Agenda item

Public Questions (30 minutes)

To receive questions from the public gallery and questions submitted by residents in advance of the meeting.

The following Public Questions will be heard at this meeting, which will be responded to. The questioners will have the opportunity to ask a supplementary question based on the answer received.

The questions are as follows:

1.    As part of the modernisation of Croydon managed bus shelters those in Norbury (and other areas) were removed before the new were available for installation. Residents' are now facing a third winter without shelter. Please could you say when are the new bus shelters likely to be installed?

2.    Given the number of incidences of violence against Black women and girls in the borough over recent months resulting in the death of Elianne, what plans do the Council have to safeguard this vulnerable group?

3.    In late July 2023, the council issued a 21-page document, which related to the revised decision/plan to dispose of the 157 apartments at Red Clover Gardens. It described, the withdrawal of earlier offer by Notting Hill Genesis. A new offer was to be agreed by the council from Regen Capital (reg number 13389710). This involved sale of a head lease (125 years) and a subsequent issue of a sub lease to Mears Group PLC.  Regen Capital is a recently incorporated, currently dormant business, with £1 issued capital. How can such a counter party, be involved in an investment?

4.    Council set to make parking easier to support local businesses” Easiest parking where no payment required No point having lots of vacant spaces if parking expensive and inconvenient. Previous administration introduced One Hour free parking in District Centres – their one car-friendly policy. Why reduce this to half hour? Why make parking by phone only? Why extend hours of control? These bad anti-car policies would each be very unpopular, and each would make parking harder. My Coulsdon Survey shows no meter-feeding problem. Bays heavily occupied. High turnover of spaces. Lots of places for more bays – best way to make parking easier.

5.    When can we expect the council to solve the problem of the drug addicts living (by their own choice entirely), in a tent permanently pitched on the corner of Altyre Road who are blighting the lives of hundreds of local residents by : the squalor they create (including human waste), blatant drug taking and dealing, aggressive begging, anti-social behaviour, littering and blocking off of a large section of the pavement to passers-by, as well as being in plain sight of everyone who arrives at East Croydon Railway Station thereby giving an appalling first impression of the town?

6.    The Mayor of London is proposing to name the London Overground Lines. The East Surrey Transport Committee have suggested that the Overground line between Highbury and Crystal Palace and West Croydon should be named the Coleridge-Taylor line.

After the 19th century composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who live in South Norwood and Croydon and was a professor at the Crystal Palace school of music. He was taken ill on West Croydon station on 27 August 1912 and died at his home in Croydon a few days later. Would Croydon Council write to the Mayor of London supporting this proposal ?

7.    How many downloads have there been of the Croydon music trail app and does this represent value for money?

8.    The LTN schemes are not wanted by the majority of local residents (72% & 78% against) ; they are not wanted by you ; the local councillors; the MP for Croydon North ; the Government. There appears to be no supporting data for them to be retained. Why are they not being removed?

Croydon Question Time

1.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. The questioner had no supplementary question.

2.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. In response to a supplementary question regarding the recognition of the work of her organisation Soul Purpose 360, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Councillor Ola Kolade advised that the Council was always seeking to improve pathways to community engagement and would be willing to meet and discuss or attend a meeting at the organisation if invited.

3.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. In response to the supplementary question, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings, advised that he could not say much due to confidentiality but assured the questioner that due diligence was being undertaken on the project and stated that he would be willing to discuss further once the deal was concluded, negating the need for confidentiality as the information would be in the public domain.

4.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. In response to a supplementary question, the Cabinet Member for Streets and Environment, Councillor Scott Roche advised that additional data was needed additional testing was being carried out in other district centres across Britain to understand what this does in other areas. The Council was going through consultation to decide what was the appropriate department parking policy to adopt.

5.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. In response to the supplementary question, Mayor Jason Perry said he appreciated the frustration of residents, but the Council was trying to deal with a variety of issues across the borough regarding homelessness first making use of resources and partners to offering support and then enforcement. He advised that improvements were expected soon.

6.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda and in response to a supplementary question, Mayor Jason Perry, explained that the Council was raising the profile as the London borough of Culture.

7.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. The questioner had no supplementary question.

8.       The answer was given and printed in the agenda. The questioner had no supplementary question.