Residents Unite In Regeneration Of Addiscombe & East Croydon

Residents for Regeneration were delighted Croydon Council agreed with the informed decision of local planning officers in finally granting planning permission for the application on 21st July 2011. Many local residents saw this as being the single most important decision for the regeneration and improvement of Addiscombe and East Croydon.

After the withdrawn application of 2009 and throughout the subsequent public consultations, key priorities were highlighted by residents who saw the application as a positive opportunity for change. Many residents wanted public realm improvements in the vicinity of the development, especially in and around the proposed new entrance to East Croydon station, as well as wanting to see the existing station entrance upgraded.

Menta Consultation

Others residents identified the opportunity for the provision of a Car Club and improved public transport connections and taxi drivers working at East Croydon station sought reassurance the taxi ranking would be safeguarded and improved. Residents closest to the site who were concerned about the impact on parking demanded that new residents of the proposed tower would not be granted parking permits.

The consultations also highlighted an aspiration for the provision of a new community centre, at the heart of East Croydon, to serve the local community and many residents demonstrated a desire for a  new open green space with play facilities for children and families. Across the board, people insisted on quality both in the design and the execution of the buildings, especially with regard to the quality of the residential tower and the affordable housing.

As part of the planning permission, Croydon Council have secured a substantial financial pledge from the developers, Menta, in the form of a Section 106 agreement. The Section 106 agreement recognises the most important and commonly shared needs of local residents which were identified throughout the consultations and highlighted above. The Section 106 agreement guarantees a financial committment to improved public realm and public transport, a better station,  safeguarding existing residents parking and taxi provision, provision of a Car Club, new play space and ensures that world-class architects Make remain the architects of the scheme, ensuring the highest quality in the build.

It is throughout the consultations that residents have the opportunity to identify local needs and desires, to get the most for the local community from the proposed development and it is when the basis of any Section 106 agreement is formed. This is the key opportunity for local elected ward representatives to help establish these needs and to fight to secure future provision for these needs. Those who have always recognised the enormous benefits of the application believe key opportunities may have been missed by our elected ward representatives, who appeared to devote more time in opposing the application than seeking to work to ensure it delivered the best deal for the whole of Addiscombe and East Croydon.

Residents for Regeneration are pleased that local residents’ associations are now showing a willingness to work together with us,  to ensure the delivery of the many benefits and safeguards secured by the Section 106 agreement and to reap the benefits of the enormous local regeneration.  To this end, community group RECC (Revitalising East Croydon Communities) are hosting a drop-in session for local residents who share the common goal of wanting to ensure the Menta development delivers the best for our collective communities in Addiscombe and East Croydon.

Saturday 21st April
St. Mary Magdalene Hall
Canning Road
CR0 6JU
2:00 -5:30pm

Mothershovel Returns to Addiscombe…….

Following the massive success of last year’s benefit gig held at The Glamorgan pub and the Carols By Candlelight community event, we continue to work to further the sense of community in and around East Croydon.

The two previous events were a massive success. The first finally raised over £2000 for the local TV shop wrecked by the riots last summer, whilst the free Christmas event drew residents to pack their local pub to unite in the true spirit of Christmas.

The Glamorgan, Cherry Orchard Road

On the evening of Saturday 14^th April, Residents for Regeneration will be hosting a free gig at the ever popular Glamorgan Pub, Cherry Orchard Road, Croydon. Popular local band Brothers Of Mothershovel will once again perform their unique anarchic music.

We aim to support and raise awareness of the   Sir Philip Game Centre, Morland Avenue, Addiscombe, which works with young people aged between 11 and 19 in the local area.  We hope this will provide another opportunity for people to come together and celebrate community spirit.

The Sir Philip Game Centre

              Brothers of Mothershovel                   
               from 7pm
               The Glamorgan
               81 Cherry Orchard Road
               East Croydon
               CR0 6BE

Carols By Candlelight

Following the recent success of the benefit gig held at The Glamorgan Pub, where over 140 local residents and businesses came together to support Residents For Regeneration in raising £1433 for a local shop affected by the August riots, we continue to work hard to further the sense of community in and around East Croydon.

On the evening of  Saturday December 10th Residents for Regeneration will be hosting “Carols By Candlelight” at the ever popular Glamorgan Pub, Cherry Orchard Road. We hope this will provide another opportunity for people to come together and celebrate not only Christmas but also be part of a traditional and joyful expression of community spirit.

Whether religious or not, all are welcome to bash out a few carols, munch on a mince-pie and to start the festive period with a glass or two of good local cheer.

Carols By Candlelight
from 7pm
The Glamorgan
81 Cherry Orchard Road
East Croydon
CR0 6BE

 

Benefit Gig For Local Shop Affected By Croydon Riots

The riots of 8th August 2011 affected many Croydon businesses, large and small, and shocked all  local residents. Many of the people and businesses affected were widely reported in both local and national media and we all extended our sympathy and support to them. However, there were many other casualties of the night’s events which went unnoticed even though they, too, were seriously hit.

Roy Saunders returned to his small business, The TV Shop,  in Cherry Orchard Road on Tuesday morning to find the shutters had been ripped from their fixings, both display windows shattered and every piece of electrical stock had been stolen.  Over a five-hour period, from midnight onwards,  looters cold-heartedley returned time after time, helping themselves to stock and continuing to vandalise the premises.

Roy first started working at The TV Shop as an apprentice when he was fifteen, some forty-seven years ago. He later took the business on himself and continued to sell televisions and, unusually in a throw-away society, he remains one of those great small independent businesses where you can still have televisions and similar items repaired, personally and with friendly service. Roy and The TV Shop are those rare commodities that we all take for granted, which struggle to survive and yet are keystones to local communities.

