Jason Perry is the Executive Mayor of Croydon.
I was born and raised in Croydon. I built my business here. My family is here. This borough is not an abstract political issue to me. It is home.
A month ago, residents re-elected me as Executive Mayor of Croydon with a doubled majority. Four years ago, I won by just 589 votes. This time, my community delivered one of the largest electoral mandates in London local government. I am hugely grateful for that trust. However, I know there’s still so much more to be done.
When I first became Mayor in 2022, Croydon had been bankrupted three times by the previous Labour administration. Confidence had collapsed. Standards had slipped. Residents felt ignored. Too often, people looked at their local area and felt things were moving in the wrong direction.
Over the last four years, we have worked tirelessly to turn that around.
We have stabilised the Council’s finances after years of chaos. We have restored grip and discipline to the organisation. We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping, graffiti and antisocial behaviour. We have invested in our roads, parks and public spaces. We have worked to rebuild confidence in our town centre and attract investment back into the borough.
Most importantly, residents are beginning to see and feel the difference.
One of the biggest lessons I have learnt as Mayor is that people judge local government by what they see outside their front door every day. Is the street clean? Is fly-tipping removed quickly? Does the high street feel safe? Are parks looked after? Are problems dealt with properly?
If I am being honest, far too many residents would still answer “no” to too many of those questions.
Yes, we have made real progress. Fly-tipping is cleared far faster than ever before. Crime is falling in key areas. Parks and public spaces are improving. Business investment is growing. However, people do not compare Croydon to where we were at our worst. They compare it to where they want us to be.
That is why my focus over the next four years is simple: keeping Croydon moving forward and making sure local people can increasingly see and feel that progress in their daily lives.
We will continue restoring pride in Croydon through practical, visible action. We will deliver 16 new playgrounds and 16 new outdoor gyms across the borough by 2030. We will continue our pioneering blitz cleans and zero-tolerance enforcement approach to environmental crime. We will keep investing in roads and standing up for motorists, with no return to unpopular LTNs.
We will also keep pushing ahead with the regeneration of our town centre. After years of delay, confidence is finally returning. New shops have opened in Allders Parade. Footfall is up. Plans for the Whitgift Centre and Centrale are moving forward with a fresh Westfield planning application due this year. Investment is coming back into Croydon again.
At the same time, we will continue taking a tougher approach to crime and antisocial behaviour. Live Facial Recognition technology and mobile CCTV are already helping reduce offending – since October, over 170 wanted criminals have been taken off our streets thanks to LFR. We will continue backing the Police and supporting stronger enforcement to keep residents safe, including launching the first trial in London to GPS tag prolific shoplifters.
The wider election results also reflected something happening across British politics more broadly. People are frustrated. Traditional political loyalties are weaker than they once were. Voters are impatient for change and sceptical of institutions they feel have let them down.
What I believe residents want is not political theatre: they want competence. They want visible progress. They want councils focused relentlessly on the basics that shape everyday life.
That is exactly what I intend to continue delivering.
Croydon has enormous potential. We are one of London’s youngest and most entrepreneurial boroughs, with brilliant communities and huge opportunities ahead of us. After years of decline, there is a growing sense that this borough is beginning to believe in itself again.
Recovery is hard won, momentum can be easily lost.
My focus now is simple: keep Croydon moving forward, keep delivering visible change, and keep restoring pride in the borough we all call home.
Lots done. Lots more to do.