|
East Croydon
Gateway Site
The planning application by Arrowcroft, backed by
the Council, was turned down by the Secretary of State on the advice of
the Planning Inspectorate.
We have kept this page as a record of what happened.
We have not altered the tense of verbs.
Background Information
Croydon Council wishes to see, and has granted planning permission for,
the development of a 12,500 seat arena at this important site. Obviously
12,500 people
arriving for an event just a 15 minute walk away would have a considerable
impact on our area.
The preferred developer is Arrowcroft, to which Croydon Council is in
some way contracted. This planning permission has been referred to the
Government Office for London who decide whether to review it themselves
or not. Croydon cannot grant actual consent until the Government Office
for London make their decision. Should this be the case, then consent
for the Arrowcroft scheme would be at least 12 months away.
The Council has hitherto refused to entertain the alternative Stanhope
Schroder mixed development scheme including a brand new home for the Warehouse
Theatre, residential
housing, keynote office buildings, healthcare facility, restaurant, cafes
and four and a half acres of publicly accessible park.
With regard to housing, this has been extensively discussed with both
the Greater London Assembly and Croydon Council; agreement has been reached
with both authorities relating
to the numbers, mix and tenure. The provision of 560 new homes, 268 of
which are affordable, is considerable. No other development in recent
times has happened in Croydon
to make a similar contribution to the meeting of housing needs and policy
targets. The whole Stanhope scheme is designed primarily by Fosters and
Partners with one office building by Faulkner Browns and landscaping by
West 8.
The Council's refusal to properly consider the Stanhope Schroder scheme
is against the rules. This culminated in the Secretary of State calling
an Inquiry in 2006 to hear evidence from both sides. (This first Inquiry
is not to be confused with the latest Inquiry taking place in September
2007). It is clearly an expensive procedure. At this first Inquiry Croydon
Council produced no witnesses, no evidence, nothing.
At the opening of the 2006 Inquiry Croydon Council said that it would
be inviting the Secretary of State to grant Stanhope Schroder planning
permission for its scheme. Basically the Council was not commenting on
the application but was asking the Secretary of State, who has powers
for a scheme this size, to decide.
This is important because the Stanhope Schroder application is a detailed
application. The Arrowcroft application, although claiming to be detailed,
at that stage was not.
Earlier in 2006 a similar public inspection into the Council's new Unitary
Development Plan (UDP) dismissed the development of an arena at this site
as not being essential.
Given the acceptance of Stanhope Schroder's detailed planning application
and given that they are also the owners of the land, you would have thought
this much needed redevelopment work could start almost immediately. But
no. After inviting the Secretary of State to consider granting permission
to Stanhope Schroder, the then Leader of the Council, Tony Newman, said
that the Council still intended to pursue the arena scheme and use a compulsory
purchase order. So again the Council introduced huge uncertainty and delays
over the development of the site.
Why? No one has provided a convincing commercial justification for an
arena, nor has anyone seen any detailed business plan or viable transport
plan.
This is all extraordinary behaviour from Croydon Council. Stanhope Schroder
could have claimed costs against Croydon Council for its failure and the
costs of the Public Inquiry. In a
wish to work more closely with Croydon Council they have, however, asked
for none.
Back in the summer of 2005 we wrote an open letter
that we hoped would attract some answers. It was printed in the Croydon
Guardian on 4 May 2005. A Croydon Councillor replied in a letter printed
on 18 May 2005. Our response to this was printed on 1 June 2005. Click
on the three links below to view each letter.
The 2006 local elections saw a change from a Labour
run Council to a Conservative one. The local Conservative party is divided
over whether or not to support the arena. The Council is still bound to
Arrowcroft by a contract signed by the previous administration and fear
has been expressed that Arrowcroft will sue the Council should they not
support the arena scheme.
Our
letter of 4 May 2005
Councillor
reply of 18 May 2005
Our
response of 1 June 2005
Position
as at 11 June 2006
Position
as at October 2006
Position
as at January 2007
Return to East Croydon Gateway
Latest
.
|