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Croydon council goes bust
Covered End
Posts: 52,006
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/
No political comments please.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/croydon-council-goes-bust-after-running-up-15-billion-in-debt/
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Comments
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12 point deduction and relegation I would suggest.36
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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 services0 -
I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.1
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It won’t be addressed by a large increase in council tax, because there is no mechanism that will allow that.SantaClaus said:I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.2 -
Chris Farnell is organising a consortium to buy Croydon CouncilCovered End said:12 point deduction and relegation I would suggest.52 -
Let's hope that they try and recoup some cash by increasing the Business Rates on the stripey heron worriers' shithole of a stadium by a trillion percent. That should do it!6
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I don’t think Bexley Council are too far behind them.0
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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.0 -
That should read £1.5 billion...... not £15 billion.🧐Covered End said: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/1 -
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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!SantaClaus said:I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.0 -
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.Covered End said: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/0 -
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?1 -
No wonder there was no urgency from the council to address the problem then.Airman Brown said:
It won’t be addressed by a large increase in council tax, because there is no mechanism that will allow that.SantaClaus said:I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.
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Not bothered about that side of town, third class tickets the lot of em!0
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My 2 bed house near the Crystal Palace triangle used to be just over £1000/year. It was a bargain.Redvalleyeast said:
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!SantaClaus said:I used to love how cheap my council tax when I lived in Croydon. I doubt many residents are going say that going forward.0 -
The thrupenny bit tower?golfaddick said:
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.Covered End said: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/
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 95-98.0 -
https://www.google.com/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2018/11/01/council-pays-53m-to-buy-unloved-colonnades-centre/amp/
How has Croydon council gone bust with wonderful retail investments like this one?0 -
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.Covered End said:
The thrupenny bit tower?golfaddick said:
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.Covered End said: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/
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 95-98.1 -
Where's that from?Wheresmeticket? said:
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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
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Private Eye (yeah, I know...) have been following this scandal for months.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?0 -
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.3 -
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.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.0 -
The NHS is amazingly wasteful in some areas.Rob7Lee said:
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.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.0 -
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).Algarveaddick said:
Private Eye (yeah, I know...) have been following this scandal for months.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?
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.
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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.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.2 -
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...2 -
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.0
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It was around 12 years ago, I left just as the cuts were coming in.rananegra said:
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.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.0
