The regeneration of Croydon town centre is moving forward, with recent workshops and surveys on our Town Centre Regeneration Strategy, the Town Centre Taskforce cleaning hotspots and making areas feel safer, and the iconic Allders frontage due to open with shops and food places. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), the owners of Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres, is now launching a public exhibition at Croydon Urban Room on 12 November. They will be asking for your views, in person and online, to inform a new masterplan for North End. Do get involved and, if you can, visit the Urban Room in the Whitgift Centre where you can find out more about many of the town centre projects underway. Find out more.

Cleaner Croydon

Our campaign to work together to keep our neighbourhoods clean launched last week and the next area to benefit from a Council “blitz clean” is New Addington – with an intensive programme of works starting this week. You might have seen our ‘blitz clean’ squad in Central Parade and the surrounding area doing a deep cleanse and clearing fly-tipping, all helping to restore pride in our borough. Find out more about Cleaner Croydon.

Listening to residents

The Council has started the process of setting its budget and Council Tax levels for 2025/26. We want to engage residents on our budget proposals and approach to make Croydon the most cost effective and efficient council. A survey is now live where you can express your views and find out more about what Council Tax pays for. See our website for details.

Croydon BME Forum

Congratulations to Croydon BME Forum CEO, Andrew Brown, who received an Honorary Fellowship from London South Bank University (LSBU), which has a campus in Croydon. We work very closely with the BME Forum and are delighted that Andrew has been recognised for his innovative work on health and social equality, including pioneering the UK’s first blood pressure checks in barber shops. Congratulations Andrew!

Kenley and District Residents’ Association

I was pleased to meet local residents and members of the Kenley and District Residents’ Association at its Autumn General Meeting this week. Thank you for welcoming me and for everything you do in your community.

Friday prayers

Today, I joined members of our Uganda Muslim Community in the United Kingdom (UMC-UK) for Jummah prayer (Friday prayers). It was great to meet this growing community again and hold a mini question time with them.

Happy Diwali

I would like to wish all our residents who are celebrating, a very happy Diwali. I attended a lovely Diwali event at Coulsdon Community Centre last Saturday, and will be attending the Gurdwara celebrations this evening.

Have a good weekend.

Jason Perry

Executive Mayor of Croydon