Tag Archives: Department for Levelling Up

Councillors agree to chase Negrini for golden handshake cash

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The same committee which met in August 2020 to agree the £437,000 payment to the departing CEO today decided to ignore the advice of senior lawyers and spend more council cash in trying to recover the pay-off. … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Callton Young, Croydon Council, Enid Mollyneaux, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry, Patricia Hay-Justice, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Slough, Thurrock, Sandwell, Liverpool: Croydon’s not alone

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Government announcements of special measures yesterday covered four other local authorities, as councils across the country struggle with under-funding and massive debts built up over the last decade The party line, trotted out in the Town Hall … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Croydon put in special measures: ‘Worst of all possible worlds’

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Announcements from Westminster and Whitehall today put the borough under the control of unelected bureaucrats who are answerable only to a Tory Government minister – in a scheme that the Mayor has helped plot for months. By … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Two years too late, Tory Government intervenes over council

CROYDON IN CRISIS: A Parliamentary written statement today effectively admitted defeat over the council’s bail-outs and ordered a Whitehall takeover of the council ahead of a possible £540m debt write-off Lee Rowley, the Tories’ local government minister, announced today an … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gove holds back panel’s key report until after budget deadline

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The government appointed a panel of experts in early 2021 to oversee the operation of the ‘dysfunctional’ council. But after a delay of more than a year, they won’t publish their ‘assurance’ report until after the Tory … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Green councillors tell Gove: Don’t make our residents pay for ‘a decade of bad decisions, dodgy deals and secret contracts’

Croydon’s Green Party councillors have issued an 11th-hour plea to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove for him to withdraw permission for Croydon’s Tory Mayor, Jason Perry, to impose a punitive 15per cent Council Tax hike on the ordinary people of … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Esther Sutton, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tandridge is latest Surrey council to seek financial bail-out

Tandridge, one of Croydon’s boundary neighbours to the south, has become the latest Surrey council to appeal to central government for a financial bail-out. It is the second time that Tandridge District Council has sought a capitalisation direction – or … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Section 114 notice, Tandridge District Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

No Council Tax hike without seeing the assurance panel reports

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Michael Gove is not only permitting the borough’s Tory Mayor to hike Council Tax without a referendum, he is doing so while withholding reports from his own panel of inspectors. Which suggests the government has something to hide … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, The Penn Report, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

£540m debt write-off shows Perry has failed on finances

CROYDON IN CRISIS: His political opponents say the elected Mayor ‘has sold Croydon down the river for his own political reasons’, and his 15% tax hike is ‘punishment’ for residents. By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s council has been so “spectacularly useless” … Continue reading

Posted in Callton Young, Claire Bonham, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

10,000 signatures! Now government has to answer our petition

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Government must now respond to the petition raised by Inside Croydon that opposes the imposition of a 15per cent Council Tax increase without first holding a cross-borough referendum on the matter. The 10,000 signature threshold for … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Government to write off £540m of council’s debts, as Croydon becomes the Northern Rock of England’s local authorities

Tory minister Michael Gove asked to agree deal that wipes half a billion pounds from council’s mountain of debt After spending months complaining about council’s ‘unsustainable’ debt, Mayor Jason Perry is seeking to borrow another £224m Perry’s 15% Council Tax … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

£1.5m government fund ‘targets’ Croydon in drugs strategy trial

Croydon is to receive £1,490,858 from the government’s drug strategy housing support fund, it was announced today. Croydon is one of only two London boroughs (the other is Westminster) included among 28 local authorities receiving the money, allocated from a … Continue reading

Posted in Crime, Croydon Council, Health, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Croydon’s 15% Council Tax hike: now is the time for action

CROYDON IN CRISIS: In the past day, there’s been an overwhelming angry rejection of the idea that ordinary, hard-working families in this borough should pay even more for the mistakes and incompetence of council officials and politicians. Which is why … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Inside Croydon, Local media, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Perry Premium: Mayor fails to disclose he asked for 15%

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Of three basket-case boroughs, it was only Croydon that requested a special Council Tax hike, as Jason Perry breaks his silence It took Jason Perry more than two hours to get around to issuing a public statement, … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gove to Perry: ‘Mitigate the impact on those least able to pay’

By STEVEN DOWNES Mayor Jason Perry’s plans to raise a few bob extra by taking cash out of the purses of old age pensioners and the poorest in the borough got defeated in a Town Hall vote last week. Today, … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Perry to preside over record-breaking 15% Council Tax hike

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The borough with one of the biggest Council Tax bills in London has just been given permission to make those bills even bigger. Much bigger. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon, under Tory Mayor Jason Perry, has been … Continue reading

Posted in Adult Social Care, Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Perry left pot-less after failed bid for £20m levelling up money

Our Town Hall staff reporter, PEARL LEE, on the latest disappointing set-back for the Conservative Mayor Despite growing social deprivation in the borough and its failing town centre economy, Croydon has failed in its bid for £20million of Levelling Up … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Garratt, Paul Scully MP, Section 114 notice, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Gove’s funding increases have come too late to save Croydon

London’s precept to add nearly £40 to average bills, as Mayor Perry asks government permission for increase of at least 10% for Croydon’s Council Tax, reports WALTER CRONXITE, political editor After 12 years of Tory austerity, the government has taken … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, London Councils, London Fire Brigade, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Policing, Sadiq Khan, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Croydon needs deal that could set precedent for all councils

CROYDON IN CRISIS: A government-appointed inspector, council directors and senior councillors all agree that throwing millions more at the cash-strapped council won’t fix its deep-seated problems. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The Tories who control Croydon Town Hall have already done … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Mike Fisher, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gove orders Council Tax review and reform of imperfect system

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The bad example set by our south London borough appears to have nudged Whitehall into looking at the failed system of local government finance. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE Michael Gove has announced a review … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tory blame game over bankruptcy points finger at Westminster

There was something archly cynical, and deliberately misleading, about how Croydon’s Conservatives turned Tuesday’s announcement of the borough’s bankruptcy into an exercise in political point-scoring. None of which will help the borough’s residents, writes ANDREW FISHER Croydon’s Conservative councillors were … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Chris Philp MP, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gove’s broadside at builders over their ‘ugly’ developments

Michael Gove, in his second spell as the Tories’ Levelling Up Secretary, has declared war against “ugly” buildings, in an effort to reduce opposition to residential developments. That could be bad news for the profit-hungry developers who seek to replace … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Environment, Housing, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

After nearly a year, Gove is sitting on two ‘improvement’ reports

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 Michael Gove, re-installed as Secretary … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tory government delays finance reports to help Mayor Perry

CROYDON IN CRISIS: It’s almost nine months since Whitehall released the last quarterly report from its Improvement Panel on the state of the cash-strapped council’s finances, prompting accusations of political favours for the Conservatives. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES It’s not … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment