Tag Archives: Phil Brookes

Tory councillor’s Commissioner video nasty is another wild rant

Simon Brew, a Conservative councillor in Croydon for the past 11 years, hasn’t had the best of luck with his campaigning on local issues when he has tried to use modern communication techniques – like videos. Remember how he lobbied … Continue reading

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Purley, Section 114 notice, Simon Brew, Stabilisation Plan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Croydon residents pick up the £1m tab for ‘improvement’ panel

It is residents who will pay the cost of government ‘intervention’ if Commissioners move in at Fisher’s Folly next month, just as they have been paying for a panel of Whitehall-appointed ‘experts’ since 2021. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Official figures … Continue reading

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

£603,000: the soaring costs of Croydon’s ‘improvement’ panel

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Three years since Tony McArdle and his government-appointed team of troubleshooters were parachuted into the council, there are mounting questions about what they have achieved. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The Government-appointed chair of Croydon Council’s “improvement and … Continue reading

Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Libraries, Section 114 notice, SEND, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Gove’s ‘improvement’ panel handed £1,000 per week pay rise

Trebles all-round! Self-professed ‘friend of Suella Braverman’ has given generous pay rises to the unelected bureaucrats overseeing Croydon’s cash-strapped council Michael Gove and his Conservative Government have just added another £50,000 per year on to the costs of running Croydon’s … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, The Penn Report, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 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

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Kier Group, Steve Iles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Jenrick ministry defends choice of all-white improvement panel

The government has been forced to defend its decision to appoint an all-white “improvement and assurance panel” to oversee Croydon Council’s efforts to recover from its financial collapse last year. In January, Robert Jenrick’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Board, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Government-appointed advisers pulled plug on BxB sale

CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Improvement Panel’ ordered council to abandon its poor-value deal to sell Brick by Brick, and instead to pay Wates Construction £1.12m to oversee the loss-making builders’ work on 23 sites. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Hamida Ali, the … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Buss, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Planning, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

£2,400 per day – the high cost of council’s ‘improvement’ panel

The annual cost of having Croydon officials’ work checked by Whitehall-appointed experts comes to ‘three-quarters of a Negrini’, as KEN LEE reports The Improvement Panel imposed on Croydon by the Tory government to check that the cash-strapped council is running … Continue reading

Posted in Adult Social Care, Brick by Brick, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jo Negrini, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments