Since we were elected as Kenley Councillors in May 2022, many residents have got in touch to discuss planning applications in the Ward and we wanted to help local residents by publishing some guidance on how best to comment, either in support or against an application.
Planning is an essential part of neighbourhood regeneration and ensuring a supply of housing for local people, and good quality applications in appropriate locations are welcomed. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an intensification of applications and developments in areas such as Kenley and many residents believe that some of these developments have undermined its local character.
Concerns around planning were an important aspect of Croydon Conservatives’ local election campaign and of Jason Perry’s campaign to be Croydon’s first democratically elected Mayor. Jason pledged to restore a design-led approach to planning in Croydon rather than the density-led model under the previous Labour administration.
Within the first 100 days of taking office, Jason delivered on this pledge and steered the removal of a very unpopular planning design guide called SPD2 through a Council vote. The old SPD2 guidance document therefore no longer applies to decisions on any new or as yet undetermined planning applications.
Going forward, Jason will be revisiting the Local Plan to make sure we provide much needed new homes in a way that works for all residents, respecting the character of and enhancing our local Croydon communities.
As your local Councillors, we look at new applications in Kenley to judge whether they enhance or detract from the local area. Part of our work is to work with residents to refer what we believe to be inappropriate applications to Croydon's Planning Committee but we do rely on concerned residents to also scrutinise the applications and supporting documents – we deal with many other matters apart from planning.
Residents have their part to play in this process as well, but aren’t always sure about the best way to respond to an application, so to help local residents in this process we wanted to set out some guidance on what to include in a response to a planning application.
Find applications
All planning applications and supporting documents are published in Croydon’s Public Access Register. You can search for an application via an address or a map view or reference number and see all applications relating to that property. You can also set up a profile for you to receive automated updates on applications, save regular searches or be notified about applications received in roads of interest.
Comment on applications
Croydon’s Planning Department provides a step-by-step guide on how to support or object to an application and the sort of things that are considered valid objections. When making judgements on a planning application, as well as ‘material planning conditions’, Croydon’s Planning Officers are guided by three sets of planning policies:
- Central Government policy known as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
- The London Plan
- The Croydon Local Plan.
By law, Planning Officers cannot reject an application unless it goes against planning policies. This means that if you are objecting to a planning application, your response must outline how an application conflicts with the guidance above or material planning conditions. A solid explanation should be given as to why you consider a material planning condition such as ‘loss or harm to trees’ to be detrimental to the area, particularly if the application includes landscaping and new trees.
Material planning conditions include, but are not limited to:
- Loss of light or overshadowing
- Overlooking or loss of privacy
- Character and visual appearance (for example, design, appearance or materials) – design not in keeping with the area
- Layout and density of buildings
- Traffic generation, highway safety or parking
- Noise, smells and disturbance resulting from use
- new windows or spaces that overlook your house or garden
- Loss or harm to trees
- Effect on listed buildings or conservation areas
- Waste management – storage of waste and recycling bins, access to the bins on collection day
- Surface water management / drainage.
There isn’t a list of material planning conditions on the Croydon website.
Although there are several aspects of planning and development that can cause distress to residents, such as impact on house prices, disturbance during construction and impact on mental health, disputes with neighbours etc these are not material planning grounds and will not be considered by Officers. Covenants are civil law and not covered by the planning regime. If you need to enforce a Covenant you will need to do this through Civil Law. Building control is a separate regime and not covered by planning.
Officers may make use of ‘conditions’ where “otherwise unacceptable development could be made acceptable through the use of conditions”. For more information about conditions, see the Planning Advisory Service website.
Routes for referral
The process for determining planning applications is described in the Council’s constitution within section 4K and 4K (i).
In summary, Senior Planning Officers decide nearly all applications. However, some applications will go to the Planning Committee who then debate the merits of an application and vote on whether it should be approved or rejected. In this case, officers provide a detailed report and set of recommendations on each referred application to the Planning Committee. The route for an application to be referred to committee include:
- Through the Chair/Vice Chair of the Planning Committee
- Via a local councillor, Greater London Assembly Member or Member of Parliament
- Those that have received 12 objections
- Via by a registered Residents’ Association
- Those that have a petition of at least 40 signatures of people within Croydon.
However, if officers are minded to refuse an application this will be done under delegated powers, rather than still taking the application to committee.
Preparing your response
If you are planning to support or object to an application, you should follow the detailed guidance on Croydon’s website:
- Comment or object to a planning application: step by step
- Development Management Advice Note 4 – How can I comment on a Planning Application.
Policy DM10: Design and character (page 83 of the Croydon Local Plan) should be of particular note to Kenley residents.
Make sure you respond by the deadline given.
Please do also copy your response to your Kenley Councillors ([email protected] and [email protected]) or by sending a letter addressed to us in plenty of time at Croydon Conservatives, 36 Brighton Road, Purley, CR8 2LG, so that we have a clear understanding of your concerns.
Further support
Additionally, in Kenley, we have several excellent and very active Residents’ Associations who have planning expertise (but not always much available time!) and *may* be able to help and advise you (but only if you are a member) on formulating your response. They include:
- KENDRA, covering the whole of Kenley Ward – https://www.kenleyra.org.uk/planning/
- WURA, covering Welcomes and Uplands Road Association – https://www.wura.org.uk/
- HADRA, covering 28 roads on the borders of Kenley, Old Coulsdon and Purley – https://hadra.org/
- Foxley Residents Association, covering the roads around Higher Drive and down towards Purley – [email protected]
In summary, although responding to a planning application can at times seem daunting, there is support and advice available:
- Your local councillors: [email protected] and [email protected] (copy your response to us)
- Croydon Council website – make sure you give valid planning reasons for objecting
- Local Residents’ Associations.
Good luck! Let’s work together to protect our wonderful and valued local character and ensure that new developments respect and enhance Kenley.
