Background and original plans

The Queen's Hotel was built in the 1850s as an L-shaped building in generous grounds. It is part of the legacy of the Crystal Palace, and many visitors to the Palace stayed there. Over the years, parts have been demolished, built on and modified. A lot of the surrounding land has been sold off for development (including Fitzroy and Wakefield Gardens). But the heart of the building is still there.

These are locally listed buildings in a conservation area so are supposed to be protected from further demolition. But they are now at risk.

Most people see the hotel from Church Road so only see the front section. Few people are aware that the building goes a long way back from Church Road. The hotel is the set of light-coloured buildings in an L shape in this picture, plus the mews buildings at the bottom left. Most of these buildings are from the original hotel and have been there for over 160 years. Extensions at the top/left were added in the 1970s.

What's wrong with the hotel's plans?

We disagree with the massive size of the development

The plan is still for 530 rooms — nearly 60% more than at present, more than any major hotel that opened in London last year. More than the 28-storey Park Lane Hilton. For comparison, the average size of a Travelodge is around 75 rooms. Premier Inns average around 85. A hotel this huge needs services, deliveries and staff accommodation, but there is little mention in the plans of how the hotel will manage this impact on the local area. This unpopular proposal will overwhelm both the hotel’s original 1850s buildings and our 1960’s estate. Despite the scale, customers will be crammed in. Many rooms won’t even have windows.

In order to increase the size of the hotel this much, the extensions will dominate and negatively impact the neighbouring streets.

We’re concerned for local heritage

The hotel is in a conservation area, which is supposed to be protected. The plans claim to celebrate the front of the hotel on Church Road but, even there, simple things like new windows not lining up with original ones suggest lack of respect for heritage. Much of the rest of the site is marked for demolition as “poor quality”. That’s not how we see it. For us, the Victorian hotel buildings are part of what’s special about our streets. Our 1960s estate is carefully woven between hotel buildings that saw the heyday of the Crystal Palace. We welcome the fact that an 1850s stable block is no longer going to be demolished, but the new plan to use to for hotel accommodation raises new concerns for residents.

These buildings are part of the legacy of the Crystal Palace. We should be thinking very carefully about whether we need to destroy them for this very ordinary hotel project.

We’re worried about the impact on our community

Companies associated with the hotel are buying up houses on our streets. We don’t know why they’re doing this, but our close, family-oriented neighbourhood risks becoming dominated by the Hotel. There’s little to reassure us in the proposed plans. We feel that the Hotel sees the place where we live as overspill parking, staff quarters and a location for its emergency housing business.

Detailed Plans and Relevant Council and GLA Documents

185 documents were submitted as part of the planning application, some split into several parts. To help you understand the plans, we have consolidated some of the larger documents into single documents.

Plans
Design and Access Statement (see also September 2017 addendum). Shows how the plan has developed and how the council has already responded.
Heritage Statement (revised September 2017 to include addendum on page 24).
Sequential Assessment. The outdated rationale behind locating this development where it is.

You can also see the full list of documents on the Croydon Council website.

Croydon Council documents

The Planning Officer and the Planning Committee will consider how these plans match their own policies. It would be good to read these before you write your letter:

The below link has not yet been formally adopted, but it 'might' carry some relevance according to the Planning Officer:

Croydon Local Plan Detailed Proposed Policies

GLA document

The London Plan

“I share residents’ concerns about aspects of the Queen's Hotel development proposal. It's important the redevelopment does not have a negative impact on residents living nearby. I hope the developers will listen to local people and change their proposals, but if they won't I will be supporting residents in winning changes through the planning process."

Steve Reed MP, Croydon North

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