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Category Archives: Planning
Developers given free rein from a council with no controls
Many Croydon residents feel ill-served by the council’s developer-friendly planning department while being ignored by the Town Hall’s somnolent planning enforcement team. Here, STEVE WHITESIDE examines a case in Sanderstead where developers have been given virtual free rein as the … Continue reading
Job cuts see council’s business close to breaking point
CROYDON IN CRISIS: So many staff have been made redundant at Fisher’s Folly that they now don’t have time even to draft meeting minutes of the Town Hall’s £1.5bn pension fund. By STEVEN DOWNES When the council’s planning committee convened … Continue reading
#Macarnage: Not a single ‘affordable’ home from Coulsdon plot
Next in the firing line for Macar Developments is a beautiful Arts and Crafts house on Coulsdon Court Road, which the developers want to destroy and replace with six small terraced houses. The architecturally significant house was built as part … Continue reading
Government-appointed advisers pulled plug on BxB sale
CROYDON IN CRISIS: ‘Improvement Panel’ ordered council to abandon its poor-value deal to sell Brick by Brick, and instead to pay Wates Construction £1.12m to oversee the loss-making builders’ work on 23 sites. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Hamida Ali, the … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Buss, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Planning, Tony McArdle
Tagged Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Improvement Panel, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, MHCLG, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Phil Brookes, Tony McArdle
11 Comments
‘Apologetic Ali’ fails once again as BxB sends in the builders
Council leader tells community meeting she is powerless to act against the council-owned development company, as New Addington residents’ five-year campaign to save a communal space comes to a sad end. By STEVEN DOWNES Not for the first time, Croydon … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Louisa Woodley, New Addington, Oliver Lewis, Planning, Sarah Jones MP, Scott Ainsworth-Payne
Tagged Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Labour, Louisa Woodley, New Addington, Oliver Lewis, Warbank Crescent
6 Comments
Council abandons its £100m discount sale of Brick by Brick
A deal to off-load the loss-making housing firm at a massive loss to tax-payers has been dropped. By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Council has been forced to abandon plans to flog-off loss-making builders Brick by Brick. The council’s interim head of … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Buss, Colm Lacey, Hamida Ali, Planning
Tagged Brick by Brick, Chris Buss, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Tony McArdle
8 Comments
Massive 247-flat scheme proposed for Purley Station site
Developers with ties to the Croydon Establishment move in on suburban town centre with a proposal for five blocks of flats that would cover the pitch at Wembley Stadium three times over Purley town centre, already the site of dozens … Continue reading
Posted in Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Purley
Tagged Croydon Business Awards, Purley, Purley Station, Regent Land and Developments, White Label
9 Comments
Feeble planners allow builders to get away with (tree) murder
The council’s “light-touch” planning enforcement officials appear set to allow another piece of egregious eco-vandalism occur, this time with the wanton destruction of a mature yew tree likely to be more than 100 years old. The tree, on the junction … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, HADRA, Planning, Purley, Wildlife
Tagged Croydon Council, HADRA, Hartley and District Residents' Association, Planning enforcement, Purley
20 Comments
After eight-year wait, Taberner House flats near completion
A housing project which even Tony Newman and his numpties refused to entrust to Brick by Brick is finally nearing completion after an eight-year development saga. By our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES Eight years since the council moved out of … Continue reading
Three ex-pubs are put up for sale as developers get cold feet
Community group has six weeks to find at least £1m to buy a once-successful East Croydon boozer, as owners abandon plans to build flats Three former pubs have been put up for sale, as firms of developers appear set to … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Community associations, Housing, Maria Gatland, Planning, Property, Pubs, Shirley, South Croydon
Tagged Addiscombe, Cherry Orchard Road, Croham, Croydon Council, Save The Glamorgan Campaign, Shirley, South Croydon, The Glamorgan, The Sandrock, The View
6 Comments
Director refuses to admit conflict of interest over South Drive
A council director has told residents that there is nothing wrong whatsoever in a member of her planning staff providing pre-application advice to a developer, and then leaving their job at the council to work for the architects hired by … Continue reading
Reed rails against Tory plans, as his mates flog off public park
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council pushes on with its plans to sell off part of Grangewood Park, a ‘quiet secluded oasis in the heart of a busy local area’, while Blairite MP does nothing to oppose. By STEVEN DOWNES As Steve … Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Croydon parks, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, Friends of Grangewood Park, Planning, Steve Reed MP, Thornton Heath, Thornton Heath Community Action Team
