In Contact Spring 2018

New giant artworks add to Croydon’s street art gallery The first of two major new artworks has gone up in Croydon as the town centre expands its public art collection and further enhances its position as the capital’s new home of street art. Initiated and led by Kevin ZuchowskiMorrison, owner of Croydon’s RISEgallery, the two pieces of street art have been commissioned in partnership with Croydon BID. The works are the latest example of how the arts are evolving in Croydon and underline the town’s growing cultural credentials and follow on from the delivery of a series of community-focused events last year including ‘Warhol Croydon’, ‘Dance Umbrella’ and ‘Lumiere’. “It is truly rewarding to witness the level of interest that is now being shown by artists worldwide in coming to Croydon to paint here. The additional colour and vibrancy that these works bring to the town

centre continue to set the borough apart and leave a lasting impression to all those who work, live and do business here,” said Mr ZuchowskiMorrison. The first of the two works, entitled ‘Her hometown’, is by Chilean artist Otto Schade and has been installed on Katharine Street opposite the Spread Eagle. The second installation by London-based mural artist and illustrator Dan Kitchener will be installed at the junction of Park Street and High Street. Artist Otto Schade said of his work: “I love Croydon and I wanted to paint something personal that people in Croydon can connect with. This is why the reflection in her eye has the Croydon skyline. “I hope the people of Croydon enjoy the work. I can’t wait to paint another piece here.” Commenting on Croydon BID’s support for the project, Matthew Sims, chief executive said: “We are really keen to encourage people to think differently about Croydon and to experience something memorable and in some cases unexpected. Our partnership with the RISEgallery on this project delivers precisely that.”

BID appoints new Chairman Neil Chandler, venue director of Croydon’s Fairfield Halls has been appointed the new Chairman of the Croydon BID Company. He succeeds Andrew Bauer, Whitgift Shopping Centre Director, who has served in the role since October 2013.

As Chairman, Mr Chandler will work with the BID Board and five-strong executive team on the development of strategies and plans that meet the collective needs of the town centre business community during the exciting and challenging period of Croydon’s regeneration.

to set the town apart,” said Mr Chandler.

“Croydon is embracing a period of dramatic change and a cultural renaissance with much new development planned and already under way here and a burgeoning arts and leisure scene that will steadily transform the local landscape and help

“I will be taking over the reins at an extremely crucial and exciting time in the town centre’s development and firmly believe that the many new and exciting challenges that lie ahead will provide a fantastic oppor tunity to

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“I feel privileged to be following on in Andrew Bauer’s footsteps. As Chairman, he has accomplished so much and done such a sterling job on behalf of the town centre community, as well as helping to steer the BID through into a further third term.

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galvanize both the business and local communities together in the bid to reach our common goal: a thriving and successful town centre and a destination of which we are all truly proud.” Mr Chandler officially takes up his position as Chairman on April 1st 2018.

Changes to local policing unveiled Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe The Met plans to replace all of its 32 London policing boroughs with twelve Basic Command Units (BCUs) over the next twelve months in an effort to help save £325m by 2021. The twelve BCUs will be larger units than those that currently operate but will each deliver the same core local policing functions - neighbourhoods, emergency response, CID and safeguarding. Police Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, former Croydon

Plans to change the way in which London is policed in future will lead to the merger of the Croydon, Bromley and Sutton police services as part of a drive by the Metropolitan Police Service to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Borough Commander, officially took over the role of South Area BCU Commander on March 19th and now holds overall responsibility for delivering operational policing to the boroughs of Croydon, Bromley and Sutton. People, buildings and resources will be shared across the borough boundaries to enable greater flexibility on resourcing. Leading the work is Deputy

Assistant Commissioner Mark Simmons who said: “Local policing is at the hear t of what the Met does every day, and we will improve it fur ther by offering a service that is more personal and responsive to the needs of Londoners. “BCUs will allow us to put first victims of crime and those people who need us the most. Our new structure will also give us the resilience and consistency we need across the whole of London, so we can continue to respond

to large scale incidents and meet the financial and operational challenges we are facing.” The Met anticipates that police officer numbers will fall to 30,000 by April and fall further by 2021. The roll-out of BCUs across London will be staggered over the next twelve months following the announcement. The first of the boroughs to come together will be Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow; and Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth.

Policing in Croydon – what does the future hold? The Metropolitan Police Service’s plan to replace all of its 32 policing boroughs with 12 Basic Command Units over the next twelve months will lead to the merger of police services in Croydon, Bromley and Sutton. With knife crime on the rise and the threat of terrorist and cyber-attacks increasingly commonplace, join us at our exclusive event on Thursday April 26th to find out how the restructure of the Metropolitan Police Service will impact on the Contact Us:

way that policing is delivered locally and what it will mean for safety and security generally within our town centre. Keynote speakers include Sir Craig Mackey, Deputy Commissioner for London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Sarah @croydonBID

Jones MP for Croydon Central and Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, who recently took over as Commander of the MPS South Area Basic Command Unit. They will discuss the issues facing our town centre and what role the business community can play

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Sir Craig Mackey to deter and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. The event is open to Croydon BID levy payers only and demand for places is expected to be high so please register your interest early by contacting keely.dench@croydonbid.com.

