Recent Comments
Arfur Towcrate on £1,500 per day for bankrupt co… David Goodwin on £1,500 per day for bankrupt co… Ralph on Crapita! Thousands of ex-Civil… Arfur Towcrate on It’s a red card for thos… Mata on Cabinet post puts Fahnbulleh… Jim Lennon on Police dispersal notice in cla…
Tag Archives: 15% Council Tax hike
There’s good reason politicians are more unpopular than ever
After a week of two budget debates, one in the House of Commons, one at Croydon Town Hall, ANDREW FISHER reckons it is time that our politicians stopped pretending… British politics are in a dire state, nationally and locally, as … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Stuart King
Tagged #FundCroydonFairly, 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, Budget 2024, Conservative, Council budget, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Jeremy Hunt, Keir Starmer, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Pay More Get Less, Rachel Reeves, Say No To 15%, The Budget, Tory
10 Comments
King gets his bluff called over Tory cuts and Council Tax hike
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It was déjà vu all over again at last night’s budget meeting, where ‘steadfast’ opposition melted as soon as the borough’s opposition councillors were given a stern talking to. TOWN HALL SKETCH by STEVEN DOWNES Anyone out … Continue reading
Posted in Claire Bonham, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Esther Sutton, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel, Stuart King
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Claire Bonham, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Esther Sutton, Fund Croydon Fairly, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Pay More Get Less, Ria Patel, STUART KING, Tory
5 Comments
People Power II: Tram memorial given an overdue spring clean
Earlier this week, this was how the tram crash memorial at New Addington looked. Unkempt. Unswept. As if it was uncared for. It is a little over seven years since that terrible morning when an early morning tram full of … Continue reading
Posted in Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, New Addington North, New Addington South, Sandilands derailment, Tramlink, Transport
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon tram crash, New Addington, New Addington tram crash memorial, Sandilands derailment, Say No To 15%
Leave a comment
Cummings’ budget rejected before his big Newsnight moment
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The government has just found £2.5bn in ‘exceptional financial support’ for 19 councils. But Mayor Jason Perry and his finance chief have an anxious week after having had their unbalanced budget rejected in a Town Hall meeting. … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Chris Philp MP, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel, Section 114 notice, Stuart King
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, BBC Newsnight, Conservative, Council budget, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Fund Croydon Fairly, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Jason Cummings, Labour, LGA, Local Government Association, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Newsnight, Pay More Get Less, Ria Patel, S114, S114 notice, Say No To 15%, STUART KING, Tory, Unbalanced budget
4 Comments
Wanted: ‘storyteller’ to spin CEO Kerswell’s recruitment binge
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘History,’ said Marx (Karl, not Groucho), ‘repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.’ At our cash-strapped council, we appear to have arrived at the farcical stage. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES How good is your “story-telling”? £50,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Corporate directors, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Executive directors, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Regina Road, Tony Newman, Tory
8 Comments
It’s time for our elected councillors to stand up for Croydon
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Saddled with £1.4bn of ‘toxic’ debt, Mayor Perry has been rendered paralysed in his management of the cash-strapped council’s finances. Ahead of tonight’s budget meeting, ANDREW PELLING outlines some of the options for the borough’s politicians There’s … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Esther Sutton, Improvement Board, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Planning, Ria Patel, Sarah Jones MP, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Pelling, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department of Levelling Up, DLUHC, Esther Sutton, Green Party, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Ria Patel, S114, S114 notice, Say No To 15%, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tony McArdle, Tory
8 Comments
Angry Purley and Sanderstead residents to confront Mayor
Dodgy fines on motorists, rubber-stamping LTNs, £5 charges for replacement bins, public library closures and now delays over a long-promised Coulsdon healthcentre are likely to be some of the awkward questions tonight for out-of-his-depth Jason Perry Jason Perry, Croydon’s £82,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Community associations, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Libraries, Mario Creatura, Mayor Jason Perry, New Addington South, Parking, Purley, Purley Pool, Sanderstead
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Coulsdon, Coulsdon health centre, Croydon, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Polaska Assets BVI, Purley, Purley Pool, Sanderstead, Sanderstead Library, Say No To 15%, Tory
3 Comments
21% Council Tax hike but Perry has a pay rise for his mates
There’s a protest planned outside Croydon Town Hall tomorrow for the first of two council budget meetings You pay more. You get less. Long-suffering residents will be protesting outside Croydon Town Hall tomorrow evening, and again the following Wednesday, March … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Callton Young, Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, David White, Esther Sutton, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel, Stuart King
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Assembly, Croydon Council, David White, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Say No To 15%, Tory
3 Comments
It’s the same in Croydon and Birmingham: Pay More, Get Less
In this week’s column, ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, looks at the criminalisation of journalism through the treatment of Julian Assange, and he charts the latest undermining of local councils by central Government It could be worse. You could live in … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Alexei Navalny, Andrew Fisher, Birmingham City Council, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department of Levelling Up, DLUHC, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Jeremy Corbyn, Julian Assange, Michael Gove, Nottingham City Council, S114, S114 notice, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tony McArdle, Tory, Vladimir Putin
Leave a comment
BINMAGEDDON: Mayor’s secret plan to charge £5 per new bin
CROYDON IN CRISIS: New impacts of living in a bankrupt borough are emerging with every passing day. The latest is the ‘rationing’ of new wheelie bins for residents. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Jason Perry, Croydon’s rubbish Mayor, plans to compound … Continue reading
‘Ignore me’ pleads Mayor who most people ignore anyway
