Further horrors have emerged in Croydon Council’s finances as the true picture of Labour’s toxic legacy became clear in a recent “opening the books” exercise.
In addition to doubling the Council’s debt to a staggering £1.6 billion – which costs around £50 million a year to service – it has now emerged that:
- Labour overestimated parking income by £10 million per year, leaving an ongoing black hole in the finances
- Labour sold £73 million of council property and quickly spent the money. However, they got the accounting wrong and now £9 million must be repaid
- Labour claimed that the refurbishment of Fairfield Halls would come at zero cost to the taxpayer. However, it was so badly managed that the project has cost the taxpayer £70 million – and the roof still leaks
- Substantial losses have now been crystallised in Labour’s Brick by Brick developer, into which they pumped £200 million of our money
- Labour made numerous accounting and spending errors over time that have now come to light and need to be paid for
As a result of these historic issues, the Council has been forced to issue a Section 114 Notice, meaning that it will be impossible to set a balanced budget in the year ahead. I am now working with our Mayor Jason Perry and the Government to try to find a workable plan for fixing Labour’s toxic legacy and bring Croydon back to financial stability – but this is not an easy task.
