The Blight Continues

Those of you who may have hoped that Dingwall Road, the post nuclear wasteland that greets commuters and shoppers in the very heart of Croydon, may finally be on the verge of being developed will have to wait a lot longer.

It is reported that a High Court challenge has been issued by Arrowcroft, the council's preferred developer for the Gateway site, over the granting of planning permission for the Stanhope/Schroder's rival scheme.

Arrowcroft have taken umbridge at the Government's decision to grant permission to Stanhope/Schroder's office-led development.

The Arrowcroft plan includes a 12,500 seat arena, which has become something of a fetish for the council. Needless to say it is quite unecessary for Croydon, and will overburden the already stretched East Croydon station's facilities.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said a challenge had been issued, but its lawyers had only just started examining the papers.

This means that the citizens of Croydon will have to wait even longer, and endure the ongoing decay of the town centre, whilst the lawyers battle it out for who will actually get the right to earn millions from this development.

The solution is simple, the council should ditch the ridiculous idea for a sports arena.

Lunarcy

The Times reports that Croydon's famed/despised carbuncle, Lunar House, may soon be sold to a Greek shipping magnate for redevelopment into an even larger office block.

Whilst money is being spent on building larger office blocks, that doubtless will remain unoccupied, useful shops and amenities such as Beano's (the second hand record shop near Surrey Street market) are closing.

Beano's has been around for 35 years and has been forced to close, not because of the internet but, because Croydon town centre is so crappy these days that people simply do not want to come here to shop.

There is a lesson here somewhere, if Croydon council could be bothered to think about it.