Mayor Perry – listening to Croydon

When I was elected in May I promised residents that I would hold those responsible to account for the catastrophic failures in governance that led to the council’s financial collapse. Yesterday, I chaired a committee which gave the go-ahead for the council to take unprecedented action against former senior leaders at the council. We will be referring a series of reports to the Met Police for investigation; referring individuals to industry bodies which operate a code of conduct; and seeking to recover as much of the former chief executive’s settlement as is legally possible. You can read more here.

I share residents’ anger at the deep unfairness that senior officers and members – who held positions of trust at the authority – should walk away, whilst the rest of us continue to pay the price for their reckless misconduct. I’ll also be lobbying government for more powers for councils to hold former politicians and officers to account.

Put simply, they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it – and I will do everything in my power to make sure that they don’t.

Regina Road

Croydon reached a key milestone on its housing improvement journey as this week, I approved plans to ballot Regina Road residents about demolishing and rebuilding the three tower blocks on their estate. I pledged that I would tackle unacceptable conditions in council housing, making sure all tenants have warm, dry safe homes they are proud to live in, and this is an essential step in delivering that. Most importantly, our tenants and leaseholders are firmly at the heart of our plans and I want to thank all those who have been involved and shared their views in the earlier consultation. I look forward to continuing to work with them on the future of their estate.

Young people’s safety

Yesterday I met with police and community leaders about young people’s safety following some really worrying incidents of knife crime, and public disorder in our town centre. The safety of our young people is an absolute priority, and the council will be supporting the police as they step up their activity in hotspot areas. Our youth outreach team have been on the street to support young people, and we will continue to work in close partnership with the police and our communities to look at how together, we can help young people to stay safe.

 

With the start of Ramadan earlier this week, I want to wish all our Muslim residents Ramadan Mubarak – and to everyone in Croydon, have a good weekend.

Jason Perry

Executive Mayor of Croydon

2023-08-14T13:11:43+01:00 March 24th, 2023|Recent news|