Updated 06/05/2019
Many of you will have seen the presentation by the council and consultants at the AGM. What follows is an explanation as to why the plan has been initiated, with links to the council’s website.
The Kenley Community Plan is a council project to review and improve the community facilities within Kenley. The idea is that the new housing schemes being proposed for Kenley generate contributions from the developers (called S106 and CIL monies). A chunk of this money is then used to improve the community facilities of the local area so that the area is better able to support the increased housing.
The council and the GLA have engaged an architectural consultancy, AOC, which has carried out random interviews with local residents and ‘stakeholders’ in and around Kenley. Its purpose is to find out what residents like about living in Kenley and what they see as issues. They will then make recommendations as to how the local area can be improved in terms of infrastructure and amenities. AOC say they are independent of the Council, although paid for by them.
See the plan on Croydon Council’s website
Kendra intends to “assist and facilitate” this “council owned” initiative. However, planning issues are at the top of residents’ concerns about Kenley’s future and it’s not unreasonable to view the council’s motives to with a degree of suspicion, given their attitude to planning applications.
The council’s statement that ‘Together we will create a community plan to guide the way that Kenley evolves and prioritise what the community needs’ should be balanced by ‘the shortage of housing in London and the Southeast, more homes are being built across Croydon and this increased growth is likely to continue in the future.’ The pressure to increase the density of dwellings in Kenley and across the borough is a long term aim.
HAVE YOUR SAY If you would like to take part in the community plan survey follow the link below:
https://kenleycommunitymap.commonplace.is/comments
or if you have a specific query contact
kenleycommunity@croydon.gov.uk
As Kendra’s Planning officer Geoff James has said in his planning newsletter:
There will be those that form the opinion that no amount of money or improvements can make up for the umpteen blocks of flats that are being proposed and approved for our area. Please be assured that Kendra fully understands and supports these views.
However, whether Kendra (or individual residents) choose to support the community plan or refuse to have anything to do with it will not stop the numerous planning applications and the resulting blocks of flats.The community plan provides a means for us to shape those planning applications and receive improvements to our our area that we desperately need.
(The above text was taken from Kendra’s planning newsletter – sign up here for up regular updates)