The increasing desperation of Jason Perry, Croydon’s Mayor, for some “good” news, any good news, to cling hold to halfway through his deliver-nothing term of office has been shown by the premature issuing of a developer-friendly press release last week, bigging up the latest 245-flat scheme proposed for the already overcrowded Purley town centre.
In the deep end: Mayor Perry has broken his promise on Purley Pool and he won’t answer questions about the shadowy BVI developers
The busy spin doctors in the propaganda bunker at Fisher’s Folly even came up with a wizard wheeze to disguise the huge scale of the residential development: there was no mention whatsoever of the 245 new homes proposed for the site of the Purley Leisure Centre in their press release last week.
They even tried to dress the scheme up as something else altogether, calling it the “Purley Pool planning application”.
Trouble is, one week on from the council misusing its press office to issue a bit of puffery for a shady firm of developers, and the detailed planning application is still not available on the council’s planning portal.
Which makes the council press office’s statement in the release that, “The planning application will now be subject to public consultation. Comments can be made on the council’s website,” to be entirely misleading.
Mayor Perry had promised that the planning application from developers Polaska, which has its parent company registered in the British Virgin Islands tax haven, would be submitted by the end of 2023.
So the application for what Perry has made a key part of his mayoralty is already three months late.
Broken promise: Perry thought he could reopen Purley Pool within a few months. When seeking election, there was no mention of a private development of 250 flats
Details about the developers behind the scheme remain shrouded in mystery. Polaska, Mayor Perry, the council and Croydon South MP Chris Philp have all refused to identify the directors behind the BVI parent company.
The development of the Purley Leisure Centre site into blocks of flats also represents a significant broken promise from Perry, whose only achievement since election has been to increase the borough’s Council Tax to record levels.
When seeking election as Mayor in 2022, Perry had promised to “start work to reopen Purley Pool immediately”. Perry and Croydon Tories claimed that their plans had “been fully costed and will come from unallocated community infrastructure levy monies and will not impact on any other services”.
It took just a couple of months for Perry’s piss-poor plans to fall apart.
Perry’s broken promises have been replaced by a money-spinning deal to build £100million-worth of retirement homes on the site, removing hundreds of parking bays from Purley town centre, but with a new pool and gym tacked on as a sweetener.
Now, the part-time Mayor (Perry remains as a director of a local building supplies firm) has resorted to misusing the council’s resources to big-up Polaska’s plans – when the council is supposed to be a quasi-judicial and independent planning authority reviewing the private developers’ proposals.
More flats: there was no mention of the number of homes proposed on the site in the council’s deliberately misleading press release
Polaska’s revised proposals are certain to be subject to careful scrutiny from residents’ associations and planners – when they finally do materialise on the council’s go-slow planning portal.
According to the over-eager council press release last week, Polaska’s plans will also be subject to approval from the Mayor of London’s planning experts.
Polaska’s first-draft proposals have already been subject to formal complaints to Croydon Council over an “unacceptable” loss of off-street parking likely through the demolition of the council’s car park.
Residents called for Perry to conduct “an immediate reassessment of your development strategy to prevent significant, damaging disruption”.
They said that, “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.
“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.”
In total, with other developments in the pipeline, including Polaska’s, Purley town centre could lose around 600 off-street parking spaces.
There was no mention of any loss of car parking spaces in the cheerleading press release issued by Perry’s council last week.
Mind you, there was barely any mention of the 250 new flats, either.
“Croydon Council has received a planning application from developers Polaska for a new leisure centre on the Purley Pool site and regeneration of the surrounding area,” they said.
“The council has been in discussions with Polaska, the long-term leaseholders, to bring forward their plans for the site.
“The planning application from Polaska includes a new leisure centre and a later living housing scheme, with a new public square with improved access from the station to High Street to help regenerate the town centre and boost the local economy,” the council claimed, making the developers’ case for them.
Deceptive: the council has abused its position by promoting a private developers’ scheme
“The leisure centre plans include a 25metre six-lane main pool, training pool, 80-space gym, fitness suite and studio space, as well as a changing places WC and a café.” Which sounds nice enough. No mention of the 250-flat retirement home coming with it, though…
“The application will now be considered by the council as the local planning authority and the Greater London Authority as a referable application,” the council said.
“I pledged to bring a pool back to the heart of Purley and this is a welcome step towards making that happen,” Perry dissembled.
“The council has been working with Polaska on their proposals for the site because we want to make sure that the development benefits the whole community. I know that Purley Pool has been much missed by residents and a new leisure centre will help make it easier for local people of all ages to enjoy healthy, active lifestyles.
“The plans also include a later living scheme and a new public space, helping to increase footfall in our town centre and provide a boost for local businesses.”
But included in the quotes from Perry was an unusual air of caution. Has even Perry spotted something not-quite-right about the Polaska scheme?
“While this is a welcome step, there is still a long way to go – we need to make sure that the proposals are right,” said Perry, after having already compromised the council’s objectivity by allowing this press release to be issued.
“The council will carefully consider the planning application from Polaska, and our focus will be fixed on delivering a facility that benefits everyone in the area.”
According to the council’s press release, the planning application does include some car parking. The people of Purley, and of Croydon, will just have to wait until the council gets round to posting the application on its official planning portal to discover exactly how many spaces the developers have decided to include.
Read more: Residents ‘deeply concerned’ over developers’ parking claims
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
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