At Cabinet on Wednesday, we approved £14m investment in maintaining our borough’s roads, pavements, bridges, drains, signs and lampposts for the year ahead. We are also creating longer-term solutions to ensure better value for money for our residents, and to improve our network of transport assets.
I shared concerns with residents about people who spoil our borough with fly-tipping. That is why we have increased our cleaning of the borough and improvements to the Love Clean Streets app, which has resulted in 95% of fly tips being removed within 24 hours. We are also toughening our enforcement policy and recruiting four enforcement officers to investigate and recover the costs for dumped waste.
New Director of Public Health
We are delighted to welcome Ruth Hutchinson on board as our new Director of Public Health, who will join Croydon in June. Ruth has a strong track record of improving health outcomes for local people, and her strategic role will help ensure our residents get the best health and wellbeing support that meets their needs. Find out more.
Supporting women in business
It was great to speak at the Women in Business event at the London South Bank University Croydon Campus on Monday, and to meet organisations with women at the forefront. We have supported 271 women-owned businesses in Croydon with our allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) from the government, and will continue to create opportunity for enterprises to thrive.
Creating safe spaces for children
Today I was delighted to unveil a new playground in Shirley Church Recreation Ground. This is part of our programme to upgrade playgrounds and provide children with fun and safe spaces.
We commemorated Bangladesh Independence Day on Wednesday by raising the flag outside Croydon Town Hall.
Finally, I’d like to wish a very happy Eid-ul-Fitr to Croydon’s Muslim communities, who will be marking the end of Ramadan this weekend.
Have a good weekend.
Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon
