A £100m scheme to build nearly 250 retirement homes could strip hundreds of car parking spaces from Purley town centre – with no alternatives available as claimed by developers. By STEVEN DOWNES
Customers only: Tesco has no knowledge of any agrement to allow non-customers to use their Purley store’s car park
Purley residents are “deeply concerned” over plans for a £100million development of retirement homes which will demolish a council-owned multi-storey car park to replace it with 245 money-spinning retirement homes.
The residents have double-checked the claims made by shady off-shore developer Polaska and discovered that any suggestion that the 424 lost parking spaces in the town centre will be mitigated by the use of a supermarket car park nearby are false.
Tesco, the owners of the large supermarket by Purley Cross, with its 572 car parking spaces, have confirmed to the residents’ groups that they “are not aware of any agreement to allow non-customers to park at the store”.
The Polaska survey also cited that presence of another nearby car park, at Purley Station. But Network Rail plans to built 236 homes on that car park, too. The loss of both the multi-storey and station car parks would remove more than 600 spaces from the town centre.
The residents have contacted Inside Croydon, and a spokesperson said, “Polaska is overstating the parking capacity in the surrounding area by including non-viable options in its surveys and by not accounting for long-stay parking.”
Polaska porkies: the developers’ claims on their website are ‘understating usage’ and ‘overstating capacity’, say residents
The resident says that Polaska has also been “understating usage of the multi-storey car park”.
The residents have documented their evidence by posting footage of the use of the multi-storey car park on YouTube. The footage shows a car park that is close to full.
“The current car park is near capacity during the week, and remains busy on weekends. The impact of its removal would be severe,” the resident said.
In a formal complaint to the council, the residents say that, “This oversight is alarming and calls for an immediate reassessment of your development strategy to prevent significant, damaging disruption.
“The planned removal of our primary car park is a critical problem for everyone: residents with no place to park, commuters who need to catch trains and visiting shoppers.
Space at a premium: the residents have produced evidence to back up their claims about how busy Purley’s multi-storey car park is throughout the week
“Removing the car park will force people to park on the streets, which are not equipped to handle the extra cars. Residents with children or accessibility needs will be particularly affected.”
A group of residents from Whytecliffe Road South, the streets likely to be most adversely affected by the loss of the multi-storey and station car parks, has banded together to bring attention to what appears to be a stitch-up between multi-million-pound developers and the council’s planning department.
Croydon’s Tory Mayor, Jason Perry, and Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, have both publicly supported the Polaska proposals, even though the scheme includes no “affordable” housing. The development will deliver a swimming pool and leisure centre, replacing the council-owned facility which piss-poor Perry promised in 2022 that he would reopen if elected Mayor.
No answers: Mayor Perry has broken his promise on Purley Pool and won’t respond to questions about Polaska’s owners
Neither the Mayor nor the MP, nor the council’s press office, have responded to questions regarding who are the people behind the shadowy British Virgin Islands-registered Polaska Assets BVI, the ultimate owners of the long-term lease for the site of the multi-storey car park, former supermarket and closed-down leisure centre.
The development looks likely to be a massive tax dodge, too, as by being registered off-shore, Polaska Assets not only get to keep the identity of their owners secret, they also avoid paying significant amounts of tax to HMRC.
A shell company, Polaska Assets Ltd, was registered in Britain in August 2022, but has no assets and no track record in development. This company has a sole director, Paul Andrews, who has a string of other companies, some of which have what, at best, can be described as a chequered business history.
None appears to have ever been involved in such a large-scale development before.
Even before the misleading references to alternative car parking arrangements that do not actually exist, Purley residents had become very suspicious of the 245-flat scheme being disguised as a new pool, especially one operated by a tax-dodging off-shore company.
“The Mayor, councillors and MP are ignoring our very reasonable concerns about the company behind this project,” one resident told iC.
“Residents are concerned about this ‘arrangement’ with Polaska BVI, the lack of any proper, open public consultation and the absence of satisfactory responses to their questions by elected representatives.
“Our councillors seem to be mere ‘footsoldiers’ quoting from a script that has been written for them.”
Read more: Tories warn residents: don’t dare complain about Purley pool
Read more: Residents backlash over Perry’s 200-flat scheme at Purley pool
Read more: Council backs Purley Pool tax dodge by off-shore company
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
All parties and Council Officers have been disingenuous with the truth as long as I can remember. They do not listen and have the powers to ignore objections.
I love “disingenuous with the truth” !
Genus Croydoniensis Administatensis, a strange species, firmly believes that the truth only resides in its habitat, Wetherill Towers. There is no truth outside the Towers so anything emanating from there can be safely and, from their point of view, honestly and morally ignored.
It sounds like there are parallels here with the crooks at Croydon Council deciding to appoint a mob with no experience is supplying bus shelters to replace all the bus shelters in Croydon ?! And look at the mess that that has caused.
“are not aware of any agreement”?
But Inside Croydon’s 27th May 2021 article states:
According to residents, “When Tesco were originally granted planning permission in 1987, there was a condition that they provided free parking for the public of up to three hours, to enable people to use other stores to shop in Purley, to attend the dentist, their doctors or hairdressers. This free element was regardless as to whether you went into the store or not.
“The Section 106 agreement, dated May 2000, reinforces that the previous planning applications – from 1994, 1998 and 1999 – that parking had to be free for the first three hours – so the public could park there for any other shopping in Purley.”
With car parking spaces being removed, to prevent Purley’s demise, the council must make it easier and safer for people to have alternative ways to travel to and through the town.
That means ending political opposition to gold standard protected cycle lanes, making it easy and safe for anyone to cycle along the entire length of the Brighton Road and main roads connecting to Purley Cross, and replacing token gestures and empty words about walking and cycling with urgent action to develop active travel.
Other boroughs in London are doing this successfully, alongside towns and cities across the world. Croydon is being left behind.
I am sure that any Council response will be that it is a “perfectly legal development”
Any new Government really needs to look at overseas untaxed investment vehicles being used to speculate and tax tax payers money in any way shape or form.
If the current legislative group in parliament are unable to act or will not then their is the ballot box to change that group.
I would suggest that message is given to both Councillors and MP of the south. That in an election year is the most powerfull tool to reign in Maverick representatives that put themselves and friends before their own conservative voting residents.
Time to wake up and smell the coffee. Public Administrations with perceived sleezy reputations and acts along with umteem judicial reviews and Ombudsmans decisions against them are getting a tad to high in this borough for any normal resident to stomach.
No matter ones politic’s Public bodies are the mainstay of our society – havng them fall into disrepute and perceived dodgy acts or legal manipulations and gaming of their own systems and processes is at best unhelpful for cohesion in community and at worst lends to events like what happened in 2011 but always to a societal disregard and distrust in anything they say even when it may be the truth.
Absolutely spot on. There is no confidence in the dodgy planning department. The trio (at least) of bad apples of Heather Cheesborough, Nicola Townsend and Ross Gentry have spoiled the barrel. They’ve been exposed over and over again on these pages and we’re still paying for it.