Last night the Planning Committee listened to local people and decided to refuse the inappropriate application for 1a Meadow Rise.
I was proud to speak against the application that would have demolished a family home and erected a 9-unit block of flats, right on the junction of a busy road with two schools in the vicinity.
My speech is below, but I'm grateful to the Conservative members of the Planning Committee for voting to refuse this scheme - the nearly 140 residents who wrote in to oppose it will be very pleased indeed.
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In May 2021 the applicant submitted a scheme for this site that was seeking to demolish the existing building and erect a four-storey block of nine residential flats.
232 residents objected to it and it was refused by the Council Planning Committee for being:
- not be in keeping with the character of the area
- would have a detrimental impact on the streetscene
- would have a detrimental impact on neighbouring properties, by reason of its height and massing,
- contrary to policies SP4 and DM10 of the Croydon Local Plan 2018
- and policy D3 of the London Plan 2021
One year later, they’re trying again. This new application is again intending to demolish the existing building and erect a four-storey block of 9 residential flats.
I welcome that the applicant has switched to a pitched roof and that they’ve changed the materials to be more in keeping with the area. It is a significantly more attractive building than it’s bland, boxy predecessor.
But I and the community are still concerned that the main reasons for refusal have still not been addressed.
Whether going up Woodcote Grove Road or along Meadow Rise there is no property in the vicinity that’s four-storeys tall. This application is still an excessively high development that’s more than double the size of neighbouring properties.
The massing too remains as with the previously refused application.
It would therefore still have a detrimental impact on neighbouring properties, not least in terms of privacy and local character.
I have also serious concerns about the impact on local infrastructure, notably the lack of adequate off-street parking provision. The road is busy, and congestion is common. Meadow Rise turns into Dunsfold Way – the road has two schools on it: Woodcote High and Woodcote Primary. It’s incredibly difficult at the best of times to drive in that area, but this application provides just six off street parking spaces for 9 flats. Often properties will have more than one vehicle per flat, leading to yet more competition for already limited parking.
In total this application has 133 objections, nobody has written in support. I ask that the committee restates its commitment to the principles that led to the 2021 refusal, and I ask that it again refuses this Meadow Rise application.
