Croydon: A bid to establish Croydon nationwide as the capital city of the South East was made at a relaunch of Croydon Marketing and Development Ltd (CMD) on Monday.

CMD, which is supported by Croydon Council and local businesses including the Croydon Guardian,, aims to market the town and raise its profile, so that it achieves greater recognition for its economic and cultural success.

A new board and chief executive were announced at the business event which took place at the Selsdon Park Hotel.

The new chief executive is Hugh West who comes with 35 years of marketing experience and is a former managing director of both the Peterborough Development Agency and the Hertfordshire Development Organisation.

He was introduced by CMD's new board chairman Russell Bell, practice development manager at ASB Law, and council leader Hugh Malyan, who is also a director of CMD.

Mr Malyan told the business men and women assembled at the event that CMD would be concentrating on remarketing Croydon as the capital city of the South East and encouraging inward investment to assure its future.

"We need to ensure that Croydon is not just a good place both economically and culturally for our generation, but also for the generations to come," he said.

Other members of the CMD board are Phil Alexander, managing director of Crystal Palace FC; Bob Dorey, chairman of Tramtrack Croydon Ltd; Chris Hughes, chief executive of Croydon Chamber of Commerce; Mariane Otley, principal and chief executive of Croydon College; Paul Coster, property director of Minerva PLC,; John Hammond, chairman of Surrey and South London region, Stiles Harold Williams; Neil McAllister, director of commercial banking for Royal Bank of Scotland group; Neal Thomas, store director for Allders and Lindsey Robinson, director of St Martins Property Corporation.

December 13, 2001 16:00