Reshuffle puts execs in high-stakes game of musical chairs

Posted on December 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

Katherine Kerswell’s top-heavy restructure, with five corporate directors replacing… five executive directors. But no places for two key figures in the previous regime

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked council documents suggest that the interim chief executive has already made her mind up as to who she wants in her top team. By STEVEN DOWNES

Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s £192,474 per year interim CEO, looks set to demote one of her organisation’s most senior executive directors, someone who was among her predecessor’s closest colleagues and who was at the centre of the council’s financial meltdown, while she is planning the merger of two of the authority’s biggest directorates in a reorganisation which chips away at the bankrupt council’s £66milion overspend this year.

The directorate merger could see two exec directors, Guy van Dichele and Shifa Mustafa, forced to compete for one job, in a high stakes game of musical executive chairs. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Councillors agree to cut their allowances by £300,000 per year

Posted on December 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, reports on how Town Hall figures have finally got round to making their own ‘symbolic’ contribution to the borough’s financial crisis which they helped to create

Clive Fraser: Labour’s  whip shows councillor priorities

Six months after the financial distress signals went up from Fisher’s Folly, Croydon’s 70 councillors will tomorrow night finally get around to passing a motion that will cut the bill for their allowances overall by around 20 per cent.

In total, £300,000 will be shaved from the annual £1.5million councillor allowances budget.

It’s a cut in line with the initial round of council job cuts which councillors voted through in the summer.

The proposal, which goes before the latest “emergency” council meeting tomorrow night, is for a cut in allowances four times bigger than what was proposed by the opposition Conservatives, in a piece of Tory grandstanding which forced the meeting to be called.

Outline proposals were passed at a cabinet meeting last month. These revised measures,  with bigger cuts, have already been agreed by the borough’s political duopoly ahead of tomorrow’s meeting. Continue reading →

Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Louisa Woodley, Section 114 notice, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

10-year-old Nathan is named as Rotary’s first Stars winner

Posted on December 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

Nathan Findlator receives his Rotary Stars award from Broadmead’s Sarah Hunter

The Rotary Club of Croydon has named the first winner of its Rotary Stars Award as Nathan Findlator, from Broadmead Primary in Selhurst.

The Rotary Stars is an annual scheme to recognise and reward primary school-aged children for acts of good citizenship.

Findlator, who is 10 years old, received the award in recognition of his great generosity and thoughtfulness during the covid-19 pandemic.

Throughout lockdown, Findlator collected food, stored it until he had a whole crate full and then brought it in and donated it the school’s food bank. Continue reading →

Posted in Broadmead Primary, Charity, Community associations, Schools | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Volunteer for Christmas Day Focus, Access Croydon, Dec 25

Posted on December 15, 2020 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Croydon BME Forum | Tagged | Leave a comment

Clues to Whitehall plan in leaked report from Nottingham

Posted on December 14, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Might there be clues into what Whitehall has planned for this borough from a ‘rapid review’ conducted on another cash-strapped local authority? By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE

Nottingham City Council is dealing with similar issues to those in Croydon

A “rapid review” by government inspectors into a cash-strapped local authority has been leaked and it includes the recommendation of the establishment of a board of commissioners to monitor the council’s progress as it tries to plug a black hole in its budget.

No, it is not the review conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government into Croydon’s bankrupt council – that report was submitted to Robert Jenrick’s Whitehall department two weeks ago and has yet to be published.

The rapid review that has been leaked has looked at Nottingham City Council, which has encountered financial difficulties this year similar to those in Croydon, with extra spending on covid-19 measures compounding cash shortages caused in part, at least, by misadventures with public money into private business. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In the classroom during covid: Schools morale is sinking fast

Posted on December 14, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: In September, a locally based teacher* gave us an insight into what life was like in the classroom as the schools returned following the first coronavirus lockdown. Here, they update us after the strangest of terms

Two boroughs have ordered their schools closed today. But the government wants schools in England to carry on as ‘normal’

It has been a strange term, this term.

Teachers and pupils alike feel that our lives are on hold – so many activities are suspended – and yet we are careering rapidly towards the exams that, for now at least, the government in England insists all pupils will take.

During the term, the other nations decided to dispense with exams, first, in October, Scotland announced the suspension of its National Five exams (equivalent to GCSEs), then last month Wales announced the suspension of GCSEs and A-levels. Scotland announced the suspension of their Highers, the Scottish equivalents of A-levels, this month. Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Schools | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Audit Report: Newman’s £100m gamble with your money

Posted on December 14, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: There’s growing public demand for some degree of accountability over the council’s financial collapse, and there’s mounting evidence that the former leader of the council and his mates broke rules to push through his pet policies. By STEVEN DOWNES

Tony Newman: pushed through £30m hotel deal without council debate

It is now two weeks since a report was submitted to the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government after a “rapid review” of the circumstances which caused Croydon’s financial collapse.

