Here is the question I asked of Executive Mayor Perry at last night's Croydon Council meeting
"The whole of Croydon can see how much mess there is to clear up after eight years of financial mismanagement by Labour. But let no one think Labour’s mess ended with a new administration in Croydon in May last year. The job is not yet finished. We have a Labour Mayor of London.
It’s not just the failed previous administration in Croydon that’s caused much concern for residents and whose mess we have to clear up. We have Mayor Khan to contend with. Mayor Khan is determined to ignore the will of our residents by imposing his ULEZ expansion on Croydon. This imposition will hit hard the residents I represent in Coulsdon. It will hit residents hard across Croydon.
Mayor Perry. You joined us at our street surgery and stall last Saturday in Coulsdon where we heard the strength of feeling against the ULEZ extension. Residents on low incomes were telling us they will not be able to afford the huge expense of buying a new, compliant car. We heard that ULEZ will deter shoppers from visiting Coulsdon and other district centres at a time when many are struggling following the after effects of the pandemic and energy price increases following Putin’s dreadful invasion of Ukraine. I’m sure you’re hearing this right across Croydon. I know YOUR finger is on the pulse of Croydon residents.
The Mayor of London should come to Coulsdon and hear first hand what residents are saying. What they’re saying about ULEZ expansion and about Labour bankrupting our town.
I ask you Mayor Perry, will you support Coulsdon and Croydon residents by doing all that you possibly can to thwart this most pernicious of Labour taxes that will punish the most vulnerable, do little or nothing for air pollution and add another layer of Croydon Labour’s financial misery on to our most hard pressed residents"?
In response I received Mayor Perry's wholehearted condemnation of the ULEZ extension proposals from the London Mayor.