The town centre site by Bromley Palace Park will soon contain 222 flats
Bromley Council has approved plans to demolish most of its former home to make way for housing. The majority of the old Civic Centre site in Bromley town centre will be knocked down to make way for 222 apartments.
The hundreds of new residential units will be contained within six new tower blocks ranging from four to five storeys. Bromley Palace will also be converted into 11 flats as part of the plans, with a commercial unit occupying part of the ground floor of the Grade II listed heritage building.
Bromley Council’s Development Control Committee approved the contentious ‘Bishop’s Place’ proposal at a meeting on Monday night (June 1). The committee went along with the recommendation by Bromley planners to approve the scheme despite some strong opposition from the public. The Civic Centre proposal received 138 objections and only three letters of support.
The Bishop’s Place plans were put forward by Galliard Homes. The developer purchased the 6.74 acre Stockwell Close site from Bromley Council for £13.5 million last year which was described by critics at the time as a “fire sale”.
The council agreed to sell its former home along with other council-owned properties in 2024 to avoid a £164 million fee to maintain and refurbish the outdated buildings. Bromley Council moved to its new home at Churchill Court on Bromley High Street in late 2024.
Speaking on behalf of Galliard at the meeting was Rebecca Burnhams, a director at Quod, a planning consultancy firm working on the Bishop’s Place project. She said the proposal “breathes new life back into this site” with a “generous” expansion of open space.
The demolition of the old council buildings and the construction of the new homes will result in a 30 per cent reduction in building footprint on the site, allowing for more public space on the area that borders Bromley Palace Park.
Ms Burnhams said Galliard was “chomping at the bit” to get construction under way. She reassured councillors there would be an appetite to buy the Bishop’s Place properties because of the “unique” draw the site had because of the palace and park.
Cllr Julie Ireland, one of Bromley Town’s ward councillors, shared the views and concerns of residents at the meeting. She said the Civic Centre site could have been “an ideal location for family homes” and lamented the fact it would be turned into flats.
Cllr Ireland also said she was “concerned and disappointed” that the ground floor of the Old Palace wouldn’t be fully accessible to the public, something she called a “real loss to Bromley’s heritage”.
Despite these criticisms, she did voice her gratitude to Galliard for responding to the concerns raised by Bromley Town residents which saw the height of the tower blocks reduced and the amount of family homes in the scheme increased.
Of the 222 residential units at Bishop’s Place, 110 will be one-bedroom flats, 95 will be two-bedroom, and 15 will be three-bedroom. There are also two studio apartments.
Cllr Ireland said: “Residents didn’t want blocks of flats on this site, but that decision was effectively made when the council sold the land. So whatever is built here will be flats, and in truth, this is probably the best scheme we are likely to get.”
Several members of the Development Control Committee raised concerns about the proposal’s low number of parking spaces. The 222-unit development will only be accompanied by 38 parking spaces.
Cllr Simon Fawthrop laid the blame at the feet of TfL and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. He said: “This is not down to this council. It is down to Transport for London.
“I should remind members that they have this peculiar thing called public transport accessibility level (PTAL), which means for some reason that if you live next to the train station, you’ll use a train. If you live next to a bus stop, you’ll use a bus. But they don’t think that if you live next to a road, you might want to use a car.”
Councillors also raised concerns about the low level of affordable housing at Bishop’s Place. Only around 10 per cent of the units will be affordable, but Ms Burnhams assured the committee that Galliard was doing “everything in its power” to increase that.
The developer is currently in discussions with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to secure grant funding for more affordable housing, as well as committing to early and late stage reviews. These reviews will assess whether it will be financially viable for Galliard to provide more affordable housing as the housing market changes over the next few years.
Despite these problems, committee members voted unanimously to approve the Bishop’s Place project. Committee Chair Cllr Alexa Michael said it was a “good application, although it may not be perfect” with several councillors praising the low-density nature of the tower blocks.
Many felt the Bromley Palace conversion was respectful of the historic building, with Cllr Graeme Casey commenting: “It does good credit to the palace itself.”
Cllr Chris Phillips praised the “collegiate” layout of the buildings and welcomed Galliard’s £806,000 payment to restore four Heritage at Risk buildings and structures within Bromley Palace Park.
Following the approval, Cllr Michael said: “This is a carefully planned proposal for this historic site, including the welcome restoration of the adjacent park’s heritage. It is a notable improvement on the previous application, which we rightly rejected.
“While the committee had concerns, mainly around parking and the proportion of affordable housing, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
“The regional and national planning policy requirements set around these areas are disadvantageous for Bromley. Sadly, they continue to work against the preferred outcomes of our local residents and councillors alike.”
Galliard’s plans for the former Civic Centre aren’t over yet. The developer also plans to convert two of the former office buildings into more housing. It is yet to submit a planning application for that to Bromley Council.
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