Cane Hill development

Barratt Homes have been chosen as the preferred development partner for the regeneration of the Cane Hill site by Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Croydon Council to deliver a residential-led, mixed-use scheme that will integrate this derelict site with the surrounding area and strengthen links to Coulsdon town centre. Click here for the full announcement.

This will be the start of a lengthy process to develop a masterplan that will encompass both Cane Hill and Coulsdon town centre and your OCRA committee will be part of these discussions. If you have views on the subject, please let us know so that they can be passed on.

157A Coulsdon Road

Planning Issues

There has been activity on the planning front – more details on our Planning page and on the front page of the Croydon Advertiser on 6th January – click here to read story.

123-125 Waddington Avenue - permission has been granted after appeal for the construction of 10 houses on the site. There will be two detached houses on the road, and a side road on which there will be eight semi detached houses.

115-121 Waddington Avenue - another application has been made for permission to build one detached house and six semi detached houses – click here for the site plan. This involves demolishing no. 121 and building in the back gardens of 115-121. This has been rejected before and we are continuing to oppose it.

157A Coulsdon Road - an application has been made for a Day Nursery for 33 children on the site of the empty doctor's surgery. We are concerned about traffic at this busy junction with parents dropping off small children.

Congratulations to Mike Bonsier MBE

Mike addressing the OCRA Autumn Meeting in November

Mike Bonsier, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Coulsdon Sixth Form College has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to Education.

Mike has been a governor at the College in its various guises since 1971 and has been Chair of Governors since 1982. He lived in Placehouse Lane and attended the school himself as a youth.

Mike has worked in Local Government as a Civil Engineer, progressing to Assistant Director (Civil Engineering). After 32 years in local government he took early retirement and became a self-employed Consultant Civil Engineer working throughout the UK .

Mike's other public service interests are as President of the Old Purleians Association, Chair of Theatre Workshop Coulsdon and Chair of Ben's Educational Trust.

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Recycling

Croydon Council are planning to close the Neighbourhood Recycling Centre in Tudor Rose car park in w/c 2nd January 2012. The reason given is “The landowners of the site are redeveloping the area where the site is located and, after many years of the site being there, they are unwilling to host one once the work is completed due to issues surrounding fly tipping and attracting unsocial behaviour.” An alternative location is being sought and meanwhile the closest is Lion Green Road car park in Coulsdon.

Stop Press 22nd January: It's still there!

Waste Collection

The collection dates for the next month are:

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Coulsdon Common

You may have noticed that contractors have repaired the junctions at Stites Hill Road, Coulsdon Road and Homefield Road by relaying the stone sets marking the edge of the roads and installing wooden posts to prevent future damage by turning vehicles.

For more information on What's New on the local commons, click here.

Dog Owners

The City of London Open Spaces Committee have signed an agreement with the Kennel Club, promoting responsible dog control - another example of partnership working for the benefit of all our visitors to our open spaces. Click here for details of the agreement.

London Green Belt Council

There were some interesting items discussed at the recent Meetings and also sourced from other correspondence dealing with the work of The London Green Belt Council (LGBC).

For those who may not be aware, the object of the LGBC is to preserve and extend the Green Belt. The government has indicated quite clearly that they have no intention of weakening their commitment to the Green Belt and they will maintain Green Belt protection.

The Green Belt serves five purposes:

1. To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas.

2. To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another.

3. To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment.

4. To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns

5. To assist in urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban lands.

There are certain forms of development which are not inappropriate in Green Belt, provided they preserve the openness of the Green Belt and do not conflict with the purposes of existing Green Belt land. They are:

1. Mineral extraction

2. Engineering operations

3. Local transport infrastructure which can demonstrate a requirement for a Green Belt location.

4. The re-use of buildings, provided that they are of permanent and substantial construction, and are capable of reconstruction

Here is a quote from the National Trust Chairman Sir Simon Jenkins: “Land cannot be a curb on housing when there are permissions in developers land banks for 330,000 unbuilt houses not to mention 750,000 lying empty, a majority for more than six months. Builders are not interested in so-called brownfield sites because they are less desirable. Building on green fields is more profitable with the State often having to supply the infrastructure.“

There are a number of areas covered by the LGBC with attempted development on the Green Belt. Fortunately, there are no major areas, at present, in the London Borough of Croydon.

Gas Works in Hartley Hill

Work to replace gas mains started on 21st November 2011 at the Hartley Old Road end of Hartley Hill and will continue to Old Lodge Lane for anything between 8 and 14 weeks. At some stage traffic lights will be in operation as a safety measure.

We advise residents who use Hartley Hill to avoid this route from this date.

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Bradmore Green Library Campaign

Croydon Council have decided to work with Wandsworth Council to attempt to find ways to reduce the cost of the Library service and are obtaining tenders to take over the combined Library services of the two boroughs currently.

In a decision which will alarm campaigners against library closures, the appeal against Brent Council's plans to close six libraries in their borough has been turned down by the appeal judges.

The key words in the ruling announced on 19th December were "Given the scale of the spending reductions the council was required to make and the information available following earlier studies, a decision that the library service should bear a share of the reduction was not, in my judgement, unlawful."

The case may be taken to the Supreme Court for one last appeal.

A summary has been added to the What's Happening page.

Ongoing issues

For information on ongoing issues and topics, please go to the What's Happening page.

Current items:

Bradmore Green Library

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OCRA Road Stewards

We need a road steward to cover Shirley Avenue and the situation is getting urgent as the next Newsletter will be published in February.

Can you help us by becoming a road steward?

The job of road steward is not too onerous – we ask you to deliver our Newsletters to around 50 houses three times a year and to collect the £2.00 subscription in March. You might consider sharing the job with a friend or neighbour.

If you would like to know more or would like to become a road steward please telephone or text Membership Secretaries Alan and Marion on 07538 792812.

OCRA 75th Anniversary

This is our 75th birthday year, celebrating the anniversary of the founding of OCRA in 1936, and your committee arranged some special events.

Special Events

• On 2nd July we held a “Guess the Year” Photo Competition on our stall at the Rotary Village Fair and launched our new book – see below.

• On 20th July, our birthday, we held a talk, followed by an walk around Old Coulsdon.

• On 30th September we held a Gala Dinner at Coulsdon Court Hotel with a Murder Mystery.

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OCRA BOOK

OCRA 1936 – 2011
Celebrating 75 years
of service to the community

• Our new book was published on 2nd July 2011 covering the history of Old Coulsdon over the last 75 years. It's an excellent read, full of colour photos of Old Coulsdon today and black & white photos of the same scenes from long ago.

• Copies are available for £3.00 from OCRA and local outlets.

• Contact Brian Udell on 020 8407 1532 for your copy delivered free.

OCRA on Facebook

Don't forget that you can follow OCRA on Facebook to keep up-to-date with the news and chat to other local people about issues that concern you.

Just click on the Find us on Facebook logo below and type OCRA in the search box.

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