An independent team looking to revitalise Croydon’s Old Town are hoping to kick on with their plans after a frustrating first year in the job.

Croydon’s Portas Town Team (PTT) was given £100,000 to put towards the regeneration of Croydon’s Old Town, that includes Surrey Street Market and the surrounding area.

Plans for the area included a new community hub for street traders, bringing in a market management company to run Surrey Street Market, free Wi-fi and helping to put on more events in Exchange Square to increase footfall in the area.

But the team have been frustrated with the amount of red tape they have had to go through both a local and national level.

The team threatened to take Croydon Council to court earlier this year after a lack of progress in finding a company to run the operations side of the market but they are now on good terms with a decision on the market set to be made within six months.

They are also in prolonged discussions with various landlords in the area so they can implement their plans of a community food hub, which has taken longer than expected.

But the team have had some successes. Westfield and Hammerson have said they are backing the project and Lloyd’s TSB are offering business clinics to small companies in the area who need help with business plans.

The team are also weeks away from announcing a new enterprise scheme aimed at 16-24 year-olds which will see them put their business ideas into practice by running stalls in the market.

Paul Collins, Secretary of the Portas Town Team, said the team have learned a lot in their first year at the helm and is confident a lot lessons have been learned as they head into an important second year.

He said: "It has been both frustrating and hard work as our aim has always been to put the foundations in place before we can move on to other things.

"We are looking forward to the second year though and we have some exciting projects to implement for the area."

 

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