Steve Reed: wants more to be done for Croydon, by the government, by the London Mayor, and by our own council
The House of Commons is in recess for the summer, marking the end of a very busy few months as the new MP for Croydon North‘s for STEVE REED
It is eight months since the Croydon North by-election, where local people chose me as their new Member of Parliament. In my maiden speech, I spoke up for Croydon’s forgotten riot victims.
Sitting in the public gallery was a couple who were left penniless after their business was burnt down, and a young mum who was denied help after a mob her flat ablaze and destroyed everything she owned. The Prime Minister and Mayor of London were quick to offer support the day after the riots when the TV cameras were on them, but they forgot their promises when the media went away.
There were more broken promises when London’s Tory Mayor announced plans to close down every police station in Croydon North and leave our borough with fewer police officers than the inadequate number we had immediately after the riots. I asked Croydon’s Conservative-controlled council to join me in a cross-party campaign for the borough’s police, but instead the Tories were silent, despite plans that will see Croydon treated less fairly than comparable outer London boroughs.
The No1 issue during the by-election last November was jobs. Croydon North has far higher levels of long-term youth unemployment than any neighbouring area thanks to the Government’s failed economic policies. I delivered my pledge to host a jobs fair for Croydon North with a hugely successful event at Croydon College in June. More than 20 businesses came along offering jobs, apprenticeships and work experience to more than 150 young unemployed people.
At the same time I brought together community and business leaders in a jobs summit to find new ways to get people back to work. I was disappointed our Tory-controlled council didn’t bother to turn up, despite booking a stand.
I hold regular town centre meetings, with great turnouts so far in Thornton Heath, Selhurst, Upper Norwood and Broad Green, where hundreds of residents have come to tell me about their concerns. I’ve opened school fetes like the one at St James the Great Primary School, done walkabouts with residents like the one last weekend in the Crystal Palace Triangle, and visited churches, mosques and temples across the whole area.
I’m grateful to the fantastic team in my London Road office who help hundreds of individual residents with problems ranging from immigration to housing and street cleaning.
I’ve campaigned for justice for Olaseni Lewis, a 23-year-old graduate from Thornton Heath who died after being subjected to severe restraint by police in a mental health hospital.
Steve Reed is unimpressed by the state of Croydon’s streets
I’ve opposed our Tory council’s decision hike Council Tax after refusing Government funding to freeze it, and questioned why they refuse to empty the bins weekly when the Government has offered to pay the cost of doing it. This summer I’ll launch an independent commission the state of the streets after hundreds of people contacted me to complain about the Council’s failure to clean the streets properly or take action against fly-tipping.
It’s been a busy time and there’s plenty to do to improve life for local people, but every day I feel honoured that the wonderful people of Croydon North put their trust in me to be their MP, and I intend to repay that trust by working as hard as I can on their behalf.
- Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough – 262,183 page views (Jan-Jun 2013)
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Dear Steve,
I do understand that you are a good MP and your are trying do your best. Perhaps you should also tell the shop keepers to take some responsibility. Just tell them that it is also the duty of shop keepers to keep Broadgreenisthan clean. There is no point dumping every thing on the pavement and then to expect the council to collect it every five minutes.
What if there was a labour administration in Croydon? They would probably pay millions to some union members to collect rubbish and then increase council tax by another 27%.
Those who complained about the 27% increase could not not bring down the council tax either.
The business people whom I contacted have said that the council does clear rubbish. Ask the traders to stop blocking the pavement on London Road and stop throwing rubbish on to the street.
What have the Labour councillors done in Broadgreen for last so many years? The same councillors even when labour was in power.
Is that the 27 per cent Council Tax increase that since 2006, the Conservatives have never reduced, and only increased, Patrick?
It’s all very well complaining about a Council Tax increase, but if an administration has effectively endorsed it, time after time – eight times, in fact… has anyone seen the Tories reduce Council Tax since 2006? – doesn’t that indicate that the problem lies not in how much Council Tax we are paying, but in terms of the level of central government grant Croydon receives, or the spending of our council on its £140 million vanity headquarters office, hugely expensive consultants hired by the council, Mike Fisher and his councillors’ increased “allowances”, and the overall funding of the £450 million Laing joint venture?
“What if there was a labour administration in Croydon? They would probably pay millions to some union members to collect rubbish and then increase council tax by another 27%.”
What exactly is your point? The current administration pays union members to collect our rubbish. What is their being union members got to do with it?