That report will be crucial to Whitehall’s decision-making over whether to grant Croydon a bail-out loan to help fill the £66million hole in this year’s budget. The council leadership is expected to submit its application to MHCLG tomorrow.

Katherine Kerswell, the council’s interim chief exec, and Hamida Ali, the old-new council leader, will be making their submission to MHCLG without the benefit of seeing the rapid review team’s report. And while talks with officials at the MHCLG have been taking place since late summer, the Conservative government minister, Robert Jenrick, has made no further comment on the state of the Labour-run south London borough since labelling it as “unacceptable” and “dysfunctional”.

“I don’t think Tory ministers want to make this easy for us,” a senior council source told Inside Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Paul Scott, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

200-year-old documents reveal story behind the graves

Posted on December 13, 2020 by insidecroydon

MARVELS OF THE MINSTER: Local historian DAVID MORGAN has discovered some real treasure at the National Archives: three wills from one Croydon family

Croydon Minster, as it is now known, is a treasure trove of local history, including of the Innes family in the 1800s

Finding a last will and testament that was written by someone who was living 200 years ago is exciting.

Tracking down a second will from a previous generation of the same family is superb.

Uncovering a third is just amazing.

These wills were drawn up by a father and his two daughters. The family gravestone is one of those missing from the churchyard at Croydon Minster. One of the daughters was Sarah Innes, who died on December 16, 1852, aged 76. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Purley organist gives church’s carols the Abbey Road touch

Posted on December 13, 2020 by insidecroydon

With their live choirs silenced by the covid crisis, All Saints Kenley and St Barnabas Purley have had to look elsewhere for Christmas inspiration.

They didn’t have to look far, because organist and choir-leader Giles Holland was able to use his Abbey Road studios experience to mix the individually recorded voices of the choir members for the twin church’s live and online Christmas services.

“We had been thinking of ways that we could continue singing together at a time when we were not able to meet,” Holland said. “Both choirs were massively enthusiastic to contribute, so it’s been a big undertaking, but so rewarding, especially with live singing and rehearsing ruled out because of the covid restrictions.” Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Kenley, Purley | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Government’s £175m for cycle lanes and low-traffic schemes

Posted on December 12, 2020 by insidecroydon

Tory government minister says that no one group should be allowed to veto schemes that close roads to rat-runners. By JEREMY CLACKSON, transport correspondent

Concrete blocks and steel bollards have been put in place on some Croydon LTN streets

The Tory government has announced £175million extra funding for a new wave of traffic reduction schemes to encourage more people walk and cycle.

Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes have been introduced across the country, including in Croydon, since the first covid-19 lockdown, in an effort to influence public habits and reduce car use, especially for shorter journeys.

The Transport Ministry is telling councils that they should also not be derailed by a minority of noisy opponents to the LTNs and other traffic-reduction measures.

When announcing the measures, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, pointed to polling which shows significant support for such measures. The money will be allocated to councils partly for new cycle lanes and better pedestrian facilities, as well as LTNs. Continue reading →

Posted in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Cycling, South Norwood, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kerswell’s management savings plan: no change at the top

Posted on December 11, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff, unions and residents expected to react angrily to the council’s £193,000 interim CEO’s plan to make only minor changes to the staff on the biggest salaries at Fisher’s Folly.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Katherine Kerswell: proving herself an adept furniture re-arranger on a sinking ship

Katherine Kerswell’s plan for the reorganisation of the management structure of Croydon’s bankrupt council will see her scrapping five “executive directors”, all on salaries of £150,000 per year or more. They are to be replaced with… five corporate directors, each of them likely to be paid at least £150,000 per year.

That’s according to sources inside Fisher’s Folly, who were kept waiting an extra 24 hours for the outcome of the interim CEO’s deliberations on how she and her “executive leadership team” proposed to save some money to help plug the £66million hole in this year’s Town Hall budget. Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Brick by Brick abandons plans to build on ‘village green’

Posted on December 11, 2020 by insidecroydon

A resident-led campaign in Purley and Kenley was today declaring victory after Brick by Brick announced it was abandoning plans to build on their “village green”.

Wontford Road Green’s community campaign was today celebrating a victory

Brick by Brick wanted to build 17 flats, nine houses and a car park on a green open space between Wontford Road and Roffey Close.

The proposals were described as perhaps the worst yet, even by Brick by Brick’s shoddy standards.

