Tag Archives: Planning
Seifert’s Croydon landmark set to be converted into 250 flats
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Architecture and heritage campaigners have expressed concerns over plans to turn 24-storey No1 Croydon at East Croydon from office use to residential – and the local council won’t do anything about it. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The … Continue reading
Council slammed over plans to create HMO in public cemetery
Residents in Beddington are up in arms over ‘insensitive’ council plans to convert a former caretaker’s lodge in a cemetery into an HMO – a house in multiple occupation – without consulting local residents. Bandon Hill Cemetery, on Plough Lane, … Continue reading
Anger after residents’ IDs used to support planning application
KEN LEE reports on a troubling development involving an HMO development in Selhurst An attempt to obtain planning permission to convert a rundown office block in Selhurst into a house of multiple occupation, or HMO, has been thrown into doubt … Continue reading
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
Battle lines drawn over proposal for 87 houses on RAF Kenley
Residents in Kenley, Old Coulsdon and nearby Caterham have been expressing deep concern about proposals to build 87 “barrack-style” houses on part of what used to be RAF Kenley. The planning application has been lodged with Tandridge District Council for … Continue reading
MP accuses Aldi of ‘unacceptable’ U-turn on Coulsdon parking
Coulsdon residents are preparing for another battle over parking provision in their district centre, fighting against a scheme which the local MP has described as an “unacceptable proposal”. Just four years ago, Aldi was granted planning permission for their large … Continue reading
Planners taking a look at millionaires’ homes on Webb Estate
KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter, on the latest council consultation which seeks to provide a chimera of public input for the planning department’s latest wheeze in an area where Michael Buble, Wilf Zaha and Status Quo’s Francis Rossi have all … Continue reading
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
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
Bellway’s lido plans take a nose dive as permission is refused
Housing correspondent BARRATT HOLMES on how things have not gone swimmingly for one of the country’s biggest housebuilders as its plans for 180 homes by Purley Way playing fields have gone down the plughole Croydon Council’s professional planners, after encouraging … Continue reading
Planners in Tandridge are leaving their phones off the hook
It is not just in Croydon where getting an answer from the local council can take a while. In neighbouring Tandridge, the planning department will be leaving their phones off the hook and their incoming emails unanswered for a whole … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
Gove’s broadside at builders over their ‘ugly’ developments
Michael Gove, in his second spell as the Tories’ Levelling Up Secretary, has declared war against “ugly” buildings, in an effort to reduce opposition to residential developments. That could be bad news for the profit-hungry developers who seek to replace … Continue reading
Palace granted permission (again) for £100m stand at Selhurst
Back of the net! The result of last night’s planning committee meeting was never in doubt. But now Crystal Palace and their chairman Steve Parish have to seal a deal with Sainsbury’s. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE It … Continue reading
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
Old Coulsdon residents angry at developer badgering wildlife
Croydon’s planners are accused of working together with developers to allow the destruction of an ancient badger sett in Old Coulsdon. Residents have been collating evidence for two years of deliberate vandalism to the sett, despite the protected species status … Continue reading
Council planners ignore court order over flats in Sanderstead
Those who hoped new Mayor Jason Perry would sweep away the bad practices of the council’s planning department are in for a bit of a disappointment. STEVE WHITESIDE with the latest in a long-running saga Even the decision of a … Continue reading
Residents blocked from meeting by football club’s lobbyists
Crystal Palace FC have lodged 40 new files as part of the planning application for their proposed £100m stand. But a meeting promised with affected households has been cancelled and residents told that they are not welcome to attend a … Continue reading
