The green fields at the bottom of Gravel Hill between the Addington Interchange and Huntingfield/Falconwood Road are under threat again. This time, it’s from housing rather than a supermarket. Developer Persimmon has added the land to its list of potential sites after deciding it has a chance of getting planning permission from our Labour Council.

A threat to our greenbelt?

Look overleaf for more details

What is being proposed?

Persimmon haven’t submitted a planning application yet, but we know from conversations with their PR company SP Broadway that they are looking at several hundred properties. Our new Labour Council has made it clear that it would expect at least 30% of these homes to be council homes.

Could this get planning permission?

It shouldn’t. The site is Green Belt and your local MP Gavin Barwell and your three local councillors Jason Cummings, Margaret Mead and Andy Stranack are all opposed to any development.

However any decision would be taken not by them but by Croydon Council’s Planning Committee. With the Council having changed hands in May, Labour have six of the ten members of this committee. Addington Residents Association has written to the new Leader of the Council, Tony Newman, asking for reassurance that any application would be rejected by the Council; worryingly he refused to give such an assurance. Even worse, Sarah Jones, the Labour candidate seeking to defeat Gavin Barwell, recently told a Labour meeting “We need to be brave and build in places people might not want us to”.

What can you do?

When an application is submitted, we will need as many as people as possible to formally object. But we don’t want to wait for that to happen. That’s why we’re collecting a petition to show the Council how strongly people feel about protecting our Green Belt.

Sign the petition on: www.gavinbarwell.com/GreenBeltThreatPromoted by Ian Parker on behalf of Croydon Conservative Federation, both at 36 Brighton Road, Purley, CR8 2LG. Printed by OPT Complete Print Solutions Ltd, Trend House, 58 Coulsdon Road, Coulsdon, Surrey, CR5 2LA

Read more on my blog:www.gavinbarwell.com