Dear #SaveShirley resident,

I’m sure like us you feel in the dark about what’s going on after we all joined forces to let the Council know how we felt about their disastrous plans for Shirley.

It was around this time last year we got wind of their plans and rallied support to respond to their ‘consultation’, something they were hoping would go under the radar.

So, we suppose it will be no surprise to hear they are up to their old tricks. Only this time we have learnt they are planning to ignore the 4,000 objections Shirley residents made in October to oppose the plans.

The Council is intending to rubber stamp Croydon Local Plan (CLP2) at this Monday’s Full Council Meeting – that’s right Monday 5 December. There’s a reason why they’ve not informed us residents who these plans will affect for many years to come.

We’re intending to turn up and let Councillor Butler know that we’re still not happy with her plans. Plans that she never consulted with us, even though she agreed publicly to hold a meeting with Shirley residents.

This will be another opportunity to show the Council the strength of feeling in our community about some of the policies within that plan before it goes to the planning inspectorate.

We know many of you have attended previous meetings on this subject and I hope many of you will feel it appropriate to attend once more.

Here are the details of the meeting (arrive at 6.15pm Mon 5 Dec):

The Council Chamber
Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon
CR0 1NX

Full Council Agenda:
https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=39&cmte=COU&grpid=public&arc=1

For campaign news and updates:
www.saveshirley.co
#SaveShirley

Please come and support us at the Council meeting on Monday night (17th Oct).

Once again, we need to pack the public gallery with residents as we enter the final stages of the ongoing battle we’re having with the council over the Croydon Local Plan (CLP) and the devastating effect it will have on our local area.

We will again be making our objections to the Council, as this is our last chance to object to these policies, which if implemented, will have a serious and detrimental effect on Shirley over the coming years.

If you haven’t yet put your objection in to the revised local plan, you can use our template: http://www.mo-ra.co/urgent-croydon-local-plan-clp-objection-letter-template/ (Note: Objections must be received by the council before midnight 17th Oct 2016).

We’re not done yet and neither is the Council, if they get away with this then they’ll be back for more of our green spaces, back gardens and will knock down more houses to put blocks of flats in their place.

We will be meeting outside the Council Chamber at 6pm.

Here are the details of the meeting:

The Council Chamber
Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon
CR0 1NX

6.00pm: Meet outside council chamber.
6.30pm: Council Meeting starts.
The Croydon Debate is Agenda item 7.

Full Council Agenda:
https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=38&cmte=COU&grpid=public&arc=1

For campaign news and updates:
www.saveshirley.co
#SaveShirley

Do you want to wake up and look out of your window at a block of flats?  I guess not.

That’s why we need you to attend the Council meeting on Monday 18 July 2016 at Croydon Town Hall. This is our last chance to show the Council we still want changes to the plans before they are agreed and sent to the planning inspectorate.

So please make time to attend. The Croydon Local Plan will determine the amount new houses and flats that are to be built in Shirley over the next 20 years, once approved there’s no turning back.

We attended the last Council meeting and along with hundreds of you who joined us, we listened to the leaders of the Council tell us the Croydon Local Plan is about strengthening local communities and protecting family homes. Alison Butler, Deputy Leader told us: “Listening to the community is a much better way of working.”

But we know this isn’t true. The council’s original plans for Shirley included plans to replace our homes with blocks of flats and build on our green spaces. Had we not got together as a community with a single voice, they would have concreted over where we live.

And while people power has had a major impact, we need to keep up the fight. The area for intensification is still too large and we are demanding the Council reduce it even further. There are still too many residential roads that will face planning blight as developers knock down our houses and replace them with blocks of flats.

The plans are wholly unacceptable – they are not fit for purpose will gradually change the face of the area. We demand the Council scrap the intensification plans for Shirley.

Come and join us. We will be meeting outside the Council Chamber at 6pm, and will be letting Croydon Councillors know exactly what we think about their plans. We will have 30 minutes to ask questions.

