Croydon Council lacks vacancy tracking — Homes England project 2026 

Key Points

• Croydon Council does not operate a single, centralised system to identify and track the borough’s long-term vacant buildings and stalled development sites.
• The council relies on ad hoc methods — returned post, absence of contact from ratepayers, on-the-ground intelligence and inter-departmental communications — to spot empty properties and paused projects.
• Once a vacant property is identified, it is added to a monitoring system and reviewed annually, rather than being tracked proactively.
• Community activist and former independent council candidate Graham Mitchell submitted the Freedom of Information request that revealed the gap, saying: “You can’t manage what you can’t clearly see.”
• The FOI response said there are no internal lists, dashboards or schedules maintained to assess the neighbourhood impact of incomplete projects, leaving senior officers, cabinet members and government-appointed commissioners without a comprehensive borough-wide picture.
• Croydon’s stalled development sites were a prominent issue during the recent local election campaign, with high-profile locations such as the old Nestlé building (St George’s Tower) cited by candidates.
• Mayor Jason Perry has said restarting stalled developments will be a focus of his current term; he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he would continue building relationships with developers and partners to do so.
• Croydon Council says it is taking steps to close the knowledge gap through a Homes England-funded project to identify stalled sites and bring them back into use, and that long-term empty buildings continue to be monitored and reviewed yearly.

Croydon Council (South London News) May 13, 2026 As revealed in a Freedom of Information response obtained by local campaigner Graham Mitchell, Croydon Council currently does not operate a standalone, centralised system to identify and monitor long-term vacant properties or stalled construction projects across the borough. The FOI disclosure said council officers do not maintain consolidated internal lists, dashboards or schedules that would allow decision-makers to assess the neighbourhood impact of incomplete developments.

Why does the council rely on ad hoc methods to identify empty sites?

According to the response to the FOI request, the council’s current approach to identifying unused spaces is piecemeal: staff piece together information from returned post or lack of contact from ratepayers, intelligence gathered on the ground by officers, and exchanges between separate departments, including housing, planning and environmental health. Only after a property is identified through those channels is it added to the council’s monitoring system, and then it is reviewed on an annual basis rather than being tracked proactively.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), community activist Graham Mitchell — who stood as an independent candidate in Bensham Manor ward — submitted the FOI request that exposed the absence of a central tracking process, telling the LDRS:

“You can’t manage what you can’t clearly see.”

Mr Mitchell argued the lack of a borough-wide, joined-up view makes it harder to understand where development is stalling and why, and to prioritise action to revive sites that blight neighbourhoods and delay housing delivery.

How has the issue featured in local politics and campaign promises?

Stalled development sites were a recurring theme during the borough’s recent local election campaign, with candidates across the political spectrum citing slow or paused projects as a source of frustration for residents. Prominent locations mentioned during debates included the old Nestlé factory site — commonly known as St George’s Tower — and other less visible empty plots scattered across Croydon.

Mayor Jason Perry told the LDRS in March that kick-starting work on stalled sites would be a priority for his next four-year term, adding that he would continue building relationships with developers and partners in the town centre to deliver that objective.

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What does the council say it is doing about the gap?

In response to the FOI findings, a Croydon Council spokesperson said the authority is working on a major project, funded by Homes England, that aims to identify stalled sites in Croydon and explore how they can be brought back into use or redeveloped.

The council also stated that it continues to monitor long-term empty buildings, which are reviewed annually to confirm their status, ensure records remain accurate, and support wider regeneration and housing work aimed at returning vacant properties to productive use.

The FOI indicates that without a central register, senior officers, cabinet members and government-appointed commissioners lack a comprehensive assessment of the number, location and impacts of vacant or stalled sites borough-wide.

Campaigners and local observers say that hampers the council’s ability to prioritise action, measure progress and coordinate departments to resolve blockages — ultimately affecting housing delivery and the appearance and economic vitality of local areas.

What examples of stalled sites have been raised, and why do they matter?

Although some stalled developments are high-profile — such as St George’s Tower, the former Nestlé building — the FOI response highlights that many more empty plots are less visible but collectively significant.

These sites can delay the delivery of homes, deter private and public investment, and create blighted spaces that damage residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood safety and prosperity, campaigners say.

How are vacancies and stalled developments currently recorded and reviewed?

The council’s approach, as described in the FOI reply, is reactive: properties identified through ad hoc means are added to a monitoring system and then subjected to an annual review to confirm status and accuracy. There is no proactive, systematic scanning of the borough to find sites where construction has paused or buildings have been empty for prolonged periods, the FOI said.

What do campaigners propose should change?

Graham Mitchell told the LDRS that more consistent, borough-wide data collection would help to build a clearer picture of stalled development and inform targeted interventions to unlock stalled projects.

He argued that transparent, up-to-date records — ideally accessible to councillors and senior officers — would allow quicker identification of issues such as funding failure, planning bottlenecks or absentee landowners, and thereby help bring sites back into productive use.

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What is the council’s timeline and scale for the Homes England project?

The FOI response confirmed Croydon Council has received funding from Homes England for a major project to identify stalled sites and options to return them to use, but the published reply did not set out a detailed timetable or list of priority sites in the response released under the FOI.

The council described the project as having “significant and lasting benefits” for the borough while noting long-term empty buildings will continue to be monitored and reviewed on an annual basis.

Observers have noted that gaps in basic data about vacant land and paused developments can weaken oversight at multiple levels of local government.

When councillors, senior officers and external monitors lack comprehensive, timely information, interventions can be delayed, and it becomes harder to hold developers or landowners to account for prolonged inactivity.

Who should readers contact for further information?

For official statements and project updates, Croydon Council has provided a spokesperson’s response to the LDRS reiterating the Homes England-backed project and the council’s ongoing annual monitoring of long-term empty buildings.

Community advocates and candidates who raised the issue, such as Graham Mitchell, have also made public statements to local reporters.

Background of the development

The issue of stalled developments and long-term empty buildings in Croydon has been a recurring public concern because the borough has experienced large-scale regeneration efforts in recent years alongside high-profile delays and complex ownership patterns.

Promises of housing and town-centre renewal have put pressure on the council to ensure projects move from planning into delivery; when sites sit idle, they not only withhold new homes from the market but also affect local businesses and the public realm. The recent local election elevated the topic, with candidates across political parties citing stalled sites as symptomatic of broader challenges in delivering regeneration at pace.

Prediction:

If Croydon Council follows through with a Homes England-funded project to identify and prioritise stalled sites, residents could see faster action on returning vacant buildings to use, which may accelerate housing delivery and improve neighbourhood appearance and economic activity. Conversely, if implementation is slow or the project lacks transparency, local frustration is likely to persist and may fuel political pressure on councillors and the mayor to publish clearer data and timelines; developers and landowners could face tighter scrutiny and, potentially, more active measures from the council to unblock stalled projects.