Tag Archives: Heather Cheesbrough

New director job ads signal end for Kerswell’s costly interims

EXCLUSIVE: Just a couple of weeks since the government Commissioners arrived in Croydon, and an obvious way of saving money is being implemented. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter Could it be that the era of £1,000 per day “interim”, … Continue reading

Posted in 'Future Croydon', Adam Wilkinson, Commissioners, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Karen Agbabiaka, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Property, Sue Hanlon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

£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

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Wilkinson, Business, Council Tax, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

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

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Wilkinson, Brick by Brick, Business, Council Tax, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

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

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Wilkinson, Alasdair Stewart, Brick by Brick, Business, Council Tax, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

£1,000 per day ‘Interim Adam’ lands Croydon planning job

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council has made no announcement about who has taken over the borough’s top planning job, but this website has discovered that Heather Cheesbrough’s stand-in replacement is an ‘interim specialist’ who has pocketed more than £500,000 in … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Wilkinson, Brick by Brick, Business, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Negrini enjoys her centre stage return pitching for Mayor Khan

Like Banquo’s ghost, Jo Negrini has returned to haunt Croydon after her latest jaunt to the south of France for the annual “booze and hooker fest” – or prestigious international property conference – that is MIPIM. When “Negreedy” was the … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jo Negrini, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Planning, Sadiq Khan, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Ex-planning chief’s rose-tinted view of Croydon developments

It appears that Heather Cheesbrough, Croydon Council’s former “director of planning and sustainable regeneration”, has been busy trying to rewrite history since leaving her £130,000-plus job earlier this month. An internal council memo gave the reason for Cheesbrough’s departure as … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Council bosses need to answer for Cheesbrough’s toxic legacy

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The announcement of the departure from the council of its long-standing planning director has been widely welcomed by many residents. But as WAYNE MULLEN explains, after his four-year battle with the council over planners’ misconduct, some of those … Continue reading

Posted in Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Nicola Townsend, Park Hill and Whitgift, Planning, Shifa Mustafa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Council planning chief Cheesbrough set to take ‘career break’

EXCLUSIVE: After nearly a decade in charge of Croydon’s planning department, one of Jo Negrini’s closest colleagues is to leave Fisher’s Folly. By our Town Hall correspondent, KEN LEE Heather Cheesbrough, Croydon Council’s “director of planning and sustainable regeneration” (try … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Brick by Brick, Business, CPO, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

For planner Cheesbrough, budget increase is ‘non-negotiable’

CROYDON IN CRISIS: All those public consultations that don’t ever make any difference to what the council sets out to do? This week, one director made it clear that they are indeed pointless exercises, as KEN LEE reports Croydon Council … Continue reading

Posted in Alasdair Stewart, Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Karen Agbabiaka, Louis Carserides, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Directors leave scrutiny short of answers over council job cuts

KEN LEE reports from the frontline of budget discussions at the cash-strapped council, after a meeting where everyone is working very, very hard, but no one in charge bothered to turn up equipped to provide any answers  Councillors from both … Continue reading

Posted in Alasdair Stewart, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Karen Agbabiaka, Kristian Aspinall, Libraries, Louis Carserides, Scott Roche, Stella Nabukeera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Council director took ‘delegated’ decision to lease out CALAT

Cash-strapped council admits it leased out the site for a long-promised medical centre in Coulsdon without any reference to councillors, while ‘the NHS is yet to confirm the latest forecast completion date for the project’ Croydon Council has admitted that … Continue reading

Posted in Business, CALAT, Community associations, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Medical Centre, Coulsdon Town, Croydon Council, Croydon NHS Trust, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Health, Heather Cheesbrough, Ian Parker, Luke Shortland, Mario Creatura, Matthew Kershaw, Old Coulsdon, Parking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Councillor accuses Perry of broken pledge on affordable homes

Mayor Jason Perry’s council has been accused of yet another broken promise, and of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax-payers’ money, this time after rejecting a planning application for seven affordable homes in Upper Norwood, in a scheme … Continue reading

