Develop Croydon Conference chair Mark Easton believes Croydon is on the right track after a day of debate at several venues throughout the town centre.
Mr Easton joked that he had started his day with a Danish pastry and finished with a pint of Cronx “so I’ve had a really good journey”.
“Genuinely, I think today has been really inspirational,” said Mr Easton, who is BBC Home editor. “There’s been some fascinating discussion, sometimes tetchy argument, but it’s all been in a good cause.
“The thing that impressed me two years ago when I came to Croydon and perhaps impressed me even more at Develop Croydon this time is that I get a really powerful sense that this is a place that not only knows where it wants to get to but knows how it’s going to get there.
“You have a real plan, you have real expertise, you have people who really know what they are doing – a rare thing in modern life – and that is a rare and I think very exciting thing for Croydon.
“I do genuinely wish you well. It has been terrific for me to come back and I hope you’ll perhaps have me again in another couple of years and hope that I will see the progress that I think this place utterly deserves.”