CROYDON IN CRISIS: Glacially slow progress, more delays and a secretive land deal to flog-off council-owned car parks to multi-national developers are buried in an official report. By KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter
Decline and fall: Westfield’s delays over the Whitgift Centre have had a serious impact on the town centre
The council’s propaganda department’s devious approach to information and only fleeting acquaintance with the truth has been laid bare yet again with issuing of its latest press release under a heading: “North End to get over £6m investment as part of town centre regeneration”.
The reality, as always, is somewhat different, as the council attempts to dress up the spending of £6million raised by fining Westfield for the non-delivery of the promised supermall in the town centre .
The fine – or “remedy payment”, as it is described in official council reports ahead of tomorrow night’s cabinet meeting – was triggered when Westfield, now part of the Paris-based Unibail Rodamco Westfield, had failed to deliver on its promises after 10 years.
Croydon Mayor Jason Perry triggered the index-linked £4million fine in January 2023 – a full 18 months ago. Perry and his dynamic council officials are only now getting round to actioning the use of the money.
The Westfield “penalty” has got to be unusual, even by Croydon’s slack standards for enforcement, in that it is being used to tart up or enhance the offenders’ own properties and business interests.
Wastefield: The people of Bradford eventually woke up to the erosive nature of Westfield’s development plans – unlike most in Croydon
Even so, it makes the claim made by Porkie-pie Perry’s council that this is in some way a “£6m investment as part of the town centre regeneration” stretching the truth beyond breaking point.
The fine was part of the council’s Indemnity Land Transfer Arrangement, an agreement dating back more than a decade, supposedly to protect Croydon from any delaying tactics by the developers.
By flagging this matter up now, more than halfway through his term as elected Mayor, piss-poor Perry has inadvertently highlighted how little he has achieved over the long-running saga of the Westfield development blight. And the matter emphasises yet again how powerless Perry and the council really are.
The cabinet papers state: “This report is an update to the 25th January 2023 cabinet report in relation to the ILTA remedy and works, following the non-delivery of the redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre within the specified timeframe.” Note that: “non-delivery” and “specified timeframe“.
“The report describes how, the revised Indemnity Land Transfer Arrangement (ILTA) will, through the proposed allocations of the remedy payment, make a valuable contribution to the current and future regeneration of the town centre.”
URW were supposed to submit a “masterplan” for the area in 2023, their third (following planning applications in 2014 and 2018). They delayed that, and said that the blueprint for the scheme would be revealed in early 2025. Now, it emerges, “early” 2025 means not until April. There is the promise of some public consultation on the outline masterplan this autumn (inevitably, to be staged in one of the many vacant units in the Whitgift Centre).
Senior Westfield officials have admitted publicly that a project that was supposed to have been completed by 2017 very probably will not be finished until 2038. At the earliest, if we’re lucky…
Hard hat: Westfield COO Scott Parsons said last year that the Croydon scheme would take 15 years
The Westfield fine money is being used, in part, to pay for the alterations of the ground floor of Allders and those seven “kiosks” – the first retail activity in the old department store building since 2019, when the council sent in the bailiffs to remove dozens of small businesses, all done at the behest of Westfield.
According to the council’s professional propagandists, “The upcoming changes will focus on improving safety, security and cleaning.”
Among other measures proposed is the removal of the Wellesley Road pedestrian subway, replacing it with a surface-level crossing.
The council announcement states: “The regeneration of the town centre is a priority for Executive Mayor Jason Perry…”, so much so that it has taken him 18 months to get to this point.
“Mayor Perry has been working closely with URW to bring forward the redevelopment of the Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres and secure much-needed improvements for everyone who lives, works and visits the town centre.” Which is nice.
The package of measures, which the council says “with the application of indexation, the remedy payment is now in excess of £6million”, has not yet been fully agreed and signed off by URW. Yes, the culprits get to sign-off on how their fine is spent.
The measures are “to be delivered through a combination of development activities and funding payments to the council, to compensate for the delay in the planned redevelopment of the shopping centre”. Ahhh, at last: a glimmer of honesty.
According to the council “The areas of focus” are:
North End activities – “pop-ups, installations and performances to create a vibrant and varied shopping and leisure experience in the town centre and help to reduce antisocial behaviour”. Sounds very much like more artwashing. all of which will benefit URW’s business interests, as the operators of the Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres on North End.
Planning docs: Westfield submitted a planning application for kiosks in the old Allders building in July. Planning permission was granted by our pusillanimous council in August
Allders – “URW will revitalise elements of Croydon’s historic department store with new food offers and shops for the community on the ground floor”. Seven kiosks. Principal beneficiaries: URW.
