Meetings between the Mayor, councillors and officers with developers Polaska

The request was partially successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

On June 14 2023, the Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, announced that the Purley Leisure Centre, adjoining car park and vacant supermarket site are to be redeveloped by a company called Polaska.

1, Please provide details (dates, location, all attendees) of all meetings held between Polaska or its director, Paul Andrews, since January 2022 that have been attended by:

a) Mayor of Croydon
b) the former council leader
c) other cabinet members or councillors
d) council officers from the planning department (including pre-app meetings)
e) other members of council staff (please specify by name, role and department, as appropriate)

2, Please provide details of the date when the lease for the Purley Leisure Centre Site site (including the car park and supermarket) was divested by the London Borough of Croydon, what price was achieved and the name of the party which acquired it.

3, Please provide the report (or links to the report) of the "best value" exercise conducted for the sale of the Purley Leisure Centre site.

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

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DEAR S Downes

 

Freedom of information request - FOI/7718

 

Subject: Meetings between the Mayor, councillors and officers with
developers Polaska

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Information Management Team

 

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

 

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

Dear S Downes

Request FOI/7718

Further to your request received on 15/06/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. Specifically, you have requested the following information:

"Dear Croydon Borough Council,

On June 14 2023, the Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, announced that the
Purley Leisure Centre, adjoining car park and vacant supermarket site are
to be redeveloped by a company called Polaska.

1, Please provide details (dates, location, all attendees) of all meetings
held between Polaska or its director, Paul Andrews, since January 2022
that have been attended by:

a) Mayor of Croydon

b) the former council leader

c) other cabinet members or councillors

d) council officers from the planning department (including pre-app
meetings)

e) other members of council staff (please specify by name, role and
department, as appropriate)

2, Please provide details of the date when the lease for the Purley
Leisure Centre Site site (including the car park and supermarket) was
divested by the London Borough of Croydon, what price was achieved and the
name of the party which acquired it.

3, Please provide the report (or links to the report) of the "best value"
exercise conducted for the sale of the Purley Leisure Centre site."

 

Please find below the departments response to this request. This includes
details of the meetings between the Mayor, senior directors at LBC and
Officers of Polaska Assests Limited. These meetings were held at the
councils' offices.

22 February 23

Corporate Director (SCRER), Director of Culture & Community Safety,
Director of Planning & Sustainable Regeneration, Interim Director of
Commercial Investment and Capital, Officers from Polaska.

 

5 April 23

Mayor, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate Director (SCRER), Director of
Culture & Community Safety, Director of Planning & Sustainable
Regeneration, Interim Director of Commercial Investment and Capital, Head
of Culture, Leisure & Libraries, Officers from Polaska.

 

25 April 23

Corporate Director (SCRER), Director of Culture & Community Safety,
Director of Planning & Sustainable Regeneration, Interim Director of
Commercial Investment and Capital, Programme Manager, Culture & Community
Safety + Officers from Polaska.

 

15 May 23

Corporate Director (SCRER), Director of Culture & Community Safety,
Director of Planning & Sustainable Regeneration, Interim Director of
Commercial Investment and Capital, Head of Culture, Leisure & Libraries
Officers from Polaska.

 

25 May 23

Corporate Director (SCRER), Director of Culture & Community Safety,
Director of Planning & Sustainable Regeneration, Interim Director of
Commercial Investment and Capital, Head of Culture, Leisure & Libraries
Officers, Council comms officers x2, Head of Spatial Planning, Growth Zone
& Regeneration, Regeneration Manager & Officers from Polaska.

 

Additionally,  the council's planning department has held the following
meetings in considering Polaska's development proposals for the Purley
Leisure Centre. 

 

24 November 22

Head of Development Management

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

15 December 22

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

9 February 23

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

27 April 23

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

25 May 23

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

14 June 23

Applications Team Leader, Applications Deputy Team Leader and Deputy Team
Leader - Placemaking

 

Finally, the council is the current freeholder of the site. A head lease
has been granted to Polaska limited which commenced on the 25^th March
1979.  

The terms of that lease and disposal details are commercially sensitive as
the lease terms, including the rights and obligations of both parties, as
well as the disposal price contains commercial terms between the LBC and
the purchase party which are confidential.  We believe this falls within
the section 43(2) of the act which exempts this information's disclosure 

It is important to remember that when information is released under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, it is considered released to the wider
public. In deciding whether to apply this exemption the Council is
expected to balance the public interest test in withholding the
information against the public interest in disclosing the information.

Although there is always a clear case for transparency of council spend
and in informing the public how the council allocates taxpayer’s
resources, the information is considered, by the Council, to be
commercially sensitive as its disclosure would, or would be likely to,
prejudice the commercial interests of the Council, as it is considered
that if the information is disclosed to you it could potentially weaken
the Council ability to obtain value for money in respect of any future
purchases of this type.
 

Please note that the best value report requested was unlikely to have been
produced at the time as the legislation requiring it was not introduced
till 1999, twenty years after the commencement of the lease.  

 

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anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

 

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under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

 

Email:        [2][Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

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Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

 

 

[3][Croydon Borough Council request email]

[4][email address]

 

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