In early December it was reported in the Telegraph that the High Court will hear that “Croydon council created six LTNs as a “revenue-raising exercise with no environmental benefits that unhelpfully dispersed traffic to surrounding roads”. The story is behind a paywall and received relatively little coverage.
They reported that the campaign group Open Our Roads were taking action so that “A judicial review being brought by residents of the London borough will claim the LTNs should be “quashed” because the primary motivation behind them was “financial security … rather than environmental considerations”.
It went on to say:
“The skeleton arguments also rely heavily on a Sunday Telegraph report from earlier this year in which Jason Perry, Croydon’s Conservative mayor, admitted he could not honour an election pledge to scrap the LTNs because “£20m of future income … would have to be replaced”.
“Legal papers, seen by The Telegraph, say that despite “considerable opposition” the council introduced LTNs because of the “anticipated income from enforcement fines” sent to motorists who enter roads closed to through traffic. The council anticipated raising just over £10m in three years”.
“Explaining how local authorities have no legal powers to use traffic measures to “raise revenue” it says that to do so is “tantamount to taxation”.
In response the council has said “we can confirm that the council introduced six Healthy Neighbourhood schemes as part of its priority to make Croydon a cleaner, safer and healthier borough”.
If you are able to access it, you can read the whole article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/07/london-croydon-council-unlawfully-used-ltn-court-to-hear/.
In his manifesto when running for Mayor, Jason Perry stated:
“Over the last eight years of Labour running Croydon Council a consistent theme has been that residents feel they are not being listened to. From planning to LTNs and council tax to housing repairs the feedback has been that Labour have simply implemented what they wanted without actually taking any notice of what we were all saying”.
With less than 18 months until new elections Mayor Perry will need to show how he is any different.
Spending continues
Whilst Section 114 notices have curbed some spending, Croydon Council has still found unnecessary ways to spend taxpayer money. We’ve written this year and last about Borough of Culture spending. As a reminder Croydon was the London Borough of Culture for 2023, but in the second half of 2024 over £257,000 was paid out from the “BOROUGH OF CULTURE” cost centre for amounts above £500.
We now have data for all of 2024 up to the end of November and this shows for amounts over £500 a total of £813,703.18 has been paid out this year from the “BOROUGH OF CULTURE” cost centre. No doubt many of the services provided were very good but that does not make them necessary. It is surprising how exactingly round many of the payments were. 12 payments were made for exactly £3,000.00, 7 for exactly £5,000.00, 6 for £10,000.00, 5 for £2,000.00 and 2 for exactly £40,000.00. Who were these payments made too? Well, we’ve listed what we can below but £171,356.72 were made to a “Non Commercial Supplier” and therefore the payee was redacted. This includes payments of £15,600.00 and £10,600.00 for which some further detail is surely in the public interest.
Funding for the 2023 borough of culture year came from a range of national, London wide and local sources, but when pensioners have their heating allowances withdrawn, ULEZ imposes costs on the drivers who can least afford them, and Croydon Council tax keeps rising at above inflation rates, how does the Mayor justify these payments?
Borough of Culture Payment totals Jan-Nov 2024:
Payee | Total | Number of Payments |
Redacted | £ 171,356.72 | 69 |
Talawa Theatre Company | £ 65,000.00 | 4 |
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH LIMITED T/A The Circus | £ 60,628.00 | 3 |
Scanners Inc | £ 51,616.40 | 5 |
Double Take Projections LTD | £ 40,000.00 | 1 |
White Label Publishing Ltd | £ 35,788.60 | 12 |
Stanley Arts | £ 29,995.00 | 10 |
STRANGE CARGO ARTS COMPANY LIMITED | £ 28,410.00 | 2 |
Jen Kavanagh Ltd | £ 23,441.75 | 8 |
Sound Intervention Limited | £ 21,779.84 | 2 |
London Mozart Players | £ 19,922.00 | 3 |
Four Communications Ltd | £ 18,764.46 | 7 |
4 Wise Monkeys Ltd T/A Light Up Trails | £ 11,422.00 | 2 |
YeahPod Music | £ 11,250.00 | 2 |
Jonathan Samuels T/A Samprojects | £ 10,701.40 | 4 |
Contemporary Dance Trust LTD | £ 10,676.24 | 1 |
Profile Security Services Ltd | £ 10,395.52 | 7 |
The Brit School | £ 10,000.00 | 1 |
