Town councils could be trialled in Croydon so councillors in ‘district centres’ could make more decisions.

The topic was discussed at a meeting of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday (July 10).

As part of leader’s question time Cllr Robert Ward asked whether anything could be done to enable the borough’s ‘regional centres’, such as Purley, Norbury and South Norwood, to be more involved in decision making.

Cllr Ward said: “The centre of the town having so much building work done is a great opportunity for the regional centres.

“I am very interested in the areas around Croydon, how exactly they can be encouraged to take up the slack.”

Council leader Cllr Tony Newman said it was time to take a ‘serious look’ at devolution. “It came up in a debate the other week,” he said. “I think people initially said it tongue-in-cheek, about a town council in Coulsdon or New Addington

“I thought, why not look at it or at least a community council.

“Why not for areas that if they were anywhere else in the country would be a small town.

“Why wouldn’t you have more local people involved in decision making and working with the local council.

“I’m not saying it is something we can do overnight but i think its something we should be looking at.

“Personally I’m up for at least exploring that or some pilot schemes.”

The idea of a pilot scheme was supported by Cllr Ward, who said he was ‘encouraged’ by the idea.

He added: “In my view now is the time for that sort of thing to be actively looked at so its great to hear there are pilot possibilities.

“If we’ve got people interested we can seize the opportunity.”