Despite my efforts and that of a spirited objector who spoke eloquently on the impact of the home next door, 67 Higher Drive was condemned at Planning Committee tonight to be replaced by no less that 17 flats with only 13 parking places provided. It is utterly ridiculous that Purley is currently providing about 35% of new homes for the WHOLE of CROYDON - what about the other 26 wards?
Including this site, 4 homes within 100m along Higher Drive are now to be replaced bv 75 flats housing perhaps 200 people, with absolutely NO extra provision of local infrastructure such as health and education services. Cumulative impact is supposed to be one of the key criteria in determining planning applications, yet this is routinely ignored by the Labour majority on the Planning Committee.
Looking at the design in more detail, it's apparent that the site is being grossly over-developed; the standard guideline for housing in this area is to reach a density of 150-200 habitable rooms/hectare, yet this design runs at about 300 hr/ha. Is there any better illustration of the consummate greed of developers?
The only surprise was the the vote was 5-4 in favour rather than 6-4, but it's sad that yet another decent family home and garden in this attractive area of Purley is to be sacrificed.
