Shaping the Future of Coulsdon

Croydon is piloting an innovative way to involve local communities in influencing service delivery and future regeneration investment in their local area.  

This year, Croydon Council is piloting District Strategies in four areas, including Coulsdon. The purpose of the District Strategy pilots is to develop locally-specific plans to focus public services and new investment to promote a high quality of life for local residents.  

Croydon, like all London boroughs, is seeing rapid growth and change. In 2004 the Council adopted an ‘Area Regeneration Strategy’ for Coulsdon Town Centre following extensive public consultation with local people. This focussed mainly on Town Centre transport, development and environmental issues current at that time and before works on the by pass had commenced. Things have moved on. The by-pass has been open for nine months and the environmental improvements package for Brighton Road is being finalised before implementation next year. There is a now a District Centre manager in place working closely with the traders to promote business activity and inward investment. Some site specific work needs updating. Other topics need to be introduced or expanded upon, such as the proposal for a new swimming pool, service delivery issues and future development potential at Cane Hill working with English Partnerships who took ownership of the site earlier this year. 

The new District Strategies will draw together and build on all the work and consultation that has already taken place. They will highlight what’s best about the area and shape the future of new investment with local people’s involvement. The Strategies will build on your past consultation input and will look at the needs and priorities for the wider community, not just the district centre. District Strategies will also look for solutions that may involve both physical improvements and changes in how services can be delivered at the local level. 

We are kick-starting the District Community Strategy project with an on-line survey to identify your top priorities and aspirations for the area. We want to know what people in the local community value most about Coulsdon and how the Council and its partners can ensure that the community’s priority issues are best addressed.  We want to know what you love, what you don’t and what should be the focus for improvement.

Please contribute your thoughts and priorities by filling out the on-line survey at www.croydonexpo.com/survey. The survey will be online from 10th October to 1st November.  Every one who fills out a survey and includes their email address will receive a report summarising the results.

If you would prefer a paper copy, these are available at the Coulsdon Library.  In November, we will be organising workshops to identify priorities, objectives and solutions to issues raised with regard to the following themes:

• Crime and Community Safety;
• Housing and Environment;
• Economy and District centres;
• Health and Social Care;
• Children and Young People.

 We are looking for interested members of the community (residents, local businesses, service users, etc) to attend two important workshops in one (or more) of the theme areas listed above. The first meeting will look at the key local issues that have been raised and your view on how these can be tackled; the second meeting will look to agree possible solutions by working with service providers. 

If you want to participate in this exciting opportunity to shape the future of Coulsdon, or if you simply want more information, please contact Jaina Patel (020 8519 7790; jaina.patel@tribalgroup.co.uk).

Don’t forget to also fill out the survey, at the end of which you will also have the opportunity to let us know that you’re interested in attending the workshops!