I spent a useful afternoon with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, London’s Deputy Mayors Howard Dawber and Tom Copley, and Jason Perry. Like you, I have wanted to see changes to our town centre for a long time. I am in regular contact with Westfield, and whilst changes won’t happen overnight, I am confident that things are moving in the right direction. They have published their masterplan framework which can be read here.

I receive a lot of emails about our town centre and I am happy with the work the government is doing already to begin the work to transform our high streets. The business rates system is being reformed so we can raise the same revenue but in a fairer way. We will have an additional 13,000 additional police officers and community support officers on our streets. And we will have a Young Futures programme with a network of hubs reaching every community to stop our young people being drawn into crime. I want the same as you, to have a bustling town centre and thriving local economy. Work is underway and I’m excited about Croydon’s future.