Arrowcroft Cancel Junket

In the face of public anger, Arrowcroft have cancelled their all expenses paid junket to Hamburg for Croydon councillors.

It seems that some of the councillors who were invited, quite rightly, realised that their voters would not stand for it and so declined the invitations.

Arrowcroft told the Croydon Guardian:

"It's a huge missed opportunity for the councillors that would have really helped them to deal very knowledgeably with the concerns and questions of people in their ward."

Nonsense, the two sites (as can be seen from the satellite photos) are like chalk and cheese; the trip was nothing more than an excuse for Arrowcroft to try to change the minds of those councillors who oppose the unwanted arena development.

I wonder if this site had some role to play in putting a stop to this trip?

A Council Divided

It would seem that the council is not as fully behind the arena development as they would like to have us believe.

My thanks to Councillor Russell Jackson, who sent me this email today (and has given me permission to post it in full on this site).

It is refreshing to see that there are councillors with the cajones to publicly state their opposition to the arena.

It seems that Arrowcroft have made a tactical error in offering a "freebie" trip to Hamburg. As Councillor Jackson notes, the offer is "highly questionable".

Why does council leader Fisher not seem to be able to grasp that point?

The question is, who else did they ask and have they accepted or refused the offer?

"Mr Frost,

I have been directed to your blog regarding your opposition to the proposed Croydon Gateway Arena.

I wanted to let you know that I was another councillor that was invited by Arrowcroft to go to Hamburg. I will not be responding to Arrowcroft because I am not interested in their offer and more than this I have found their offer highly questionable. That I should need to be shown an arena in another country to understand how one would work in my own area of Croydon and Addiscombe I feel personally is slightly patronising.

I remain very concerned about the arena proposed by Arrowcroft and alongside both Councillors Price and Garcia I have been debating the plans with council officers. I am highly dubious about the plans as they are currently laid out and I will be continuing to raise my concerns during the coming months.

I hope that you find this information useful and if you have any further concerns please do get back in touch.

Kind regards

Councillor Russell Jackson

Councillor Russell Jackson
Addiscombe Ward
c/o Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon, CR0 1NX"

Councillors Come Out Against The Arena

I am pleased to see that conservative councillor Maria Garcia, yesterday, publicly came out against the arena development (just about ruling it out) on her site:

"I am no fan of the current proposed arena."

It is puzzling that, aside from yesterday's public announcement, she has made no reference to the arena in her site (either in favour, or against it).

I am also pleased to see that councillor Andrew Price has publicly stated that he is a "million miles away from being supportive of the scheme".

I wonder if we will see other councillors disassociate themselves from this unwanted development, as it becomes ever more apparent that Croydon council will lose its CPO bid?

Who Was Invited?

Sent to Croydon Council today:

"Regarding yesterday's report in the Croydon Guardian about councillors being invited to Hamburg by Arrowcroft.

Arrowcroft state:

'We have invited a small number of councillors to the arena in July'.

That implies more than the two who were named in the piece.

-Who else has been invited?
-Who has accepted?
-Who has refused?
-Who remains undecided?

Thank you

Kind regards

Ken Frost"

Arrowcroft's Jolly Junket

It seems that Arrowcroft, the council's preferred developer for the Gateway site, has invited two Croydon councillors (Andrew Price and Maria Garcia) to a Rod Stewart concert in Hamburg on July 18; as part of a second all-expenses paid research trip for the Croydon Gateway scheme.

Hands up all those of you who think that this offer is not in any way designed to try to sway the councillors to support the unwanted arena scheme?

Coun Garcia has turned Arrowcroft down. However, Coun Price said he was still considering the offer.

A spokesman for Arrowcroft said:

"We have invited a small number of councillors to the arena in July. The purpose of the trip is to allow the councillors to experience the trip first hand and one can only fully appreciate the design of the type of arena planned for Croydon if they see it themselves.

Arrowcroft will be paying for the trip so there is no cost to the public purse."

That's all very nice. However, Arrowcroft already paid for members of the council to come over to see Bruce Sprinsteen last October.

The result of that being the rather ambivalent Pollard report on the arena.

(By the way, why have Croydon Council removed the Pollard report from their site?

It was here:

http://www.croydon.gov.uk/council/yourreps/councillors/455712/489709/491907.pdf)

Why do Arrowcroft need more councillors to come over?

Here's a little bit of free advice to the council, based on my experience as an FCA, head of audit and fraud investigator.

When holding a position of responsibility you have not only to be independent and ethical, but you have to be seen to be independent and ethical.