East and West Croydon must move to zone 4, MP tells Parliament

Croydon North MP, Steve Reed, has told Parliament East and West Croydon stations should be in zone 4, not zone 5.  The Labour MP outlined strong social and economic reasons for making the change and called on the Government to help persuade the Mayor of London to re-zone the stations.

Steve listed a number of stations such as Chigwell and Abbey Wood that are already in zone 4 despite being further from central London than East and West Croydon.  He listed stations including Stratford International and Crystal Palace that were moved into a new zone following strong local campaigns, and linked the re-zoning to Croydon Council’s ambitious £9.5bn bid to regenerate the town as an economic dynamo driving economic growth across south London.

Tory Transport Minister Robert Goodwill MP was non-committal when asked to back the campaign, but agreed to listen to a detailed case for making the change.

Speaking after the debate Steve Reed MP said: “The case for moving East and West Croydon stations into zone 4 is powerful.  It will bring new jobs and investment to the town and put right the anomaly that sees these two stations in zone 5 while other stations further out from central London are in zone 4.  It would also save hard-pressed local commuters up to £336 a year.  We need as many local people as possible to sign the petition and force the Government and Mayor of London to listen because we need this change and we need it fast.”

 

You can read the official Parliamentary transcript of Mr Reed’s speech here and you can sign the petition by clicking here