Category Archives: Jon Rouse
Public rejects any moves to undermine Upper Norwood library
89% That is the massive majority surveyed who object to any suggestion that Croydon Council could abandon the 112-year-old joint agreement for funding and management of the Upper Norwood Joint Library. Even with a council consultation which was accused of … Continue reading
Sutton shows its neighbours the power of volunteering
With Croydon Council failing to back any local summer fairs or concerts, ANDREW PELLING joined thousands of other residents from the borough at yesterday’s environmental fair in Carshalton Croydon used to be blessed with large community events in its parks, … Continue reading
Council gets all a’Twitter about something called… democracy
A letter arrives at Inside Croydon Towers. It is addressed from Taberner House. What could it be? An invite to join Jon Rouse for cocktails on his return from his summer sojourn to Tuscany, perhaps? A substantial discount on our … Continue reading
Hammerson: Handsome half-year figures and takeover talk
As previously suggested by Inside Croydon, Hammerson, the owner of Centrale and potential developers of the Whitgift Centre, is a takeover target for other developers – including their Whitgift rivals, Westfield. The takeover talk emerged from Australia in May, according … Continue reading
What’s in a name? For Croydon Council, about £3m
According to PIGGY ASHCROFT, our council wants to make a crisis out of a drama, with designs on the Warehouse Theatre‘s name and hard-won reputation as well as its multi-million pound endowment from developers Croydon Council wants to go into … Continue reading
Warehouse Theatre: Croydon Council does the dirty deed
We reproduce here some of the key pages from the deed, drawn up in March this year, which Croydon Council has presented to developers Stanhope, demonstrating the greedy grab for the £3 million grant that had been promised to provide … Continue reading
Croydon Council locks its doors to Open House London
Croydon Council has scored another spectacular own-goal by becoming the only borough to withdraw from this year’s Open House London, a weekend which encourages visitors to take a peak inside some of the city’s finest examples of architecture and historic … Continue reading
Labour targets tough-nut Croydon for 2014 borough elections
Tony Newman, the leader of the Labour opposition at Croydon Town Hall, was clearly enthused yesterday when he reported the positive response from his party’s members seeking to be candidates at the next borough elections in 2014. As many as … Continue reading
Bridge to Nowhere: US expert asks why contracts not enforced
A senior public architect in New York City has made a thinly veiled criticism of the handling of the £20 million “Bridge to Nowhere” at East Croydon station by local government funding bodies, including Croydon Council, suggesting that they made … Continue reading
Mind the gap! A prize for the Bridge to Nowhere scheme
Croydon is crowing about another “award” won by the council. This time it is the East Croydon Masterplan that won the prize from something called the New London Architecture awards. A “prestigious” panel of judges including David Burney, the commissioner … Continue reading
Polls that tax credibility with their leading questions
Here’s a survey question for you. Your views are extremely important to us.
Council staff’s special offer: a course on going self-employed
Despite the exciting prospect of nearly £1 million-worth of new furniture in the shiny new glass palace of council HQ that is leaning over the flyover, those members of council staff who have survived the cuts so far are finding … Continue reading
Sun Lounge fails to shed much light on future of Croydon
An exhibition of architectural plans for a “New Croydon” is long on waffle and short on fresh ideas, says a disappointed CRO CRUSADER You might have expected that the grandly titled “New Croydon Architecture & Design Exhibition”, which is open … Continue reading
Where does the buck stop for Croydon’s damning audit report?
Last week, Mike Fisher, the leader of the Conservative group which controls Croydon Council, said: “It is important for us to ensure all necessary lessons are learned, and that public money is better safeguarded in the future. This needs to … Continue reading
Regeneration posts that fail to offer a long-term future
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Loyal reader CRO CRUSADER was unimpressed by our council squandering £350,000 in over-generous pay-offs to departing senior staff. But it also highlights a lack of continuity at the Town Hall in this vital area Given the austerity that … Continue reading
Croydon in Crisis: Mystery over council’s £350,000 pay-offs
The public service workers’ union, the GMB, was tonight demanding an urgent independent investigation into why Croydon Council had spent a “profligate” £350,000 of public money on golden handshakes to four top-level employees in the past year. The payments have … Continue reading
Crime on the rise in Croydon, but our council is in denial
Crime figures are on the up in Croydon, yet the Town Hall’s most senior politicians have received a misleading report from council officers this month that claimed that residents believe “the council is tackling crime and anti-social behaviour”. According to … Continue reading
The £248,000 CEO speaks: Six pages of councilspeak
The latest morale-boosting memo from Jon Rouse, Croydon Council’s £248,000 per year chief executive, reaches Inside Croydon Towers this morning directly from the Planning and Environment department on Taberner House’s seventh floor. The six pages (no attempt at brevity) is … Continue reading
