A Community Economic Development Plan for South Norwood

In June 2016, PPR applied for and won a modest grant that enabled us to develop what is known as a Community Economic Development Plan for South Norwood. Thousands of local groups bid for this. We were one of only 20 successful applicants!

The idea behind this is that local people work together with businesses and other ‘stakeholders’ like the council, to find ways of improving and regenerating the local area for local community. So often, when an area changes for the better this results in ‘gentrification’: many local people are then priced out and the area is totally changed. We want to improve South Norwood while protecting all the many good things about it.

One key way of doing this is encouraging more wealth generation that stays in the local area. This can be done through encouraging and supporting local entrepreneurs to set up new businesses and create new jobs. They could then occupy the empty shops that blight our local high streets. New and improved businesses will then encourage more local residents to shop, play and socialise locally, generating income for local businesses.

A working group was formed including local residents, councillors, businesses and representatives from Croydon Council. Under the banner ‘We Love SE25’ meetings were held at the Stanley Halls where a succession of conversations was held with residents and businesses, rather than any formal presentation. We also floated the idea of a community hub and asked for people’s ideas about what they’d like to see take place there. Surveys were completed both for residents and businesses to understand what was loved and what was wanted in South Norwood.

As of summer 2017, we are collating the information and putting together a ‘Plan for South Norwood’ and intend to carry on using our branding ‘We Love SE25’ as the recognisable logo of this activity.

You can read the final version of the plan here