold of the “unloved” and rarely visited Colonnades retail and leisure park – just as industry experts are warning that 200 such … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Boxpark, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Property, Purley Way, Simon Hall, Waddon, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Boxpark, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Purley Way, Waddon, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
11 Comments
Town Hall meeting told to expect 4% Council Tax increase
Our political editor WALTER CONXITE on an admission from the council’s finance chief that they have little idea how to plan the borough’s budgets A Town Hall meeting has been told to expect a 4 per cent hike in Council … Continue reading
Council paid £5m above asking price for Croydon Park Hotel
Under Jo “We’re Not Stupid” Negrini, Croydon Council last month paid £29.8million to buy the Croydon Park Hotel – nearly £5million more than the asking price when the property was put on the market just weeks earlier. Negrini, the council’s … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Jo Negrini, Simon Hall
Tagged Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Jo Negrini, Labour, Simon Hall
5 Comments
Don’t mention the war! Council moves into the hotel trade
KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter, on the council’s latest wheeze to generate a bit of spare cash by buying up a loss-making hotel The council has bought the Croydon Park Hotel, the 4-star, 55-quid a night tower that’s well-used by … Continue reading
£63m ‘slippage’ in council budget caused by Brick by Brick
Simon Hall, the council cabinet member responsible for Town Hall finances, has admitted that the slow progress being made by Brick by Brick, Croydon’s wholly owned housing developer, has created a £63million “slippage” in the council’s already under-pressure budget. Labour … Continue reading
Council gets more secretive over its councillors’ declarations
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reports on a strange reversal of previous open and transparent Town Hall policy, which is deliberately keeping cabinet members’ interests under cover The Labour group which is running Croydon Council is becoming more secretive by the … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Badsha Quadir, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jason Cummings, Louisa Woodley, Mario Creatura, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Simon Hoar, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Badsha Quadir, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mario Creatura, Paul Scott, Simon Hoar, Steve O'Connell, Tony Newman, Tory
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Angry complaints force U-turn over leisure centre charges
The council’s ‘Better’ leisure centres have been forced to abandon plans to charge the carers of disabled people for use of the facilities. But those on low incomes are still expected to pay £28.50 for a membership scheme they probably … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Felicity Flynn, Fieldway, GLL - Better, Greenwich Leisure, Health, Leisure services, Louisa Woodley, New Addington South, Oliver Lewis, Purley, Purley Pool, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Sport, Swimming, Thornton Heath, Waddon
Tagged Better, Croydon, Croydon Council, GLL, Greenwich Leisure, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Purley, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon
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Controversial chair of planning Scott gets promoted to cabinet
WALTER CRONXITE reports on the latest egregious example of Town Hall patronage, and all done at your expense – including one of ‘Tony’s Cronies’ getting £6,000 per committee meeting Despite managing to bring together 17 residents’ groups in opposition to … Continue reading
Posted in Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Jane Avis, Louisa Woodley, Manju Shahul Hameed, Mark Watson, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Planning, Simon Hall, Stuart Collins, Stuart King, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Alissa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jane Avis, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Louisa Woodley, Paul Scott, South Norwood, STUART KING, Tony Newman, Woodside
8 Comments
‘The Godfather’ who paid mate £787 per day has left council
STEVEN DOWNES reports on the apparent departure from Fisher’s Folly of a council assistant chief executive who handed out £787.36-a-day to a family friend Graham Cadle, “The Godfather” of Croydon Council, has tonight cleared his desk for a final time. … Continue reading
Fieldway’s Hall launches attack on ‘unacceptable’ Veolia
WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, on the widening splits within the leadership of the Labour group on the council, with local elections less than four months away One of Croydon council leader Tony Newman’s most trusted lieutenants has this week … Continue reading
Posted in 2018 council elections, Carole Bonner, Felicity Flynn, Fieldway, Fly tipping, Louisa Woodley, New Addington North, New Addington South, Oliver Lewis, Refuse collection, Simon Hall, Stuart Collins, Tony Newman, Tony Pearson, Veolia
Tagged Conservative, Croydon Council, Fieldway, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Simon Hall, Stuart Collins, Tony Newman, Veolia
4 Comments
Labour’s new slate in Fairfield as Momentum makes a mark
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, with the latest weekly round-up of the ins, and outs, in a tortuous selection process Boundary changes, demographic changes and the Jeremy Corbyn-inspired swing towards Labour has made Fairfield ward in the town centre a … Continue reading
Posted in 2018 council elections, Addiscombe West, Alisa Flemming, Carole Bonner, Chris Clark, Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Fairfield, Fieldway, Jane Avis, John Wentworth, Mary Croos, New Addington North, Niro Sirisena, Pat Ryan, Patricia Hay-Justice, Patsy Cummings, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Sue Winborn, Vidhi Mohan
Tagged Addiscombe West, Conservative, Croydon, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, New Addington North, South Norwood
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Delays on track for TfL over proposals to change tram service
Could Transport for London be about to back down over its proposed changes to the tram network? JEREMY CLACKSON reports Transport for London’s plan to radically alter the tram service from New Addington and Elmers End to Wimbledon, due to … Continue reading
Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, Fieldway, New Addington South, Simon Hall, TfL, Tramlink, Transport
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Tramlink, Fieldway, New Addington, Simon Hall, TfL, Transport for London
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