I’m Jason Perry and I’m standing to be the first directly elected Mayor of Croydon.

First and foremost I’m a Croydonian, born and bred, who started life in a bed sit in South Croydon before moving to a Council house in Hamsey Green. Croydon provided me with the best start in life, state educated in Croydon schools, learnt to swim at Thornton Heath Pool, spent hours at Upper Norwood and Purley libraries and I remember the bustle of a thriving Whitgift shopping centre and Surrey Street market - and I'm a lifelong Crystal Palace fan to boot.

I’m not a career politician, I run my own business locally and understand how tough it is to survive in a competitive, post-pandemic world. I employ local people and form part of the local economy. I know about the day to day management of a SME from finance to contract management and HR to name but a few.

That's why I'm running to be the first Directly Elected Mayor of Croydon - to fix the deep problems Labour have inflicted on my home town since 2014.

After eight years of a Labour Council, Croydon has been brought to its knees through their terrible choices.

A Council in disarray following the issuing of two S114 notices (effectively bankruptcy notices) and two Reports in the Public Interest raising damning issues with the financial governance of the Council, including the unlawful act of avoiding procurement law. Borrowing has spiralled out of control with debt now sitting at £1.6 billion, £16,000 borrowed for every hour that Labour have been in office, including £30 million to buy a hotel, £50 million to buy a shopping precinct, £200 million lent to their wholly owned developer Brick by Brick. A further £70 million has been wasted on a botched refurbishment of the Fairfield Halls, which should not have cost taxpayers a penny. Labour have designed planning policies that have seen the rampant demolition of family homes and loss of green and amenity space across the borough in favour of ugly blocks, destroying local character. Our housing tenants have been left in horrendous conditions, with the Council exposed on national television as a slum landlord. Crime is out of control with five young lives lost on Croydon streets last year, a tragedy that cannot be repeated. Our roads and district centres are dirty with mattresses to be found on most street corners, whilst the graffiti has become its own epidemic across the borough, giving the feel of a place that is unloved and in decline. The opportunities of £1.5 billion of inward investment through the Westfield development have also been squandered, which would have provided 5000 jobs, 400 homes and a destination shopping centre to rival the best.

Despite all this, at its heart Croydon remains a great and resilient borough with wonderful communities who have not given up. There is hope, there is a better way and I believe I can provide the leadership to drive Croydon forward again with our partners and residents.

As Mayor,

  • I will fix the finances by bearing down on overspends and managing our multi million £ contracts properly. Rather than salami slicing budgets which tend to hurt those most in need of Council support we must transform how we deliver our services, seeking best practice from other local authorities that are not in trouble. We must stop borrowing and we must stop playing monopoly with taxpayers hard earnt cash.
  • In order to address the imbalance in planning I will drop the dreaded design guide that is driving so much destruction of homes in our borough and revisit the Local Plan, so that I can remove the intensification zones designed to further destroy the character of Croydon. For too long planning has been density led in Croydon and we need to get back to a design led approach that respects the wonderful character found across the borough.
  • I will restore the graffiti removal team and crack down on the cleaning of our streets. Contractors must deliver the service we pay for or they will be fined.
  • I will adopt the ‘Tenants’ Charter’ written by Council tenants, putting them back at the heart of our housing service. Our tenants must be treated with respect and basic repairs must be dealt with promptly before they become bigger issues.
  • I will work with the Police to tackle crime and violence. Too many young people are being excluded from our schools, often leading them into a life of gangs and criminal activity. I will work with community groups to provide mentors for our young people excluded from schools so that they do not feel that they have no hope and support. I will also work with schools and other partners to ensure that we have early intervention in order to break the school exclusion ‘pipeline’.
  • I will work with Westfield and Hammerson to get the town centre regeneration back on track. Croydon has so much to offer and we need to revitalise our town centre with a mix of retail, jobs, education, homes and culture to put Croydon back on the map. Inward investment and new shops and businesses will bring an uplift in business rates that will feed into the Council for the provision of better services.
  • I will re-open Purley Pool and Leisure Centre. This has been fully costed and will come from unallocated community infrastructure levy monies and will not impact on any other services. This will restore much needed facilities for health and wellbeing and will bring increased footfall to the district centre.

This election will be a game changer for Croydon and I believe I have the experience, the policies and the passion to put Croydon back on the road to recovery.

There is hope for Croydon and I can restore pride in our borough to once again make it a great place to live, work and stay.

Please vote for me, Jason Perry, on 5th May 2022.

For each section of my manifesto there is a short summary on this page, but for the full detail please click on the link for each section.

See Also

Cleaning up Croydon

Labour let costs run out of control so have been forced to sack the graffiti removal team and cut the free bulky waste collection. Fly-tipping has reached epidemic proportions. Our streets are dirty and litter strewn. They can’t even collect our bins on time. Is it any wonder our town has become a less attractive place to live and work, with fewer and fewer people coming to shop in central Croydon? I will reinstate the graffiti removal team and ensure a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping, backed up by stringent enforcement activity. I will manage the bin collection contract with Veolia so that your bins are picked up when they should be and fine them when they aren’t. We should feel proud of our Borough when we walk down the street! I believe that getting our Borough cleaned up is more about doing the basics right than fancy initiatives. The tools to do what needs to be done are all there already, they are just not being used effectively and our services are not being carried out as they should. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Crime, Safety and Community