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Grangewood Park, Steve Reed OBE, Thornton Heath
1 Comment
Fitzpatrick rallies Addiscombe residents to object to 5G mast
An Addiscombe councillor has stepped in to try to protect the local environment by demanding “Not In Our Back Yard” over proposals to build a massive 5G telecommunications mast on a patch of public green space. Jerry Fitzpatrick, the veteran … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Planning
Tagged Addiscombe West, Cornerstone, Jerry Fitzpatrick
2 Comments
#Macarnage: Planning officer’s ‘leaving present’ to Coulsdon
EXCLUSIVE: The revolving door between the council planning department and private developers and architects is exposed over a scheme for 39 flats in Coulsdon. By STEVEN DOWNES Before Jan Slominski was hired as a senior planning adviser for the architects … Continue reading
Coulsdon concern as planning’s husband and wife act returns
Coulsdon residents are expressing grave concerns about serious potential conflicts of interest in the council’s planning department and proposals to build two massive blocks of flats in a quiet, tree-lined residential cul-de-sac. The developers at the centre of the latest … Continue reading
Posted in Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Housing, Planning
Tagged Coulsdon, Croydon, Croydon Council, HTA Design, Jan Slominski, Macar Developments, Natalie Gentry, Paul Scott, Purley, Ross Gentry
6 Comments
Tesco plan to use CCTV to remove free parking at Purley
Residents in Purley, Sanderstead, Kenley and beyond are asking for their neighbours to join with them in posting objections on the council’s online planning portal to Tesco’s application for permission to instal two ANPRs – automatic number plate recognition cameras … Continue reading
Developers’ Purley Way report is ‘bunkum’ says councillor
Just because Paul Scott has been kicked off the planning committee doesn’t mean that inappropriate development schemes have suddenly stopped being presented to the council. And a 12-storey block next to the Wing Yip Chinese superstore on the Purley Way … Continue reading
Posted in Planning, Purley Way, Robert Canning, TfL, Transport, Waddon
Tagged Labour, Purley Way, Robert Canning, Stonegate Homes, Waddon, Wing Yip
2 Comments
Scott in power cut as he is ‘purged’ from planning committee
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The best mate of discredited council leader Tony Newman spent seven years dominating and domineering the planning committee – and never once did he declare an interest over colleague architects or Brick by Brick. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Jo Negrini, London-wide issues, Paul Scott, Planning, Toni Letts, Tony Newman
Tagged Alison Butler, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, DEMOC, Hamida Ali, Jason Perry, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Paul Scott, Planning Committee, Toni Letts, Tony Newman, Tory
14 Comments
BxB’s collapse was predictable. Why did no one else notice?
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It did not take a couple of £800-a-day consultants to spot that Brick by Brick was dragging the council into financial ruin. Reader NICHOLAS PANES’s first piece for this website, the presciently headlined “Building towards the council’s … Continue reading
Design a beer mat – and play your part in saving an old pub
One Croydon pub that definitely won’t be opening next week, or any time soon, is The Glamorgan on Cherry Orchard Road. But campaigners want to highlight the building’s plight and win over more support for its eventual reopening as a … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Community associations, Planning, Pubs
Tagged #SavetheGlam, Save The Glamorgan Campaign, The Glamorgan
1 Comment
MP tells developers they could rebuild Downsview bungalow
Croydon North MP Steve Reed has written to a firm of property developers demanding that they cease immediately all work on a new block of flats on a residential street in Upper Norwood, threatening them that they may need to … Continue reading
Brick by Brick’s delayed accounts show another £0.8m loss
Report states ‘material uncertainty in respect of going concern’ Fairfield Halls project costs soar to £76.4m New directors find many BxB properties over-valued Auditors ‘unable to determine whether adequate accounting records have been kept’ With just a few hours to … Continue reading
Developers in legal challenge over Upper Norwood plans
Residents of a road of 1920s-built bungalows and cottages in Upper Norwood who fear that their cherished neighbourhood is about to be destroyed have called in their MP and hired lawyers to fight against profit-hungry property speculators, and the local … Continue reading
Labour councillors ‘shocked and appalled’ at incinerator link
Claims made in an official consultation that power supplied from an ‘energy-from-waste’ plant is ‘clean’ are ‘patently untrue’, according to a letter from Waddon’s elected representatives Three councillors have written a stinging criticism of a council-run “consultation”, saying that they … Continue reading
Council is sitting on £22.5m in unspent infrastructure levies
While Croydon proposes closing public libraries, is withdrawing vital support from community centres and is making local sports clubs homeless, the bankrupt council is sitting on £22.5million of unused development levies. Community Infrastructure Levy, or CILs, and Section 106 contributions … Continue reading
