Cash-strapped Croydon is spending up to £26,000 so that senior council officials can rub shoulders with developers and estate agents at an event next week called the London Real Estate Forum.
Jo Negrini: showcasing Croydon, or herself?
Despite laying off hundreds of staff to save money, the borough which this week spent north of £100,000 on a bike race which was watched by sparse crowds, and which is defying its recruitment freeze to appoint a £80,000-a-year “culture czar”, has somehow also managed to find the entrance fee for another conference at which greedy developers discuss how they can carve up the capital.
Croydon is participating in the two-day event, which usually charges between £12,500 (plus VAT, naturally) and £22,000 (plus VAT) for the privilege of being among the sharp suits and well-monied speculators.
“The London Real Estate Forum is the premier event for the development sector,” the organisers boast, without any hint on modesty or self-doubt. “Hosted in the heart of Mayfair, Berkeley Square, bringing two days of debate, deals and networking.” Cushty.
Action has been taken in the past to restrict the informal event on Imperial Way, but this is thought to be the first active police intervention for four years, and follows two recent high-speed accidents, including one in which someone involved remains in hospital in a coma.
The tournament, being staged in France, includes Ireland and Northern Ireland, Wales and England, and kicks off tomorrow.
The Labour-run council’s proposals for streets in parts of Addiscombe, Ashburton, Woodside, Shirley, Heathfield, Fairfield, and parts of Selhurst and South Norwood won approval in a public consultation from 52 per cent of those who bothered to respond, the council announced this afternoon.
This month, the book the group has been reading and will be discussing at the meeting is The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonassen.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary year since their foundation, Crystal Palace Radio and Electronics Club will be running a special event amateur radio station on June 12, call sign GB6CPR.
