- 28 November 2024
- Posted by: Cllr Sean Fitzsimons
- Category: Addiscombe East-West Roads, Bridge to Nowhere, Community Safety, Councillors Newsletter Updates, Croydon Council, East Croydon Station
Councillors September 2024 Newsletter
Bridge to Nowhere, the saga continues
At the East Croydon Community Organization (ECCO) AGM on July 16th 2024 we heard from a representative of Network Rail who confirmed that currently, they have no immediate plans to open the bridge link from the new housing development on Cherry Orchard Road, which would offer a new route to walk over to the Lansdowne Road. Network Rail said they were still working on getting the funding to carry out the repairs needed to the pedestrian side of the bridge. They stated that funding issues were due to increased labour and material costs.
Network Road also publicly stated for the first time that they had no plans to install a ticket gate line. Network Rail had never mentioned this in any previous correspondence. Providing commuter access from Cherry Orchard Road into the station was a key reason Croydon Council granted planning permission for the pedestrian bridge and the Menta’s new housing development.
Addiscombe East – West Neighbourhood Area-wide Road Safety
Abu Barkatoolah, the LIP Programme Delivery Manager, has led this review for Croydon Council. Alongside colleagues, Abu has held several meetings with community representatives over the last six months. One of the outcomes is a traffic management scheme that would see some roads in Addiscombe East having night-time closure to non-local traffic.
On August 8th 2024, Councillors and local representatives received the following update. “Transport for London (TfL) has responded to confirm that they agree to our proposals for the 7 pm-7 am night-time restrictions and 8 pm-7 pm restrictions in Bingham Rd. This response from TfL is caveated to Croydon having a monitoring plan to assess the impact (which may lead to potential changes to the 7 pm-7 am restrictions) and a formal submission seeking approval.
Croydon does not wish to have a risk of diluting the 7 pm-7 am restrictions. We do not believe there is a significant impact on bus services for the central roads and Leslie Park Rd restrictions. We wish to have a permanent night-time restriction (7 pm-7 am) in all centrally located and in Leslie Park Rd.
Croydon will need to conduct more technical evaluations of the Bingham Rd restrictions times to arrive at a workable solution for Shirley Rd and Lower Addiscombe Rd junction. This crucial junction is TfL’s main point of contention. Hence their suggestion of a monitoring plan. The Bingham Rd restrictions may change to start later than 8 pm and end earlier than 7 am, say 9 pm-6 am to provide TfL with more comfort of minimising delays to buses.”
Abu also confirmed that he was working to secure funding to improve the Leslie Arms Junction, which had been a focus of a residents meeting in 2022.
Leslie Arms
After more than 25 years of non-activity by the owner of Leslie Arms, Anwar Ansari has confirmed that his builders have started on-site to implement the planning application to turn the ground floor and basement into a community centre and to restore the outside of the building. New temporary fencing has now gone up, and work is underway in what was the ground floor of the Public House. The building is Grade 2 listed (a result of a campaign by a previous ward councillor, Mark Watson ii 1999). I have looked around the ground floor and confirmed that the owner is preserving much of the bar area.
Glamorgan Public House: Oct 23 Planning Application
The developers submitted a planning application in October 2023. 23/04106/FUL to demolish the building and build an 8-storey block of flats. As yet, there is no date as to when this will come to the planning committee.
Permitted Development Request to convert the NLA Tower/ Number One Croydon into residential flats.
British Telecom Pension Fund (BRITEL) wants to convert the site from a commercial tower to residential, featuring 158 x 1-bedroom and 92 x 2-bedroom units.
This is not a planning application but a permitted development request. Permitted Developments are a legacy of the last Tory Government. The Tory Government made it easier for owners of office blocks to turn their buildings into residential towers without meeting local or national planning requirements. As a result, in Croydon, we now have several sub-standard housing blocks, like Green Dragon House, where leaseholders are trapped in unsalable homes.
Thankfully, rules on permitted development were tightened up, and they must now meet fire safety standards and minimum space standards. Still, they are not obliged to provide affordable housing, which Croydon desperately lacks.
As local councillors, we are concerned about the impact of this decision on the local economy. Croydon’s local economy is already very fragile, and the loss of another employment site, right by East Croydon Station will weaken it further. Croydon needs homes, but it also needs jobs, and we contend that this is a prime office site and should be protected.
Although you can’t formally object to this application, you can still comment. We urge all residents and members to do so.
Glamorgan Public House: Anti-Social Behaviour
The owners of the building allowed squatters into the building soon after closing the pub down. These squatters have slowly destroyed much of the original features of the building. During the last two years, the building has been a focus of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in the local area. Councillors have pressed the police, the Council and the fire brigade to take action. Recently, the Council has taken some legal action against the building owners regarding the problems caused by their squatters. We are waiting for an update on what is happening.
Meatpackers Site, Cherry Orchard Road
Southern Housing owns the site, having bought it from the original owner, Crest Nicholson. The Mayor of London provided grant funding to Southern Housing to ensure that this scheme will be one of the few where most homes are affordable rent or shared ownership.
The original building contractor went bust last year, and so did the second contractor that Southern employed. We await a further update from Southern about whether they have succeeded in getting a new building contractor.
The Blossoms Menta Twin Towers, Cherry Orchard Road
Sir Robert McAlpine has finished on site, and the first of the two towers is ready to let as a purely Private Let Development.
The owners are marketing the buildings as the Blossoms, and you can see more about the buildings from their website The Blossoms | Apartments for rent in Croydon (theblossomscroydon.co.uk)
Rents they are charging.
1-beds: £1690 per month
2-beds: £1980 per month
3-beds: £2640 per month