Thousands of people have signed a petition against Croydon Council’s proposed 15 per cent council tax increase.

This April, Croydon residents are expected to be hit with the largest council tax increase in the country.

The authority was given special permission by the government to make the increase, 10 per cent over the usual five per cent limit allowed without going to a referendum.

The decision has not yet formally been made and proposals are set to go to cabinet on February 22.

A full decision is due to be made at full council in March when the 2023/24 budget it set.

The petition was started by Steven Downes, editor of local website Inside Croydon and has gathered nearly 6,000 signatures calling for plans for the huge increase to be withdrawn.

He said: “Successive councils and successive governments are to blame for the current financial situation in Croydon Council. The one group that is not to blame is Croydon’s residents.

“We call on the Croydon Mayor to withdraw plans for a 15 per cent hike in Council Tax in the middle of the worst fall in living standards on record.

“And we call on the Government to give Croydon Council the same funding level per person as neighbouring Lambeth.”

The petition said UK Government funding to the borough was lower per head that that of inner London borough, Lambeth. Council documents show funding per person in 2019/20 was £226 in Croydon compared to £431 in Lambeth.

In 2014 when Labour took over the council from the Conservatives there was £1billion of debt  on the books. Then, in just three years from 2017 to 2020, the Labour administration borrowed a further £545million.

Backer of the petition, Yvonne Edwards, wrote: “Local residents should not have to pay for the Councils incompetence and mismanagement of funds during a cost of living crisis which is affecting all us.”

While Derek Collison said: “Croydon have carelessly overspent and gone bankrupt for the third time yet the services they provide does not justify a price hike of this amount just to pay back their debts.”

Labour MP for Croydon Central, Sarah Jones, said: “With many of my constituents struggling to make ends meet this is not the time to raise taxes by such a degree. Residents in Croydon simply cannot afford this tax rise. I am asking the mayor to think again and negotiate a better deal with government.”

Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said. “Croydon residents are rightly up in arms about the titanic rate rise that’s being imposed. Local taxpayers face being forced to bail out an incompetent council at a time when household budgets are already squeezed.

“Croydon Council now needs to lay out clear steps to balance the books while limiting the impact on local people.”

On Monday (February 6), the UK Government said following “significant failures” in financial management it received requests from three English councils to rise council tax above the five per cent limit allowed without a referendum. The councils were Thurrock, Croydon and Slough.

The decision outlined that Croydon would be able to make the largest increase of 10 per cent, compared to the additional five per cent of the other councils.

Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, called the huge increase a “one off”. He said: “I know this is going to be difficult for people in Croydon, particularly when they face other pressures but without the proposed increase, the council would need to make a further £20m of additional cuts this year, putting vital services to vulnerable residents at risk.

“This would be on top of the £36million savings that have already been proposed for the coming year’s budget. As part of the council tax support scheme we also plan to increase the support we provide to low income households to protect those who cannot afford to pay their council tax.”

It comes less than three months since the council admitted it could not balance its budget for 2023/24 and was forced to issue a Section 114 notice, declaring effective bankruptcy for the third time in two years.

It estimated it would need to reduce spending by £130m in the next financial year to balance the budget, a legal requirement for local authorities. Since then, it has been in discussions with the government to come up with a plan to bring the council back on track.

The council is still waiting to hear what additional help it will receive from the government to balance its budget for the next financial year.