Residents for Regeneration are disappointed that more has not been done by our local councillors to provide practical help to small shops like Roy’s, despite pledging to support local shopping parades. In the absence of forthcoming practical support Residents for Regeneration have organised a benefit gig to raise funds and show moral support to Roy, to help him get back on his feet and to remind him that the local community cares.

On the evening of  October 22, from 7pm, Croydon band The Brothers of Mothershovel have generously offered to perform live their own inimitable, somewhat anarchic but consummately charming  set at The Glamorgan pub on Cherry Orchard Road. Anchored at the heart of Cherry Orchard Road, it will provide local businesses and residents alike an opportunity to show support and help Roy regain his rightful place in the local community.

The Glamorgan
81 Cherry Orchard Road
East Croydon
020 8688 6333

Entrance at the door £5, all proceeds from entrance to Roy Saunders

Residents For Regeneration In Cherry Orchard Road & East Croydon

‘Residents For Regeneration’ aims to provide a platform for an impartial view of the proposed redevelopment plans for East Croydon. As residents, we feel it is important to share information in a balanced way so we can all understand the proposed changes that could affect us all.

There are many benefits for local residents and businesses. These include:

Improved public open areas
A new two storey community centre
New entrance to East Croydon mainline railway station
Affordable housing on the derelict Cherry Orchard Gardens site
A pedestrian footbridge connecting Cherry Orchard Road to Central Croydon

Grade A start up offices
Independent small retail outlets
Iconic landmark private residential tower
A four star boutique hotel, with gym & recreational facilities.
Increased employment opportunities

This will be the first major investment East Croydon & Cherry Orchard Road has had in over thirty years.

To register your support to Croydon Council before 21st July 2011 please click here

Why are we bothered?

Having lived in the area for many years we have always hoped that the area around along Cherry Orchard Road and East Croydon would improve. It sorely needs it, as anyone who makes that journey on foot each day knows too well. It is a bleak, uninteresting and depressing walk at the best of times during the day and, increasingly, feels more unsafe at night. The Cherry Orchard Gardens site has been empty since 2006,  boarded up, squatted and vandalised for the past few years and been an ugly eyesore acting as a bolt-hold for drug users and drug dealers. The small, unkept grassed area with the two tatty benches is littered with beer cans and rubbish, a constant reminder that this area is predominantly used by an increasing number of itinerant drunks.

This is where we all live. This is what we see each day. This is what greets us in the morning and we leave behind at night. It really should not be like this and nobody else has ever tried to change it over the past thirty years. This is why we are bothered.

Overlooking

Two issues with have been raised regarding overlooking, one from residents and one from parents with children at Oval Road primary school. Both concern the fear of overlooking from the 53 storey residential tower. Fortunately,  most residents are not concerned by overlooking from the other elements of the development, namely the new hotel and affordable housing buildings as these will have views already blocked by existing buildings or, in the case of the start-up office block, will not overlook any potentially sensitive areas.

Oval Road primary school is set some distance from the development site, an approximate 5 minute walk. It has a large playing field and other hardstanding play areas variously located outside the main school building. These areas are used mostly at lunch time and during physical and recreational lessons and, of course, at hometime. The school site on the Oval Road side has its boundary on one side with Oval Road consisting of predominantly two and three storey terraced houses and on the other side with Cherry Orchard Road, with two storey terraced houses backing onto the site and the twelve storey Galaxy House office building an approximate 30 second walk away.

There is already the potential of overlooking from the houses on Oval and Cherry Orchard Road and from the very nearby Galaxy House office block. As far as we know there have never been any incidences of invasive overlooking. The only report we have had confirmed by an ex-governor was  from pedestrians lingering in the footpath leading from Cherry Orchard Road to Oval Road and we understand a privacy screen has been erected to deal with this. We think, realistically, the 53 storey residential tower is set sufficiently away from the school site to pose any potential problem and that there will be no more invasive overlooking issues than have yet occurred from the houses and office already much closer to the site.

Colson Road view of Knollys House

With regard to residents being overlooked, we also foresee this would not pose a  major problem and we have concluded the fear is probably greater than the reality.  To give some context Oval, Cedar, Colson, Blake, Brickwood and Bissenden Roads are the residential roads closest to the site; predictably, this is where opposition has been most widely canvassed. It is worth remembering, however, that these roads are already closer to the following tall office blocks, Stephenson House, Knollys House, Simpson House, the former Amy Johnson House and, crucially, the NLA tower.

NLA tower from Bissenden Road

 The NLA tower was built in 1970 and is 24 storeys high. Residents in that part of East Croydon would have had this view for the past 41 years. It can be assumed that anyone who has chosen to purchase a property in the past 41 years has taken the view that the NLA tower is already there and they must have decided that its presence was not of material concern to them.

It does beg the question as to why these same residents are being whipped into a frenzy regarding overlooking and loss of privacy? Or is it the case that this is simply being used as a basis to object to the application even though there will be very little real loss of privacy?

A greater insight into overlooking is appreciated from living in a high-rise than from living beneath one. The views from the upper parts of the twelve storey Cumberland Court residential flats in Cross Road demonstrates that the eye is drawn out further from the immediate surroundings and that all detail immediately down below becomes small and insignificant. Panoramic far distant views are always much more interesting and easier viewing than drawing room windows far below. From the upper parts of a 53 storey residential tower it can be concluded that the risk of overlooking and loss of privacy become very difficult arguments to maintain.