Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon, Councillor Muhammad Ali

Officer: Interim Executive Director Place, Sarah Hayward

Key decision: yes

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To agree

1.    The expenditure of external ring-fenced funding indicated within Table 1 of Section 3 of the report, expenditure, subject to any further advice of the S151 Officer / Director of Finance, Investment and Risk.

2.    The delivery of the potential programme summarised within Section 3 of report, the extent and scope of that programme dependent on funding allocations to Croydon Council still to be confirmed by TfL; and subject to other matters outlined in Section 3 of the report.

The Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon (Councillor Muhammad Ali) advised Members of a correction to be made to the report, noting that under the Financial Impact statement it should read £4.6m instead of £4,600. The Cabinet Member advised that the report outlined and recommended expenditure for 2021/22 on a programme to deliver Croydon Local Implementation Plan objectives, Central Government’s Sustainable and Active Travel objectives and the Mayor of London’s/TfL’s Streetspace Plan objectives. The Cabinet Member also advised that the recommendations were aligned to the recent Croydon Climate Crisis Commission recommendations that the Cabinet had previously received and would make a contribution towards Croydon’s response to the climate change challenge.

The Cabinet Member noted in normal times, Transport for London (TfL) would have allocated funding to each London local authority to support the delivery of proposals within the authority’s Local Implementation Plan. However, TfL’s income sources had largely disappeared due to the Covid19 Lockdown, and TfL had become dependent on financial support from central government. As such the usual process had changed.

The Cabinet Member advised that the report related primarily to active travel objectives and that the current round of Active Travel funding had to be spent and associated projects delivered by 11 December 2021. The Cabinet Member noted the difficulties experienced whilst trying to deliver these arrangements but reminded Cabinet that the funding was essential to deliver on a number of Croydon Climate Crisis Commission recommendations including Green Your Neighbourhood. Furthermore, it was noted that there was no certainty as to what funding will be made available to Croydon, or in what form for the remainder of the financial year and due to the continually changing funding circumstances.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon (Councillor Scott Roche) noted that the report provided an opportunity to undertake thorough consultation and questioned how the council would consult appropriately. The Cabinet Member advised that consultation was underway and different projects / elements of the programme would have their own appropriate consultation and engagement processes.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To agree

1.     The expenditure of external ring-fenced funding indicated within Table 1 of Section 3 of the report, expenditure, subject to any further advice of the S151 Officer / Director of Finance, Investment and Risk.

2.     The delivery of the potential programme summarised within Section 3 of report, the extent and scope of that programme dependent on funding allocations to Croydon Council still to be confirmed by TfL; and subject to other matters outlined in Section 3 of the report.