Grove development: how Sutton Council’s planners imagine the new Elm Grove might look
The senior council director who helped set up Croydon’s doomed housing company is now behind borrowing £26.4m towards 290 homes in Sutton town centre, reports CARL SHILTON
Sutton Council is to quadruple the number of homes on its town centre housing estate at Elm Grove, after appointing Lovell as its development partner for its latest regeneration scheme.
Using the site on the one-way system opposite Asda, the plan is to replace the estate’s 73 houses with 290 homes, mostly flats, of which 50% are to be “affordable”.
Elm Grove is just one part of a £100million regeneration of Sutton town centre, all being overseen for the council by Richard Simpson, the “strategic director of resources”. Until he abruptly left a similar post at Croydon Council in 2018, Simpson had been a key figure behind the shambles that was Brick by Brick and the fiasco of the Fairfield Halls redevelopment.
Elm Grove residents voted in favour of the redevelopment in March 2022, with the council promising replacement homes for residents who wanted them. Work is expected to start on-site in May 2025, after Simpson secured £26.4million in affordable homes funding from the Greater London Authority to proceed with the project.
Beech Tree balls-up: Sutton’s finance director Richard Simpson
Less certain is the future for the construction of 92 flats at Beech Tree Place.
Real LSE, Sutton Council’s chosen developers for that scheme, went into administration in September 2023, adding millions to the rising costs of the development, while leaving dozens of elderly residents in temporary accommodation.
Elm Grove was built in the 1970s and residents have had long-standing issues with anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping, the lack of lifts and green space, as well as overcrowding.
LibDem councillor Jake Short, chair of Sutton’s housing, economy and business committee, may have had the procurement blunders around Beech Tree Place on his mind when he said of Elm Grove: “The selection of an experienced development partner means our goal to deliver incredible homes and open spaces for Elm Grove residents can now move to the next stage.”
Ear-marked for demolition: Elm Grove’s 1970s-built council estate
Lovell is a subsidiary of Morgan Sindall.
One-, two- and three-bedroom units will be built to “high sustainability standards” and all residents will have access to a private balcony or garden, as well as to new communal courtyards and play space.
The new development also promises “public realm improvements”, such as more trees, lighting, planting, and new routes for better connectivity.
The scheme will be located next to another key council project at what the council grandiosely calls Sutton’s “Northern Gateway”, which aims to provide new high street premises in the historic White Building for Sutton College.
These projects form part of Sutton Council’s plan to transform the town centre. Other initiatives include opening a co-working and well-being space and replacing a former nightclub venue with a cinema.
Read more: Simpson and the Sutton similarities over £100m property loan
Read more: Council’s stalled housing development could cost £50m-plus
Read more: #PennReport: Cover-ups and denial over Brick by Brick failure
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