By Mike Swadling
In 2019 I wrote a plea on this site that Croydon Council focus on just doing it’s job. Croydon Council had just been busy spending our money on the Croydon Park Hotel and Colonnades Retail Park. At the time I asked if the council had fully taken account of the risks should we have a downturn. I also wondered if it more made sense to have the best and brightest at the council, focused on providing services rather than property speculation. Well as we now know Croydon Council fell into de facto bankruptcy.
“looking for offers in excess of £10million, the only snag being they purchased Davis House for £19million in 2008”
Croydon Park Hotel was sold at a loss of £5 million. The Colonnades Retail Park appears to be up for sale, and we await the final bill for this property speculation. In case you think this is a one (or two) off, it appears Croydon Council has a longer history of property speculation. The council is now in the process of selling Davis House and is looking for offers in excess of £10million, the only snag being they purchased Davis House for £19million in 2008. MyLondon reports “At the time, the Conservative administration, described the £19 million purchase as a “good investment”. Cabinet member for finance, Jason Cummings, was not a councillor at the time but said the investment was “reasonable”. He said: “Broadly speaking it is thought to have been a reasonable and justifiable price, I don’t think there was any controversy about it.”
” Councils engaging in property speculation are like the communists who think this time, unlike every other, it will be done properly and it won’t end in mass starvation”
No doubt at the time this was considered a good idea, the Croydon Park Hotel and Colonnades purchases were considered a good idea, the property speculation that led to Woking Council issuing a Section 114 notice with £2billion of debt, was considered a good idea at the time. All, it turns out were very bad ideas. Councils engaging in property speculation are like the communists who think this time, unlike every other, it will be done properly and it won’t end in mass starvation, and piles of dead bodies.
For those following the story at Woking Council this report by SurreyLive echo’s many of the problems that led to Croydon’s own bankruptcy: “A separate internal review was conducted that found long-standing issues dating back to before 2016 including an environment of weak financial controls, sub-optimal record keeping, and a lack of resources to manage complex company structures. There has also been an “absence of external audit opinions on the council’s accounts since 2018/19”.
Focusing on doing their job isn’t just restricted to abstaining from property speculation. We’ve reported previously on the cost to taxpayers of Croydon Pride. This peaked in 2019 at £65,000 and last year (in bankruptcy), Croydon Council has confirmed their sponsorship cost £10,000 of taxpayer funds:
“We can confirm that Croydon Council provided a grant of £10,000 for Croydon Pride in 2022/23. This was part of our initial funding to prepare for the London Borough of Culture 2023: This is Croydon, and was provided from ring-fenced funds and not general council funding.”
“Whilst we should be thankful the cost to taxpayers is now less than 1/6th of what it was a few years ago, it’s still unclear to me why you, or any other taxpayers should have subsidised my weekend entertainment”
Whilst we should be thankful the cost to taxpayers is now less than 1/6th of what it was a few years ago, it’s still unclear to me why you, or any other taxpayers should have subsidised my weekend entertainment at the event.
The most concerning part of this is that Croydon Council believes it is somehow acceptable for a bankrupt council, that is cutting services, and who have had to increase council tax by 15%, to spend funds gathered from all out taxes on subsidising weekend entertainment for a few people (and people who are not struggling judging by the drink prices), just because it comes from a another pot of money. We have no news yet on what Croydon Council being the ‘Headline Sponsor’ of this years Croydon Pride will cost taxpayers, but if it’s anything like the previous ones they are great events, and you might want to get along on Saturday 15th July to get your money’s worth.