'I need to stay politically neutral', says Croydon Council chief executive after fiery community meeting
HE EARNS nearly £200k from the public purse each year and heads up YOUR council - yet Jon Rouse wasn't happy to answer key questions about the future of West Croydon in front of the media this week. With this in mind, the Advertiser today asks our chief executive... WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO HIDE?
"IT'S going to be a very, very different meeting if the press are here because I'm going to give very factual and very closed answers."
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The Croydon Advertiser and other media left a public meeting after council chief executive Jon Rouse kicked up a fuss
This is what Croydon Council's chief executive Jon Rouse said, prior to the Advertiser and other local media being excluded from the West Croydon Community Forum meeting last week.
Chief reporter Ross Lidbetter led the efforts to fight Mr Rouse's undemocratic stance. Here are extracts of his transcript from last Thursday's meeting...
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CROYDON Council chief executive Jon Rouse (JR) says his expectation was to have a meeting with the WCCF and feels uncomfortable that the press are present.
Bushra Ahmed (BA), who formed the WCCF, said: "Were you not aware that it was going to be an open meeting?
JR (looks at other council officers): "Well I don't know if anybody else... they're all shaking their heads."
BA: "Well, I apologise for that."
JR: "It's just not appropriate for an officer to be placed in this position.
"If you want to have an open forum with the politicians, fair enough, that's what they're elected to do.
"In terms of me being accountable then we have scrutiny committees to do that and I'm called to appear before scrutiny committees, as are my officers."
A member of the audience then asks the press if they would leave.
BA: "It was an open meeting and we have asked people who have now come. If we follow the questions, is there anything on there...
JR: "The point I would make is it's going to be a very, very different meeting if the press are here because I'm going to give very factual and very closed answers.
"It isn't my job, or my officers', to place ourselves in a position which is rightly the position of the democratically elected politicians. We will have a meeting, but it is going to be quite stilted."
Mr Rouse is asked if the pre-prepared questions are OK and he says they are fine.
But when asked to press on with the answers he replies he will do so "up to a point".
Andrew Pelling, blogger and former Croydon Central MP: "Surely it's better for the community if the press are not here, in terms of communicating and trying to move things forward.
"I speak on behalf of my organisation and not the other two. It does strike me, I am an ex-politician, that I know sometimes officials are neutral, they're not politicians and maybe they want to share things with you that would be difficult to share openly at this stage."
Clive Locke, chairman of the WCCF: "Can I please ask the press to retire then please?"
One audience member says it would be "very rude" to ask the press to leave.
JR: "There are two types of meeting here, if you want to have an open forum and you have an open debate with the press present then that is the role of the politically elected members and that's why in the Croydon Advertiser you see the elected members regularly quoted."
BA: "I think that's probably on our part that we didn't make it clear to yourselves that we were having an open meeting and that means anybody was invited."
Ross Lidbetter, Croydon Advertiser reporter: "We've come here to write a story to present it to the community.
"If as a community, the community wants us to leave then I will accept that.
"But my role was to come here tonight to write a story to present to the West Croydon community about what is going on within the area. I don't think the questions are that controversial, but I will have to accept the decision."
Audience member calls for a vote, and it is decided six to four in favour of the press leaving, with some not casting a vote. Jon Rouse sent this response the Advertiser on Tuesday...
"FOLLOWING reports about my attitude to being scrutinised by the media at the West Croydon Community Forum meeting last week, I would like to take this opportunity to say that I value and expect press scrutiny of my actions in administrating council services.
Where I seek to draw the line, though, is in not getting involved in public debate about council policy, which is more properly a matter for cabinet members. That is because I am not an elected politician and I need to be politically neutral at all times. This is crucial to my role as the most senior public servant on the council and, indeed, as acting returning officer for the borough. During my time at Croydon, I have always been prepared to give account for the matters for which I am responsible. I would also like to make clear that it was the forum's community representatives who made the decision to exclude the press. I would have abided by their decision either way."
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.
Describing what happened after the press left, Bushra Ahmed, who formed the WCCF, explained it was a 'short meeting'.
She told the Advertiser: "In the time we had left we went through those questions.
"There was nothing major that came out of it that we didn’t already know.
"We were just talking in general, about things like parking. It was very general."
One audience member had walked out in disgust when the press were asked to leave, labelling the situation as 'out of order'.
Speaking the following day, Nitin Mehta, who runs a business along the London Road, 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 admitted 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 much thought about it."
Broad Green ward councillor Stuart Collins, who attended the meeting, was also unimpressed by the chief executive’s stance.
He said: "It’s not a great call on his part and he probably misjudged the mood of the meeting and the questions that might have been asked.
