CROYDON IN CRISIS: After being crushed by developer blight for more than a decade, the town centre faces an even longer wait for the big reveal of Paris-based multi-national’s latest proposals. By STEVEN DOWNES
Long wait: Westfield’s promised supermall never got off the drawing board of multi-national developers and ‘regeneration practitioners’
It could be more than a year before Westfield finally gets around to unveiling its long-promised “masterplan” for Croydon town centre – more than two years later than first promised and more than a decade since the multi-national shopping centre developers first promised a £1.4billion regeneration for the area.
That’s according to the most recent announcement from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, issued this morning about its latest lip-service exercise, a public consultation for its redevelopment plans for the Whitgift Centre and Centrale.
It was 2012 when Westfield were first unveiled as prospective developers, with what was then a pretty conventional, 20th Century-style mixed development of retail, hospitality and some residential. It was all due to be completed by 2017.
Exciting!: but don’t hold your breath…
Planning applications were submitted, and duly rubber-stamped by the pliant local council, in 2014 and 2018 (when Westfield wanted to double the number of flats in its scheme, to almost 1,000). But never was a brick laid nor a spade dug into the ground, despite costly public inquiries and Compulsory Purchase Order exercises.
Paris-based URW pulled the plug on its Croydon plans early in the pandemic, only to return to the borough promising a new blueprint in 2023. That promise included the troubling caveat that any scheme would probably not be finished until 2038.
Now, even that is beginning to look optimistic, as URW are going on a go-slow that makes the building of the Sagrada Familia appear slick and speedy. At the current rate of progress, HS2 will have long been completed, and all the way to Manchester, by the time this lot get round to delivering on their promises.
In an announcement about their public consultation on the plans, URW said today: “This initial phase… closes on Friday 29 November and is the start of a year-long programme of engagement to help shape the plans before planning application is submitted”. Our italics. This suggests nothing formal will be brought forward before December 2025.
This is no matter of interpretation. Elsewhere in URW’s public offerings they state: “This Masterplan Framework has been prepared by URW in collaboration with Croydon Council to establish the fundamentals of the project before the design and planning application is developed…
“This initial phase… is the first of a series of public consultation activities on the Masterplan which will run throughout 2025, helping to shape the plans before a planning application is submitted.” Again, our italics. Which sounds as if there won’t be a revised planning application next year, now, either.
But at least URW does have their own, swanky name for Croydon’s town centre, which the sharp-suited execs have decided to call “the North End Quarter”.
“URW ownership includes the Whitgift Centre, Allders and Centrale, which make up the larger portion of the North End Quarter, as defined by Croydon Council’s emerging local plan. We are pleased to be working in collaboration with the Whitgift Foundation, as freeholder of much of our ownership to the East of North End,” today’s announcement stated.
“Since consolidating our ownership, we have been supporting the ongoing operations of the shopping centres, working with community groups, Croydon Council and the BID to bring meanwhile use and activations to the town centre.”
This is the same “Scrooge” business that has blocked a Croydon community choir from singing carols in the Whitgift Centre to raise funds for local charities. And it is the same business that has hiked car parking charges while closing the Allders car park – against the wishes of their own tenants. That must be what they mean by “working with community groups”.
They say: “We have now begun the next step in the journey preparing an initial ‘Masterplan Framework’ for public consultation.
“The Masterplan Framework is a tool for discussion and consensus; and a roadmap for change, addressing the challenges of the past and embracing the opportunities of the future. This consultation is an opportunity to explore the draft framework and share your thoughts.”
All change: a decade ago, most of this was going to be redeveloped into retail. Residential development is likely to figure more prominently in any new plan
They might save us all a bit of time and themselves a bit of money if they ever bothered dusting off the “thoughts” from the previous occasions they ran similar exercises, and then largely ignored them.
“The Masterplan Framework is designed to guide the transformation of the entire… area. This comprehensive approach will ensure a cohesive vision and a well-integrated development that benefits the whole community.” Promises, promises…
They are using some of the many vacant retail units in the Whitgift Centre for the purpose, what they call the Urban Room (units 161-162, Whitgift Centre, Croydon CR0 1UQ), with a launch on Tuesday November 12, “alongside an online survey, with further opportunities to engage over the coming months including a Next Gen Youth Panel and Community Workshops”.
This “phase” of the public consultation lasts less than a month, which given that Westfield have been keeping the people of Croydon waiting for more than 12 years, might appear a little on the abrupt side.
In common with so many lip-service consultations and public engagements, the limited opening times suggest that the organisers have no conception about what passes for normal working hours. Or maybe that is quite deliberate.
The Urban Room will be open Tue Nov 12 November from 2pm to 7.30pm; Thu Nov 14 (10am–1pm); Sat Nov 16 (10am–1pm); Tue Nov 19 (10am–1pm); and Thu November 21 (2pm–7.30pm).
URW says that there are more details on their website, URWCroydon.com, but we’ve looked, and there really isn’t. Westfield appear to want to keep us waiting (again) until next month.
- Inside Croydon invites all our readers to contact us with their thoughts, ideas and suggestions about how they believe Croydon town centre can be regenerated successfully, and what they make of Westfield’s own proposals. Just email us at inside.croydon@btinternet.com, with “WESTFIELD” in the subject field, and we will sift through and publish the most interesting and inspired submissions.
Read more: Perry allows Westfield to spend £6m ‘fine’ on own interests
Read more: Planning and tax changes might suit delayed Westfield scheme
Read more: Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
Read more: Westfield scale down plans, leaving Croydon a ‘dead duckling’
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