It is thought to be only the second time that Brick by Brick – with an assumed guarantee of planning permission from its owners, Croydon Council – have been forced into abandoning development plans for one of its sites, following the dropping of a scheme to build a block of flats, likened to a Stasi prison block, on a patch of green space in Waddon. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Environment, Kenley, Planning, Purley, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Mayor warns on coronavirus: ‘We still have a long winter ahead’

Posted on December 11, 2020 by insidecroydon

As Britain hurtles headlong towards a no-deal Brexit, so London appears to be heading for Tier 3, the tightest covid restrictions perhaps as soon as next week – all just in time for Christmas.

Government scientific advisers and the London Mayor have all issued warnings this week about rising rates of infections from coronavirus, barely a fortnight since Croydon and the capital came out of a second lockdown period.

In Croydon yesterday there were 173 new cases of coronavirus infections recorded, bringing this week’s tally to 770 – up 48 per cent on the previous week. Continue reading →

Posted in Health, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Players ready with church to put on a show for Christmas

Posted on December 11, 2020 by insidecroydon

The Downsview Players are ready to put on a show for a covid Christmas

Members of an amateur dramatics group joined forces with a church congregation in Upper Norwood to build a Nativity scene and Santa’s sleigh to brighten up their local community.

The Downsview Players amdram group and members of Downsview Methodist Church in Waddington Way spent weeks building the Christmas installations and buying decorations for an afternoon of celebration and charity giving planned for Sunday December 20. Continue reading →

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Perry’s Tories make call for cuts that have already been agreed

Posted on December 10, 2020 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE on the political games being played out at the Town Hall

Jason Perry: demanding cuts to councillor allowances after they have already been agreed

The dozy Tory opposition at Croydon Town Hall has today demanded an extraordinary council meeting (yes, another one!) to consider a motion to cut councillors’ allowances – a move that has already been agreed by the bankrupt council’s cabinet last month.

Jason Perry and his 28 Conservative colleagues have been accused of “showboating again” over the council’s financial crisis.

The Tories want a reduction in allowances to save £75,000 per year. The Labour cabinet agreed in November to cut allowances by £103,000.

“There was a £103,000 saving on councillor allowances in the paper to the cabinet,” a Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon. “Wasn’t Councillor Perry paying attention? Or didn’t he or Mario Creatura bother to read their paperwork? Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jason Perry, Mario Creatura, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Startling’ findings in Ombudsman report on children in care

Posted on December 10, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s dilemma over cutting funding to the children’s services department has been highlighted by a report which says that youngsters in care are being let down by local authorities

A report published by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman says that statistics around children in local council care are “startling”, with ever-increasing numbers of youngsters being placed in care over the past decade.

The report – entitled Careless – Helping to improve council services to children in care – shares the cases of children who have been let down by the local authorities who should be looking after their interests.

The report finds that children in council care are more likely to have a special educational need or mental health difficulty than their friends who live with parents. And, the ombudsman says, “Their outcomes are just as concerning: formerly looked after children are more than three times as likely to be out of education, training or employment once they leave care.” Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Education, Schools, SEND | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Council to launch voluntary redundancy scheme on Monday

Posted on December 10, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Here’s the latest email to staff from Katherine Kerswell, confirming the start of the six-week consultation process and the voluntary redundancy scheme which launches on Monday, as the bankrupt council seeks to make another 130 staff jobless – just in time for Christmas

Will there be anyone left to work in Fisher’s Folly by the time Kutter Kerswell has finished?

From: Internal Communications
Sent: 09 December 2020 13:26
Subject: Message from interim chief executive Katherine Kerswell

Dear colleagues,

Today we are beginning a period of consultation on our savings proposals that will take us into January 2021. We want as many people as possible to feedback on the proposals that have been put forward as part of our renewal plans – plans that have been developed to protect the council’s future and secure its financial footing over the next three years. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Kerswell fails to publish promised management restructure

Posted on December 10, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council may have launched its public consultation over its financial collapse, but despite a written promise from interim boss Katherine Kerswell, details of her management restructure did not appear  yesterday. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Katherine Kerswell: delivering for Croydon, apparently

The promised publication of a management restructure at Croydon Council failed to materialise yesterday, despite a written promise to all staff by Katherine Kerswell, the £192,474 per year interim chief executive.

With a £66million hole in this year’s council budget, the council has already “erased” more than 400 frontline posts, but there’s as yet been no winnowing out of the over-populated executive floors at Fisher’s Folly. Except, that is, from those who have chosen to leap from Croydon’s sinking ship, rather than allow it to take them and their careers down with it.

Inside Croydon has this year counted 18 staff at director level and above, with nearly all of them on £100,000-plus salaries. The management restructure was expected by staff to address this increasingly obscene imbalance. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I want people to be envious when I say ‘I live in Croydon’

Posted on December 9, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Regular reader ANDREW MURRAY (no, not that one) provides an example of the anger that is mounting among residents over the council’s failed management

Croydon town centre has been getting steadily more run-down for the past decade

Croydon, like so many small towns in the UK, lives in the shadow of its big brother. Unlike most, Croydon wants a share of that limelight and cannot see why they should get on with being themselves when there is a bigger share to be had.

