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Cressey College Denmark Road South Norwood London SE25 5RE

25/02492/FULFull planning permissionRefused
Full

Refused on 20 October 2025

Council decision: Permission RefusedDelegated (officer decision)2 reasons for refusal

Approximate site (title boundary)
Boundary © HM Land Registry, © Ordnance Survey · details

This information is subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 and is reproduced with the permission of HM Land Registry. The polygons (including the associated geometry, namely x, y co-ordinates) are subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey AC0000851063. Conditions of use.

Proposal

Proposed change of use of existing educational facility (Use Class F1(a)) to a place of worship (Use Class F1(f)), including external alterations comprising new cladding, modifications to fenestration, and associated landscaping works.

Received
28 July 2025
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Ward
Woodside
Agent
Whiteman Architects
  1. Received28 Jul
  2. Validated26 Aug
  3. Consult.21 Sep
  4. Target21 Oct
  5. Decided20 Oct

Decided in 55 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application for a change of use at Cressey College Denmark Road South Norwood London SE25 5RE. Croydon has handled 3,635 applications of this type. This one was decided in 84 days, 4 weeks longer than Croydon's typical decision time. There have been 4 other applications at this address. In the past year there have been 74 applications across Woodside. We hold 1,185 applications in total for the SE25 postcode area.

79% of full applications at London Borough of Croydon were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.See what's approved near your address

Why it was refused

  1. The proposal fails to demonstrate that there is no ongoing or future need for education facilities in the area or that an 18-month marketing exercise has been undertaken. The proposal would therefore be contrary to London Plan Policy S3 and Croydon Local Plan Policy DM19.
  2. The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the proposed place of worship would not harm the residential amenities of nearby properties by reason of noise and general disturbance. The proposal would thereby conflict with Policies D3, D13 and D14 of the London Plan 2021 and Policy DM10 of the Croydon Local Plan 2018. 4 The proposals fail to incorporate acceptable refuse facilities for the users of the building in terms of location, size and servicing arrangements. The proposed development would therefore fail to comply with Policy DM13 of the Croydon Local Plan 2018. 5 The proposed development would not provide acceptable cycle facilities to serve future users, contrary to Policy T5 of the London Plan 2021 and Policy DM30 of the Croydon Local Plan 2018.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
SE25 5RE
Application type
Full planning permission
Scale / size
Small

Planning application dates

Date validated
26 August 2025
Consultation expiry
21 September 2025
Consultation start
29 August 2025
Neighbour consultation start
29 August 2025
Neighbour consultation end
21 September 2025
Target decision date
21 October 2025

Applicant and agent

Agent
Whiteman Architects
Architect profile
WHITEMAN ARCHITECTS LTD
Agent address
7C West St Epsom KT17 1UZ

Planning decision

Statutory period
56 days

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14203155
Comments
0
Documents
14
Constraints
5

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations that overlap or adjoin the site outline.

  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions and tree preservation orders. Ask the council if these matter.

Also checked, none recorded (22)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Croydon

Contains public sector information from the Planning London Datahub, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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