Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Croydon’s £82,000-a-year Mayor joined a PR event to support Westfield’s town centre proposals amid concerns over the project’s diminishing credibility.
That was the highlight of Croydon Mayor Jason Perry’s one-hour, appropriately named “Breakfast Waffle” event, which took place yesterday morning at the offices of real estate development firm LCA in central London.
The public relations for the most recent pointless public consultation for Westfield in Croydon’s long-neglected town core is being handled by the same LCA.
In terms of openness and transparency, which Mayor Perry is bound by under the Nolan Principles for public office conduct, it is odd that nothing in the publicity surrounding this Waffle event indicated that LCA’s clients include Unibail Rodamco Westfield, as the Paris-based development behemoth is now known.
However, the hour-long meeting yesterday made it very clear who is the organ grinder and who is the monkey in the connection between the failed mayor of a south London borough and the multibillion-dollar, multinational URW.
The fact that Mayor Perry likes doughnuts is probably no secret. He was tasked with pimping out Croydon to an audience of about 40 people yesterday morning while he was surrounded by croissants and coffee for this Breakfast Waffle.
It was clear that many of the people in the audience were taking a break from their desks elsewhere in LCA’s Holborn offices, whether they were development firms or other clients of the PR firm in the real estate sector who were eager to hear Perry’s every word.
“Thank you for registering your interest in our upcoming Breakfast Waffle Event with Executive Mayor Jason Perry,”
an unnamed LCA marketing flunky wrote to our scribe.
“Unfortunately, as this is a private event for LCA’s clients and associates, we will be unable to register your attendance on this occasion.”
Therefore, it was just as well that several of the citizen journalists on our website were eager to experience the hospitality in WC1 on a Tuesday morning.
The majority of the waffle’s audience was in their 30s, and they were too happy to be there, eager to ask the simplest and most complimentary questions. Across the street on Shaftesbury Avenue, the musical Scrooge had previously been performed. This appeared to be a Stooge staging.
During a brief moment of property developer boosterism, an LCA wonk spoke up and mentioned Chatham House norms, which seemed a little haughty and pretentiously secretive.
The “biggest challenge is changing the perception – people say Croydon is finished, but it is not,” according to Perry. Perry has undoubtedly done more than his share to make it that way, though.
He believes there were four mentions of the Wellesley Road pedestrian crossing. It happened four times or more.
Although Perry’s council closed the former pedestrian underpass eight months ago, there is now no pedestrian crossing to give a safe route from East Croydon to the Whitgift Centre. The fact that the pedestrian crossing is being funded by a £6 million fine that Westfield was compelled to pay due to the failure of their earlier plans was never mentioned.
None of the lessons of Croydon’s period of “Peak Negrini”, when the borough’s politicians and council officials gave developers licence to do pretty much as they pleased, all in the name of “growth” that was never delivered, seem to have been learned.
For here was Croydon’s Mayor making all the noises that the borough’s (potentially) biggest developers would want to hear.
“What advice would you have for developers?”
the host asked.
“Get your chequebook out!”
Perry squealed, all excited, and more than a little desperate-sounding.
“We are very much open for business.”
He then said something along the lines of, “Come and have a conversation, we will find ways to unblock things.” Seriously. This from the head of a local authority which has many serious, statutory planning responsibilities. Or “blocks”, as they are seen by profit-hungry developers.
Then it was time to go. The LCA stooges went back to their desks, and Mayor Perry scurried off somewhere. It was only 10am, but it would likely take him at least an hour to get back to his desk in Fisher’s Folly and start actually doing some work for the people he is supposed to represent. And anyway, he’d soon be ready for his lunch.
It had all been very light on data and evidence, and heavy on vague aspiration with no real plans.
The expansion of affordable housing, the requirement that Housing England and the GLA contribute millions to the project, the improvement of transport connections, the potential revenue from the Community Infrastructure Levy, and the resolution of the council’s ongoing financial difficulties were all left out.
However, this had nothing to do with answering to the people of Croydon. At an event held far from Croydon, there was no sign of the Croydon Council.
For Mayor Perry, this was all about serving the people he has always believed are most important.
How have Croydon residents responded to the Mayor’s support for the redevelopment?
Croydon residents have responded to the Mayor’s support for Westfield’s town centre redevelopment plans with considerable skepticism and frustration, largely due to decades of broken promises and delays.
Many locals feel “weary” of ongoing consultations that fail to deliver tangible progress, and there is widespread disappointment over the lack of visible work or firm timelines for the project’s start or completion
Croydon business owners and the public express distrust toward both Westfield and the Council, viewing commitments as empty rhetoric given previous unfulfilled assurances. Despite official endorsements from Mayor Jason Perry and the council supporting the regeneration and masterplan frameworks.