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Tag Archives: Katherine Kerswell
Supreme Court orders Croydon Council: fulfil your legal duties
By STEVEN DOWNES The Supreme Court yesterday threw out Croydon Council’s defence, after a case brought by a homeless disabled woman finally reached the conclusion that the local authority really does have to deliver on its statutory responsibilities, however badly … Continue reading
Posted in Crisis Skylight Centre, Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense
Tagged Browne Jacobson, Court of Appeal, Crisis, Doughty Street Chambers, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Ruba Imam, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Supreme Court
19 Comments
After two years, Simmonds legal case approaches its end-game
CROYDON IN CRISIS: A council committee is to meet in secret later this week, potentially to discuss whether the authority should settle out-of-court over allegations of race discrimination and victimisation brought by a former senior employee Croydon Council’s Employment Tribunal … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Mayor Jason Perry, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
3 Comments
Mayor Perry: we’ve reported no one for bankrupting borough
Tory Mayor now blames police for slow investigation – after having submitted complaint over former council leaders more than two years after the council received recommendations that it should do so. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter In an extraordinary … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Mayor Jason Perry, Policing, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report
Tagged #PennReport, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Penn Report, Richard Penn, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman, Tory
4 Comments
Council confirms Agbabiaka as £127,000 pa highways chief
KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on the latest ins and not-quite-outs on the executive floor at Fisher’s Folly Karen Agbabiaka has been confirmed as Croydon Council’s new £127,684 per year director of streets and environment. The decision was rubber-stamped … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Karen Agbabiaka, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Williams, Opama Khan, Parking
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Islington, Karen Agbabiaka, Katherine Kerswell, Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Olympic Delivery Authority, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
1 Comment
Mayor Perry’s spending cuts should begin with his own cabinet
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Why is our cash-strapped council wasting £1.4m over four years on extra allowances for cabinet members who have little power? Or spending another £400,000 over the same period on ‘support staff’ for councillors at a time it is … Continue reading
Town Hall staff braced for £31m more cuts and job losses
CROYDON IN CRISIS: In an internal email to staff, the £192,000 per year chief executive has laid the groundwork for the next round of redundancies in departments including personnel and planning. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES While her council was congratulating … Continue reading
Perry claims ‘progress’ and gets set to hike Council Tax again
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Typical households’ bills will have risen by £388 in less than two years under the Tory Mayor, who has still failed to get a Government deal to write off some of the borough’s debts The borough’s Council … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 20% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
6 Comments
Perry in another U-turn over borough’s vanishing bus shelters
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It’s taken him 18 months to realise it, but the borough’s slow-on-the-uptake Mayor has finally realised that Valo Smart City was never going to deliver on any of its ambitious promises. By STEVEN DOWNES Having told dozens … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, TfL, Transport
Tagged bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Isaac Sutton, JC Decaux, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
7 Comments
Council offices’ public area closed after ‘very serious incidents’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Following the alleged serious assault of a vulnerable woman refugee, the council has shut its Access Croydon walk-in area, making the local authority even more remote from the people it is supposed to serve. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Perry drops action against bus shelter firm and loses £500,000
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Valo Smart City has racked up £1m debts, attracted at least four County Court Judgements and is now cancelling contracts with its suppliers. But after waiting nearly three years for the company to deliver their ‘smart’ bus … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, TfL, Transport
Tagged bus shelters, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Isaac Sutton, JC Decaux, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Opama Khan, Tory, Valo Smart City, Valo Smart City UK Ltd
12 Comments
Tory Mayor Perry admits to another broken election promise
No more ‘rewards for failure’ was the Tory promise before last year’s local elections. Now the council’s executive Mayor has conceded that he cannot act against Newman, Negrini or others accused of bankrupting the borough. By our Town Hall reporter, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman
Tagged #PennReport, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Penn Report, Simon Hall, The Municipal Journal, The Penn Report, Tony Newman, Tory
4 Comments
Cost of Kier case against council nearly doubles in four years