Sysco Productions Ltd | £ 9,793.00 | 1 |
Norwood JunKAction | £ 8,500.00 | 2 |
The Young Urban Arts Foundation Limited | £ 7,790.00 | 1 |
Continental Drifts | £ 7,200.00 | 3 |
Fool’s Paradise Ltd | £ 6,903.00 | 4 |
HURLYBURLY THEATRE | £ 6,750.00 | 3 |
Worldbeaters LTD | £ 6,690.00 | 2 |
HH Producties | £ 6,025.00 | 1 |
Bureau Of Silly Ideas Limited | £ 6,000.00 | 1 |
Croydon with Talent Ltd | £ 5,685.00 | 2 |
Good Wolf People Ltd | £ 5,000.00 | 1 |
Croydon Town Centre Bid | £ 5,000.00 | 1 |
ATELIER ARZU LIMITED | £ 4,930.00 | 13 |
Tiny Productions | £ 4,760.00 | 1 |
LYNNEBEC COLLECTIVE CIC | £ 4,700.00 | 2 |
New Addington Pathfinders Group_ | £ 4,500.00 | 1 |
Drum the Bass | £ 3,800.00 | 1 |
Croydonites/CROYDONITES FESTIVAL OF NEW THEATRE CIC | £ 3,600.00 | 2 |
Bishops Printers Limited T/A The Graphic Design House | £ 3,364.00 | 3 |
QWERKY ENTERTAINMENT LTD | £ 3,320.00 | 4 |
Finesse Foreva Ltd | £ 3,300.00 | 1 |
Pif-Paf Theatre Ltd | £ 3,290.00 | 2 |
Churchill Support Services Limited | £ 3,264.00 | 1 |
Llama Digital Ltd | £ 3,240.00 | 1 |
The Poetry Takeaway Ltd | £ 3,100.00 | 1 |
Beeja | £ 3,000.00 | 1 |
Bold Mellon Collective C.I.C. | £ 3,000.00 | 1 |
Hoggs Hospitality Ltd | £ 3,000.00 | 1 |
Premm Design Limited | £ 2,681.50 | 2 |
Levantes Dance Theatre Ltd | £ 2,400.00 | 1 |
Digital Drama Productions Ltd | £ 2,250.00 | 1 |
Clocktower Cafe Ltd | £ 2,171.50 | 2 |
Savvy Theatre | £ 2,000.00 | 1 |
The Enriched Kids CIC | £ 2,000.00 | 1 |
SDNA LTD | £ 2,000.00 | 1 |
Fashion Meets Music Collective C.I.C. | £ 2,000.00 | 1 |
Zip Design Ltd | £ 1,950.00 | 1 |
Rap Therapy | £ 1,950.00 | 1 |
Bainbridge Conservation Ltd. | £ 1,616.00 | 1 |
Desireé Kongerød McDougall T/A An Act Above | £ 1,590.00 | 1 |
Amanda Smethurst Consultancy | £ 1,500.00 | 1 |
Cat and Hutch | £ 1,300.00 | 1 |
Autistic Community Hub CIC | £ 1,200.00 | 1 |
Herbe Walmsley | £ 1,200.00 | 1 |
Reaching Higher | £ 1,100.00 | 1 |
Glorious Gazebos Ltd | £ 1,084.08 | 1 |
Croydon Voluntary Action | £ 985.00 | 1 |
Slide Dance | £ 900.00 | 1 |
Universal Artists Agency LTD | £ 750.00 | 1 |
Dhol Academy LTD | £ 750.00 | 1 |
A Due Bus Ltd | £ 750.00 | 1 |
The Andy Copps Company Limited | £ 700.00 | 1 |
Glenn Foster Photography | £ 675.00 | 1 |
Atalian Servest | £ 667.97 | 1 |
Oyinkansola Gabriel | £ 625.00 | 1 |
Zoo Co Theatre Ltd | £ 600.00 | 1 |
Kerala Cultural and Welfare Association | £ 600.00 | 1 |
LadyLaird | £ 550.20 | 1 |
Croydon Natural History & | £ 505.00 | 1 |
Croydon Minster Church_ | £ 500.00 | 1 |
Purley BID | £ 500.00 | 1 |
Age Uk Croydon | £ 500.00 | 1 |
Cutting Edge Design Ltd | £ 500.00 | 1 |
TOTAL | £ 813,703.18 | 238 |
As if this wasn’t enough after a resting period, we have seen an unwelcome return to payments from the Culture Growth Fund. This was used by the previous Labour administration for many of their wasteful projects. The 65 payments over £500 made to the end of November 2024 totalled £318,696.03 and the totals by payee are listed below.
Payee | Total | Number of Payments |
Redacted | £55,625.98 | 21 |
Croydonites/CROYDONITES FESTIVAL OF NEW THEATRE CIC | £38,000.00 | 1 |
FESTIVALS AND EVENTS INTERNATIONAL LTD (FEI) | £35,715.00 | 3 |
ARTANGEL TRUST (THE) | £23,051.00 | 1 |
Think Events (London) Ltd | £18,200.00 | 1 |
Fashion Meets Music Collective C.I.C. | £15,199.00 | 1 |
Door 22 Limited | £14,630.00 | 3 |
Beeja | £14,050.00 | 1 |
Giant Cheese Limited | £13,200.00 | 1 |
Learn to Dream Ltd | £13,009.95 | 2 |
WIGGLE WONDERLAND COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY | £12,750.00 | 2 |
Sound Diplomacy Limited | £10,000.00 | 1 |
Emergency Exit Arts | £7,550.00 | 1 |
K4 Medics Ltd T/A K4 Medical Services | £7,395.00 | 3 |
London Calling Arts Ltd | £6,562.50 | 2 |
Stuco Design Limited | £5,950.00 | 2 |
Premm Design Limited | £4,720.00 | 2 |
Continental Drifts | £3,460.00 | 1 |
Browne Jacobson LLP_ | £3,275.80 | 3 |
Zip Design Ltd | £2,975.00 | 2 |
Vauxhall City Farm Limited | £2,792.00 | 1 |
Stanley Arts | £2,500.00 | 1 |
HandMade Theatre | £1,300.00 | 1 |
TGTM Ltd | £1,195.00 | 1 |
Four Communications Ltd | £1,000.00 | 1 |
Caroline Vallance t/a Caroline Coates | £960.00 | 1 |
Profile Security Services Ltd | £904.80 | 1 |
Clocktower Cafe Ltd | £797.50 | 1 |
Jen Kavanagh Ltd | £700.00 | 1 |
LadyLaird | £627.50 | 1 |
Norwood JunKAction | £600.00 | 1 |
Total | £318,696.03 | 65 |
We can only hope that Croydon Councils New Year’s Resolution will be to move to sensible tax and spend. With the spending taps seemingly flowing at the borough HQ once again, surely those in charge at the council won’t be able to justify another bumper Council Tax rise.