Residents are concerned about the following notice posted by Croydon Council on 7th July 2022.

Notice of proposed disposal

We are giving notice that we plan to dispose of an area of public open space. This is the land at Coulsdon Manor Hotel, and the adjoining golf course and accommodation at Coulsdon Court Road, CR5 2LL.

The area we are proposing to sell is roughly 590,161 square metres of land.

View a plan showing the approximate location of the land (PDF, 15.7MB) by clicking here.

View the full notice (PDF, 67KB) by clicking here.

How to comment or object

Please email your grounds for objection to Stephen Wingrave, Interim Head of Estates at estates.assets@croydon.gov.uk.

These need to be received by midday on Friday 22 July 2022.

 

Margaret Bird our local councillor has advised us the following:-

We have included covenants for the main golf course so that it has to be retained as a public course.

“that the part of the Property known as Coulsdon Golf Course shown edged red on the Plan is to be forever used and retained as a public golf course and then the Transferee shall provide an 18 hole golf course, public practice ground, public putting green for use by daily players and season ticket holders”

The area where the hotel, squash courts and car park are currently located can be redeveloped but this is in line with the covenants and rights already granted in the long lease  that the purchasers already have (they have the right to extend the hotel). We have secured suitable overage provisions whereby if there is any redevelopment of this area, the Council will be paid an additional amount based on the added value.

The existing public footpaths and access to the cottages (not included in the sale) are also protected.

Once we have sold the asset, the purchasers could sell on to a developer but these covenants will run with the land and therefore development on the golf course cannot take place without our prior agreement.

The 4 houses the other side of the car park are remaining in Council ownership.

 

HADRA’s concerns are:-

  1. How will the covenants be enforced by the council? Currently the planning department does not take into account covenants when deciding planning applications and it is up to whom own the covenant to enforce them. If it is the council will there not be a conflict in interest with potential further income from CIL monies?
  2. The access road from Coulsdon Road to Coulsdon Manor also serves to access Coulsdon Court Road and should not be sold off to private ownership.
  3. The area of woodland and the access path to Old Lodge Lane should also not be sold off to private ownership but retained as public land for use by the local community for recreation space, natural greenspace, presence of protected species and biodiversity value. A lot of locals, particularly dog walkers, use the public footpath across the golf course to access the woods.

HADRA will comment and object to the council on this basis, and residents are encouraged to do the same in their own words.