<h1>BNC_june_july_small.pdf</h1><br/>BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BUSINESS NEWS CROYDON Croydon – ambitious and gearing for growth Tony Kildare (pictured), CEO of the new Croydon Economic Development Company (EDC), is in absolutely no doubt about his ultimate goal – it is, he says, “to drive forward the economic development effort to take Croydon from ‘good’ to ‘great’.” Tony, who started work at the end of May, is in no doubt about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. He’s also keen to stress that his ambitions for Croydon go well beyond the borough’s boundaries. “For me it isn’t just about Croydon,” he says. “It’s about Croydon and South London, Croydon’s place in the wider London economy, potentially as a city in its own right, and its standing nationally and internationally too. International connections are important – because that’s the nature of business today.” “My job is to drive forward Croydon ‘the brand’ as well as Croydon’s economy,” he says, “working with partners to help punch above our weight beyond our geographical boundaries.” “From what I know of the borough already, I can see that Croydon has the will and the talent to transform its economy.” He says. “There is strong support and enthusiasm from the business community, developers, social enterprise, investors, Croydon Council, Councillors as well as the Mayor of London. “1 can see opportunities for Croydon and South London to become one of the key London ‘Superhubs’, an economic driver for the City, in the same way that East London is raising its game through the 2012 Olympics. The key is to harness the enthusiasm, power and ambition of Croydon’s business, public and voluntary sector partners.’’ “I can see the power of partnerships in Croydon”, he says. “It’s clear that the business partnerships, for example, helped win the original LEGI funding in 2005 and they are still in place, delivering now.” continued on p2 BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BIDUPDATE p15-18 Fashion first! Read more in the Croydon Fashion Festival is back this June June / July 2009 More than £4million in funding has been won by South London Business and Croydon College to help employees facing redundancy. SLB and the College have each secured around £2.3million for a Response to Redundancy programme which will help employees across south London re-train for new job opportunities and advise businesses facing the prospect of laying off staff due to the recession. The bid formed part of Croydon’s Economic Recovery Plan which aims to help local people and businesses survive the recession. The plan was drawn up earlier this year by Croydon Council and Croydon Business in partnership with a range of key agencies, including South London Business, Croydon College, JobCentre Plus, Croydon Enterprise, Envibe, Safer Croydon, Croydon Business Venture, Business Link, and Croydon Voluntary Action. The Response to Redundancy programme, funded jointly by the Learning and Skills Council and European Social Fund, will run until December 2010 and is open to anyone made redundant within the past three months or who is currently under notice of redundancy. News of the cash boost follows the news that the rate of job losses is slowing in the borough. The latest recession indicators released last month by the National Office of Statistics show the number of new people seeking jobseekers allowance has fallen – down to just over 2,000 in April from around 2,800 in February. Croydon’s number of unemployed is now 9,009 – around 4.1% of the total population, which is the same as the current London average. Business leaders welcomed the news as a sign of improvement since earlier in the year Croydon was predicted to fare much worse than the rest of London due its large white collar workforce. For more information about the help on offer in Croydon to combat the recession visit www.croydoncrunch.com Economic Recovery Plan boosted by £4m funding