Croydon’s new council leader is promising swift and decisive action after a damning report from the borough’s auditors was published late on Friday.
Hamida Ali issued a full apology for the way the council’s stricken finances had been run, after the public interest report identified 75 areas where the previous leadership team had failed.
The long-awaited report from auditors Grant Thornton accused Croydon Council of corporate blindness in amassing a deficit of £1.5 billion.
Investment had been made rashly without trying to assess their consequences and the previous leader, Tony Newman was criticised for tending to blame all Croydon’s problems on the government.
In a statement Newman’s successor Hamida Ali said the council fully accepted the findings, Appointed less than a week ago,
Hamida Ali said she was committed to developing a new culture in the top team. She promised a new action plan would be put before the full council.