Labour emerged as the largest party on Croydon Council but failed to secure overall control after the Greens won a record eight seats in a breakthrough result. Both Labour and the Conservatives suffered losses, although Jason Perry remains in charge of the council following his re-election yesterday.
Voter turnout was 41.02%, with 286,933 people casting their ballots in Croydon’s elections, making it one of the largest local election counts in London.
Labour secured 30 seats overall, including a gain from the Conservatives in North Addington North. However, the party lost ground to the Greens across central and northern parts of the borough.
Fairfield ward, which now covers most of the town centre, will now be represented by three Greens following the election of Paul Ainscough. Elsewhere, both Woodside and South Norwood are split between Labour and the Greens.
In the north of the borough, Labour lost two seats in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, leaving the ward split between the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
Another surprise result saw Conservative councillors Lara Fish and Tony Pearson lose New Addington South to Croydon’s first Reform UK councillors — Scott Holman and former Conservative councillor Adam Kellett.
The Conservatives also lost a seat to Labour in Waddon, giving Labour full control of the ward. Meanwhile, in Old Coulsdon, in the far south of the borough, Liberal Democrat Gill Hickson gained a seat, leaving the ward split between the Lib Dems and Conservatives.
The final results were declared at 16:40 on Saturday, 9 May, at Fairfield Halls in Croydon. Croydon’s executive mayoral system means that while Labour are the largest party, Tory Mayor Jason Perry will lead the strategic direction, budget and day-to-day running of the council.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the count, Perry said: “For me, this is business as usual. For the last four years we have had no overall control of the council and we are going into another four years with no overall control of the council.
“I think for me as the Executive Mayor things will work in a very similar way.”
The new political makeup of the council is 30 Labour councillors, 28 Conservatives, eight Greens, two Liberal Democrats and two Reform UK councillors.
