Category Archives: Mike Fisher

Croydon council offices cost more to build than The Shard

Fisher’s Folly, the glass palace that is our council’s headquarters which opened just over a year ago and which cost the borough’s Council Tax-payers’ £144 million, was more expensive to build than The Shard. That’s the conclusion reached by a … Continue reading

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Business, Croydon Council, Housing, Jon Rouse, Leisure services, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Planning, Property, Taberner House, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

#WadGate report delayed as inquiry seeks more information

Mike #WadGate Fisher, and the rest of Croydon’s Tories, have at least another three weeks to wait for the outcome of the inquiry into how the former Conservative council leader managed secretly to claim an extra £11,000 in Town Hall … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Gavin Barwell, Julie Belvir, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Steve Hollands, Steve O'Connell, Tony Newman, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Newman goes missing at the making of piece of black history

WALTER CRONXITE, our man in the Town Hall chamber with a Yorkie bar and half-finished crossword from that day’s Metro sticking out of his jacket pocket, reports on Monday’s council meeting, where all promises of doing civic business in a … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, David Osland, Dudley Mead, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Gavin Barwell, Hamida Ali, John Wentworth, Lynne Hale, Mike Fisher, Pat Ryan, Planning, Taberner House, Tim Pollard, Timothy Godfrey, Tony Newman, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Calls for auditor to investigate old Ashburton Library sale

There are calls for the deal to sell the council-owned old Ashburton Library at a “discount” of more than £400,000 to be referred to the district auditor for investigation, after the aborted sale was the subject of further acrimonious exchanges … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Addiscombe West, Andrew Rendle, Ashburton, Church and religions, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Maddie Henson, Mike Fisher, Property, Sara Bashford, Stephen Mann, Timothy Godfrey, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Book Token” promoted as Pollard completes Tory takeover

Croydon’s Tory councillors yesterday duly anointed Tim Pollard, the “loyal deputy” who did just enough to cause the downfall of Mike Fisher over #WadGate, as their new leader. With no one else from the 30-strong group of Conservative councillors prepared … Continue reading

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Croydon South, David Osland, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Libraries, Mike Fisher, Richard Ottaway MP, Sara Bashford, Tim Pollard | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mead speaks out at cabinet on behalf of his “inner circle”

In an extraordinary outburst of arrogance, entitlement and pomposity, Dudley Mead, the deputy leader of the Conservative group on Croydon Council, last night underlined exactly why neither he, nor any other councillor with vested interests outside the Town Hall chamber, … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Dudley Mead, Education, Emily Benn, Jo Negrini, Mike Fisher, Planning, Property, Selsdon & Ballards, Steve O'Connell, Tim Pollard, Toni Letts, Tony Newman, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Secret meeting to dole out council’s Trumpton-esque honours

There’s another example of just how “open and transparent” the business of the council has become since Labour took control of the Town Hall after the local elections. Tonight, before the main business of the cabinet meeting, there is another … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Eddy Arram, Mike Fisher, Pat Ryan, Tim Pollard, Toni Letts, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Council considering using CCTV to monitor traveller groups

Croydon’s Labour council wants to use Big Brother to help to stop groups of travellers from dumping piles of rubbish on the borough’s green spaces. Stuart Collins, the cabinet member for slogans and T-shirts, is understood to be considering calling … Continue reading

Posted in Ashburton, Crime, Croydon Council, Environment, Fly tipping, Mario Creatura, Mike Fisher, Refuse collection, Stuart Collins | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Exclusive: John Loony wins Tory election (sort of). At last

After a political career that started in failure (to misquote Enoch Powell), John Cartwright has at last won a public vote. Cartwright, after spending 20 years contesting every possible election in Croydon as John Loony, the Official Monster Raving Loony … Continue reading

Posted in Dudley Mead, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Heathfield, Helen Pollard, Maria Gatland, Mike Fisher, Phil Thomas, Riesco Collection, Sanderstead, South Croydon, Tim Pollard | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

#WadGate: Labour announces inquiry into Tory leader’s cash

Tony Newman, the Labour Leader of Croydon Council, this morning pushed himself front and centre of a campaign to hound his predecessor Mike Fisher out of public office, when he took the credit for announcing an “independent” inquiry into how … Continue reading

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Gavin Barwell, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Steve Hollands, Steve O'Connell, URV, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

#WadGate: Fisher pocketed £15,250 from fire authority, too

Mike Fisher, who has resigned as the leader of the Conservatives on Croydon Council after being caught red-handed secretly claiming an extra £10,000 in allowances on top of his £53,000 wedge, was all the time also receiving an additional £15,250 … Continue reading

Posted in Boris Johnson, Council Tax, Croydon Council, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Mike Fisher, Shirley North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

#WadGate: The questions that Barwell has failed to answer

STEVEN DOWNES, editor of Inside Croydon, on how a local MP has been working furiously to save his own political skin So, the Tory narrative on #WadGate has been set. “It’s all Mike Fisher’s fault. He is terribly sorry. And … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Julie Belvir, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Sara Bashford, Shirley North, Simon Hoar, Steve Hollands, Steve O'Connell, Tim Pollard, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

