by Ben Goldstone, Croydon and Sutton Socialist Party
Croydon Council has spent over £300,000 pursuing a legal case it had already lost in the courts. Ruba Imam uses a wheelchair, and her family has been living in accommodation that Croydon Council deemed unsuitable back 2014.
In 2022, the Appeal Court found that the council had “accepted that it was in breach of its duty, as it had failed to secure that suitable accommodation was available”. Nevertheless, the council still thought it was necessary to pursue it further, spend more money on the case, and prolong the misery.
Croydon council is meant to be ‘bankrupt’, and continues to cut back on necessary public services. But it still found £300,000 to pursue the case!
Recently, Croydon-funded private building developer ‘Brick by Brick’ collapsed. The council had previously loaned it £200 million.
Croydon Council has 5,000 households on its housing register, with many people waiting over ten years. The council has been forced to apologise and pay compensation to residents, after one experienced racial harassment, and some had to wait years for their housing complaints to be resolved. These issues don’t stop even if you are housed!
The funding crisis for councils is getting worse. And Labour councils continue to pass on Tory cuts. That’s why trade unionists, socialists, and community campaigners should stand against the Tories and Labour in the local elections, and ensure that there is a working-class alternative at the ballot box.