Croydon’s first executive Mayor, Jason Perry has revealed that he will be footing the bill for the South Croydon ward by-election from his mayoral salary.

As the executive mayor, Perry will be receiving a salary of £81,000 from public funds and last night at his first council meeting since being elected he told councillors and members of the public that he will be personally meeting the costs of the by-election called to fill the vacancy caused in South Croydon ward by his election as Mayor. The law provides that executive mayors cannot also be councillors and Mr Perry’s (and the Conservative Party’s) decision to stand as both mayor and councillor is likely to cost the public purse something in the region of £20,000. Perry is hoping to head off further criticism with this gimmick, but a by-election that should not have happened in the first place is likely to place place already overstretched council staff under even more pressure as the Council tries to adapt to the new governance arrangements.

Perry’s first council meeting as Mayor has also raised other criticisms as he has decided to entirely centralise executive decision making. The law allows directly elected mayors to delegate powers to their cabinet members for day to day decision making but Mr Perry has not done this his delegation scheme thereby ensuring that all decision making rests with him. The CRO spoke to Councillor Stuart King, the leader of the Labour Group on Croydon Council after the Council meeting. Councillor King was unimpressed with the Mayor’s new scheme of delegation saying ‘It looks like the new mayor has delegated absolutely nothing to his cabinet at all. More like an emperor than a mayor’.