Tag Archives: Planning Committee

Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of the 24 unaffordable flats

Planning permission was refused last night for a scheme that threatens a South Norwood heritage building which was once home to Arthur Conan Doyle. But this case is not closed yet… And so it came to pass… The first planning … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, History, Housing, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Property, Sean Fitzsimons, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How Labour-Tory marriage of convenience is failing Croydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: With the Green Party deliberately excluded from the planning committee by a Labour-Tory pact at the Town Hall, new councillor PAUL AINSCOUGH, pictured left, says that the borough’s two largest parties are still not listening to the public … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Fairfield, Paul Ainscough, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Labour’s new ‘Lord Len’ might yet play role in 445-flat scheme

Political Editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the revolving door between City Hall, south London councils and lobbying firms, and how that might play a part in this week’s big residential scheme at Croydon’s planning committee Len Duvall, the longest-serving London Assembly … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Fairfield, Housing, Lewisham, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Lord Len Duvall, Planning, Property, Southwark Council, Woburn Court and Bedford Court | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Perry’s council endorses scheme for 3,000 flats in town centre

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Getting rid of two-thirds of the retail space in the town centre and replacing it with flats is about all that execs from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield were prepared to share to a council committee, reports our housing correspondent, BARRATT … Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Helen Redfern, Housing, Ian Parker, Mayor Jason Perry, Nicola Townsend, North End Quarter, Planning, Sean Fitzsimons, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Residents scathing of report on Purley retirement flats

The fix is in. Council planning officials who describe the ‘harm’ that 220 retirement flats would do to Purley have still recommended approval ahead of a committee meeting next week. And there could yet be hidden costs for Croydon with … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, Croydon South, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, HADRA, Holly Ramsey, Housing, Leisure services, Mayor Jason Perry, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Parking, Planning, Polaska, Polaska Assets Ltd, Property, Purley, Purley Pool, Samir Dwesar, Selsdon Residents' Association, Simon Brew | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Auction has a twist in the sale over Coombe Road plot-boiler

BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on the latest non-developments in the saga of a scrap of town centre open space without planning permission Croydon Mayor Jason Perry might have another half-million-pound hole in his overspent, unbalanced council budget, after a property … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Planning, Property | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Controversial Brick by Brick site to be auctioned for £550k

BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports on the latest planning mystery at the cash-strapped council The scrap of open space at the junction of Edridge Road and Coombe Road, next to heritage-listed building Ruskin House, is set to be auctioned off … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Neal, Planning, Property, Ria Patel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Times tables show watchdog Oflog is Gove’s Tory poodle

The Conservative government handed ‘fundamentally flawed’ data about local councils to a Murdoch-owned newspaper for publication just days before this month’s local elections. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE If Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, had any hopes that … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Planners’ unconditional love for developers is unchanged

One of the arguments put forward for a change to a directly elected mayor was that they would be able to end the questionable practices of the council planning department. But as STEVE WHITESIDE explains, strategic ignorance and intellectual dishonesty … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Lynne Hale, Pete Smith, Planning, Sanderstead | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 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

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

Home owner’s victory after four-year battle with planners

The planning department at Croydon’s dysfunctional council has been caught out yet again after the collapse of a developer’s appeal – but only after incurring huge and avoidable costs. Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, unravels a saga of deceits and … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jade Appleton, Katherine Kerswell, Nicola Townsend, Park Hill and Whitgift, Parking, Paul Scott, Planning, Property | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 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

Brick by Brick abandons its planning consents and 23 sites

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council this week set light to a ‘bonfire of the vanities’, abandoning planning applications on 477 homes around the borough in development proposals by their failed house builders. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Council has dumped … Continue reading

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Environment, Housing, Jo Negrini, London-wide issues, New Addington South, Norbury, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony Newman, Waddon, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

£100,000 Mayor Perry unveils his old team as the new team

WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on the completely predictable make-up of the borough’s executive Mayor’s first cabinet, and the wheeling and dealing over who will chair the Town Hall’s most influential committees Given that it took nearly five days to count … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Stranack, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Jeet Bains, Katherine Kerswell, Lynne Hale, Maria Gatland, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Scott Roche, Sean Fitzsimons, South Croydon, Yvette Hopley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

The enforcers: residents making plans for council court action

Is something shifting in the Town Hall planning department? Amid news of the exit of a senior manager, and of director Heather Cheesbrough correcting her false claims on her online CV, and now a High Court ruling against the council’s … Continue reading

Posted in Coulsdon, Croydon Council, Nicola Townsend, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Buyers beware: High Court judge puts planners in the dock

A High Court judge has ruled against Croydon’s planning department, quashing the decision of a senior council official to grant permission for a block of flats in Sanderstead. Here, former council planner STEVE WHITESIDE explains how the court ruling could … Continue reading

Posted in Aventier, Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, Selsdon & Ballards, Selsdon and Addington Village | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Urgent security review under way after ‘assault’ at Town Hall

EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Senior council officials are conducting an urgent review of security measures at Croydon Town Hall after members of the planning committee were sprayed with fluid from the public gallery at their meeting on Thursday night. No … Continue reading

Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Joy Prince, Planning | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

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

Posted in Chris Clark, Croydon Council, Gareth Streeter, Heather Cheesbrough, Katherine Kerswell, Paul Scott, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Planning chair votes twice to thwart Sunny Bank residents

Town Hall reporter KEN LEE watched last night’s council planning committee, so you wouldn’t have to… Paul Scott, the Labour-run council’s chair of the planning committee, last night allowed himself to vote twice to push through a housing scheme in … Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Chris Clark, Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Environment, Fairfield, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jane Avis, Jason Perry, Jo Negrini, Muhammad Ali, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Planning, Property, Pubs, Ruskin House, South Norwood, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Council planning to keep residents in the dark on planning

Times must be hard at Croydon Council. For while they can afford to help finance the lovely new HQ building as part of an ambitious £450 million redevelopment scheme, or find £20million a year to hire “consultants” and temporary directors … Continue reading

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Environment, Housing, Jon Rouse, Planning, Property | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment