Croydon Business Improvement District has picked up a bronze award in the 2015 London in Bloom Awards.
The award is in recognition of the BID’s efforts to enhance the appearance and appeal of Croydon Town Centre by investing in colourful floral displays and planting schemes at key locations.
One of six entries in the ‘Business Improvement District’ category of the 2015 London in Bloom Awards, Croydon BID’s entry was described by the judges as “a promising start”, adding: “Croydon BID is at an early stage of its development as much of the area is under construction.”
Since it was first formed in 2007, Croydon BID has invested in excess of £1.2 million on a wide range of deep-cleaning and greening projects aimed at keeping the town centre looking its best for all that use it.
As well as financing the installation each year of hundreds of hanging baskets and barrier baskets along the town’s main thoroughfares, the BID has used innovative ways of introducing colour into the town to help brighten up its appearance.
These include the installation and maintenance of a ‘living wall’ at a main gateway into the town by East Croydon station, the introduction of giant planters at the junction of Wellesley Road and George Street and planting up and maintenance of pockets of land at Thomas Turner Path and Reeves Corner to create pleasant havens of colour.
In June, working with a team of volunteers from the public and private sectors, the BID was also instrumental in sprucing up a neglected but much-used piece of land adjacent to Green Park House at the corner of Wellesley Road and Poplar Walk, which the London in Bloom judges described “as a credit to them”.
“Maintaining the town centre’s appearance and appeal has always been high on Croydon BID’s agenda and as the pace of Croydon’s re-development accelerates our commitment towards keeping the town looking its best will continue to grow in importance,” said Croydon BID chief executive Matthew Sims.
“We’ve already earmarked two further locations in the town centre that are in much need of attention – the forlorn and unkempt planters situated along Dingwall Road and the small, drab area between George Street and the entrance to Croydon College which we’re hoping to transform into a green oasis of calm, if we can raise the remainder of the funds required, through the Spacehive crowd funding platform, to make the project happen.”
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