Croydon Council has published further details of publicly owned land slated for housing developments after claims it was compiling a “secret list” of sites identified as suitable for building.

The Labour-led administration came under fire from the Conservative opposition group last month for not making public which sites had been chosen for development by the authority’s house-building company Brick by Brick.

At a cabinet meeting on June 20 the councillors decided to borrow an undisclosed sum of money for the company to purchase and develop publicly owned sites in the borough - but key details, including locations and costs, were not made public, sparking allegations of secrecy from the Tories.

At the time a list of 15 sites has been published on the council’s website, but that list has now grown to 29 sites.

Costs associated with developing those sites have not been made public.

RELATED: Tories blast Croydon Council for keeping 'secret list' of housing development sites

But council leader Tony Newman vehemently denied claims the authority had changed its mind about publishing the sites, saying: “Just because they are not published doesn’t necessarily mean they are secret.

“The whole point of this is we have gone directly to the residents because we wanted residents to be talking to and hearing from us rather than reading about it in the newspapers.

“Our genuine commitment is to be open and transparent. And of course any one of any development site, whether it is Brick by Brick or another site, is subject to what is normally a six-month planning process as well, which is very open and transparent.”

“Any remaining ones [that haven’t been published] will be out in the next couple of weeks.”

The council has begun feasibility studies into dozens of potential sites new homes.

But some sites are already proving controversial, with locals accusing the authority of being “misleading” about proposed developments.

Sue Cannings, of South Croydon, claimed residents of Drovers Road had not been informed of a presentation on plans for nine new flats on land to the rear of numbers 25 to 39 in the street.

She said: “Not many people went and that is my big concern. I think one of the issues is on the notice of the meeting it said ‘a new home’ it didn’t say new homes which was a bit misleading.

“The room they held the meeting in would have only held 12 to 15 people so clearly they weren’t looking for a big turnout.

“The fact no one received any notification of it [the meeting] in that road says it all really.”

Ms Cannings, whose Upland Road home backs onto the development site, added: “It is at the bottom of my garden so it will be overlooking my home and where they are proposing to build is on current parking spaces, of which there are 16 for a block flats that are already there.

“Plus the people who are moving in are going to have cars, so we will probably need 25 to 30 parking spaces and around here that is pretty much impossible.”

RELATED: New council housing company to build 1,000 homes

Conservative leader Tim Pollard said: “With Brick by Brick most of the sites are relatively uncontroversial. For example, where there are old garages that are barely used and are just magnets for antisocial behaviour replacing them with places for people to live is not a problem at all.

“However there were a number of community assets which were considerably more controversial and those are the ones people have the right to know about.

“We want the council to use its assets to build housing but we also want it to be transparent for residents.”

The council launched Brick by Brick last month with the intention of building up to 1,000 new homes in the borough by 2018.

The company will construct houses on as many as 50 sites across the borough in a bid to stem the homelessness crisis, it said.

Both affordable and market-value homes will be built under the plans designed to cope with rising demand and a growing population.

These are the 29 sites listed for housing so far:

  • Academy Gardens, CR0 6QL

  • Chertsey Crescent garages, CR0 ODB

  • Chipstead Avenue - Cheriton House, 20 Chipstead Avenue, CR7 7DG

  • Coldharbour Road, CR0 4DY

  • Drovers Road, CR2 6PR

  • Eagle Hill Garages, SE19 3JL

  • Grosvenor Road/ Belgrave Road Estate, SE25 5AW

  • Heathfield Road, CR0 1EL

  • Hermitage Road, SE19 3QN

  • Homefield Road - Homefield House, 57 Homefield Road, CR5 1ET

  • King Henry’s Drive CR0 OPB

  • Leighton & Albion Estate CR2 9DY

  • Longheath Gardens, CR0 7TQ

  • Marston Way, SE19 3JB

  • Montpelier Road, CR8 2QF

  • Northbrook road / Pawsons Road Estate, CR0 2QL

  • Oxford Road - 20 A-D Oxford Road, SE19 3JH

  • Ravensdale Gardens, SE19 3QD and Rushden Close Estate, SE19 3QB

  • Reedham Park Road - Kempsfield House, 1 Reedham Park Road, CR8 4BQ

  • Regina Road, SE25 4TR

  • Selhurst Road - Malton House, 193 Selhurst Road, SE25 6LE

  • Stockbury Road, CR0 7YB

  • Sylvan Hill Estate, SE19 3DX 

  • Thorneloe Gardens, CR0 4EN

  • Tollers Lane Estate, CR5 1DW

  • Uvedale Crescent, CR0 OBC

  • Warbank Crescent, CR0 OAY

  • Warminster Road, SE25 4FF

  • Whitehorse Road Estate – Johnson Road/Cromwell Road, CR0 2JR