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on how the risks of a multi-million-pound court case brought by road repairs contractors have been known to the local authority since at least 2019 The dispute between Croydon Council and … Continue reading
Former roads contractor Kier sues Croydon Council for £10m
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Just a couple of weeks after they took retirement from their six-figure salaried job at Fisher’s Folly, a former exec director is back, reportedly overseeing the council’s response to a potentially costly legal case. By our Town … Continue reading
Housing service job cuts ‘could cost lives’ warns GMB union
Officials at one of the largest trades unions at Croydon Council accuse the authority of putting people’s lives at risk with a “restructuring” – meaning job cuts – in their housing and homelessness department. The GMB says that job cuts … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, GMB, Helen O'Connor, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
2 Comments
Simmonds’ Tribunal ruling prompts national alert to councils
Croydon Council is being used as an object lesson to local authorities across the country. But not in a good way. Again. An Employment Tribunal case successfully taken against Croydon Council by a former senior employee for unlawfully reducing her … Continue reading
Didn’t I do well?! Kerswell gives herself a pat on the back
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It is three years to the week since the emergency committee meeting, attended by Jason Perry, that decided in secret to give £437,000 to Jo Negrini to leave her job as council CEO. Today, Negreedy’s replacement, Katherine … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Hazel Simmonds, Improvement Board, Jane West, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged #PennReport, 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, DLUHC, Electoral Commission, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Information Commissioners Office, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, LGA, LGC, Local Government Association, Local Government Chronicle, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Penn Report, The Penn Report, Tory
20 Comments
Council offers £750 per day for a rubbish temporary director
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the sky-high wages on offer from the cash-strapped local authority for someone to step in and keep the bins contract ticking over and ANPR cameras working As Croydon residents prepare to … Continue reading
Calls for Electoral Commission to intervene on Croydon votes
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council cannot be trusted to run elections in the borough, according to senior political officials. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES An experienced election agent for the Labour Party has effectively declared that he has no confidence in … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, 2024 General Election, 2024 London elections, Andrew Pelling, Croydon Council, David White, John Wentworth, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Steve Reed MP
Tagged Andrew Pelling, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, David White, Green Party, John Wentworth, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood, Steve Reed OBE, Tory
1 Comment
Criticism of Kerswell’s election count ‘justified’ says report
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s chief executive has spent thousands of pounds on a not-very-independent report in an effort to vindicate her bungled handling of the May 2022 local elections which made Croydon a national laughing stock. By WALTER CRONXITE, … Continue reading
Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, 2024 General Election, 2024 London elections, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Katherine Kerswell
Tagged 2022 Local Elections, Croydon, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, local elections, London, London Borough of Croydon, shambolic, Trinity School
2 Comments
Government panel given extra powers and new commissioners
Council to remain under the supervision of government-appointed panel, which has been given extra statutory powers, until 2025. By STEVEN DOWNES No matter how many times, or in how many different ways, that Jason Perry, Croydon’s piss-poor, part-time Mayor, stamps … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Brian Roberts, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Pamela Leonce, Statutory powers, Tony McArdle, Tory
9 Comments
Information Commissioner says council is ‘failing residents’
National regulator says it is ‘deeply disappointed’ with Croydon, which has broken the Freedom of Information laws at least 227 times in the past year and now faces possible High Court action. By STEVEN DOWNES Cash-strapped Croydon Council could face … Continue reading
Housing staff start strike action over latest council job cuts
One of the biggest trades unions representing staff working in the borough has warned Croydon Council that it risks making a bad situation worse if it goes ahead with plans to impose widespread job cuts in its already stretched housing … Continue reading
Council ordered to give £15,000 back-pay to ex-boss Simmonds
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council has incurred another costly legal defeat, after one of those execs axed in the ‘Kerswell kull’ two years ago wins her Employment Tribunal case Croydon Council and its chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, have been dealt … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Shifa Mustafa
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Employment Tribunal, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa
11 Comments
Council chief execs reject their £6,000+ pay offer as ‘pettiness’
Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on an outbreak of militancy among local authority workers who are paid upwards of £180,000 per year Could cash-strapped Croydon Council be about to be hit by a strike over pay and conditions by its … Continue reading
