The Mayor spoke and answered questions for over one hour. Thank you Jason
The Mayor talked about plans for the centre of Croydon. The three upcoming initiatives are:
To complete the kiosks around Allders, with one concession opening this weekend;
For the developers (URW) to put in a planning application to upgrade the Centrale Shopping Centre;
The £40milllion enhancement of North End. Initiatives include the new Wellesley Road crossing, better lighting and greening of Dingwall Road, George Street and North End. The enhancement is also to include improvements to Surrey Street.
This third initiative is a precursor to URW submitting the planning application for their master plan for the old Whitgift Centre. The Mayor was disappointed with the continuing delays in URW’s proposals and even more disappointed in their lack of publicising how their plans are developing. However he was confident the plan would be presented some time in 2026
The Mayor stated that the centre is still a popular and safe destination and still had some of the largest footfall numbers in the country. He suggested we should take pride in our town centre and go and visit. There was agreement that we should use the centre more frequently.
Regarding planning the Mayor was congratulated on again exceeding Croydon’s housebuilding targets. One of the few Councils to do so. However there was concern that the family homes (3 bedrooms+) segment of the target is not being met and as a result there will be pressure to build on the green belt. The Mayor was clear that the family homes target could be managed either by 3 bed flats in town centre blocks of flats or infill development of town houses rather than infill flats and quoted Whitgift Heights, a block of 6 new town houses replacing one older house in Haling Park Road. It was agreed that infill town houses were preferred.
The Mayor took questions from the floor.
The greening of Dingwall Road, George Street and North End was welcomed. The Mayor was asked whether the existing trees in George Street would be retained and whether the greening could be extended to around the Fairfield Halls. The answers were yes and the Fairfield Halls area would be looked at.
There were complaints of speeding the Croham Valley Road and Ballards Way and complaints about the lack of yellow lines on these roads. There were complaints about cars turning right into Coombe Lane from Castlemaine Avenue. There were also complaints about excessively noisy cars. The Mayor advised that first port of call were the PCSO team. The Chairman said he would contact them. Second level follow up would be to request a speeding visor (a roadside display showing your cars speed) but the Mayor questioned their usefulness in deterring some drivers.
There were comments that in Spencer Road there was a private HMO with a mix off tenants with children including council tenants and asylum seekers and there were not sufficient facilities for them all. The Mayor replied that it might not have been Croydon Council who put them there as other councils will place people out of borough. Irrespective of the source, Croydon is (has) introducing a licencing schemes for HMOs in order to ensure appropriate and safe accommodation.
There was a question regarding derelict land, specifically the Brighton Road site. The Mayor they cannot make any landlord develop but are working with them to try to speed up the process.
The Mayor was asked about the future of Heathfield House. He thought that a solution was a commercial let with a small but sufficient parcel of land to make the let attractive and without a large security fence around it. He pointed out that the house itself had never been available to the public so a let would not really change the status quo significantly. There was general approval for this idea.
There was concern over the state of the buildings in the centre of Lloyd Park. The Mayor noted this and said they were working with the owner.
There was comment on the increased acceptance of marijuana being smoked in public given it was still illegal. The Mayor said that he is working with Croydon’s police commissioner to disrupt drug dealing in the centre of Croydon. However there efforts a hampered by the fact that Croydon has fewer police officers per head of population than most boroughs. Councillor Denton pointed out that you can phone the PCSO anytime to notify of illegal or antisocial behaviour and as they are often on their rounds they might be close by. The PCOS contact is Carla Sava on 07860 368 075.
The number of and excessive speed of some delivery drivers especially in the centre of town was commented on especially outside Nandos. The Mayor replied that, they were working with the management of the delivery companies to reduce speed and congestion and in the medium term are deciding whether to change the street and pavement layouts to “design them in” or “design them out”.
The Mayor was thanked for his time and thoughtful answers.
