Croydon Council has refused planning permission to developers who wanted to dig under the former Purley Town Hall to create eight new flats.
The old Town Hall Purley: developers wanted to increase the number of flats on the site by 25 per cent by digging underneath the building
The majority of the listed building’s existing two dozen residents were concerned by the plans, which were submitted in May by Herald Holdings, and a petition was raised to object to the scheme.
The proposals never got as far as the council’s planning committee, as Town Hall officials refused the proposals on a range of grounds: “… the development would have a detrimental effect on the architectural and historic character of a listed building and would thereby conflict with policies SP4.1, SP4.2, SP4.12 and SP4.13 of the Croydon local plan. Strategic policies (2013), the NPPF and Policies 7.6 and 7.8 of the London Plan (consolidated with amendments since 2011)”.
Purley Town Hall was built in 1930, but was surplus to local authority requirements from 1965 when Purley and Coulsdon joined the borough of Croydon as part of Greater London. It was not until 2012, after the Grade II-listed building had been sold off, that it was converted for residential use, including some housing association homes.
It seems likely that the owners of the building, on the A23 Brighton Road, will appeal against the decision. “We fully expect the owners to come back with revised proposals,” a resident told Inside Croydon.
“But they will have to work very hard to satisfy the various strategic policies which the planning department has raised.
“And next time around, we will be better prepared with our own objections.”
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