Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Croydon housing scheme at College Green proposes 676 flats, but only 20% are classified as affordable, raising concerns amid London’s housing crisis.
A planning proposal that potentially bring in hundreds of millions of pounds for the developers has been lodged for the land close to the Fairfield Halls and Croydon College, which was formerly owned by Croydon Council through its unsuccessful home-building project, Brick by Brick.
Four years ago, the site was sold for just £20 million by Croydon’s financially strapped council.
The College Green property, which was sold as part of the council’s first asset fire sale, was more often known as what the developers are referring to as “Tapestry Croydon.” 400 homes with a potential “retail value” of over £100 million were previously approved for the site.
Delta Properties has filed this planning proposal, which calls for the construction of 676 build-to-rent residences in three towers of 16, 29, and 42 stories. This is a little higher than what was recommended in their most recent consultation earlier this year, but only 20% of the residences will be “affordable.”
That is far less than the 50% of “genuinely affordable housing” that the London Plan calls for. Additionally, 50% of new developments with ten units or more must be affordable, according to Croydon’s local plan.
The building “completes the final part of the Fairfield Masterplan after years of vacancy and inaccessibility,” the council’s planning application states.
Tapestry will be woven between four other enormous build-to-rent towers: Enclave, a lighter, whiter partner site created for the American real estate company Greystar, and Ten Degrees, Croydon’s counterpart to Mordor’s dark towers. The highest structure in Croydon, which is 49 stories and 489 feet tall, is part of Enclave’s two blocks. Ten Degrees, which was constructed in 2019 and claimed to be the tallest prefab in the world, is 44 stories and 446 feet tall.
According to Delta Properties, a British asset manager and developer, their
“portfolio includes office buildings, retail parks, shopping malls, industrial and logistic centers, and residential-led mixed-use regeneration projects.”
They claim to be working on the project for an Israeli-British company called Croydon Developments Ltd. and refer to Tapestry as “a key puzzle piece of the Fair Field Masterplan opportunity.” Hmm.
They are taking on a site that is not completely simple and that ultimately broke Brick by Brick due to a string of disastrous mismanagements.
The developer uses a “12,500sqft NHS primary care facility,” which is obviously much needed in the area, as a carrot in their pitch for less than the requisite amounts of “affordable” homes. However, it’s unclear if the NHS in Croydon wants or can afford such a facility.
The developers intend to incorporate a nursery or creche, restaurants and cafés,
“upgraded cycle and pedestrian links, promoting sustainable travel,”
and a 13,000-square-foot healthcare facility in addition to the sky-high residences, the majority of which will be rented out at exorbitant prices.
Several problems and worries were brought up with the plan during a pre-app presentation to Croydon council members last fall, which might make the high-velocity wind tunnel on George Street seem like a zephyr.
The perma-shadow between the blocks that were permitted to be constructed on the Queen’s Gardens on the opposite side of Park Lane serves as further evidence of how the towers overshadow any available pockets of open space.
One concerned councillor claims that the build-to-rent apartments at Tapestry will
“lead to expensive luxury flats that local people cannot afford to live in.”
Ten Degrees offers one-bedroom apartments for as little as £1,700 a month.
The council’s planning committee and the mayor of London will now negotiate how to force the developers to produce nearly 340 truly affordable houses.
What is the timeline for final planning approval, and are there opportunities for further public consultation or objection?
The full planning application for the College Green (Tapestry Croydon) development has been submitted and validated by the London Borough of Croydon as of July 21, 2025. The application was preceded by two rounds of public consultation, the second of which took place in spring 2025 to update the community on detailed designs and gather feedback.
Regarding the timeline, the developers aimed to submit the masterplan framework for the area by December 2024 and the detailed planning application between June and December 2025. With the submission now complete, the formal planning review and decision-making process is expected to follow.