Forum topic: Civic sector groups highlight draft Enfield Local Plan's threats to green belt and proposals for tall buildings

Civil society groups in Enfield have repeated their calls to borough residents to ask their councillors to set up special ward forums to discuss the draft Enfield Local Plan before it is debated in full council. They are concerned in particular about plans to build on green belt land and for tall buildings in town centres, including Palmers Green. In addition, they want residents to call for the evidence that the draft plan is based on to be made available to the public.

In their January newsletter for members, Southgate District Civic Voice (SDCV) express concern in particular about the revised draft's proposals for tall buildings and housing construction on green belt land, where the council has paid little heed to what appears to be majority opposition:

"The Council has now studied over 7,000 comments that were submitted and produced a revised Plan known as Regulation 19. [...] Little has changed [...] despite the vast majority of comments being opposed to both Green Belt development and tall buildings. The Council has referred to some support for Green Belt development, but that has come entirely from developers or landowners wishing to maximise the value of their land. Our concerns remain that development on the Green Belt misses the opportunity to develop brown field sites including underused retail parks and that tall buildings do not provide the family housing that local people need. Developers will inevitably choose to develop on open farmland rather than previously occupied sites."

SDCV point out that Palmers Green has now been added to the potential sites for tall buildings, warning that 

"This is similar to the proposals for Southgate and Enfield Town. If the Plan is agreed, developers would be able to develop a 10-12 storey building on the Morrisons / Travis Perkins site or Palmers Green station car park. Similar buildings would be agreed at Southgate Circus and Enfield Town. In all these cases, the buildings would dominate adjoining Conservation Areas and in the case of Palmers Green, there would be a significant impact on views across Broomfield Park."

In their first two newsletters of the year, Enfield Roadwatch say that the revised plan "is an even more targeted attack on the Green Belt". They urge residents to write to their councillors and to the candidates for this year's election for Mayor of London and members of the London Assembly:

The Local Plan is currently in a pre-publication phase, which means it is available to view and read but not yet to comment on. The 12-week early view was earned by a very successful petition campaign last year.  The main purpose of this phase is to make sure the councillors understand the plan before they vote on March 6.  Councillors should hold ward forums to answer constituent questions or make information about the plan available in other ways. Let's make sure they do that and don't just follow the party whip and vote on something they haven't read and don't understand!  

In addition, the evidence reports have been withheld until the council meeting, which means that neither the councillors nor residents can fully inform themselves about the plan. We need to ask for that evidence to be released now or an extension of the upcoming consultation, so that everyone can digest it.

Attached you will find a chart showing some of the impact on each ward. Please contact your ward councillors and demand a ward forum.  [For the chart and councillor details, see further down this article.]

Here is some wording you can use.  

Dear [Councillor name] 

I have many questions about the proposed local plan and would appreciate an opportunity to discuss it with you at a ward forum before you vote on the plan on March 6. 

I am also concerned about the fact the evidence reports have not been made available during the pre-publication phase. A comprehensive understanding of the Plan necessitates councillors' and residents' review of this evidence base. 
 

Should publication of these reports prove challenging, I kindly request an extension of the Regulation 19 consultation period from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. This additional time would allow for a thorough examination of the new evidence, which may be quite extensive.

[Your name]

And here are suggested questions you can ask at the ward forum. You may have many more. Your councillors should know the answers.

* How many more additional people will be living in our ward based on this plan?

* Where will the new parks and greenspaces be in our ward to help support this increase?

* How many homes will be demolished to make space for new homes?

* What proportion of the new homes in our ward will be affordable family sized homes?

* What impact will this have on air pollution caused by increase traffic and congestion?

* How tall will the buildings be?

* Will any of the existing green space be lost?

* How many new jobs will be created in our ward?

With regard to the Mayor and assembly member candidates they suggest the following:

There will be a London Mayoral election on May 2 this year. The London Plan, which sits as policy between Enfield's plan and the National Planning Policy Framework [NPPF], is critical to the success or failure of the council's plan. Currently they are not in compliance with the London Plan and the present Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has consistently objected to the proposed loss of Green Belt. We understand he is standing firm on that, but it would be a good idea to write to all the Mayoral candidates and to the candidates vying to be Enfield's Greater London Authority [GLA] representative asking for a firm commitment that they will a] object to Enfield's proposals for Chase Park and Crews Hill during the upcoming Regulation 19 consultation and b] if elected use their powers to block the developments. You can see what we wrote here. We are providing their email addresses below:

Mayoral candidates
Sadiq Khan [Labour]
Susan Hall [Conservative
Rob Blackie [Lib Dem]
Zoe Garbett [Green]

GLA candidates
[Labour - encumbent]
[Conservative] Calum McGillivray
[Lib Dem] Guy Russo
[Green] Katie Knight

Finding out more and inputting your views

As the date of the full council meeting that will discuss the draft plan is drawing nearer, we are repeating the open letter from Action for Enfield's Future and the guide to the plan that was published last week. If you live in Winchmore Hill ward (which includes some streets in Palmers Green), there is a ward forum on Friday evening (7pm at the Friends Meeting House).

Winchmore Hill ward forum to discuss the draft plan on 19th January

Winchmore Hill ward residents will have an opportunity to talk to their councillors about the draft local plan at the ward forum scheduled for Friday 19th January (7pm at the Friends' Meeting House).

More information about the draft local plan

For more detailed information about the draft Enfield Local Plan see the Useful Links section at the end of this article.

If you are reading this on a small device, such as a phone, you can scroll the table below from right to left.

Download the letter and table in PDF format