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the latest digital difficulty to trouble council officials Jason Perry, Croydon’s £82,000 per year part-time Mayor, today issued an urgent plea to council colleagues to ignore him. Or ignore his emails, anyway. The … Continue reading
‘Can’t deal with debt’ admits Perry as he borrows £38m more
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council staff morale ‘at an all-time low’ according to a national newspaper report, while the bankrupt borough’s part-time Mayor’s only answer to its financial struggles is to borrow even more money Last week, Inside Croydon columnist Andrew … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Clive Betts, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, Financial Times, London Borough of Croydon, S114 notice, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tory
4 Comments
Council loaned Brick by Brick additional £47.3m last year
CROYDON IN CRISIS: In its latest report to Michael Gove, the Government’s improvement panel reveals a £38m hole in cash-strapped council budgets for the next four years – and repeats plea for unprecedented half-a-billion pounds loan write-off Croydon’s cash-strapped council … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, £540m debt write off, Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, Department for Levelling UP Housing and Communities, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Tony McArdle, Tory
5 Comments
Under the Tories, issuing a Section 114 notice ‘is pointless’
COUNCILS IN CRISIS: The partisan blame game over the financial collapse of local authorities is unravelling by the week, as ever more civic leaders and mayors admit that there’s no spending left to cut. The next couple of weeks could … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Outside Croydon, Section 114 notice
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Birmingham, Birmingham City Council, Bradford, Bradford City Council, Council Tax, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Hampshire, Hampshire County Council, Havering, Havering Borough Council, Jack Shaw, Michael Gove, Middlesbrough Council, Somerset Council, Stoke, Stoke City Council
4 Comments
After two years Perry claims credit for 4 TfL bus shelters
When he’s not providing a platform for vandals to celebrate the destruction of ULEZ infrastructure, Croydon’s hypocritical Mayor is accepting help from Transport for London It’s coming up to three years since Croydon Council had all of its own bus … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, TfL, Transport, ULEZ, ULEZ expansion
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor Sadiq Khan, TfL, Tory, Transport for London, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
2 Comments
Croydon in 2023: Murder, school closures and Westfield blight
THE YEAR IN REVIEW Part 3 – September to December It’s not like there’s ever any shortage of stories to cover in Croydon. But even by this area’s usual standards, the news that Inside Croydon reported, often exclusively, in the … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Art, Business, Crime, Croydon Council, History, Inside Croydon, Knife crime, Mayor Jason Perry, Whitgift Centre
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Elianne Andam, Employment Tribunal, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Katherine Kerswell, knife crime, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, murder, Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Old Palace School, Purley Way, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
3 Comments
Perry pleads poverty when he has more Council Tax than ever
CROYDON COMMENTARY: The Government’s local council settlement announced on Monday saw Michael Gove give special licence to some authorities to hike their Council Tax by an eye-watering 10%. The reason our borough wasn’t on that list, says ANDREW PELLING, is … Continue reading
LGA warns dozens more councils are on brink of bankruptcy
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Government’s 2024-2025 financial settlement will allow some local authorities in England to impose a 10% Council Tax hike on residents for a second year. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter Even Conservative councillors were saying that … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Birmingham, Birmingham City Council, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Nottingham City Council, Slough, Thurrock, Tory, Woking
6 Comments
Council risks being in the red over BxB’s Red Clover Gardens
Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, on the growing disquiet over the fate of 157 flats in Coulsdon that have been standing empty for more than a year There’s a number of reasons that Croydon Council is boracic, and one of … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Coulsdon Town, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Brick by Brick, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, London Borough of Croydon, Mary Duggan, Mears Group Plc, Notting Hill Genesis, Red Clover Gardens, Regen Capital, Tory
3 Comments
Perry struggles with numbers to offer us: Pay More, Get Less
Our columnist ANDREW FISHER watched the Croydon Council budget webcast this week, so that you wouldn’t have to… Croydon’s very own answer to Laurel and Hardy took to the airwaves this week, as Conservative Mayor Jason Perry and his finance … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 2024 Council Budget, Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
5 Comments
Perry to host webinar on his plans for more cuts and more debt
Croydon Mayor Jason Perry is staging a webinar on Monday, at which the public can “hear more about the council’s budget proposals for next year”, according to the council. Perry and Jason Cummings, the cabinet member for finance, the Tory … Continue reading
2024 will be a time for honesty and straight-talking in politics
In his regular iC column, TV politics pundit ANDREW FISHER looks at the daunting mess left in the in-tray for any new government next year This year has been a rough one – living standards have fallen again, NHS waiting … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Forde Report, John McDonnell MP, Keir Starmer, Labour, Tory
2 Comments
‘Teetering on the edge’: Hunt does nothing for local councils
TV politics pundit ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, assesses the fine detail of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, and amid the tax giveaways for the already wealthy, identifies the glaring gaps in financial provision for the NHS, teachers and local authorities like … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Fisher, Autumn Statement, Bank of England, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, HM Treasury, Homelessness, Jeremy Hunt, No-fault evictions, OBR, Office for Budget Responsibility, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tory
4 Comments
Perry’s Tories opt to send in the heavies to borough’s poorest
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After hiking Council Tax by 15%, the Tory Mayor and his finance chief are now using ‘an in-house army of bailiffs’ to go after residents on benefits who have fallen into arrears. By STEVEN DOWNES While Jason … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, South West London Law Centres, Stuart King
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Council Tax arrears, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, South West London Law Centre, STUART KING, Tory, Universal Credit
16 Comments
