Croydon Council is big business, providing essential services to its 330,700 strong community (2001 census), employing 10,000 staff and investing over £300 million per year. Its vision is to provide ‘a prosperous, safe, healthy and sustainable future for the whole community’.

Croydon is also the economic and social capital of the south east, with an international profile, diverse business interests and has great news in the form of a £20.3 million grant over the next three years from a new Government programme, called Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI).

Croydon became a borough in 1889 and officially became part of greater London in 1965, becoming one of the largest London boroughs on its amalgamation with the former Urban District of Coulsdon and Purley.

There are 70 Councillors, all of whom are elected simultaneously every four years who represent the population. The borough is divided into 24 wards with 22 of these wards returning 3 Councillors; and 2 wards returning 2 Councillors each. The council elections in May 2006 resulted in a change of political control. There is a new Conservative administration. There are 43 Conservative Councillors and 27 Labour Councillors.

Since May 2001, Croydon has operated a Leader and Cabinet model of decision-making arrangements under the Local Government Act 2000.

The Cabinet is made up of ten Councillors who are Executive Members. Their job is to drive through the council’s policy making agendas and taking decisions that affect the delivery of council services.

Cabinet Members hold policy portfolios (e.g. Housing, Adult Social Services, etc.) but do not have power as individuals to make decisions. The Cabinet and its various Committees take decisions collectively at their formal meetings. Croydon is unique in that it also has a Shadow Cabinet of ten Councillors that mirror the portfolios of the Cabinet.

Shadow Cabinet Councillors attend the Cabinet and its various Committee meetings and are able to participate but, by law, may no longer vote. Under the Local Government Act 2000, only the Cabinet is empowered to make decisions.

There are a number of non-executive Committees. These are the Development Control Committee and Licensing Committee. These Committees deal mainly with planning and licensing applications. The Corporate Services Committee is concerned with tenders for contracts, and the Standards Committee, which oversees the council’s codes of conduct and its ethical standards.

In addition, the Scrutiny Committee and its Sub-Committees review aspects of the council’s functions and hold the Cabinet to account.

The council has a number of different divisions; Environmental, Cultural and Sport (or ECSS), Adult Social Services, Housing, Finance and Resources, Planning and Transportation, Policy and Corporate Services and Children, Young People and Learners. All these divisions work directly for and affect the community it serves.