(Following several comments by Hooley residents!)
Watch this space for any response or update!
Good afternoon Mr Philp
May I, on behalf of the residents of Hooley, Surrey, thank you for your A3 ‘flyer’ which, was posted through all of our letterboxes recently (see attached).
This was indeed somewhat confusing for the residents of Hooley who, admittedly have a CR5 (Croydon) post code but, have a local authority of Reigate & Banstead?
For some considerable time now, Hooley has been asking why enhanced CR5/Croydon/London prices are applied to home insurance, car insurance etc. when they live in a Reigate & Banstead borough and not in the London Borough of Croydon?
It becomes even more confusing when the only public transport bus available to Hooley residents is the 405 operated by Transport for London but, because the residents live in Reigate & Banstead (despite the CR5 London postcode), are not eligible for the Transport for London Freedom Pass when they reach the appropriate age.
Whilst I appreciate we are now on the run up to a general election and you are no doubt very busy, I am sure you agree this is a very unfair and confusing situation. Indeed, you yourself have distributed your Croydon South flyers in Hooley!
Perhaps you would therefore, be able to take a little bit of your time to look into this extremely confusing, unfair and expensive situation Hooley residents find themselves in please. Maybe we can then enjoy far more competitive prices for our respective insurances etc. by having a Reigate & Banstead postcode and/or, benefit from the savings of a Transport for London Freedom Pass?
I look forward, in anticipation, to hearing from you and informing the Hooley residents of your thoughts.
Many thanks.
Kind regards,
Jerry Warwick
Chairman, Hooley Residents Association
Hooley Residents Association – Making Hooley a Better Place to Live
As of today, no response has been received from Mr Chris Philp MP so, I sent a follow up…………………………
Good evening Mr Philp
Firstly, I have no doubt the recent general election was, overall, disappointing for you but, may I congratulate you on retaining your Croydon South seat.
I hope you now have the opportunity to address my email communication to you dated 11th June 2024 when, I pointed out that you are obviously, as confused as the residents of Hooley, about the areas and services provided in the CR5 postcode area.
I have also, subsequently discovered, some residents in neighbouring Netherne-on-the-Hill also received your A3 flyer which, also has a CR5 postcode so, I fully understand why you are as confused as we all are!
If you are therefore, able to look into why we CR5 residents are required to pay London (CR5) prices for car and home insurances etc., only have access to Transport for London buses but, are not eligible for a Transport for London Freedom Pass, I would be much obliged as, quite understandably, there are Hooley, and some Netherne residents, are asking why.
Many thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Jerry Warwick
Chairman, Hooley Residents Association
Hooley Residents Association – Making Hooley a Better Place to Live
Here is the response received from Mr Chris Philp MP:
PHILP, Chris
Mon, 2 Sept, 12:00 (20 hours ago)
to Chris, Jerry, Roger, [email protected]
Dear Mr Warwick,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me, I am sorry for the delay in responding, following a busy period after the election. You raise important issues and please be assured I do work closely with my local residents’ associations on important issues such as these.
A number of my leaflets were delivered outside the Croydon South constituency when we paid the Royal Mail for their Door2door service. Their postcode sectors are unfortunately not coterminous with constituency boundaries. We were aware of this problem but took the decision not to exclude certain sectors if a significant percentage fell within Croydon South. I am very sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Now that a new Parliament has been elected, due to a strict Parliamentary convention, I can only take up issues raised by constituents of Croydon South. As you rightly highlight, Hooley is in the neighbouring constituency and the MP for East Surrey is Claire Coutinho.
With kind regards,
Chris
…
Rt Hon Chris Philp MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons | Member of Parliament for Croydon South
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
http://www.chrisphilp.com | X: @CPhilpOfficial | Instagram: @chris.philp.official | Facebook: Chris Philp