Posted in Claire Bonham, Community associations, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Nicola Townsend, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Planning battle over The Lawns after council official’s threats

Five years’ work has been wasted after Croydon Council planners rejected a planning application from a community group in Upper Norwood to build seven not-for-profit flats in a scheme instigated by… Croydon Council. BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports An enterprising … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Tom Copley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

No one can afford ticket machines for the Bridge to Nowhere

After 11 years and at least £22m of public money, it now turns out that the organisations responsible for the pedestrian bridge at the northern end of East Croydon Station don’t have the readies to finally complete the project, as … Continue reading

Posted in Addiscombe West, Community associations, Commuting, Croydon Council, East Croydon, ECCO, Heather Cheesbrough, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Menta Tower, Planning, Property, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Key document withheld from planning scrutiny for 21 months

STEVE WHITESIDE with an update on how the council’s planners and planning enforcement teams continue to fail the borough’s residents, while turning a blind eye to developers ignoring conditions Last month, I wrote about the sad saga of 158 Purley … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Demolition shows how council’s planners have no ‘red lines’

STEVE WHITESIDE on the developing (geddit?) saga of a house-builder who manages to ignore planning conditions laid down by elected councillors, thanks to some considerable assistance being provided by council staff The sad saga of 158 Purley Downs Road, where … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Leila Ben-Hassel, Lynne Hale, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Property, Sanderstead, South Croydon, Yvette Hopley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

How the council’s planners help developers dodge conditions

The case of 158 Purley Downs Road is an object lesson in what lengths some senior council staff will go to in order to help property developers circumvent building regulations and bamboozle councillors on the planning committee. By STEVE WHITESIDE … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Humayun Kabir, Leila Ben-Hassel, Lynne Hale, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Property, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Council’s planners lose multiple cases at appeal and in court

Independent inspectors and judges at the High Court continue to rule against decisions made by Croydon’s planning department. Yet those making these dubious, developer-friendly decisions remain in place Research for Inside Croydon has found at least another 11 planning cases … Continue reading

Posted in Aventier, Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Lynne Hale, Maria Gatland, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Nicola Townsend, Paul Scott, Planning, Sanderstead, Yvette Hopley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Planners’ misdeeds continue to pile disgrace on our borough

CROYDON COMMENTARY: After the latest revelations of deceit and delay by the council’s planning department, costing the borough tens of thousands of pounds when supporting a profit-hungry developer, iC reader IAN KIERANS says it is time that the Mayor and … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Park Hill and Whitgift, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Council planning approvals being ‘sold’ for £1,500 per flat

STEVE WHITESIDE, a former council planner, has been carefully monitoring development applications around the borough over several years. In the course of that work, he has observed a systemic move by the council to attach money-spinning legal agreements to approved … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Kenley, Planning, Property, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tory Bains is forced to confess: planning is ‘all but broken’

Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest confessions to emerge from the Conservative council’s cabinet The planning department at Croydon Council is “all but broken”, according to a Planning Advisory Service report. The Planning Advisory Service is part of … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jeet Bains, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Scott Roche | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Cancelled planning committees are ‘shouting incompetence’

There’s growing concerns over the disorganisation of the council planning department, after last night’s scheduled meeting of the planning committee in the Town Hall Chamber had to be cancelled because of “issues with publication of reports”. The cancellation means that … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Planning, Property, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Council delays and lack of enforcement cause residents misery

Council planners have ignored an Order from a High Court judge over the granting of retrospective permission for a block of flats in Sanderstead. But as STEVE WHITESIDE explains, the case of 54 Arkwright Road is far from an isolated … Continue reading

Posted in Aventier, Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Planning, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Oversupply of flats in borough is due to ‘profit over need’

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Official government data shows that the council’s build-at-all-cost approach that has blighted parts of the borough has created a glut of over-priced ‘executive apartments’. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The proliferation of block after block of expensive flats … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Epsom and Ewell, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jo Negrini, London-wide issues, Paul Scott, Planning, Surrey, Tandridge District Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments