Croxley Red Cross building to be demolished as plan agreed

Croxley Green Parish Council has agreed, in principle, to Three Rivers District Council’s idea for the Barton Way community centre, which was built in 1966, to be knocked down and replaced with a new building.

This would provide office and meeting spaces for the parish council, a new community space, and up to eight two-bed flats.

The British Red Cross centre in Barton Way, Croxley Green. (Image: Three Rivers District Council) Croxley Green Parish Council chair David Tobin said: “Our existing building, basically a former Portakabin, is coming to the end of its useful life and having a brand new parish office next to the library and our ability to manage a community facility for Croxley would in our view be a great move and clearly a ‘win, win’ for all of us if this can all be achieved.”

Although it celebrated the news, the district council highlighted that the proposal is still subject to planning permission and will also need to go through “detailed discussion” of its “financial and operations implications”.

Three Rivers council leader Stephen Giles-Medhurst said: “District council officers have worked hard this idea over the last few months to get to this stage.

• Croxley Red Cross building to be vacated by mid-September
• Public meeting over Croxley Green British Red Cross plans
• Offer made for Croxley Green British Red Cross building

“We want to provide the best deal for Croxley Green residents that helps families, provides community space and a new modern parish office in the centre of Croxley.

“It’s been great to involve David and the parish council in our proposals and we look forward to finalising the plans in the next few weeks and outlining them in detail to residents.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst and Cllr David Tobin. (Image: Three Rivers District Council) “I believe this satisfies so many needs and is a win for everyone.”

The building has been largely out of use since 2019, after the charity stopped using it because a review found it was “too large for our needs”. It then served a notice to quit that came into effect on September 13, giving Three Rivers Council control of it from this month (November).

Croxley Green Parish Council had submitted plans to buy the building and move its offices there - without knocking it down - while the district council had previously floated plans to demolish it for flats and a new community space only.