A new taskforce has been set up to make Croydon’s town centre cleaner and safer for everyone.

The taskforce is made up of key statutory, community and voluntary sector organisations in the borough, who will work together to clean up hotspot areas and deal with antisocial behaviour.

It includes the council, local businesses, police, children’s and youth engagement services, the community, voluntary and health sectors, and homeless and rough sleepers’ outreach support teams.

They are working in partnership to gather intelligence and swiftly act on concerns about antisocial behaviour in the town centre to ensure residents, businesses and people in the borough can feel safe.

In that vein, the council has also been working with community partners to deter young people from crime, particularly women and girls. This work is funded by the former government’s Safer Streets Fund to tackle crime in the town centre.

The council is also offering additional focused support in the town centre to ensure that young people in the area have the opportunity to talk to them about any issues or concerns they are facing, and to divert them away from crime or antisocial behaviour.

The taskforce has already successfully tackled two unauthorised encampments, clearing items from public areas, footpaths and underpasses, making them safer and preventing hazards for people walking nearby and local businesses. While they are doing this, they sensitively support all those involved to prevent problems from recurring. The taskforce also recently offered wraparound support to an individual who needed urgent hospital care during another incident.

Anyone who sees antisocial behaviour in Croydon can report it anonymously to the police via 101.

Concerns about someone who is sleeping on the streets can be sent to StreetLink who will connect them with local services.

“Residents are telling me that they want to see improvements to the town centre environment, and we are listening and taking action. The taskforce will be working much closer together to make Croydon a cleaner, safer and healthier place for everyone, which is a top priority in my business plan. We are also ensuring that the right support is available to those who need it and collaborating with local businesses to understand the issues, in order to prevent them from reoccurring.”

Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon

Andy Brittan, Chief Superintendent for the South BCU, said: “The Met Police is committed to ensuring that everyone can enjoy every part of this great and diverse borough. We are already seeing progress by working more closely with the council and key organisations to prevent antisocial behaviour. We have recently stepped up our policing presence in the town centre to crack down on individuals carrying and using knives. We look forward to the taskforce continuing to work strategically to support this and other initiatives to improve Croydon.”

Shaun Webster, Director of Operations, Croydon Business Improvement District, said: “It is imperative that people in Croydon feel safe and welcome to shop, explore and enjoy our town centre. We welcome the opportunity to represent and support our businesses as part of this new taskforce enabling greater, more accessible information sharing with the police, council and other local partner organisations to deliver tangible results for our communities.”