Redevelopment in Sutton must make it unique and promote its strengths to compete with neighbours such as Croydon the Mayor of London has said during a visit to the borough.

Boris Johnson was in Sutton today to discuss the redevelopment of the town centre with Conservative parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam, Paul Scully, and met with representatives of CNM Estates who are in the process of redeveloping the South Point tower.

The impending project, scheduled to be complete mid 2017, will consist of three major buildings that will provide affordable housing alongside a number of penthouse suites, hotel space, office space and a retail plot at the ground floor of each block.

The complex would straddle Sutton Court Road and Chalk Pit Road in the town centre.

Mr Johnson was emphatic about Sutton’s potential competition with Croydon, addressing numerous concerns that the town will turn into the “ugly sky rises” of the neighbouring town.

Branding Croydon as ‘Vegas-style’, he said: “I don’t think Sutton will be turning into Croydon any time soon.”

“Not everywhere is going to be the same – people want to preserve the quality of life in Sutton and want to make sure there’s not too much disruption or too much building in places that they want to be green.”

“London is going to be a multi-polar world with centres of economic focus and interest and Sutton is definitely going to be one of them.”

Mr Scully was also confident that Sutton will be able identify distinctly from Croydon, saying: “We can’t necessarily compete toe to toe with them; we need to have our own vision.”

The mayor argued the proposed tramlink from Wimbledon to Sutton will also be of huge benefit to the town, providing much needed investment links to enhance its accessibility.

Mr Johnson confirmed that the tramlink was “firmly on the national agenda” and expressed enthusiasm for the potential to develop links to the Sutton Life Science Cluster at the Royal Marsden site in Belmont, consisting of the Royal Marsden NHA Foundation Trust, the Institute of Cancer Research and the Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, which provide ‘life-changing’ cancer treatment in the borough.