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Category Archives: Jon Rouse
Norwood councillor calls on Pollard to hold talks on library
A South Norwood councillor has described Croydon’s decision to abandon its legal agreement with Lambeth over the Upper Norwood Joint Library as “consistently wrong”, accusing Tim Pollard, the Conservatives’ deputy leader on the council, of not acting “in the interests … Continue reading
Time to stop making allowances for “basket case” council
The rejection of Ken Livingstone at the polls last month was in some ways a move away from the nostalgia for 1980s London politics. It may be time to part company with other 20th century perspectives of London local government. … Continue reading
Posted in Boris Johnson, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Fairfield Halls, Jon Rouse, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Margaret Mead, Mayor of London, Mike Fisher, Parking, Steve O'Connell, URV
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Lambeth, London, London Borough of Croydon
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Council finds £6m to look after its “Consultancy Framework”
Croydon Council plans to spend £6 million of our money in the coming year on what it calls in councilspeak a “Consultancy Framework”. According to confidential planning documents obtained by Inside Croydon, the council describes this as “New provision required … Continue reading
Shrink-wrapped: council’s costly errors on consultations
One of the problems that Croydon Council has is managing to get the basics right. You know, things like posting the correct date of a London-wide election on its website; not missing out Kate Moss from its short-list of the … Continue reading
Croydon Council: where FOI stands for something else
And here’s another, if somewhat minor but no less crass example of how Croydon Council executives, earning six-figure salaries, are flagrantly and deliberately squandering your money. On this occasion, it has been done with the knowledge of the leader of … Continue reading
£20 million: Croydon’s planned spend on consultants this year
Croydon Council is to spend £20 million this year on interim staff and consultants – therefore repeating the massive outlay of Council Tax-payers’ cash to highly paid short-term hires and outside companies in 2011. Inside Croydon has obtained a council … Continue reading
Council to spend £1m to furnish its new headquarters
Croydon Council is spending nearly £1 million on furniture for its new headquarters, Inside Croydon has discovered. According to an official document passed to Inside Croydon, our council has budgeted to spend £900,000 on furniture for the PSDH – or … Continue reading
Croydon Council and the cuts: playing a numbers game
There is a myth perpetuated by Croydon Council, especially since May 2010 to justify its dogmatic policies of cutting staff, services and grants, be they weekly rubbish collections, timely road repairs, street lights, the summer music festival and Mela, David … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Croydon 8/8, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Fairfield Halls, Jon Rouse, Libraries, Nathan Elvery, Sara Bashford, Theatre, URV, Warehouse Theatre
Tagged Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema, Fairfield Halls, London Borough of Croydon, Taberner House, Warehouse Theatre
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It’s official: Croydon appoints shrink to be council spindoctor
Our loyal reader may remember that back in December, we published a report stating that Jon Rouse, Croydon’s £248,000 per year chief executive, was about to appoint a trained psychologist with no media experience to head up the council’s communications. … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon 8/8, Croydon Council, Hayley Lewis, Jon Rouse
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Lewis, LinkedIn, London Borough of Croydon, Taberner House, Twitter
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Dear Mr Edwards. If there’s anything you want to know, just ask
Inside Croydon thoroughly approves of and admires the online Freedom of Information tool, WhatDoTheyKnow.com, and we would encourage anyone to make use of it if they have a serious question about some aspect of a public body that, for some … Continue reading
Jon Rouse, Croydon riots, and the crucial missing hours
Jon Rouse, Croydon Council’s £248,000 per year chief executive, was out of his office for a crucial four hours in the late afternoon and early evening of Monday, August 8 last year, just at the time that parts of the … Continue reading
Pumped and primed ready for opening day
Tomorrow marks the grand opening of Matthews Yard, the café and co-working space just off Surrey Street. Founder SAIF BONAR has been working round-the-clock to get the venue finished, but has taken some time out to offer this progress report … Continue reading
More on procurement: Croydon’s “urgent” £500,000 contract
Let’s hope that Bernard Weatherill House, the monument to delusion at Croydon Council, at the centre of their £450 million urban regeneration scheme, will have revolving doors. Because no sooner does Chief Exec Jon Rouse and his lacky, Nathan Elvery, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Nathan Elvery, URV
Tagged Cannes, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Human Resources, Jon Rouse, London Borough of Croydon, Nathan Elvery
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“Procurement” or how Croydon recruits while axing staff
There’s a recession on, isn’t there, with jobs and council services being cut across the board? Not in Conservative-controlled Croydon, where a dedicated website is being used to recruit 10 staff in management roles for one department, most of the … Continue reading
Latest Cannes trip gets Rouse his moment in The Sun
Maybe openness, transparency and accountability to public scrutiny does work. Since Inside Croydon was launched nearly two years ago, we have often returned to the council’s spending on its annual jolly to the South of France for £248,000 per year … Continue reading
Croydon considers handing over children’s homes
Croydon’s latest exercise to “identify” publicly owned properties that can be handed over to John Laing as make-weights towards the £450 million urban regeneration project, which is delivering the splendidly palatial new council HQ offices, could see two children’s homes … Continue reading
No favourites on Croydon’s short-list for library sell-off. Oh no
There’s absolutely no suggestion whatsoever that Croydon’s expensive process (£250,000) to privatise the borough’s libraries is in some way offering a commercial advantage by favouring potential contractors who already have existing relationships with Croydon. Oh no, not at all. Inside … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Education, Jon Rouse, Libraries, Sara Bashford
Tagged Book Token, Conservative, Croydon, Essex, Library Systems & Services, London, LSSI, Wandsworth
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