BARRATT HOLMES, our correspondent covering shadowy-developers-based-in-off-shore-tax-havens, on the dearth of information around the massive retirement homes scheme proposed for Purley
Lovely CGI: but is a swimming pool a decent trade-off for 220 flats of which not one would be ‘affordable’?
Mystery surrounds the status of the planning application to build a vast block of more than 200 retirement homes on the site of the Purley Pool, a multi-million-pound money-spinning scheme that has the eager backing of Tory Mayor Jason Perry and Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South.
Little has been heard of the proposals for almost six months, with a planning deadline now fast approaching.
Croydon Tories in the south of the borough have been busy threatening residents’ associations who dare even whisper any reasonably-held reservations about the scheme, which the developers, Polaska, who have shady offshore ownership in the Virgin Islands tax haven, and Perry and Philp want everyone to focus on the “free” provision of a public pool and gym, while ignoring the many downsides for locals to this huge development.
Volunteers at the RAs have highlighted the loss of virtually all of Purley’s town centre parking, with the demolition of the multi-storey car park next to the long-vacant supermarket and unrepairable council-owned swimming pool, to make way for those money-spinning flats for the elderly.
Piss-poor Perry made it one of his election pledges in 2022 to re-open Purley Pool, when he suggested that it would cost the council less than £3million to carry out the necessary upgrades and repairs. Perry was either lying, or didn’t know what he was talking about, as exposed by detailed and specialist surveys of the state of the pool.
A video released on the day before the General Election by LibDem candidate for Croydon South, Major Richard Howard, outlined in some detail the shady nature of the massive property deal being pushed through by Perry’s council.
In an unprecedented move, seven local residents’ associations banded together to submit lengthy and carefully considered objections to the scheme, highlighting the inaccuracies, inexactitudes and blatant lies contained within the planning application.
The objectors viewed the application for what it is: an attempt by profit-hungry developers to get around planning regulations over affordable housing by fobbing off Croydon with a “free” swimming pool and leisure centre.
One of the significant concerns about the viability of the deal was not only that the company behind it, Polaska Assets Ltd, was ultimately owned by a company based in the British Virgin Islands, but that neither Perry nor Philp, nor any of the others in the Tory Glee Club supporting the proposals, would come clean about naming the ultimate beneficial owners of the business.
Nor could they point to any other developments, even of a minor scale, that Polaska Assets Ltd had ever managed to deliver successfully.
Nor could anyone at the council explain how they could support a scheme for 220 “later living apartments” that goes against planning policies for London and Croydon.
By mid-summer, such has been the public push-back against the scheme, that Polaska started paying for advertisements on social media which asks locals to support their multi-million-pound scheme.
Questions this week to senior Conservatives at the Town Hall about what is happening with the Purley Pool scheme were met with a snippy: “Polaska is with planning.”
But for how much longer?
Broken promise: Mayor Jason Perry has not reopened Purley Pool. But he is very supportive of a high-profit development for the site
Polaska submitted its (seriously flawed) planning application on March 4 this year. All the deadlines for consultations have come and gone.
Since then, the application has attracted more than 1,200 public comments, and especially high response rate. And mostly critical and objecting.
The “determination deadline”, the date by when the council’s planning department, and the planning committee, is supposed to have reached a decision was June 14.
But nothing… Nada… Zilch…
The next seemingly significant date according to the council’s own planning portal is the “agreed expiry date”, which is listed as Thursday October 31.
An agreed expiry date is a new deadline for issuing a decision on a planning application that has been agreed upon by the applicant and the planning authority. Online sources suggest: “The agreed expiry date allows the applicant to resolve any outstanding issues and provides a clear timescale for the application’s determination.”
Yet there are no more meetings of the planning committee scheduled for this month.
Is Mayor Perry going to push through this giant 220-flat scheme in Purley town centre without the planning committee getting to have any say? Or has Perry’s plan for the Purley Pool fallen through?
After all, there’s been no noticeable change in Polaska’s trading status: it remains a dormant company, and hardly one that looks likely to be able to deliver a development of £70million-worth of “later living” flats.
Read more: Panicked Purley Pool developer in appeal for public support
Read more: Residents’ groups reject Purley ‘pool’ plan backed by Perry
Read more: Tories warn residents: don’t dare complain about Purley pool
Read more: Council backs Purley Pool tax dodge by off-shore company
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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
Same old council, doing same old shite. It’s not got any better and unlikely to anytime soon. Red or blue they are all the same only thing they can do consistently well is blame each other
The planning department has no credibility. Heather ‘I lied about my qualifications’ Cheesbrough has seen to that. She has overseen a culture where planning applications filled with ‘inaccuracies, inexactitudes and blatant lies’ are tacitly endorsed if not actively encouraged.
Planners moving between the council and the developers and architects they have supported with no cooling off period is disgraceful. There will never be trust in the process or the department while she continues to hang around like a bad smell.
If it doesn’t happen, I bet Perry will say it was the only viable option and blame the failure on local opposition. He’ll take no responsibility himself and say he did everything he could.
The Council is currently sitting on over £17million in unspent Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and has the underlease from Polaska for another 90 years. Therefore, the Council could afford to refurbish and reopen it (like Perry actually promised) if they choose to. They’re just choosing not to.