(RELEASED: 26 October 2009 )
Croydon’s Beacon Open Day

One hundred and forty five economic development managers from councils as far apart as Arun,  West Lindsey and Sunderland came to Croydon earlier this month to hear how the council and its partners had collected a beacon award for creating economic prosperity through partnership.

The open day included workshops on a variety of subjects including ‘Urban Regeneration Vehicles', the Croydon Enterprise programme and Croydon's new Economic Development Company, led by its Chief Executive Tony Kildare.

Now all the presentations and case studies are available on the internet here:

Croydon Beacon facts

• Croydon is the first London Borough to develop an Economic Development Company to lead on regeneration and economic development.  This was set up in May this year.
• Croydon has been the first Council in the country to create an Urban Regeneration Vehicle to take forward development of a number of its land holdings.
• Croydon has a strong Economic Development Partnership as part of its LSP that has overseen the development of an economic strategy for the borough.
• Croydon was one of only two London boroughs that were successful in bidding for the government's enterprise funding.
• Croydon has created one of the three largest Business Improvement Districts (BID) in the country. 
• Croydon was one of six national pilots to help the government test their ‘Solutions for Business' programme.
• Croydon reacted quickly to the recession and was one of the first authorities to produce an economic recovery plan to help businesses and residents affected by the economic downturn and to lead Croydon to a more prosperous future when the upturn arrives.

Delegates were addressed by Councillor Steve O'Connell, Croydon Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development; Emma Peters, Executive Director of Planning, Regeneration and Conservation Tony Kildare, Chief Executive, Croydon Economic Development Company.

The Beacon scheme is run by the IDeA on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government the scheme identifies high performing Councils and their partners in order for them to disseminate their good practice

Contact: 020 8090 1692, Fax: 020 8686 3300, beacon@croydonedc.co.uk