Great news as today I attended the launch of the first Croydon Family Hub.
Croydon is one of 75 local authorities to be awarded government money to bring together all the support families may need, from pregnancy right through to young people turning 19-years-old, or 25 if they have a SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) need, in a ‘one-stop-shop’. This is real partnership working in action and it was great to talk to members of the parent/carer panel who had been able to influence the services on offer.
Families will be able to access parenting advice, antenatal help, health visiting, mental health support, infant feeding support and even advice on relationship building or how to get into work.
The first of these hubs has opened at Woodlands Children Centre, in South Croydon, offering a range of services, and I’m looking forward to two further family hubs opening in the borough by 2025.
Making Croydon a healthier and safer place to live is at the heart of my work as Executive Mayor and I want to listen to all our residents as we create Croydon’s health and wellbeing plan for the next five years. Together with our partners, we are focusing on good mental health, cost of living help, supporting children and young people, and empowering older residents to live fulfilling and independent lives. Get involved and have your say.
This week I once again met with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) as we continue to drive the agenda and work closely with them to develop plans for the regeneration of the town centre. Investors are showing growing confidence in Croydon as a place to bring their business and for their staff to work, as demonstrated with the good news of the opening of the £3m Loupe boutique in Centrale Shopping Centre. Furthermore, HMRC have invested £115m in buying their own building at the Superhub in Ruskin Square, beside East Croydon Station.
Last weekend, it was a pleasure to join the Tamil community as we celebrated the beginning of the harvest Pongal Festival together and recognise their outstanding contribution to our community. Tamil is one of the most spoken languages in Croydon after English and it was an honour to join two celebrations which included an impressive array of music, dance and the opportunity to share food with one another.
And lastly, I’d like to congratulate Arabi Karteepan, head of physics at Croydon High School, who has been awarded a prestigious Royal Astronomical Award for promoting astronomy and space science. The inspirational teacher led one of the first successful launches for a UK high school of an experimental high altitude weather balloon. This is an amazing achievement and we in Croydon are very proud of her.
Jason Perry
Executive Mayor of Croydon
