There has been a lot of press coverage both locally and at a national level about the proposed 15% rise in council tax by the Croydon Council. This is due to the council issuing a third section 114 in November 2022 as part of an ongoing financial crisis at the council over the last 2 years.

Tomorrow Wednesday 1st March at 6pm there is a demonstration outside the council budget meeting at the Town Hall, Katherine Street, CR0 1NX (assemble from 5.30pm)

Please join Croydon UNISON and other local groups and individuals to show support in our opposition to the 15% council tax rise.

There are currently two petitions that are circulating on social media.

The first petition: No to 15% Council Tax hike. Fund Croydon fairly. It currently has 25,222 signatures.

https://www.change.org/p/no-to-15-council-tax-hike-fund-croydon-fairly?

We the people of Croydon reject the imposition of a 15% council tax rise. We should not be asked to pay more to get less. Funding for Croydon Council from central government has been cut dramatically over the past 13 years, and we receive far less funding per person than neighbouring Lambeth.

We note that the Conservative Council that left office in 2014 handed over around £1 billion in debt. This was increased by 50% by the Labour group which ran the council from 2014-22. Successive councils and successive governments are to blame for the current financial situation in Croydon Council.

The one group that is not to blame is Croydon’s residents. We call on the Croydon Mayor to withdraw plans for a 15% hike in Council Tax in the middle of the worst fall in living standards on record. And we call on the Government to give Croydon Council the same funding level per person as neighbouring Lambeth.

The second petition:

Do not permit any Council Tax increase of more than 5% without a referendum. It is a national petition on the Parliamentary website. It currently has 14,065 signatures.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/632944.

No local authority should be able to increase Council Tax by more than 5% without a referendum. The Government should instead renegotiate its settlements with local authorities in England to find a way to resolve the exceptional financial difficulties that many councils find themselves in.

In March 2021 Croydon UNISON issued their own petition asking the government for “A Fairer deal for Croydon.”

 https://croydonunison.co.uk/2021/04/08/a-fairer-deal-for-croydon-campaign-petition/

It is still active and currently has 1,014 we would like to increase this further so please add your name to this if you have not already done so.

Croydon UNISON feel that the borough is not getting its fair share of funding from central sources. Croydon being an outer London borough, receive £200 per head less than the inner London borough of Lambeth from central funds. This accounts for around £70 million which is equivalent to the council deficit for the year ending 2020/21.

We are also aware that Jason Perry, the Mayor of Croydon has been asking Central government to write of £500million of the councils billion-pound debt. This would be a better route to follow as the interest we are paying on the debt is equivalent to the amount of money that the council is paying to have residents rubbish collected each week.

Croydon has become poorer as a borough despite being the largest populated borough of London with over 390,000 people. This puts a lot of pressure on services for our residents. We need to fund Croydon fairly.

We need your support. So please join us tomorrow night as we feel there are alternatives to the proposed 15% increase in council tax this April.