Croydon Council chief executive: 'This will be a different meeting if the press are here'
THE press were banned from a West Croydon public meeting after council chief executive Jon Rouse said he felt 'uncomfortable' answering questions in their presence.
Mr Rouse - who earned a basic salary of £179,529 in the last financial year - had been invited to talk about a host of topics affecting the area, including a lack of parking and the progress on getting a police shop-front established on the London Road.
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Croydon Council chief executive Jon Rouse
But before answering the pre-prepared questions he admitted to being confused that the Croydon Advertiser was in the audience, unaware that it was an open meeting, and said it wasn't appropriate for an officer to be placed in such a position.
One audience member walked out in disgust when the press were asked to leave, labelling the situation as 'out of order'.
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The open meeting was organised by the West Croydon Community Forum (WCCF) at the CVA Resource Centre in London Road, West Croydon, last Thursday night (December 6).
Mr Rouse told the audience: "It's going to be a very different meeting if the press are here because I'm going to give very factual and very closed answers.
"It's isn't my job or my officers' to place ourselves in a position which is rightly the position of democratically elected politicians.
"We will have a meeting but it's going to be quite stilted."
Mr Rouse argued there wouldn't be an open dialogue, and said scrutiny meetings consider issues of accountability.
"If you want to have an open forum and an open debate with the press present than that is actually the role of the politically elected members," he added.
"That's why (in) the Croydon Advertiser every week you see the elected members regularly quoted."
A reporter from the Advertiser explained that the paper was there to write a story for the community, many of whom may not have been able to attend due to the meeting being scheduled at 4pm.
A public vote was taken among the gathering and it was narrowly decided the press should leave.
But Nitin Mehta, who runs a business on the London Road, felt so strongly about the treatment of the press that he left too.
Speaking afterwards, the 58-year-old said: "I really felt bad that somebody who is there is then asked to leave without any genuine reason. I thought that it was out of order.
"I had to show my support and walk out.
"I cannot understand the logic behind it. I could understand if it was a really difficult or controversial subject we were going to talk about.
"But it was just a small meeting talking about how we're going forward and making things better.
"It was nothing top secret that the press shouldn't be there."
Mr Mehta added he was disappointed with the show of hands asking for the press to leave.
He added: "It all happened so quickly, I don't think a lot of people were able to give a thought about it."
Comments
by roomster
Monday, December 10 2012, 8:28AM
“This mans thoughts and views will be taken into account when decisions are made by the select number of elected councillors who are actually allowed to make decisions, his and other officers have a big impact on how councils act these days.Most men/women in his position are paid far too much and if he feels 'uncomfortable' perhaps he shouldn't be in the role.”
by donna_kebab
Monday, December 10 2012, 8:25AM
“""If you want to have an open forum and an open debate with the press present than that is actually the role of the politically elected members," he added."
So one can only wonder why he accepted the invitation to speak at this forum in the first place. Given that the questions to be debated were pre-prepared, and all the subjects mentioned will require funding from the public purse, I would have thought that it would have been far more appropriate for an elected member to debate these issues from the start!”
by Chris_Wilcox
Sunday, December 09 2012, 10:40PM
“Mr Rouse is so lame.
Whenever I do a meeting I assume everything I say will be recorded. I'm even trained to think this way ( from my Bank days where every keystroke and phonecall was recorded ). And I'm not as high ranking as Rouse.
They can't let him off for this one surely.
Boooo!!! Get a new one! *thumbs down*”
by Ratners
Saturday, December 08 2012, 12:51AM
“Dear All,
Let us all start forums and associations so that we can get tax payer funded grants and arrange carnivals.
A public meeting means any one from the public could attend. Why would some one be uncomfortable to answer questions in the presence of Croydon advertiser? Has he got something to hide?
A drain just opposite the CVA centre was blocked for months and no one could report it.
There are too many parking spaces near West Croydon station and the bus drivers struggle to get through. Why can't CVA ask the council about Christmas lights for London road?”
by GuyFawk
Friday, December 07 2012, 7:22PM
“You will presumably be able to read the 'real' story from Mr Rouse in Your Croydon in between the 30 seconds it takes you to collect it from your door mat and depositing it in the paper recycle box.”