Mayoral candidates clash over Croydon Council finances

Labour candidate Val Shawcross said Croydon Council has published a balanced budget

Croydon Council's financial woes were the battlefield for candidates vying to be the borough's first directly-elected mayor.

Next week's election will allow voters to directly choose a mayor as leader.

This is a change from the previous cabinet model, where a council leader was elected by councillors from within their own ranks.

It could result in London's first borough where councillors and the mayor are not from the same political party.

The last election saw Labour win the most seats and take the reins at the council, with the rest of the seats held by Conservative councillors in opposition.

Conservative candidate Jason Perry reeled off criticism of the current council

Conservative candidate Jason Perry listed the reasons he believed it was time for a change.

He said: "We have had bankruptcy, we have had borrowing, we have had £1.6B in debt - £15,000 an hour borrowed under this council.

"We have had developers running amok across this borough, we have had Brick By Brick building on our green spaces and we have our council tenants living in squalor."

Brick by Brick is a company set up and loaned money by Croydon Council to build homes, but independent auditors said they could not find any evidence of written contracts and the promised homes were never built, although subsequent developments have gone ahead.

Labour candidate for mayor, Val Shawcross, said she was "embarrassed and angry" about the bankruptcy orders, followed by critical auditor reports but pledged to turn things around.

"The buck stops with the previous Labour administration and I, and the vast majority of Labour members in Croydon, are angry and embarrassed about the Section 114 bankruptcy," she said, adding the council had since "published a balanced budget" for the second year.

Green candidate Peter Underwood had a "happiness pledge" for his supporters saying he wanted to improve quality of life in the borough

Green candidate Peter Underwood responded: "The current budget includes a £75m capitalisation directive, which basically means selling off the family silver to pay the bills. It is not a balanced budget."

And Independent candidate Andrew Pelling said the public wanted "justice".

He said: "What we want is, if necessary, to go through the courts and try to get as many of those missing £193m as possible... I offer an experienced alternative to Croydon Labour, the party that did bankrupt the council and whose culture remains unchanged."

Independent candidate Andrew Pelling said people in Croydon wanted further action over the council's finances

Former army major and Liberal Democrat Richard Howard said his experience defusing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Basra would help him bring an end to "the crises that are striking Croydon".

He added: "The main two parties see Croydon as a political battleground, one from which they can win and score points from one another and, unfortunately, the collateral damage is the blighted lives of the people here."

Speaking outside the hustings event, members of the public said they felt having a directly-elected mayor could be a "gamechanger".

Bernard Winchester said: "The politicians have seemed quite cliquey to me. Things have gone on behind closed doors and they haven't really done what the people wanted."

Liberal Democrat Richard Howard told voters his military experience would help him get a grip on the council's issues

Sarah Bird from South Croydon said the auditor reports around the council's debt were the biggest issue for her, particularly if more money could have been spent on social care.

"I'm registered disabled," she said. "I've not had a grab rail in nearly eight years, so where exactly has that money gone?"

And Christine Heal from Kenley said she hoped a directly-elected mayor would be able to be more independent from their political party.

She said: "I think a mayor brings something which, maybe if you've got a Labour council or a Conservative council they have obviously got their points of view, whereas I'm hoping that a mayor will offer something else that we haven't got at the moment."

There are eight candidates standing in Thursday's election, including Farah London of the Taking the Initiative Party, Independent Winston McKenzie and Independent Gavin Palmer.

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