Croydon adds 31 buildings to its disposal list, including Coulsdon Community Centre, the Phoenix Centre and 14 Scout huts. The full list and what it means.
Croydon Council wants to add 31 more buildings and plots of land to its list of property for disposal, and most of them are community buildings. They include Coulsdon Community Centre, the Phoenix Centre in Upper Norwood, Lantern Hall in the town centre and 14 Scout huts and camps.
The plan goes to the Executive Mayor and Cabinet on Wednesday 14 October. It is set out in a report on the council’s strategic assets, published with the meeting papers (Croydon Council, Cabinet report: Strategic Assets and Disposals).
“Disposal” does not always mean a sale on the open market. The council says community centres and Scout buildings would only be offered to the groups already using them. The report says: “If terms cannot be agreed for such assets, they will be retained by the Council.”
The buildings being added
The full schedule is in Appendix C of the report (Consolidated Disposal List). The council has split the 31 new additions into three groups.
Offered to the existing Scout occupier only (14):
- Endeavour Hall, Norbury Crescent Scout Hut (Bensham Manor)
- Fourth Drive Scout Hall and Hillars Heath Road Scout Hut (Coulsdon Town)
- Dunley Drive Scout HQ (New Addington North)
- Queen Elizabeth’s Drive TA Hut (New Addington South)
- Farmfields Scout Hall, Farmfields Soakage Field and Kings Walk Scout Hall (Sanderstead)
- Gingerbread Corner Children’s Centre (Selhurst)
- Foxearth Road Scout Hut, behind Selsdon Infant and Junior School (Selsdon and Addington Village)
- Bears Wood Scout Camp (Selsdon Vale and Forestdale)
- Addiscombe Boys and Girls Club (Shirley North)
- Pinewoods Scout Camp (Shirley South)
- Heavers Farm Scout Hut (South Norwood)
The schedule lists Gingerbread Corner and the Addiscombe Boys and Girls Club with the same “existing Scout occupier only” route as the Scout huts.
Talks with the community or current occupier before any route is chosen (12):
- Coulsdon Community Centre (Coulsdon Town)
- Phoenix Centre (Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood)
- Lantern Hall and 132 Church Street (Fairfield)
- 1 Overbury Crescent and 111 Chertsey Crescent (New Addington South)
- Harlow Hall, Stanford Road (Norbury and Pollards Hill)
- 40 Northwood Road (Norbury Park)
- Pavilion 4, Purley Way (Waddon)
- West Thornton Community Centre (West Thornton)
- the community centre on Portland Road, and the Shoestring Theatre, listed as CYTO Theatre (Woodside)
Sale or negotiation, subject to planning, valuation or title checks (5):
- the former disinfecting station on Factory Lane (Broad Green)
- Fairchildes Farm, just over the borough boundary in Tandridge
- Flat 22, Gemini Court, Brighton Road, Purley
- two further parcels at the Merstham quarry and percolate tank site, in Reigate and Banstead
- land at Bishops Walk (Selsdon and Addington Village)
The Executive Mayor, Jason Perry, says in the report that 24 of the 31 additions are community assets. “Our preferred approach is to offer these to their existing occupiers, including community organisations and Scout groups,” he wrote.
How much has already been sold
The council has been selling property since 2021/22 as part of its financial recovery. The report says 38 disposals have now completed.
The figures in the report do not quite agree with each other. The Mayor’s introduction says the 38 disposals raised about £132.27 million. The report’s detail puts £132.27 million on the first 36 sales, up to 31 March 2026, and a further £0.6 million on two sales this year.
The report says most of the valuable, easy-to-sell property has now gone. It forecasts 17 sales this financial year, worth about £12.653 million.
What is already on the list
With the new additions, the programme would cover 80 assets. The 49 already approved include:
- Mayfield Stadium (West Thornton)
- Shirley Tennis Club, and the leases of Shirley Park Golf Club and Addington Court Golf Club
- the Waterside Centre, South Norwood
- Chatsworth Hall and the Tamworth Resource Centre, Fairfield
- Strand House, Zion Road, Thornton Heath, marked “transaction progressing”
- the Alwyn Club, New Addington
- the Cherry Orchard garden centre site, Selhurst
Strand House is where most adult learning classes are moving from the Clocktower this month. The council is separately proposing to hand all CALAT courses to outside providers.
Three sites already on the list are being looked at again:
- 1 to 24 Ramsey Court, because of its community and heritage value
- the former mortuary at 152 Thornton Road, which the council may bring back into use
- land at the former Edgecoombe Community Centre in Selsdon, which is Metropolitan Open Land and may be kept alongside the next-door playground
Cavendish House has been taken off the list. The council will use it for its “Unified Front Door” service instead.
What happens next
If the Cabinet agrees, the final say on how each property is sold, and for how much, would pass to the council’s Corporate Director of Resources. That officer would decide in consultation with the Executive Mayor and the Cabinet Member for Finance.
The report says every asset will get its own business case before anything is marketed. That covers title, current use, planning, valuation and the impact on the community. It also says the council will “engage with” tenants and community groups “at an early stage”.
What it means for you
If you use one of the community buildings above, the group that runs it is the one the council should be talking to. It is worth asking them whether they have heard from the council and whether they want to take the building on.
A transfer to a community group usually brings the repair and running costs with it. The report says the council wants to cut its “ongoing costs”, and that is part of the point.
If you want to speak at the meeting, the agenda and contact details are on the council’s Cabinet page for 14 October. The same meeting will consider the draft 2027/28 budget.
Have your say