When I was elected in May 2022, I promised to tackle unacceptable living conditions in council homes, raise housing standards and make sure that all our tenants were treated with the care and respect they deserve.
Since that time a huge amount of work has been achieved. We have listened to our tenants and leaseholders to better understand their experiences, working in close partnership with them to develop new standards of customer care for our borough.
From the development of our Residents’ Charter to our new responsive repairs contract, in-house contact centre and regeneration plans for ageing estates like Regina Road, we have made strong progress. This week full council approved our new Housing strategy for Croydon, which sets out how we will build on everything we have achieved to date and keep on changing our housing services for the better.
This is a key milestone and thank you to all the residents, staff and partners who have contributed to this important piece of work – and I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Croydon is home to more young people than anywhere else in London – both an incredible privilege and a great responsibility. One of my top priorities as Mayor is to work with all our partners, in the police, health and the community sector, to make Croydon a place where all our young people can be safe and reach their full potential.
This week our latest Youth Justice Plan was approved by full council, providing a framework for the important work that the council and its partners do to help our most vulnerable young people stay safe, and to prevent those at risk from becoming involved in crime.
The works at the playground at Park Hill have finished ahead of schedule, which is great news. Back in August, we announced securing nearly £140k in funding to install a new playground and disabled toilets. I am looking forward to being at the official launch in the New Year and hope the new playground will be something that children in the area can access and enjoy for generations.
Also this week I visited South Norwood Country Park to talk to Friends and residents’ groups, about how we can work together to look after the park and its future.
It’s great to see work under way on the restoration of the façade of the former Allders store. Intricate work has been carried out to give the historic building a facelift and I’m pleased that Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is starting to look after the fabric of this important town centre site. Real progress is being made and I’m looking forward to seeing this historic building being restored to its former glory.
Finally, on Wednesday we raised the Kenyan flag above the town hall to commemorate Jamhuri Day, celebrating 60 years of independence and the contributions of our community here in Croydon.
Jason Perry Executive Mayor of Croydon
