The money comes from the £70m Regeneration Fund set up by the Mayor following the August riots. Detailed plans have been released to improve the Croydon's public realm and infrastructure. The plans were drawn up by Croydon Borough Council in conjunction with public and private sector partners and City Hall.
The funding will help make "key entrances" to Croydon more "welcoming" and be used to improve the town's high streets, the Greater London Authority said in a statement. The money has also been allocated to improve pedestrian access and zones within Croydon, and make Croydon attractive to investors, it said.
£5m has been allocated to improving the local infrastructure and providing more space for pedestrians. £6m has been allocated to connect Croydon's pedestrian zones and improving pedestrian walkways to key destinations.
Johnson has allocated a further £7m to aid the regeneration of Croydon's high streets following the riots in August and has supplemented this with a £5m fund to attract investors to the area, which Greater London Authority said would provide a three year package of support.
Croydon is also set to benefit from the Mayor’s £50m Outer London Fund. The Fund was designed to grow economic activity and drive employment in parts of London that are benefiting less directly from major infrastructure improvements like Crossrail and the 2012 Games.
"Croydon is ripe for investment and the devastation of the August riots is a reminder of the urgency of investing serious sums into this potential economic powerhouse," Johnson said.
The Council has said that Croydon is committed to investing in major regeneration and added that the funding from the Mayor of London will help the borough to realise many of its ambitions.
Croydon Council is also considering introducing a new "land acquisition fund" to bring redundant office stock back into use, which it said is needed if regeneration is to happen.
Almost two thirds of Croydon's offices need to be demolished and rebuilt or refurbished, so the Council is considering a public fund or a public private partnership fund to deal with the problem, said Jon Rouse, chief executive of Croydon Council said.
“Making it happen will be hard,” said Rouse, but the fund is essential. “Oversupply of low grade office space has a downward pull on rents making it difficult for office development to be built within £25-£30 per sq ft and that’s where we need the market to be,” he added.
