Event Investments Ltd are appealing against the decision made by Croydon Council in March this year to refuse an application to erect a four storeys, 58 room, 72 bed aparthotel for airline staff, audit teams, exhibition companies and conference delegates etc. at 40 Portland Road and extending three storeys high along 5-7 Doyle Road, South Norwood on grounds of its siting and mass. The location, South Norwood is ranked the 5th most deprived Croydon ward out of 24 in the borough by the council’s indicators. The design of the building, in its scale, massing and height, is completely out of place and is at odds with its surroundings; regrettably so as it will be adjacent to a conservation area. The appellant states in their planning statement that the predominant character of the area consists in residential streets of terraced housing, though less sympathetic post-war development has resulted in the insertion of larger scale urban blocks and uses. They couldn’t have devised a better description of their own proposed development. While within the property boundary the proposed development will involve the loss of open space. A forecourt area of this site has been in public use for 165 years forming a needed sense of space. The proposed building extending to the boundary edge on Portland Road and Doyle Road will substantially reduce pavement space particularly on a corner where the highway is a busy bus route. The South Norwood community does not want this massive development and request the Planning Inspectorate to dismiss the appeal.