CROYDON COMMENTARY: Since Jason Perry became Mayor of Croydon, the borough’s streets have become more polluted, dirtier and more dangerous places. PETER UNDERWOOD takes a look at the figures
This year’s healthy streets scorecard has just been published – here https://www.healthystreetsscorecard.london/ – and Croydon is going in the wrong direction.
Motor mania: while other boroughs seek to improve, Croydon is stuck in reverse
While most London boroughs showed some improvement, Croydon fell from 24th to 26th place this year, out of 33, with its final Healthy Streets scorecard rating dropping from 2.92 to 2.50 out of 10. This was one of the largest falls recorded. If there was a “relegation zone”, Croydon would be heading for it. These results continue a declining trend since 2022, when Croydon’s score was a still-modest 3.21.
The Healthy Streets Coalition is a group of transport, road safety, environment and health campaigners who are working together because the same interventions are needed to achieve all their various goals. They publish the scorecard every year to allow boroughs to track progress and see how they are doing compared to others.
The scorecard uses 10 measures. Six of these are “input” activities that boroughs can do to improve streets, such as limiting traffic around school opening and closing times and introducing bus and cycle lanes. The four others are “output” measures, such as the number of serious injuries and deaths in road collisions and how many people are doing more exercise through walking or cycling.
Worst in London: how Croydon is bottom of the Health Streets table for ‘active travel’ of children going to school
We all know that people want safer, quieter and less-polluted streets. We also need to reduce car traffic so we can keep London moving and cut the amount of time we waste sitting in frustrating and smog-filled traffic queues. While some London residents are reaping the benefits of positive action, it’s not good news everywhere.
There are now 10% fewer cars in the capital than at the time of the first scorecard in 2019. More than one-third of Croydon households do not own a car. The vehicle mix is also improving and, for the first time this year, electric vehicles and hybrids make up a higher proportion of London’s cars than diesels.
A significant negative change in Croydon this year was the removal of six Low Traffic Neighbourhoods following Mayor Perry’s idiotic statement that he needed them for raising money, rather than improving streets.
Cycle contrast: Croydon is a borough with among the fewest protected cycle lanes in the capital, as this map from the London Healthy Streets report shows
Croydon still has relatively good 20mph coverage, at 82.5%, and its School Street coverage remains better than many outer London boroughs (Tory-run Bexley, for example, has 0% of School Streets).
But Controlled Parking Zone coverage is just 20.3%, bus priority lanes remain low at 7.3%, and protected cycle track coverage is minimal in Croydon.
In terms of outputs, only 23% of Croydon adults walk at least five times per week, the lowest rate of all London boroughs, and cycling participation remains below 10%. Croydon is also in the top five boroughs for the highest proportion of road collision casualties for both pedestrians and cyclists.
The Healthy Streets Coalition verdict is that Croydon’s overall picture is weak: “Croydon’s results show the impact of losing established traffic filters, but also the need for stronger delivery across the input indicators.”
Unfortunately for Croydon, we have Jason Perry as Mayor, and while most would want to make our streets safer and more healthy, Perry seems determined to make them even more deadly.
Bottom of the table: Croydon is 33rd of the London boroughs (and the City of London) for residents taking regular walks
While the Healthy Streets Scorecard exposes Perry’s failures (he’s been Mayor since 2022), the purpose of the scorecard is to help boroughs.
The Healthy Streets Coalition says they “hope the scorecard helps boroughs to compare how well they are doing in relation to the indicators and to identify areas for future action in the short, medium and longer term”.
The scorecard shows that it is possible for councils to make a real difference. We can make our streets healthier, safer and nicer places to be. We can cut traffic and reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.
All we need is the will to do it.
- Peter Underwood was the Green Party’s candidate for Croydon Mayor in the May 2026 local elections
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walking and cycling all very well, but what about those who struggle with either ? condemned to life in doors and isolation?