Croydon’s by now legendary (for all the wrong reasons) mayoral and council election count has been over for nearly two weeks and there is still no word from the newly elected executive mayor or senior council officers about a review of the process that resulted in an embarrassing four day long count at Trinity School.

Croydon’s count debacle even got a mention from the BBC’s Lewis Goodall as he followed the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend when he quipped that Croydon wouldn’t have counted the Eurovision votes until Monday.

The CRO fails to understand why after a number of thoroughly miserable counts at Trinity School, the council still chose to book the count at this venue. Trinity School has excellent facilities for plays, music and sports, but does not have the necessary facilities to deal with literally hundreds of council officers, candidates, supporters, families and the members of the press. The canteen facilities were woeful, as was the lack of toilet facilities. It is a tribute to the patience of the counters and the candidates and supporters that the count was ever completed.

And all this happened while the Fairfield Hall, a traditional venue for council counts, lay empty. Croydon Council has known the date of this election for years. Why was it not booked?

A CRO source told us ‘It was dreadful. Everyone was worn out’. They added ‘in a way this may have some sort of positive outcome. The chief officers will now have to take responsibility for this and do something about it’.

The CRO understands that council members have been pressing for a review of Croydon’s count embarrassment and hope to get the subject in front of one of the scrutiny committees at the earliest possible opportunity.

The process of democracy is far too important to be treated in such a shabby way.