PLANS to pull down former council HQ Taberner House and replace it with flats have been revised to include more affordable homes and an expanded Queen's Gardens.
Previous proposals to build 420 flats, drawn up in November last year, were criticised because only 15 per cent were affordable and the development encroached on to one of the few remaining green spaces in Croydon town centre.
The now Labour-led council took the plans back to the drawing board and has doubled the proportion of affordable homes to 30 per cent, while extending Queen's Gardens by 1,040 sq m.
The new plan will see the 1960s office block, which is currently being demolished floor by floor, replaced with four blocks, one fewer than in the previous scheme.
The council will take control of the second phase of the development, retaining ownership of the 190 homes it will create. It will hold on to 30 per cent for new affordable council homes and sell the remaining units.
Alison Butler, cabinet member for homes and regeneration, said the new plan would provide much-needed affordable homes while protecting Queen's Gardens from "overdevelopment".
Dudley Mead, the shadow cabinet member for homes, said the site was unsuitable for family housing and questioned how the new plan would be funded.
The initial 32-storey tower, containing 230 private rented sector homes, granted planning permission in May, will remain the same.
The second phase, of three blocks, will be subject to a new planning application and business case. The public report revealing details of the new proposals, set to be approved at cabinet on Monday, does not contain details of how it will be funded.
Of the 420 flats on the development, 126 will be classed as affordable, either through attainable rents or shared ownership.
Those retained by the council will be used to house people on the authority's waiting list.
Cllr Butler said: "Having ownership of the second phase of development gives the council far greater control over the scheme than under the previous plans.
"We're pleased that the revised plans will include more affordable housing – a major priority for this administration – and protect Queen's Gardens from overdevelopment.
"We want to ensure that Queen's Gardens is a vibrant green space where families go to spend their free time."
Cllr Mead welcomed the increase in affordable housing but said they were in the wrong location.
He said: "I'm in favour of a reasonable percentage of affordable housing providing it doesn't jeopardise the commercial deal but, personally, I don't think [the Taberner House site] is the place to have family accommodation.
"I know some of the flats will have three-bedrooms but there will be relatively little play space. My policy always was to take the largest amount of money from developers and to put council housing in a more suitable area – preferably houses with gardens."
Cllr Mead said expanding Queen's Gardens was "good" but the "trade-off" was a tall main tower which would be "extremely prominent" compared to the "much-loved" listed Town Hall in Katharine Street.
Details of how the revised plan would be funded are in a confidential document due to be discussed following Monday's meeting, though Cllr Mead said the facts are difficult to decipher.
"I've looked at the report and it doesn't tell you very much," he said. "[Labour] has a policy of being transparent, but this is so opaque you can't understand it."
