The Times, in its Thursday edition, printed a story about Minerva (the property company that owned Allders); seeming Minerva is funding Croydon Council's fight against the Whitgift shopping centre expansion plans proposed by Minerva's rivals, who own the Whitgift.
Minerva is paying the six figure costs of legal fees incurred by the council, at a planning inquiry into the expansion of the Whitgift shopping centre.
The owners of Whitgift are appealing against the council's decision not to approve plans to extend the shopping centre. The extension is called Bishops Court 2.
The council is reported to back the rival project called Park Place, which is proposed by Minerva.
The Times summarises the schemes as follows:
Bishops Court 2: (proposed by the owners of the Whitgift shopping centre) Plans to redevelop the site, where an Allders department store is located, with a 495,563 sq ft shopping centre.
Park Place: (proposed by Minerva) Plans to build a new shopping centre with 1.08 million sq ft of shops, restaurants and cafés on an Allders department store site and adjoining sites.
To my view, this must surely raise reservations about the council's independence.
As ever, the citizens of Croydon are left wondering when the creeping blight emanating from the town centre will be eradicated.
In my view, we are not being well served.
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