Over the past four years, Simon Brew and Samir Dwesar have worked actively and consistently as your Purley & Woodcote councillors to focus on what matters most to residents, protecting Purley & Woodcote’s character, fighting for an improved district centre and securing investment that benefits local residents.
Our ward colleague, Cllr Holly Ramsey has stood down, and we are thrilled to be joined as the third candidate for Purley & Woodcote ward by James Hillam, who has been an active community champion for many years.
Purley & Woodcote’s character matters and we’ll always stand up for it
Four years ago, residents sent a strong message that planning was out of control in Croydon. After Mayor Jason Perry’s election, he revoked the design guide, SPD2, which focused far too much on densification and not design, and particularly in the replacement of family homes by blocks of flats. More than 50 such homes in Purley alone were demolished in the 4 years to May 2022.
We have actively and consistently objected to inappropriate developments, particularly in our more suburban areas and we have ensured that your voices were heard in our representations. We are grateful that so many applications have been refused over the last few years, with some examples including:
· 9 flat applications on Smitham Bottom Lane, Purley Rise, Woodcote Valley Road and Woodcrest Road
· 8 flat applications on Woodcote Drive and Russell Hill
· 7 flat applications on Hartley Down
· 6 flats on Green Lane
· An HMO application on Brighton Road
… and many more.
Fighting for a better district centre
We know Purley District Centre isn’t perfect and needs a lot more, but since 2022, we welcome that there have been a number of new businesses, including Kahumbo, Filtr, the pilates studio, wellness clinic and Purley Food Centre. We strongly support Purley in Bloom, whose volunteers work tirelessly to enhance the area through planting and maintenance. Their efforts have led to Purley being nominated for both London in Bloom and Britain in Bloom, and to receiving a Gold award at London in Bloom — a fantastic achievement for the community.
We also welcome that there will be a new M&S just down the road, which we hope will encourage increased footfall and incentivise new businesses to set up shop in Purley.
Working with the Purley BID and Mayor Perry, local results have included:
- Purley Library now open five days a week (up from two), including on Saturdays – and we’re keen to look at how this facility can be better used within the community
- Funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including new art, High Street winter lights, banners, flowers and planting
- The Blitz clean of Purley, which included working with traders to address ASB, the securing of additional bins locally, footway repairs and graffiti removal.
The Purley Pool application has been approved by the Planning Committee and the Greater London Authority has not chosen to object. We want this project started as soon as possible.
We will continue to work with Chris Philp MP and Mayor Perry on addressing the scandal of hugely increased business rates, which have been hiked under this Labour Government, and on encouraging developers to get on with stalled buildings.
Flooding has been out of control for years. We secured major funding to mitigate damage.
The Foxley Lane area has been particularly prone to flooding over the years. Local businesses like Lucinda's have been hit hard, with cars written off, stock ruined, debris channelled to the rear of the shop, and the business itself at risk of closure.
Working tirelessly with Lucinda’s owner, Mary Coughlan and the Purley Business Improvement District (Purley BID), we lobbied both the Council and TfL to deliver meaningful improvements locally. Last year, we secured funding from TfL, with works carried out including the upgrading of gullies, kerb raising, a new liner drainage system and gully sensors in TFL’s part of Foxley Lane. This has made a considerable difference to Lucinda’s and the other Russell Hill Parade shops, none of which have reported any issues this year despite the heavy rainfall we’ve had.
We are conscious that more needs to be done. Mayor Perry has been strongly supportive of the need to address flooding and adopt more of a preventative approach, and it’s a real milestone that this year’s Budget included significant funding for flood mitigation.
For Purley & Woodcote, this means plans for essential drainage works on Foxley Lane and on surrounding roads, including the upgrading of existing gullies and soakaways and the installation of new gully pots – with works likely to start in the summer.
We’ve successfully lobbied for more Purley & Woodcote roads to be resurfaced
Under the previous Labour administration, Purley & Woodcote roads were routinely neglected. We have met with Council officers on many occasions to discuss getting more of our roads resurfaced. We are thrilled that so many have been done over the last four years, including the Bridle Road, Downlands Road, Foxley Lane, Woodcote Valley Road and Reedham Drive.