Here are the details of the meeting:

The Council Chamber
Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon
CR0 1NX

6.00pm: Meet outside council chamber.
6.30pm: Council Meeting starts.
Public Questions (30 minutes) is Agenda item 7 (Items 1-4 are procedural items).

Full Council Agenda:
https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=37&cmte=COU&grpid=public&arc=1

For campaign news and updates:
www.saveshirley.co
#SaveShirley

Dear Shirley residents,

Due to your support of the Save Shirley campaign we’ve had some success with the Council’s Local Pan. The area of intensification has been reduced with Ridgemount and Wickham Avenue taken out of the plans.

The two sites identified as suitable for Gypsy Traveller sites have been reclassified. The old nursery will be used for growing fruit and vegetables and Coombe Farm designated as housing.

Which is great news and shows that when residents come together with a single voice we can change things.

However, it’s not all-good news. The Council is still intent on designating the Metropolitan Open Land around Shirley Oaks, allowing back garden developments and building blocks of flats in parts of Shirley. We’ve already seen the start of this with recent planning applications approved in Orchard Avenue, Orchard Way, Wickham Road and the houses and flats that are going up in Gladeside.

The plans are due to get signed off at the Council Cabinet meeting on Monday 11 July. So, we need to be out in force and then again on Monday 18 July when the signed off plans are presented to the full council meeting.

Once this happens, the plans are then sent to the planning inspectorate and we have six weeks from 5 September 2016 to lodge complaints to change their mind.  Full details and changes can be downloaded from the council website:

https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=49&cmte=CAB&grpid=public&arc=1

Now we need your support again. We need hundreds of you to fill the meeting and get vocal about our local area.

Come and join us. We will be meeting outside the Council Chamber at 6pm, and will be letting Croydon Councillors know exactly what we think about their plans.

So, please bring friends, families, neighbours and banners. But most importantly bring yourselves and your voices. We need to be heard.

Here are the details of the meeting:

The Council Chamber
Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon
CR0 1NX

6.00pm: Meet outside council chamber.
6.30pm: Cabinet Meeting starts. Croydon Local Plan is Agenda item 7 (Items 1-5 are procedural items).
We can leave the meeting once Agenda item 7 is concluded, but you can stay on to the end if you wish.

For campaign news and updates:
www.saveshirley.co
#SaveShirley

 

Below are the key changes to the Croydon Local Plan and the new map of the areas identified for intensification.

• Reduction of Areas of focussed intensification proposed around Shirley Road Shopping Parade and Shirley Local Centre (Policy DM35).
• Site 128 Land at Poppy Lane – designated Residential development
• Site 502 Coombe Farm, Oaks Road re-designated – Residential development so long as the development has no greater footprint, volume or impact on openness on the Metropolitan Green Belt than the existing buildings on the site
• Place-specific policies for Shirley Local Centre, the area between 518 and 568 Wickham Road and the area of Wickham Road Shopping Parade (Policy DM47)
• Addington Palace and Shirley Windmill are new designated Landmarks (Policy SP4)
• Land at Shirley Oaks to be removed from Metropolitan Open Land as it does not meet the criteria for this designation, with some of the land being re-designated as Local Green Space instead
• A minor extension of Green Belt to include The Bridle Road (Policy SP7)
• New Neighbourhood Centres at Shirley Road and Spring Park/Bridle Road (Policy DM6)
• Amendments to the Shopping Parade at Bywood Avenue (Policy DM7)
• New Local Green Spaces at Glade Wood, Land to rear of Honeysuckle Gardens, Millers Pond, Parkfields Recreation Ground, Peabody Close playing field and allotments, St John’s Church, Shirley Oaks playing field and wood, Shirley Recreation Ground and Spring Park Wood, (Policy DM27)
• New Sites of Nature Conservation Importance at Shirley Park Golf Course, the grounds of Heathfield House and Temple Avenue Copse (Policy DM28)

New proposed Intensification Area