A Public Inquiry is being held on Tuesday 26 February - Friday 1 March at Croydon Town Hall, Katharine St, Croydon, CR0 1NX .
The Fitzroy Wakefield Residents Association has been granted Rule 6 Status and will present its own legal arguments as to why the schemes should not be granted approval at this stage.
Thank you again to everyone who objected and/or came to the meeting itself. We are making a difference, and insisting on a better scheme for Crystal Palace. If you want to watch the meeting itself, you can do here: https://croydon.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/358508
We were made aware at that meeting however that the applicant has appealed the decision to refuse planning permission last October. The appeal has not yet been validated by the Planning Inspectorate, but we will keep you posted about what we can do to ensure that the decision is not overturned.
The Queen's Hotel scheme will be considered by the Planning Committee on Thursday 21 June , 6.30 pm ,at the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX:
https://goo.gl/maps/PC9KXLR8N5k
Please join us there , along with local Cllrs and our GLA member and show the Planning Committee how many people object to this scheme. It makes a huge difference when a large number attend, so we hope you can make it, despite the short notice.
Nearly 300 objections were submitted when the Queens Hotel put forward their huge expansion plans last year: in October 2017 the application was refused by Croydon Planning Committee. The grounds for refusal centred on issues of overdevelopment - including the failure of the expansion to either enhance or preserve the Church Road Conservation Area - and how the impact on traffic and local parking issues that the proposed intensity of use would bring had not been adequately addressed.
In spite of the refusal of last year's application, and in spite of local residents' continued request to developers that the scale of expansion is significantly reduced, a 2nd application - still huge - has now been submitted.
View the 2nd planning application.
The main change to last year's proposal is that two of the three rear spine blocks have each lost a storey. This means that the rear part of the proposed hotel would tower over neighbouring houses slightly less than before. The majority of the blocks proposed are still between 4-6 storeys.
It comes as no surprise that the developers would focus on this part of the scheme. It allows them to claim that they have listened to the local community during their 'extensive' consultation, and that this reduction in storeys is an 'appropriate' response to the concerns - regarding height and massing - of those who live closest.
As far as the rest of Crystal Palace is concerned, the reduction in height of two of the rear blocks does little to alter the impact a hotel of this size and scale would have on the area. The proposed hotel is still too big for its location, inadequate attention continues to be paid to the negative impact it would have on local infrastructure, and the design - similar to before - will neither enhance nor preserve the Church Road Conservation Area.
Last year's proposal increased the current hotel by 60%. The new proposal increases the current hotel by just under 50%. Hotels of the proposed size are usually located next door to an airport or music venue. Crystal Palace has neither of these things and this site has a PTAL rating (Public Transport Accessibility Level) of just 2/3. A hotel of this size does not belong in SE19.
We do not see that any significant change has been made to last year's refused application.
Last year's proposed number of rooms was 530, the new application is proposing 495 rooms. Comparing the two sets of plans it can be seen that the real reduction is from 530 to 508. The remaining reduction is due to the loss of internal walls: developers have simply created bigger rooms to take the number of rooms under 500 and to make the hotel sound less huge. The footprint remains almost exactly the same as before: many rooms are still underground, and there are still many rooms without windows. The actual reduction in the number of rooms - from last year's refused scheme - is just 6%.
A multi-storey underground car park is still proposed. Last year's scheme offered 170 spaces for cars and 18 spaces for vans. The new application proposes 194 spaces for cars (including 21 accessible spaces) and 13 spaces for vans. There will be a charge to hotel guests for using the car park. This, as before, will encourage hotel guests to seek free parking elsewhere.
Last year's application proposed 3 coach parking spaces at the front of the hotel; the new application proposes 5 coach parking spaces. How the arrivals/departures of the number of coaches required to fill a hotel this size will be managed has not yet been comprehensively explained by the developers. The frequent manoeuvring of coaches in and out of the hotel is likely to cause further congestion on the already congested Church Road.
Some external changes have been made to the hotel's design, intended to make the blocks at the front and the rear appear more attractive and less block-like. These changes include recessing and changes to window design. Despite these changes, the overall proposal cannot be seen to respect the heritage of the Queens Hotel, and cannot be seen to either enhance or preserve the Church Road Conservation Area in which it sits.
We continue to support improvement of the Queens Hotel, and continue to tell developers that we are not against expansion. But it is for all the reasons above that we oppose this latest application, and continue to request that developers reduce their expansion plans significantly in future applications.
If you share concerns about the negative impact a hotel of this size will have on the local area, you can make an objection. The deadline for objections is Thursday 23 March 2018.
The application reference is 18/00831/FUL and you can object by Making a Comment on the Croydon Council website
or by email at development.management@croydon.gov.uk
or by post to Development Management, 6th Floor, Zone A, Bernard Weatherill House, 8 Mint Walk, CR0 1EA
Please see How to Object if you would like guidance on how to make an objection.
The deadline for objections is 23 March 2018
If you would like more information, please email fitzroywakefield@googlegroups.com