Croydon residents slam 15% tax rise as ‘shameful’

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

Croydon residents will be hit with a 15 per cent council tax increase in April, the largest rise in England, and residents have been reacting to the “shameful” decision with some claiming they will refuse to pay.

The council’s 2023/24 budget, which includes the tax hike, was passed at a Croydon council meeting on Wednesday night. The council met for a second time to pass the budget after it was voted against a week earlier.

At the meeting, the budget went to two votes and eventually passed after Labour abstained from the vote.

The council’s two Green Party and one Liberal Democrat councillor voted against the budget meaning there were 34 votes for, three against and 33 abstentions.

Residents took to social media to slam the decision. Twitter user Sandy said: “Innocent residents paying for diabolical council financial mismanagement! What a time to be alive #shameful.”

Another resident, named only as Michael, said: “This is an absolute joke. Less and less services year on year for more and more money.”

Others said they would not pay the huge increase. Glen Hart said: “Croydon councillors sold out the residents by allowing a 15 per cent council tax hike in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Well, I can’t afford it, so won’t pay.”

His thoughts were echoed by Croydon Steve, who said: “Not going to be changing my direct debit to fund an incompetent council, this is totally anti-democratic.”

Leader of the Labour group, Councillor Stuart King, said: “Every Labour councillor absolutely understands our statutory responsibilities, including the requirement for the council to set a legal budget. #

“The legal advice from the council’s independent monitoring officer makes it absolutely clear that we have a collective and individual responsibility to ensure that we do not act illegally.

“Embroiling the council in a protracted deadlock scenario, with the consequence that a legal budget would not be set, is the last thing that residents in Croydon need at this time.

“While Labour wholeheartedly disagrees with the 15 per cent council tax rise, we could not in good conscience
repeatedly block the setting of a legal budget and plunge the borough into a Tory-made financial crisis.”

After the meeting, Croydon Mayor, Jason Perry said: “This is not a budget that I wanted to set, but it is a budget that will help us to protect vital services for our residents.

“No one wants to increase council tax, but the council is delivering £36m savings this year already – we simply cannot make further cuts and continue to deliver the services our residents need.

“We have demonstrated that we will not shy away from taking tough decisions locally to do the right thing in the long term for our borough, and in our ongoing negotiations with the government I am pushing hard for the best possible deal for our residents.”

Pictured top: Croydon council met to vote on its budget (Picture: Tara O’Connor)