Final
Croydon Council’s Overall Planning Policy
This is our third AGM with Jason as Mayor. He is pretty much half way through his first stint as Mayor. This past 12 months has been a continuation of the the first 18 months namely the developers putting in fewer applications across the south of the borough which we would consider inappropriate and the planning committee rejecting the few inappropriate ones that come along. In addition the Government Planning Inspectorate has continued rejecting almost all appeals. Thank you Mayor Perry for continuing to carry on the planning policies you were elected on. I also want to thank the Mayor for continuing to build in Central Croydon as we can see below.
The Labour Government’s Planning Policies
Croydon is overall in a good position to weather whatever the new government were to impose as it is one of the few London Boroughs to actually meet the current GLA target imposed on it. For the four years of the current planning period (up to March 2023) Croydon is at 105% of its 2,079 per annum target – despite it having the largest target of any outer London Borough. Overall London is only at 70% of its 52,287 per annum target so Croydon is way ahead of most boroughs. The second piece of good news is that Labour’s target for London is less than the outgoing Government’s target. However Labour’s target still 80,000 per annum -which is 30,000 about the GLA target which as I point out is overall nowhere near being met. As Andrew Neil says “you couldn’t make it up”.
There is lot of talk about building on Grey Belt land. My understanding is that a lot of the Grey Belt land targeted for intensified development will be land already built on 1947 but is now within the Green Belt. I don’t think there is much of that in our area but there is some close by for example the buildings in the middle of Lloyd Park. So it is a worry but a secondary worry.
Traffic Issues.
Last year the plans to make Melville a Healthy School Street between 0800-0930 and 1400-1600 and restrict entry to residents only were rejected by the Council. There have been no similar schemes for our area this year.
We did point out to the Council that the new zebra crossing on Croham Road between Spencer and Normanton was badly lit and could do with a central reservation. The Council are looking at improving the lighting but a central reservation is not possible as the road is not wide enough – despite it being as wide as it is at the bottom of Melville – as the rules have changed!
Covenants
Chasro went to the courts for a third time later this year to try enforce the Whitgift Foundation Covenant at the corner of Selsdon Road and West Hill. They had won the first case but had lost the second on appeal. Unfortunately CHASRO lost in the Court of Appeal in January this year. This means all the “late” Whitgift Foundation covenants including all those on the other side of the Old Whits Playing Fields are vulnerable with the Whitgift Foundation being able to sell the a covenant waiver off to the highest bidder.
Some protection under a future imagined administration would be to try to designate the area a conservation area similar to that set up for the early 20th century arts and crafts houses at the top of Croham Manor Road and Hurst Way. This was set up in 2008 and will provide some help against development. I have a couple of copies of the documentation for that area if anyone here wants to have a look.
Individual Planning Applications
David Rutherford has again done a fantastic job in identifying and organising our response to inappropriate applications in our area.
As previously mentioned, thankfully under the new regime applications going to the Planning Committee are mostly are being rejected however we must carry on on helping David to refer them by acting on his communications and putting in comments on the Council’s Planning Database. The more opposing comments there are it makes it easier for the Planning Committee to reject them.
Croham Hurst School/Old Palace Junior School
I have spoken to Helen Gough, Director of Property for the Whitgift Foundation. Helen said the objective of the sale was to maximise the benefit to the Whitgift Foundation which was not the same as maximising revenue from the sale. She said she would pass on our concerns to any potential purchaser and also the details of the covenants on the land. I think it is just a case of wait and see. I spoke to the representative of one educational and medical charity who was looking to take over the site but in the end they decided not to bid. Even though the price being asked, areound £7million seems low for residential, I suspect it is too big for an educational charity to take over and it will switch to housing. As to what type is the big question. Helen has said she will give us and Chris Philp an update soon.
Lloyd Park
The removal of the eyesore that was bowling green continues. We had assumed it was just going to be grassed over as we requested however the Council has to go through its processes. Owen Williams is nudging the Council towards the correct outcome.
A thank you to everybody who has helped this year. A big thank you to Sara and Michael who have helped on the Committee for the past few years and are now standing down.
It is appreciated.
Jeremy Gill
9 October 2024