Category Archives: Planning
‘Let us be free from this hellhole’: Fold tenants issue demands
EXCLUSIVE: Residents in one of Croydon’s tallest buildings are becoming increasingly angry and militant over their treatment by their multi-billion-pound landlords. By STEVEN DOWNES The owners of The Fold, the 35-storey residential tower in Queen’s Gardens, have been given a … Continue reading
UnFolding story: residents’ meeting is moved as concerns rise
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Fire safety inspectors from the London Fire Brigade were on site this morning at The Fold, the 35-storey tower block close to Croydon Town Hall, where residents fear for their well-being because of poor-quality finishes to … Continue reading
The Fold folds: Hundreds of tenants given six months to leave
EXCLUSIVE: Croydon faces another housing crisis as poor build quality on four blocks built alongside the Town Hall is forcing the owners to carry out extensive works. By STEVEN DOWNES Residents living in Croydon’s fourth-tallest building, 35-storey The Fold, on … Continue reading
From ‘last orders’ to holy orders: pub in change of use scheme
Our south of the borough correspondent, SANDRA STEAD, looks into one of the more bizarre planning application received by the council, even by Croydon standards “Sins downstairs, forgiveness upstairs.” That was the shrewd assessment of one local when they heard … Continue reading
‘Once they’re gone, they’re gone’: Corbyn digs in on allotments
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, has criticised the government’s move to relax restrictions on local councils to allow them to sell allotments to house-builders. Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for housing, has recently given her permission for … Continue reading
Council facing High Court challenge over ‘No Access Croydon’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Public Interest Law Centre is bringing a Judicial Review against the council claiming it is failing to meet its statutory responsibilities and is acting in a discriminatory manner EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Tory Mayor Jason Perry … Continue reading
Sutton fear ‘Croydonisation’ as developers chalk up extra flats
Profit-hungry developers have been given permission to build more than 1,000 flats in Chalk Gardens, the town centre site of the former B&Q store It seems that 970 flats in one of the biggest residential developments in Sutton, at something … Continue reading
How chief Nimby Philp built in Tories’ own Purley backyard
BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on what is undoubtedly, even by Croydon’s low standards, the most egregious example of ‘do as we say, not as we do’ from our politicians Croydon residents living south of the Flyover, whether they are in … Continue reading
Only 20% ‘affordable’ in 676 flats proposed for College Green
Housing correspondent BARRATT HOLMES on the latest proposals for huge towers providing expensive flats and situated close to East Croydon Station The site next to the Fairfield Halls and Croydon College, once owned by Croydon Council through its failed house-building … Continue reading
Perry’s poor waffle performance shows who is really in charge
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The borough’s £82,000 per year executive Mayor gave up a morning of his valuable time to help a property PR firm boost the flagging credibility of Westfield’s town centre proposals. And there among the breakfast croissants and … Continue reading
Surrey, Lambeth and Bromley beat Croydon as rotten boroughs
Based on official Ombudsman figures, our council remains among the most complained about in England. But might there be a glimmer of improvement in the figures, or has our borough just been overtaken for rotteness by others? EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN … Continue reading
Another Croydon mugging as Westfield stages latest charade
There’s a public consultation about the long-delayed Westfield redevelopment of the town centre. Yes, another one. But there’s no promises of when any work will actually begin, or end. By STEVEN DOWNES After decades of broken promises and inflicting development … Continue reading
Upper Norwood neighbours win 5-year battle with developer
After a five-year battle against a deep-pocketed developer, aided and abetted by Croydon Council’s planning department, residents on Downsview Road in Upper Norwood have claimed victory in the High Court. But they now face financial ruin because of the huge … Continue reading
Westfield’s non-denial denials can’t mask their investment plan
More than 48 hours after trade magazine Property Week reported what Westfield had been briefing their investors about the possibility of them selling off their interests in Croydon, and there’s been not a peep from the Paris head office of … Continue reading
Westfield looking for ‘bargain basement’ sale of Croydon site
Respected trade magazine Property Week is reporting that after almost 14 years of inflicting development blight on Croydon town centre, without ever laying a single brick, Westfield could be about to flog off their interests in south London once and … Continue reading
£1,000 per day ‘Interim Adam’ was Kerswell’s personal pick
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Residents are stung twice for recruitment costs of head of planning, at a crucial time for Westfield development and review of London and Local Plans. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Adam Wilkinson was handed the position as Croydon’s … Continue reading
‘Scandalous’ planners condemn Coulsdon’s chippy to closure
Croydon’s planners have condemned Glade Fisheries, a long-cherished Old Coulsdon business, to its doom without a peep from the local councillors or Mayor Jason Perry. In March, KJC Architects applied to the council on behalf of the property’s landlord to … Continue reading
Crisis for Perry as Interim Adam resigns council planning job
KERSWELL’S CHAOTIC COUNCIL: A journeyman council director notorious for charging fees of £1,000 per day and taking massive pay-offs has quit as Croydon’s head of planning, following an investigation by this website. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Adam Wilkinson, the journeyman … Continue reading
Interim Adam gets council job as HMRC winds up his company
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s most recently appointed planning director was given the role while a company where he was sole director was being wound up in the High Court, an iC investigation has found. EXCLUSIVE by KEN LEE, Town … Continue reading
Owner Ansari seeks to avoid Leslie Arms planning conditions
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Since 2000, a multi-millionaire property developer has been allowing a Grade II-listed pub to decay. Now, he wants to change the conditions of his latest planning permission. KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter, on the sorry tale of … Continue reading
The sorry 25-year chronology of a once great Addiscombe pub
LESLIE ARMS TIMELINE Since 2020, the owner of the Grade II-listed Leslie Arms on Lower Addiscombe Road has submitted 13 separate planning applications for the building – 14 if you include his 2009 appeal against a refusal of a planning … Continue reading
‘It has to be’: Westfield scheme needs millions of public money
UNDER THE FLYOVER: In our latest podcast interview, housing specialist Fiona Fletcher-Smith, now the volunteer chair of the Whitgift Foundation’s governors, discusses the housing crisis, the closure of Old Palace School, what’s happening with the long-promised ‘kiosks’ in the Allders … Continue reading
