Dear All,
Some good news: Croydon Council has sold the Brick-by-Brick site of 157 homes at Lion Green Road, now known as Red Clover Gardens, for £38m. This is the last of the large Brick by Brick schemes to be sold and brings us one step closer to ending the sorry – and expensive – saga of Labour’s disastrous failed foray into property development in Croydon, which cost us taxpayers tens of millions.
Set up by the previous Labour Council in 2016, Brick by Brick’s estimated losses of around £62m have contributed to the Council’s crippling debt that Labour left behind when they were ejected from office in 2022. The sale of Red Clover Gardens was the last major milestone before the Council takes steps to prepare Brick-by-Brick for liquidation. Of course, it should never have been created in the first place.
The buyer is Regen Capital (who focus on providing affordable housing) and they have bought the freehold of the five blocks. Regen will retain two blocks (72 flats) for private rental or for private sale. The Council will take a long lease on the other three affordable blocks totalling 85 flats, and then sub-let them to a Housing Association. The Housing Association will be responsible for managing the blocks and the tenants whilst the Council retains 100% nomination rights (i.e. the council decides who goes in there) for these affordable flats.
The affordable flats will be used by the Council to offer homes to local residents (this is important) on the Council Housing Register, many of whom will have been living in local temporary accommodation for some years in the area. Residents are expected to start moving in this summer.
A lot of work has gone on to get the best price for the flats and undo the mess that Labour created with this complicated scheme. The £38m sale proceeds will be used to pay down a bit of the £1.6 billion debt that Labour left behind them in Croydon. I’d like to thank Mayor Jason Perry and the local Coulsdon councillors for working to unpick Labour’s mess here as best as they could.
Best wishes,
Chris Philp
