Inside Croydon’s loyal reader has 24 hours left to help transform Croydon for the better. Or at least one bit of it.

Your vote could help win funding from the Mayor of London to pay to improve the access to Wandle Park

When the highly paid consultant PR spinners came up with the “Connected Croydon” campaign, they did so without a hint of irony.

Their notion of connecting the public realm for pedestrians all the way from East Croydon to Wandle Park remains the epitome of Dis-Connected Croydon: one eight-lane urban motorway, one six-lane Flyover, a suburban railway line and a very busy light rail system makes the PR spinners’ claims of connectivity all a bit of a mockery.

But there is chance that one piece of the “connected” jigsaw might be put in place, through the Mayor of London’s Big Green Poll.

This gives our loyal reader the chance to vote for improvements to the pedestrian and cycle links to Wandle Park, in a bidding war with other environmental schemes in Greater London.

The poll closes tomorrow, March 2.

The Mayor of London’s Riot Recovery Fund millions have been frittered around on new pavements and parking spaces on other parts of Croydon which were little affected by the 2011. It is long overdue that this neglected part of Old Town in Waddon, close to the site of the Reeves furniture store’s blaze, should receive improved lighting, planting and new trees.

At present, access to Wandle Park is poor. Only a steep climb up steps and over the railway lines provides access from Waddon New Road. It is hardly conducive to attract those with mobility issues, is off-putting to young parents with children in buggies, and is a block to cyclists looking to ride through to the Wandle Trail.

But plans to move a bus stop on Waddon New Road and to introduce a wheeling channel for bikes and pushchairs will make it easier to get to the park. The scheme is dependent on getting the cash through the Mayor’s voting competition.

The Mayor’s office says that if there is enough public support, it is the Greater London Authority’s intention, “To make it easier to cross the roads, we will put in zebra crossings between West Croydon station and Wandle Park around the Factory Lane car park on Pitlake”, and to “make it easier for cyclists to use the Jubilee Bridge at Cairo New Road by putting in a new staircase with a wheeling channel”.

• So, get your vote in now: click here and just imagine Boris having to sign a cheque to release some of your money to benefit you and your community.

• Dis-Connected Croydon set to dig up South End. Again
• Wandle Park community activities, spring/summer 2015
• Wander the Wandle and make sure you don’t miss the mills

• Inside Croydon Events: for dates and links to what’s happening in and around Croydon, updated daily, click here

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