Safety, security and cleaning – “a programme of initiatives aimed at reducing crime and antisocial behaviour”. More private security firm bounty hunters to patrol our streets perhaps?
Public engagement – “the lease of the space in the Whitgift Centre to Croydon Urban Room, a hub for exhibitions, workshops and events all about the town centre regeneration”. So URW are now including the use of one of their very many empty units as part of their fine “payment”.
Connectivity – “a contribution towards the design and build of a level crossing across Wellesley Road, near Lansdowne Road and the closure of the subway in this location”.
And the council press release states: “URW are currently developing their masterplan framework for the area of land they own in the town centre, ahead of the submission of a new major planning application. It is anticipated that this will include a wide range of uses such as retail, restaurants, commercial and leisure, as well as new homes.” Those final five words could yet prove to be most significant.
In the cabinet report, written by the soon-to-depart “corporate director of sustainable communities, regeneration and economic recovery”, Nick Hibberd: “The delay in the redevelopment of the Whitgift, which had already impacted the viability and vitality of the town centre, was further exacerbated by the pandemic and this has resulted in notable vacancies and a declining retail offer.”
Some reports suggest that there could now be as many as 50 vacant units in the Whitgift Centre alone. The lack of any business rates, and declining income from these and other businesses over the past 12 years, is one of the reasons that Croydon Council is skint.
“The current perception of the town centre’s safety and security with its degraded environment and tired public realm is a major deterrent to investment and its ability to host a thriving night-time economy, with a diverse food, beverage and leisure offer.” Which is a reasonable summation of the impact of 12 years of development blight inflicted by Westfield.
Calling the tune: Westfield’s Scott Parsons (centre) and Adam Smith (right) have had meetings with Mayor Perry. It is clear who is getting the best deal out of this £6m ‘fine’
The council report describes the proposals as an “improved package of remedy measures” which are “more closely aligned to current conditions in the town centre and its immediate needs”. Regular talks, the report says, between Perry and URW execs have “fostered a collaborative approach to problem-solving and allowed a much greater appreciation of each party’s priorities and drivers”.
That hardly sounds as if the Mayor has been banging the negotiating table on behalf of the interests of Croydon’s businesses and residents, but more like pusillanimous Perry has been giving Westfield the kid-glove treatment. Perhaps there’s a massive plastic guttering contract at stake?
“In current conditions, physical improvement works to North End are not considered by officers [meaning council staff] (or CLP) [meaning the Croydon Limited Partnership, which since Hammerson were bought out by Westfield, barely exists in that form] to be the most pressing need or most effective means of seeking to reinvigorate Croydon town centre or make best use of the remedy resources,” the council report states.
“In order to mitigate the impact of non-delivery of the former schemes, there is a need to preserve and enhance the wider town centre so far as practicable, pending any substantial redevelopment coming forward.” In other words, this is a £6million sticking plaster.
No through road: the old Allders car park was closed in June. Now Westfield want the council to sell it to them
Buried in the document is a move by Westfield for a “conditional land sale” that would “support the redevelopment of the whole Whitgift Centre”. The council-owned land that Westfield want are the “freehold interest in the Allders Car Park”, “leasehold interest in the Whitgift Car Park”, “freehold interest in the subsoil of a small area of land in Poplar Walk”, and “freehold interest in the subsoil of part of Dingwall Avenue”.
All the hard details of these potential sales are hidden away in a secretive Part B report, on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.
Not that any land deal will ever be subject to much in the way of public scrutiny or councillor debate. “The parties are in the course of negotiating terms for a conditional land sale agreement (“CLSA”) but those negotiations are not yet complete. As such, delegated authority is sought for officers [that is, council staff] to complete the negotiations and enter into an agreement, which includes satisfactory terms and protections for the council.”
Given the council’s performance over secretive land deals in the recent past, this might strike some as not an altogether wise thing.
In Perryworld, meanwhile, everything’s just fine and dandy.
“This £6million of funding from the council’s agreement with URW,” Mayor Perry dissembled, avoiding the use of the word “fine”, “will bring immediate improvements to North End, whilst we work with them to shape the longer term plans for the town centre that will make it a vibrant, successful place of which we can all be proud.”
So the same kind of lame “jam tomorrow” promises that Perry has been spouting since 2012, when he was the council cabinet member for regeneration who oversaw the arrival of Westfield in Croydon.
Read more: Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
Read more: ‘Too little, too late’: Residents underwhelmed by Mayor’s stunt
Read more: Westfield scale down plans, leaving Croydon a ‘dead duckling’
Read more: Mary Portas, Westfield, Bradford and a £1bn hole in the ground
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