Changes to the Conservative Shadow Cabinet

Tuesday, 30 March, 2021

Local News

Cllr Perry and Cllr Gatland working hard on behalf of their residents

In December 2020 Croydon Council agreed to amend the structure of both Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet allowances.

This was a direct result of Croydon Conservatives summoning an urgent Council meeting to demand that we cut councillor pay. Labour responded to our challenge and published plans to do just that. Despite agreeing a cut in allowances, only the Conservatives took it immediately from January 2021, with Labour inexplicably delaying their cut until April.

The Conservative Group of Councillors is therefore today announcing those amendments to our Shadow Cabinet team:

Leader of the Opposition - Cllr Jason Perry
Homes and Deputy Leader of the Opposition - Cllr Lynne Hale
Croydon Renewal - Cllr Jason Cummings
Resources and Financial Governance - Cllr Simon Hoar
Families, Health and Social Care - Cllr Yvette Hopley
Children, Young People and Learning - Cllr Helen Redfern
Culture and Regeneration - Cllr Gareth Streeter
Communities, Safety and Business Recovery - Cllr Andy Stranack
Sustainable Croydon - Cllr Scott Roche
Scrutiny - Cllr Robert Ward
Chief Whip - Cllr Mario Creatura

Cllr Maria Gatland has chosen to step back from her role as lead Opposition member for Children, Young People and Learning. Maria has played a pivotal role in Croydon’s educational arena over many years, in particular holding the Council to account when it was put into special measures by Ofsted in 2017, working tirelessly to help get our services back on track.

Cllr Jason Perry, Leader of Croydon’s Conservative Councillors, says:

“I want to pay particular tribute to Cllr Maria Gatland who has requested to step back from Shadow Cabinet at this time. Maria has been an incredible champion for young people right across Croydon for many years. The huge amount of time and effort that she has put into the role is a testament to her commitment to improving the life chances of all our children.

“Maria played a pivotal role in holding Labour to account following Ofsted’s damning report, putting Croydon’s social services provision into special measures. Not only did she scrutinise what went wrong, but she actively participated in the many improvement boards to get our Council back on track.

“Maria has been a stalwart of our front-bench for many years, and we will greatly miss her contributions to our Shadow Cabinet.”

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Jason Perry

Mayor of Croydon

Leader of the Conservative Group, Croydon Council

Jason Perry is the Directly Elected Executive Mayor of Croydon. He lives in South Croydon and previously served as a Croydon Councillor since 1994.

Jason Cummings

Parliamentary Candidate for Croydon East

Shirley South

Cabinet Member for Finance

Jason Cummings has been a Croydon Central resident for over 25 years. Married to Rachel with two adult children both born here in Croydon. With a 20 year management career and experience of having worked at the heart of government.

Mario Creatura

Coulsdon Town

Mario Creatura is a lifelong Croydon resident and has been a Coulsdon Councillor since 2014. He was state educated locally before being the first in his family to go on to university. He is married to Amy, a local SEN teacher, and they are parents to twin boys.

Lynne Hale

Sanderstead

Deputy Mayor of Croydon

Cabinet Member for Homes

Federation Chairman

Lynne Hale has lived in Sanderstead for 30 years. She worked locally as a healthcare professional for over twenty years before, having settled her three children into their Croydon schools, she moved into politics.

Yvette Hopley

Sanderstead

Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care

Yvette Hopley has lived in and around Sanderstead all her life. From an education in a local state school she went on to spend almost ten years working in public and government relations for an American Oil company. Yvette lives with Chris and has a daughter Natasha and grandson Hugh.

Helen Redfern

Sanderstead

Helen Redfern has lived in Croydon since 2004 and moved to Sanderstead in 2009, quickly becoming involved in local activities such as delivering Meals on Wheels and acting as a Street Champion. She lives with her husband and two children who attended Atwood Primary Academy. Her key successes a

Robert Ward

Selsdon & Addington Village

Deputy Cabinet Member for Contract Management

Vice Chairman, Scrutiny Health and Social Care Sub-Committee

Robert moved with his family to Croydon in 2006. Originally from an engineering background he latterly specialised in projects to improve the safety, efficiency and quality of business services. He is an experienced decision analyst and a certified project manager.

Scott Roche

Shirley South

Cabinet Member for Streets and Environment

Living in Croydon all of my life has instilled a strong sense of passion for Croydon and its future. I have always been active in many of the local campaigns and projects, growing up in an area which prides itself on its Community spirit, and the ability to show a united front against issues that are important to the local residents.

Maria Gatland

South Croydon

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

Maria Gatland has lived and worked in South Croydon for more than 30 years. During that time she helped run the family business and cared for her husband during his long illness. Maria has worked hard to help and support residents in her ward since 2002.

Cabinet

The Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, appoints a Cabinet. Please find more information about our current Cabinet here.