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Croydon council goes bust

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  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54897296

    A few councils will be in trouble, especially those who gambled on commercial activities, hoping to use the profit to prop up services
  • I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
  • I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
    It won’t be addressed by a large increase in council tax, because there is no mechanism that will allow that.
  • I don’t think Bexley Council are too far behind them.
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-surrey-54668062

    Spelthorne has built an impressive property portfolio despite only having an annual budget of £20m.

    Some excellent financial management across the political spectrum.
  • Posted for information/interest.
    No political comments please.
    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/croydon-council-goes-bust-after-running-up-15-billion-in-debt/
    That should read £1.5 billion......  not £15 billion.🧐
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  • I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
    I live in Croydon and i believe its one of the highest council taxes anywhere. Croydon council are fucking useless,christ knows where theyve been spending all that money, hand on heart can honestly say i dont see any evidence of money being spent where its needed. Im looking to move and cant wait!
  • Posted for information/interest.
    No political comments please.
    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/croydon-council-goes-bust-after-running-up-15-billion-in-debt/
    I worked in the building just on the left of the railway line. The NLA Tower as it was called then. 15th floor. Great views.
  • Croydon Council started a construction company called Brick by Brick in 2015. So far they've borrowed just the £260m to support its operation.

    To date they've built 283 'homes', which includes plenty of 1 bedroom flats.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/10/16/last-council-appointed-director-resigns-from-brick-by-brick/

    This is on top of the Westfield shopping centre fiasco which is set to cost £1.4bn and is already one year behind schedule with no signs of even getting close to completion.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/08/17/ex-councillor-admits-he-was-wrong-over-westfield-scheme/

    Why don't some Councillors just stick to serving the people rather than themselves and their egos?
  • edited November 2020
    I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
    It won’t be addressed by a large increase in council tax, because there is no mechanism that will allow that.
    No wonder there was no urgency from the council to address the problem then. 
  • Not bothered about that side of town, third class tickets the lot of em!
  • edited November 2020
    I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
    I live in Croydon and i believe its one of the highest council taxes anywhere. Croydon council are fucking useless,christ knows where theyve been spending all that money, hand on heart can honestly say i dont see any evidence of money being spent where its needed. Im looking to move and cant wait!
    My 2 bed house near the Crystal Palace triangle used to be just over £1000/year. It was a bargain.
  • edited November 2020
    Posted for information/interest.
    No political comments please.
    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/croydon-council-goes-bust-after-running-up-15-billion-in-debt/
    I worked in the building just on the left of the railway line. The NLA Tower as it was called then. 15th floor. Great views.
    The thrupenny bit tower?
    The tower on the road from Sidcup/Bromley into central Croydon?
    I drove past it for a few years when I worked in central Croydon 95-98.
  • Posted for information/interest.
    No political comments please.
    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/croydon-council-goes-bust-after-running-up-15-billion-in-debt/
    I worked in the building just on the left of the railway line. The NLA Tower as it was called then. 15th floor. Great views.
    The thrupenny bit tower?
    The tower on the road from Sidcup/Bromley into central Croydon?
    I drove past it for a few years when I worked in central Croydon 95-98.
    Yep, that's the one. I used to get the train from Bexley to London Bridge & then the train from LB down to E.Croydon. That was from 1986 to 1988. I was about the only person who didnt mind us playing at Selhurst Park as it was only 1 stop on the train from E. Croydon.
  • Posted for information/interest.
    No political comments please.


    Where's that from?
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  • Not just Croydon

    Local government: Councils warn of insolvency risk without big cuts https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54907185
  • Addickted said:
    Croydon Council started a construction company called Brick by Brick in 2015. So far they've borrowed just the £260m to support its operation.

    To date they've built 283 'homes', which includes plenty of 1 bedroom flats.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/10/16/last-council-appointed-director-resigns-from-brick-by-brick/

    This is on top of the Westfield shopping centre fiasco which is set to cost £1.4bn and is already one year behind schedule with no signs of even getting close to completion.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/08/17/ex-councillor-admits-he-was-wrong-over-westfield-scheme/

    Why don't some Councillors just stick to serving the people rather than themselves and their egos?
    Private Eye (yeah, I know...) have been following this scandal for months. 
  • I used to work at a council to pay for uni. The amount of wastage was unreal. Senior people on upper scale salaries sat around playing Solitaire all day. I worked in a team where the two bosses just forwarded chain emails and looked up funny stuff all week. Once I got handed an order form to order some new equipment, and the suppliers prices were three times what things cost in the shops. I couldn't understand it. 

