CROYDON IN CRISIS: Millions of pounds of public money are at stake, a matter not to be sniffed at, but government minister is staying schtum over state of cash-strapped council’s finances.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Tight-lipped: Michael Gove has refused to explain why he has not released a Croydon report he has had since March
Michael Gove, re-installed as Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has refused to answer any questions about when the government-installed improvement and assurance panel overseeing the running of cash-strapped Croydon Council will publish its latest reports.
Katharine Street sources suggest that the usually gobby Tory minister has suddenly gone schtum because of the increasingly parlous state of the council’s finances, despite the election in May of a Conservative Mayor.
Some suggest that despite taking over a balanced budget, that had been approved by the improvement panel, Jason Perry, Croydon’s £81,000 per year part-time Mayor, was already almost £20million over budget within his first six months in office.
It is now almost 12 months since the last published report from the improvement panel that was imposed on Croydon after the Labour-controlled council crashed the borough’s finances in 2020.
Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters tackled a house fire on Oakfield Road, West Croydon, this morning.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the poster from the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association advertising The 39 Steps at the Cryer Theatre. When I was a young girl, we lived in Canada for a while and Daddy knew the Governor, who would come for tea and tell us stories. I didn’t know it at the time, but John Buchan was also busy writing thrillers. One of them turned out to be The 39 Steps.
The problem with the Penn Report and Croydon Council is that it got people’s hopes up.
