Developers planning on knocking down five houses and replacing them with 134 new flats have hit a stumbling block in the building process.

A new development in Purley Way, made up of three blocks of flats ranging from six to 10 stories tall, was given the green light by Croydon Council back in February 2022.

Before building work can go ahead, the developer has to comply with a number of conditions set by the council.

One of these is it must submit a “biodiversity enhancement strategy”.

This week, the council refused an application for this on the basis it did not include necessary information about bat boxes.

It read: “The contents of the Biodiversity Enhancement Strategy is largely acceptable.

"It details enhancement measures, their location and their maintenance.

"However, no details have been provided about the specific siting of the integrated bat boxes.

“Elevations are required to demonstrate how they will integrate with the design of the proposed building and their position relative to windows and lighting.

"Furthermore, siting integrated bat boxes on the narrow elevation might be difficult to achieve and could harm the appearance of the building.”

There are more than 25 other conditions the developer has to comply with which are in the process of being decided on by Croydon Council.

Another condition yet to be approved is the “public art strategy”.

It outlines that this would be delivered through designs on the facade of the building and in benches around the flats.

The height of the building was previously reduced by two floors.

The original scheme had 141 flats but the developer has since reduced this to 134 following 60 objections from locals and opposition from Croydon South MP Chris Philp.

The site, with planning permission, was sold from Justin Homes to Optivo in October.

The approved flats were designed by Formation Architects.