Policy information sourced from the Croydon Local Plan

DM19: Providing and Protecting Community Facilities

DM19.1:

The Council will permit the loss of existing community facilities where:

  • It can be demonstrated that there is no need for the existing premises or land for a community use and that it no longer has the ability to serve the needs of the community;
  • The existing use is located on the ground floor within a Main Retail Frontage, a Secondary Retail Frontage, a Shopping Parade or a Restaurant Quarter Parade; or
  • Community facilities for a specific end user (either on site or off site as part of a comprehensive redevelopment) that meet current or future needs are provided.

DM19.2:

The Council will support applications for community use where the proposals:

  • Include buildings which are flexible, adaptable, capable of multi-use and, where possible, enable future expansion;
  • Comply with the criteria for D1 class uses in industrial locations set out in Table 5.1;
  • Are accessible to local shopping facilities, healthcare, other community services and public transport or provides a community use in a location and of a type that is designed to meet the needs of a particular client group; and
  • Are for a use that is a town centre use, as defined by the National Planning Policy Framework, are located within Croydon Metropolitan Centre or a District or Local Centre, have no more than 280m2 of floor space (net) and are in the vicinity of a Neighbourhood Centre, or are a change of use of an existing unit in a Shopping Parade.

For more information please see the Local Plan