The Pinkham Way Alliance (PWA) has published the text of its detailed submission to Haringey Council in response to the public consultation on Haringey Local Plan documents. Its representations are aimed at preventing development of open land which was once the site of the Friern Barnet Sewage Works site at Pinkham Way, adjacent to the North Circular Road and Muswell Hill Golf Course.
In its draft planning documents Haringey is designating the land both as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, Borough No 1 value (SINC), and as Employment Land.
The PWA document presents evidence and arguments in favour of the SINC designation and in opposition to the Employment Land designation:
"It is an open green space that has been vacant for over 50 years. Its ecological value is acknowledged by its SINC designation. [...] It is part of a larger ecological complex and corridor including other SINCs (Hollickwood Park, Muswell Hill Golf Course, Tunnell Gardens, Bluebell Wood, Albert Road Rec and Rhodes Avenue Spinney). A watercourse running in a culvert beneath the site is highlighted in the London Rivers Restoration Action Plan for de-culverting. There is a substantial amount of sound evidence to support retention of the SINC designation which the Council has accepted. However, there is no sound objective evidence to support retention of the Employment designation. On the contrary, [...]there is a substantial amount of evidence to support its removal."
The PWA alleges that Haringey's determination to retain the Employment Land designation is "driven by political pressure, not by sound objective evidence". This political pressure "arises from Haringey Council’s conflicted position as Local Planning Authority for the Pinkham Way site and as a member of the North London Waste Authority".
The PWA believes that Haringey finds itself in this position because of the purchase by the NLWA of part of the Pinkhham Way site in 2009 at a cost of more than £12 million. The NLWA bought the land "secretly", intending to use it for a large waste processing facility. This project was subsequently abandoned (thanks in no small measure to PWA campaigning), leaving the NLWA in the embarrassing position of owning land for which it cannot find a use or sell without a loss unless it has a suitable designation in local planning documents. An adjacent part of the site was purchased by Barnet Council, with the intention of using it for a refuse truck depot - again, a use which the PWA considers cannot be justified.
The PWA's arguments are set out in great details in the following documents:
There is also a summary of the arguments on the PWA website.
The PWA presented the documents to Haringey Council with signatures in support from nearly 1500 people. Donations in support of the PWA mean that it will be able to hire a well qualified planning consultant to put its case when the local plan is publicly examined later this year.