#WadGate: O’Connell and Mohan join Fisher’s Infamous Five

Mike Fisher was not alone among Croydon’s senior Conservative councillors in looking at claiming an increase in his allowances. And at the front of the queue for a bigger hand-out at the expense of Council Tax-payers was Steve O’Connell, the … Continue reading

Posted in Boris Johnson, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Fairfield, Kenley, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Mike Fisher, Shirley North, Simon Hoar, Steve Hollands, Steve O'Connell, Vidhi Mohan, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

#WadGate: Fisher is forced to resign as Croydon’s Tory leader

Mike Fisher, for eight years the leader of Croydon Council, was forced to quit as the head of the Tories at the Town Hall on Friday night, less than 72 hours after he was exposed as having secretly claimed an … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Andrew Pelling, Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, David Osland, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Mike Fisher, Shirley North, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

New job for former top cop Osland in Croydon Tories’ coup

Some within the Croydon Tories are attempting a coup to sack the local Conservative Federation’s chairman and replace him with the controversial retired senior policeman who was criticised in the inquiry into the brutal death of Stephen Lawrence. According to … Continue reading

Posted in Addiscombe West, Ashburton, Coulsdon Town, Croydon Central, David Osland, Gavin Barwell, Ian Parker, Mario Creatura, Mike Fisher | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#WadGate the Movie. Or Mike Fisher: My Part In His Downfall

@ArfurZTowcrate clearly has too few followers on Twitter. This piece of (albeit derivative) brilliance deserves a much wider audience. Do read the sub-titles…

Posted in Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Gavin Barwell, Mike Fisher | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#WadGate latest: Fisher’s deputies put pressure on him to go

WALTER CRONXITE reports on how the Town Hall allowances scandal does not reflect well on councillors of either of the political parties Say what you like about George Galloway (keep it polite, please), but he does have one phrase which … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Mike Fisher, Sara Bashford, Shirley North, Steve Reed MP, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tory leader Fisher is caught red-handed with £10,000 pay hike

Mike Fisher, the leader of the Tories on Croydon Council, has more reason than usual to be red-faced today, after he was caught red-handed having paid himself an extra £10,000 in his final year as leader of the council. Anyone … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Gavin Barwell, Mike Fisher, Shirley North | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

And they’re off! Betting hots up on Croydon’s Tory leadership

Sources on Katharine Street have told Inside Croydon that bets are already being laid as to who will be the next leader of the Conservative group on Croydon Council. It seems odds-on that Mike Fisher will stand down as the … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Gavin Barwell, Maria Gatland, Mario Creatura, Mike Fisher, Phil Thomas, Sara Bashford, Tim Pollard | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

One year on: Fisher’s Folly staff shunted into Davis House

It shows how desperate the new council is to untangle the web of financial calamity caused by the disaster that is the CCURV property speculation scam scheme, that many council staff are being told that they are to be moved … Continue reading

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Croydon Council, Mike Fisher, Planning, Tony Newman, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Croydon to play full part in Arnhem’s 70th commemorations

Croydon will, after all, play its civic part – and duty – with its twin town of Arnhem in the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Second World War parachute battle. The weekend of September 19 to 22 will see the … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Education, History, Mike Fisher | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Keep it quiet: councillors make allowances for themselves

Croydon’s councillors last week opened the way for potential increases in their own “allowances” of as much as 20 per cent, and they did it all without any debate. By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s new council last week passed a range … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Julie Belvir, London-wide issues, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Tory candidate Mohan gets lost again over Croydon North

Making Croydon a London Living Wage borough? Tick. Announcing free swimming in the council’s pools this summer for all Croydon’s children? Tick. Introduce a £1 million scheme to make good use of the borough’s empty homes? Tick. Making the Tory … Continue reading

Posted in 2015 General Election, Alison Butler, Boris Johnson, Broad Green, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Dudley Mead, Fairfield, Housing, Jason Perry, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Mike Fisher, Property, Simon Hall, Steve O'Connell, Stuart Collins, Tim Pollard, Vidhi Mohan, West Thornton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

At £220m, is Fisher’s Folly the most costly council HQ ever?

According to figures presented at last night’s Croydon Council cabinet meeting, Fisher’s Folly, the new council office building which some people insist on calling Bernard Weatherill House, will cost Council Tax-payers a scandalous £85 million more than even the gloomiest multi-million-pound … Continue reading

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Business, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, Mike Fisher, Nathan Elvery, Planning, Simon Hall, Taberner House, URV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lights! Action! Candid cameras switched on at the Town Hall

STEVEN DOWNES found himself watching the first live webcast meeting of the new Croydon Council. He watched it so you didn’t have to… I nearly missed it, because I was listening to the first in the new series of I’m … Continue reading

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Bishop of Croydon, Capita, Croydon Council, Local media, Maggie Mansell, Mike Fisher, Steve O'Connell, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman, Vidhi Mohan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments