In my article ‘Purley Deserves Better’, it was evident that Purley is in need of some positive change, with local people voicing the same opinion. A few months later, and things are looking up for Purley, thanks to some local volunteers with a huge passion for the improvement of Purley High Street. I spoke to Anna Bond, the chairperson of the Purley Panel, which is a voluntary collective community group representing key stakeholders in Purley. These include Purley BID, Purley in Bloom, Churches Together, PACE-Purley and Coulsdon, clubs for the elderly, Purley Rotary Club, Riddlesdown residents association, Purley and Woodcote Residents association and others like Anna herself: a mother of two living and working in Purley. 

 

It all started for Anna when she contacted the Purley Business Improvement District (BID), who support the business interests of Purley, such as helping local businesses through the pandemic. Anna wrote to them to raise issues, such as the ever-growing problem of litter, and through several conversations with the BID became involved in the Purley Panel, which gave her ‘a voice’. Anna was very keen to be involved in the Panel because she thinks that the area has a lot of potential, with a ‘great location, brilliant transport links, and good schools’.

“I think it is very important that you be proactive about these things and to try [and think] ‘what can I do to help and improve things”, Anna remarked.  The Purley Panel originally collaborated to help arrange a framework for Purley’s future, but decided to remain together to act as a force of good for the town. 

 

At the moment, the Purley Panel are trying their best to improve the high street to suit everyone.

For example, the BID launched a monthly market that will run the first Saturday of every month, which will take place outside the leisure centre and sell more unique items. Due to the closure of the leisure centre, Purley has lost a lot of footfall for businesses in the area. Therefore, a market will attract more attention to the High Street as a whole, and also bring a more unique element to the town. 

Anna says, “As well as being a positive thing for the locals to enjoy and bring footfall to current businesses I  hope this will encourage visitors into Purley and also businesses who will see the community feel, the improvements volunteers are doing, the increase in population with recent developments and see Purley as a good place to open a business.”

The market has also opened up even more activities for children to do, such as leading Craft events. In my previous article, I spoke about the lack of activities for children to do in Purley. Today, the Purley Panel is hoping to incorporate more experience-based activities, ‘such as sports facilities/pop up cinemas to attract all ages to the town’. One proposed option is to use the top of the car park on Sundays to host an open air cinema, which won’t take away from the overall profit for Purley because of the free parking on Sundays. These innovative ideas are what are going to attract families to Purley, and also offer something more to do for children than traipse around the local Tesco.

 

However, these plans are impossible to realise without funding. The Purley Panel are entering the ‘Mayor For London’s High Street for all Challenge’, within which there is an opportunity to win between £100K- £500K for the high street. Despite the large number of applications from numerous London boroughs, the Purley Panel won the first round for Croydon. They were granted a seed fund of £20K to speak to the community and employ feasibility consultants to see if the ideas they have for Purley can be realised, and they will submit their application in May. 

Now they are focusing on getting through to the next round of the ‘High Street For All’ applications, and to win an even more substantial amount of money for the High Street in order to further improve it. Although the panel has not finalised what they are definitely asking for, they will focus on aesthetic improvements and more social events, which will attract more people to Purley. 

 

I say ‘more social events’, because there are already a lot of opportunities in Purley to create a sense of community and promote working together as a driving force for development.

The BID ran an entertainment week from 28th March- 3rd April, wherein a huge variety of over 45 events occurred, including solo acts, bands, storytime sessions, comedy shows, and a lot more. These took place in various locations such as ‘The Jolly Farmers’ and ‘O Farol’, which was intended to attract more attention to Purley’s businesses and perfectly display a wholesome sense of community. There was also a Mayoral Candidates Q&A session, letting the people of Purley who are not on a panel have a voice of their own. 

 

A lot of the social events in Purley take place with the environment in mind. Purley In Bloom (PIB) is a community group that has partnered with London Borough of Croydon as ‘Friends of the Rotary Field’, the main park in Purley. They have since planted over 1,000 bulbs and worked with a local college who built new carriages that have been planted up and sponsored. They also have installed a new leaf pen which can be used to compost leaves to be used in the planters, and have facilitated the arrival of 14 new trees, along with holding an educational walk in the weekend and a seed swap event. This huge amount of commitment that PIB has shown speaks volumes about their passion and drive to improve Purley which may have a resonating effect on surrounding towns and boroughs. This amount of care to improve the town one bulb at a time is going to make Purley more attractive, more pleasing, and most importantly, more green. 

 

PIB is also in partnership with the Purley Youth Group, and have started to create a small community garden behind Purley United Reformed Church. They are aiming to grow edibles, a sensory bed, and pollinators for the people in Purley. Their work with young people and children does not stop there. PIB has also carried out activities with Fennies nursery, Whytebeams nursery, Purley Scouts, Christchurch School, and has now partnered with Margaret Roper Catholic Primary School. 

The Purley Panel have also visited schools around Purley and different community groups when and have conducted a survey- all this information has then been collated to perceive what the local people want for Purley and how this is going to be carried out. 

 

PIB has also hosted various competitions, such as ‘Freaky Fruit’ and ‘Plant a Sunflower Seed’, wherein the tallest flower wins a voucher for one very lucky person to use locally. These have been well received and are going to continue to engage the community. 

A Covid memorial bed has also been created in Purley Hospital, and soon a jubilee bed will be added thanks to PIB, which will hopefully create a sense of morale for the local people, who will take pride in remembering loved ones and looking to the future. 

 

In ‘Purley Deserves Better’, I remarked on the amount of litter in the streets. The Purley Panel have started a ‘Purley Street Champions’ initiative, which allows people to register their interest in keeping their street clean, and will then be equipped with a litter picking kit to aid them. This is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to do their bit, and not leave the work to only a certain number of people. This community effort will see a gradual change in the cleanliness of Purley High Street, which can also be seen as taking Purley back from the ever growing beast of littered and unhygienic streets. 

To become a ‘Purley Street Champion’, all you need to do is email the Purley Panel at: info@futurepurley.com

 

Litter picking kits for Street Champions include:

Litter pick

Bag hoop

Pair of reusable gloves

High vis vest

Bags

 

For people wanting to simply litter pick at their own accord, perhaps on a walk in the park or even whilst out on the high street, the BID also organise regular litter picks and the Rotary Club litter pick the park three times a week, which gains a lot of positive comments from park users. 

There is also a ‘Love Clean Streets’ app which you can use to report excessive litter, overflowing bins, and fly-tipping. On the subject of fly-tipping, the Purley BID also pays for and regularly deals with graffiti and fly tip removal, which is a continuously expensive problem. Despite Council cutbacks and the bankruptcy of Croydon Council, the Purley BID has proved extremely useful in keeping Purley’s streets clean. 

“So much is dealt with that people don’t see”, Anna notes, and I think that this reinforces the need for the people of Purley to come together and help fight litter and poor sanitation in streets as a community. In Anna’s words, we need to be ‘proactive about these things’ and make a change, rather than complain. Litter has been and will probably continue to be a huge problem in Purley, unless people do something about it and work together.

 

When calling upon community spirit and the improvement of Purley, we must also preserve the past as we look to the future, as I remarked in ‘Purley Deserves Better’. One way the Purley Panel is doing this is by launching the Purley Map and Heritage Trail. Despite the many changes to Purley High Street, it is vital that we continue to celebrate the history that might not be immediately visible in Purley High Street today. The Purley Panel has highlighted 8 spots of historical significance, and 6 areas of interest that Purley is near to, directing the public to Purley’s huge history, despite the town’s size. 

 

For more news about Purley and how to help improve the Purley, here is a link to the Purley BID website:

https://purleybid.co.uk/

 

There are also certain apps, such as the BID app (also called inPurley) and a lot of information on Facebook with these pages to keep you up to date with all the latest news:

‘Purley Panel’

‘Purley In Bloom’

‘InPurley’(about the BID)

 

I would like to thank all the volunteers in Purley who are trying to improve the High Street overall- you are an inspiration to everyone.