Under Labour Croydon has suffered a tidal wave of crime. Since Labour took control of the town hall in 2014: Overall Crime is up 28% Violence against the person up 72% Public Order Offences (Anti-Social Behaviour) up 100% As Mayor I would partner with the Police to provide the necessary equipment, be it mobile knife arches or wands, to get dangerous weapons off our streets. I will work with the community to break the school exclusion pipeline and progress towards the goal of providing a mentor for every young person who is permanently excluded from school, to prevent them getting involved with gangs and criminal activity.   Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Finance

Labour has bankrupted Croydon, hiked borrowing up to an eye watering £1.6bn at a rate of £16,000 an hour since 2014. They wasted millions buying a hotel that went bust and then sold it at a loss. They lent over £200m to their failed development company Brick by Brick with many of these loans now in default. All the while pushing up our Council tax by the maximum each year and failing to control costs. Labour are not fit to manage our money. I run a successful family business in Croydon. I know how important it is to balance a budget, to only spend what you can afford, and how to create jobs in a difficult economic environment. That’s why as Mayor I want to bring back stability to Croydon’s finances. I will push down on overspends and ensure that our external contracts are managed effectively. I will not risk public money on dodgy property deals or speculative investments. Every penny matters and the council tax payers of Croydon have a right to expect value for money from the Council. I will deliver Council services on budget to a good standard. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Housing

Labour has failed to listen to tenants and failed to manage the housing repairs contract properly, leaving residents waiting months for serious repairs, like leaks and thick mould, to be dealt with. Labour has ignored complaints made to their housing service, leaving residents to live in such squalor that an independent report found the failing Labour Council to be a slum landlord. Croydon’s Labour Councillors have shown disrespect and utter indifference to the pleas from residents repeatedly raising their serious concerns about damp, disrepairs and infestations. I grew up in a Council house in Hamsey Green, I know how important it is that our social housing stock is properly maintained and our tenants are listened to. Over the past 8 years this has not happened in Croydon and Croydon Housing Services are now in a terrible state. As Mayor, I want to do things differently. I have already pledged to sign the Council up to the Tenant’s Charter – written by tenants for tenants. This will put residents at the heart and front of decisions about their housing services. I will bring forward a new repairs service and manage it properly, ensuring that tenants are treated with the respect they are entitled to. I will establish a dedicated Housing Complaints process which is easy to navigate – and is swift in responding to issues and complaints. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Listening to Croydon

Over the last eight years of Labour running Croydon Council a consistent theme has been that residents feel they are not being listened to. From planning to LTNs and council tax to housing repairs the feedback has been that Labour have simply implemented what they wanted without actually taking any notice of what we were all saying. This needs to change and if you click the link you can see some of the steps I will be taking to ensure your voices are heard in the future. In summary they are: Mayor and Cabinet Roadshows An Independent Chair of Scrutiny Real Consultations Adopt the Tenants' Charter Reform our Planning System Make it easier to contact the Council Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Planning

Labour have allowed developers to run amok in our borough. They have put together a Local Plan and local design guides that allow developers to ride roughshod over the many distinct character areas of the borough. They have even used their wholly owned development company Brick by Brick to concrete over the amenity and green spaces on many of our council estates, removing much needed facilities from local people whilst at the same time increasing the density of development. Labour’s design guide has allowed for the destruction of family homes to be replaced by often inappropriate blocks of flats. They have squandered the investment opportunities that Westfield would have brought to the borough, thereby damaging the reputation of our town centre and driving away businesses, jobs and inward investment. On day one I will drop the much-despised design guide that has wreaked such havoc across our borough. I will re-visit the Local Plan to restore a design-led approach to planning in Croydon, rather the current density-led model. I will ensure that we once again respect the many wonderful character areas that we have across the borough, rather than trying to ‘reinterpret’ them. New development will need to listen to local people, enhance suburbia and recognize the need for quality amenity space, particularly following the covid pandemic. A mix of homes by both typology and tenure will be vital to ensure future sustainability. CIL and S106 monies must be spent to enhance the areas that are being developed and provide improved infrastructure. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Town and District Centre Regeneration

Our town centre has been left to decline. In 2013 local Conservatives brought Westfield and Hammerson together, in order to deliver a much-needed £1.5 billion investment and create 5,000 local jobs. In the eight years since Labour took over the Council, they have squandered that opportunity. Businesses have abandoned the sinking ship of the Whitgift Centre, and that’s left a gigantic hole in our borough – a brake on our economic productivity. Our district centres are not much better. Labour scrapped free parking, increased business rates with no discernible increase in support, and had among the worst roll out of Covid support grants in the country. When local businesses, struggling in the pandemic, were desperate for help to survive Labour just wasn’t there. Our high streets should be somewhere people want to visit, work and live; they have had to change over the years, but that doesn’t mean they have to fail. Croydon is one of the most connected boroughs in London and it’s time we took advantage of this to create the vibrant centre that we all know it can be. As Mayor I want to work with energetic Croydon businesses and local residents to ensure we have the best offer in South London and further, to make us the chosen destination from Surrey, to inner London boroughs and beyond. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.

Vulnerable People, Health and Social Care

Labour's incompetence has hit the most vulnerable in Croydon hard. The cutting of £4.4m of Council tax support was a direct result of their financial mismanagement and will make the current cost of living pressures even harder to bear for the poorest. The removal of the Welfare Rights Team was another bad move, taking away the support and expertise that was only being used by those most in need. Labour are hurting the most vulnerable with their policies. As Mayor I would make the Health and Well Being board truly cross party to ensure we harness all the skills and experience available as well as involving the voluntary sector who provide so many services in Croydon. I will put service users at the heart of our policy making, including the elderly, disabled and those suffering social isolation. I will also look to achieve Dementia Friendly status for the Borough as a whole to support our elderly population. Click on the picture or heading to find out more about my policies in this area.