    The only saving grace were the social workers who were brilliant people who I had nothing but respect for. 
  • Chunes said:
    I used to work at a council to pay for uni. The amount of wastage was unreal. Senior people on upper scale salaries sat around playing Solitaire all day. I worked in a team where the two bosses just forwarded chain emails and looked up funny stuff all week. Once I got handed an order form to order some new equipment, and the suppliers prices were three times what things cost in the shops. I couldn't understand it. 

    The only saving grace were the social workers who were brilliant people who I had nothing but respect for. 
    That doesn't surprise me if my experience of Lewisham Council and their facilities/procurement department was anything to go by. They were either on the take or naive in the extreme.
  • Rob7Lee said:
    Chunes said:
    I used to work at a council to pay for uni. The amount of wastage was unreal. Senior people on upper scale salaries sat around playing Solitaire all day. I worked in a team where the two bosses just forwarded chain emails and looked up funny stuff all week. Once I got handed an order form to order some new equipment, and the suppliers prices were three times what things cost in the shops. I couldn't understand it. 

    The only saving grace were the social workers who were brilliant people who I had nothing but respect for. 
    That doesn't surprise me if my experience of Lewisham Council and their facilities/procurement department was anything to go by. They were either on the take or naive in the extreme.
    The NHS is amazingly wasteful in some areas.
  • Addickted said:
    Croydon Council started a construction company called Brick by Brick in 2015. So far they've borrowed just the £260m to support its operation.

    To date they've built 283 'homes', which includes plenty of 1 bedroom flats.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/10/16/last-council-appointed-director-resigns-from-brick-by-brick/

    This is on top of the Westfield shopping centre fiasco which is set to cost £1.4bn and is already one year behind schedule with no signs of even getting close to completion.

    https://insidecroydon.com/2020/08/17/ex-councillor-admits-he-was-wrong-over-westfield-scheme/

    Why don't some Councillors just stick to serving the people rather than themselves and their egos?
    Private Eye (yeah, I know...) have been following this scandal for months. 
    I'm fairly sure Private Eye are just picking up on what Inside Croydon have been doing. There are almost certainly loads of other scandals waiting to come to light apart from this one and the one in Surrey that's invested billions in commercial property. What's missing are journalists investigating it in most places (again not a surprise given the state of local media). 
    Croydon is more surprising as it is actually a contested council - one where either side have an expectation that they could win, so not like Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley, Bromley or Kent for example. I'd have expected there to be more challenges at least from the opposition to what they've been up to. 

  • Chunes said:
    I used to work at a council to pay for uni. The amount of wastage was unreal. Senior people on upper scale salaries sat around playing Solitaire all day. I worked in a team where the two bosses just forwarded chain emails and looked up funny stuff all week. Once I got handed an order form to order some new equipment, and the suppliers prices were three times what things cost in the shops. I couldn't understand it. 

    The only saving grace were the social workers who were brilliant people who I had nothing but respect for. 
    How long ago? I think that was certainly true in the 70s and 80s. In the last 12 years councils have had their funding cut enormously so I'd be very surprised if this was still happening. And the shortage of funding is precisely why so many are looking at alternative streams of revenue, like commercial property, parking and traffic enforcement, garden waste bins, housebuilding, etc. Some of these are riskier than others and I don't think Croydon will be the last to come a cropper. 
  • My company was turned down for a project at a London council this month for being 'too cheap'. We demonstrated that the rate was fair, that we weren't 'buying' the work and that we were doing similar work elsewhere for the private sector at the same rate. But, no, we were told that we were too cheap. 

    I'm an ex councillor and fan of local government but at times the sector doesn't help itself...
  • For the past 6 or 7 years, Councils have been investing heavily in real estate to generate income to supplement rates. They borrow at low interest from the government to fuel the investments. This is all fine when the economy is thriving but with the current downturn, especially in retail, they are building up big problems. They usually lack the in house expertise to invest wisely and are often exploited by smart property players. Sadly, I think this will start to collapse in many areas and need the government to step in to keep essential services going.
  • edited November 2020
    rananegra said:
    Chunes said:
    I used to work at a council to pay for uni. The amount of wastage was unreal. Senior people on upper scale salaries sat around playing Solitaire all day. I worked in a team where the two bosses just forwarded chain emails and looked up funny stuff all week. Once I got handed an order form to order some new equipment, and the suppliers prices were three times what things cost in the shops. I couldn't understand it. 

    The only saving grace were the social workers who were brilliant people who I had nothing but respect for. 
    How long ago? I think that was certainly true in the 70s and 80s. In the last 12 years councils have had their funding cut enormously so I'd be very surprised if this was still happening. And the shortage of funding is precisely why so many are looking at alternative streams of revenue, like commercial property, parking and traffic enforcement, garden waste bins, housebuilding, etc. Some of these are riskier than others and I don't think Croydon will be the last to come a cropper. 
    It was around 12 years ago, I left just as the cuts were coming in. 
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