Investing in your safety Croydon town centre will continue to benefit from extra police presence over the next twelve months, thanks to the continuation of the match-funding arrangement between Croydon BID and the Metropolitan Police Service for the eleventh consecutive year. As a result of the agreement, six additional police officers will continue to be deployed in the town centre, providing a strong visible presence and reinforcing the importance placed upon the need for a collaborative effort between the business community and the police to tackle and drive out crime from the area. In addition to helping to deter and detect crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour, part of the town centre police team’s focus will be on building relations and increasing engagement with businesses and providing them with the advice, information and training they need to ensure they are better equipped to prevent crime and to safeguard the interests of their staff and their customers. The match-funding arrangement which was first entered into in 2008, is a key strand of Croydon BID’s pledge to help improve safety and security in the town centre. In addition, the BID funds the award-winning Croydon Business Crime Reduction Partnership, an important intelligence-sharing partnership between the local business community, the police and Croydon Council, which aims specifically to deal head-on with repeat offenders by banning them from the town centre in the drive to cut crime. Contact Us:

“Ensuring that everyone feels able to have a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience is our top priority when it comes to supporting the town centre economy and reducing the fear of crime,” said Croydon BID chief executive Matthew Sims. “The relationships that we have developed with the Metropolitan Police over the past decade have enabled significant in-roads to be made in dealing with crime in the area,” he added. Over the past ten years, Croydon BID has invested in excess of £2.24m in projects and initiatives designed to improve safety and security in the town centre. In the last year alone, an additional 21,000 hours of dedicated town centre policing were delivered as a result of the match-funding arrangement. The twelve months to January 2018 saw a 23.2% reduction in reported thefts from a person in the town centre, a 15.8% reduction in reported shop thefts, a 3.1% reduction in reported robberies and a 2.0% reduction in assault with injury offences. “Despite these achievements, we recognise that the challenges now being faced by the police Tel: 020 8603 0050

and by the town centre are greater than ever. “The continuation of our funding of additional police underlines our commitment to ensure that a strong, visible police presence is maintained on our streets and our desire for the police and business community to work together in order to deter and crack down on crime in the town centre,” Mr Sims added. Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, Commander of the MPS South Area Basic Command Unit said: “Croydon BID’s continued funding of additional officers for the town centre is great news. “I recognise in these austere times the challenges being faced

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by both public and private sectors to continue with initiatives such as the Town Centre Scheme. “Croydon BID has continually shown a real vision and commitment through its continued investment into improving the safety and security of people within the area. The results that have been achieved in partnership have been impressive and the drive for continued improvement is at the core of our partnership approach with the BID. I would like to personally thank them for helping us to keep Croydon town centre as safe as it can be.”

Upgrade of Croydon’s rail services moves a step closer Plans to re-develop the railway through central Croydon have moved a step closer following confirmation of Government funding for Network Rail to deliver the design stages of the project. Known as the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme, the proposal will include a new, expanded East Croydon station as well as extra tracks and flyover junctions designed to improve railway performance and potentially allow more trains to run on the Brighton Main Line. The project is the central element of Network Rail’s Brighton Main Line upgrade programme to deliver improvements in punctuality between London, Gatwick Airport and the Sussex coast. It would see construction of a series of new grade-separated junctions north of East Croydon station to remove what is known as the ‘Croydon bottleneck’ where several routes to and from central London converge. The new junctions are like motorway flyovers and will replace the existing flat junctions, where

trains have to wait at red signals to allow others to pass in front, causing congestion and delays to passengers travelling between the south coast and capital each day. The major improvements planned at East Croydon station as part of the proposed scheme, involve expanding the number of platforms from six to eight and providing new concourse areas with better access to other platforms and surrounding areas. This would improve the train service, transform the station itself and contribute to the on-going re-development of Croydon town centre and the growing local economy. The funding from the Department of Transport means that Network Rail can now work up detailed designs for the track and station work in the Croydon area as well as producing an outline business case for the scheme to enable funding decisions to be made and public consultation to take place.

John Halsall, Network Rail’s South East route managing director said: “Re-developing the railway through Croydon is the only practical way to further improve the reliability of services on the Brighton Main Line and transform journeys between London, Gatwick Airport and the south coast. “The Croydon bottleneck is now the single biggest cause of congestion and delays to passengers on this vital rail artery and means that the railway is now effectively full at the busiest times of day. That’s not surprising when you consider that 50% more passengers pass through East Croydon each day than on the busiest parts of the East Coast or West Coast main lines. “The funding committed by the Department of Transport means we can now draw up detailed designs for the work at East Croydon station and the surrounding railway and get valuable input from the local community to inform our final proposals.” Councillor Tony Newman, leader of Croydon Council said: “As one of London’s growth boroughs and a major transport hub in the south east,

I am delighted funding has been allocated to progress this important scheme to the next stage. These enhancements are desperately needed and, if approved, will significantly improve travel for Croydon residents whilst attracting more people and businesses into our town centre.” Jonathan Sharrock, chief executive at Coast to Capital which is leading the Brighton Mainline Alliance said: “Our region’s economy desperately needs better, more reliable rail links to London. This scheme will allow more trains to run into London from Gatwick Airport and Brighton and across the rest of the South Coast. Our Brighton Mainline Alliance strongly supports this scheme and the next step is for Government to agree the detailed design of the project and commit to funding.”

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visit for anyone wanting to know what’s happening in Croydon. If you’re organising a special event or activity in the town centre

that you would like us to help promote, make sure you visit checkoutcroydon.com/whatson and let us have the details – we will be delighted to help!

About Croydon BID We aim to make everyone’s experience and impression of Croydon town centre a better one so it is regarded as one of the premier destinations in south London in which to work, live, visit and do business. We do that by delivering projects and services that make it a safer, cleaner, more attractive, more accessible and more vibrant place to be. All of our activities are funded through a mandatory 1% levy collected from businesses within the BID area with a rateable value of £40,000 or more. This has led to an extra £15 million being invested in improving the town centre since Croydon BID was first formed in 2007.

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