Last Wednesday (18th November) I attended a meeting of Croydon Council’s Planning Committee to speak against the granting of planning permission to build a large block of flats on the corner of Hyde Road and Copthorne Rise. Also speaking against the application was a local resident who was keen to ensure that the Committee were aware of the significant concerns being raised locally about this inappropriate scheme.
The application was for consent to demolish the current detached family house and build a contemporary style block 4-5 storeys high which would accommodate 9 flats. Strong objections had been lodged by local residents as well as Riddlesdown Residents Association.
I addressed the meeting as follows:
“Thank you for inviting me to speak on this application. I have a number of very serious concerns about it.
This scheme would be overly intensive on this site and would be completely out of character with the local area. At 4 to 5 storeys high the massing will dwarf the adjacent two storey properties and the contemporary reinterpretation approach in this location with its flat roof urban design is just awful.
- Three storeys of the building overstep the building line by 5 metres!
- It fails to respect the separation gap between Hyde Road properties
- It will completely dominate the street-scene of this part of Hyde Road and Copthorne Rise.
The proposal includes the unacceptable felling of 8 individual trees and 5 groups of trees. These include Ash, Acers, Beech, Yew and red cedars as well as substantial areas of mature hedging. And the scheme for replanting is hopelessly mean and unviable.
In addition:
- the development is not able to achieve greenfield runoff rates required by the Council’s Surface Water Management Plan.
- And there appears to have been no consultation with Thames Water by either the developer or the Council, to see if there is capacity in the sewer network to take the additional foul and possibly surface water discharge from the proposed development.
Drainage is really important here; it is becoming increasing concerning that the foul water sewers in Riddlesdown are carrying more water than they are designed for and as a result areas down hill from here are suffering frequent episodes of flooding, often foul water and sewage. At times the flooding in Lower Barn Road and Mitchley Avenue is so bad that it cuts Riddlesdown in half.
After years of lobbying it had been anticipated that some vital flood alleviation measures would be put in place in the next few weeks, but this week we’ve found out the money from DEFRA to do this has already been spent by the Council to help plug the financial deficit. So that opportunity has gone.
In view of this and the addendum comments, the SUDS strategy MUST be resolved before deciding the application. It is not suitable for conditioning.
The whole scheme does absolutely nothing in terms of sensitive optimisation – it is pure maximisation of the site to the huge detriment of the green and open local character; it will add to the already over loaded drainage and sewer systems – and should be refused.”
In view of all the concerns raised, especially around the impact on flooding further down the hill, it was hugely disappointing that the 6 Labour members of the Planning Committee voted unanimously to approve it. The 4 Conservative councillors all voted against.
Sadly therefore this application was approved.
Full details of the application are:
Ref: 20/00108/FUL
Demolition of existing two-storey dwelling and erection of a four/five storey (including excavation and lower ground level) building comprising of 9 residential flats, hard and soft landscaping, boundary treatment, land level alterations, undercroft and external car parking, amenity/private/communal space and internal refuse/cycle storage.
89 Hyde Road South Croydon CR2 9NS
