Thrive

Our aim is for Croydon to evolve into a modern, thriving, ambitious, and vibrant destination in which businesses can be proud to invest in.

Improving people’s perceptions and experiences of Croydon is important to us.

Through maximising new opportunities and building on the key cornerstones of our business plan, our aim is for Croydon to evolve into a thriving destination.

We will represent, lobby and advocate for long-term change and improvement to support Croydon’s business community.

To address the issues that are of increasing concern to our members, we will: 

Influence future regeneration plans and overall vision for our town centre

Greater clarity and certainty over plans for the town centre’s redevelopment is important for those that live, work, and visit Croydon. We will impress the need for a clear and realistic action plan which draws on existing resources to instil a fresh direction, renewed confidence in Croydon’s future and a commitment to sustainable growth. Certainty creates confidence. Confidence creates growth. Growth must be sustained through a shared vision that we can all support.

Promote Croydon

We will continue to build on Croydon’s growing reputation as an up-and-coming place to be, by promoting the areas unique qualities, characteristics, diversity, and history. Working together with our members and partners, we will seek out opportunities to raise and maintain our town’s profile and counter negative opinions to enhance people’s perceptions and experience and provide investors with the confidence they need.

Explore new and alternative uses

Working together with stakeholders, partners, and Croydon Council we need to re-activate under-used, vacant town centre spaces. Our focus will be to support the transformation of our high streets into innovative areas that deliver on the need for a multi-functional reimagined town centre that increases the area’s overall vibrancy and attractiveness. We will commission an independent study to identify alternative uses for vacant spaces across the town centre to help revitalise our spaces, identifying opportunities for short- and medium-term growth.

Support retail, hospitality, and leisure

To ensure our evening and night-time economy sector is better informed and well-placed to thrive in the future, we will commission an independent study, working with partners, to understand the needs, expectations and demands of those that visit, work, and live in the area to identify potential opportunities for the future.

Unblock the Croydon bottleneck

The Brighton Main Line and the branches that feed it are among the busiest and most congested in the country, carrying more than 1,700 trains and 300,000 passengers every weekday. Network Rail plans to upgrade the Brighton Main Line, giving passengers more reliable, frequent, and faster services. It is essential that Croydon secures the investment from Network Rail to increase capacity and efficiency. To achieve sustained recovery, we will actively lobby partners and stakeholders to develop an action plan and timetable enabling Network Rail to improve The Brighton Main Line.

Support the reclassification from Zone 5 to Zone 4

Croydon’s strong transport network is a significant competitive advantage. Our transport network will play a significant role in Croydon’s revival and recovery. To achieve sustained recovery, we will support the reclassification of the town centre’s two main train stations from Zone 5 to Zone 4. We will support partners and stakeholders to undertake and deliver an economic impact study showcasing the long-term benefits of change in transport policy. We will ensure the views of our business community are represented and we will maintain a constant pressure on this issue.

Attract inward investment

To stabilise our high streets, we must consider both the recruitment and retention of our current and potential offer for those that live, work, visit trade and invest in our town centre. Croydon is an attractive proposition for investors from all sectors given its transport network, population, and in particular, the opportunity for development in the town centre. Working with partners, we will independently support the need for greater focus and investment into inward investment, translating an agreed vision for the town centre into deliverable results, repositioning Croydon as a destination of choice.

As we look to the future, working together, we need to harness the growth potential of Croydon, boosting its potential to investors. Croydon BID demonstrates clear and confident plans as we look to recover including the economic impact study of the reclassification of our town main train stations from zone 5 to zone 4 which will, I am sure, help to make Croydon an even more attractive prospect.