Happy New Year to everyone in Croydon – I wish you all the best for 2023, and I’m looking forward to working with you to make this a great year for our borough.
Firstly I would like to extend congratulations to the Croydonians recognised in the New Year’s Honours List. It was great to see Lorna Jones awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to schools’ netball, and Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, founder and director of the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, awarded an OBE for her work supporting and educating young people.
Secondly, please remember our free Christmas tree recycling collection service starts from 9 January, so leave yours outside your house from Monday morning and our crews will pick it up during the next fortnight. Alternatively, you can recycle your tree at your local household waste and recycling centre – find more information here.
January can be a difficult month, particularly so this year with the increased cost of living. You can find free help on our cost of living website hub, from advice on managing debt, to finding jobs and training, and how to get financial support if you are struggling. There is help available locally for residents in need, including one-off grants for food, gas and electricity from our Household Support Fund, so please do check if you are eligible. I also encourage you to keep looking after yourselves and others in the winter months – visit our LiveWell hub for ideas to boost your health, or if you are feeling low, help with mental health and wellbeing is available here. A really important thing we can all do is to stay well is make sure we are up to date with vaccinations – find out more about boosting your immunity this winter on the NHS webpages.
Finally, thank you to everyone who has given their views on the council’s budget proposals for 2023/24. Our survey is open until midnight on Sunday and we would like to hear from as many people as possible, so please do take part if you haven’t already – you can find the survey here. Your views are so important as we work together to rebuild our council and restore pride in our borough – I look forward to continuing to work with you all to achieve this in 2023.
Have a great weekend,
Jason Perry
Executive Mayor of Croydon