Sadly, all those towns look like central Croydon, run-down, gang-infested, homeless people everywhere. A mess. And the irony is that the cities they want to emulate are not in much better shape either. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Croydon Council, Section 114 notice, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council survey on cuts tries to pass the buck to residents

Posted on December 9, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The people running the borough, whether executive staff on sky-high salaries or elected councillors, have a well-earned reputation for failing to listen to the people they are supposed to serve. So why should residents expect any difference with the latest ‘consultation’?
By WALTER CONXITE, political editor

Extraordinarily, the council is still issuing letters with this vacuous slogan

In possibly the most tin-eared announcement yet from the most tin-eared of councils (slogan: “Delivering Misery for Croydon”), the propaganda department this lunchtime issued its latest missive from the bunker in Fisher’s Folly, announcing the launch of a public consultation on the cuts that need to be made to try to balance its mismanaged budget.

If the old-new council leader Hamida Ali thought that the findings of the auditors’ Report In The Public Interest were “shocking”, or that the PwC consultants’ report into the multi-million-pound bungling at house-builders Brick by Brick was troubling, then she had better prepare herself for a cascade of shit to be poured over her head when residents unleash their growing anger at the way she and her colleagues have run the Town Hall. Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Katherine Kerswell, Libraries, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, SEND | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Criticism mounting around council’s £800 per day director

Posted on December 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The team of social workers which helped to drag the council’s children’s services department from an Ofsted rating of ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ is breaking up, with increasing concern for the youngsters in the care of the local authority, KEN LEE reports

‘Shut up’: staff allege Debbie Jones’s remarks may have persuaded Pendry to quit

Sources at Fisher’s Folly relate growing disquiet about the management style of the council’s £800-per-day interim executive director for children, families and education, Debbie Jones.

This comes after the news, reported exclusively by Inside Croydon at the weekend, that Nick Pendry is quitting his role as director of early help and children’s social care. Pendry follows his former boss, Rob Henderson, in leaving the council. Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Take a butcher’s at this: 90-year-old George gets covid jab

Posted on December 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

George Dyer, aged 90, a retired butcher from Croydon, was the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine at Mayday Hospital this morning.

George Dyer getting his coronavirus vaccine at Mayday this morning

He is thought to be the first Londoner to be vaccinated against the deadly virus.

Dyer was interviewed by Sky News this morning. A hospital volunteer, he said he felt “very privileged” to be the first of the city’s 9 million residents to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

“It’s terrific,” he said. He said that the vaccine made him feel as though “I’m about to be given a new lease of life.

“I miss people,” he said. “Being enclosed in your home you don’t see people.

“Fortunately I’ve got friends who telephone me so I keep in touch. But the mere thought of being able to walk round the shops – it’s lovely.

“I love Christmas time: going round the shops and listening to the music and seeing all the goodies.” Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon NHS Trust, Health, Mayday Hospital | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Barwell’s Downing Street book is promising ‘revelations’

Posted on December 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

Gavin Barwell, the author of the less-than-acclaimed How To Lose A Marginal Seat, has been signed up to write another book.

Barwell with Theresa Mayhem: did she know he wrote books?

As if the £305 per day attendance allowance at the House of Lords was not enough, nor the various consultancy fees received from Price Waterhouse Coopers, or the directorship at Clarion Housing, “Lord” Barwell is now cashing in on his time as chief of staff to Theresa Mayhem at No10 Downing Street. The advance on the book from publishers Atlantic should fund the fees for one of his sons at his £18,000-a-year old school Trinity right through to the Sixth Form. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Churches in Kenley and Purley are Zoom-ing in on Christmas

Posted on December 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

Some of the borough’s churches are operating under the ‘new normal’ conditions, as our Religions Correspondent, PHIL PUGH, reports

Stoned: parishioners have been leaving painted stones around their neighbourhood for Christmas

All Saints Church in Kenley and St Barnabas in Purley have decided not to use the traditional “Happy Christmas” message this year, in favour of something more appropriate in this time of covid-19.

This year’s Christmas message on the parishes’ seasonal cards is simply a wish for “Comfort and Joy”, coupled with an offer of prayers – requests can be made using a new online feature.

All Saints, in Church Road, Kenley, and St Barnabas, on Higher Drive, Purley, have been linked for many years and share a priest-in-charge, Justine Middlemiss.

“A traditional Santa and snow message just didn’t seem right this year, so we’ve gone for something that offers a message of hope and love – something we all need right now,” said Rev Middlemiss. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Kenley, Purley | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Handel Halved, St Peter’s Church, South Croydon, Dec 11

Posted on December 8, 2020 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment