Planning & Development

Enfield Council has published an updated version of the Enfield Town Improvement Plan, which it hopes to carry out in 2024, depending on the outcome of statutory consultation in 2023. A new phase of public engagement is now under way between now and 25th September, seeking views on how well the plan meets the design principles, asking for ideas about a proposed sensory garden, and including a competition for the best suggested name of a new public square. The changes are designed to make Enfield Town more people-friendly, bustling and vibrant and to reduce car use through improvements to arrangements for walking, cycling and using public transport.

In a bid to 'force the local plan process into the daylight', civic sector societies and community organisations in the borough have joined forces to launch a petition calling on Enfield Council to provide for thorough discussion of the revised draft local plan before it is submitted to the official government inspector. The deadline for adding your name to the petition is 31st July.

Enfield Council is consulting residents about its plans to introduce a further six school street schemes, including two in Palmers Green - outside Hazelwood Schools and Bowes Primary. At the times that pupils arrive at and leave schools school streets are closed to all motorised traffic other than residents and other drivers with exemptions.

E-scooters could play a role in ensuring a green and sustainable future for London, helping people to use private cars less. Yet many worry about their use, fearing an increase in accidents and reduction in physical activity.

The newly published results of a study by the environmental charity Possible shows that excessive car use on London's roads causes significant delays to fire engines and ambulances and is likely to contribute to deaths of patients. The researchers took advantage of the huge drops in traffic during the 2020 lockdowns to compare emergency service response times during these periods with response times and before and since. During lockdowns response times fell dramatically, particularly for inner London fire stations. The research does not support claims that cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods cause delays to emergency services.

Enfield Council is planning to make changes to the Fox Lane and Bowes low-traffic LTNs, aimed at easing access for disabled people and emergency services. Some bollards will be replaced by camera-controlled restrictions and blue badge holders and dial-a-ride buses will be allowed to drive past them. In addition, the council is seeking views on the future of the restriction in Meadway and about possibly switching the access points for the Bowes LTN.

Last week the news was that PG will be losing one landmark - the Intimate Theatre. This week we can report the restoration of an old landmark, the turret on the Fox pub, complete with weathercock - or should that be 'weatherfox'?

Palmers Green Action Team have some exciting news for everyone interested in making our home town live up to the Green in its name. This week the project to create a green link between two parks - Broomfield and Hazelwood Rec - will take a big step forward with the installation of four new trees along Green Lanes, each housed in a large and stylish pot.

To the 'huge disappointment' of the Theatres Trust, Enfield's planning committee last night gave the go-ahead for St Monica's church to demolish the Intimate Theatre. In a statement issued to the press today, the statutory body called the building in Green Lanes 'a rare example of a repertory theatre design from the inter-war period with a rich cultural history that cannot be replaced'.

Ahead of Tuesday's planning committee meeting, the statutory body set up to advise on the future of theatres in England has restated its opposition to demolition of the Intimate Theatre and has set out the reasons why it considers that facilities for theatre provision in the proposed replacement building are inadequate