Following are notes from our presentation to the KENDRA Autumn General Meeting that took place on Tuesday 24th October 2023 ay Kenley Memorial Hall.
A councillor’s primary role is to support and represent their ward and the people who live in it. Cllr Kolade and I work to provide a bridge between the community and the council, be an advocate for local residents and keep people informed about the issues that affect them.
We do this by:
- Enacting the manifesto that we were elected on
- Supporting our residents with local issues
We wanted to tell you more about how we support the transformation that Mayor Perry is bringing to Croydon. There are 5 key pledges in the manifesto that are reflected in the Mayor’s business plan
- The council balances its books, listens to residents and delivers good sustainable services
- Croydon is a place of opportunity for business, earning and learning
- Children and young people in Croydon have the chance to thrive, learn and fulfil their potential
- Croydon is a cleaner, safer and healthier place, a borough we’re proud to call home
- People can lead healthier and independent lives for longer
The key to the last 4 is delivering on pledge 1 – to balance the books and ensure good governance is embedded following multiple bankruptcies and reports in the public interest that exposed the serious previous governance failures.
Good progress is being made. The Government appointed Improvement and Assurance Panel (IAP) in 2021 to try protect residents and ensure that the council delivers change. Last week, the IAP published its Exit Strategy for leaving Croydon by July 2025, which is essentially a signal of confidence in the direction that Croydon has taken under Mayor Perry.
Tony McArdle, the Chair of the Panel said: Our Exit Strategy reflects the progress that the council has made and the need to maintain this pace of change in delivering ambitious targets for the next 18 months. If the council does so, it should give confidence to the government that the council is capable of sustaining this path of improvement. It addresses the matter of the extraordinary extent of the council's debt and makes some inroads into reducing it - but also recognises that only limited progress can be made in this timescale. A plan for the long-term is needed and the council is in discussion with us and with the government over what that might look like."
Our second key role is to support our residents and we work hard to do this by bringing improvements to Kenley and well as supporting individual residents. Some of these include:
- Working with the council to extend the designated extend of Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to cover Kenley Common and the airfield, this means extra protection for this beautiful part of Kenley
We’ve helped residents on issues such as
- Planning
- Planning enforcement including TPOs
- Missed bin collection, including assisted bin collections
- Educational Health Care Plans
- Flood relief
- Flytipping
- Road safety, speed reduction
- Parking restrictions
- Community safety – Ward Panel – new members
- Management of street works, bridge closures and traffic management
- We work closely with the Food Stop
- Helping people on a low income get utility discounts
- Housing repairs – damp and mould
- leaseholder & tenancy issues
- support for residents who have issues with their private landlord
- Housing applications
- Support housing association tenants
- New waste management systems on the Croftleigh estate
- Council tax rebates
- Pest control
- Supporting residents with complaints to TfL
- Adult social care
- Gritting routes
- Dropped kerbs
- Broken street furniture
- Grass cutting
- Removal of illegal encampments of travellers and subsequent security measures
- Dangerous dogs
- Public realm works
- Support with domestic abuse.
Kenley Good Growth Fund
We are working with community partners and the council to support the improvements being delivered to the ward through the Kenley Good Growth Fund.
Public realm improvements
- Road safety improvement, including on the airfield and the narrow bit of Hayes Lane where it meets Park Road.
- ATC cameras on Park Road, Hayes Lane, Welcomes
Coming up
We’ll be scrutinising the impact of Kenley from the new Local Plan, and we hope to have news about buses very soon!
