If you weren’t able to attend Croydon’s Cabinet meeting held last night, then fear not! Your Conservative Councillors were holding the Failing Labour Council to account – as we will keep doing. Here are the top five highlights:
- A Reduction in Library Services
The Council Bankruptcy caused by Failing Labour continues to affect us all – particularly the most vulnerable. Last night, Labour presented their new strategy for the Borough’s libraries. It was good to hear that they will all remain open, as we pressured Labour to do so, but also admitted that they will be cutting half a million pounds from the service. This will be done by reducing hours and cutting fifteen full-time staff – leaving many worried that the local Library will not be there for them when they need it.
- Labour gives up on New Addington
The Government has recently provided Additional Restrictions Grants to all Local Authorities to help small businesses recover from the effects of the pandemic. Croydon Council has just received an extra £2 million from the Government, on top of the £11 million it received initially – the third highest in London.
Of this money, just £10,000 will be going to New Addington. It’s wrong that one of the most deprived areas in the Borough should receive such a small amount of money, when other areas of the Borough are receiving five times as much!
Croydon’s Labour Council has clearly given up on New Addington at the time when New Addington needs the Council most.
- The Landlord Licensing Scheme
Tonight, Labour made a very large fuss over their Landlord Licensing Scheme, which is coming to an end after they failed to submit a good enough application for it to continue. Failing Labour forgot to include basic details – such as a copy of the Borough’s Housing Strategy. Sadly, Labour did not take any responsibility for this and instead chose to blame the Government. This will cost the Croydon taxpayer another £6 million!
It was also very strange to hear Labour talk about “slum landlords”, considering the appalling state of the Labour Council’s own Council flats on Regina Road - perhaps they want to arrest themselves?
- Cross-Party Agreement on Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children
It’s not often both sides of the Chamber are in agreement – but on the important issue of unaccompanied migrant children, we all agreed that Croydon should be receiving funds to make up for the fact that our Borough takes in a large proportion of these children (because Lunar House is in our Borough). We must also remember that these are children – real people – who are often in desperate circumstances. This is particularly poignant in light of the events in Afghanistan.
- Labour has no vision for the Town Centre
It was fantastic to hear from Matt Sims, the head of Croydon Business Improvement District, about their plans to revitalise the town centre as we come out of this pandemic. However, anybody who lives in Croydon knows that the pandemic was not when the town centre started to decline.
Under the Conservatives, the Town Centre was thriving and still growing, with investment planned from Westfield amongst others. However, since Labour took over, the Town Centre has declined rapidly. The sheer number of closed shops puts Labour’s failure here in brutal perspective. The paper they presented tonight – nothing but a vague “visioning exercise” – shows that they have no real plans for the town centre.
This Council meeting showed that the failing Labour Council is all out of ideas. When you remember that many of them were part of the previous Cabinet led by Tony Newman, this becomes far less surprising. It gets clearer every day that the only way to turn Croydon around is to sweep out Failing Labour and elect a fresh, new Conservative Administration in 2022!