"I just think if you’re a chief executive of a council you should be able to deal with these sorts of questions."
Although banned from the meeting, the council press office did end up providing the Advertiser with information about West Croydon – six days later.
Among the answers, it explained there are no plans for a public car park on the London Road.
A statement read: "One of West Croydon’s great strengths is its public transport accessibility.
"The council is building on these strengths through the Connected Croydon programme to enhance walking routes to, from and within the Croydon town centre and its public transport hubs.
"Future developments in and around the London Road area – including potential residential schemes and any new school proposals – will each be subject to planning applications and will be required to meet the parking and transport policies and standards set out in the London Plan and Croydon’s planning framework."
In reference to getting a police shop-front on the London Road, the council said: "Police are about to consult on the Public Access Strategy which will have a range of options to cover how, where and in which way the public can communicate and meet with the police.
"At its heart is the need to increase police officer visibility.
"Proposals could include options to ensure a police officer presence at various locations in the borough, including London Road, eg at the CVA."
The council also gives an indication of what the London Road traders should be doing to improve their relationship with the local authority.
The council spokesman added: "We suggest that businesses become members of the London Road Traders’ Association and work collaboratively."
Comments
by Nevclark61
Monday, December 17 2012, 2:31PM
“How can he expect anyone to accept this level of naivete from a man in his position. A Public debate is surely that and includes anyone including the press? On that amount of salary you should be able to 'walk' any questions thrown at you by us lesser mortals? This of course is the leader of the same council who applauded itself for the ingenious vinyl posters brightening up Alders dead windows for Christmas what a gem?”
by iftikhara
Saturday, December 15 2012, 11:43AM
“Academies bill will enable a radical overhaul of England's schools, giving every school the chance to convert to an academy and giving parents the right to create free schools outside the control of LAs.The new schools will drive up standards and the education would be in accordance with the needs and demands of the parents. It will help native Brits, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities to set up their own schools for the education of their children. It is nothing to do with integration or segregation. Segregation already exists in British schoolings, it is not going to widen. President Obama supports free schools in America because they have benefitted the least well off the most. Educating children is the priority.
It is wrong to assert that a small unrepresentative group of Muslim activists tried to islamises a state primary school in Woking. The silent majority of Muslim parents would like to send their children to state funded Muslim schools. They are not extremists who want to change of ethos of those schools where Muslim children are in majority. It is the democratic right of every Muslim parent to see that their children receive balanced education, so that when their children grow up, they do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots and linguistic skills. It is a question of common sense, humanity and reason that bilingual Muslim children must be educated in state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. The whole world believes that people who speak more than one language is a vital economic asset. Pupils who speak more than one language do not cause difficulties. It is the politicians and monolingual teachers who are the problems for bilingual pupils. Muslim school will help to cultivate the child into a healthy, fully flourishing individual with a passion for learning. There are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies.
Muslim schools are not only faith schools; they are more or less bilingual schools. Bilingual Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. State schools with monolingual teachers do not teach Standard English to Migrant children. Bilingual Muslim children learn English in the playgrounds and in the streets. They speak street language with its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The teachers let them speak the same accent in the classroom. They have no courage to stop them or correct them. This is one of the main reasons why one third of children have difficulties with reading when they leave primary schools. Majority of such children are Muslims. In other European countries and in the sub-continent argot and slang are not allowed into the classroom. In Britain primary school teachers do not feel that it's their role to interfere with self-expression in any shape or form. They encourage children to read poems and stories written in ethnic dialects.
Muslim faith schools are more or less bilingual schools. Priority will be given to the teaching of Standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. All Muslim children will learn and be well versed in Standard English and Quranic Arabic and at the same time they will learn and be well versed in one of the community language to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. Majority of children will learn Urdu language because it is a lingua franca of the migrants from the sub-continent. And majority of British Muslims are from Pakistan and their national language is Urdu.
Iftikhar Ahmad”
by John_Croydon
Saturday, December 15 2012, 10:45AM
“I've been following this story with a level of incredulity... of course Rouse should not become embroiled in politics, but surely he was invited to the meeting to present council strategy and policy, and to listen to feedback from the community? That doesn't sound political to me. On the other hand, the implication of this article is that he is prepared to say things to selected audiences, behind closed doors, that he wouldn't say openly to the community as a whole. Now that DOES smack of being political. Or disingenuous.
Has anyone else noticed the letters behind Rouse's head? If only the letter on the right was an 'r' instead of an 'e', it would say tROUSEr.”
by roomster
Friday, December 14 2012, 7:45AM
“Let's be truthful both councillors and council officers want to keep their secrets to themselves and really don't want to let the council tax payers to know what they are plotting they only want to divulge their secrets to their friends.”