A one-man crusade to clean up Croydon's eroding areas has gathered unlikely support from the country's future king.

When Croydon resident and accountant Ken Frost wrote to the Prince of Wales to highlight concerns about the town's decaying areas, he didn't expect to receive a letter of support in reply.

Ken, who runs his own website www.kenfrost.com from his Tavistock Road home, wrote to Prince Charles last month saying that Croydon should be a "thriving example of 21st century Britain" and inviting him to view the town's areas of decay for himself.

He said: "In the spirit of nothing ventured, nothing gained', I wrote to Prince Charles in May about Croydon.

The main points of my letter were to draw his attention to the environmental neglect and decay that has been eroding the centre of Croydon over the last few years.

"I doubted very much that this would achieve anything, as he cannot become involved in what may be perceived as partisan local politics.

"However, I received a letter from his assistant private secretary.

"The letter thanked me and noted that the matters I raised have long been at the heart of what Prince Charles has been trying to achieve through his Foundation for the Built Environment."

Back in February, Ken was featured in the Guardian after he launched a named and shamed' section to his website highlighting areas in the borough blighted by urban corrosion.

Since then he has made appearances on radio and has been in regular contact with politicians raising his concerns about squalid buildings and derelict land in the hope it will prompt landowners, and the relevant authorities, to clean up their act and the town.