Brick by Brick, which is the Council’s wholly owned subsidiary company, has not delivered the building programme that was expected. After ploughing millions of pounds into the company, the Council is not getting the loan repayments it expected and this has been a major contributor towards the fact the Council is effectively bankrupt.
Brick by Brick was driving through a number of unwelcome housing developments on green spaces in various places in Croydon, including Selsdon. An investigation has been carried out into the activities of Brick by Brick and it is recommended the company is wound down. This will result in losses of at least £100m for Croydon Council but it seems it is likely to be the best way to ‘cut its losses’.
It is proposed that some of the schemes that were proposed by Brick by Brick should be halted, and this means that three on Monks Hill will no longer go ahead. The land would be handed back to the Council who could choose whether to develop it at a later date. Given that the smaller sites would give a very poor return on investment, it is hoped that they will decide to leave these precious green spaces alone.
