The seriousness of the mounting financial crisis engulfing Croydon’s Conservative Council is finally being acknowledged.

The Mayor has agreed to Labour’s demand for a special Council meeting to discuss the decision to gamble with £300 million of Croydon taxpayers money. The emergency meeting is to be held just 4 days before Christmas on the evening of 21 December.

Labour Group Leader, Councillor Tony Newman said:

“At a time when our hard pressed residents are struggling to find the money to ensure that their families are able to have a good Christmas, it is shocking that it has now been confirmed that those same Croydon taxpayers are going to be asked to pay the costs of the entire multi million pound new Council headquarters is nothing short of a disgrace. No-one should be in any doubt that this whole scheme is a gamble which risks these huge amounts of money on the property markets, with no guarantees that the taxpayers of Croydon will ever see their money again.

“This scheme looked dodgy two years ago but in the light of the global credit crunch it now smacks of incompetence at best and reminds me of a ‘get rich quick’ financial scam of the sort that contributed to the collapse of the financial markets. I find it particularly disturbing that they have decided to plough ahead with this scheme while announcing more and more cuts to services. The Tories keep telling us that it is not going to cost Croydon’s taxpayers anything but when something looks too good to be true then it usually is.”

Labour’s Deputy Leader Councillor Alison Butler added:

“For me there are four questions that must be answered truthfully, without the usual smoking mirrors spin that the Tories have used to hide behind in the past:

1. If Taberner House is about to fall down then why weren’t the staff working there or Councillors informed until they read it in the local papers?

2. Why are they treating Croydon taxpayers with contempt? First of all by trying to keep both these deals secret, even though hundreds of millions of pounds of our money as taxpayers is involved; and why are they now trying to con us all again by saying it is not our money at risk?

3. Will this Tory Council agree to a full and public Scrutiny enquiry to be held in the Town Hall in the New Year to be Chaired by an independent expert?

4. There has been no public debate about any alternatives to this luxury headquarters plan. Why has this Tory Administration decided to conduct the decision making process in a shroud of secrecy?”