We’re also looking forward to seeing more resurfaced in the next financial year, and have secured a commitment to include Hartley Hill, Manor Way and Purley Knoll, to name a few.
Our road safety petitions have led to some brilliant wins
Over the last four years, your Purley & Woodcote councillors submitted three members petitions related to road safety working closely with local residents, schools, teachers and young kids along the way. We succeeded with all three!
This includes:
- A new pedestrian crossing for Pampisford Road providing safer access to the Rotary Playing Fields, Purley Nursery, Fennies, and Christchurch Primary
- Colourful pencil bollards and newly painted railings outside St David’s School on Woodcote Valley Road
- An HGV ban on Plough Lane
We’ve also worked with Highways officers on other local improvements, with successes including double yellow lines on More Close addressing longstanding safety and obstruction issues, repainted yellow lines outside Beaumont Primary School and the securing of more gritting bins locally.
We want to go further, looking at how we address safety concerns raised by Margaret Roper school in the Foxley Lane area, how we better tackle inconsiderate and illegal parking and how we make the Purley Cross safer.
A new play space for our young people
Working with local residents, we led a campaign calling for the re-opening of Roke Open Space, which was decommissioned many years ago.
In October 2025, this was finally opened by Mayor Perry, as part of his push to deliver and upgrade playgrounds.
The play space is now welcoming and inviting, with a great array of equipment. It has become a social hub for children and young families to play and socialise – and there remains plenty of space for older children to play football and other ball games.
We are also grateful to the Purley & Woodcote Residents’ Association (PWRA), of which James is Chair and the Kenley Residents’ Association (KENDRA) for their contribution of a slide. We hope residents will be able to enjoy this space for many years to come.
We’ve been active in the community, working effectively with multiple partners
James chairs the PWRA, Samir volunteers at the Purley Food Hub and at the Purley BID litter picks, and Simon is Chair of the Purley and Coulsdon Clubs for the Elderly (PACE) in Lansdowne Road, and he provides IT support to clients. at the Purley Cross Information Centre. We’ve also supported many local charities and faith groups, including the South East Cancer Help Centre and the St Marks’ Church Place to Be Café.
We have worked collaboratively and effectively with the Purley BID and local resident associations, the PWRA and the Hartley & District Residents Association (Hadra) regularly attending their meetings and raising issues on their behalf. A good example is working together with Hadra and Chris Philp on better disabled access at Reedham Station. Whilst Reedham wasn't successful under the Department for Transport's Access for All Scheme, we worked with Council officers to secure some s106 funding for improvements at Reedham Station. We're keen to build on this funding and campaign for a more accessible station.
We have an excellent relationship with our Safer Neighbourhood Team, the ward panel and regularly attend the monthly Coffee with a Copper sessions (see metengage.co.uk for more details) . We’ve joined the local police on night shifts and have consistently raised issues, like burglaries, vehicle crime and antisocial behaviour. Crime is declining in Purley & Woodcote, but there is always more to do, particularly in the district centre.
A great deal of this work has been supported and enabled through the leadership of Executive Mayor Jason Perry, whose focus on improving local services, strengthening neighbourhood working, and investing in Croydon’s recovery has made it possible to deliver meaningful change on the ground in Purley & Woodcote.
You can read about our work in the many articles that we’ve published over the last four years.
There is so much to do, including, continuing to:
- Protect Purley & Woodcote’s character by challenging inappropriate developments and standing up for our area
- Work closely with residents, and local groups, including local residents’ associations to act on the issues that matter most
- Improve our district centre, working effectively with the Purley BID on ensuring that Purley is a more enticing and inviting district centre with thriving local businesses and pushing for Purley Pool to get started asap.
- Enhance road and community safety, working with the council and local police teams
- Support local services and community initiatives, including the Purley Food Hub, Purley in Bloom and the South East Cancer Help Centre
- Raise standards in council services, from roads repairs, waste collection and street cleaning, grass cutting and the street scene, while remaining accessible through our monthly councillor surgeries at Tesco.
We are proud of what has been achieved over the last four years, and we would be grateful for your continued trust and support so we can keep delivering for Purley & Woodcote and restore pride in our area.
Please do vote for us as your local councillors and for Mayor Jason Perry as the elected Mayor - without whose support our work would be so much more difficult.
Thank you for reading.
Simon, Samir and James
